Free Web NovelChapter 72: Seventy-two Chapter: Thin-skinned Buns
"What are you looking at, Manager?" Betty leaned in next to Chen Ze and asked curiously.
Chen Ze didn’t mind Betty coming closer. He was checking Baidu Maps, as he still needed to buy a relatively novel ingredient tomorrow; Chen Ze didn’t think it was available at the vegetable market, at least he hadn’t seen it for sale when he previously went there.
"Hasn’t any customer come in?" Chen Ze looked at the address for the lamb wholesale market and wrote it down on a piece of paper.
"No, not yet, at least I haven’t seen any customers come in while I’ve been here." Betty shook her head, she had been keeping watch outside the whole time, but hadn’t seen a single person.
Chen Ze glanced at his phone; it was already 22:45. It looked like the King in Yellow wouldn’t be coming today.
"Alright then, we’re off work. Come to work at the same time tomorrow." Chen Ze yawned, feeling a bit tired now, and eager to get back to his room to have a good sleep. freёwebnovel.com
"See you, Manager~" As soon as Betty heard about getting off work, her mood seemed much brighter.
Chen Ze watched silently as Betty hopped away from the restaurant, then he locked the door and went upstairs to sleep.
The next morning, Chen Ze got up very early. It hadn’t even dawned yet, but Chen Ze was already taking a taxi to the lamb wholesale market, as he didn’t know whether he’d still be able to buy that ingredient if he arrived too late.
The lamb wholesale market opened very early, and Chen Ze already saw several vendors laying out freshly slaughtered lamb on the cutting boards ready for sale.
"Hey, little Chen." Chen Ze rolled his eyes, then turned to look at the person who had spoken.
"Good morning, Master Li." Chen Ze looked at the middle-aged man in front of him, feeling a bit irritated. He didn’t want to have any interaction with Li Shufu.
"Not bad, little Chen, getting up so early. Are you out to buy groceries?" The speaker was Li Shufu, Chen Ze’s ’classmate’ from the culinary school.
"Yes, I came here to buy some lamb today. I want to try making a dish." Although he didn’t want to engage with him, Chen Ze couldn’t simply ignore Li Shufu, so he repressed his emotions and replied halfheartedly.
"Young man, at your age, you shouldn’t be thinking about inventing dishes all day. When I was your age..." Watching Li Shufu launch into a lengthy lecture, Chen Ze clenched his fists. freeweɓnøvel.com
Here it came again. This uncle didn’t have much talent, but he was particularly talkative and overly familiar. His classmates from the same course were all quite annoyed by him.
As Chen Ze hummed noncommittally in response, he glanced over the lamb vendors’ cutting boards, looking for the ingredient he wanted.
"Let me tell you, we chefs need to get up early. You young people only know how to sleep in and play with your phones, you’ll never get anything done, a bunch of useless..." Chen Ze took a deep breath; he now understood how Sun Wukong felt in ’A Chinese Odyssey’.
Chen Ze had never met a man who talked so much, and the man acted like he was better due to his age, which made Chen Ze want to retort.
"Of course, you’re not bad, little Chen. You even attend classes at the culinary school, which shows some self-awareness..." Chen Ze checked his phone; Li Shufu had been talking at him for five minutes already.
Chen Ze really wanted to ask Li Shufu how he managed to talk non-stop for so long without getting a dry mouth.
"Let me take a drink..." Seeing Li Shufu pull out his water bottle, Chen Ze quickly made the excuse that he needed to buy ingredients and dashed off, leaving Li Shufu standing there confused.
"Tsk, tsk, young people these days just lack patience." Li Shufu closed his bottle, shook his head, and slowly followed behind Chen Ze.
Chen Ze certainly noticed the commotion behind him, but for now, he couldn’t get rid of it because he had already found the ingredient he wanted.
"How much for this?" Chen Ze reached out, pointing at a long strip of ingredient on the chopping board and asked.
"Young master has a good eye, this thing is thirty-five yuan per jin," the veggie vendor gave Chen Ze a thumbs-up.
"Okay, I’ll take it all." Chen Ze didn’t haggle, since it wasn’t likely that he was the only one in the whole city who knew the deliciousness and wonderful uses of this ingredient, so he decided to snap it up quickly.
At this moment, Li Shufu also stood behind Chen Ze, peeking at what Chen Ze was buying, then looked at him with a surprised face, "Young Chen, do you need to buy this as a tonic at such a young age?"
"Do you perhaps have some misunderstanding about the ingredient I’m buying?" Chen Ze felt he could barely hold back the primordial force inside him.
"Young man, there’s no need to be shy, I can understand. I just didn’t expect that you..." Li Shufu looked Chen Ze up and down and clicked his tongue twice.
"Young master, would you like your lamb tail chopped up?" the mutton seller probably couldn’t stand it any longer and asked loudly.
"Chop it." Chen Ze nodded and then glanced at Li Shufu.
The stunned expression on Li Shufu’s face brightened Chen Ze’s mood quite a bit, but Chen Ze decided to twist the knife further.
"Master Li, I really don’t know what goes on in a chef’s mind every day. Could it be that you’ve already... tsk tsk." Watching Li Shufu run off with a red face, Chen Ze wore a look of disdain.
Carrying his newly purchased lamb tails, Chen Ze checked his phone and then headed back to the restaurant first.
Lamb tail is quite a unique ingredient, looking more like a blob of fat than anything else, discouraging anyone from wanting to eat it at first glance, even making one feel instantly sated.
But the moment you actually taste it, you can experience the instantly melting deliciousness, rich yet not greasy, expressing the tenderness of the ingredient to the utmost just by its own merits.
Chen Ze stroked his chin, contemplating how to cook the lamb tail.
Typically, lamb tail can be simply stewed in water, then sliced and dipped in salt, which can also showcase its delectability.
Lamb tail can also be used in hot pot. Into a steaming pot, add a plate of chopped lamb tail, which not only makes the lamb tail itself irresistible with its fresh aroma but also imparts this fragrance to subsequent ingredients, which is quite magical.
And Chen Ze planned to keep half for hot pot and stewing, while intending to roast the other half.
"Still got some time, I’ll grill a skewer to try first." Chen Ze swallowed, then washed the lamb tail, cut it into small pieces, and placed them on the grill.
After sprinkling cumin and chili powder, soon a skewer of freshly grilled lamb tail was ready. Chen Ze picked it up, inhaling the familiar aroma, and felt his mouth watering even more.
With a bite, Chen Ze experienced the unique texture of the lamb tail, unlike meat but also not like oil, enhanced by the cumin and chili powder. This single skewer was a culinary treat in itself.
However, Chen Ze did not receive the system notification he had most been looking forward to, guessing that grilled lamb tail had not been included by the system as a type of cooking.
"These next few days I’ll learn how to make thin-skinned buns, then I can start selling breakfast." Chen Ze mused, gnawing on the lamb tail skewer.
