Gourmet: From a Stall in Northern Europe

Chapter 481 - 393: Familiar Ingredients, Unfamiliar Combinations

Although I’m not confident enough to claim I recognize most of the common ingredients in the world, I do have decades of professional experience.

Japanese cuisine, Korean cuisine, Thai cuisine, Indu cuisine, Malaysian cuisine, Filipino cuisine, Singaporean cuisine, etc., he has studied them all.

Even the most complex Chinese cuisine, he has visited and learned from the most popular restaurants in Paris.

But the problem arises here.

Over sixty percent of the ingredients Lin Chen procured from Great Xia this time were novelty items he had never seen before.

Forget recognizing them by sight; even tasting might not reveal their true identity.

Unless processed right in front of him.

Like Zhao Shun, who sneaks around in the back kitchen and then brings it out for everyone to guess, the difficulty instantly multiplies several times.

If he could taste it, he’s confident he would be able to recognize it.

Yet Nagishiro Sho and Raphael managed to identify this ingredient without even smelling or tasting it.

As a renowned Michelin Chef and half a mentor to Raphael, having to taste it to discern it would be embarrassing, wouldn’t it?

Scanning the room, seeing everyone happily eating, each holding a long, translucent white thread, Marchello suddenly felt his cheeks flush.

It seems... given the current situation, his reputation has long gone, hasn’t it?

Persisting would only make him seem stubborn; better to humbly admit defeat.

If he can’t guess, he can’t guess; no chef in the world is omniscient, not even the world’s top chef.

Thinking this, he no longer hesitated, grabbing a purple tart and taking a big bite.

He first bit into the surface’s purple cream, which was icy-cold smooth, akin to the cream in a puff pastry.

There was no need for deliberate tasting; an extremely rich fragrance exploded in his mouth, dense and lasting.

This flavor’s aftertaste was very mellow, with a fragrance so unique, like the osmanthus he tasted earlier. Once tasted, it’s unforgettable.

But the problem is... he really had no impression of it at all.

"What on earth is this?"

"Taro."

Lin Chen had already noticed that Marchello did not recognize this, otherwise, he wouldn’t have that expression.

Even though Raphael guessed the main ingredient, he also hadn’t tasted it before. The surprise when biting into the tart was plain on his face.

Not to mention these Western chefs; even a head chef from the East like Nagishiro Sho knew little about this flavor.

"That’s impossible!"

Marchello frowned and shook his head repeatedly, "I’ve eaten taro, it has a starchy texture, not this unique fragrance, and it’s not purple."

"Could it be that this taro is a specialty of our Great Xia?"

Lin Chen raised a smile of pride and said, "In our Great Xia, this flavor is called fragrant taro, originating from the southern provinces of Great Xia, and now grown all over the country."

"This taro’s characteristics are its unique fragrance and purplish-red color, and it’s widely used in desserts and the milk tea industry."

"Of course, this color is actually achieved by adding purple sweet potato powder, the pure taro isn’t this purple."

"So it’s a composite coloring?"

Marchello realized, no wonder he couldn’t determine it.

The color isn’t the focus; it’s this peculiar fragrance coming from the taro that shocked him.

In his impression, taro and potatoes serve similar roles as starchy staples.

Potatoes are ubiquitous, but taro is not common; at least, it’s almost unseen in this market, hence not included in available ingredients.

"And the filling in the middle... could it also be some special ingredient?"

Thinking this, Marchello quickly bit into the tart to avoid the cheese-like stretchiness from losing its integrity due to temperature drop, affecting the tart’s overall flavor.

The top layer of tart filling tasted as before, with a slick and tender texture.

The bottom layer, a half pinky thick white translucent substance, had a high viscosity; although it could stretch like cheese, in the mouth, it felt like eating mochi, quite chewy.

Almost immediately, he discerned its true identity.

"Tapioca?"

"Yes, it’s tapioca. Cooked with water, it reaches this state. In our Great Xia, it’s used for dessert fillings or added to milk tea as an ingredient to enhance the cheese-like texture."

"......"

This fact brought another deep shock to the chefs.

Including Jonathan, the four chefs stared blankly at the half-bitten tart in their hands, slowly chewing, fully savoring the sticky mochi and the intriguing collision with the flaky pastry and smooth filling.

This unique texture felt simultaneously familiar and unfamiliar, leaving them speechless for a while, simply nibbling gently on the tart.

The frequency of tapioca flour appearing in a Western restaurant kitchen is equivalent to the frequency of starch appearing in a Chinese restaurant kitchen.

The development and evolution of Western cuisine have formed an extremely complete system, even to the point of creating a Michelin rating system, all aimed at further enhancing the global standing of Western chefs.

As the basic of all basics, these fundamental materials should have long been thoroughly understood by countless chefs.

Yet what is currently before them makes a few of them somewhat reluctant to believe this fact.

It’s not that no one has ever made mochi before, but the main thing is that its production process is so incredibly simple, so simple it’s maddening.

Simply mix tapioca flour with water and heat it up, the resulting product is, in their eyes, a semi-finished product with no real function.

It’s like taking starch mixed with water and boiling it to make something similar to paste; who in their right mind would think of putting this stuff in desserts and milk tea together?

Not to mention trying it, just thinking about it seems unnecessary.

But this utterly ordinary ’waste material’ managed to be fashioned into something novel in the hands of the Great Xia people.

This fact is even more shocking to them.

Lin Chen also didn’t expect Zhao Shun to come up with such a big move right from the start, directly leaving the head chefs speechless, unable to say a single word, with somewhat blank looks in their eyes.

However, upon closer inspection, he could understand why Zhao Shun would choose this flavor.

Simply because it’s convenient, and lazy.

Mochi has long been popular across the country and for bakers or pastry chefs, it’s not a particularly rare thing, just a once trendy internet-famous product.

It was even one of those online hits from a few years ago, already outdated now, but still decent to impress foreigners.

Seeing the head chefs in this state, Zhao Shun’s smugness was written all over his face, making a show to Lin Chen with a playful wink.

Lin Chen shook his head with a laugh, wondering why this kid, who wasn’t much younger than him, acted so immaturely.

Soon, Zhao Shun brought out a second plate of snacks from the kitchen.

With only a glance, Lin Chen immediately recognized the true identity of this item.

Seaweed Meat Floss Cake.

Another online hit from a few years ago.

"Did this kid do his homework in advance or what, how come everything he’s making is stuff that foreigners here haven’t seen?"

He couldn’t help but suspect, how could it be just a coincidence with both mochi and meat floss?

The uniqueness of meat floss cake lies in its innovative combination of ingredients, not so much in the ingredients themselves.

This time, the head chefs only took a quick look before analyzing the thing thoroughly, regaining some confidence.

"Two layers of chiffon cake topped with mayonnaise, wrapped with special dried meat mixed with seaweed?"

"This combination is interesting, thinking about it, many Great Xia bakeries seem to have a lot of varieties with ham or sausage."

"The mayonnaise inside seems to have a lot of dairy added, has a strong milky taste, not sure if it’s cream or something else."

Taking a bite, the salty, tender meat floss mixed with the ocean-scented seaweed melts on the tongue, the wet mayonnaise perfectly adds a hint of moisture to the meat floss.

The overall taste didn’t exceed their expectations, but the surface meat floss caught their interest.

"This is clearly dried meat, but why can it be made into this form?"

"Did they tear open dried meat to make it?"

"Probably not, if that’s the case, it’s too complicated, which would make it expensive."

"Looking at the shape of this little bread, it doesn’t seem to have a high price, the product should be cheaper than imagined."

As they discussed, they continued to tear large bites from the snack in their hands.

Meaty-flavored bread isn’t common in the West; Western bakeries tend to maintain sweet flavor profiles, adding various compound fragrances on this base.

For example, spice flavors represented by cinnamon powder, cardamom, or fruit flavors, coffee flavors, caramel flavors, chocolate flavors, and so on.

Even if they make salty-flavored baked goods, they absolutely add a lot of soup to make them sweet and savory.

The most famous product would be sea salt chocolate, which is popular among diners whether in cakes or cookies.

In their view, the type of Chinese bread with sausage, scallions, and meat is considered heretical.

Though meat-flavored bread isn’t as exaggerated as putting fruit on pizza, many are still willing to try it.

Next up were three types of Chinese desserts they had never seen before.

Egg Yolk Puff, Sachima, Floral Cake.

Among these, Egg Yolk Puff and Floral Cake have relatively simple procedures, similar to the meat floss cake, with novelty mainly in their pairing.

Only Sachima was somewhat complicated, with the most unique taste and appearance.

It appeared to be made of flour, tasted like it, and had a noticeable deep-fried aroma, yet oddly had a very soft and fluffy texture, not seeming like a fried product.