Gourmet: Midnight Vending-Chapter 357 - 331: Three-Piece Bun, Revise Revise Revise!

Chapter 357: Chapter 331: Three-Piece Bun, Revise Revise Revise!

Chen Mo directed the two brothers to help temporarily move all the ingredients to one side of the food truck.

"Boss, the weather’s so hot, the pork belly will start to smell if left out for a while."

"No worries." Chen Mo picked out what he needed right away from the ingredients. "You guys go ahead and piece together those workstations and the gas stoves."

Meanwhile, Chen Mo himself carried a large slab of pork belly back to the food truck, and with a swift motion, he dropped it onto the cutting board. The Black Blade sliced through the middle of the meat, halting right at the pig skin.

Grabbing the pig skin with one hand, he lowered the Black Blade and pulled hard along the skin, separating it completely.

"It’d be a waste to just throw this away." Staring at the white pig skin, Chen Mo couldn’t bring himself to discard it.

He placed the pig skins in a basin and stowed it in the cabinet, thinking that on a less busy day, he could make some meat jelly with it. Dipped in garlic vinegar, it would be absolutely delightful.

After dealing with several large slabs of pork belly, Chen Mo bent slightly and began cutting the pork.

He continued with the rough slicing and fine chopping, using a technique where the cuts didn’t completely sever the meat.

Xue Ping and his brother worked hard under the sun for quite a while and finally managed to connect the bought workstations together.

The stainless steel workstation was a full three meters long, with two high-heat stoves placed side by side in the middle.

"What’s Boss Chen planning? Isn’t he busy enough with the food truck?"

"Quit talking and go see if the boss has any more instructions."

Xue Ping, accompanied by his brother, walked over to the food truck. Peering inside with a craned neck, he suddenly froze.

"Boss, you..."

"What’s up?"

"No, just... we didn’t hear any noise, how did you manage to chop up so much meat so quickly?"

Xue Ping was somewhat incredulous. He tiptoed and tried hard to look inside. "You don’t have a meat grinder, do you?"

"Heh, do you think my lion’s head meatballs are made with a meat grinder?"

Xue Ping figured that was unlikely, but the issue was, there hadn’t been any noticeable sound of meat being chopped just now.

That massive basin of minced meat must have been at least a hundred pounds of pork belly, right?

So the question arose.

Xue Ping asked, "Boss, how do you get so much minced meat to stick together? Can you mix it by hand?"

Chen Mo, while mixing the seasoning water, asked nonchalantly, "Why does it need to be sticky?"

Xue Ping: ???

Is everything I ask wrong?

At this point, Xue An wanted to stand up for his brother, but before he could speak, Xue Ping gave him a look.

That look clearly told him to stay quiet and just watch, because this was a prime opportunity to learn!

And so...

Five minutes later.

"Bro, why isn’t the boss making the meat sticky?"

Eight minutes later.

"Bro, he’s just tossing it around and calling it done?"

Ten minutes later.

"Bro, no way, how can he call these lion’s heads? Won’t they fall apart when boiled?"

Xue Ping was speechless at this point, reminiscing about the enthusiastic tone Zhou Yu used over the phone when introducing Boss Chen. He seemed to finally understand something.

With the first batch of minced meat done, Chen Mo set about preparing the second batch.

He repeated the process of chopping and mixing the meat a total of six times, ending up with six large basins of soft minced pork belly.

"Alright, take all these out."

"Just this?" Xue An asked.

"Yep, just this. From this point on, it’s up to you two."

There was a glint of joy in Xue An’s eyes. His earlier doubts about Boss Chen dissipated; he was about to be taught how to make them!

Boss Chen’s lion’s head meatballs were so delicious. Learning this technique would be invaluable. Hehe, eventually Boss Chen will leave Yangzhou, right? He can’t run a food stall forever, can he?

When he leaves, wouldn’t the lion’s head trade in Yangzhou belong to him and his brother Xue An?

The thought was exciting.

Xue An enthusiastically helped his brother move all the mixed minced meat to the other workstation, watching as Chen Mo carried over two large bowls of starchy water.

"Alright, I’ll do it once, watch carefully. Now the aim is to form these supposed unstuck minced meat into lion’s heads."

Chen Mo, wearing disposable gloves, simply grabbed a handful of minced meat from the basin. Switching between hands a few times and randomly patting some starchy water on the surface, in just a few seconds, a fluffy lion’s head was done.

Xue Ping and Xue An felt as if their entire worldview had been turned upside down.

Is this still the lion’s head we know?

If a lion’s head made with such a simple method is tastier than an authentic one, then what does that mean for the ones we spent hours painstakingly making before?

"Boss, is it really that simple?"

"Yes, it’s just that simple." Chen Mo saw the puzzled looks on the faces of the two brothers, "What, you don’t believe it?"

After a moment of thought, Xue Ping said, "I wonder if it might fall apart when we boil it later."

"You’ll find out soon enough."

Seeing the two still standing there without moving, Chen Mo realized that they might have been hit hard by this.

He then said, "What do you think real cooking is?"

Xue An didn’t understand the meaning of this question and kept silent.

Xue Ping tentatively replied, "Isn’t it about using unique skills to make delicious food?"

Chen Mo nodded, "A piece of high-quality wagyu beef can be delicious with just a simple sear and a sprinkle of salt, thanks to the quality of the ingredient. But some ingredients aren’t that tasty on their own. Making these ordinary ingredients taste especially good is what I consider cooking."

He added, "Isn’t that what Chinese cuisine is all about, turning the ordinary into something extraordinary? So, as I said, you’ll see soon enough. It’s getting late, and I have a feeling there will be quite a crowd today, so let’s make the most of our time."

The two brothers glanced at each other, put on their gloves, and started to get busy.

With their basic kitchen skills, doing this simple task wasn’t too much effort for them. After a few tries, their speed gradually increased.

Chen Mo nodded in satisfaction and turned back to the food truck.

After all, the real challenge of this lion’s head dish is in chopping the meat and controlling the heat; the other steps aren’t particularly hard.

For him, today’s real challenge is from that Chef Huang whom Gao Hao mentioned!

After arriving in Yangzhou, Chen Mo hadn’t dined at any of the major restaurants, so he wasn’t sure how well the competition was preparing their dishes.

"But as long as I give it my all, that should be enough."

First step, make chicken soup!

Second step, use the chicken soup to cook the rice, then let it dry!

The space in the food truck wasn’t enough for Chen Mo to make such a large amount of rice, so the three-meter-long workbench came in handy.

As Xue Ping and Xue An made the lion’s heads, they couldn’t help but swallow their saliva as the smell of chicken and rice filled the air.

"Bro!"

"What’s up?"

"Even though we are working for free, shouldn’t we at least get a meal?"

"Ah...," Xue Ping tilted his head and saw Chen Mo on the other side kneading dough, not knowing what he was planning, "Let’s wait until we’re done. I think Boss Chen seems nice, he shouldn’t mind giving us a meal."

In his heart, he thought, with fried rice priced at 188 Yuan a portion, if we could eat two portions, who needs a salary?

What kitchen helper at any restaurant gets 400 Yuan a day...?

With his previous experience selling buns in Jingzhou, kneading and leavening dough was no difficulty for Chen Mo.

Once the dough was ready, it was time for the bun filling.

Chen Mo put the whole rack of pork ribs in the black pot to boil at high heat, the chicken was already cooked when making the chicken soup, and then there’s the bamboo shoot.

Watching the rack of pork ribs change color as it boiled in the pot, Chen Mo suddenly thought of something.

"Right, who says Three-Piece Bun can’t be made into soup dumplings?"

Thinking of using pig skin for aspic, isn’t this the perfect opportunity?

Initially, at the parking lot, Chen Mo just made the most basic Three-Piece Buns, which tasted great with the A-grade Flour.

But back then, Chen Mo still felt that something about the Three-Piece Bun wasn’t quite right, despite their delicious taste.

Now, with a new idea, everything suddenly became clear.

"The filling of the Three-Piece Bun is too loose, open it up and each piece falls apart, and the texture is too loose when eaten."

"While the taste is good, ultimately there’s a sense that the meat tastes like meat and the bamboo shoot like bamboo shoot, but in the end, it’s lacking broth!"

"If there’s broth, it could perfectly blend the flavors of these ingredients together, and the texture when eaten wouldn’t be too loose either."

Click...

Just thinking about it, Chen Mo felt his idea was spot on.

Time flies when you’re busy, and Chen Mo glanced at his phone, it was already five o’clock in the afternoon!

There’s still an hour before his appointment with Huang Bo.

But it doesn’t matter, since the refreshed business hours start at eight in the evening, as long as he finishes before eight, it won’t be late.

An excitement for unknown culinary delight spurred Chen Mo to stop hesitating.

If so.

Let’s get to work!