Gourmet: From a Stall in Northern Europe-Chapter 195 - 147: Is Making Chinese Cuisine Really This Easy?

Helena's eyes were full of apology, her tone sincere, and she bore some resemblance to Dais in temperament — probably a veteran employee who'd been here a long time.

"We originally planned to book the return flight on Saturday, but then the flight got delayed. We were asked whether we wanted to reschedule onto another flight or have a free overnight stay, and Jonathan just decided on the latter without telling us…"

Talking about this made her blush a bit with embarrassment.

"Though saying this might not be ideal, you guys don't have to see Jonathan as some really skilled chef. In our restaurant's kitchen team, he's the most unstable performer, basically ranked at the bottom."

"Ah??"

Dais and Elsa exchanged glances, even Lin Chen looked somewhat surprised.

Originally, everyone thought he was highly skilled, just a bit lazy, but didn't expect his skills to be unstable?

"Yes, that's the reality, not that we're speaking badly about him."

Helena spread her hands helplessly, "You see yourself, his personality is like this — he slacks off whenever possible and works only at the crucial moments. We are nominally his team members and subordinates and can't make decisions on our own."

"We really have too many skilled chefs in our restaurant; it's always him who gets scolded, so Chef Marchello thought to send him over for some training."

"......"

Lin Chen blinked, suddenly feeling a headache.

Send him over for training?

Does the hotel manager know about this?

If what Helena says is true, then the significance of this team might be entirely different from what he initially believed.

It's simply a backup in case one team messes up, so another team can cover, preventing the restaurant from falling into a standstill and causing customer dissatisfaction.

"Alright, as long as it doesn't affect the restaurant's normal service, whatever happens doesn't matter, let's get back to work."

He nodded, didn't say much, but had to keep up the demeanor and attitude since he was promoted after all.

"By the way, the two of you discuss with Dais and Elsa on how to divide the dining areas."

The first floor inside is an indoor garden area, outside there's a beach area, the second floor has private rooms, the structure is quite complex, you can't just use a simple method — just jot down the table numbers belonging to each team's area.

Lucas followed him into the kitchen, and from afar, he saw a tall and upright figure busy working; the table was filled with various ingredients and pots and pans.

"Good morning, Chef Jonathan."

Lin Chen greeted him proactively without disturbing him too much, heading straight to the cold storage.

"Hey, you're here, Lin. Good morning, thanks for yesterday~"

After pulling an all-nighter, this guy looked not the least bit tired, appeared vigorous, and cheerfully waved to him.

He briefly introduced Lucas and then started his own prep work.

While busy digging chocolate cookie balls, Jonathan blatantly glanced in Lin Chen's direction.

Last night, he was puzzled; the warehouse was packed with ingredients, but why couldn't he see any processed semi-finished products? Was the other group planning to prepare in the morning after arrival?

In his understanding, there's virtually no dish that doesn't need advance preparation — especially when creating a new menu, the preparation process is lengthy, requiring at least ten hours.

"Your tasks are simple — peel carrots, skin onions, trim the vegetables, you can do it, right?"

Lin Chen wheeled out a cart from the cold storage, its three sections filled with various vegetables.

"I can, of course, peel — who can't peel? Anyone with hands can do that."

Afraid he might slow down due to inefficiency, Lin Chen demonstrated several times before turning to wash rice to cook, soaking rice noodles meanwhile.

The diameter of the rice noodles varies, and so do the types; this time he chose thin noodles, similar in texture to the stir-fried ones in Shaxian.

Breakfast stir-fried noodles and rice shouldn't be too greasy, prioritizing freshness, or it could affect the appetite for the entire day.

The rice chosen was Japanese sushi rice; he wanted to buy Koshihikari from the Northeast but it was out of stock, so he had to use a substitute with similar texture.

This type of rice is hard in texture and doesn't break down easily, ideal for making sushi or fried rice — each grain distinct, with a chewy texture and rich aroma.

Next, he prepared chili oil for the cold dish, but it didn't need to be as complex as the Mountain City version, opting for a simple one.

Just fry the scallion oil and pour into dry chili pieces, the color of the resulting chili oil isn't as red and doesn't appear spicy, but purely aromatic.

Blanching dried tofu sheet, dried tofu, black fungus, crispy fried peanuts…

Northeastern cold dishes are characterized by sweet and sour taste; some varieties require freshly fried chili oil, emphasizing generous quantities that whet the appetite, along with perfect color, aroma, and flavor.

The celery chosen was Western celery, commonly consumed abroad for its crisp, juicy texture with a slight sweetness, people snack on it like fruit.

A single stalk yields eighty to ninety stems; remove the outer strings, retain only the youngest part, slice into diamond shapes, blanch, then stack on a platter with sliced dried tofu and sprinkle minced garlic and sesame on top.

Grate carrot, core and grate cucumber, slice black fungus, blanch ready-made kelp silk, shred napa cabbage, slice dried tofu, add soaked Longkou vermicelli — all these ingredients piled in another bowl, also topped with minced garlic.

It's now essential to prepare the cold dish sauce ahead of time, only dressing the salad when serving to prevent the vegetables from releasing water, which would ruin both taste and presentation.