Gourmet: From a Stall in Northern Europe-Chapter 209 - 154: Profitable Business Opportunity, Great Xia’s Eight Delicacies

Buddha Jumps Over the Wall can be both high-end and common; generally speaking, the taste doesn't vary significantly.

If there's a distinction to be made, it's merely the quality of a few main ingredients.

Shark fin, dried abalone, sea cucumber, fish maw.

Apart from dried abalone, the other three ingredients actually don't have much taste, and fish maw and sea cucumber might even have a bit of their own fishiness.

The world of dried abalone is deep; it's hard for non-professionals to tell good from bad, and the main production techniques are found in Great Xia.

It's available abroad as well, but it's unnecessary.

Considering multiple factors, making a common version is more than sufficient, as you're just enjoying the flavor.

If someone really wants to show off, they wouldn't come to this kind of buffet; there are plenty of Michelin options abroad to choose from.

"No matter what they bring back, it's 100% seafood. As long as there's seafood, I can incorporate it, and I can even prepare the base broth in advance. Just blanch the ingredients when they arrive, and it's ready for the table—simply perfect!"

He even thought this could be a fixed part of the menu. Foreigners love thick soups like creamy mushroom soup, creamy clam chowder, creamy corn soup, pumpkin soup, and so on.

So, isn't it reasonable for him to always have a Great Xia thick soup ready?

He got down to business and, while it was still early, drove the catering van to a nearby supermarket and bought four whole chickens, ten duck legs, eight pig trotters, ten pork bones, four pork neck bones, and some old pumpkins and shiitake mushrooms.

These are the main ingredients, and the rest would depend on the patrons—featuring a blind-box-style low-end Buddha Jumps Over the Wall.

With so many ingredients, there's no problem making two big pots of soup.

Part would be used to entertain guests in the evening, and the rest could be sold at a stall, significantly saving time.

With over two hundred positive reviews needed to get a recipe exchange card, selling at a stall posed no challenge for him now.

He drove back to the restaurant parking lot, not even getting out of the van, he engaged a time acceleration buff and cleaned all the meat before placing it in the pressure cooker for half an hour.

After thirty minutes, he quickly retrieved all the ingredients and portioned them into two boiling soup pots, then poured the broth evenly in and reduced the heat to simmer.

The purpose of using the pressure cooker was not only to speed up the softening and deboning of the ingredients but also to utilize high temperature and pressure to extract the fat from the meat and bones, giving the broth a slightly yellowish creamy white color.

While the broth was bubbling in the soup pot, he returned to the restaurant kitchen and steamed some old pumpkin, passing it through a fine mesh sieve to remove the coarser fibers, leaving only smooth pumpkin puree as reserve.

Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, or fish maw chicken-type soups, get their golden color from pumpkin or carrots, primarily pumpkin.

Pumpkin itself has a fresh and sweet taste and can replace sugar. Being a staple food, it contains a lot of starch, which can replace starch water to thicken the soup naturally, forming a rich texture without the pasty taste of thickening.

To be safe, he also called Boss Magna to order a few boxes of small abalone and unwanted fish stomachs.

Freshly caught seafood needs basic processing and ice preservation on the shore; otherwise, the viscera will decay quickly and affect the ingredients' taste.

Fish stomach, or swim bladder, is usually used for feed. Seeing Lin Chen wanted it, Boss Magna's curiosity was piqued.

With the news of the restaurant's opening having long spread, he wanted to check out what delicious things Lin Chen was concocting there.

Handling abalone and picking fish stomachs took time, and it was already 3 p.m. when he arrived at the restaurant with three large boxes of ingredients.

"Hey, dear Lin, how's business these past two days?"

"Pretty good, about eighty to ninety customers came for breakfast just after seven o'clock this morning; I was almost dead busy."

"Not bad, so many customers just after seven… wait, what time??"

Magna opened his mouth wide, his jaw dropping to the floor.

After seven?

Eighty to ninety customers??

"I mean, is there any leftover food? Can you sell me something to try?"

After collaborating with this guy for so long, he hadn't actually tasted his cooking, and his curiosity peaked.

"There really isn't any leftover food; it's all sold out. But there is seafood soup prepared for dinner; we're just waiting on your seafood. Want to try it?"

"Yes, yes! Of course!"

"Okay, I'll make it for you now."

The two pots of broth on the cart had already been moved to the kitchen, where they continued to simmer on low heat.

Although he paid for the ingredients himself, he could settle the cost after dinner based on how much was used.

Magna had been through many restaurant kitchens, but this was his first time seeing a garden-style restaurant like this.

He followed Lin Chen into the kitchen, helping unload the goods while wanting to see how he made it.

"Is it just you in the restaurant, where is everyone else?"

"They're on lunch break. I needed to prepare soup for the stall and dinner, so I stayed to work."

"Damn, you Great Xia people are so hardworking. Finishing three meals and continuing to run a stall? Aren't you tired to death?"

"It's not too bad. Once the soup's on, I can rest; I don't have to watch it the whole time."

Lin Chen lifted the pot lid, and a rich meaty aroma wafted out. The broth had turned creamy white, with a thin layer of oil floating on the surface.

He deliberately left this oil layer unskimmed, as it helped keep in warmth and moisture, while also allowing more fats to integrate into the soup, enriching its flavor.