Chapter 6: Setting Up Stall Again
"Hey, Lin, you look pretty refreshed today. Did you get a good night’s sleep?"
The bartender was wiping glasses and warmly greeted Lin Chen as he walked in.
"Yes, after a long time, I finally got a good sleep."
"That’s good. A couple of days ago, those dark circles made you look like you were about to drop dead. Hurry up and get ready; it’s almost time to start serving."
He works at a fairly formal restaurant that only opens during meal times.
As someone who has been promoted to controlling the stove, his work is relatively easier. Preparing ingredients is a task for newcomers; he only needs to handle the orders, occasionally lending a hand.
Easy it may be, but the pressure is immense.
If someone makes a mistake, it disrupts the entire kitchen team’s rhythm. The same dish’s ingredients all need to be redone, slowing down the subsequent serving process, and they would get an earful from the head chef.
"Hey Lin, morning."
"Good morning, Lin."
Two young black men saw him and smiled foolishly, as if seeing their savior, showing off their pearly white teeth.
𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢
"Tell me, what’s the issue this time?"
Lin Chen smiled helplessly, tied his apron, adjusted his hat, and walked over to the two, glancing at the cutting board in front of them.
"Having trouble precisely and quickly cutting up sea fish and steak, right? It’s simple, just listen."
"Our portion of protein weighs around 4 ounces, about three to four fingers wide. For the longer part of the fish, cut three fingers, for the shorter tail, cut four fingers, same with steak..."
He casually picked up a sharp western-style knife, using his eyes as measuring tools, and in what seemed like a few casual cuts, he divided the whole fish into uneven long strips.
Picking up a piece and weighing it, it was exactly 4 ounces, with a deviation of no more than 0.1.
"Oh my God, Lin, you’re incredible!"
"No wonder you got promoted to station chef within three years, you’re my idol!"
The whole kitchen staff isn’t many, just twelve people, most of whom do miscellaneous tasks like prepping and plating, along with two dishwashers.
Lin Chen is the only one willing to patiently guide newcomers, so everyone greets him with smiles.
"Today’s protein main dishes are lemongrass smoked salmon, herb roasted lamb chops, and American barbecue pork ribs. Half an hour until opening, Lin and Anderson, remember to check the quality of the ingredients!"
The head chef walked into the kitchen, routinely announcing the menu to the chefs.
"Yes, chef!"
Perhaps due to the stamina potion, Lin Chen felt exceptionally energetic today, working with noticeably quicker hands and feet than usual, and his mastery and sorting of orders in his mind were well-organized.
By the end of a busy day, he hadn’t made a single mistake, and all his dishes were praised by the head chef.
"Oh my God, Lin, what is going on with you today?"
The head chef sent out the last two orders, turned around, and slammed the metal table loudly, drawing everyone’s attention in the kitchen.
"Your salmon today was perfect! The lamb chops were cooked to perfection too. At this rate, I’ll be worried you’ll outshine me and put me out of a job!"
"Haha, my chef, it’s all thanks to your guidance!"
No matter how professional the kitchen, mistakes are inevitable. Achieving zero mistakes under high pressure confirms one’s mastery of ingredients and cooking skills at a near-master level and is a rare talent.
"No, no, no, I didn’t guide you at all."
The head chef shook his head repeatedly, clearly unaffected by Great Xia’s flattery, and flipped to grab a handful of cash from the serving hatch.
"Here, this is the tip from the customers today. Nearly ninety percent of the patrons praised your cooking, keep up the momentum and keep striving!"
Tips?!
It’s common, but for chefs, it’s uncommon.
Customer tips usually go directly to the waitstaff rather than being shared with the kitchen staff.
Thankfully, their restaurant’s owner understands that the kitchen is their soul and devised a system where the kitchen staff can also receive tips.
However, such direct tips from many customers to the chefs are rare.
Lin Chen looked surprised, counted the tip, amounting to over a hundred euros. If the tip per main dish averaged ten percent, at least twenty customers were extremely satisfied with his skills.
"Yes, chef!"
His colleagues cast envious glances, and Anderson, who also handled meat dishes, snorted in discontent and turned away.
Jolian, in charge of carbs, walked over to pat his shoulder, offering his congratulations, while the remaining staff gave fist bumps, celebrating with him.
"Lin, we’re looking forward to the day you become the sous chef!"
"To achieve this as a foreigner, you’re truly a genius in the culinary world!"
As he left the restaurant, it was nearing nine o’clock.
No time to waste, he took a deep breath to dispel fatigue, then quickly headed to the supermarket for ingredient shopping, then home to make the dough needed for biang biang noodles.
Mix a pound of medium-gluten flour with three grams of salt evenly, add half a pound of room temperature water gradually, stirring until it becomes crumbly, then press it into a ball—this is the recipe from the system, obviously not enough.
With yesterday’s experience, today he decided to prepare more noodles. Selling them is pure profit, unsold ones can be kept overnight without spoiling, he’d just eat them himself.
Taking out the smooth dough from the mixer, he kneaded it into long strips, brushed a thin layer of oil on the surface, pinched them into 70g segments, and kneaded them into evenly thick long strips, placing them on a metal tray for later.
Each layer of dough was brushed with oil to prevent the surface from drying out.
Next was preparing the condiments and sauce.
Four grams of anise, one de-seeded Grass Fruit, two cloves, one star anise, three grams of cinnamon, three grams of peppercorn, and one gram of bay leaf, cleaned and placed in a bowl, soaked with four pounds of boiling water.
Steep for three to five minutes until it turned a light tea color.
Retrieve the spices for reuse, discarding them when their scent fades.
This is the safest and most convenient method; boiling makes it difficult to control the heat, over-boiling would excessively release the medicinal taste from the spices, leading to bitterness, which is counterproductive.
Thirty grams of oyster sauce, ten grams of soybean paste, thirty grams of brine, forty grams of soy sauce, two hundred grams of fragrant vinegar, eighty grams of salt, six grams of MSG, fifteen grams of chicken essence, four grams of rock sugar—these are the secrets to deliciousness.
Heat a bit of soybean oil, sauté minced ginger until aromatic, then pour in fragrant vinegar to boil off the tang, afterwards pour in the spice water to simmer, diluting the harsh acidity of the vinegar.
Once boiling, add all the condiments sequentially.
With no brine on hand, a small soup cube is used as a substitute.
Strain the boiled sauce, store it in a container, and let it cool naturally on the food cart.
Sauté some vegetarian toppings, diced potatoes, diced carrots, and scrambled eggs with tomatoes.
Wash and drain two large bags of baby greens, pack them on the cart, and set off!
Today’s preparation was much easier, when he arrived at the subway exit, it was just a few minutes past ten.