Food Stall: Customers Chase Me across the Country

Chapter 425 - 423: Today’s Snacks – Stir-Fried Beef River Noodles and Beef Steamed Buns

The first wave of the chef team’s supply is dinner.

After some settling in and shopping, it was already afternoon, and being able to supply dinner was already due to the chefs’ quick hands and feet.

Wang Fan had also started working.

He didn’t need to participate in making the main courses; his main task was preparing snacks.

Don’t underestimate snacks—there is a lot involved, and Wang Fan still had plenty of room for creativity.

Moreover, he didn’t need to worry about what to make, just preparing the athletes’ favorite dishes each day was enough.

Tonight, he focused on two dishes: stir-fried Beef River noodles and beef buns.

Wang Fan’s stir-fried Beef River had been praised by top Cantonese cuisine maestros. That’s why he was put in charge of snacks, and buns were also his specialty—he could make these two dishes with absolute ease.

The only concern was whether Chen Menglong was worried about his ability to handle it all.

After all, it was food for six to seven hundred people.

Although he knew Wang Fan had experience during the floods, that was an emergency; he only needed to ensure speed without too much emphasis on quality, and he wasn’t on-site abroad at that time, so he didn’t know how Wang Fan’s cooking turned out.

"Do you need someone to help you?"

Wang Fan smiled and shook his head: "No need, with Qianqian helping me with the ingredients, it’s enough."

"Alright, let me know anytime if you have difficulties; making sure the athletes eat well and are full is our top priority."

With that, he went off to handle his own tasks.

Wang Fan wasn’t just boasting.

Even though his touring van didn’t come over, he had brought his essential cooking utensils, just like the other chefs, who had also brought their familiar tools.

The gigantic wok and the steamer for buns he had upgraded to purple, and the enhanced attributes gave Wang Fan even more confidence.

Zhuo Qianqian obviously knew that she had entered through the back door, so she worked extra hard; she didn’t want others to say anything about her to the boss because of her presence.

After Wang Fan prepared the dough and waited for it to rise, he directly pulled out the beef brought by Great Border.

This meat had all undergone professional testing, absolutely naturally raised and free of clenbuterol, an expressly banned stimulant.

Not only the beef, but all the spices, meats, and so on brought in, had been carefully screened and tested, ensuring nothing problematic would appear on the athletes’ dining table.

Even after testing, some samples were kept, and even during the food-making process, Wang Fan and the others had to save and seal samples.

The local purchase today was mostly vegetables; meats weren’t even considered.

The tenderloin was sliced for stir-fried Beef River, and beef shoulder was used for bun fillings.

Slicing was a delicate task handled by Wang Fan, while filling the buns was a hefty task that Zhuo Qianqian took on without hesitation.

The beef shoulder came in large chunks, which were chopped into smaller pieces, and the tendons and membranes were cleaned out during the chopping process.

Wang Fan felt a slight regret that beef fat couldn’t be added to the beef filling.

Meat fats are a big no-no at the Olympics because they might test positive for stimulants, so even though it might affect the buns’ taste and texture, beef fat couldn’t be added.

After slicing the beef, Wang Fan began frying scallion and ginger oil and making scallion and ginger water.

Sichuan pepper and black pepper couldn’t be used, so plenty of scallion and ginger oil and water were necessary.

Whole cilantro, large slices of ginger, and chunks of scallion were fried in oil until golden brown, then fished out, leaving behind scallion and ginger oil.

The fished-out ingredients weren’t thrown away but directly put into boiling water to make scallion and ginger water.

After Zhuo Qianqian finished chopping the meat filling, she went to wash vegetables, while Wang Fan pulled out some soybean paste and started chopping.

After the soybean paste was finely chopped, it was fried with hot oil, and thus the basic seasoning was ready.

The only additional ingredient for the beef buns was scallions. After three days of Olympic Village meals, the athletes were almost turning into wolves, so they needed a good dose of pure meat replenishment.

A large pair of chopsticks stirred slowly in a big basin, adding in the cooled scallion and ginger oil little by little, continuing to stir.

Adding oil, stirring, adding water, stirring, adding soybean paste, stirring—all these steps continued until all three elements were thoroughly mixed into the meat, fully absorbed.

By then, the dough had risen, and Wang Fan quickly shaped the dough into uniformly sized bun skins.

Although Chen Menglong was busy, he was actually keeping an eye on Wang Fan’s movements.

Seeing his skillful preparations, he couldn’t help but nod inwardly.

This level of composure, speed, and accuracy couldn’t be achieved without at least five years of skill.

Yet, when Wang Fan started wrapping the buns, even Chen Menglong, who had seen everything, couldn’t help but almost drop his eyeballs into the pot.

He himself could make buns and was well-known for it, and wrapping buns was a requisite skill.

But damn it, who can wrap buns that fast?!

I only blinked, and there were already two more buns on the steamer tray!

I now have reason to suspect whether you’ve turned on a speed booster, as if we’re not even on the same frame rate anymore!

How many years of being single does it take to develop hands this fast?

No wait, isn’t your girlfriend standing right next to you?

Not only him, but the other busy chefs were also drawn to Wang Fan’s bun-wrapping show, looking wide-eyed at his performance.

Wrapping buns was one of Wang Fan’s unique skills; with a flick of the fingers as nimble as a butterfly, a 36-fold bun could be wrapped expertly with one hand filling and one hand shaping.

He used to make 32 folds, then he discovered that 36-fold buns had a delightful texture at the folds, so he improved it further.

The gigantic steamer tray soon filled up with one big bun after another.

One tray, two trays...

Until all five steamer trays were full, he lifted them and placed them directly onto the steamer.

Such arm strength once again made Chen Menglong gasp in admiration.

Mainly because Wang Fan’s steamers were enormous, each holding 100 big buns, you can imagine the size, let alone five layers together.

The stir-fried Beef River was prepared at lightning speed, but to preserve the texture, Wang Fan didn’t rush to fry it, instead preparing some sugar for later, ready to stir-fry a plate near meal time, refilling it as needed.

"Need any help?"

Seeing he was momentarily free, Wang Fan was ready to lend a hand to others.

Chen Menglong felt amusedly helpless, constantly urging others to reach out if needed, but never expected the first to finish with everything was Wang Fan himself.

"Then help prepare the vegetables. Slice those onions and carrots into strips. Make the carrot strips as fine as possible."

Wang Fan nodded, picked up the onions and carrots, and started slicing them; whole carrots turned into fine strips in his hands, the speed remained as fast as ever.

Since his girlfriend had entered through the back door, he also wanted to help make up for Zhuo Qianqian’s share of work, so there wouldn’t be any further comments.

As time ticked by, mealtime drew nearer, and everyone became a little anxious, worried their dishes wouldn’t taste good and would impact the athletes’ performances.

"It’s all this damn stimulant’s fault, making it impossible to use so many flavorings, affecting the taste and making the kids eat less well. How am I supposed to face Jiangdong’s people back home?"

"Yeah, Sichuan pepper chicken without Sichuan pepper or prickly ash, might as well call it plain boiled chicken."

"Our little patron saints must indulge a little; if they go hungry, we’ll be villains."

Amid the chefs’ prayers, dinner time quietly arrived.