Gourmet: From a Stall in Northern Europe

"Is there a possibility she’s not alone?"

Talking about this, even Lucas laughed himself.

"It’s quite unbelievable that she has a social circle here. She even teamed up with a local influencer beauty blogger to shoot travel videos. She arranged all the visas in advance, and Xiao Hei pretended to be her cat. They went on a self-driving tour without any issues."

"...Is that possible??"

Dais opened her mouth in shock, "Is this the life of wealthy people in Great Xia? I want to travel the world too!"

"Xiao Hei is almost a celebrity cat now. It’s in every episode of the latest videos, just two or three videos and its followers are already more than mine. My mentor even created an account just for its daily life, and now it has nearly a hundred thousand followers, I’ve only just surpassed ten thousand!"

"With legs like that to hug, I’m tempted to be reincarnated as a cat in my next life. Why do humans need to work? Work is so exhausting!!"

"Then why don’t you make an appearance in your mentor’s videos? Her follower count must be huge, right?"

"Oh, please don’t mention it."

Lucas shook his head and sighed, "There’s a traditional concept in Great Xia of raising sons frugally and daughters lavishly, which extends to the idea that men must strive on their own, starting from scratch."

"My mentor says she will only collaborate with me in videos once I accumulate fifty thousand followers on my own. Otherwise, don’t think of relying on her coattails. Maybe this is the sad reality for small-time bloggers."

"Hmm... Cheer up! You can do it, you’ve already achieved twenty percent, haven’t you?"

Lucas’s mouth twitched. Though he knew she was comforting and encouraging him, ever since he faced the tides of Great Xia, these words sounded oddly off to him.

"Just focus on handling the tomatoes, I’ll go boil the water first."

...

Wednesday morning.

At exactly five o’clock.

Lin Chen had already arrived in the restaurant’s kitchen, starting to filter the bone broth that had been simmering all night on a low flame.

Pork bone, beef bone, and chicken carcass had been stewing in the pot for so long that the broth had turned a milky, slightly yellow color, emitting a rich aroma.

Authentic bone broth will inevitably have a slight yellowish tint because the goal is to extract the nutritional essence from the bones, the marrow which mainly comprises fat.

When the fat melts, it naturally acquires a yellow-white color; if the broth is pure white, it’s hundred percent artificially blended.

On the adjacent stove, another pot of broth was simmering, floating with plenty of onions, leeks, carrots, and kelp, combining the methods of Western veggie broth and Japanese veggie broth.

After filtering the bone broth, he proceeded to fry a pot of spicy base, mixing it with red oil before adding the bone broth, and finally mixing in some milk powder to enhance flavor and aroma, while giving the broth a milky-white color.

The resulting soup indeed had the taste of mala soup, a faint spicy aroma mingling with a light milk fragrance. Drinking it plain wouldn’t seem salty, nor was the spiciness overwhelming.

Of course, he deliberately reduced the proportion of spicy seasoning so that foreigners could accept it, ensuring it’s not overly pungent.

For those wanting extra spice, they just need to add a scoop of marinade, making it simple and convenient.

When it’s time to dip vegetables, use the bone broth for dipping, while the mala soup is simply for adding flavor.

After preparing the broth, he then started washing and rinsing the rice, loading it into a half-person-high wooden tub to steam.

The glutinous rice for rice balls must be steamed in a wooden tub for optimal taste.

Additionally, glutinous rice, unlike regular rice, can’t be cooked in a rice cooker; otherwise, it would turn mushy and devoid of the distinct chewy texture. Most often it’s prepared by raw frying or steaming.

Glutinous rice steamed in a wooden tub carries a faint woody fragrance, akin to Lotus Leaf Chicken and dumplings.

After handling the major tasks, the next step was the most crucial.

Frying the dough sticks.

Last night, he tried it out and surprisingly found a knack for it, achieving perfect success on his first attempt, frying up some fluffy and crispy dough sticks.

Previously, he saw various online videos of people failing when trying this at home, thinking it might be difficult.

Yet, is it really that easy?

However, most of the credit surely belongs to the recipe from the system; the key to dough products is the right proportions, without which efforts would be in vain.

Taking out from the cold storage full baking trays of dough wrapped in cling film, each tray was neatly lined with shaped dough strips, roughly estimating there were at least three hundred dough sticks.

He took one strip, removed the cling film, sprinkled flour on the table to prevent sticking, and gently rolled it out with a rolling pin into a rectangular flat sheet, about the thickness of a french fry.

First, comes the shaping, cutting off the uneven edges, then gently tidying both sides, using two-finger width as the boundary to divide the sheet one by one.

With a chopstick dipped in water, he carefully pressed down a vertical line in the middle of the even-numbered sheets.

No need to use too much water, and avoid shaky hands while pressing; ensure the water doesn’t touch anywhere other than the central line.

A single dough strip yielded twelve sheets, paired two by two, gently taking up one without the line and placing it atop the one with the line, perfectly overlapping them.

For beautifully fried dough sticks, this step is crucial. When picking up the sheet, do so with care to avoid deformation, using a silicone or plastic spatula for assistance.

Once they are layered, using the back of a knife, gently press down along the center. Ensure alignment with the underlying water mark but don’t press all the way, which may cause the sheets to tear and fry unevenly.

Preheat the oil in advance, the temperature must not be lower than 180, ideally around 190 degrees.

Throw a piece of scrap dough into the oil; if it sinks and quickly floats up with bubbles, the oil temperature is right.

Take a portion of doughnut dough and hold it above the oil pot, gently support both ends with your index and middle fingers, and also lightly press the surface with your thumb, using technique to stretch it lengthwise rather than pressing hard at both ends, trying to maintain the dough’s shape without sagging.

The stretched dough takes the preliminary shape of a doughnut and naturally falls into the oil pot.

One second.

Two seconds.

Quickly release, letting the dough free fall into the oil, making sure to retract your hand speedily to avoid hot oil splashing onto your hand.

It could cause blisters at worst, burns at worst.

After sinking into the oil, the dough will rapidly float up and expand, taking the shape of a doughnut in the blink of an eye.

Flip it every five seconds or so to ensure even heating and avoid burning.

As the color turns yellower, flip it faster.

Once the exterior turns a golden brown, lightly tinged with yellow-brown, you can take it out to drain excess oil; it will be a crispy and soft fresh doughnut.

If you want to make old-fashioned doughnuts, you’ll need to fry them a second time; however, that’s quick and easy to overdo, turning doughnuts bitter and unusable. Thus, he plans to fry all of them first and then fry them again together.

There are many methods to make doughnuts, and he exchanged for the simplest one from the system.

A slightly more difficult type is the "Rod Doughnut". It’s said you can’t shape them in a couple of months of practice since the batter is as thin as paste and can simply be lifted and stretched using two chopsticks before tossing into the oil, making the process extremely quick and efficient.

Just watching videos, he couldn’t bring himself to take on the challenge.

It looks hard to make, no need to push himself unnecessarily.

The first doughnut was tested to check oil temperature and get a feel for the process.

Starting with the second one, the making speed can be increased, frying one after another continuously, taking a moment to flip them over.

However, as doughnut quantities increase, flipping them becomes a little bustling, so it’s best to have someone lend a hand.

Therefore, at five-thirty, Lucas walked into the back kitchen yawning.

"So, what’s up?"

"Just flip the doughnuts, it’s easy. Once fried to this level, take them out, don’t worry about doneness, they’ll be fried again later, just roughly done would be fine."

Seeing the freshly baked, golden crispy doughnuts laid out on the baking tray’s wire rack, Lucas instantly woke up, swallowing saliva involuntarily.

"Wow, doughnuts! Feels like I haven’t had them for months; they smell so good!"

Speaking, he grabbed one and stuffed it into his mouth.

"Crunch."

The crispy crust shattered, revealing the airy and fluffy interior.

Doughnuts made from this recipe differ from the soft and soggy types commonly found at roadside breakfast joints. With lower moisture, they’re primarily crispy yet soft, with a taste somewhat similar to freshly baked croissants.

The crust is crisp and slightly crumbly, with big air pockets inside, offering a soft and bouncy texture, overall mild savory with a light oil taste, easy to eat.

"These doughnuts are delicious, definitely outshine those from roadside breakfast venues. With skills like these, why keep it hidden? They’d absolutely be popular instantly if sold!"

After one doughnut, Lucas’s appetite was fully roused; he grabbed another one before stepping over and picking up the chopsticks to start flipping the doughnuts floating on the oil surface.

"I bet just selling them like this would guarantee good sales; foreigners love fried snacks and baked goods. You know how popular churros are; these could easily outshine churros by a mile!"

"Churros?"

Lin Chen was puzzled, "Wow, I almost forgot about that; I don’t like sweets. Tried it once and never bought again, don’t like the powdered sugar and cinnamon powder, just couldn’t stomach down."

Churros are classic Spanish snacks, dubbed the foreign version of doughnuts, popular worldwide.

If Lucas hadn’t brought it up, he’d really have forgotten about them.

Initially worried about the doughnuts’ sales, he was now at ease, gaining more confidence for the upcoming traditional breakfast challenge.

How about trying it tomorrow morning, riding the momentum, and use today’s glutinous rice balls for some goodwill building, too.

While the two were busy at the fryer, the roller shutter door of the rear delivery channel suddenly opened with a rustling sound.

As Daniel lifted the shutter, a rich fragrance of fried dough hit him in the face.

"Hmm..."

Inhaling deeply, the combined aroma of oil and wheat filled his senses.

"Smells incredible, what’s cooking here? Wasn’t it supposed to be rice balls? Why does it smell like something fried?"