Gourmet: From a Stall in Northern Europe

"Great, thank you so much, chef!"

Upon hearing such exciting news, the girl’s eyebrows raised with a smile, her beautiful big eyes curving into two crescent moons.

"No problem. If you can get used to the taste of Great Xia Cuisine, it’s a good thing for me too. I can get more feedback from you and see how to improve the flavors while retaining the original taste, so more people can enjoy Great Xia Cuisine."

The two of them chatted about Great Xia Cuisine for about ten minutes. The girl displayed a genuine interest, not the kind that was faked, but a true desire to taste it, swallowing a dozen times during the conversation. Even when caught, she just shyly smiled without feeling embarrassed.

As they chatted, the familiar sound of a pickup truck engine rang in their ears.

Lin Chen turned his head and saw John parking the truck at the restaurant’s entrance, waving at him.

It seemed like he had come to make a delivery.

The girl also realized Lin Chen had to get to work, quickly pulling out her phone.

"Can I have your contact information?"

"Sure."

Lin Chen didn’t think much of it. It was rare to see such a quality foodie initiate a conversation with the chef. It was the first time in all his stall-running experience.

After exchanging contact information, the girl stood up voluntarily.

"I won’t disturb your work, chef. But if I message you, you better not ignore me!"

"Don’t worry. As long as I’m not working, if I see it, I’ll definitely reply."

"Then it’s settled!"

The girl waved at him and didn’t forget to put the chair back in place as she left.

After taking two steps, she paused and turned around.

"Oh, right, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Nicole, I’m from Ruidao. It’s nice to meet you, chef!"

"I’m also pleased to meet you. My surname is Lin. You can just call me that."

"Lin, you don’t have a girlfriend yet, do you?"

"...?"

Lin Chen’s smile froze, still unresponsive, as Nicole giggled and ran off, with a fleeting glimpse of her crimson ear tips hidden under her hair.

Following her path, he noticed her companions under a sunshade some distance away.

The two were whispering to each other, occasionally glancing over and waving.

Lin Chen shook his head helplessly, never expecting to be outsmarted like that.

This girl was quite clever, using a roundabout strategy, finding a breakthrough with food.

If she had asked for his contact info right away, he probably wouldn’t have given it.

But he didn’t think much of it. Generally, there are aesthetic barriers between Caucasians and Asians that prevent true affection, and the girl was probably just transferring her curiosity about the food onto him.

It’s not like he’s looking for a relationship anyway. As long as he makes his stance clear, she’ll eventually back off, right?

"Hey Lin, are you making something delicious again? A broth, perhaps?"

John was unloading boxes of bones and meat, and his eyes also lit up as he saw Lin Chen approaching.

He hadn’t tasted Great Xia soup yet, and since the food was so delicious, the soup must be amazing too!

Even though he couldn’t cook, he knew buying so many bones was for making broth; there wasn’t any other use.

"Hot pot? Have you heard of it?"

"No."

John shook his head blankly. "Hot pot is that red sauce that makes your lips tingle, right? Is it a spicy dish with broth?"

Judging from the bones, he quickly guessed the general idea.

"Sort of. It can come with broth or without, and it’s not necessarily spicy. Different regions have their own ways of making hot pot, but it originally started as spicy, hence the name."

"Moreover, the advantage of hot pot is that the ingredients are self-selected, and the flavor is also self-selected. So you can have the chef make a dish perfectly suited to your tastes."

"I see, that sounds interesting. What time are you selling it tomorrow? I’ll definitely come and try it!"

"Around noon. I’ll message you beforehand when I’m prepping the dishes."

"Alright."

John chatted casually with him while pushing the box of ingredients into the restaurant, walking with a rhythm until something seemed to ring a bell.

"So, what delicious thing are we making for breakfast tomorrow?"

"...Glutinous rice balls, which is a variety of rice, with a chewier texture. Once steamed, you scoop a spoonful to flatten, fill it with ingredients, and wrap it up. It’s somewhat similar to uncut sushi and is quite a distinctive breakfast in Great Xia."

"Breakfast is at seven, right? Okay, see you in the morning~"

After transporting the things to the back kitchen, John cheerfully took off his straw hat, waved, and strode away.

Lin Chen didn’t mind this fellow’s increasingly frequent free meal behavior.

If he’s willing to pay, he can; if not, it doesn’t matter, it’s not about a few bucks. They’re all colleagues, and he delivers goods so often without mentioning delivery fees, so there’s no need to bring up the meal money.

It was still early, with no signs of dinner guests yet, so Lin decided to start boiling the bones while they were fresh.

These are fresh bones from pigs, cows, and chickens slaughtered today. After washing them clean and blanching them once, you can put them together with the additional ingredients into the stock pot and start simmering.

The bone broth is the base for mala soup, whether in bowls or for cooking ingredients, it’s all mixed based on the bone broth.

With advanced technology today, many mala soup restaurants in the country skip the simmering step, adding water with some high-tech concentrates, and within minutes, create dozens of liters of rich soup base.

Those stock concentrates, spice oils, and various items are also sold on the Shunfu platform, just not in large quantities and not specifically for mala soup. Moreover, since he’s not planning to cheat, he might as well simmer it himself, which feels more genuine.

A professional chef has to take responsibility for their guests, and using high-tech shortcuts tarnishes the profession.

Unless there’s truly no material or time is tight, he wouldn’t consider using stock concentrates; if he can, he’ll always simmer it himself.

It’s not that these concentrated bases are bad, but they have too many additives and strong flavors that aren’t healthy if consumed frequently, though having them occasionally should be fine.

But he is a chef, and if he gets used to cheating methods, he’ll gradually lose passion for cooking, always thinking of ways to cut corners, which would be counterproductive.

There’s nothing special about the method for simmering bone broth; it’s similar to normal soup-making steps, just needing to add some green onions and bay leaves to remove any odor.

If you want, you can also add onions, carrots, or other things to enhance the flavor of the broth, according to your preference, as there’s no fixed recipe for this.

The main recipe lies in making the spice oil, which is the essence of mala flavor in mala soup.

Each restaurant has its own spice oil formula, but the types of spices used aren’t significantly different overall.

"Measure and clean the cinnamon, star anise, bay leaves, fennel, cloves, galangal, Angelica dahurica, cardamom, kencur, black cardamom, white pepper, ginger, and cumin according to the recipe and proportions, dry them, and then crush everything into a powder."

"The spice powder can be directly boiled in the mala base and filtered out, or bundled with gauze for convenience... oh, I get it, they don’t need to be ground too fine, just crushed, which indeed makes using gauze more convenient."

"The method for making mala base..."

After a quick glance, it turns out to be quite similar to the method for making Sichuan-style red oil; the difference lies in additionally frying a base, and the method for frying the base is akin to making mala crayfish, using green onion, ginger, garlic, Pixian Douban Sauce, and hotpot base.

Essentially, it involves mixing the mala crayfish base with Sichuan-style red oil and then adding bone broth and the spice packet for simmering; finally, a bit of milk powder is mixed in to make the mala soup base.

"Luckily, I have a stock of red oil, so frying the base isn’t too troublesome. The remaining steps can wait until after making breakfast tomorrow, letting the bone broth simmer overnight."

"And then there’s the tomato soup base. This might also be about simmering some tomato base and mixing it with the bone broth?"

"Oh no, I have to consider vegetarians, so forget it; directly changing to vegetable broth would be better. That means I need two pots for the bases, which is a bit troublesome."

Vegetable broth doesn’t need to simmer for too long; it can be faster, around an hour, or longer if simmered more slowly, but making it in the morning should be in time.

In conclusion, I need to prepare three types of soup bases: one spicy, one non-spicy, and a tomato base for vegetarians.

"It seems a bit complex, and I feel the steps could be reduced. Maybe I can skip the mala soup base and directly use the bone broth as the base for cooking, then add mala spice oil to individual bowls according to guests’ preferences?"

Thinking about it carefully, it seems right; after all, there are few foreign guests who can handle spicy food, and although the mala soup base diluted with the bone broth won’t be strong, it doesn’t seem necessary to make an entire pot of soup base for a minority.

With the soup base plan set, there’s nothing much to worry about; he’s already placed the ingredient orders, and once they arrive, he’ll clean them up quickly.

"The bone broth is already simmering, the mala soup ingredients are on the way, the sticky rice materials will be ready by tomorrow morning, and the king crab won’t be caught until tonight and will arrive by tomorrow morning at the earliest. Seems like there’s nothing left to do right now?"

He frowned in thought for a while, feeling somewhat at a loss when suddenly having nothing to do.

"Why not start trying to make the dough for the fried dough sticks? After dinner, we can try frying a batch as a test. If it succeeds, we can prepare it directly at night; if not, we’ll have clues to know how to improve."

It was close to four o’clock, and there hadn’t been any news of dinner guests; roughly estimated, it would be around five or six before anyone arrives.

Then he went to wash and sanitize his hands, dried them, and scooped a big bowl of flour.

"250 grams of flour, 3 grams of salt, 5 grams of sugar, 1 gram of baking soda, 5 grams of baking powder, one egg, 50 grams of milk, 70 grams of water."

First, measure out a small bowl of flour in the right proportions, mix all the dry ingredients evenly, and then add all the wet ingredients.

You can mix with your fingers or use chopsticks or other tools, but the technique needs attention; don’t knead the dough, as kneading increases gluten, making the fried dough sticks not fluffy.