Gourmet: Midnight Vending-Chapter 439 - 380: Cooking Scientifically, Bachelor’s Degree Required

Chapter 439: Chapter 380: Cooking Scientifically, Bachelor’s Degree Required

Have you ever seen braised pork belly that has been steamed to a transparent state?

Well, Liao Feng certainly hasn’t.

Pork belly to this extent, let alone eating it, just looking at it doesn’t make you feel greasy; instead, it makes you feel like when you take a bite, it will surely have a jelly-like texture.

As for the skin of the pork belly, it appears to have been cooked by a method involving ice-water contraction and high-temperature frying, forming a honeycombed tiger skin.

The lean meat fibers separate longitudinally like silk, and Liao Feng couldn’t wait to put the exposed half of the meat beyond the lotus leaf bun into his mouth.

"Oh my god."

At this moment, only one word appeared in Liao Feng’s mind: subversion!

Yes, as this piece of meat entered his mouth, it felt as though something in his brain had been overturned.

"What on earth were those things I ate before?"

The pork skin did not melt immediately upon entry but had a slightly resilient texture, and with a slight chew, it instantly turned into gelatin.

And the nearly transparent fat portion required no chewing at all—it only needed a light press to dissolve into meat juice, with the lean meat melting softly as well, leaving only a faint pinewood smoke fragrance lingering between the lips and teeth.

"Was this braised pork also smoked?"

Liao Feng keenly picked up a flavor he had never experienced before.

After a frenzy over several dishes, it’s clear that the guests’ minds are currently in a shutdown state. Each dish seems to be exploring the black hole of their taste buds, and this braised pork with preserved vegetables has thoroughly overturned their understanding of "braised pork."

Not to mention the guests, even Hou Yao, who was behind the counter, was a bit stunned at this moment.

He ate two pieces in a row, and it was just the meat without the lotus leaf bun! After two slices of braised pork, Hou Yao stood there dazed for several seconds, then turned around blankly, "Xiaochen, this braised pork of yours..."

"Delicious, right?"

Chen Mo grinned with such a sunny smile, but for some reason, Hou Yao found it somewhat infuriating.

"No, how did you make this thing? I mean..." Hou Yao picked up another piece and shook it slightly, almost shaking it apart, "I mean, can pork belly actually reach this level?"

It’s truly unbelievable.

For ordinary people, the most direct feeling might just be that it’s delicious, extremely delicious!

But for someone like Hou Yao, who’s often in the kitchen, this dish was not so simple and was even more magical than all the previous dishes!

From what he could taste, the initial note was the apricot aroma of Shaoxing rice wine. With a slight taste, the middle note was the savory flavor of preserved vegetables, but astonishingly, there was also the deep sea savory taste of scallops.

It was only then did Hou Yao understand why Chen Mo’s ingredient list included many types of seafood that weren’t seen in today’s banquet.

Turns out they were all used for seasoning?

Moreover, after eating a piece of meat, one could distinctly feel the woody fragrance of cinnamon and nutmeg extracted at low temperature in lard, indicating that great effort was made from the outset during the cooking of the spices.

And after the meat fragrance completely dissipated, there remained the bittersweet return to sweetness of caramel, from the rock sugar caramelized in the iron pan.

All of this was so natural, not contrived at all. It was all integrated into a piece of braised pork with preserved vegetables, which if not for an experienced kitchen veteran to carefully taste, would be impossible to discern so much detail.

Faced with Hou Yao’s curiosity, Chen Mo casually explained while busy with his work, "That’s why I say, cooking is also a science."

Back when at the bridgehead, Chen Mo had explained the principle of overnight rice to curious diners.

Since then, Chen Mo had also learned a lot about the microchemical and physical changes of ingredients online.

What process does an ingredient need to go through for its internal micro-molecules to undergo miraculous changes to satisfy human taste buds?

This thing is addictive, the more you learn, the more engrossed you become. By the end, Chen Mo was so curious, wondering why there aren’t any university courses on this, it’s a pure course for cultivating advanced chefs!

"Scientific cooking?"

Chen Mo nodded, "What you think is smoking the meat, is actually the Maillard reaction’s secondary activation when fried meat is refrigerated and reheated."

"What you think is top umami, is actually the collaborative umami effect formed by the glutamic acid in the preserved vegetables with the inosinic acid in the pork."

"What you think is a melt-in-the-mouth texture, is actually active peptides from collagen hydrolyzing during steaming."

"What you think..."

Hou Yao’s mind was buzzing, being someone who dived into the kitchen right after elementary school, he couldn’t understand all these bizarre terms.

"Stop, stop! So now is it necessary to be educated to cook?"

Chen Mo playfully nodded, "Bachelor degree at minimum."

Hou Yao took a deep breath, half-believing, half-doubting, unsure how to respond. Finally, he looked at what Chen Mo was doing, "How about I make this dish?"

Five hearty meat dishes had already been presented, and the remaining hot dishes were essentially moving towards being exquisite.

The dish Chen Mo was preparing was a vegetarian dish, exactly the one Hou Yao had mentioned earlier, and to put it plainly, whatever the meal cost today, it would be worth it with this dish alone.

It was a classic Cantonese dish, familiar to Hou Yao, though he hadn’t made it for some time. Even a restaurant like Yueyun Pavilion was hesitant to attempt it due to its complexity.

"Let me handle it, I’ve done quite a bit of preparation for this dish."