As they continued chatting, the topic shifted to Lin Chen.
Upon learning that the three Great Xia girls wanted to visit Lin Chen after dinner, they all agreed and began discussing how to shoot a promotional video for him and which dishes would be more suitable for filming.
"Of course, it has to be noodles!"
Lucas exclaimed, patting his chest, "Stir-fried dishes create too much smoke, definitely not suitable. In terms of performance, noodles are the way to go!"
"Just imagine if we could modify a food cart to be open-air and make ramen or knife-cut noodles on a bustling street, wouldn't that just astonish these foreigners?"
"?"
Jiang Shuqi covered her mouth and laughed. She'd wanted to tease him since yesterday, but held it in until now.
What could be more amusing than a tall, handsome foreign guy with blond hair and blue eyes, speaking fluent Chinese and mocking his fellow countrymen?
Her two girlfriends also wanted to laugh but held back.
"Aren't you worried your friends will beat you up for saying that?"
Lucas shrugged, "They won't understand, pureblood foreigners, get it? Feel free to mock!"
Jade: "Hey! How come there's encrypted communication, Lucas, you can't do that!"
Amber: "I feel like this guy has changed since he came back; he sounds a bit strange. Is he talking badly about us?"
Lucas: "No way! What if they're not good at French? Of course, we can only communicate in our native language~"
Before they knew it, Angel's Kiss was wrapping up another day.
"Lin!"
The head chef walked into the kitchen cheerfully from the front desk, casually slapping down a box full of cash, coins jingling.
Colleagues once again cast envious glances at Lin Chen.
"I guarantee, if you can keep up this performance for two weeks, the internship spot at the branch next month is yours!"
"What?!"
"Oh my, congratulations, Lin!"
"Should we start calling you Chef Lin?"
Everyone received their share of the tips, which were generally small, only in the tens. Only those who wielded the frying pan got a bit more.
And Lin Chen, holding the paper bills and heavy coins by himself, was a bit bewildered.
How come it feels like more than yesterday?
He counted and found there were actually 200 euros!
Almost doubled!
Unexpectedly, the designated tipping rate surpassed 60% of the dining rate that day, which was simply incredible for a chef!
Although tipping is used in the West, the majority of diners find it inconvenient and usually leave only about 5-15% of the bill as a tip.
To give a designated tip to someone shows extreme satisfaction with their service, which is usually the case for the waitstaff, and rarely for the chef.
After exchanging pleasantries with his colleagues, he headed to the supermarket again to prepare for tonight's street vending.
Today, since Anderson was off, his workload doubled, and even with the Stamina Potion boost, he felt a bit weary.
So, he decided to make something simple today, dishes that wouldn't require too much effort.
Although the marinated dishes he envisioned yesterday were good, the preparation time was too lengthy, with many needing to soak overnight, which wasn't feasible timewise; he'd have to consider them for his Sunday break.
The Recipe Exchange Voucher he received yesterday still hadn't been used because he couldn't decide on what to make.
He wandered around the supermarket for a long time until he reached the deli section, saw the neatly arranged ingredients for cold mixed noodles in an open-air freezer, and slapped his thigh.
"Got it! Cold mixed dish!"
This thing is straightforward; as long as you prepare the soul sauce, then chop various vegetables, blanch them, and it's ready for vending.
Don't be fooled by its simplicity; to make a delicious cold mixed dish with an aroma spreading ten miles away, the key lies in the special spicy red oil and the blend of seasonings.
This chain of Chinese supermarkets, rumor has it that the owner has his own farm and often sells quality items that only Great Xia people recognize. Just ahead, he had seen dozens of barrels of freshly squeezed rapeseed oil sitting there, surrounded by their own people, with no sign of foreigners.
Without hesitation, he directly used the Recipe Exchange Voucher to get the Mountain City Spicy Red Oil recipe.
Fearful of arriving too late and having the stock run out, he quickly pushed his cart to grab ten barrels for supply, then went to the vegetable section to pick suitable ingredients, and returned to the deli section to buy some ready-made marinated pig ears.
He opened vacuum-sealed lantern peppers, second-generation green peppers, and new-generation dry chili peppers, cutting them into small pieces and shaking off most chili seeds with a sieve.
He tossed the lantern peppers into the pan with a little rapeseed oil over low heat, frying until fragrant and crispy.
While frying the chili peppers, he started another pot of oil on the side.
Ten minutes later, he added the new-generation and second-generation peppers, continuing to sauté until their color slightly changed and they could be crushed by hand, at which point he took them out to cool naturally.
Then, he fried the chili seeds until golden yellow and similarly set them aside.
He poured a large amount of salt into the pan, added peanuts and soybeans, and fried over low heat until the peanuts and soybeans were crispy, then filtered and set aside.
He crushed all fried ingredients using a food processor, put them in a large basin, and sprinkled a generous amount of white sesame seeds, mixing well.
By this time, the oil in the pot was starting to smoke, reaching a temperature of 260 degrees, into which he dropped slices of ginger, onions, scallions, and cilantro to fry.
Especially the onions, there needed to be more of them than the other three combined to infuse the red oil with a pungent onion aroma.
Turning down the heat, when the oil temperature dropped to 220 degrees, he added the rest of the ingredients.
The purpose of splitting the frying process was to fully activate the aroma of the ingredients, while cooling prevented them from becoming charred and bitter; additionally, oil temperature was key in releasing the chilies' fragrance.
When the ingredients' color in the pot turned to golden brown, he quickly took them out to prevent them from scorching.
At an oil temperature of 220 degrees, he first spooned some oil over the chili flake mix.
"Sizzle"
The boiling rapeseed oil hit the dry ingredients, instantly bubbling with large yellow bubbles, covering the chili flakes and rapidly transforming their color to red.
At this moment, he quickly stirred to thoroughly mix the oil and dry ingredients, instead of letting it just rest on top.
The mixed chili powder turned dark red, with almost no excess red oil visible, entirely absorbed by the chili powder.
When the oil temperature dropped to 180 degrees, he applied the second coat.
This step added flavor while preventing overly high temperatures from causing the already moistened chili paste to taste burnt.
As the oil temperature reached 150 degrees, he poured in the remaining rapeseed oil and drizzled in a bottle of high-proof wine.
The seemingly calm surface of the oil boiled again after the wine was added, filling the kitchen with an intense aroma of onion, sesame, combined with the scent of wine and pungent chili, leaving the whole kitchen bursting with spicy fragrance.
According to the recipe, the spices in the red oil will blend optimally after resting overnight, with a brighter, redder hue.
But he had no Romantic Country time for that, so he scooped out a portion of the red oil for vending and left the rest for future use.