Gourmet: From a Stall in Northern Europe-Chapter 55: Homestyle Bento Meals

After a few minutes of observation and experimentation, Lin Chen finally figured out the specific effect of the buff.

Simply put, it only takes effect when prepped in the food truck without setting up a stall. If not prepping, it automatically cancels ten seconds after activation.

Once activated, there’s no feeling inside the food truck, but the flow of time outside the truck slows down.

Although he hasn’t experienced it himself, it’s expected that time should flow normally for people outside the food truck, while he inside the truck is the one being sped up.

In short, the effect of this buff is to help him save prep time, nothing else.

Now with the new recipe of Red Bean Dumplings as a drink and Fruit Ice Jelly as the shop’s signature, just selling these should be fine, and there’s no worry about good reviews.

Foreigners almost have no resistance to sweets, and sweet dishes with Great Xia’s red bean flavor are also popular.

But just having these feels like something’s missing.

Speaking of Great Xia Cuisine, one inevitably mentions the major cuisines, sword skills, fire control, and so on.

Even desserts are divided into traditional Suzhou-style, Cantonese-style, and other schools, all of which are intricately crafted dishes.

A simple bowl of Red Bean Dumplings Soup can’t really be considered impressive.

He happened to have one Recipe Exchange Voucher left, and he was considering which recipe would be suitable to exchange for.

For the next four days, he had to work, so setting up the stall could only be done at night, making the choice of dishes quite crucial.

It shouldn’t take too long to prepare, and it should be relatively acceptable to foreigners, something that can be sold quickly.

"Wait a minute, if I remember correctly, the stall task could only be triggered once a day. If I make Red Bean Dumplings Soup, then if I exchange another recipe to make it, one would inevitably be wasted?"

"That won’t do, save every bit where you can, better not exchange it first."

Each new recipe only triggers a good review task the first time the stall is set up; from the second time, it only helps in accumulating good reviews and achievements. He experienced this today.

"The Chinese food I know... they’re all home-cooked dishes, should I make boxed meals?"

"Making boxed meals tomorrow? Sure, I think there’s no problem with that."

Lucas listened to his idea and nodded in agreement, "After eating noodles for a few days, my cravings are almost suppressed, switching to stir-fry dishes sounds nice, it’s best to stir-fry several types for customers to mix and match."

"That’s exactly what I thought, but the space in the food truck is limited. I think we could make about four dishes?"

"Sure, I would like to reserve a serving of Tomato and Egg Stir-fry. No foreigner can resist that, it’s perfect with rice. The other three should also be good for rice."

The two instantly saw eye to eye on the idea, and Lucas’s suggestions matched what Lin Chen had in mind.

When foreigners first encounter Chinese food, there’s an 80% chance that Tomato and Egg Stir-fry will appear among their first five dishes.

If brought by a friend from Great Xia, the probability goes up to 95%.

Not only foreigners, even people from Great Xia won’t miss this dish in their quick meal boxes.

Tomato and Egg Stir-fry can be sweet or savory, and personally, he didn’t favor one over the other; both are delicious.

If it’s for foreigners, wanting to sell out quickly and close up shop, making the sweet version is more suitable.

"Alright, since we’re making home-cooked dishes, I think we’ll just go with purely home-cooked ones."

Lucas seemed very excited, his eyes sparkling: "How about adding some Shredded Potatoes with Green Peppers? It’s best to cut it fresh on the spot, really finely shredded, stir-fried for just a few seconds, so we can simultaneously show off the sword skills and fire control of Great Xia’s culinary techniques!"

Lin Chen’s mouth subtly twitched, but he nodded: "Alright, what about the other two?"

He has in fact cut ultra-fine potato shreds before, but not many times, as he learned Western cuisine, it couldn’t compare to the sword skills of a Great Xia chef, though he practiced occasionally at home during breaks.

"Let’s do Eggplant too. The ingredients most commonly appearing in Western cuisine are tomatoes, potatoes, celery, eggplant, and carrots, but celery and carrots lack good dishes for rice, while eggplant allows for various preparations." 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

"And we need a meat dish... let me think... it has to be Braised Pork Belly, right?"

"Isn’t that too fatty? The minced meat in buns is hidden, but the whole chunky Braised Pork Belly might scare people off, right?"

"True, how about Sweet and Sour Pork Ribs instead?"

"Sure, let’s go with that for now."

It was still early, so on the way back, he bought the ingredients and soaked the red beans.

He bought a lot of potatoes, afraid of embarrassing Great Xia’s chefs while setting up the stall, so he practiced during two whole hours before slowly mastering fine shredding.

Even though his current skill level wouldn’t rank in Great Xia, it was good enough to fool foreigners.

The shredded potatoes used for practice definitely couldn’t be sold, so he planned to turn them into mashed potatoes to sell together.

The next morning, he soaked the ribs in water before heading to work.

Soaking can substitute for blanching, drawing out excess blood from the bones and meat, effectively reducing the meat’s gamey taste while maintaining its maximum flavor.

He worked his shift as usual, without anything special happening, except for occasionally seeing Chef Raphael conducting experiments with various ingredients and cooking methods, occasionally calling him over for discussions.

In the eyes of the other kitchen staff, this generally meant he wasn’t far from a promotion.

Jolian was good-natured, a nice person with aspirations outside of this, so even his quiet self offered some congratulations.

But Anderson, with his fiery temper, was nearly exploding, his face dark as a pot bottom, causing his cooking to become inconsistent, which led to another scolding from the chef, almost breaking into an argument.

Lin Chen certainly wouldn’t involve himself, just focusing on doing his own job. There’s no need to worry too much about interpersonal relations at work abroad, doing your job well is more important than anything else.

Around nine in the evening, after cleaning the kitchen, he quickly drove home and went straight inside the food truck to activate the time buff.

The soaked ribs were chopped into smaller pieces, adding scallion, ginger, and a bit of peppercorn, star anise, and bay leaves, all cooked in a pressure cooker for fifteen minutes, just enough to start separating from the bone but still retaining some chewiness.

He discarded the small spices, separating the ribs and the broth.

In a hot oiled pan, he seared the ribs until the skin was slightly charred, then added the appropriate amount of caramel color, thoroughly mixing to coat the ribs in a tempting brown-red color.

Add rice wine or liquor, soy sauce, sugar, and aromatic vinegar in a 1-2-3-4 ratio and order.

First, cook off the alcohol to release the meat’s aroma while removing any remaining gaminess, then add soy sauce to boil away bean odor.

Add sugar and vinegar simultaneously, also allowing to boil, to remove the vinegar’s tartness; finally, add a little water to dilute the sauce, preventing it from sticking to the pan.