I'm the Culinary God-Chapter 767 - 339: A gust of autumn wind brings a chill; it’s time to eat some warming ginger candy! [Seeking Monthly Ticket]_2

Chapter 767: Chapter 339: A gust of autumn wind brings a chill; it’s time to eat some warming ginger candy! [Seeking Monthly Ticket]_2

Panda washed his hands and then picked up a kitchen knife to chop ginger next to Lin Xu.

"Boss, can ginger candy only be made with fresh ginger?"

"Not necessarily. Old ginger works too, but it needs to be boiled first. Otherwise, the spiciness is too strong, and you can’t taste the sweetness. Plus, the fibers in old ginger won’t be easy to bite through without boiling."

Lin Xu, while chopping the ginger, answered Panda’s question.

Fresh ginger doesn’t need to be cut too thick; about three millimeters is fine. This thickness allows the fresh ginger to be quickly marinated during the candying process and to dehydrate quickly when being stir-fried. Moreover, the finished ginger candy doesn’t easily become damp again. If it’s too thick, it can be somewhat troublesome to make because both the marinating and subsequent processing steps will take significantly more time.

The method for making ginger candy isn’t complicated. Just pickle it with sugar, then pour it into a pot and continuously stir-fry and boil it, much like making Winter Melon candy, until the water evaporates and the sugar crystallizes. If you want it crispy, just add some food-grade lime. Spending several days changing the water for soaking, like with Winter Melon candy, will produce ginger candy with a crispy and refreshing texture, following the same steps.

However, Lin Xu didn’t plan to make it crispy. For one thing, it takes too long and isn’t cost-effective. Moreover, even if it’s food-grade lime, that only means the heavy metals have been removed; it still requires repeated soaking to eliminate the lime itself completely. For just a little gastronomic pleasure, it’s not worth taking the risk.

After the ginger slices were ready, he brought a large stainless steel bowl. He placed a layer of ginger slices at the bottom, sprinkled a layer of White Sugar, then added another layer of ginger slices, and sprinkled another layer of sugar. He continued layering like this until all the ginger slices were in, then carried the bowl to the cold storage for sugaring. The so-called sugaring is essentially pickling with sugar. White Sugar, like salt, in granular form can draw out the moisture from ingredients. By sugaring it this way, the moisture from the ginger slices would be drawn out, making them soft yet resilient and not easily prone to becoming damp again.

Coming out of the cold storage, Lin Xu checked the time; it was already two in the afternoon. According to the progress of the sugaring, they could start cooking it between four and five o’clock. Of course, the time could be extended a bit longer, but that would make the texture of the ginger slices harder and not as soft.

After washing his hands, Lin Xu returned to the kitchen and started marinating some lamb chops. Tonight was the night he was hosting dinner for Liu Zhengyu, president of the National Tourism Association. They were supposed to have dined two days ago, but President Liu had gone to Rong City to inspect tourism projects and wasn’t in Beijing. As soon as Liu Zhengyu returned yesterday, Lin Xu had urgently arranged tonight’s dinner. He also notified a circle of people to help act as hosts.

After marinating the lamb chops, he took out his phone, just about to rest for a while, when his senior, Xie Baomin, suddenly sent a message: "Junior brother, I just heard from Building Ten that you have an important dinner tonight, and they’ve specially sponsored two star groupers. I’ll come over around four or five with Director Liao and let everyone taste this top-notch delicacy."

"Star grouper?!" Lin Xu was taken aback. That’s truly premium seafood. But Building Ten doesn’t even have enough star groupers for themselves to eat freely, so why would they sponsor me?

A possibility suddenly flashed through Lin Xu’s mind. Could it be that my senior brother secretly took them from Building Ten? He has a long rap sheet for this kind of thing, from roasted suckling pig to Big Red Tangerines, and all sorts of other expensive ingredients. He’s caused Chef Guo no end of trouble.

Thinking of this, Lin Xu couldn’t help but inwardly shed a tear of sympathy for Chef Guo. When you run into someone like my senior brother, you chefs can only count yourselves unlucky. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

After replying to Xie Baomin’s message, Lin Xu browsed through other group messages. As someone with OCD, he felt an irresistible urge to open and see whenever he saw unread message notifications. After checking several other miscellaneous groups, Lin Xu opened the "Lin Ji’s Food Premium VIP Customer Group." As soon as the page popped up, he saw a series of messages from Li Qiang:

"Damn it, we got a new manager in our department, and he keeps picking on me every day. It feels like he’s trying to force me to quit. I’ve always heard about internet companies nitpicking to force people out, and now it’s happening to me... Anyone free tonight for a drink? I’m really fed up."

Li Qiang’s department didn’t have a manager before; he, the technical supervisor, had been in charge. Now that there was a manager, instead of strengthening the team, internal strife seemed to be brewing.

After Li Qiang sent his message, Shen Baobao, being a capitalist, was the first to send a sticker that read, "Struggle against the bourgeoisie to the end."

Good thing her father-in-law isn’t in the group, or his blood pressure would probably shoot right up.

Panda said, "Since you’re the technical supervisor, it shouldn’t be hard for you to switch jobs, right?"

"Not hard," Li Qiang replied. "Several companies were headhunting me before National Day, and they all offered higher pay than my current job. But the boss of this company is really good to me, and I’m a bit reluctant to leave."

When he said that, his sister-in-law chimed in, "That’s your own delusion. If he really cared, he would have raised your salary directly, at least matching whatever the headhunters offered. Otherwise, it’s all pie in the sky."

Yue Liyue sent a "hard to disagree" sticker, then added: "If they really cared, they would have raised your pay to the highest in the industry, like Lin Xu does for his employees at Lin Ji. Otherwise, it’s all talk."

"Go for it, Li Qiang! Your current company will be the one crying if you leave."

"Good luck! Don’t cling to the past; there’s something better waiting for you ahead."

"Jump, jump, jump! Don’t hesitate. You can’t talk terms with capitalists; money does all the talking!"