Chapter 560: Chapter 433: Boss Chen Has Been Kidnapped! (Part 2)
The chilled squid goes into the pot, bringing up a puff of white mist. The temperature is so high that the surface moisture evaporates almost instantly, accompanied by a intense burst of flame with the oil smoke!
The sudden burst of flame startles the diners in the venue, causing them to turn their heads. Chen Mo’s handsome face, reflected by the firelight, looks even more striking.
Many people are initially stunned, then quickly take out their phones and start recording Chen Mo.
"Have you ever seen a boss cooking in a suit?"
"Awesome, playing with fire like it’s nothing!"
"This cooking skill, it’s amazing... By the way, what dish is he making now?"
The recorded videos are casually uploaded to their social media, giving them a sense of showing off.
Chen Mo’s spatula cuts through the fire, leaving a trace.
The wheat spike patterns on the squid surface quickly unfold in the high heat, the originally transparent flesh instantly curling into white waves. When Chen Mo pours rice wine along the pot’s edge, the reemerging flames elicit gasps from the crowd.
"Is this stir-fried squid?" Xiaoxia, responsible for delivering meals, approaches with an empty lunch box, only to see Chen Mo casually scoop a ladle of stock into the pot.
It was clear soup.
With this ingredient, Chen Mo believes his stir-fried squid will taste several times better than those at the night market.
The clear soup begins to boil in just a blink, indeed Chen Mo is quick!
The black ladle scoops thickening sauce from a nearby bowl and pours it in three portions into the pot, a technique learned from Hou Yao!
Once the sauce goes in, seasoning starts.
Salt, sugar, white pepper powder!
The black ladle stirs briefly before turning off the heat, as the thick soup gradually calms, half a spoon of black vinegar is poured along the pot’s edge.
The sourness from black vinegar, the sweetness from sugar, the spiciness from pepper powder!
A sour, sweet, and spicy stir-fried squid appears in the black pot, while Chen Dingjun is wide-eyed, seeing that the diners in the venue are equally mesmerized. He quickly divides the freshly made braised sea cucumber and oyster omelet into portions, approaches and asks, "Boss Xiao Chen, is there anything special about this stir-fried squid?"
"No," Chen Mo replies simply and directly.
What’s there to say?
Why is this dish called a quick dish? It’s because it has to be quick. Once the squid, which was soaked in ice water, goes into the pot, the high temperature must be maintained to quickly lock in moisture, thus preserving the fresh and crisp texture of the squid.
Turning off the heat and pouring vinegar preserves the vinegar aroma while preventing the sauce from darkening, making the sourness milder, not irritating.
This little trick is something a chef like Chen Dingjun surely knows.
The most crucial part is the thickening!
The sauce consistency in the night market’s stir-fried squid is around the thickness of thin yogurt, lightly coating the ingredients; any thicker, and it would lose its refreshing taste.
But Chen Mo’s version is different, relatively slightly thicker. As for the reason...
Chen Mo doesn’t explain much, pretending to put the Black Blade in the cabinet when it’s actually transforming into a very handy knife inside.
Then, holding the fried tofu in his left hand, his right fingers pinching the Black Blade and a spoon.
The knife cuts through the tofu, and the spoon scoops out the un-fried interior directly.
"Help me load the tofu," Chen Mo instructs without lifting his head.
"I thought you were really going to make stir-fried squid..."
Chen Dingjun watched as Chen Mo stuffed the cooked squid into the tofu box, then ladled some thick sauce into the box.
He hurriedly helped do the same.
With sauce, Chen Dingjun’s loading speed isn’t very fast, each box carefully placed on the stainless steel platter, eventually falling behind Chen Mo’s boxing speed.
Over two hundred small tofu boxes prepared, Chen Mo glanced over, choosing not to help load them, but instead continued to reheat the pot with oil, making another pot of stir-fried squid.
This quantity is roughly enough for him to prepare his snack later.
At this moment, Chen Dingjun hadn’t finished loading, so Chen Mo started boxing together with him.
The main feature of quick dishes is naturally speed, but it also comes with a preparatory problem: the oil smoke is particularly intense!
Earlier, Chen Mo stir-fried two pots of squid in succession, the flavors released already enticing some customers.
Several customers near the food truck simply stood up and gathered by it; though they can’t eat, smelling more of it is quite satisfying!
Having settled these, Chen Mo then takes a deep breath.
"Next is the cooking process; there’s never been a rule that it must be braising!"
Today, Chen Mo intends to try a new cooking method.
Clear braising!
Of course, this term was created by Chen Mo himself in his mind.
The flat black pan is brushed with a layer of vegetable oil, carefully placing the tofu boxes at the bottom of the pan, filling it with just fifty boxes.
Turn on a low heat.
The characteristics of the black pan showcase its perfection at this moment; even if transformed into a giant flat pan, it still ensures that every position at the bottom is heated evenly.
The oil at the bottom of the tofu started sizzling. Chen Mo saw that the heat was just right, so he directly poured the sauce from the recently stir-fried squid into the pot.
"What? What kind of method is this?" Chen Dingjun was a bit dumbfounded.
He had never seen a method like this before?
For pan-frying with water, he added broth to the pot.
For braising, he boldly used a sweet and sour spicy sauce.
Never seen such an operation before?
The sauce poured into the pot began to bubble, and then he added a large spoonful of clear soup, enough to submerge a third of the box, then turned the heat from low to high, and covered the pot with a lid.
Chen Mo was still busy. In another pot, he thickened the remaining sauce on high heat and only then let out a heavy sigh of relief.
"Squid and Tofu Box, let’s just call this dish that."
Chen Dingjun stared dazedly at the lid covered in steam, "Boss Chen, where did this method come from?"
"The Tofu Box is both Lu Cuisine and Huaiyang Cuisine, but as for where this method comes from?" Chen Mo chuckled, "This dish never appeared before."
Chen Dingjun: ???
Upon hearing this, the customers surrounding outside became even more expectant!
A dish that has never appeared before, how is this different from being the first to eat a crab?
How exciting is this!
...
Back home, Li Xinyu lay on her bed after a shower, feeling like she didn’t want to move at all.
Tired, so tired!
She didn’t feel tired during the evening running live stream, but after washing up, the fatigue finally swept over her.
Opening her phone and seeing the backstage display of over 10,000 fans, Li Xinyu suddenly felt like it was all worthwhile even if she was tired.
This is over ten thousand fans!
In Taiwan, having ten thousand fans is already quite impressive for an anchor, after all, given the population base here.
She changed to a comfortable position lying down, wiggled her toes, and looked through the messages in her fan group, wanting to know what everyone needed, so she could try to meet those demands in the next live stream, to hopefully gain more fans.
The 999+ messages were too exhausting to read, so Li Xinyu scrolled through from bottom to top.
After reading about a hundred messages, a short video appeared in the dialogue box.
"Check it out, folks, our Pursuer Alliance directly kidnapped Boss Xiao Chen to an abandoned stadium, now making snacks for us, Boss Xiao Chen whipped up some green onion braised sea cucumber oyster omelet, which was super delicious! Now he’s stir-frying squid again, we don’t even know what he’s making, but it’s awesome!"
Li Xinyu sat up with a start, clicked open the video and watched intently.
In the video, Chen Mo’s face was glowing brightly in front of the fire, his hands expertly flipping the pan, with the ingredients flying up and landing back into the pan, looking extremely pleasing to the eyes.
"Abandoned stadium? What’s going on?"
"How could they have already closed Xiaochen’s stall and now got him to open it again."
After the video was posted, countless fans @ed this fan, asking where this place was.
But this fan seemed to just show off, ignored everyone’s calls after posting the short video, and didn’t say a word.
"This..."
Li Xinyu was a bit puzzled.
"If I go live-stream now, could I gain more fans?"
Thinking it over and over, she found the idea feasible.
But the problem is, where is this abandoned stadium?
Li Xinyu thought of one person!
...
"Hello?"
Chen Kexin was lying on her bed, legs swaying, watching today’s playback. She had to admit, Boss Chen was really handsome!
Then she received a call from Li Xinyu.
"Kexin, something happened."
"What is it?"
On the phone, Li Xinyu’s voice was a bit shaky, it was unclear if it was out of fear or excitement.
"Boss Xiao Chen, was kidnapped..."
Chen Kexin suddenly sat up.
Kidnapped... What the hell?
