novelraw Chapter 286 198: Croquettes Aren't Actually a Sakura Snack?
Chapter 286 198: Croquettes Aren't Actually a Sakura Snack?
Marian looked doubtfully in the direction George was pointing, and sure enough, she saw a familiar silhouette.
"Meng Qi?"
The name suddenly popped into her mind.
"Yes, that's him. Wasn't he a security guard at the mall next to the cinema? I was wondering why I hadn't seen him for a while. Turns out he secretly came here!"
"That guy is pretty smart and capable. It's impressive he managed to get a job at a big hotel in such a short time. It seems being in the military does have its perks."
Perhaps because the two were staring at him, there was a moment when Meng Qi suddenly turned his head to look over, and the three's eyes met through the crowd.
Meng Qi was momentarily stunned, then waved with a smile as a greeting, continuing to maintain the safety of the tourists.
Meeting an old acquaintance in another city is a kind of luck. Even without communicating, they both knew why the other was there.
"Hey, did that guy not see you?"
George nudged Lunard with his shoulder, and the latter grinned: "If he didn't see, he didn't see. We'll buy some food later to tease him, give him a surprise."
"?"
Marian stared at him like he was an idiot: "There are three Head Chef stalls here, just the queue alone will take almost an hour, can you resist not eating?"
"Huh? That makes some sense?"
Lunard scratched the back of his head: "Almost forgot there are two other Michelin Chefs here, I was just thinking about Lin's food."
"How about this: we have a lot of people, let's split up to queue, buy more, and then divide it equally, won't that save us twice the time?"
"I agree!"
Before the two could reply, Richard raised his little hand eagerly, his small face full of excitement and anticipation.
"Agree, agree~"
"Agree!!"
His two little sisters also waved their small hands, drooling with enthusiasm.
Even the kids expressed their opinion, so the couple could hardly object. They immediately split into three groups with Lunard, each choosing a line to queue up.
Jonathan was helping Chef Marchello with the cashier and pack-up. Though he wasn't standing by the stove, sweat was dripping down his forehead, always feeling like there were eyes boring into his back, watching to see if he slacked off.
He glanced sideways at Chef Nagishiro Sho's side. Helena and Lucinda were also helping with packing and cashier, working in an orderly fashion, seemingly much more at ease than him.
"It's really something, I thought I'd enjoy freedom coming here, never expected to still be under the chef's command... eh..."
It's not that he disliked Chef Marchello, mainly the title of a three-star Michelin Chef pressed on him like a mountain, making it hard to breathe.
The higher the level of the chef, the stricter the demands on the kitchen staff were, a little slack and he would get scolded.
Unfortunately, he was scolded the most.
Even though he was big-hearted and easygoing, and understood this was normal teaching procedure in the kitchen, being scolded often still triggered a reflex. Whenever he made eye contact with Chef Marchello, he felt as if he had done something wrong, awaiting scolding with his head down.
"Jonathan! The Taiyaki is running out, I need to prepare the batter, keep an eye on the molds!"
"Y-yes, Chef!!"
Jonathan shivered, and before he knew it, he was already standing in front of the mold, with chopsticks in hand checking the Taiyaki's doneness.
Marchello didn't choose to prepare in advance like Lin Chen and Nagishiro Sho. Instead, he intended to make the batter on the spot.
As one of the top chefs, freshness was his pursuit.
Only freshly made food can express its most delicious flavor.
The batter was no exception.
While preparing the batter, the pot nearby was brewing a second batch of syrup.
He truly felt the enthusiasm of the customers; almost a hundred skewers of candied hawthorns, prepared beforehand, were nearly gone within ten minutes, requiring replenishment faster than serving in a restaurant.
He hadn't felt such urgent pressure in a long time; instead of panicking, he was incredibly excited.
Indeed, taking walks outside the restaurant and participating in different activities from time to time was the right choice!
Nagishiro Sho had a completely different style from the two of them.
Since the restaurant opened, he hadn't paid attention to the world around him, focusing solely on the food before him, tirelessly shaping beef potato patties.
Three pots were set on the stove in front of him: one for frying, two for making crêpes, and another pan piled with sugar on an iron rack for caramelizing the fruit later.
He exuded a tranquil aura, isolated from the world, even though only a table separated him from the noisy customers, it was as if he heard nothing, his hands flitting between the three pans like a butterfly.
Pouring batter, rotating the pan, flipping the crêpe, arranging fruit, folding neatly, pouring batter again.
His speed was exceptionally fast, the two pans used for crêpes never stopped.
Theoretically, making crêpes requires a specialized tool, a circular iron plate like that for pancakes, but he used two ordinary pans to achieve the same effect, the secret lying in the unique sauce bottle design.
Instead of a traditional single spout, it had four, allowing him to squeeze out four lines of batter at once.
All it took was a light circle in the pan and a few flips to evenly coat the entire pan without any unevenness.
While making crêpes, the fryer gradually floated dense golden korokke, giving off a burst of beef aroma.
He prepared two types of korokke.
One type mixes beef and mashed potatoes together, shapes it, coats it with flour, and deep-fries it.
Another type uses mashed potatoes to wrap the beef as filling, then shapes it, coats it with flour, and deep-fries it.
The beef used in the two types of croquettes also differs, from marinated to non-marinated.
In the midst of his busy schedule, there was a little girl in the crowd, as pretty and delicate as a doll, sitting on a tall man's shoulders, peering this way with a telescope in her hands.
"I see her, I see Mommy!"
"Daddy, it's that line on the right!"
The man cheerfully walked to the end of the line on the right: "We haven't seen Mommy for more than half a month, do you miss her?"
"Yes!!"
"Then come down first; we need to surprise her, so she doesn't see us early and spoil the fun."
"Oh right, let me down quickly, Daddy~"
As the girl struggled to get down from the man's shoulders, she inadvertently caught a glimpse of a familiar figure in the crowd ahead, but after she landed, it was nowhere to be seen.
She tilted her head in confusion but didn't ponder on it, suspecting she might have been mistaken.
After all, this was Dieppe, not Amiens.
Plus, Dieppe is so vast with a large local population and tourists, how could it be so coincidental to run into someone familiar?
As more and more diners bought food, the mixed aroma in the air grew more intense.
"Ah... it smells so good, I'm starving!"
"After waiting for more than twenty minutes, it's finally almost my turn. I've never eaten a dish made by a Michelin Chef in my life."
"Just now, a few guys who ate recommended trying the tomato and plum flavored fried chicken fillet. They said you won't regret it. I'm going to see how good it is."
The Sakura Chef seems to be selling a modified Japanese-style croquette? It looks different from the cream sauce croquette sold here."
"Huh? Japanese-style croquette? I didn't know croquettes had such variations."
"See for yourself, the Head Chef is doing it live—it's not made with white sauce but replaced with mashed potatoes."
While busy frying chicken fillets, Lin Chen overheard the tourists' conversation in the adjacent line with a keen sense of smell and suddenly realized.
No wonder he always felt something was odd. It turns out that the Japanese-style croquette is not a local snack at all but an import, with the original croquette's origin in Romantic Country!
As for whether it's a snack from Romantic Country or a nearby country, he was not quite sure. Anyway, it's sold in the surrounding region, and he himself had made it many times in the restaurant.
Except that the name is not croquette, just the pronunciation is somewhat similar, and he had never thought in that direction before.
The croquette-making technique here is somewhat similar to domestic fried milk, combined with the initial process of cream soup.
Start by sautéing sweet onions in butter until soft, then stir in flour evenly, and gradually add cream to dilute it, making the base for cream soup.
If milk or clear water is added at this point, it's the method for cream soup.
The croquette method is directly to cover the creamy flour sauce base with plastic wrap and refrigerate it. It will solidify and then be scooped or shaped into rugby-like forms and coated with egg wash and breadcrumbs for deep frying.
This way, the croquette is crispy on the outside and creamy inside, essentially a creamy soup version of fried milk.
On this basis, different shops add different minced meat to create various flavors.
Thinking carefully, the Japanese-style croquette method seems to replace the cream with mashed potatoes?
No wonder minced beef is added inside, making it reasonable.
But... can imports also count as their local snacks?
Why does it feel like there's a strong kimchi flavor?
He hesitated for a few seconds but thought better of it, deciding not to ask about such sensitive topics. As long as the food tastes good, that's enough.
Anyway, it's not some culinary competition; customer satisfaction is most important.
"Hey!"
While he was staring at the chicken fillets bobbing up and down in the oil pot, a familiar voice suddenly sounded in his ear.
Richard?!
Oh right, today is Saturday.
Makes sense.
"Hey Richard, long time no see. You seem to have grown quite a bit taller?"
Boys of this age care most about their appearance, so when Lin Chen complimented him, Richard couldn't suppress his ecstatic smile, even happier than when praised by teachers and parents.
"Not really, haven't grown much, just one centimeter~"
He smugly rubbed his nose, his gaze falling on the food under the warming lights in front of him.
The aroma here was several times more intense than what he'd smelled while waiting in line, causing him to gulp repeatedly.
Just as he was about to speak, a sweet and familiar girl's voice suddenly came from beside him.
"Mommy!~"