Gourmet: From a Stall in Northern Europe

Chapter 574: Chapter 486: Summer Cooling Essential, Iced Red Bean Soup

"Crunch"

"Crunch"

Suddenly, the kitchen was filled with the crisp sound of chewing.

The freshly made sauce-infused pancakes had a crispy outer skin, yet the inside was incredibly soft. Although they used the same layered technique, unlike croissants or tart crusts that crumble easily with a bite.

Everyone was tasting this texture for the first time, their eyes wide as they stared at the pancakes in their bowls, while their mouths kept chewing.

"How did they make these pancakes both thin and resilient?"

"They look almost paper-thin, but there’s a noticeable thickness when you eat them, it’s amazing!"

"This texture reminds me of the flatbread I had at the Indu Restaurant, similar in feel but that was pure soft bread, and these are pan-fried, plus the sauce is delicious!"

Seeing everyone’s praises for the sauce-infused pancakes, Lin Chen quietly sighed in relief.

Another lucky day!

"Boss, should I cook some porridge?"

Just then, Zhao Shun suddenly shouted, "Just having buns and pancakes feels like something’s missing, the mouth feels empty and unsatisfied, it needs porridge to feel comforting."

"Porridge?" Lin Chen was stunned, "What kind of porridge? Plain porridge?"

Buns with congee is indeed one of the classic breakfast combos for Great Xia People: buns, fried dough sticks, and side dishes, all paired well with porridge.

"But if we make plain porridge, foreigners might not be accustomed to it, right? Plus, it’s summer, and even though the weather isn’t as hot as back home, drinking hot porridge seems a bit..."

To be honest, he himself was kind of craving it.

The sauce-infused pancakes were delicious, but they only surprised with the first few bites; after eating most of the box, the mouth felt dry and needed something to wash it down.

"Sounds good."

Zhao Shun nodded, as having hot porridge in summer indeed felt hard to swallow, it was more of a cold-weather thing.

In the summer, he often preferred cold porridge with some side dishes, which was truly refreshing.

"How about cooking some red bean soup and chilling it?"

Old Chen suddenly suggested, "I just saw several bags of red beans in the shipment yesterday, and the pressure cooker is free now, a quick press for over ten minutes should suffice."

"If we start cooking now, it can be ready in about half an hour, then chilling it in the freezer for an hour should do it."

"That sounds great, but the problem is..." Lin Chen raised a finger, "Aren’t the red beans supposed to be soaked beforehand before cooking?"

"No need."

Old Chen confidently shook his head at this question.

"There are many ways to bypass the soaking step, such as boiling with hot water, steaming then boiling, frying beans, or freezing beans."

After saying this, he checked the time.

"It’s not even four o’clock yet, and with breakfast service starting at seven, there’s a three-hour window, an hour for cooling, and two hours free."

"Although pressure cooking is fast, it needs monitoring, which could be risky. Let’s use the steam-then-boil method to save manpower."

"Alright," Lin Chen nodded, "Since you’re familiar with the process, I’ll leave it to you. If you need help, pick your team."

Cooking red bean soup required hardly any effort, just rinsing the beans and placing them in the steamer, then boiling with water and sugar, requiring little oversight.

The only task was stirring every ten or twenty minutes to prevent sticking.

Moreover, red beans were popular worldwide, so there was no worry about guests disliking it.

His concern was rather if these foreigners might get hooked on the chilled red bean soup, that they’d expect it daily, necessitating several pots in the retail freezer for sale.

Cooking red bean soup might be simple, but packaging it was time-consuming.

Should extra staff be hired, dedicated to packaging retail products?

The restaurant kitchen now had just over ten people, with Jonathan’s team consisting of the five chefs he recruited plus himself.

Western cuisine was complex, needing ample manpower, any less could compromise quality.

Including him, there were twelve chefs overall, divided into lunch and breakfast teams, plus all were newcomers to the Chinese cuisine, limiting efficiency.

To expand the business based on this team, hiring more staff was inevitable.

Or...

An idea struck him; he thought of the girls in the front hall.

The servers needn’t prepare overnight like kitchen staff, only arriving half an hour early was required.

In a self-service selection mode, servers needn’t assist with dishes or clearing, only with packing and billing, not needing much manpower.

Having a few servers pack retail products when it’s slow seemed a good idea!

At least it would give them tasks rather than idle salaries in the afternoons.

Old Chen’s team primarily handled lunch, just helped with breakfast fillings or temporarily assisting with buns; freeing up time for red bean soup was manageable.

They’d sold buns before, and the three Great Xia People had enough bun-making speed for service, the extra new chefs were more for practise, better than nothing.

"Lin! Morning, I’m here!"

Half an hour later, Boss Magna cheerfully entered the kitchen, pushing in several boxes.

Without pausing, his curious gaze roamed, eager to see the breakfast offerings.

"No need to look further, today it’s buns, sauce-infused pancakes, and chilled red bean soup."

"Sauce-infused pancakes?"

"Basically, a pan-fried pancake with sauce brushed on top."

"Oh~ never heard of it, but it doesn’t matter, tasting will tell!"

Magna had a carefree attitude, chuckling as these days orders surged, keeping him busy day and night, and since Lin Chen hadn’t placed any order, he hadn’t visited for meals in days.

Finally having time to stop by, he didn’t care what was served; Lin never sold less than delicious food anyway.

Parking his cart in the corner, he washed his hands eagerly, "How long till we eat? Can I have a sample now?"

"For buns, it’ll take about half an hour still. The dough just finished fermenting, red bean soup will be another hour. Sauce-infused pancakes can be made anytime, taking around ten minutes, but can only be cooked by batch, not by individual orders."

"We’ve all had sauce-infused pancakes already, but if you’re not in a hurry, just hang on."

Along with the batches Lin and Chris made, everyone present each had eaten about half a pound.

Although not completely full, it was satisfying enough; working a bit would aid digestion, and by the time buns came out, another round could commence.

If given more sauce-infused pancakes, swallowing might prove difficult.

"Alright, I’m not in a hurry, just asking casually."

Magna waved his hands quickly, pointing to the boxes he brought.

"What’s all this for? Bun fillings too?"