Gourmet: Midnight Vending-Chapter 345 - 322: Masterful Culinary Skill

The egg yolk is fried until it looks like a golden blanket, and the egg white is fried until it looks like snowflakes.

Gao Hao was a bit puzzled, wondering how the egg liquid could be fried into such light and thin snowflake-like pieces. Is it scientific?

Of course, nobody would know that Chen Mo had added a bit of water starch to the egg white liquid, allowing it to fry into the appearance of snowflakes.

After ginger pieces and garlic slices were sautéed for fragrance, sausages were immediately added, along with a small amount of ham cubes.

Feeling bored while waiting for the lion’s head dish, Qin Zhenhai stood up and returned to the food cart, noticing the ingredients added to the pan with a smile on his face.

"Traditional Yangzhou Fried Rice uses Jinhua Ham, but the young boss here even added sausages." He turned to the cultural and tourism leaders and said, "See, this is the common misconception about our Yangzhou Fried Rice among the public. They think Yangzhou Fried Rice is just a mixture of whatever ingredients you like, a random stir-fry. Ha, in the food business, we really have to keep striving!"

"You’re right. Now, the entire country is promoting food culture, and we can’t fall behind. Our cultural and tourism department definitely needs to cooperate."

Gao Hao sneered inwardly, thinking to himself that they don’t know anything.

The young boss must have his own reasons for adding sausages, just like how he added soy sauce to the lion’s head dish!

The sausages were briefly stir-fried for about twenty seconds, and you could clearly see new oil oozing out from the sausages, slowly seeping into the ham.

While chatting, Qin Zhenhai didn’t forget to keep an eye on Chen Mo’s oddly shaped black iron pan and was momentarily stunned by what he saw.

The words on his lips were instinctively withdrawn.

Just then, Chen Mo scooped a spoonful of rice from a bamboo sieve on the cabinet top with a black ladle and poured it directly into the pan.

It should be noted that the pan at this point had only a little oil left from sautéing the sausages and ham. The rice going into the pan was almost like a dry stir-fry!

But this didn’t seem to affect Chen Mo’s operation. With just a few light shuffles with the black ladle, the rice separated, with almost no clumping, and turned fluffy and distinct with ease.

This was understandable.

"Did he air the rice beforehand to let the surface refine quickly?" Qin Zhenhai muttered instinctively.

This isn’t an uncommon practice. Those who have run restaurants know there’s never enough day-old rice, so many restaurants achieve a similar effect by either refrigerating or letting the freshly cooked rice cool naturally.

With the rice in the pan, Chen Mo immediately got busy.

His left hand held the pan handle, and his right hand operated the black ladle.

The large flipping skills he learned in Yu Province came in handy at this moment.

The black pan, at a strange angle, suddenly jerked, sending rice grains, mixed with the red sausage and the meat-colored ham, flying up, only to pause momentarily in mid-air before being deftly caught back in the pan by Chen Mo.

In doing this, the stir-fry was flipped over.

Chen Mo didn’t even look while flipping the pan; his right hand with the black ladle accurately found a small bowl and scooped out half a ladle of beans.

For a moment, Qin Zhenhai’s eyes didn’t know where to look.

Because the half-ladle of beans wasn’t just one kind, on closer inspection, it was a mix of green peas and fava beans.

The addition of the two kinds of beans instantly made the colors more vibrant.

Then, Chen Mo did another flip!

With his left hand flipping the pan, his right hand poured the golden egg blanket and snowflake-like egg whites back into the pan.

The black ladle’s flipping force significantly increased, not only in strength but also in speed!

The black ladle clanked against the black pan, while Chen Mo’s rapid stir-frying made Qin Zhenhai’s expression turn serious.

That’s...

"The semi-coagulated egg liquid returns to the pan, blending with the rice to form a golden-wrap-silver effect, while the coagulated part is fried into small golden nuggets? This!"

Qin Zhenhai looked at the ingredients in the pan and then glanced up at Chen Mo’s handsome face.

It wasn’t that this was such an inventive technique, but that he was so young yet capable of doing it.

You have to know, this isn’t merely about the golden-wrap-silver effect. It requires frying the egg yolk to a semi-coagulated state, and just achieving that is difficult.

If the heat is too high, even the semi-coagulated state makes it difficult to wrap around the rice again.

If the heat is insufficient, the egg yolk remains liquid, no matter how much it is stir-fried, it would be difficult to achieve those golden egg yolk fragments.

’This young man’s cooking skills have already reached the pinnacle!’

Qin Zhenhai quickly concluded in his mind, not daring to underestimate the fried rice in Chen Mo’s hands any longer.

All the necessary ingredients were already present, just when everyone thought Chen Mo was about to serve the rice and finish the dish!

"Swish!"

A burst of steam exploded inside the food cart, so intense that it forced the viewers to step back, afraid of being scalded if they didn’t retreat quickly enough.

It was only after everyone calmed down that they realized the abundant steam was harmless; otherwise, Chen Mo, who directly faced it, would have been scalded beyond recognition.

And once they regained their composure, the crowd’s expressions changed dramatically again.

Qin Zhenhai’s expression grew increasingly serious.

Yu Hongtao, Gao Hao, and the Xue Brothers, who came running upon hearing the noise, had facial expressions that could only be described as aghast!

"Did he just..."

"Is this even human?"

"Whoa, I’ve been in the kitchen for seven or eight years and have never seen this method before. Master Qin, have you?"

Qin Zhenhai glanced sideways at Xue An, scaring the young fellow enough to pull his neck back and dare not say more.

Just after saying that, Chen Mo repeated the earlier operation.

This time, it truly amazed everyone!

Only to see Chen Mo, with his left hand moving as before, deliberately tossing the mixed fried rice in the pan up into the air.

Then...

The black ladle in his right hand, at a speed almost leaving an afterimage, quickly scooped half a ladle of chicken broth!

Yes, it’s precisely the portion of chicken broth set aside from the very beginning, crystal clear, placed on the worktop.

The black ladle drew an arc, scattering the chicken broth into the pan in a circular drop!

It was precisely this maneuver that caused the intense steam to rise inside the food cart.

And as the chicken broth hit the pan and was instantly vaporized by the high heat, the tossed fried rice perfectly dropped back into the pan.

The black ladle continued its brisk clatter, never ceasing the stir-fry.

After repeating this maneuver twice, the onlookers were astonished to find that the previously ordinary steam now carried a rich fragrance.

It’s indescribable what’s in there, but it smells particularly enticing!

After a few more quick stirs, Chen Mo dipped the black ladle into a water bucket on the ground.

The position was quite low, making it hard for others to see.

In the bucket, besides the clear water, there was plenty of ice cubes, bathing white river shrimp.

These shrimp had been prepped, cooked directly in water, and cooled immediately in the ice bucket to maintain an excellent springy texture!

With a steady hand, the black ladle precisely fetched three shrimp, throwing them smoothly into the pan for a light stir.

Once more!

Toss the pan! Add broth! Stir!

After three consecutive rounds, the observing crowd clearly noticed that the aroma this time was even more concentrated than before.

Chen Mo’s right hand turned down the heat, and the black ladle deftly drizzled three types of liquid onto the surface of the fried rice.

On close inspection, it was shrimp oil, sesame oil, and Shaoxing wine.

The strong heat was reignited.

This time no pan flipping, just a few tosses to evenly mix the sauces into the rice, then with just two scoops, the black ladle served all the cooked rice into a bowl.

Chen Mo gave the small bowl a little push.

"Here, fried rice."