novelraw Chapter 275 187: Showcasing Skills at the Noodle Feast
Chapter 275 187: Showcasing Skills at the Noodle Feast
"Since the dishes have already been decided, let's now set the boundaries for innovation."
Chef Marchello clapped his hands to signal the two to pay attention. Even though it wasn't his domain, his gestures carried the demeanor of a restaurant manager.
"According to the rules we've discussed, the above three dishes are not allowed excessive innovation. For example, candied hawthorn is a fruit dessert, so the scope of innovation can only involve choosing different fruits, and the crispy shell technique cannot be changed."
"For another example, takoyaki includes both octopus and balls in its name, so the batter and octopus must remain, and the shape cannot change; only the ingredients can be altered."
"I believe both of you understand what I'm saying. After all, neither of you are novice chefs."
Lin Chen and Nagishiro Sho nodded in unison. Actually, they both understood without him having to say it, but it was better to be cautious.
Lin Chen chose takoyaki and socca.
Socca, to put it simply, is a pancake. However, the material used is chickpea flour instead of wheat flour, which is healthier and has the aroma of chickpeas when eaten.
Socca can be made thick or thin, and even with added toppings, as long as the main principle of chickpea pancakes is maintained.
As for takoyaki... there wasn't a need for him to innovate. Domestic trendy food stalls in Great Xia have already innovated countless versions, so he could just use them directly.
To foreigners, it's all new and fresh anyway; even Nagishiro Sho himself might not have encountered them before.
Including the boneless chicken fillet he planned to make, the preparation time for all three dishes together wouldn't take long.
The only slightly troublesome thing is procuring equipment.
Takoyaki requires a special mold, while for socca, a frying pan or griddle will suffice.
He planned to just move the griddle from the restaurant or food truck over to make do.
He also called the person in charge at Shunfu Company to ask if they could get a takoyaki mold griddle. Surprisingly, they had one, but it had to be transferred from another location and would arrive by tomorrow morning at the earliest.
Without realizing it, it was already five in the evening.
It was time for the dinner segment.
Nagishiro Sho had spent the entire afternoon working in the restaurant, not going anywhere, indicating that tonight's ingredients were still the various leftover beef parts from yesterday.
The same guests as before came for dinner tonight, with the addition of Chef Marchello, who also dined, making it a kind of impromptu assessment of the restaurant's chefs.
Not only Lin Chen but also Jonathan would be cooking.
"Tonight's theme is simple; it's still about innovation. However, it is not limited to Great Xia Cuisine. Any country's cuisine is fine, the more variety, the better, until the session ends at nine o'clock."
Four more hours of endurance battle. Lin Chen didn't mind much, but Jonathan looked perturbed. Even before starting, he already felt exhausted.
After yesterday's bombardment with twenty Great Xia dishes, Nagishiro Sho felt that he wouldn't be able to learn many new things in a short time. It's better to change lanes and see if he can find a breakthrough point through the food culture of other countries.
He knows more about the cuisines of other countries anyway.
Moreover, international fusion dishes made separately by Great Xia and Western chefs would definitely reflect different understandings, which might be simpler and more comprehensible compared to the traditional and mysterious Great Xia Cuisine.
After two days of interaction, Lin Chen had roughly understood this guy's goal.
To put it nicely, it's called exchange and learning; unkindly, it's stealing techniques.
"Jonathan, how many cuisines from different countries can you cook?"
While selecting ingredients in the cold storage, Lin Chen suddenly asked.
"Me? Well, I can do a lot, but I'm not proficient in any. I know most European and American cuisines, and I have some knowledge of Southeast Asian cuisine."
"How about this: I will continue with Great Xia Cuisine, and you can focus on dishes from other countries. Picking one or two dishes from each country would be enough, and it might also be a good chance for Chef Marchello to see your true skills."
Actually, Chef Marchello is Jonathan's direct superior. His visit might also be to observe Jonathan's progress here, so giving him room to showcase is important.
"Alright, I have no objections. I'm a bit tired of making Western dishes every day, so it's nice to change things up."
After agreeing on their division of labor, their criteria for selecting ingredients also changed. They returned some items to the cart and picked up other ingredients.
There was still more than half a barrel of the beef bone broth left from yesterday; it couldn't be wasted. Lin Chen planned to come up with some new tricks today, preferably ones not easily replicable.
After coming out of the cold storage, he didn't choose to process the ingredients immediately, but instead, started kneading dough.
The initial steps of kneading were done with a dough mixer, and once it formed, he took it out for manual shaping, rubbed a little vegetable oil on the surface, and covered it with a damp muslin cloth to prevent drying.
This was just the first piece of dough; he still had a second, third, and fourth piece to make.
Seeing his actions, Chef Marchello watched with great interest, crossing his legs.
"Focusing on dough, huh? Interesting."
"If it's dough-based, he'd likely make more dishes leaning towards the East Asian region, right?"
Before coming, Marchello had already seen online the dishes Lin Chen had previously made and sold at his food stall, so he knew the young man had been consistently focusing on Great Xia Cuisine.
He didn't mind either, as long as the two chefs were in charge now and made delicious food, nothing else mattered.
Not only that, he also wanted to take the opportunity to secretly learn some Great Xia cuisine, as just watching videos always felt lacking in soul.
It wasn't just Lin Chen; even Jonathan next to him was making dough. Their synchronized movements quickly sparked curious discussions among the guests present.
"The dough Old Lin made earlier with the oil, I've seen it before. It's the kind of dough used for making ramen. Can't quite tell what the later one is; blind guess it's still Great Xia cuisine."
"In Western dishes, there doesn't seem to be anything made with white dough, right? It feels like what you usually see are either handmade pasta or pastries. Countries using white dough are all in the Asian region."
"Why is Jonathan kneading dough too? He doesn't know Great Xia cuisine. Could he be making Ah San's flatbread?"
"Very possible. It should be from Southeast Asia there, called... naan! Yes, that's it, naan!"
After preparing all the dough, Lin Chen finally started to handle the meat.
It was still the same opening as yesterday: green onion and ginger in boiling water, beef brisket blanched.
In the gap during blanching, he quickly sliced the remaining beef tenderloin.
When cutting red meat, you must cut against the grain, because the muscle fibers of animals like pigs, cows, and sheep are thick. Cutting against the grain breaks the fibers and makes the meat tender; if you cut with the grain, it will be hard to chew.
The so-called "against the grain" is actually quite simple.
When the cross-section of the meat has clear muscle fibers resembling bamboo mats, you want to face this section up or down, not left or right, so the cut will be against the grain.
If it's white meat, you should cut with the grain, since poultry has fine muscle fibers that break with a pull. Cutting against the grain might cause it to fall apart during cooking, affecting the dish's presentation.
The sliced beef tenderloin is mixed with a small amount of sea salt and green onion and ginger water, kneading repeatedly and adding green onion and ginger water multiple times to prevent the beef from being overly saturated or under-absorbed.
When the beef feels sticky, and the sound of mixing resembles smearing glue, the marination is complete.
Pixian Douban Sauce and minced ginger are sautéed in hot oil, cooled slightly, then mixed evenly with the beef slices again.
Once Douban Sauce is added, a rich aroma fills the restaurant.
With the meat marinated, the beef brisket in the pot is almost boiling. It's removed and washed to remove scum, then placed in a pressure cooker with some beef broth and water to simmer.
The beef brisket being used today is a more sinewy part, the same area as the brisket used before for barbecue.
This part of the beef brisket isn't as fatty, with more tendon, resulting in not only a tender, chewy texture but also the unique stickiness characteristic of tendons. As you chew, there's a slight hint of beef fat aroma, making it a premium cut of brisket.
After putting the beef brisket on to simmer, the boiling water in the pot is not discarded. Instead, a leftover piece of beef shank from yesterday is cut into large chunks and blanched again.
After skimming the scum, the broth doesn't need changing; the pot continues to simmer for twenty minutes until the beef is initially cooked.
While simmering, he begins to mince beef, with a ratio of three parts fat to seven parts lean, without any specific cut requirement.
"Minced meat? Isn't he going to make buns?"
"Buns would be great. The buns sold here are all machine-made or frozen semi-finished products. It feels like it's been ages since I had handmade buns."
Watching Lin Chen handling the ingredients one by one, Nagishiro Sho's face was openly showing an expression of speechlessness.
This guy was definitely doing it on purpose!
It's not that you can't learn anything; you definitely pick up something.
But to think you can fully learn it just by watching, he didn't think he was at that level of skill.
Not just him, even Chef Marchello standing next to him couldn't do it.
Even the most famous chef in the industry, Gou Dan, was mocked by a ramen shop guy on a show for not being able to pull a decent noodle.
You can learn recipes from other countries through a recipe, but with Great Xia cuisine, it's impossible, at least not the slightly complicated ones; they're full of technical details.
There's nothing he can do about it; what people excel at is their national cuisine, which makes sense.
Soon after, Lin Chen took out a small bowl of raw rice, mixed with some snowy white glutinous rice, in front of everyone.
He threw in a star anise, a bay leaf, a little Sichuan peppercorn, and some various spices, then directly sautéed in the pan.
"Sautéing rice?"
Chef Marchello's eyes showed confusion: "Sautéing rice seems to be a method near Tai Island or Indonesia, what on earth is he making?"
He watched for a while but couldn't figure it out, growing increasingly curious and anxious to know what dish this kid was concocting.
Another half-hour passed.
Jonathan was already starting to prepare his dishes.
The pot was bubbling with Thai curry, while the oven contained rotating Southeast Asian roast meat, lemongrass steak was being pan-fried, and flatbreads were being baked nearby. The air was filled with the rich aroma of curry and flour.