Gourmet: From a Stall in Northern Europe-Chapter 152 - 125: Live Chickens and Ducks, Kill Them Yourself?
It’s still too early now, and there’s no need to start a street stall if not doing the challenge task.
That fresh fish soup noodle, he plans to make it tomorrow because the cooking process is quite lengthy; it takes three to five hours to simmer. Considering the breakfast rush, he would basically have to get up in the middle of the night.
There’s definitely not enough time today.
Heading back to the hotel to catch some extra sleep, he happened to bump into Elise getting off work.
"Good morning, another night shift?"
"Good morning, chef! Yes, I’ve been working night shifts a lot lately. Originally, I had a colleague to rotate shifts with, but she’s on maternity leave now, so there’s no choice. I really wish a man could come along so I could take a maternity leave too~"
"... Good luck with that."
"Hey hey, don’t go, chef! Aren’t you setting up the stall today? I skipped breakfast on purpose!"
"I am, but I’m doing dinner today, a barbecue."
"Isn’t that at night?? Oh no, I need to quickly grab something to eat and then go to sleep. See you tonight, chef!"
The decision to prepare dinner was made after careful consideration of various factors on his part.
First of all, with Dais and Elsa, he promised the two of them that they’d get to eat food from the food truck today, but since it’s not raining today and according to yesterday’s schedule, those two will be at the farm experiencing it during the day, there’s not enough time to set up during the day.
Additionally, he has to get up in the middle of the night to simmer the fresh fish soup and needs to purchase sea fish ahead of time. Boss Magna’s fishing boats won’t return until late evening, likely around midnight or so.
It means buying the ingredients and cooking them immediately, leaving him no extra time to rest.
Staying up all night is inevitable, and he can’t set up during the day, so he has to sleep in advance; there are no other choices.
Back when he worked in the shop, he didn’t have this feeling. Every day, he just needed to complete his part of the job.
Now that he’s been promoted, managing just two employees has already allowed him to experience the difficulty of overseeing everything. Not only does he have to plan the work content, but he also needs to make reasonable arrangements based on the schedules of different people.
He can already imagine the workload Chef Raphael deals with, managing so many employees, developing new dishes, liaising with various heads, and selecting supplier ingredients...
The position of a head chef is really not easy at all!
He sent out a notification about setting up the stall in the evening to Lucas and the two women, then quickly returned to his room to catch up on sleep.
As for Miss Jiang, Lucas will definitely inform her, so there’s no need for him to worry.
"Miss Dais, the chef said he’s going to do a seafood barbecue tonight, so should we still catch ingredients? Or just pick some vegetables and fruits?"
The two women had already finished washing up and were ready to head to the farm when they received the message.
"Of course, we have to catch them. We must experience the process that tourists go through. It’s like diving; we wouldn’t know how tiring it is if we hadn’t tried it before, right?"
"Only through experience can we understand what tourists need most and provide the most suitable service. The chef personally told me this, and I think it’s very reasonable."
"Any caught ingredients can be saved for tomorrow; they won’t spoil in a short time."
The two of them hadn’t the slightest idea of the challenges they would face on the farm today.
When the sun sets and they finish a full day of fun, carrying back a big half-box of fruits and vegetables to the farm’s exit for settlement, they see the chickens and ducks they caught in the afternoon still fluttering in the cage, and they are dumbfounded.
"Eh? Wait, why are they still alive?"
"Well, of course, madam."
John, holding a calculator, pressed numbers rapidly, looking like it was the most natural thing in the world as he spoke.
"These are your catches; the decision on how to handle them is yours. We won’t arbitrarily provide slaughtering services to ensure the freshness of the ingredients. Of course, if needed, you can pay for slaughtering services."
"Oh, right, that might not be possible today because the farm hasn’t officially opened to the public yet, and our butcher is on leave today; he didn’t come to work."
Elsa’s face turned pale as she pointed to the restless chickens and ducks in the cage: "So Mr. John’s suggesting we take them back? Then... then how do we handle them afterward?"
"Find a butcher shop to help slaughter them then."
"But it’s already six in the evening, Mr. John!!!"
"Uh... I suppose so. Head chefs should know some slaughtering techniques, right? Chefs on those wilderness survival shows on TV all seem to know them."
The two women exchanged glances, feeling for the first time that things were spiraling out of their control.
To have them personally take the live animals back and slaughter them...this is...
Even in restaurants, the goods received are always fully processed, requiring only simple cutting. What if the chef can’t handle it?
"Don’t look at me; I don’t dare to kill either. If push comes to shove, just keep them until tomorrow morning. There’s no big harm in that; they’ll be too weak to resist after a night without food, making it easier to kill them."
John spread his hands, indicating that he’s just a farmer and truly doesn’t know how to kill chickens or ducks, which are high-skill tasks.
On the way back, the driver tried to comfort the two of them.
"No worries, didn’t you say that chef is from Great Xia? Chefs from Great Xia all know slaughtering techniques; only Western chefs don’t, so don’t worry."
"Is that really so?"
"Sigh, it’s fine. Worst case, wait until tomorrow to find a butcher shop to handle them. Anyway, there’s no rush to use them today."
In the Western mindset, ingredients are always pre-processed and ready to use, without the concept of needing to slaughter them themselves.
Even vegetables are cleaned and packaged, ready to eat straight away.
Even Elsa, having lived in this environment for a long time, has no concept of these things and hadn’t considered the possibility of such situations occurring.
The last time, the driver provided some rather unpleasant experiences, and Dais still thought it might be better not to listen to him.
However, they indeed needed to discuss this matter with the chef.
Situations like this will surely occur countless times in the future.
Having deeply experienced the unpredictability of unforeseen situations, she felt a profound respect for Lin Chen’s suggestion to let them experience the tourist journey themselves.
If this level of macroscopic insight is required for promotion, it’s no wonder she hasn’t managed to ascend to the position of front-desk manager in five years.
Though the work appeared easy on the surface, experiencing it firsthand proved drastically different.
When the two of them returned to the restaurant with bags full of fresh ingredients, Lin Chen was already at the food truck at the door handling the large squid and yellow croaker bought in the morning.
What he planned to make today was simple, just a regular barbecue.
After all, besides seafood and coconuts, there’s nothing else but barbecue at the seaside.
The squid had its surface membrane peeled off, the beak removed, and was skewered onto bamboo sticks.
The yellow croaker had its scales scraped off, the guts cleaned, and was also skewered. It was relatively easy to handle and not too troublesome.
"Back already?"
Seeing the two of them walking over, he stopped what he was doing and got out to help carry the bags.
"Cluck cluck cluck!!!"
Suddenly, something in the bag moved violently and made crying noises, which gave him quite a start.
"Holy crap!"
"Live chickens and ducks??"
Once he saw what was in the bag, he was bewildered too.
This... what’s going on here?
Did you two just bring them back from a countryside bazaar, uncooked?
"Uh, chef, Mr. John said because the farm hasn’t officially opened, and the butcher took leave today, he didn’t expect we could catch chickens and ducks..."
"Well, that’s not too difficult."
Elsa scratched her head, confused: "When I went over, it just stood there motionless, and I just grabbed it easily; maybe it got tired of living?"
Lin Chen gave a thumbs-up.
You’re impressive!
I’m at a loss for words!
"Chef, Mr. John suggested keeping them hungry for one night, so they’d be too weak tomorrow. Then we could just find a butcher shop to handle it."
Seeing Lin Chen’s expression, Dais felt that he didn’t look like someone who’s killed a chicken before and directly proposed the final solution.
Truth be told, Lin Chen himself was hesitating.
These days, other than farmers and those working in market supermarkets, who has the chance to kill a chicken or a duck? Even personally handling a fish is rare.
Being someone who started learning cooking abroad, it’s even less likely he has any experience in this area.
