Gourmet: From a Stall in Northern Europe

The moment he smelled that fragrance, the exhaustion accumulated from the long drive and staying up late dissipated instantly. He dashed eagerly toward the kitchen, not forgetting to bring along that product list.

Upon entering the kitchen, he saw unknown golden elongated dough neatly arranged across the table. They looked like inflated churros, some surfaces glistening with oil, emitting steam.

Getting closer, the aroma of fried food grew stronger, continuously triggering saliva secretion from his mouth.

"These are youtiao, a type of fried dough. It’s one of the most common breakfast foods in Great Xia, quite similar to Spanish churros but savory. It’s usually eaten with soy milk or wontons."

Lin Chen was busy rolling out the dough and explained without looking up when he heard his voice.

"If you’re hungry, you can grab one to try, but wash your hands first, and choose carefully. Don’t touch everything; the rice balls need some time to be ready."

"Oh, right, the ingredients you delivered are mostly for making mala soup. You can pick what you want to eat and list it; I’ll prepare it later. We have bone broth, spicy, and tomato flavors."

"Sure, sure, no worries, I’m good at washing hands!"

Daniel placed the ingredient list on the table and happily ran to the sink to wash and sanitize his hands, something every restaurant kitchen is equipped with and the primary step before kitchen operations.

After washing his hands, he eagerly picked up a large youtiao that Lucas had just brought out, still sizzling with oil.

The size of this youtiao was quite exaggerated, as the churros he knew were usually finger-width, about the length of a cola straw.

But the youtiao in front of him was almost as long as his forearm, looking like four noodles stuck together with grooves in every direction.

He squeezed it, and the surface of the youtiao cracked with a ’crunch,’ revealing a hollow, fluffy interior.

"Hey, it looks a bit like a croissant?"

The large air holes inside the youtiao had layers upon layers around them, encircling each other. If it weren’t for the shape, he’d think he was holding a croissant.

Not only did the interior resemble it, but the taste did too.

These bread-like things are best enjoyed fresh; the taste was unquestionable as he eagerly stuffed it in his mouth.

He tried a few times, but even with his mouth wide open, he couldn’t fit the youtiao inside. He didn’t want to bite from the side, as his compulsion demanded he bite both ends first!

In the end, he had to forcibly squeeze it slightly flat to fit the whole thing into his mouth.

"Crunch, crunch, crunch"

A series of crisp shatters echoed in his ear as he could clearly feel the youtiao’s surface breaking while chewing.

Initially, he expected to enjoy the crispness while chewing, but surprisingly, he didn’t. Once inside his mouth, it only had a texture similar to soft bread.

There was almost no sweetness, just a faint hint of wheat starch’s aroma, with more subtle saltiness and oil aroma.

The initial taste wasn’t outstanding, lacking the rich buttery flavor of croissant bread.

But as he chewed, the savory aroma became more intense, slowly getting addictive.

The feeling of tearing off big bites was particularly captivating, making him crave more and more, enhancing his appetite.

After devouring the entire youtiao, he still wanted more, licking off the remaining grease from his fingers and eyeing the neatly arranged army of youtiao in front of him.

"Chef, are these youtiao going to be added to that rice ball thing?"

"Yes, they need to be fried crispy again before adding."

"I think they’re already delicious on their own, and they’re just a supplementary ingredient? Your Great Xia Cuisine is indeed... creative!"

"This is just the beginning~"

Lucas scoffed, "This stuff is just a common street breakfast snack in the southern part of Great Xia, hardly qualifying as creative. He plans to create national banquet dishes in his upcoming videos, now that’ll be creative!"

"Do you know what national banquet dishes are? They’re specially prepared food for the President!"

"National banquet dishes?"

Hearing the translated term, Daniel was stunned for a few seconds, "You all can create high-end dishes for the President??"

"Haha, then shouldn’t I consider myself to be eating the same food as the President by rounding up?"

"Chef, when can we take a picture together? I want to show it to my mom!"

"...? "

How’d it become about the President??

Lin Chen rolled his eyes, speechless at Lucas’s irresponsible mistranslation.

"Don’t listen to his nonsense. National banquet dishes were indeed initially made for the President but not all of them are eaten by the President. It’s just a collective term for complexly crafted foods, only representing their challenging preparation and rarity."

"I’ve never tried it before either. This time, I’m taking on a personal challenge."

"It doesn’t matter!"

Daniel grinned, showing off his pearly whites, waving his hand, "Take the picture first; you never know if a President comes to eat one day?"

"...Alright."

They just wanted a photo together, which was not an unreasonable request. In this kind of open restaurant kitchen, diners occasionally ask to take pictures with the Head Chef, and if possible, they usually oblige.

If someone’s cooking skills weren’t up to par, people wouldn’t even bother taking pictures with them. This was a kind of affirmation of his culinary skills.

Daniel was quite adept. He didn’t make him pose; he just seized the moment when the dough for the fried dough stick was being stretched and the middle part was about to drop into the oil pot to snap a photo together.

He made a peace sign, taking a shot of Lin Chen’s side profile.

Of course, he also took a frontal shot, capturing a photo of Lin Chen holding the dough.

After waiting for another ten minutes, they finally finished frying all the fried dough sticks.

The kitchen staff had all gathered by this time, each busy at their own stations.

Dais and Elsa were busy grating carrot and potato shreds, while Lin Chen quickly processed the green beans, removing both ends and slicing them at an angle into pieces that didn’t need to be too thin, about half a finger joint in width.

This thickness would cook quickly while frying, providing a good chew and retaining the right amount of juice.

The glutinous rice was already steamed, filling the air with the fragrance of rice mixed with the aroma of wood.

Lucas lifted the lid of the wooden barrel, releasing the excess steam, and then used a long rice spoon to slightly fluff and mix the glutinous rice to speed up the evaporation of steam, preventing the bottom layer from getting too soggy, preserving the distinct grainy texture.

The preparation of the side dishes was straightforward. A little vegetable oil was enough to coat the pan, quickly stir-fried until just cooked, seasoned with a little chicken essence and sea salt.

Stir-fried carrots, green pepper potato shreds, stir-fried green beans—these were the staples he’d grown up eating.

Originally, there should have been taro shreds and green pepper dried tofu as well, but they couldn’t be found here, so they had to do without.

Stir-fried lotus root slices were also an option, but they needed to be tender ones, with a crisp and juicy taste. Older lotus roots would be too starchy and affect the flavor.

The demand for lotus roots in this market was not high. He figured there wouldn’t be any tender lotus roots available, so he decided not to use them.

The process of wrapping glutinous rice balls wasn’t technically challenging, even Lucas could do it. After he finished stir-frying, he cut a few more fried dough sticks into small pieces for quick re-frying, which only took a few seconds, as any longer would risk burning them.

This task wasn’t difficult; it just required full attention, so it was assigned to Dais and Elsa to complete together.

The whole fried dough stick was casually cut into similarly sized segments for re-frying.

"Any dietary restrictions? If not, I’ll include everything. Should it be one savory and one sweet?"

"All of them, all of them, I’m not picky!"

Daniel was already holding his phone, pointing the camera at Lucas’s hands, wanting to document the magical process of making these rice balls.

Lucas lifted the wooden barrel lid and scooped out a spoonful of purple rice, with each grain distinctly reflecting a shiny luster, quite different from regular rice.

Holding a bowl covered in cling wrap in his left hand, he scooped the purple rice onto the bottom of the bowl and gently spread it out.

Then he scooped a generous spoonful of each of the three freshly stir-fried hot side dishes, piling them on the rice, followed by some ready-made diced radish, two to three pieces of crisp fried dough stick segments, depending on their size, and finally covered everything with another layer of purple rice.

Using the reverse side of the cling wrap, he flipped it back, pressing the rice ball firmly with both palms, forming it into a fist-sized sticky rice ball.

"Here you go, eat it while it’s hot. If you wait too long, the fried dough stick inside will get soft, affecting the taste."

"I’ll eat it, I’ll eat it right away!"

After Daniel took a close-up shot of the sticky rice ball, he immediately tore open the cling wrap and took a big bite, as if worried it would become unpalatable if delayed.

The texture of this rice, called glutinous rice, was completely different from what he had imagined. Unlike typical rice, it had a chewy texture!

Foreigners usually eat Middle Eastern long-grain rice the most, used for buttered rice or dishes like kabsa.

The characteristic of this rice is its distinct grains with a soft texture, but it lacks chewiness and can overcook easily with just a bit more water, so it’s usually steamed in the oven.

Besides Middle Eastern long-grain rice, Thai fried rice is quite famous, often made with aromatic rice.

Aromatic rice is also a type of long-grain rice but has a stronger rice fragrance.

Yet, this rice called glutinous rice completely overturned his understanding of rice!

Not only did it have a distinct one-grain-at-a-time texture, but each grain even had its own independent presence, with a slight rebound when bitten.

When many grains are chewed together, the gaps between them release a rich woody fragrance, and after a few more chews, it even develops a slightly sticky feel.

Even without biting into the side dishes inside, just tasting the pure rice, he found it incredibly delicious!

As he marveled at the deliciousness of the glutinous rice steamed in the wooden barrel, Lucas started making the second sweet version of sticky rice.

Unlike the previous purple rice ball, the sweet sticky rice used white glutinous rice by default, which means it didn’t include purple rice in the steaming process.

The method was the same, with only the filling differing.

After spreading the sticky rice at the bottom of the bowl, he’d scoop a spoonful of roasted black sesame mixed with sugar, followed by a layer of pork floss, three to four segments of old fried dough sticks, and finish off with a topping of white glutinous rice.

After shaping it, he wasn’t done yet. He’d then scoop two spoonfuls of powdered sugar mixed with black sesame over the surface to thoroughly coat the sticky rice ball.