Gourmet: From a Stall in Northern Europe

Chapter 440 - 352: Sweet Potato Vine Technique, Sweet Tofu Pudding Triumphs

"These leaves and vines are for you to handle, Chef, is that okay?"

"Of course, but what’s the method in Great Xia? I can’t just stumble around like a headless chicken, can I?"

Raphael picked up a piece of pumpkin leaf and felt it, the surface slightly coarse, indicating that the texture wouldn’t be very delicate even without tasting it.

Such rough leaves certainly aren’t suitable for making salads.

But the largest proportion of leafy greens in Western cuisine is made into salads or used as side dishes, leaving him somewhat at a loss.

Besides pumpkin leaves, there were sweet potato leaves, sweet potato vines, sesame leaves, and daylilies, all ingredients he had never encountered before.

He could experiment on his own, but it would take a lot of time.

"In Great Xia, we just stir-fry them or make soups, stuff like that."

Lin Chen took out his phone, searched online, and showed him some photos. Apart from the most classic garlic stir-fry and cold dishes, there weren’t many other methods.

The slightly more novel one was the pumpkin leaf, which had a method of being cooked together with rice soup.

Rice soup is made by cooking rice or rice porridge, then filtering out all the rice before it becomes congee, leaving just the pure white rice soup.

Depending on regional tastes, it could be made into pure rice soup or something more like soaked rice, adjusted according to personal preference, nothing much to discuss.

Raphael nodded with partial understanding.

He certainly knew what white porridge tasted like, but he was mainly curious about the taste of pumpkin leaves.

With a clear direction, he immediately ran to check the rice cooker, only to find leftover rice in a wooden bucket nearby.

"Why use a wooden bucket?"

This discovery sparked his intense curiosity, and he directly scooped some rice onto the back of his hand and put it into his mouth.

"Hmm?! So that’s it, I understand."

After a few simple chews, he immediately discovered the nuances in the texture and aroma of the rice.

Rice stored in a wooden bucket had more chewiness, each grain distinct, and carried a noticeable woody fragrance, tasting better than rice simply steamed in a rice cooker or oven.

This discovery excited him more than the unfamiliar ingredients on the table.

He took some rice back, added water, and put it to cook, then chopped the pumpkin leaves into finger-thick shreds and set them aside.

He chopped some garlic, boiled water, blanched the leaves of several plants briefly, then stir-fried them quickly.

He naturally didn’t understand the advanced Great Xia stir-fry techniques, but such basic garlic stir-fried greens posed no difficulty; even Western cuisine had similar dishes, though they might use broccoli instead.

As he was about to test a plate of stir-fried leaves, Nagishiro Sho brought over a bowl of cold mixed leaves, and the two sat side by side, sampling the differences between the two preparations.

The special aroma of sesame leaves, the sweet tenderness of sweet potato leaves, the coarse chewiness of pumpkin leaves, each type of leaf had its unique texture and flavor.

They were particularly surprised by the clear flavor differences between stir-fry and cold mix.

Western cold mixes are mostly salads, mainly acidic and sweet, unlike Asian cold dishes which are more varied in flavor.

Nagishiro Sho made the cold mix dressings he was most familiar with: miso dressing, yuzu vinegar dressing, and soy sauce dressing.

On top of these three, he shamelessly borrowed the red oil from the kitchen to make a Sichuan-style cold dish of questionable authenticity.

Lin Chen, of course, didn’t idle and came over to taste each one, nodding quietly.

True to a Michelin Level Head Chef, despite seeking him out to learn Great Xia’s culinary culture due to cognitive barriers, his fundamental skills were still there.

Without nearly any guidance, just a casual mention of direction, the two could replicate nearly ninety percent of the flavors of entirely unfamiliar ingredients, with even some innovation hidden within.

"Not bad, the dishes you two made are already quite close to the taste of Great Xia Cuisine, I won’t make the original versions for you to avoid forming stereotypes, just feel free to explore."

He knew from developing new dishes with Raphael Chef before how detrimental stereotypes can be for chefs.

It’s akin to confining an ingredient to a specific method and flavor circle, making it exceptionally difficult to break out once established.

The two also sighed in relief, not hesitating to proceed with the next dish.

Moments later.

Nagishiro Sho’s pumpkin and cucumber flower tempura was the first to be served.

The golden flowers retained their blooming shapes, coated with a thin batter, thin enough to be translucent, allowing a glimpse of the ingredients inside.

Tempura is best eaten hot, within three to five minutes of being served, to experience the ingredients at their peak flavor.

"Crunch!"

The three simultaneously grabbed a flower and bit down, the crisp sound resonating in the quiet kitchen.

Pumpkin flowers themselves don’t have much flavor, just a faint sweetness and plant fragrance, with the main taste coming from the sauce or powder sprinkled on the surface.

The three said nothing, stuffing the remaining tempura into their mouths whole, turning to continue their work.

Lin Chen mainly wandered around watching the two work.

"Lin."

Suddenly, Raphael called out to him.

"Why does this sweet potato vine have such a strange texture, did I do something wrong?"

The man was gnawing on a green stalk, frowning as he chewed, visibly struggling with the long fibers left at the break points.

"Do we need to peel off this skin before eating it?"

Raphael tugged at it a few times in confusion, only to find that the skin of the sweet potato vine was quite tough to peel, and he could only manage to tear off a small strand each time.

If he wanted to peel the whole thing, it would take at least a minute or two.

And this was just a single small piece. To make a dish with it, you’d need a bunch; not to mention if you wanted to prepare it in bulk.

Just thinking about it, he felt there must be something wrong, it shouldn’t be like this.

"Exactly, it’s just as you guessed, chef."

Lin Chen had anticipated he would ask such a question and walked over, casually grabbing a sweet potato vine from the table.

Right in front of him, Lin grabbed the stem end with one hand and the part near the leaves with the other, slowly bending it past ninety degrees.

The strong resilience of the sweet potato vine’s skin became evident, almost like the sensation of bending a straw.

But as Raphael grew increasingly puzzled.

"Snap."

With a crisp sound, the bent part broke apart.

Lin Chen lightly pushed forward with the hand holding the stem, and a tender green sweet potato vine emerged from the grass-green outer skin.

The subsequent actions required no technical skill. With a single push from his right hand and his left hand sliding down, Lin had stripped a completely tender sweet potato vine in just a few seconds.

"Why don’t you try this one?"

Raphael blinked in disbelief, staring at the remaining vine skin in Lin’s hand. He never imagined there was a special technique to peel this thing.

He thought he must have been doing something wrong!

Taking the tender green vine, he broke off a small piece and tossed it into his mouth. As soon as his teeth bit down, a crisp ’crunch’ sound was heard, and a refreshing, sweet juice burst into his mouth.

"So that’s how it is; I get it now!"

The fresh, sweet, and crisp texture of the peeled sweet potato vine instantly sparked countless inspirations in him.

Within three or four seconds, dozens of salad dressings and vinaigrettes that could pair with it flashed through his mind.

In the next few seconds, he even began to brainstorm how to pair this as a side dish with the main course.

He would bet that the texture, shape, and taste of sweet potato vine would instantly capture diners’ interest.

The fresh, sweet, and crisp texture is irresistible to anyone’s taste buds.

It’s pretty good, even if eaten raw.

The hardest part was tackled; the rest of the ingredients had nothing noteworthy to focus on.

Lin Chen didn’t linger in the kitchen and turned to walk outside.

"Yo, you’re awake?"

After pouring himself a glass of lemon water, he saw Old Chen and Xiao Zhao sitting drowsily on the chairs, their hair all messed up, looking rather amusing.

"Huh??"

"Damn, Chef, when did you come back? I have no recollection at all."

"You two slept like logs; it’s a wonder you heard anything."

Lin rolled his eyes and beckoned to them.

"What did you cook today? Tell me, how did the customers react?"

At this point, the two blinked, trying hard to backtrack their memories, taking a moment before they recalled what they had prepared today.

"For breakfast, we made sweet and savory tofu pudding, scallion rolls, peanut butter noodles, scallion oil noodles, preserved egg and lean meat congee..."

"Lunch was Old Chen’s menu, just some home-style dishes: braised eggplant, Kung Pao chicken, scrambled eggs with tomatoes, sweet and sour ribs, steamed eggs, cold seaweed salad..."

The lunch menu was within Lin Chen’s expectations, but the breakfast dishes surprised him a bit.

Peanut butter noodles are essentially a classic Shaxian snack, and just about most foreigners love peanut butter. How did I not think of this sooner?

"How was the feedback on the preserved egg congee?"

"Pretty good; we cooked two big pots, and they were all sold out."

At this, Zhao Shun proudly tilted his chin up.

"I’m not stupid; I’ve surfed the internet waves enough. I definitely wouldn’t give these foreigners any bizarre dishes. Preserved egg congee has no strange taste when cooked, so they’re totally fine with it."

"But the savory tofu pudding didn’t sell well. Out of ten customers, nine didn’t finish it, but the ones with added sugar were eaten clean. Foreigners do love their sweets!"

"...Is that so."

Lin Chen’s mouth twitched, finding it hard to relate.

As a Southerner, he grew up eating savory tofu pudding with soy sauce, pickled vegetables, scallions, chili flakes, chicken essence, and MSG, with a bit of old crispy fried dough stick crumbs — that’s the taste of childhood.

"You two can start planning tomorrow’s breakfast and lunch menu. Popular dishes can be repeated, or you can make new ones. It’s entirely up to you."

"You can also revisit the ones I previously made on Lucas’s homepage; they’ve all been recognized by diners."