I'm the Culinary God-Chapter 644 - 299: Making Chinese-style Pastries! Senior Brother, is this what you meant by not being proficient in pastries? [Subscribe Please]

Chapter 644: Chapter 299: Making Chinese-style Pastries! Senior Brother, is this what you meant by not being proficient in pastries? [Subscribe Please]

"Chef Xie, what ingredients are needed for the dough fruit? I’ll have the program team prepare them."

As the host of a travel show, Zeng Xiaoqi had seen dough fruit a few times at friends’ weddings, generally in the form of cartoon-shaped persimmons and peanuts, symbolizing "good things happening."

So when she saw Liao Jinming earnestly assigning the task of preparing the dough fruit to Qiu Zhenhua during the meeting, she felt somewhat disappointed.

If it was the kind of dough fruit symbolizing "good things happening," it really wouldn’t be easy to wow the audience.

Many people had encountered those at banquets; they weren’t anything rare.

But now, seeing Xie Baomin so eager to make it, his face beaming with the pride and excitement of having snatched the opportunity from Chef Qiu, she had a faint feeling that the dough fruit Liao Jinming mentioned might be different from what she had tried before.

After all, even Chef Xie was so enthusiastic; perhaps it really could boost the ratings.

With this expectation, she, the program director, also became serious.

She began to inquire about the needed ingredients, to prevent Xie Baomin from having to rush around sourcing ingredients in a panic, which could affect the shooting schedule.

Xie Baomin said, "No need to prepare. Our chefs from Fishing Platform generally bring their own ingredients when cooking outside, and sometimes even their kitchen tools, just because they’re worried about not being accustomed to another kitchen’s environment."

The more high-end the chef, the higher the demands for ingredients.

Imagine asking someone to make a delicate cabbage dish, and then handing them a wilted head of cabbage to work with; it would certainly put the chef in an awkward position.

So, the chefs from Fishing Platform usually bring their own ingredients when they go out.

They are already completely familiar with high-quality ingredients. They know the texture of the meats and the quality of the vegetables inside out, and abruptly switching to lower-quality ingredients wouldn’t allow them to fully showcase their culinary skills. Similar principles applied to kitchen tools; for instance, when Xie Baomin went to Lin Ji’s Food to help out, he even brought his own kitchen knife.

This wasn’t just because he worried the knives there might not feel right in his hand, but mainly because, after using someone else’s knife, it would take him a long time to regain the smooth and effortless sensation he felt with his own.

And the weight and thickness of a knife can affect how it feels in your hand.

Apart from the ingredients and kitchen knives, the cookware is also important.

The chefs’ favorite is that kind of thin, well-seasoned iron wok. It heats quickly and, when well-seasoned, is non-stick. It’s also easier to gauge the strength needed when tossing food in the wok.

If you switch to a coated nonstick pan or one of those heavy, clumsy stainless steel pots, it takes a lot of time to adapt to the kitchenware.

As Xie Baomin entered the main door of the No. 2 Building restaurant, he said to Gu Junli, "This is Director Zeng from Yanjing TV Station; my junior apprentice brother and I came here to discuss something and also to have lunch... Bring the food over when it’s ready; we still have to go to film the show after eating."

If Lin Xu had come by himself, he would have just gone straight to the kitchen in the back.

But with Zeng Xiaoqi around, it seemed somewhat inappropriate to go to the kitchen.

"Authorized personnel only" is the rule of all kitchens, including Lin Ji, where Shen Baobao and Chen Yan, who were currently learning to cook, were confined to the small kitchen beside the duck roasting oven.

The main kitchen is off-limits.

Upon hearing this, Gu Junli quickly headed to the kitchen, saying, "I’ll go check if Chef Cheng is done; he’s cooking today."

As she headed to the kitchen, the other waiters brought over a teapot and some snacks, placing them on a seat by the window.

No instructions necessary; everything was handled smoothly and thoughtfully.

Lin Xu didn’t hesitate. As he and Zeng Xiaoqi settled down, he took a sip of tea and also tried a very delicately made egg yolk cookie, which had a strong egg aroma and a crumbly, buttery texture.

"Wow, these cookies are good."

Zeng Xiaoqi had intended to try just one, considering these little cookies were all tiny calorie bombs, definitely leading to weight gain if overeaten.

But once she started, she couldn’t stop.

Soon, Gu Junli and two waiters came over carrying dishes.

From afar, the aromatic scent of stewed fish blended with the rich fragrance of Northeastern Big Sauce and the savory aroma of stewed tofu wafted over, a comforting and soul-soothing aroma.

After it was placed down, Lin Xu saw a tray with a stewed fish, its skin a reddish hue, with tofu uniformly arranged on one side of the Fish Belly, and a large clump of stewed vermicelli on the other side.

The tofu and vermicelli, rosy in color, looked very appetizing.

Is this the famous Demori stewed fish?

The other dish was a delicious treat often eaten during university days, Earth Three Fresh.

Eggplants were cut into chunks and deep-fried. Potatoes were sliced thickly and similarly fried. After stir-frying the aromatics until fragrant, the ingredients were added back into the pan. Then, a pre-mixed sauce was added, and the dish was finished by reducing the sauce over high heat.

Simple to make, but goes great with rice.

"Come on, let’s eat. After we finish, we’ll head to the TV station to shoot the dough fruit segment, so you can also prepare the trailer."

Xie Baomin was very keen on this.

After all, life at Fishing Platform was dreadfully dull and monotonous, and now he had the chance to appear on TV to cook. Who wouldn’t be excited about that?

Lin Xu picked up his rice, first trying a piece of the Earth Three Fresh eggplant.

The eggplant was fried thoroughly, soft and fragrant upon entering the mouth, filled with savory, delicious sauce, making one instinctively want to shovel down a few more mouthfuls of rice.

This was a marvelous dish, purely vegetarian, containing no meat, and made with the most common vegetables.

Yet fried and cooked together, it developed a flavor and texture that many were obsessed with; many a potbelly had its origins in this very dish.

Yeah, it’s a vegetarian dish, no fatty pork belly in sight. You unconsciously let your guard down and end up eating a few more bites, unintentionally dishing out a bit more rice for yourself.