Gourmet: From a Stall in Northern Europe-Chapter 50: Irresistibly Spicy and Savory Delights
"What???"
Lunard’s mouth dropped open.
"Are you saying you don’t even have a basic chef certificate from Great Xia? Impossible, absolutely impossible!!"
"If your skills can’t even get a basic certificate, then all the chefs from the world’s culinary powers are worthless!"
"Isn’t that right?"
Lucas scoffed and shrugged, scooping up a spoonful of mapo tofu over rice and stuffing it into his mouth, mumbling unclearly.
"Western chefs can make fairly uniform dishes as long as they have a recipe. Do they know what Sword Skills are? Do they know what mastering heat is? Do they know what gourmet dishes are? Can they cut tofu into threads fine enough to go through a needle?"
"From my point of view, Western cuisine tastes pretty much the same no matter which country or city you’re in. Tomato pasta is always tomato pasta, with the same few ingredients and no new variations."
"But Great Xia is different. The same ingredients can change flavors depending on which city you’re in. Just with rice, you can make rice noodles, rice flour, rice cakes, rice paste, rice skin, and chow fun..."
"Even cooked rice can be made into fried rice, rice soup, porridge, among others, and these three alone can evolve into countless flavors."
"Take porridge, for instance. There’s sweet millet porridge, pumpkin porridge, purple yam porridge, corn porridge, and there are savory ones like beef porridge, egg porridge, seafood porridge, mushroom porridge, vegetable porridge, and so on."
"Uh..."
Lunard was so shocked he didn’t know what to say.
Of course, he knew about porridge. Foreign countries have porridge, usually oatmeal, mainly sweet, like apple cinnamon oatmeal and blueberry oatmeal, focusing on spice and fruit flavors.
But hearing Lucas speak like this, his curiosity about the miraculous culinary skills of Great Xia reached its peak.
The same dish changing flavors in different cities?
He couldn’t imagine how that was even possible!
"Even with tofu, the incredible Great Xia people can make thousands of different dishes with it. How can you compete with that?"
With a tone of obvious pride, Lucas lifted his head, "I’m not belittling Western chefs, but the concepts of cooking in both regions are just on completely different levels, incomparable."
These words made Lin Chen feel embarrassed.
When you’re outside, can’t you keep a low profile?
You haven’t learned a bit of the essence of Great Xia people!
"Haha, don’t listen to his bragging. Although Great Xia has a rich and profound food culture, people’s energy is limited, and what each chef can learn is not much, so there’s no need to think so highly of Great Xia chefs."
"We just have a large population and vast geography, which results in lots of innovation, and with a long history, this culture has developed."
He casually changed the subject.
"By the way, Lucas, how come we haven’t seen your couple friends these past two days?"
"You mean Jade and Amber? They’re probably busy. Amber is in the company’s PR department and also responsible for training new staff, so she’s often occupied, but she does earn quite a bit from the overtime."
"As for Jade, being a kindergarten teacher, you know how it is. Even after work, she has to prepare teaching materials, toys, plan activities, and so on. She’s a busy person too."
"I see."
Lin Chen nodded, "When they’re free, call them to come again. I’m inviting them; after all, they made those videos for me for free, and I owe them a favor."
"Alright, with you saying that, I bet they’ll show up tonight."
Just earlier, he also recorded the process of making mapo tofu and casually sent it to the couple.
At this time, Jade, who just put the little devils to sleep, was in the office having a water break when her phone lit up.
She opened it to see.
The white and bright red hue, the green leaves of garlic sprouts, bubbling softly in the pot, the seductive appearance, and the final touch of sprinkling Sichuan pepper powder, followed by a spoonful of fragrant rice.
"Damn Lucas, you know I haven’t had lunch and you’re tempting me on purpose!!!"
She hadn’t been there in days, and never thought that Lin had started cooking stir-fried dishes; they looked incredibly delicious.
Swallowing discreetly the drool that had unknowingly pooled, the fatigue seemed to miraculously vanish, and she rushed to finish work that was supposed to be done at night.
Lin Chen also took a moment to message Marian, informing her that the ingredients were ready and she could come anytime to eat, with the normal business starting after five, leaving three hours to buffer.
Receiving the message, Marian immediately dragged George to start planning their schedule, aiming to eat before five and ordering whatever needed to be packed so that it wouldn’t disrupt his work.
At 4:30, they arrived at the food truck on time, enjoying a VIP private dining experience.
The freshly cooked mapo tofu was fragrant, spicy, and extremely hot, blending with the aroma of the rice formed a perfect match, retaining the spicy freshness of the tofu while making it manageable to eat without scorching the mouth.
It was the first time Marian and George had tried Sichuan pepper, the numbing sensation on their tongues upon entry made them light up.
The flavor was completely different from the mapo tofu they’d had at Chinese restaurants, with a rich sauce and spicy chili flavor, devoid of any tomato sweetness. Even the texture of the tofu was different, as tender as jelly, it would easily break apart with a gentle touch.
In the Chinese restaurant, mapo tofu they had could be picked up with chopsticks without breaking, offering a different texture.
"Hiss... Ha, so spicy, so delicious, so satisfying!"
"Is this authentic mapo tofu? It’s delicious, so delicious, this strange tingling sensation on the tongue and lips is addictive!"
After a few bites, both were sweating profusely, unclear if it was from the heat or the spice.
The four little kids couldn’t handle the spice of the mapo tofu and could only watch on the side, swallowing their saliva. The two doll-like little girls were almost crying, waving their little hands, demanding to eat.
Without hesitation, Marian scooped a spoonful of tofu steeped in red oil to feed her daughters and son alternately. Watching them cough from the spice, she contentedly went back to her meal.
Although it wasn’t even five o’clock, not the usual end-of-day time, some positions have different work hours from others.
The subway exit slowly began to spill out passengers, and upon reaching the street, they saw a family sitting on the roadside flower bed, shoveling rice into their mouths.
The air smelled of intense spicy fragrance, inhaling deeply could almost make one sneeze involuntarily.
"Smells so good, what is this place selling, let’s take a look."
"It’s a smell I haven’t encountered before, interesting."
The customers gathering gradually increased, and since there was no menu, everyone stood rooted, watching the promotional video on the TV screen.
Lin Chen returned to the truck to prepare to serve at any moment.
Just then, across the street, two police officers walked over slowly.
Upon seeing them, Kimchi Lady’s eyes lit up, eagerly waving her hand.
"I was the one who reported them. That’s the one! They’ve been operating for several days, only accepting cash, I strongly suspect they’re evading taxes!"
