Chapter 520: Chapter 416: Fusion Dish: New-Style Goudao Noodles (Part 2)

The advantage of this noodle is that it can be hooked to great lengths; you might say the dough is as long as the noodle can be, and the cooked noodles are exceptionally smooth on the outside, to the point where some people can’t even hold them with chopsticks if they’re not skilled enough.

"Hooked Knife Noodles? Where is this type of noodle from?" Granny Chen hadn’t heard of such a thing. "Well, everything I have is in the kitchen, take what you need. But I have a small request."

"Please, go ahead."

"Could you make an extra bowl when you make the noodles later? I would like to try some too."

"Make it two bowls!" Chen Kexin said while chewing a pancake, which did not hinder her speech at all, "I want to eat too!"

She now had an unwavering confidence in Chen Mo’s cooking skills, feeling that anything made by Chen Mo would undoubtedly be delicious.

As for the reason, it was quite simple.

Anyone who can come up with something like milk tea pancakes must have remarkable culinary skills.

"Alright, you guys eat your pancakes first, I’ll prepare the ingredients."

Actually, Chen Mo didn’t need much; mainly there’s the Japanese dashi. It’s not that he’s unfamiliar with making it, but it does take quite a bit of time to prepare.

First, you must boil kombu with purified water and keep the water at a temperature of sixty to seventy degrees Celsius to soak the kombu, for at least over an hour to retain the umami flavor of the kombu in the water.

Then proceed to soak katsuobushi.

It’s worth noting that katsuobushi is the hardest food in the world and can’t be bitten directly; it needs to be shaved into thin slices with a wooden file and soaked until the katsuobushi becomes moist and settles, then the Japanese dashi is considered complete.

Chen Mo found the Japanese dashi that Granny had prepared in the kitchen and scooped out a large bowl of it. This was the main purpose of his visit.

"Aren’t you using broth?" Granny had been waiting by the side to see if she could help in any way.

She was a bit curious when she saw Chen Mo only using dashi.

"Hey, why didn’t you eat the pancake? That milk tea pancake is really delicious." Chen Mo noticed that Granny hadn’t eaten a bite and had given it to Chen Kexin instead.

Granny Chen smiled and said, "I took a bite, it is quite tasty, but I’ve never liked sweets since I was a child."

Milk tea pancakes belong to the sweet and salty category.

Chen Mo understood and respected this; it’s all down to personal taste, which is completely normal.

One can’t expect someone who never liked sweets from a young age to suddenly fall in love with them because of one’s cooking; otherwise, it wouldn’t be considered delicious but maybe something else entirely.

"I have Japanese dashi, so it’s fine. The flour and broth are all on the food cart."

Saying this, Chen Mo carried the bowl of clear Japanese broth out of the small house and went into the food cart, with Granny Chen following him out.

Just moments ago, as she had been busy in the house, stepping outside she saw Chen Mo’s food cart, and Granny instinctively exclaimed.

"Wow! Is this the food cart you use for your stall?"

"Yes indeed." Chen Mo reached out to push open the window of the food cart on this side, supporting it with rods on each side, "How about it, isn’t my cart pretty cool?"

"Cool, very cool, haha."

Granny, though elderly, couldn’t resist circling the food cart several times, looking here and touching there.

After a while of examining, she finally understood.

So, the front part of this vehicle is a camper van while the rear part is a food cart; in essence, it’s a vehicle you can both sleep and cook in!

Who doesn’t have a dream of traveling the world when they’re young?

This kind of vehicle is simply a dream car, and Granny Chen lovingly stroked the car body, "Can I take a look inside?"

"Help yourself, the door isn’t closed."

Seeing Granny Chen go into the camper, Chen Mo started his preparations, ready to try his second fusion dish - the New Style Hooked Knife Noodles!

Due to different cooking times, Chen Mo prepared to make the meat sauce first.

Whether it’s Jingzhou Hooked Knife Noodles or Chen’s Danzai Noodles, the meat sauce used is all about chopping pork belly into minced meat and then frying and braising it.

The advantage of such a method is that minced meat becomes softer and more flavorful, but there are some drawbacks as well.

For a bowl of noodles, this topping seems a bit short on weight, especially in the South with its heavy topping culture, where this minced meat feels more like a garnish rather than a component of the dish.

So Chen Mo decided to switch up his approach.

Transform the traditional minced meat sauce into...

"They say a bowl of pig trotter rice brings out a man’s romance, so I wonder what a bowl of pig trotter noodles might unveil, hehe."

It’s directly a big pork trotter!

After washing and blanching the trotter, added star anise and bay leaves and a series of braised meat seasonings into the pot, which is essentially very classic braising spices, nothing too extraordinary.

In order to speed things up, Chen Mo put the blanched pork trotter into a pressure cooker, which would significantly accelerate the cooking process.

In fact, meat cooked in a pressure cooker turns out softer and more complete than meat cooked using conventional methods, albeit less flavorful.

Thus, adding a final step of high heat to thicken the sauce resolves this issue.

The pressure cooker hissed, now just half an hour more of waiting and the process can continue.

Next!

Grade Flour was scooped out into two bowls, its slightly yellowish color exuding a strong wheat aroma even in its regular state. Using preserved Lu Cuisine Clear Soup poured into the flour, he began mixing the dough.

Initially, Chen Mo considered using clear soup paired with dashi to make the noodle soup, but on the way over, he felt it would be impractical that way.

Jingzhou Hooked Knife Noodles are eaten with very traditional shaved noodle braised meat sauce, which accentuates the aroma of braised meat, heavy in oil and salt.

It’s not an overstatement that no matter what is used for the noodle soup base, once this sauce is poured into the bowl, you can’t taste anything but the flavor of braised meat.

Heavy, that flavor is just too overpowering.

So finally, Chen Mo thought, what if the freshness of the clear soup was directly integrated into the flour from the very start?

Though Chen Mo wasn’t exceptionally skilled at kneading dough, it was no big difficulty; Lu Cuisine Clear Soup is extremely clear, without even the slightest bit of oil.

The kneaded dough is almost indistinguishable from dough mixed with plain water, and the Three Lights Level dough was placed in a bowl, covered with cling film, and refrigerated.

While sipping on a glass of orange juice and waiting, Chen Kexin, having finished two milk tea pancakes, came out as well. She took a big sniff, "Meat aroma! Are you braising meat?"

The steam released from the pressure cooker exposed the ingredients inside.

"Yes, when do you start work and why aren’t you leaving yet?"

"It’s still early, I’m on patrol on the street today." Saying this, Chen Kexin showed two tiger teeth and playfully shook a fist at Chen Mo, "Set on catching people like you who roam around with stalls!"

Oh, dear.

Chen Mo pretended not to hear, handing over another glass of orange juice to Chen Kexin, attempting to bribe her.

While waiting, Chen Mo mentally rehearsed the process for the new style Hooked Knife Noodles.

There’s no need for much discussion on the noodles; using clear soup in the dough thoroughly integrates exquisite freshness into the flour.

The noodle soup was also finalized, with Japanese dashi paired with the noodle cooking broth.

Ultimately, it still revolves around the meat sauce.

"Is it enough to just have braised meat? If the distinction from traditional minced meat sauce is that it becomes chunks after the improvement, is that sufficient?"

Chen Mo continued to rehearse mentally.

Soon enough, the progress bar reached the flashing point, perfectly timed as he lifted the pressure cooker from the fire, set it into the microwave to depressurize, and opened the lid.

Pour the thoroughly softened trotter together with the broth into the black pot, turn to high heat to thicken the sauce.

Utmost care was taken not to use any kitchen utensils to flip the trotter, as it was already extremely tender and could easily fall apart.

Before proceeding to the next step, it’s crucial to maintain the trotter’s shape intact.

Watching the broth in the pot gradually decrease, the trotter’s surface color gradually deepened.

Suddenly, a flash of inspiration hit Chen Mo’s mind.

Exactly...

The meat is rich in juices when it’s braised, so using this meat as the topping is tasty but lacks a critical element, the fusion between the components.

Meat and noodles, with no intermediary to connect them fulfilling sensory fusion.

So what if the meat juice becomes the broth for the noodles?

Chen Mo gradually broke into a devilish grin, as if discovering an entirely new world!