Chapter 427: Chapter 339: He’s My Employee, But You’re Working for Him

Raphael laughed as he took off his mask.

"Phew~ I was suffocating, I don’t like wearing this thing at all."

Seeing him, Lin Chen’s face lit up with an enthusiastic smile, as if he were seeing a family member, a stark contrast to his previous indifferent attitude.

"How come you came over without a word, Chef? That’s not like you!"

"So, how are the meatballs? Is there anything that needs improvement?"

"Heh heh, work is work, life is life; I’m not that boring old man."

Raphael grinned, picked up another pork meatball with a skewer, and stuffed it into his mouth.

"These meatballs are perfect! Whether it’s the texture, the taste, or the appearance, I can’t find any fault. You can definitely taste they’re made by hand with fresh ingredients."

"You brat, hiding such good stuff, why didn’t you bring it out earlier?"

"Uh... when at work, just work honestly~"

Lin Chen mumbled a few words, couldn’t exactly complain about workers having no rights in front of his boss, could he?

To be frank, it was only after setting up a stall that he gradually honed his craft, utilizing the recipes provided by the system to create these dishes, saving a lot of effort.

If he had to search for recipes online, who knows how many times he would have to experiment to get a decent recipe, not to mention whether the taste would be authentic.

Besides, working in the kitchen just requires following orders, most of the time you don’t need to give opinions, and developing recipes is the head chef’s job.

Raphael was momentarily stunned, then realized the hidden meaning in his words and gave an awkward smile.

Upon reflection, allowing this kid to participate in recipe development was only something decided this month. 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

Before that, he indeed hadn’t allowed anyone in the kitchen to voice any opinions.

Was it his fault after all?

He didn’t dwell on the issue too long and immediately changed the subject.

"How many types of these handmade meatballs do you have in Great Xia? Can you make them with any kind of meat, or are there only specific ones?"

"Uh, I’m not too sure, but as far as I know, you can use any meat, though it’s mainly beef, lamb, pork, and chicken, as well as various seafood. The exact number of types is limitless, there’s even ones made with offal."

"What?!!"

Raphael looked shocked, wondering if he had misheard.

"Offal can be made into meatballs? What part, and which animal?"

"Pig’s stomach, but I’ve never tried those meatballs, just saw online that there’s a shop specializing in them, with twenty to thirty flavors, including this one."

"..."

That was Raphael’s blind spot.

He had some understanding of certain offals from cows, but not pigs.

Mainly because pig offal tends to have a strong smell, making it tricky to handle, and not many people accept it.

Seeing his bewildered expression, Lin Chen blinked and suddenly remembered they were on a farm.

"Chef, how long do you plan on staying this time? If you have enough time, would you like me to make some offal dishes for you to try?"

"Hmm?!"

This suggestion instantly piqued Raphael’s interest, and even Nagishiro Sho’s eyes lit up.

While Sakura People also eat offal, their cooking methods are simple, usually boiling, grilling, or eating it raw, resulting in a very monotonous taste with no standout points.

At least for his fusion cuisine restaurant, offering offal dishes requires a higher standard.

He had already tasted a few offal dishes made by Lin Chen last week, which were indeed astonishing, but he wouldn’t mind broadening his horizons again.

Making offal tasty largely revolves around removing the strange odor.

Once that unique organ smell is taken care of, offal is just a slightly special piece of meat.

"I’ve got plenty of time. Why do you think I chose today to come? Tomorrow is Sunday!"

Sunday?

Oh right, tomorrow is Sunday.

"Wait a minute!!"

He suddenly realized something.

"Today is Saturday, the busiest day of the week, Chef, are you sure it’s alright to be out like this, with only Anderson and Jolian there to handle things?"

"So what?"

Raphael shrugged indifferently: "If they can’t cook without me, they might as well quit and change careers. A competent chef needs not only strong mental resilience but also the ability to adapt quickly."

"No matter what happens, handling it perfectly in the shortest time is what makes a competent chef, right?"

"Indeed."

On this point, Lin Chen completely agreed.

No matter what trade you’re in, to succeed, you need those qualities.

Anyway, if the head chef isn’t worried, why should a mere worker like him care?!

At worst, they’ll get a bunch of customer complaints, which won’t fall on him anyway.

A few people chatted idly, and Raphael brought the topic back to the meatballs, clearly very interested in them.

Compared to offal and such, handmade meatballs have a much larger market.

"Lin, is the production process of your meatballs something you can share? Or do I have to work for you like him?"

"It’s easy, of course, nothing secret about it; you can find a ton of videos online."

Lin Chen nodded quickly, while Nagishiro Sho silently rolled his eyes dramatically.

"Just go ahead and learn, let’s see how long you can keep up. Do you think I’m like you, unable to stay long and rushing back immediately?"

"My restaurant staff are all competent game chefs. Even if I don’t go back for half a month or a month, the restaurant still runs smoothly. Can you do that?"

"......"

Raphael was momentarily speechless, opened his mouth, and then closed it again in silence.

In the next second, as if something occurred to him, he squeezed out a strange smile and pointed at Lin Chen, saying.

"Although those punk kids in my store aren’t that great, my best employee is right here, and you, my friend, are working for him. Oh, this is too interesting."

"??????"

This time it was Nagishiro Sho’s turn to be at a loss for words, his face flushed red, he let out a gentle huff and didn’t retort further.

Lin Chen was quite curious about this inexplicable bickering between the two.

He didn’t expect them to know each other, and moreover, they seemed quite familiar.

Why hadn’t he heard anything about chefs interacting with Japanese restaurants before?

If there were any, there would have been a bunch of new dishes with Japanese elements out already.

"These meatballs of mine are actually very simple to make. You can use a machine or make them completely by hand. To be honest, I’ve been lazy because the volume needed is too large. I use a food processor to mince them. If done by hand, you’d have to use a wooden stick or iron stick to pound the meat into a paste for a better texture."

Lin Chen didn’t hold back, simply describing the meatball production process.

"Is that it?"

Raphael couldn’t quite believe his ears. These delicious meatballs have such a simple process?

As long as the ingredients are handled well, thrown into a machine to mince, then some vegetables and spices mixed evenly, squeezed out and cooked—done?

How does that sound so unreliable!

But thinking about it more, the usual meatballs are made by putting bagged minced meat into a machine, adding various spices, mixing evenly, weighing them, rolling them into balls, putting them in the oven to bake a bit, then cooking them with tomato sauce.

In terms of procedure, it’s not that different.

"Then why is the texture of your meatballs so different? I’m not familiar with the squid and shrimp ones, fine, but these pork meatballs are way too tender. What did you add inside?"

"Starch and water, plus some fatty meat."

Lin Chen answered straightforwardly, "Chinese cuisine is good at using starch, water, and soy sauce to marinate meat, making the texture more tender. It’s the same with making meatballs."

"The purpose of adding fatty meat is mainly to enhance texture and increase meat aroma. After cooking, the fatty meat bursts like liquid, giving a juicy effect."

Raphael nodded thoughtfully, "I didn’t think of that. Adding fatty meat to improve texture and increase juice saturation while not tasting greasy at all is brilliant. I must try this when I get back."

"Oh, by the way," Lin Chen pointed to the shrimp paste beside him, "I also added pork fat in this one; only the squid balls don’t have it."

"What?! There’s fatty meat in the shrimp balls too? Where? I couldn’t taste it at all."

"It’s been minced, acting as a binder. The particles in the pork are relatively large, deliberately so."

This revelation hit Raphael harder than anything else. At once, he paid no mind to anything else and quickly ran up to the food cart to closely inspect the shrimp paste.

Even with this scrutiny, he couldn’t see any traces of fatty meat.

Once the shrimp is minced, it is naturally semi-translucent in color, and with the starch mixed in, combined with the fatty meat paste, it’s completely indistinguishable.

If Lin Chen hadn’t mentioned it, he’d never have thought in his life that there was pork fat mixed in there.

"Alright then, you go ahead and set up; I’m going to take a tour of the farm. If things seem appropriate, I could potentially start a collaboration with John. Let me know when you’re done, or I’ll wait for you to come back."

"When do you think you’ll sell out of all these goods?"

"If we continue at this rate, we should sell out around noon."

Noon?

Raphael glanced at his watch; it was only about three hours, just enough to tour the whole farm.

"Alright, see you later then."

He wasn’t forgetting to pat Nagishiro Sho on the shoulder: "Do a good job, and don’t slack off; slacking off will get you scolded!"

"Get lost!"

Nagishiro Sho brushed off his hand helplessly, feeling an inexplicable frustration.

Why did he forget that Lin Chen worked for him? If he had known, he wouldn’t have mouthed off!

When Raphael stepped down from the food cart, the surrounding diners’ gazes toward him completely changed.

"Who is that, also a head chef?"

"I don’t know him, but if he can chat and laugh with two head chefs, he must be at the same level, right?"

"These meatballs were made by a Michelin Level head chef? No wonder they taste so good. I have to buy more to take home in case I can’t get them anymore in the future."