I'm the Culinary God-Chapter 595 - 283: Are Flower and Ham Mooncakes Calorie Bombs? No, They Are Calorie Nukes! [Subscribe Please]_3

Chapter 595: Chapter 283: Are Flower and Ham Mooncakes Calorie Bombs? No, They Are Calorie Nukes! [Subscribe Please]_3

By now, the Ham was almost steamed through. He took it out, carefully separating the slices and setting them aside to cool.

The fatty oils that had steamed out onto the tray, with their rich Ham fragrance, were perfect for stewing and stir-frying dishes.

While waiting for the Ham to cool, Lin Xu grabbed the flower jam and began to strain it.

This so-called fresh flower jam involved picking buds about to bloom, washing and drying them, then placing them in jars or pots with White Sugar and a pinch of salt to pickle.

This candied fresh flower could be used not only in mooncakes but also in other snacks like fresh flower cakes, and could even be diluted with water to drink.

The saying goes, "Live off the land, live off the water." Since people in Southern Yunnan had an abundance of flowers, they chose to eat them.

As a northerner, Lin Xu expressed his envy.

He put a clean basin on the workbench, set a large strainer over the top, and then used a clean, oil-free spoon to scoop out the flower jam from the jars into the strainer.

When using flower jam as a filling, the syrup had to be strained out. Otherwise, the sweetness would be too overpowering and the texture would become cloying. Additionally, too much syrup could overpower the fragrance of the flowers.

The strained syrup wouldn’t go to waste, though.

Later, it could be cooked with taro, Horse Hoof, old pumpkin, and such, to make a Cantonese sweet soup—a floral concoction that could make the neighboring kids roll on the ground crying with envy.

The strained flowers were put into the basin, followed by finely diced Ham the size of soybeans.

After mixing the two ingredients well, he added Honey, lard, cooked flour, White Sugar, and Maltose, and continued to stir until the filling became sticky.

Next, he put it in the freezer to freeze the mixture, which would make it less sticky when used later.

Half an hour later, he took the filling out. The stickiness had reduced significantly after freezing.

Lin Xu scooped out a lump of filling, rolled it into a ball, and placed it on the tray, then started on the next one.

"Boss, why aren’t you using a digital scale? Aren’t you worried about uneven sizes?"

Seeing Lin Xu work this way, Ji Minghui, who had come to help, felt a sense of absurdity, like a formally trained professional encountering someone using completely unorthodox methods.

Having made many Su-style Desserts in building number six, he knew that weighing the ingredients was a crucial part of dessert preparation, from measuring out flours, sugars, oils, and other ingredients at the start. And during the production process, the shortcrust, oil dough, fillings, and the like all had to be weighed individually to ensure uniform size.

This ensured the filling was perfectly encased during wrapping and that the desserts baked evenly.

As Lin Xu quickly rolled the fillings, he said, "I’m used to it. I can usually gauge the right size."

Ji Minghui was skeptical and secretly weighed a few, only to find that their weight was nearly identical, with an error of about two to three grams.

Now he was truly impressed.

Previously, everyone had always praised the boss for his exceptional skills in savory cooking and how delicious his dishes were.

It was only now, seeing Lin Xu’s rapid technique for dividing the filling, that Ji Minghui realized the boss’s natural talent for pastry might be on par with, or even surpass, his talent for savory cooking.

Most people would roll the filling into a long shape, then cut it evenly before shaping it into round balls.

But the boss went straight from scooping filling out of the basin to rolling it—an incredibly impressive feat.

All these years, only Qiu Minghai, the eldest uncle of Qiu Zhenhua, had been seen doing this.

He hadn’t expected to see such a master class performance today.

Admiration!

Ji Minghui watched Lin Xu with the eyes of a fan, filled with respect.

What enviable talent!

The rolled fillings were returned to the freezer to firm up further, as the more solid they were, the easier they would be to wrap.

After preparing the fillings, Lin Xu took the relaxed dough, kneaded it again, then shaped it into a long roll and quickly tore off chunks using the web of his hand, turning them into portions of dough.

Once shaped, he quickly kneaded each into a smooth ball.

He placed them on a tray and covered them with plastic wrap to relax once more.

After another half an hour, he retrieved the fillings. He took a ball of dough, flattened it, placed a ball of filling in the center, then gathered the edges of the dough to encase it, forming a raw pastry.

The raw pastry was placed on a baking tray lined with Baking Paper and gently pressed down.

Then he took the Lin Ji’s Food floral seal that Lele had carved in her spare time, cleaned it, dipped it in red beet juice, and stamped each mooncake.

Finally, he preheated the oven and placed the mooncakes inside to bake.

It was nearly dinner time when the mooncakes were in the oven.

While waiting, Lin Xu took out his phone and sent messages to his father-in-law and other relatives and friends, inviting them to come to the shop for dinner.

There were some leftover Chicken Cakes, which he had no plans to sell, so he decided to let everyone try them and give each person a few mooncakes as well.

The Mid-Autumn Festival was approaching, and it was time to ramp up the festive atmosphere.

After sending the messages, Lin Xu put away his phone and started making Mapo Chicken Cake.

At five-thirty in the afternoon, Chen Yan and Dou Wenjing each drove to the shop, arriving just as Shen Jiayue and Zeng Xiaoqi hurried over from the TV station. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

The group entered the shop together.

Upon seeing Shu Yun after walking in, Chen Yan felt a twinge of self-consciousness, then cheerfully said, "I didn’t expect President Shu to start eating tomatoes to lose fat."

Shu Yun smiled and replied: