Free Web NovelChapter 548: Chapter 460: High-Difficulty Assessment? Three-Flavor Rice Crêpe
"When it comes to pickled fish, isn’t the main thing to start by boiling the soup?"
"The fish fillets aren’t urgent; just debone the meat, clean the bones, and set it aside. You can slice it fresh for lunchtime tomorrow."
"Anyway, you just need to coat it with starch, right? Marinating for ten to twenty minutes should be enough, right?"
"Makes sense!"
Lin Chen clapped suddenly and gave a thumbs up to him, "You’ve got to hand it to young folks; their minds work fast. I didn’t even think of that earlier."
Zhao Shun pouted, thinking to himself that they weren’t that far apart in age; how was he a ’young folk’?
He knew that the pressure of being the head chef was definitely much greater than for someone like him who just worked, having to think about so many things. It’s normal that the brain cells occasionally can’t keep up.
"So, what sugar water dishes should we actually make? I haven’t really drunk much of this stuff and I’m not familiar with it. You decide, just make sure to include both simple and complex ones."
"Don’t worry, my bro," Zhao Shun made an OK gesture with a chuckle, "I’ll definitely give these foreigners a little shock with some Chinese sugar water!"
"Don’t they like ginger juice? We should definitely have the most basic ginger milk pudding. It’s also very suitable for breakfast, and although it looks simple, it won’t set if you don’t get the knack of it."
"Speaking of Cantonese sugar water, we must have black sesame soup, right?"
"It’s too simple to use a blender. Instead, let’s do it the old-fashioned way with hand-ground black sesame soup, but we’ll need tools for this. A garlic pounder will do; the bigger, the better."
"Since it’s summer, we should make some cold desserts to cool down. Anyway, foreigners also drink ice milk and iced coffee in the morning, so maybe it’ll suit their tastes better."
"How about tapioca pudding? Cooking tapioca has its tricks. What else can we make... taro mochi? Red bean paste with dumplings? Iced tofu pudding?"
Talking about desserts, Zhao Shun couldn’t help it, and rattled off more than a dozen different kinds of sugar water, making Lin Chen salivate subconsciously.
He quickly waved his hand to stop the brainstorming trend from continuing.
"Alright, alright, stop listing dishes. I know you’re amazing, okay? Decide on five and report back to me quickly. I’ll rush the order and have Daniel deliver it around dinnertime, and also take it back to Lin. We’ll send the other materials tomorrow morning."
"Let’s not wait; let’s do it now."
Zhao Shun swallowed his own saliva, "Then ginger milk pudding, black sesame soup, red bean paste with dumplings, tapioca pudding, and iced tofu pudding, alright?"
"Okay."
"We can make the tapioca pudding fruity. Have John send over the ingredients. As for the flavor of the iced tofu pudding... how about jasmine? This flavor is quite popular domestically now, paired with some green honeydew melon and pandan rice cake, the aesthetics will definitely stand out."
"Ginger milk pudding has only ginger and milk, but you need old ginger and whole milk. Water buffalo milk is best."
"We’ll also need raw black sesame, white sesame, peanuts, black glutinous rice, and yam..."
Zhao Shun listed all the required ingredients in one breath, while Lin Chen nodded and noted them down in his phone’s memo app, repeating the list again to ensure nothing was missing.
The newcomers were busy wrapping chive pockets while secretly paying attention to the two of them.
Although they couldn’t understand what exactly they were talking about, it seemed like they were discussing something related to ingredients.
Could they be discussing the content for the next test?
These chefs had some experience, and they quickly started to worry.
These dumplings looked simple, but the step of rolling the dough turned out to be quite difficult.
Even this was considered the simplest thing by them.
Even the fastest among them, a black woman, was called inexperienced by them.
What on earth will the next test involve?
The busy breakfast was quickly wrapped up.
With ten people working simultaneously, today’s diners had a fully packed experience, barely having to wait. After placing an order, they could get their food within two to three minutes.
The chive pockets looked palm-sized and well-filled, causing the diners to not dare to order too many, fearing that ordering an extra would ruin their lunch appetite.
The lunch menu had already been published in advance, featuring items they had never heard of before.
Glutinous rice.
With this curiosity, everyone restrained their purchasing desires, the ladies buying one, the gentlemen buying two, primarily just for a taste.
Only the guests who were checking out at noon would choose to buy a few more to take away. Since they were pan-fried foods, they could be reheated in a frying pan at home without affecting the taste.
At 9:10.
All tables had been cleaned spotlessly, as if they had never been used.
Seeing this highly efficient scene, Lin Chen nodded in satisfaction.
Having more people indeed makes things more efficient!
Usually, if they cleaned themselves, it would take at least twenty minutes, with some troublesome tasks taking even half an hour.
The dishwasher, while convenient, also requires time to wait.
Speaking of which, it’s about time to hire a dishwasher, right?
Most of what they sell are served in disposable fast-food boxes or kraft paper boxes, so there’s not much to wash, just some of the pots and pans used for meal preparation.
Everyone cleans what they use immediately, so it doesn’t take up too much time.
But as the number of employees increases, the variety of dishes they will prepare will definitely become more diverse, requiring the use of utensils and even containers.
If they were to cook hot pot, the number of plates used would be unimaginable.
"Recruit!"
"We’ll recruit right away!"
The number of people willing to apply for the dishwasher position is much larger than that for chefs or waitstaff. Mostly they’re from the Middle East, then Filipinos, and then Black people.
He’s not worried about this; as long as they are hardworking, willing to endure hardship, and have good character, they don’t even need prior work experience.
Seizing the moment when Chef Raphael was arranging his notes, Lin Chen quickly ran back to the office, opened the laptop, and swiftly edited a job advertisement to send out.
If he’s lucky, someone should show up tomorrow.
"Tomorrow is just right for making sweet soup; the tools used will be plenty, making it a perfect first-day test for new hires."
While he was planning recruitment, outside, the chefs and waitstaff hadn’t caught their breath yet and were already back into the lunch prep routine.
"With the chef temporarily away, I’ll translate the preparation process for the lunch dishes to you all."
Lucas stood next to Old Chen with a camera in hand, his lens focused on the neatly arranged ingredients on the table. After snapping a few shots, he explained to the group of newcomers gathered around.
Not only were there nine chefs, but also twelve new servers, along with Dais and her group — so many people that they were standing in two overlapping rows.
The glutinous rice was steamed in advance before breakfast, and now it’s just cooled down.
Old Chen picked up a basin and showed its contents to everyone.
"The early rice, green beans, and soybeans, soaked for over thirty minutes, with water just past half a knuckle, blended into a fine rice slurry."
As he explained, Lucas translated for everyone.
He didn’t understand the difference between early rice and regular rice, so even if Old Chen explained, he couldn’t, so he simply didn’t explain.
"After mixing evenly, add a pinch of salt and let it sit for half an hour."
"Then start cutting these ingredients."
Although it wasn’t his first time being watched by others, being stared at by fellow chefs from abroad still made him feel a bit uneasy, and his nervous voice even trembled a little.
Had he known earlier, he would have let Xiao Zhao do this job; he would definitely enjoy it!
Thinking of this, Old Chen subconsciously glanced to the side and found Zhao Shun hiding in the corner, covering his mouth and laughing quietly.
"!!"
Old Chen glared at him fiercely, but he could only continue with his work helplessly.
After cutting the bamboo shoots and mushrooms, he took out several pieces of pre-stewed pork belly from the basin, separated the fat from the lean, and chopped them into small cubes of the same size.
Lucas translated in due time.
"When you make it, stew the meat first. You don’t need a lot of water, just enough to cover the meat’s surface, and add some green onions to simmer together."
"After half an hour, you can take it out. Don’t throw away the broth, and then follow the previous steps."
While he was translating, Old Chen already had the fatty pork belly cubes stir-frying in the pan.
As the temperature gradually increased, the fat cubes started to render oil, and the air was filled with a rich aroma of meat.
In Western cuisine, fresh pork belly isn’t often used in dishes; in their minds, pork belly is only for making bacon.
When they smelled that enticing aroma of meat, the hungry crowd couldn’t help but take deep breaths.
"Ah, it smells so good!"
"So much fat and oil, it looks so greasy; can something made from this really taste good?"
Seeing the pot full of white fat cubes, the men were fine, but the women, who paid attention to their figures, started to worry.
As the fat cubes gradually shrank and turned a golden brown, the aroma of meat in the air became even more intense.
Seeing that it was almost done, Old Chen skillfully tossed the diced bamboo shoots and mushrooms into the pan for a quick stir-fry.
With the addition of these two ingredients, the meat aroma was quickly diluted, and a faint vegetable fragrance mixed with the aroma of mushrooms wafted up.
The thick layer of pork oil in the pan had also almost disappeared.
But that wasn’t the end.
The previously leftover broth was poured into the pan.
"Sizzle——"
A large cloud of white steam enveloped in a rich fragrance spread out.
The whole thing simmered on high heat for seven or eight minutes, and the sauce in the pan gradually reduced to one-third of its original amount.
A little salt, soy sauce, dark soy sauce, MSG, chicken essence, and black pepper were added for seasoning, stirred well, and put aside.
The three-flavored cubes were now enticing in color and aroma, with no trace of fat, and even the leftover pork oil had completely vanished.
With all the ingredients ready, Old Chen glanced at Lucas, signaling that they were officially starting the dish preparation.
A hot pan with cold oil, a ladle of thick rice slurry was poured along the pan’s edge, allowing the white slurry to naturally drizzle down, coating the inside of the iron pan, forming a thin layer of rice skin.
Then a ladle of golden egg liquid was evenly spread across the rice skin’s surface.
As the temperature rose, the egg liquid gradually solidified, with some places visibly puffing up with small bubbles.
Old Chen, quick-eyed and dexterous, sprinkled a handful of black sesame seeds, then gently lifted the egg skin’s edge with a spatula, flipping it back into the pan after using both hands to exert slight force.
