I'm the Culinary God-Chapter 698 - 316: Wow, turns out the behind-the-scenes is the real deal! Chestnut Braised Rice ordered by Zeng Xiaoqi! [Subscribe Please]_3
Shen Jiayue: ?????
Has the gap between me and my child become this deep?
Feeling downcast, she returned to the bedroom, where Lin Xu had just finished reading the meeting minutes.
"Compared to this video, the latest full episode can’t even count as a trailer... If only I had taken a peek earlier."
He saved the video on his computer the first chance he got. Still feeling uncertain after saving it, he also backed it up on the cloud.
This kind of video would be a king-level hit whenever it was released because a cat managing to perform without any physical objects was simply amazing. So amazing that it hardly seemed like a cat.
Thinking back on it now, Lin Xu felt that Dundun’s price should have been more than just 880,000 points. He didn’t know what had transpired between it and the system, causing him to land such a great deal.
If only he understood cat language, he and his son could have had a heart-to-heart conversation.
"Will releasing this video impact Dundun and us in any way?"
Shen Baobao, having read too many novels, was afraid that scientists or the like would discover something unusual about Dundun and decide to dissect the little cat for research.
"It shouldn’t. If anyone asks, we’ll just say it was specially trained, with the addition of green screen effects and special effects to achieve that result. Besides, just a few days ago, there was news about a kitten that turned on a faucet while its owner was asleep and flooded the house. With that in mind, everyone should be able to accept Dundun’s performance." 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺
This video, once released, would probably have netizens criticizing the acting skills of those young pop idols.
Even a cat acts better than you guys. Aren’t you ashamed?
After saving the video, Lin Xu edited it a bit, adding old-movie effects and changing the color tone to a slightly yellowish hue.
Although Dundun was unlikely to be taken away for dissection, it was still better to play it safe by processing the video a bit.
And for a stunt like this, it had to be a bit flashy.
「The next morning」
The likes had already surpassed 130,000. Discussions about Dundun filled the space beneath the Lin Ji’s Food topic.
After freshening up and changing his clothes, Lin Xu kissed the still soundly sleeping Shen Baobao on the cheek, then left the bedroom, carrying Dundun downstairs to the restaurant.
After placing Dundun on the service counter, he went to the braised goods section. Last night, Dou Wenjing had arranged for someone to convert the external window of the braised goods section into a small sliding window, the kind used for selling braised items. A workbench had also been set up inside, with a few lamps hanging above it. The window was used to sell various braised items and fried peanuts as bar snacks. Customers who found it inconvenient to enter the restaurant could pay and buy directly there.
Lin Xu looked around and felt it was well arranged.
It was exactly the effect he wanted.
At that moment, Xu Xinhua and his team had already prepared the chickens. Not only had they cleaned them thoroughly and shaped them into ingot forms, but they had also soaked them in Maltose Water and fried them in hot oil until their skin was reddish-brown.
"Boss, they’re ready. Shall we start braising them now?"
"Yes, start now."
They placed a bamboo mat at the bottom of the large pot to prevent charring and then arranged each Pot Roast chicken in it. After all were arranged, they poured in the braising liquid and then added back the large bowl of fat that had been skimmed off before the Pot Roast chickens were removed from the pot the previous day. He turned on the switch for the jacketed kettle to begin braising.
Yesterday’s batch of Pot Roast chicken had sold out completely before 8:00 p.m., and Qi Dengke and his team hadn’t even been able to take one home. So today, they were increasing the batch size.
Nearly four hundred Pot Roast chickens would definitely sell well.
Besides the Pot Roast chickens, they also had dozens of pounds of chicken livers. Xu Xinhua had suggested this yesterday. He thought it was a waste to use the braising liquid only once a day, so his idea was to put the chicken livers in to braise for a while after the Pot Roast chickens were done, making five-spice chicken livers.
With the flavor of this braising liquid, the chicken livers definitely wouldn’t taste bad.
Lin Xu was very supportive of this trial. So he directly asked Che Zai to buy dozens of pounds.
If they tasted good, they would start selling them. If not, they would let Ma Zhiqiang incorporate them into other dishes.
Either way, nothing would go to waste.
After setting the Pot Roast chickens to braise, Lin Xu went upstairs to look around. Around the time breakfast was ready, he went back to the residential complex behind the restaurant to wake up a certain Shen Baobao, who was still soundly asleep, for breakfast.
「It was a little past nine in the morning.」
Lin Xu and Shen Baobao were sitting in a booth on the second floor, watching a video call from Shen Baobao’s mother. On the other end of the video, a sweaty Shen Guofu was attaching a massive Brass lock to an iron chain.
It’s hard to believe my father-in-law actually carried a Brass lock weighing over ten jin to the top of the mountain.
When he hung it on the chain, the chain, which had been swaying gently, was instantly pulled taut.
From this, one could easily infer that the lock was heavy enough to eventually break the chain.
"Tourists nearby are taking photos of me and your dad. If I had known, I wouldn’t have come up here just to be laughed at," Han Shuzhen’s voice came from the phone. She had initially thought there would be no tourists at the summit, but when Shen Guofu pulled a huge Brass lock from his backpack, quite a crowd gathered around.
Shen Baobao said cheerfully, "Would you have been at ease if you hadn’t come? What if Dad wrote someone else’s name on the lock..."
"He wouldn’t dare!"
While the mother and daughter chatted, Lin Xu went to the kitchen, took a larger basin, and soaked a large amount of rice in it. The braised rice Zeng Xiaoqi wanted was also what Shen Baobao craved. Earlier that morning at Lin Ji’s Food, when Lin Xu had asked the staff, everyone expressed a desire to try it, so he decided to make a larger batch.
After soaking the rice, he boiled some water and cooked the freshly bought chestnuts briefly to make them easier to peel, then placed them in a basket for later use. Then he took some Cantonese-style sausages and sliced them thinly on the diagonal. He also diced some Carrots, shelled some green peas, and soaked some Sea Scallops. Lastly, he took a piece of pork belly, washed it, and sliced it.
Braised rice is a fairly versatile home-style dish with various regional cooking methods.
「Half an hour later」
When the rice grains had swollen slightly, it was ready to be cooked. He heated the wok, swirled it with oil then drained it, reheated it, and added the pork belly to stir-fry. Braised rice shouldn’t have too much fat, or it becomes too greasy. The best method is to cook with the fat rendered from the pork belly. This way, it has a nice aroma, and the meat doesn’t feel greasy—the best of both worlds.
When the pork belly slices turned translucent and a significant amount of fat had rendered out into the wok, he added the Carrot Dices and green peas. Since these were raw, they needed to be stir-fried to remove their raw taste. Then, he added the chestnuts, sausage slices, and Sea Scallops. After stir-frying, he seasoned them with Light Soy Sauce, salt, and a bit of oyster sauce. Lastly, he added the soaked rice.
Adding the rice at this stage helps to fry off its surface moisture, releasing its aroma and allowing the grains to absorb the fat in the wok, making the braised rice even tastier. When stir-frying the rice, he continued to toss it for a while longer to further enhance its aroma. Once the rice and other ingredients in the wok were stir-fried until no surface moisture remained, he added water just enough to cover the rice, put on the lid, and began to simmer it over low heat.
Making braised rice directly in a wok demands precise heat control because it’s easy to char the bottom or leave the rice undercooked. However, once the heat and the amount of water are mastered, this stove-cooked rice is more flavorful than rice cooked in an electric rice cooker.
Of course, the best-tasting rice is still the kind made in earthen pots over a wood fire in the countryside. Unfortunately, burning wood isn’t allowed in Beijing, so to taste it, I’d have to go back to a scenic spot in my hometown, Yinzhou.
The earthen stoves there can be used freely.
"Boss, why didn’t you use a clay pot?" Che Zai leaned in, looking curious.
"I made over ten jin of rice today; only the large wok could hold it all... Oh, right, I’ll buy some small pots for making Claypot Rice later. With the cold air arriving, it’s about time we introduced Claypot Rice at the restaurant."
Since he was making braised rice, Claypot Rice—its ultimate form—also had to be put on the agenda.
This would also stop Yue Liyue from nagging about it constantly.
When the time comes, various Claypot Rice dishes—like those with cured meats, beef, seafood, or Fish—could all be served at the restaurant.
"If we start serving Claypot Rice, will our stoves be enough?"
"We’ll start with a limited supply. If demand increases, we’ll figure something out later."
After saying that, Lin Xu turned down the flame under the wok and left the kitchen, intending to watch his father-in-law’s lock-hanging spectacle again.
While the staff at the restaurant eagerly anticipated the braised rice, on the Hulunbuir Grassland, Chen Yan was seeing off Grandpa Gao and the others, who were hungover.
"Xiao Yan, this is a power of attorney. Can you help me transfer ownership of a property when you get back?"
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