Gourmet: Midnight Vending-Chapter 372 - 346: Triple Approach, New Dish Unveiled
When Chen Mo told Huang Bo about cooking the rice first with chicken broth and then air-drying the surface using a ventilation method,
the chef from Jingya Pavilion was wide-eyed with disbelief, "Boss, you’re cutting corners!"
"What do you mean, cutting corners? Do you still need to use elementary equations after learning functions in high school?"
Seeing Huang Bo bow his head in contemplation, Chen Mo was quite satisfied as it meant he acknowledged Chen Mo’s point.
Unexpectedly, a moment later, Huang Bo confusedly asked, "What’s a function?"
Chen Mo: ...
"Whatever functions are, just try following my method. Actually, most of it isn’t hard, the hardest part is this step."
Chen Mo casually flipped a spatula, then poured a ladle of clear water into the pot under the high flame.
"I’ll give it a try."
There was no denying that Huang Bo had some skills to be the head chef at Jingya Pavilion; at least his flipping was well-practiced.
After several attempts, Huang Bo still found it hard to grasp the timing and amount of water to pour, which either left the rice with too much moisture or none at all, with the steam evaporating entirely.
"No worries, keep practicing, we’ll set up shop at six tonight."
There’s still plenty of time, and with an entire afternoon to practice this one skill, Chen Mo believed Huang Bo had potential.
As for Chen Mo, the dumpling fillings and dough can now be prepped and saved, just needing to steam the buns around six.
Now, the main focus is studying the Phoenix Tail Shrimp dish.
By the afternoon, the Xue Brothers finally returned with all the ingredients Chen Mo needed.
"Boss, what’s up with buying so many river shrimps today? We didn’t use this many for the rice yesterday."
"It’s not just for fried rice, we’re introducing something new today."
"Huh?" Xue Ping’s mouth dropped open, clearly shocked by the speed of new dish introductions. "A new dish a day? Boss, what’s today’s dish?"
Chen Mo roughly calculated the costs.
The actual cost of Phoenix Tail Shrimp isn’t high, but its restaurant price isn’t cheap.
For example, at the most basic Pizza Hut, a single order with 5 shrimps costs around 25 Yuan.
In some Chinese restaurants, Phoenix Tail Shrimp with 8 shrimp costs around 30 Yuan. In slightly upscale restaurants, like one of the local renowned restaurants Chen Mo read about online, the signature dish Phoenix Tail Shrimp costs 88 Yuan for 8 shrimp.
It’s an absurd price.
Of course, those places offer good service and ambiance, which contributes to the cost. Since we offer neither, then...
"Write on the sign, Phoenix Tail Shrimp, 3 Yuan each."
Chen Mo thought this was a reasonable price, with roughly fifty percent profit.
Upon hearing the name of today’s new dish, Huang Bo couldn’t help but twitch his lips.
Boss, are you planning to take down the Four Great Restaurants one by one?
Then again, Huang Bo didn’t mind anymore, especially since he already admitted defeat in front of so many online viewers and customers last night. If other chefs come to challenge, Huang Bo would actually be happy about it.
At least... it would prove that he’s not the only one who could lose.
Ignoring the three free labors, Chen Mo dug into the food truck and meticulously studied the making of Phoenix Tail Shrimp, focusing on which part could be prep-saved—this is the secret to boosting sales!
When busy, people rarely notice the passage of time.
Around five in the afternoon, Chen Mo was intently cooking, and the Xue Brothers were focused on making lion’s head meatballs, when suddenly a shout startled them, causing them to fumble and ruin the ingredients.
"Hey man, why are you yelling?"
"I did it! I did it! Your Chef Huang has done it! Haha, quick, boss, come see, I really did it."
"Done what?" Chen Mo stepped out of the food truck.
He saw Huang Bo expertly flip the spatula and pour a ladle of clear water into the pot. As steam rose majestically, the airborne rice landed precisely.
Oh right, Huang Bo always used the same batch of rice while practicing this trick.
Tsk.
Chen Mo nodded, "Not bad, consistently doing it right is key."
"No problem, I’ve hardly missed lately. Boss, got any more secrets?" Huang Bo couldn’t help but wag his legs, appearing both proud and excited.
"The rest is in the ingredient prep I’ve told you about, but I’ve prepared everything. You just handle the cooking."
Huang Bo nodded firmly, "Today I can definitely sell at least two hundred servings!"
Xue An pouted, "However much you sell, you still lost, what’s the big deal."
Xue Ping sighed, "We’ve been here a day longer than Chef Huang, yet we haven’t learned the Meat Cutting Skill and Fire Control Skill. Let’s practice more."
Chen Mo returned to the truck and saved all prepped ingredients. Surprisingly, for the Phoenix Tail Shrimp, the prep storage could be done slightly later, making fast onsite preparation easier.
"Okay, everyone pack up. In fifteen minutes, we’ll set up the stall."
The fifteen-minute wait was for a reason—at least they should eat first.
From morning until now, no one had had a bite.
Chen Mo casually took out his saved ingredients from the storage area, giving each person three fried eggs and a bowl of clear soup noodles made with A-grade flour.
The trio ate with beads of sweat dripping down, thoroughly satisfied.
...
North Gate.
Gao Hao arrived early today; now his daily live stream income far surpasses his day job salary.
"How about it, didn’t I choose the right path? Now when I return to work, even the leaders have to consider my opinion."
Zhang Huixiang nodded with deep feeling, "Indeed, you’re quite the star at work now. If tourism in our city really skyrockets soon, you’d be the biggest hero!"
Gao Hao found these words quite gratifying, "Today’s my treat, we’ll have a good meal."
As he spoke, Gao Hao opened his mobile to start the live stream.
As soon as it began, over three hundred viewers joined instantly, and Gao Hao was very pleased.
"Hello everyone, today we continue with Boss Xiao Chen’s stall setup live stream. Luckily, we’re early today, gotta snag the deluxe set!"
Gao Hao’s camera rotated around, and when the lens faced the big road outside the North Gate, he suddenly paused.
"Wait... am I seeing things?"
The three or four hundred streaming viewers rubbed their eyes incredulously, then looked at their phone screens again.
Upon confirming they weren’t mistaken, they all gasped.
Wait a minute... Boss Xiao Chen hasn’t even set up his stall.
Why are there suddenly so many...
Beautiful women!
