Gourmet: From a Stall in Northern Europe

After quickly handling the orders, Lin Chen didn’t idle, and immediately stepped out of the restaurant to join the preparation lineup.

By this time, the stove was surrounded by employees, and the air was filled with a rich aroma of meat.

No need to look to know these people were watching the making of red braised pork, anyone who’s smelled it while frying knows how fragrant it is.

Lin Chen went over and placed a small basin of pork fat by the row of stoves at the back, scoop by scoop poured water into the pot, then added wood for the fire.

Today’s lunch menu is extremely lavish, with a total of twenty-four dishes to choose from, eighteen meat dishes and six vegetarian dishes, enough to satisfy different people’s needs.

In addition to the red braised pork being handled by Old Chen and Zhao Shun, Lin Chen was now preparing ribs for blanching, also a highlight.

Aren’t foreigners fond of sweet and sour flavors? Listening to advice is key, let’s arrange sweet and sour ribs!

Not only ordinary sweet and sour ribs, but also adding dried plums to fully satisfy the picky foreign palates.

Oil tofu braised with red braised pork, dried plum sweet and sour ribs, braised potato beef brisket, green pepper shredded pork, tomato scrambled eggs, iron plate egg tofu, soft fried tenderloin, scallion oil steamed abalone, garlic vermicelli steamed scallops, minced meat steamed eggs, minced meat eggplant, salt and pepper butterfly shrimp, cumin lamb chops, traditional fried chicken legs, fish-flavored shredded pork, moo shu pork, sour radish fried chicken thigh meat, kung pao chicken.

Sour, sweet, salty, spicy, everything is there, almost all are pair-with-rice dishes, casually serve two or three kinds and you can have a full bowl of rice, coupled with some steamed seafood and fried foods, life is just too wonderful.

As for the six vegetarian dishes, they are truly pure vegetarian, even having eggs cannot be counted as a vegetarian dish.

Stir-fried loofah, earth three fresh, seaweed soup, garlic oily wheat, stir-fried mixed mushrooms, braised tofu.

The whole twenty-four dishes, apart from the three meaty ones that need to be stewed ahead as they are more troublesome, the rest are relatively simple and quick to make, steamed dishes and stir-fried dishes can be done simultaneously, and something can be fried in the oil pot, this kind of simple multi-threading is not difficult for the trio of Great Xia chefs.

Some simple dishes can also be given to novice chefs, like soft fried tenderloin and traditional fried chicken legs and such, just need a demonstration, the rest no longer require their worry.

Zhao Shun has no experience with using such a big pot to stir-fry dishes, obviously letting him operate alone is not possible, so he volunteered to assist Old Chen, specifically responsible for preparing dishes and blanching with oil and other easy preliminary steps, while stir-frying to finish is independently done by Old Chen.

With time passing by, the ingredients piled up by the three became more and more, and the rich aroma of meat in the air grew thicker.

"Ladies, stop watching, some people come to lend a hand, go to the warehouse to bring out that batch of new food warmers, later they will be used for keeping the dishes warm."

"Also some others tidy up the packaging boxes, the numbers plates recycled from breakfast should also be sorted in order."

"And those plastic stools..."

Under Dais’ command, the waitstaff reluctantly dispersed from beside the stove, each starting to get busy.

Only then did they realize that the previously cleared area unknowingly lined up again, with crowded shadows crammed together, even more than those who came at breakfast.

Fortunately, having the breakfast experience, despite the surprise, the girls weren’t too nervous.

A buffet after all, the emphasis is on self-service, really not much work requires them, at most just serving dishes, the busiest are rather the three chefs.

"Whoa—"

The pot lid was lifted, a meat aroma, many times richer than before, burst forth.

Gazing at the thick bubbling brown-red sauce in the pot, Old Chen nodded with satisfaction, holding a giant spatula, gently probed along the pot’s edge, after stirring evenly, clamped a piece to taste.

After braising for more than an hour, the red braised pork has been completely softened, even a tiny bit of vibration would cause the meat chunks to shake like jelly, especially the fatty parts appear even more enticing.

To accommodate foreigners’ tendency not to eat fatty meat, this pot of red braised pork mainly uses lean five-line meat, after frying out the oil, it visibly retains much less fatty meat.

Old Chen gently blew a few puffs, then stuffed the whole piece into his mouth.

With a gentle press of the tongue, the pork skin mixed with fat instantly melted like butter, the rich aroma of fat bursting like a bomb in the mouth.

The sauce’s sweetness proportion is moderate, three parts sweet seven parts salty, the rich soy sauce flavor robustly neutralizes the remaining mild greasiness.

The lean part has been completely softened too, hardly needing chewing when eaten, neither sticks in teeth, making one irresistibly want another piece for satisfaction.

The only downside, probably the sauce hasn’t thickened enough, relatively speaking the salty and fresh taste isn’t strong enough.

Place the wooden lid aside upright, turn up the heat to begin thickening the sauce.

Smelling the red braised pork aroma, Lin Chen didn’t hold back, flipped the lid in front of him, a rich sweet and sour aroma wafted.

The color of the sweet and sour ribs sauce looks several shades darker than the red braised pork, each wisp of rising white smoke carries a hint of plum fruit fragrance, the natural sweet and sour aroma further tempts one’s saliva to flow.

Zhao Shun wasn’t idle, helped to stir the beef brisket at the back stove, while pouring in potato chunks to continue simmering for another twenty minutes.

"Sss... Ah, so fragrant, what’s being cooked?"

Lin Chen’s ear twitched slightly, clearly capturing the unfamiliar sounds coming from the rear side, simultaneously accompanied by familiar footsteps.

Wang Ziqin, President Wang’s team?

He immediately turned around in the direction of the voice and indeed saw Wang Ziqin leading the way, accompanied by two middle-aged men.

They seemed a bit older just by looking at their faces, but their muscular bodies made them appear quite robust, giving off a much younger overall impression.

At this time, guests personally brought by President Wang must be high-ranking members of the local Hunter Association?

Just as he was thinking this, from a distance, he saw Wang Ziqin winking at him.

He really guessed it right!

"Let me introduce you to, this is our Chef Lin. The restaurant’s fiery business is all thanks to his culinary skills."

As he got closer, Lin Chen could see the features of the two men, both with typical European appearances, and possibly due to long-term hunting, they carried a sense of severity with them, especially when making eye contact, which created a tremendous pressure.

He smiled, completely unflustered, and nodded to the two as a greeting: "Hello, I’m quite busy at the moment, so I’ll not be entertaining you. There’s less than half an hour to go until the end of meal service, and I have more than twenty dishes to prepare."

"That’s understandable, absolutely understandable, you go ahead, don’t mind us."

"We’re just here to grab a bite and incidentally take Mr. Lin for some training."

The two were quite agreeable, gave a simple greeting and then remained silent, quietly observing Lin Chen cooking.

Being seasoned hunters, they often cook in the wilderness and are curious to see if they can learn any useful cooking techniques from the foreign chef.

Lin Chen glanced at Wang Ziqin, pondering over why he brought guests at this precise moment.

Why now, why not earlier or later; could it be he wanted to see him show off his skills?

Sure enough, Wang Ziqin winked at him again. Although he said nothing, the unique intuition among Great Xia People made Lin Chen instantly understand.

These two must be key members of the Hunter Association, for President Wang to accompany them personally, they must have a high social status.

If his certification required their approval or recommendation, then showcasing his skills would obviously work in his favor.

Thinking of this, he started planning in his mind.

If he wanted to impress, it definitely had to be a stir-fry dish.

But not all stir-fried dishes require high heat, typically only meat dishes or fried rice use such techniques to add a bit of wok hei.

Salt and pepper shrimp or cumin lamb chops would work, but cooking shrimp and lamb too early might cause them to get cold, intensifying the fishy smell, prolonged reheating would affect the taste, which would be counterproductive.

Kung Pao chicken is spicy, not the sweet and sour flavor foreigners are familiar with, they might not be accustomed to it.

How about starting with fish-flavored shredded pork?

Just right, there are sweet and sour spareribs stewing in front of him, sharing the same vinegar and soy sauce base, it’s the same flavor profile as the fish-flavored shredded pork, saving time from even washing the pan.

He ladled out all the ribs from the pan, moving them to the side pot to continue stewing, scooped a ladle of clean water to rinse out the remaining sauce from the pan to prevent any burnt taste from overpowering when stir-frying later.

"This is the first time I’ve seen such a large wok, do all chefs in Great Xia use this kind of cookware?"

While he was cleaning the pan, the two bored hunters started chatting with Wang Ziqin.

"Not exactly, this size of stove and cookware is what my grandmother’s generation used, essentially rural equipment, decades ago before technology was advanced, cooking was done with this kind of brick and mud stove."

"Oh, I see."

"Oh, I got it, it’s just like the clay oven my grandfather built at home, he used it when he was young to roast turkeys and such."

"Exactly, that’s a good way to look at it, weren’t the earliest pizzas made in similar ovens?"

While they chatted, Lin Chen swiftly finished cleaning the pan and placed the prepped ingredients by the wok, ladling soy sauce, vinegar, and sugar into a bowl in a 1:2:3 ratio.

Normally, the sugar ratio could be reduced to 2, but foreigners like it sweet, so adding more definitely wouldn’t hurt.

Additionally, a bit of dark soy sauce, water and starch was added and mixed evenly, there was no need to add cooking wine unless the ingredients weren’t fresh.

With the wok at its highest heat, the oil-sliding method was employed as usual, letting the pan smoke before adding cold oil.

The meat strips had been pre-marinated with dark soy sauce, sea salt, and egg white, ready to be stir-fried immediately.

Today, he wasn’t making the traditional Sichuan and Chongqing version of fish-flavored shredded pork with pickled chillies, but the modified version prevalent everywhere, that includes green peppers, carrots, and bamboo shoots; he figured this version would be more palatable to foreigners.

"So much oil? Is it deep-frying?"

Just as the two hunters were amazed by the amount of oil in the wok, Lin Chen squinted slightly, reversing his hand to toss the meat strips into the pan, quickly sliding the spatula while firmly shaking the wok with his other hand.

"Shh-h-h——"