Gourmet: Midnight Vending

Chapter 445 - 382: Pinnacle of Vegetarian Cuisine, Landscape Scroll (Part 2)

With the help of the assistants, three dishes quickly appeared on the guests’ tables, and the previously quiet courtyard was now bustling again.

The clamor, the sound of eating, and the praise were incessant.

Hou Yao clapped his hands in satisfaction, turned his head to claim credit from Chen Mo, but saw that Chen Mo had not yet started cooking, "What’s up, Xiaochen?"

"Just organizing ingredients and cooking order again." Chen Mo had his eyes slightly closed, even under the pressure of the white coat, having stayed up all night and busy all morning, he still felt a bit dazed.

Hou Yao smacked his lips, "Who told you to do this kind of dish? Could it be that your boss has something on you?"

In Master Hou’s view, to help someone make this dish, and to produce so many dishes at once at a grand feast, what a great favor it must be!

But for Chen Mo, it was really just about wanting to excel at a grand feast for once, and also wanting to try this dish.

Chen Mo did not respond, took a deep breath, directly turned on medium heat to heat the pan, while checking the neatly arranged ingredients he had just placed while pondering.

Feeling the pan getting hot, he quickly poured in the cold oil.

After all, needing to produce so many dishes at once, Chen Mo used a large iron pan, and the fierceness of the heat used was more intense than usual small stove cooking.

Without waiting for the cold oil to heat up, he added Shaoxing wine.

The oil and Shaoxing wine in the pan seemed to have no heat at all, but Chen Mo began adding ingredients one by one.

He added shiitake mushrooms and mushrooms, then scooped a large spoonful of clear soup into the pan.

"You didn’t prepare the soup?"

This dish was something Hou Yao learned for a long time, remembering each process clearly, hence his question.

Chen Mo understood what he meant, "There’s a vegetarian broth, but I think Lu Cuisine’s clear soup is more suited for this dish, just give it a try."

"Try... No, what do you mean by ’give it a try’?"

Hou Yao suddenly felt his brain wasn’t working, so this was the first time you were making this dish?

Being the first time was one thing, but not even following the recipe, starting right off with innovation?

Hou Yao was both puzzled and felt like laughing, if this could turn out delicious, what would his own three or four decades of effort in the kitchen mean?

All of a sudden, Hou Yao became filled with anticipation for this dish, wanting to see the extent of Chen Mo’s innovation!

Because the shiitake mushrooms and mushrooms were relatively hard to infuse with flavor, seasoning needed to start right after adding these two ingredients.

Seeing Chen Mo searching for seasonings while the ingredients and the soup in the pan began boiling, yet Chen Mo remained methodical, not rushed at all.

Hou Yao nodded slightly, although skeptical of Chen Mo’s so-called innovation, this kid truly had a talent for cooking; if it were an ordinary person seeing the soup in the pan boil like this, they would likely have panicked.

Chen Mo swiftly and accurately added fine salt and MSG to the pan, a bit of light soy sauce, some white sugar and sesame oil.

Then he directly poured all the prepped ingredients into the pan at once.

Some had been soaked for a long time, some steamed for a long period, and others were washed and ready to use.

A myriad of ingredients entered the pan, and the previously vigorously boiling oil-water mixture suddenly emitted a sublime steam.

Seeing this, Hou Yao secretly cursed, not good!

This dish is considered a top-tier vegetarian dish in Cantonese cuisine, generally only available in very high-end restaurants, even if it appears on menus in some ordinary restaurants, they are made rather carelessly.

Top-tier vegetarian dish preparation certainly needs to be more exquisite, like this step for instance.

Chen Mo used a large pot; once all the ingredients entered the pan, the temperature would drop instantly!

And this was the moment where heat control was crucial, Hou Yao frowned slightly, feeling a sense of helplessness to intervene.

Before he could react, he saw Chen Mo’s left hand gripping the pan handle, legs slightly bent, as if concentrating all strength in his waist and abdomen.

Then, with a flick of his left wrist, borrowing the friction between the iron pan’s bottom and the burner, he flipped the contents vigorously!

No, to be precise, this wasn’t a simple flip.

"He’s using the pan edge’s temperature? Damn?"

Hou Yao felt his knowledge being overturned; what’s with making a dish so showy?

"Master, what does that mean?"

A helper felt that Master Xiao Chen’s actions were methodical and seemed problem-free, but seeing Master Hou’s repeated astonishment, couldn’t hold back his curiosity.

Hou Yao pointed at Chen Mo’s actions, "With such a big pan, when so many ingredients go in, the temperature will surely drop."

The helpers all nodded; they were helpers now, but they were all chefs at Yueyun Pavilion, after all, and understood this.

"When Chen Mo seemed to flip the ingredients just now, actually he was making them slide from the pan bottom to the pan edge, instantly raising the temperature that should have dropped."

The helper who asked widened his eyes suddenly.

Is that even possible?

Just as Hou Yao said, the oil and water at the pan bottom upon contacting the high-temperature edge of the pan, erupted in even more vigorous steam, with Chen Mo repeating this action, the steam above the pan gradually turned into smoke, more vigorous and intense, accompanied by an exceptionally rich aroma.

It was a very peculiar aroma.

An aroma rich enough to intoxicate people.

The guests who were clamoring over the dishes on the table even halted their actions and curiously looked over, the scent was simply too enticing!