Gourmet: From a Stall in Northern Europe-Chapter 212 - 155: Customized Dinner, Unexpected Guests and Ingredients (Part 2)

Jonathan blinked, scratched his head, looking utterly bewildered.

What on earth had he missed?

It seems like he should come out of the kitchen more often from now on.

"Lu Xiaohei! What are you doing here!!!"

Lucas felt like he was going crazy, ten fingers buried in his blonde hair, scratching madly.

"Don't tell me you're a guest tonight too!"

"Meow~"

Lu Xiaohei tilted his little head, lifted his left paw to lick it twice, and leisurely swayed his long tail from side to side.

"Why not, is that a problem?"

Jiang Shuqi wore a black evening gown, showcasing the rich girl's aura to the fullest, except for the somewhat conspicuous black cat on her head.

"Everyone has the right to bring someone. I brought Xiao Hei over, which actually relieves a burden for you! It doesn't ask for much, just give it some scraps to nibble on, so easy to appease."

"Thank you!"

"Alright, alright, stop posing, the latecomers hurry over and sit down."

"Huh?"

Jiang Shuqi raised her eyebrows, her tone becoming more severe.

"Uh… I mean, Princess, please take a seat~"

Wang Ziqin wiped his forehead where a drop of sweat threatened to appear, hurriedly stood up and pulled out a chair at the side, gesturing for her to sit.

Lin Chen suddenly felt as if his mental capacity was struggling. How come anyone who just comes in seems to be an acquaintance?

Even in a small foreign community, it wasn't supposed to be this… what the heck?!

He slapped his thigh, remembering something.

When he met Jiang Shuqi last week, didn't she say she was here to help promote her cousin or something, could it be?!

"You didn't know? I thought he would've already blabbed it to you guys."

Jiang Shuqi elegantly walked over and sat down gracefully, casually grabbing Wang Ziqin's ear.

"Here, let me introduce him to you, my cousin, my uncle's son, so he's my cousin, right? I'm a bit muddled about these family relationships, but no matter, as long as he's a little brother, someone who can take a beating."

"Let go, damn it, let go, you crazy woman, don't I need some face with so many people watching! And my staff are watching too!!"

"What does your wife say?"

"Sis, feel free to hit him, no need to save face for me, and help me out by hitting on my behalf~"

Finally escaping Jiang Shuqi's clutches, Wang Ziqin clutched his ear, hissing from the pain, and quickly signaled his driver with his eyes to open the remaining two boxes.

One box was filled with mushrooms covered in dirt, the other packed with crushed ice, no need to guess, surely hiding seafood beneath.

Lin Chen and Jonathan stepped forward to carefully sift through the boxes, jotting down the types and quantities of ingredients in a notebook.

In addition to digging into meat types, the seafood was also bizarre.

A dozen or so plump, worm-like creatures lay quietly among the ice shavings, alongside coral-like things, and a pile of spiky purple sea urchins tucked in a corner.

Fish, shellfish, lobsters, or crabs, there were none in sight.

"This is what you call the value of a professional diving certificate?"

Anna was about to speak, but Dreya quickly covered her mouth and pulled her back.

"To be honest, we have other regular seafood in the car, these are specifically arranged to test you."

Saying this, she rolled her eyes, indicating this wasn't her doing, blaming the man beside her. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

"Exactly!"

Wang Ziqin had no intention of hiding: "Anyway, I didn't limit the number of dishes when setting the rules, just the business hours, as long as you two can turn these ingredients into delicious dishes on the spot as we request, we can all share the high-end ingredients later."

"Sure, any specific requirements for flavor or presentation?"

"Wait!! It's that casual?"

Jonathan panicked a little, the main ingredients in the box were all foreign to him, meat was manageable, the only challenge was in the slaughtering, but these worm-like seafood... what on earth are they!!

Apparently, Chef Marchello wasn't as kind-hearted as Chef Raphael and didn't remind him to study ahead, seemingly intentionally sending him to make things difficult so he would behave.

"The requirement is simple."

Wang Ziqin smiled slyly, making one want to punch him.

"You two split all the meat and seafood equally, as for the other ingredients, decide amongst yourselves how to divide them, each of you must make at least four dishes, there's no upper limit, and all the main ingredients must be used."

"Appetizers, soup, main dish, all must be included, desserts are optional, of course, if you have the skill to make it, we don't mind."

Lin Chen counted the sea intestines in the box, a total of twenty, just right for ten each, six sea squirts each, and six sea urchins each as well.

He didn't stand on ceremony, signaled Dais and Elsa with a look, and they immediately went to the kitchen to get two large basins to separate the seafood and live animals.

The snakes and turtles were alright, all tied up, net bags keeping them almost immobilized, no need to grab them barehanded, but the pigeons were only tied at the feet and wings, struggling and cooing once touched, terrifying Helena and Lucinda half to death.

The pigeons lay in the basin, their small bean-sized eyes staring intently at them, sending shivers down their backs, raising goosebumps and hair.

"Do we really need the chef himself to prepare these? Alive?"

"Yeah."

Wang Ziqin had an expression as if it was a matter of course: "A chef with excellent culinary skills is also a professional butcher, isn't that normal?"

"Since you two passed Chef Marchello's test to be sent here, this little thing shouldn't be difficult, right?"

"Uh…"

Jonathan found himself cornered.

He sneaked a glance at his two teammates, and they could only return a gaze that said 'good luck' to him.

They were waiters, not chefs, it's understandable they couldn't handle animals!

"Come on, you guys, don't just stand idle, pack up the dining stoves so the two head chefs can start showcasing their skills, luckily there are stoves here."

?????

The last glimmer of hope within Jonathan's heart was utterly crushed.

Real live cooking?

While he was fretting over what dish to make, Lin Chen's team of four had already gathered around eagerly.

"Tell us, what do you need us to do?"

Cooking may not be their forte, but they were definitely up for being assistants.

Lin Chen stared at the few main ingredients in the basin, pinching his chin thoughtfully.

Though he never cooked or tasted sea intestines, he watched enough food broadcasts suggesting they were like tripe with a similar tender and crisp texture, plus they were said to be an expensive ingredient.

The most famous dish was sea intestine rice, or it could be made into soup or stir-fried, the exact method depending on what other dishes could be made with the remaining ingredients.

There were many ways to cook soft-shelled turtle, braised, stir-fried, stewed, or red-cooked.

As for pigeons, they could be treated like chickens, the preparation was versatile.

Regarding snakes, they could be handled like large eels, no big issues there.

Only sea squirts and sea urchins were relatively uncommon in Chinese cuisine.

Apart from steamed egg dishes, nothing innovative came to mind for sea urchins, and he personally felt steamed egg failed to highlight the sea urchin's sweetness, it was just like regular steamed egg.

Sea squirt had a taste similar to jellyfish, also crunchy, usually eaten raw, or served as a chilled appetizer.

Quickly reviewing the characteristics of various ingredients and the possible directions in his mind, combined with President Wang's requirements, Lin Chen soon drafted a general list.

Chilled sea squirt with sea urchin, salt and pepper snake, braised soft-shelled turtle, roasted pigeon, sea intestine rice.

Of the five dishes, only roasted pigeon was slightly complex, but the rest weren't difficult, nor time-consuming.

"Alright, since they want on-site cooking, they mainly want to see me process and cook the ingredients. I'll handle all the slaughtering, but for things like sea urchins, sea intestines, and sea squirts, which are plenty, I'll need your help processing them, I'll demonstrate first."

After making plans, he grabbed a pigeon in his palm.

Apart from the chilled sea squirt, the other four dishes were silently matched with equivalent recipes, his mind quickly brushing through the steps.

His goal was clear, starting with the one that took the longest to prepare.