I'm the Culinary God-Chapter 645 - 299: Making Chinese-style Pastries! Senior Brother, is this what you meant by not being proficient in pastry? [Subscribe Please]_2

Chapter 645: Chapter 299: Making Chinese-style Pastries! Senior Brother, is this what you meant by not being proficient in pastry? [Subscribe Please]_2

I always felt that there was nothing wrong with eating like this, but my little belly unwittingly started to grow.

Lin Xu shoveled a mouthful of rice, then picked up a piece of Demoli braised fish with his chopsticks, listening to his Senior Brother explain the origin of Demoli braised fish as he ate.

"Demoli is a place name, located on the banks of the Northeast Songhua River. The villagers there rely on fishing for a living. The braised fish made by this village is very delicious, so everyone named the dish after the place, Demoli."

The exact name of this dish should be Demoli Braised Live Fish, and the best way to prepare it is to stew the fish right after it has been caught.

As for which fish to stew, there aren’t any strictly defined requirements; common Carp, Grass Carp, more expensive sea fish, or even river groupers can all be used.

However, to make the dish tastier, it is better to choose a fattier fish.

Doing so results in a richer broth and a more intense aroma, making the dish more delicious and a great complement to rice.

The three-scaled, smooth-skinned carp chosen by Building Two today was a good choice; its flesh was rich and oily, making the tofu and vermicelli stewed with it especially tasty.

Lin Xu took a mouthful of vermicelli into his bowl and ate it. The rich, savory taste and smooth texture reminded him of eating chicken stewed with mushrooms.

When he had chicken stewed with mushrooms before, the vermicelli had also been saturated with soup and was just as delicious with rice.

"I just can’t handle Northeastern cuisine; I always overeat. If I keep this up, my stomach will be ruined sooner or later."

Zeng Xiaoqi muttered indignantly while frantically shoveling rice into her mouth. There was no helping it; it was just too delicious.

Both dishes were typical accompaniments for rice, and the rice from Building Two was famously delicious. Under such circumstances, who could resist?

「 」

After the meal, Lin Xu and Zeng Xiaoqi sat outside drinking tea, while Xie Baomin returned to the kitchen to pack up the ingredients, filling several bulging bags.

"What’s all this stuff, Senior Brother?" Lin Xu asked, looking puzzled at the bags, which seemed to be filled with fruits like apples and pears.

We’re filming a food show, not visiting a nursing home. Why bring so many fruits? And aren’t you supposed to make pastries? Are you planning on using these real fruits as a backup?

Xie Baomin laughed and explained, "These fruits are for making fillings. After peeling and coring the apples, we turn them into a puree, then add some pear, and slowly cook it in a pot. As the moisture cooks out, the volume will shrink by more than half. It takes almost three apples and one pear to make enough filling for a single pastry."

It sounds quite wasteful. They might as well just eat fresh fruits. It’s like those experts on the internet who calculated the calories in a mooncake, saying one mooncake has the same calories as five fried chicken legs, and advised everyone to eat fewer mooncakes. That’s hilarious. I’d rather just eat fried chicken legs. Who needs mooncakes anyway?

Once all the necessary ingredients were loaded into the vehicle, Xie Baomin, driving his Cayenne, followed Lin Xu’s X5 out of Fishing Platform and headed towards Yanjing City Television Station.

「 」

Upon arriving at the station, the crew was already in place, and even Geng Lishan had rushed over from home.

Chinese pastries, handmade by the head chef of Fishing Platform—this was truly something to look forward to.

Having moved all the needed ingredients to the filming site, Lin Xu suddenly felt it was quite a hassle. He looked at Zeng Xiaoqi and suggested, "Should we just set up an ingredient supplier? Let them deliver whatever we need; otherwise, it’s really tiring to move stuff like this."

Once he said this, Zeng Xiaoqi also felt that having the chefs bring their own ingredients each time was quite troublesome.

If the head chefs were concerned about ingredient quality, then finding a high-end supplier would solve the issue, ensuring the quality of the dishes and saving the chefs from lugging ingredients back and forth.

"Do you have someone in mind?"

Of course, he had someone in mind. Old Huang had long been waiting to partner with the food show, hoping to tap into Beijing’s high-end food ingredient purchasing market.

Seizing this opportunity, Lin Xu made a phone call to Old Huang, asking him to find some time to come to the TV station and discuss the cooperation.

After receiving so many high-quality medicinal ingredients from him, I finally have a chance to return the favor.

After handling these matters, Xie Baomin had also set out all the ingredients needed: Medium Flour, Wheat Flour, Baking Powder, Yeast, Cheese Powder, white sugar, lard, cocoa powder, red beet, Potato Flour, as well as a lot of apples and pears.

Originally, Lin Xu had not planned to take part in the recording. He just wanted to wait until the pastries were done to bring a couple back for his Shen Baobao.

But after Xie Baomin put on his chef’s uniform, he said, "Junior Brother, making these pastries is a lot of work. Help me out with the recording later, okay?"

"Well... all right then."

Lin Xu wasn’t hesitant and immediately headed to the adjacent dressing room to change into his own chef’s uniform.

After he changed, Zeng Xiaoqi, who had finished her makeup, came over.

Filming started. Following a brief opening, Lin Xu introduced his Senior Brother, Xie Baomin.

Next, Xie Baomin briefly spoke about the development of pastries, and then they moved into the preparation segment.

Delicious pastries depend on good fruit filling.

Xie Baomin skillfully peeled apples with a kitchen knife while saying, "For high-end Chinese pastries, the principle is ’what fruit, what filling.’ Today we’re making apple pastries, so we’ll use an apple filling. If we were making date pastries, we’d use date paste for the filling."

The so-called pastries are essentially fruit shapes made of dough.

In traditional Chinese cooking, pastries have always been a favorite snack of nobles and high officials.

These pastries are not only judged on their realistic appearance but must also taste identical to the real fruit.

Lin Xu also started peeling with a knife, curiously asking, "Didn’t you say to use the same filling as the fruit? What are the pears for, Senior Brother?"