Gourmet: Midnight Vending-Chapter 411 - 366: The Opera Singer’s Tune, the Chef’s Broth (Part 2)
With his message, the group chat came to an abrupt halt.
...
Mu Xin was dumbfounded when he received the call.
"Are you saying you returned from your business trip long ago and have been staying at Chen Mo’s hometown all this time?"
"Dad! That’s not the point right now. Did you even look at the list of ingredients I sent you? Come on, hurry up, I need them urgently!"
Mu Xin’s lips trembled, "Why are you staying at someone’s house? Are you still there? I’ll send someone to pick you up."
"Dad!!! Enough already, if you keep going on, I’m hanging up!"
"Alright, alright..." Mu Xin quickly stood up from his chair in fright, "Then tell me first, why do you suddenly need so many premium ingredients?"
"Brother Chen Mo is helping someone prepare a banquet, so he trusts our family."
Mu Xin’s eye twitched uncontrollably.
Wow, so I’m buying ingredients and doing the work for him, and in my daughter’s eyes, it’s all because Chen Mo respects me?
Mu Xin gritted his teeth, "Got it, it’ll be delivered before dawn tomorrow."
Hanging up the phone, Mu Xin looked at Hou Yao, who was standing at the door, muscles twitching from holding back laughter, "Prepare the car, we’re having a banquet tomorrow afternoon!"
He didn’t manage to say the last curse word.
And the chef for this banquet, Chen Mo! He had just driven back to the village, and his catering van was packed with ingredients.
These ingredients were directly placed on the floor of the catering van, and the roof rack of the RV was also tied up with a lot of ingredients. Considering that once back, the uncles would definitely come to help, it would be unrealistic to get them directly from the cupboard, so that’s why Chen Mo did it this way.
Sure enough, as soon as Chen Mo drove up to the gate, people working in the courtyard immediately swarmed out and surrounded the car.
"Come on, everyone help move things!"
"Hey Xiao Mo, this van must have cost quite a bit, right? I just searched online and couldn’t even find out what brand your van is."
"This van’s not bad, looks like a semi-trailer, you could probably earn a lot hauling coal with it!"
Chen Mo’s face darkened.
Thinking, how could my catering van be turned into a coal truck, damn it!
Once everyone helped move the ingredients into the courtyard, Chen Mo saw his dad, Chen Jinping, squatting in the corner measuring dimensions with a ruler.
"Dad, what are you doing?"
Chen Jinping extinguished the rolled cigarette in his mouth, "You’re going to need a stove to cook, right? I’m measuring for a clay stove."
This is a rather traditional method.
Most of the village banquets use clay stoves to cook, although many have switched to gas stoves now, but Chen Jinping prefers to save where he can.
Our village doesn’t have much else, but there’s plenty of dirt mounds and firewood.
Chen Mo initially wanted to refuse, but then realized his father’s good intentions and changed his words, "That’s great, some dishes need that clay stove to bring out the best flavor."
An almost imperceptible look of pride appeared on Chen Jinping’s face, "Alright, go busy yourself, don’t be in my way here."
Laying a clay stove was second nature to him; back when the family lived in a mud brick house, all the earthen beds and stoves were built by Chen Jinping himself.
While Chen Jinping was setting up the stove, Chen Mo was calling the other uncles to help move the gas stoves from the van to the courtyard.
There were a total of five stoves.
Some were bought while setting up a stall in Chengdu, and some while in Yangzhou.
Yeah...when Chen Mo left, he took all the stuff from the four free laborers, so if they wanted to set up a stall, they’d have to buy everything themselves.
Once the gas stoves were set up quickly, Chen Mo took out the menu and reviewed it from start to finish.
Some dishes had to be made fresh.
But some dishes had to be made at least a day in advance.
"Doesn’t matter if it’s hot dishes or cold dishes, at least you need some broth first!"
The phrase from Chinese cuisine, "The heart is the soup," is no joke.
Initially, when Chen Mo was learning to cook, he always thought that stock was some sort of mystical thing. If it was just about enhancing flavor, frankly, wouldn’t chicken powder or MSG be more effective than stock?
But over time, he slowly realized,
The flavor imparted by stock and that by seasonings are two different things.
But when it comes to stock, it can’t be separated from one cuisine—Lu Cuisine.
Chen Mo stayed sleepless in an unfinished building in Jingzhou, largely because, in addition to listing banquet menus at night, he also had to frequently go to the catering van to study how the corresponding recipes should be made.
Back then, he had already considered the issue of stock.
The opening hatch of the catering van gave the answer: Lu Cuisine, milk soup, Clear Soup.
[Famous dishes from Shandong are renowned for their soups, with Clear Soup and milk soup being essential components of Lu Cuisine.]
[Clear Soup is clear and delicious, while milk soup is white and rich, looking like milk. Combined with some specialties from Jinan, one can produce delightful soups that are fragrant and flavorful.]
Having arranged the gas stoves and a large operating table, all the ingredients were sorted and placed around Chen Mo.
According to Chen Mo’s instructions, a freezer was moved out from the house and placed in the courtyard, where most of the ingredients needing refrigeration were kept.
On the left side of the operating table was a spice rack filled with jars and bottles — there were dozens of types of seasonings!
Black Blade gripped in hand, Blackboard placed on the table, black pot situated on the stove, dressed in white.
Chen Mo slightly closed his eyes, recalling the recipes for the two soups derived from the catering van’s analysis.
Mu Mu transformed into a little kitchen helper, happily following Chen Mo.
"Duck, coming!"
Mu Mu pulled out a duck from the freezer, and from three meters away, tossed it over to him. Without even looking, Chen Mo extended his left hand and caught it, then tossed it onto the cutting board with a smack.
The uncles busy in the courtyard started to slow down, and after a day’s work, they nearly finished what they needed to do.
Everyone sat around a large table closest to Chen Mo, smoking and drinking tea.
"Can this kid really cook?"
"Seeing how things are set up, it looks real. Check out that knife, it looks quite fierce!"
"And that cutting board, why does it seem like it’s made of iron? Wouldn’t cutting on it break the knife’s edge?"
"Let’s wait and see what’s being made here. How come there’s chicken and duck along with an elbow? Wow, big bones are on deck too?"
At this moment, Liu Ping Uncle’s described ingredients were precisely what was on Chen Mo’s cutting board.
These were quality ingredients bought from the supermarket, although they couldn’t compare to top-grade ingredients, but were definitely adequate for making soup!
The purchased ingredients were pretty clean to begin with, and Chen Mo put them through an automatic cleaning process in the cabinet before returning to the village, requiring no further treatment!
If not for this, Chen Mo would’ve had a hard time managing alone, and would’ve had to enlist several more helpers.
With veins taut, Black Blade sliced twice through the elbow bones, then used the blade’s back to break them.
A cleaned hen had its claws chopped off, and the breast section was removed before extracting the chicken fat. Both legs were then cut down, with bones and fat removed, chopped into fine mince.
Another chicken with legs had its leg bones smashed with the back of a knife.
As for the duck, he did the same, smashing the leg bones and folding the wings back.
Two large black pots sat on the gas stoves, "Add water!"
"Alright!"
Mu Mu bent over and grabbed a large stainless steel bucket with both hands, "Ugh!"
She strained but then lifted her head awkwardly, "I...can’t lift it."
Chen Mo: -_-||
The onlooking uncles laughed awkwardly, coming over to help pour the water from the stainless steel bucket into the two black pots.
Chen Mo placed pork bones, chicken, duck, and elbows into the pots, then turned on the high flame.
In between, he didn’t do much else, watching the pots as the high flame quickly heated things up, skimming off the foam slowly.
While skimming, he was also mentally planning the next steps.
If it was anyone else, it wouldn’t matter, but Chen Mo was determined to do the banquet properly like a true banquet should be.
For instance, pre-cooking many ingredients to completion the day before, so that on the day of the banquet, it’d only require reheating through steaming, roasting, or stewing.
But for Boss Jiang’s banquet, Chen Mo decided it had to be done genuinely, even if it meant considerably more effort.
So whatever could be freshly made, had to be made fresh!
Chen Mo now operated on a full set of procedures he designed himself, determining what time to start making a dish based on when it needed to be served.
The white attire he wore was his ultimate trump card!
