Chapter 401: Chapter 313: The Pastry Chef’s Persistence, Pure Hand-Kneading

From putting the steamed egg on the stove to finishing steaming, it takes a total of about 17 to 18 minutes, counting the time to boil the water.

The steamed egg hasn’t finished yet, but he has already completed four dishes, averaging just over three minutes per dish.

This speed is even faster than when Lin Chen serves the dishes!

Dais and Elsa stared in shock at the three steaming hot dishes in front of them. Although there was no special plating, from the color of the ingredients and the flavor, they all looked incredibly appetizing.

Especially for someone like them who’ve been starving since noon, nearly ten hours ago, they couldn’t stand it any longer.

Zhao Shun was somewhat speechless too.

In the afternoon, when Old Chen introduced himself by saying he mainly assists and cooks averagely, Zhao Shun felt quite smug, thinking Old Chen was the one with the lowest skill.

But...

You call making five dishes in fifteen minutes average?

Don’t be fooled by how simple these dishes seem; they don’t need much chopping. But it’s precisely such simple home-style dishes that showcase a chef’s skills when done well.

Lin Chen took a quick shower in the hotel, changed his clothes, and leisurely walked back to the restaurant.

He glanced at his watch.

"Only fifteen minutes? Isn’t that too fast? I should have spent five more minutes in the shower."

"Forget it, it’s good to come early to see how the two of them are cooking."

As soon as he walked into the kitchen, he saw Dais and Elsa leaning over the counter, not caring about their image at all.

He was about to speak when his nostrils twitched, catching the rich sweet and sour tomato scent and the aroma of braised sauce in the air.

Plus, there were still steaming pots on the stove, which meant there were at least three dishes here.

Such speed?

"Chef!?"

Hearing the footsteps behind them, Elsa and Dais realized something and quickly straightened up, making way.

As they moved aside, Lin Chen immediately saw four large pots on the counter.

"?????"

"What the hell?!"

He rushed forward, staring in shock at the four large pots filled to the brim with home-style dishes.

Not three dishes, but clearly five!

Is this the speed a Chinese chef should have?!

"Smashed cucumber, onion and sausage stir-fry, tomato scrambled eggs, and what’s this bowl of eggs? It seems to have the taste of chopped chili and vinegar. What’s being steamed over there?"

"That’s vinegar scrambled eggs," Chen Dongliang had just finished washing the cutting board, and with wet hands wiping on his apron, he looked at Lin Chen a bit nervously, "I learned this from the stir-fry cook. It sells quite well in the store, plus there aren’t many other ingredients in the fridge, so I thought of this."

"The pot’s steaming a water-steamed egg. Leader, isn’t there too much egg?"

He hadn’t thought much while cooking; now looking at it, three out of five dishes were egg-related.

Would the leader think he’s being lazy?

"It’s fine, use what you have. There wasn’t much left in the cold storage anyway. I didn’t expect you’d whip up five dishes so quickly, good job Old Chen!"

Although he hadn’t tasted them yet, just from the presentation and aroma, he could sense these dishes had typical fast-food restaurant flavors.

Not the kind of cafeteria fast food, but those quick home-cooked dishes from roadside eateries.

The most obvious distinction between the two is the amount of oil used.

Cafeteria fast food is made in bulk. To ensure the dishes are both good-looking and delicious, a large amount of oil is typically used, leading to a thick layer of oil accumulating under the dishes when served.

While roadside eatery dishes also use quite a bit of oil, it varies based on the dish.

For dishes that don’t require heavy oil, you can hardly see any excess oil.

Among Old Chen’s dishes, the ones that absorbed the most oil were the two egg stir-fries.

To make eggs delicious, you need a lot of oil; only then will the eggs be tender and smooth.

If it’s from a fast-food restaurant, not only the eggs but also the tomato soup will have a lot of oil, visibly floating on the surface.

These dishes might look healthy, but eating them is practically an exercise in gaining weight, equivalent to drinking oil.

The difference in the tomato scrambled egg dish was clear.

The eggs were delicate and brightly colored, stir-fried with wide oil on high heat. The tomato soup had almost no oil slicks and no tomato skin, likely using the water-boiling method.

This cooking style is typical for dishes served with rice, and only experienced chefs of home-style cooking restaurants pay attention to such small details to cater to customers’ tastes.

Although he hadn’t cooked serious Chinese dishes many times and was limited in experience, he liked watching food shows, giving him some basic judgment.

And the onion and sausage stir-fry using braised sauce was something he had never seen before.

If not mistaken, it should be a Northern flavor dish, also a good rice dish.

And that vinegar scrambled egg, just from the aroma, he already felt his mouth watering uncontrollably.

"What are you all standing around for? Eat! Aren’t you hungry?"

He glanced at them strangely, "It’s not work hours; why act so reserved? I haven’t stopped you from eating, have I?"

"Uh..."

Old Chen scratched his head awkwardly: "Well, the rice isn’t cooked yet."

"......"

Lin Chen was stunned.

Come to think of it, it had only been less than twenty minutes from when he went back to shower to when he came over.

The rice cooker takes at least 35 minutes to cook rice, which means it would take at least another 15 minutes before they could eat.

Eating just the dishes would be fine, but these are all meant to go with rice, and without fragrant rice, something feels missing.

"Then let’s play with our phones and take a break; you two can plan tomorrow’s schedule, deciding whether to prepare tonight or wait until the morning to do it."

The dough for cockscomb dumplings is almost the same as for fried dough sticks, and waiting for fermentation last minute would take at least one to two hours.

Adding on the preparation of the dough and filling for soup dumplings, and cooking pork skin jelly, it would take a minimum of two and a half hours to prepare everything.

If they decide to prepare in the morning, they would need to arrive at the restaurant by four at the latest, meaning getting up at around three-thirty for washing up.

If they start preparing after dinner, all the dough could be ready by midnight, left to rest overnight, needing only to prepare the filling and finish making the dumplings in the morning.

Each option has its pros and cons, and he didn’t make any suggestions, curious to see the personalities of the two.

As soon as he finished talking, Chen Dongliang immediately turned his questioning gaze toward Zhao Shun.

Zhao Shun was responsible for the dough, so the plan naturally fell to him.

"Is there enough flour in the shop?"

Zhao Shun paused, then looked toward the shelves not far away, storing dry goods.

All canned products, spices, and flour not needing refrigeration were piled over there, clear at a glance.

"We have enough for breakfast, and I’ve placed an order for new flour, which will arrive after five in the morning."

"Then let’s start after dinner; there’s no way I’ll get up early, so I choose to sleep a bit later."

"I’m fine with whatever, I’ll listen to you."

Lin Chen nodded satisfactorily; he liked employees who prepared in advance.

If they waited until the morning, unexpected issues could easily delay progress, and getting up too early would lead to fatigue, reducing efficiency and affecting lunch preparation.

Zhao Shun originally felt a bit regretful for not participating in dinner, not wanting to waste this great chance to shine, so he immediately ran to grab a large bag of flour, rolled up his sleeves, ready to get to work, with Old Chen quickly running over to help.

"What are they going to make now?"

Dais and Elsa were completely unaware of the plans for tomorrow, looking at their actions with faces full of confusion.

"Preparing breakfast for tomorrow."

Lin Chen didn’t plan to explain, finding it too troublesome, preferring to let them taste it hot tomorrow morning and understand everything then.

"Xiao Zhao, Old Chen, there’s a large dough mixer over there for dough quantities for hundreds; you wouldn’t be doing it by hand, right?"

"Yes."

Zhao Shun nodded without hesitation: "The dough for cockscomb dumplings doesn’t require much kneading; it’s mainly natural fermentation, so simply forming the dough is enough, and the soup dumpling dough is firm, not needing much kneading either."

"The most important is that the taste is significantly different between machine-kneaded and handmade dough."

"A dough mixer is a cold machine, unable to sense when the dough develops gluten, easily tearing the gluten and affecting the final taste."

"Only dough kneaded purely by hand can judge gluten development by feel..."

When it came to expertise, Zhao Shun spoke confidently, pouring the entire bag of flour on the table, then measuring the required amount of salt and yeast.

Old Chen next to him showed no special reaction, as if this was the most normal thing.

In his view, receiving treatment far better than before, putting in more labor seemed normal.

He would simply bury his head in work and get it done when needed!

Lin Chen thoughtfully nodded, not saying anything further.

Of course, he knew handmade dough tasted better than machine-kneaded!

The problem is it’s exhausting!

If it were dough for dozens or a hundred servings, he might be interested in kneading a bit.

For several hundred servings, he honestly couldn’t, not even a bit.

Unless he decided not to work the next day.

Zhao Shun pushed the small mountain of flour to the sides, clearing some space in the middle, and poured the yeast saltwater mixture with warm water into it, directly starting to knead.

A seemingly simple mixing process appeared quite watchable in Zhao Shun’s hands.

His fingers slightly spread, forming an eagle claw-like shape, stirring back and forth in the flour and yeast water.

Every circle brought a piece of the flour mound collapsing, as the liquid in the center gradually turned cloudy.

Seemingly casual movements, upon closer inspection, revealed an underlying pattern.

Alternating hands caused the surrounding flour mounds to collapse in a uniform speed, while the outer section stood firm, keeping the central liquid blocked inside, preventing it from leaking.

Meanwhile, Old Chen next to him looked a bit rough in his kneading style.