Chapter 408: Chapter 320: It’s Only Reasonable to Pay the Tuition First, Right?

"Lin, what delicious food are you going to make this time?"

Jonathan, who just slid the baking tray into the oven, couldn’t help but ask.

He knew Magna and John, of course, but wasn’t as familiar with Lin Chen. Occasionally, he would ask them to help with stocking up supplies, basically no more than once a week, and sometimes not even needed.

Before, Lin Chen always cooked outside, so he didn’t know exactly what was made. But food that could make the wholesalers and farm owners curious enough to want to watch the process firsthand—it was impossible not to be intrigued himself.

"Haha, nothing special, just meatballs."

"Hmm?"

Jonathan didn’t believe a word of it, quickly stepped over to glance at the freshly delivered ingredients, and the arm-length large cuttlefish in the sink.

"Are you going to add seafood to the meatballs?"

"No, no way, what you’re making is sure to exceed my imagination."

"Could it be... that you’re making the meatballs directly with cuttlefish and shrimp?"

In Western cuisine, cuttlefish is rarely used; it’s usually squid, sliced into rings for salads or deep-fried.

As for shrimp, it’s generally deep-fried with a coating, or cooked with garlic butter, cream sauce, curry, and so on, with the rest being seafood rice or seafood soup.

Making meatballs with large shrimp and cuttlefish was something he had never heard of in his lifetime.

"That’s right."

Lin Chen nodded: "Didn’t we make spicy hotpot a few days ago? Besides that, there are similar foods like hotpot, barbecue, and skewers. Since these foods started becoming popular, the varieties of our Great Xia’s meatballs have exploded in growth."

"In some coastal regions, there always have been various handmade ball-making crafts, they just hadn’t been widely adopted before."

"I’ve also only eaten industrially produced meatballs before, so this is the first time doing it handmade like this; it’s quite a bold attempt."

As Lin Chen spoke, he used a small knife to peel open the cuttlefish’s belly, extracted the cuttlebone and innards inside, pulled off the cuttlefish head, and removed the black mottled skin on the surface, leaving only the thick, pure white body to soak in ice water.

The ice water soak makes the cuttlefish meat firmer and more elastic to chew, which is an essential step.

Jonathan had of course also prepped cuttlefish, though not often.

Because cuttlefish meat is much thicker than squid, it doesn’t have the tender texture and cannot be shaped easily due to its thickness, so not many restaurants are willing to use it.

After a quick glance, he went back to his own area to continue food preparations, but he’d already made a mental note to come back and check when Magna and John returned.

He had a hunch that if he could learn this Great Xia method of handmade meatball-making, he could apply it to any type of meat.

Then he could create endless new dishes!

Nagishiro Sho was currently at the front of the food cart queue, having woken up early specifically to watch the cooking process.

Who would have thought that today, it wasn’t Lin cooking here, but two new employees.

However, that’s alright. Judging by their skills and procedures, they were clearly experienced chefs.

Especially the young man wrapping delicate little dumplings; his dexterity and the exquisite result made even him feel ashamed by comparison.

In the oil pan floated huge dumplings, looking like inflated bread stuffed with meat—that kind of dumpling form was something he’d never expected to exist.

Soon, both sides of the chicken crest dumplings turned golden brown as Old Chen quickly lifted them onto a rack for oil drainage and put in another set of prepared raw dumplings, stretching them out before lowering them into the oil.

Due to the nature of these dumplings, they absorb oil, so after frying, it’s best to let them drain on a raised rack for a while to remove excess oil, making them less greasy to eat.

The draining time mustn’t be too long, about ten seconds is enough.

That’s because the dough isn’t thick and cools quickly, and they should be eaten while they’re hot, like fried dough sticks. If cooled, they’d become soft and oily.

Timing is crucial!

Fortunately, the space in the oil pan was limited; it wasn’t an open deep fryer but a larger stir-fry pan, which could fry no more than five dumplings at once, roughly one every half minute.

Elsa stayed by the cart window, specifically handling the packing of chicken crest dumplings and buns, while Dais issued number tickets and handled payments, the four of them working seamlessly together.

Lucas wandered around the surrounding crowd with his camera, capturing every subtle facial expression of the diners.

At one point, the lens swept over Nagishiro Sho’s face.

He was stunned, hurriedly pulling back to zoom in, a slight smile appearing as he murmured: "Look who it is, isn’t this the patron and head chef of Natsuki Longyin, Nagishiro Sho!"

It had been less than a week since this person last left, maybe half a week, and he secretly snuck back to buy food again. Lucas could roughly guess his thoughts.

He had been worried that today’s video might lack highlights, but now it had them!

Plus the traffic brought by the crab roe tofu video, maybe this video could also boost viewer engagement!

In just three short weeks in Dieppe, his account followers had grown from a few hundred to tens of thousands. He wasn’t sure when, but perhaps he’ll wake up one day to find he’s hit ten thousand.

You have to know that the internet surfers abroad aren’t as many as in his home country; having one hundred thousand followers means being quite a popular content creator, especially when he’s in the niche of culinary content.

He owes his success today entirely to his mentor’s careful guidance!

Thinking of Jiang Shuqi, it’s inevitable to think of Xiao Hei.

He sighed silently in his heart, but fortunately, his mindset was always good, and he quickly focused on the filming.

Originally, Xiao Hei didn’t belong to him; he’s a free soul and has the right to choose as he pleases.

Besides, staying with Jiang Shuqi would certainly be more comfortable than staying by his side. After all, she’s a super-rich beauty, even the big boss of Radisson would call her "sis".

Nagishiro Sho had long noticed him but didn’t take it to heart.

The young man beside Lin Chen, responsible for commercial promotion and filming, seemed extremely smart and very necessary in his view.

For a restaurant to become popular, apart from the chef’s skills being up to par, promotion is the most important thing.

As an Asian, he has a deep understanding of this point.

Anyway, I’m here to learn skills, so it’s like using influence as tuition.

In this way, even Lin would have no excuse not to let him learn, right?

Thinking of this, he deliberately squeezed out a slight smile and nodded to the camera as a greeting.

This action left Lucas dumbfounded for a moment, a bit confused about what was going on.

But since the person was so cooperative, it would be a waste not to shoot; after all, it’s ready-made traffic!

Miss Su and Nicole, who had already bought chicken crown dumplings and soup dumplings, were now sitting on the beach chairs enjoying the food.

The taste of the fried dumplings, larger than their faces, was completely unexpected.

The outer skin was crispy, producing a distinct ’crunch’ sound when bitten into, but no crumbs fell; it was just an extremely thin layer of skin fried to a crisp, while the inside had a soft texture extremely similar to a dough stick.

After a few more bites, they found the inside surprisingly hollow!

Only a little bit of meat filling and something like transparent noodle strands were attached to the two inner walls, providing a slight umami flavor to the salty and soft dough.

When these fillings were mixed with the fluffy outer skin, they almost had no presence, mainly providing a trace of meat flavor and scallion scent.

The delicate thin-skinned bun also left them astonished, as they were advised that there was soup inside and to be careful when eating, but they didn’t take it seriously.

Only after their tongues were scalded did they become completely behaved.

They couldn’t understand how such a small bun, with skin so thin it was translucent and seemed like it would break with a poke, could contain so much delicious meat juice inside.

It was simply unbelievable!

Wilson, who had just finished his morning workout, jogged along the beach, instantly spotting Su’s back.

"Good morning, Miss Su, how does today’s breakfast taste?"

He greeted as he approached, his eyes already drifting towards her table.

"Good morning, Mr. Wilson, did you just finish working out? So disciplined, unlike my boyfriend, who knows only sleeping, eating, and playing games all day, and has gained two sizes in just a few months!"

Wilson’s body was covered in shimmering sweat across his bronze skin, soaking his tight tank top and highlighting his toned muscles.

His perfect, masculine physique left the three women staring blankly, with their eyes sparkling.

Luckily, Su quickly shifted her gaze, as there were many well-built men, but only this much delicious food!

"The taste is quite good; this little bun has piping hot meat soup inside, it’s super amazing! This big dumpling has a texture similar to a dough stick, with meat filling and unusual noodles inside, quite tasty."

"Is that so? Then I’ll go buy some to try. Thanks for your feedback."

"You’re welcome."

As soon as Wilson left, Nicole and her friend immediately started gossiping.

"Who’s that handsome guy? A friend of yours?" 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

"Sort of? He used to live in the apartment below mine, but now he’s moved to a hotel. Really envy his luck, moving just before the price hike on the last day!"

Su sighed, bit off a small opening of the xiaolongbao on her spoon, carefully sipped all the delicious meat juice inside, and then dipped it in the vinegar dish before popping it entirely into her mouth.

While chewing, she casually cast her gaze towards the queue not far away, seemingly searching for something.

Nicole and her friend didn’t notice her little actions at all and went back to focusing on their food after a bit of gossip.

"By the way, did you see where Lin went?"

"No idea, we were together the whole time. If you didn’t see, how could I?"

"Could he be in the kitchen? The two guys who went in to deliver goods earlier seem to often make deliveries to Lin."