Free Web NovelChapter 547: Chapter 459: The Revelation of Cold Dishes, Sweet Soup, and Pickled Fish
"Crunch——"
"Crunch——"
As the shredded lettuce entered the mouth, a crisp sound emanated from between the teeth.
Raphael’s eyes lit up, completely surprised by the texture of shredded lettuce.
Each bite clearly highlighted the unique crispness, different from any raw vegetables he had eaten before.
Carrots are firm and crispy; jicama is moist and crisp like pears; celery has many coarse fibers, and onions, let’s not even mention...
But this sensation in the mouth was a kind of crisp that was elastic, with just the right amount of juiciness.
The seasoning was quite simple, with soy sauce as the main flavor, enhanced by a hint of vinegar and sesame oil, and a touch of millet pepper for freshness.
Raphael, being attentive, noticed that when Lin Chen was preparing the sauce earlier, he used very little soy sauce, and the vinegar was rice vinegar. The saltiness mainly came from sea salt.
Although the sauce overall looked soy-brown, compared to the Great Xia Cuisine he had eaten before, the color was much lighter.
He blinked at the vibrant green shredded lettuce on the plate, vaguely grasping Lin Chen’s reasoning behind this approach.
If the color of the seasoning was too dark, it would stain the vibrant green of the shredded lettuce.
Green with soy-brown...
He imagined the color in his mind, feeling it was somewhat tan?
Regardless, for a dish to be served, that color of vegetable would definitely not be visually appealing.
To ensure the shredded lettuce remained vibrantly green, Lin Chen even employed a small technique during blanching, thus he would certainly not let the color get tainted at the last moment.
After tasting both variations of the shredded lettuce, Raphael quickly identified the differences.
Blanched shredded lettuce wasn’t as crispy as raw, even after chilling. Moreover, after being marinated in sugar, raw shredded lettuce had a faint sweetness that perfectly masked its slight off-flavor.
To him, the unique taste of lettuce wasn’t much, but there might be picky guests.
After marinating, the taste was significantly reduced, leaving only the crisp texture.
"Alright, next dish!"
Lin Chen unwrapped the prepared tribute vegetables, blanched them in boiling water for over ten seconds, then cooled them in ice water and mixed them with the same sauce before passing them over.
"?"
Raphael looked at the plate of vegetables before him in confusion, then glanced at the shredded lettuce nearby, his expression uncertain.
"This, could it also be lettuce?"
Aside from the difference in cut, he couldn’t tell them apart.
He picked one up and tried it; even the flavor was nearly the same, but slightly crisper.
"They’re the same type of vegetable but have different names and appearances. This is called tribute vegetable, meaning it was a tribute food for the emperor in ancient times."
"Fresh tribute vegetables are rarely seen; before hitting the market, they’re cut and dried. What you can buy is either a packaged product like this or dried tribute vegetables to soak yourself."
"Dried in the sun?"
Raphael’s eyes lit up again, suddenly inspired.
"Does this mean that all vegetables with a fairly crisp texture can go through a process of sun-drying and rehydration to enhance their crispness?"
Lin Chen smiled, giving a thumbs up: "Yes, that’s the main point I wanted to show you, Chef."
"Besides tribute vegetables, we also sun-dry broccoli, cauliflower, bamboo shoots, etc., and even pickled vegetables go through drying. Some special varieties for winter consumption also need several days of sun-drying before preparation."
This discovery delighted Raphael, and he quickly took notes in his small notebook, eager to try the texture changes sun-drying would bring to various vegetables once he got back.
Meanwhile, he couldn’t help but marvel internally.
The Great Xia People truly live up to their reputation as a gourmet nation; they really know how to eat!
To think of so many different techniques!
He suddenly thought, compared to the gourmet nation, Romantic Country’s food culture seemed slightly lacking, unable to compete with Great Xia’s food.
Even though Romantic Country holds a leading position in Western cuisine, the most common methods and ingredients are just a few, simply combined in different ways.
Compared to the myriad techniques and ingredients in Great Xia, Romantic Country is undoubtedly outclassed.
Even if you add up all the world’s culinary cultures, it probably doesn’t have as many variations as Great Xia alone?
Despite these thoughts, he remained confident in Romantic Country’s dessert culture.
Most of the world’s dessert genres originate from Romantic Country, acknowledged worldwide as the dessert sanctuary by chefs.
Even if Great Xia has desserts, they are of a completely different kind, incomparable.
He already knew from previous exchanges that the penetration of ovens in Great Xia is very low; most households don’t have one, used mainly in restaurants or dessert shops.
Under such circumstances, it’s impossible to develop a dessert culture comparable to Romantic Country.
If there’s a similar tool, it’s probably the round wooden steamer with a role akin to an oven.
Raphael couldn’t help but boldly speculate that Great Xia’s dessert culture might be related to steamers.
This conjecture was quickly confirmed.
"Right," Lin Chen nodded, pointing outside, "That guy Zhao studied this. We call it Chinese pastries. They say it’s dessert, but it’s actually more focused on pastries."
"Great Xia desserts differ from your Romantic Country desserts both in variety and method. We mainly use steaming and boiling, divided into Suzhou-style and Cantonese-style as two major schools, with some smaller schools I’m not too sure about."
"Cantonese-style is mostly various sugar soup... Speaking of which, maybe we should take some time to make and sell it?"
Previously, Lin Chen hadn’t thought much about it, but as he chatted away, he suddenly felt that sugar soup could have a big market abroad.
The most important thing is that many sugar soups can be prepared in advance, saving a lot of time.
"Alright, alright, then hurry up and make it. Have you thought about tomorrow’s breakfast?"
"Uh... tomorrow? Is it that urgent?"
Resting his chin, Lin Chen pondered for a moment, somewhat undecided.
It’s not that he can’t make it, it’s just that there’s still a group of newcomers waiting for an assessment outside. Using sugar soup for that, he needs to consider if it’s appropriate.
But soon he got tired of thinking, considering there’s a professional pastry chef specialized in desserts right outside, why not just ask him directly?
Regarding Cantonese-style sugar soup, Lin Chen is indeed not very familiar.
He’s personally not fond of sweets, may not visit a dessert shop even once a year. He can’t even recall when he last had sugar soup.
The only things he remembers are double-layered milk, sesame paste, almond paste, and ginger milk.
Double-layered milk and ginger milk aren’t difficult, mainly focusing on technique.
The craftsmanship of sesame and almond paste should be similar, but he hasn’t tasted the handmade one himself, only seen online videos, knowing there’s an insurmountable gap between handmade and semi-finished products.
If Zhao Shun agrees, then the preparations might need to start this afternoon.
If they start this afternoon, then what about sauerkraut fish?
Originally, he thought of getting them to slice fish and prepare fish bones and heads for broth this afternoon.
This batch of newcomers is different from the Great Xia People here; they’re all foreigners. Foreigners adhere to the eight-hour work rule, getting them to work overtime might be hard, especially since they’re not officially hired yet.
Thinking it over, he couldn’t come to a conclusion and decided not to bother too much, planning to consult Zhao Shun later.
Besides the culinary issues, there’s another problem ahead.
Accommodation.
Where to find a place for these twenty people, including eight chefs and twelve service staff, to live?
They can’t sleep in their cars like Chef Marchello and the others, can they?
Not everyone comes by car, it’s obviously unrealistic.
Moreover, among the twenty, ten service staff and two chefs are women, so mixing accommodations with men is definitely a hassle.
Feeling a bit stressed, Lin Chen rubbed his brows when suddenly an idea crossed his mind about the massage area Su mentioned before.
Can’t people stay overnight there?
Ha!
"Chef, are you sleeping in the car tonight?"
"I suppose so, where else could I sleep, no vacant rooms."
Speaking of this, Raphael sighed.
It’s great to come here to learn Great Xia food culture, but the downside is there’s no place to stay.
But this is a side effect brought by the Olympics on tourism, can’t blame him for it. It’s just bad luck that at his age, he still has to squeeze into a car, waking up feeling all achy.
"Interested in considering staying in the massage area of our hotel?"
"Hmm?"
Raphael was stunned, "Massage area? Thai massage? Can you stay overnight there?"
"Yeah! Su mentioned playing there before, saying the space is large, and there’s an overnight area. The overnight ticket is pricier than a regular one but cheaper than getting a room."
"This style is a feature of our Great Xia’s northern foot massage shops and massage places. I haven’t tried it myself, just overlooked it for a moment..."
Raphael gave him a big eye-roll and flipped a middle finger.
"How could you tell me such an important thing now? If I end up with a slipped disc, I’ll seek medical reimbursement from you!"
Thinking about a place where one could both enjoy a massage and comfortably sleep, Raphael’s interest peaked, promptly shutting the notebook.
"You stay here, I’ll go check it out; if I go late and there’s no space, it’ll be a problem!"
Learning is surely important, but sleeping is more important!
As Raphael headed out of the back kitchen, Lin Chen also followed, heading towards the food truck.
Taking advantage of this gap, he planned to discuss tomorrow’s arrangements with Zhao Shun to see what’s most appropriate to make.
"Sugar soup?"
Hearing the term, Zhao Shun paused, the movement in his hands stopped.
"Let me think..."
