Chapter 399: Chapter 311: Onboarding Test, A Dinner to Assess Cooking Skills

"Makes sense!"

Zhao Shun’s recently calmed mind began to stir again.

"And I’m telling you, aren’t you especially good with dough? You’re definitely better than Old Lin in this area. Take an opportunity to showcase some of your glamorous pastry skills a bit, right? Girls love guys who have a specialty and work hard and are upwardly mobile~"

"Right, right, you’re absolutely right!"

Chen Dongliang opened his mouth, but for a moment couldn’t find any excuse to dissuade him, instead feeling that Lucas made a lot of sense.

According to him, Xiao Zhao first needs to work hard.

As long as he works hard and doesn’t slack off, what else is there to advise against?

Before long, a tour vehicle steadily stopped at the restaurant entrance, and four guests carrying ingredients stepped down with eyes full of expectation towards the restaurant.

...

PM.

Just having finished the dinner service, everyone was busy cleaning up.

Zhao Shun was wiping tables and discreetly glanced at Old Chen, who was diligently mopping the floor, and sighed silently.

He thought that tonight he might have a chance to show off a little, but the three groups of guests unexpectedly all requested Western cuisine, leaving him only washing and chopping vegetables with no chance to showcase his skills.

Seeing it was Western food, Lucas had slipped away early to edit videos back at the hotel.

After all, he wasn’t even a formal employee, more like a part-timer, getting paid by the day.

Now that new people had arrived, he, as an old employee, naturally didn’t need to stay every day, only lending a hand when really busy.

In the future, his work focus would gradually shift to being a full-time blogger, focusing on video shooting and editing.

"Old Chen, Xiao Zhao, come over here."

Lin Chen, who was sitting nearby preparing tomorrow’s food order, suddenly called the two of them over.

"We’re just about ready, and none of us have had dinner. Can you two see what you can make with the ingredients in the freezer to show off a little for everyone? Don’t make anything too complicated, the quicker the better, after a busy day, everyone wants to go home early, and you must be tired from your flight."

"Also, do you have any good suggestions for tomorrow’s breakfast stand?"

"Breakfast?"

Zhao Shun, originally a bit lethargic, perked up when he heard those words, his eyes sparkling with excitement.

Isn’t this the opportunity!

A large part of Great Xia breakfasts are related to rice and noodles, which is his forte.

If he could make achievements on his first official day of work, wouldn’t it be easy to brush up some goodwill?

"Chef, what do you usually make for breakfast before?"

"I don’t have a fixed routine, it depends on my mood. Recently I’ve made porridge with side dishes, soy milk with youtiao, and I’ve made pot stickers, fish paste noodle soup, and buns before."

"Which are the most popular?"

"Emmm, hard to say, noodle dishes seem to do well, but not everything sells well. Foreigners’ tastes are different from ours in Asia, you need to pick something that suits their taste to sell well."

Lin Chen was quite curious and expectant about what surprises the two could bring him, and he was even considering whether he should simply ignore the stand task tomorrow morning and just focus on making money.

After all, the usual stand rewards were just recipe exchange coupons, not something urgently needed.

"Foreigners’ tastes... I saw on online videos, don’t they like sweet flavors a lot?"

"Right, modified Chinese food abroad often leans towards sweet and sour, and many are fried meat dishes, so focusing on these two directions can’t go wrong."

"Fried... how about making chicken crest dumplings? And some Suzhou-style soup dumplings?"

"Chicken crest dumplings? What are they?"

Lin Chen was a bit confused. He really hadn’t heard of this food, but vaguely felt it sounded familiar, like he’d seen it somewhere before.

"Chicken crest dumplings? They’re one of Jiangcheng’s famous breakfast snacks, supposedly almost lost. It’s a type of fried dumpling, about the size of half a forearm, and the taste is kind of like dumpling filling inside a youtiao, but with less filling, mostly the skin."

"Jiangcheng? Famous breakfast snacks??"

Lin Chen suddenly understood, no wonder it sounded familiar. When he made fish paste noodle soup back then, he had probably come across it, but didn’t look carefully.

"Are they complicated to make?"

"Not complicated at all, actually quite simple, even simpler than making youtiao."

When it came to dough, Zhao Shun’s face was full of confidence. He glanced at Elsa and Dais, who were curiously looking over, puffed up his chest, and continued.

"You hardly need to knead the dough, mainly relying on natural fermentation with yeast, just let it rise twice. No need for a rolling pin, pat the dough flat with the fingers of one hand, and spread some pork and scallion filling on the flattened dough, fold the dumpling skin, stretch it out, and fry it directly in the oil."

"Because of its large size, a single one is enough for one person, and girls with smaller appetites might not even finish one. For men, add a steamer basket with soup dumplings and soy milk, and it’s filling."

"The Suzhou-style xiaolongbao taste quite similar to the ones from Yuhang, with a flavor leaning more towards sweetness, which should match the sweet palate of foreigners."

"Old Chen, can you make xiaolongbao?"

"Uh..." Chen Dongliang shook his head, "I can’t, I can make big buns and dumplings, but xiaolongbao are too delicate, I don’t have the skill for that."

"Alright, then you’ll be in charge of making chicken-shaped dumplings. They’re really simple, and I’ll demonstrate for you tomorrow. You can learn in just a minute or two. I’ll make the xiaolongbao myself, is that okay, chef?"

Lin Chen nodded with a smile: "Of course, that sounds great. Then list all the ingredients we need and send them to me. We’ll need enough for at least 300 people, the more the better. The business hours are under three hours, starting at 7 o’clock, so everything needs to be ready beforehand."

"From 10 to 11, we’ll need to prepare lunch, though if we finish early, we can rest."

"Do you have any ideas for lunch? Old Chen, you’re good with fast food, so you should be familiar with this situation, right?"

Suddenly called out, Old Chen shuddered, his face immediately turning crimson.

At his previous workplace, everyone was middle-aged like him. They talked casually, and the work environment was very laid-back, unlike this formal occasion, especially with several foreign beauties watching him. He didn’t know where to put his hands for a moment.

"I, I... I think tomato and egg stir-fry is pretty good, made in our northern style, sweet and salty. Every time it’s fresh off the stove, it’s snatched up immediately."

"If we’re making a few hundred portions, the rice cooker in the kitchen might not be big enough, can’t cook enough rice. How about making tomato and egg stir-fry with noodles?"

"Tomato and egg stir-fry with noodles?"

Lin Chen was taken aback again, the finished dish already visualized in his mind, with the salty, fresh, sweet, and savory sauce flavor of tomato and egg faintly tasting in his mouth.

Such a simple dish, he hadn’t thought of it. The key is it’s simple to make, tastes good, is low-cost and filling, and it’s a taste that most foreigners can accept.

This Old Chen, could it be that he really has a knack for dish selection?

With the dishes for tomorrow decided, he glanced at Zhao Shun’s list, roughly calculated the amount needed for procurement, and quickly finished today’s work.

The ingredients needed for chicken-shaped dumplings were even simpler than he thought, the dough was practically the same as for frying dough sticks, both being fermented dough, and the filling was just pork with scallions.

Soup-filled xiaolongbao were even simpler. He had done similar ones before; besides the meat filling, he just needed to make some pork skin jelly.

"Since you two have already divided the breakfast tasks, you can decide on your own when to start preparing. There’s flour on the shelves, and other ingredients will be delivered between 5 and 5:30 in the morning."

"In short, everything needed for the stall must be ready before 6:30. I’ll also arrive early."

With that, he packed up his laptop and left gracefully.

"I’ll go home for a shower first, and then come back for dinner."

Finally having two subordinates he could fully command, this head chef figured he should take some well-deserved leisure.

Getting up early and staying up late every day, where’s the sign of a head chef in that!

Elsa and Dais, although they couldn’t understand their conversation, judged from the context that the chef must have been explaining about tomorrow’s breakfast and lunch.

Plus, the two newcomers were now whispering in discussion, so tomorrow’s breakfast might be their job.

An entry test?

Unconsciously, the two women felt a strong anticipation for tomorrow’s breakfast.

Besides Lin Chen, they hadn’t really eaten authentic Great Xia Cuisine made by other chefs; though they’ve had plenty of the modified versions before.

"What should we make for dinner? Freshly made pasta seems inconvenient, and since you’re good at stir-fry, Old Chen, why don’t you make it, and I’ll assist you?"

"I don’t really know either. How about we check the ingredients in the cold storage first and see if there’s any taste difference between Western and Chinese ingredients."

Chen Dongliang scratched his head and walked straight to the back kitchen.

Just as Zhao Shun was about to follow, he suddenly remembered something and turned around to call out to Elsa and Dais.

"Dinner! We cook, you you wait!"

"?"

"Pfft..."

His unique Chinese grammar almost made the two women burst out laughing on the spot, but they instantly understood his meaning.

"This Great Xia boy is quite interesting. He seems about the same age as the chef and isn’t shy. If his cooking skills are good too, he might become a head chef like the chef in the future."

"That’s true, can’t wait to see what delicious dishes they can come up with. Shall we go have a look?"

"Let’s go, we’re idle anyway, let’s see if there’s any difference between how others cook and how the chef cooks."

The cold storage door was open, Zhao Shun and Chen Dongliang were standing at the entrance inspecting the ingredients on the shelves inside.

It’s not that they didn’t want to go inside; the cold storage’s cooling effect was too good, so much so that even at night it was still puffing out white mist.

It’s fine for a short stay of a few seconds or half a minute, but staying longer might give someone a cold.

The freezer compartment within the cold storage was even more extreme, kept at a constant minus 20 degrees; just opening the door would make someone shiver instantly.

"We can’t touch the items labeled with an English ’J’. They’re for the other chef. Be careful not to take the wrong ones, or we’ll get scolded."