Chapter 14 - Jian Bing Guozi (Crispy Savory Crepes)
Ch14 – Jian Bing Guozi (Crispy Savory Crepes)
At home, Ruan Tang had been recuperating for a few days, both sleeping and eating well. He felt that his physical condition had improved significantly. He should be able to eat a bit of meat for nourishment. After eating light foods for so many days, he was actually feeling a bit ravenous. He wanted to indulge himself now and eat a large piece of meat!
Ruan Tang opened the light brain, and eagerly swept through the shopping site to start buying ingredients.
He bought a large piece of pork belly, as well as several pounds of large bones with meat, winter melons, flour and seasonings, etc., ready to be used to make braised meat noodles. The big bones will be used to make the broth. Not only could it make noodle soup but it could also supplement his calcium as well. The melon would be used to soak up the umami of the noodle soup.
However, if the bones needed to be boiled for a good two or three hours or it won’t be any good. So Ruan Tang planned to boil the bones first and have the meat noodles for tonight. Today’s brunch was still something a little simple.
He thought for a while and decided to make a crispy savory crepe. It was one of the most popular breakfast foods in his previous life and he was full of nostalgia for that taste. He then bought some cornmeal, eggs, lettuce, and tenderloin. When he saw the soy beans he also bought a pound. He also particularly wanted to drink soy milk. Drinking a cup of fragrant, dense, mellow and rich cup of soy milk in the mornings would make the whole body feel particularly well. But the soybeans needed to be soaked first before grinding into soy milk. There wouldn’t be enough time this morning and he could only make some for himself tonight.
Because he bought a lot, he needed to pay more than 600 GM coins when he checked out. But Ruan Tang didn’t even blink when confirming the payment. Things now were not the same as before. The balance in the account had already risen to five figures, and he now had the confidence when spending money.
While waiting for the interstellar express delivery, he searched for the Chefs’ Association on the star network, found their official website, and then went to take a look.
On the top homepage of the official website, were basically different methods to cook all kinds of ingredients, arranged according to the order that the ingredients were released by the Academy of Sciences. The newer ingredients are ranked higher, but it can be seen that there was a certain lag compared with the time of release by the Academy of Sciences. The efficiency was not very good.
In the middle position was the very eye-catching registration for the Chef Rank Qualification Test. Clicking here would let one see the relevant instructions. The chef’s certificate was divided into five star-ranks according to the grade. This kind of grading system was consistent with what Ruan Tang knew from his past life. The highest level was the five-star chef.
The chef’s star rating must be from low to high, going up rank by rank. After becoming a one-star chef, you could work at a restaurant as a famous chef. However, only after you have qualified as a three-star chef can you have the qualifications to open your own restaurant. If you continue to upgrade, the restaurant under the chef’s name will also be upgraded. Those so-called star-rated restaurants were also like this.
After you get the chef’s certificate, you could enjoy the Chefs’ Association’s material benefit remuneration. For example, if you manage to research a new cooking method, you could get a pretty substantial bonus. On top of that, if the main ingredient was a newly released ingredient from the Academy of Sciences, you could get an extra reward.
These systems seem to be quite user-friendly, and there was no hard requirement for the chefs themselves. Many star-ranked chefs could also choose to become private chefs hired by dignitaries.
The chef’s grade assessment was once a month. Ruan Tang took a look and saw that the next assessment would be in ten days. He estimated that his body should also have recovered by then, there should be no problem getting out the door.
So he signed up on the official website, paid the examination fee of three hundred GM coins, and left.
Not long after, he received a notice from the chef association telling him that he had signed up successfully and told him the location and time of the assessment.
Ruan Tang set up an event reminder on the light brain, and also let Xiao Bai help to remind him, so the unexpected mishap of forgetting to go participate in the assessment.
At this time, the express delivery had just arrived. After Xiao Bai received the items for him and placed it one by one on the counter, he started the live broadcast.
“Hello everyone, I am your anchor, Ruan Tang. Today, I want to make for you some Savory Crepes.” After the routine greetings, Ruan Tang watched the fast-growing number of online viewers and couldn’t help but curve his eyes in a smile.
Savory Crepes were a famous snack in Tianjin. In his past life, it could be found around the campuses of various provinces. The thin crispy skin was spread with a thick paste of fermented soybean and then wrapped around various ingredients. It was convenient and delicious. It was famous as a stomach-filling snack that many students and workers were fond of.
[Drinking plain boiled water in the middle of the night: Sending crystal flowers to the dearest anchor, the chicken wings and potatoes were super delicious! ! I didn’t even waste the rest of the soup. I mixed it all in with rice and ate a whole pot of rice! ]
[Liu Ye Bai: I’m not gonna say anything, I almost even ate the plate...]
[Vivian Feng: Ah, ah, I forgot to lock the door in the bedroom, I just had time to put a chicken wing in my mouth, and the rest were all eaten by those animals! ! 〒▽〒]
[Miao Miao loves to eat chicken wings: no one who won the prize gets to cry a word of complain, draw a circle to curse you!]
[Can’t stop hugging trees: Hey, I want to eat delicious chicken wings...]
Ruan Tang couldn’t help but laugh at it. “There is still a chance today, the savory crepes are also delicious.”
[Working the night shift everyday: Anchor, anchor, what is a Savory Crepe?]
“Crepes actually have a ‘pancake wrapped’ meaning. It is similar to the egg cake I have made before, but it will may be wrapped around fresh vegetables, crispy fried doughs and other such things. The crepe is also thinner and more brittle.” Ruan Tang didn’t know how to explain the history of Savory Crepes to these interstellar citizens and could only talk to them about the origin of the name.
He poured the flour and cornmeal into a large bowl in the same proportion, added two eggs, a little cooking oil and water, and then vigorously stirred until they were well combined. While stirring, Ruan Tang explained to the audience. “When stirring, everyone needs a little patience. It must be stirred until it’s homogenous, otherwise it will affect the texture of the crepe.”
Making the batter for the crepe was quickly done. Next, he took out a bowl and poured out half of a small bag of flour into it, added the right amount of salt, oil and warm water and started kneading the dough.
[Little ginger: Why did you make two bowls of dough, anchor? Are you planning to make lots and lots of pancakes and give us all a share? (ˉ﹃ˉ) ]
He explained: “No, the batter over there will be used to make crepes. The dough in my hand is to make the crispy flatbread , but I will make a few portions for the lottery.”
[Purple Fantasy Moon: What is the difference between the crepe and flatbread? ]
“Ah, the crepe is used to wrap outside and the shortbread is sandwiched inside. In a while everyone can see me make one and you’ll all understand.”
Ruan Tang quickly kneaded the dough until it was smooth, put it in a preservation box and set it aside.
Taking advantage of the time needed to allow the dough to rest, Ruan Tang mixed some Tian Mian Jiang (Sweet sauce from fermented flour). When had made the egg cakes, everyone had already seen it, so it made the audience anticipate the finished product more.
After preparing the sauce to be brushed onto the crepe, he took out a small frying pan. For the filling in the Savory Crepes, Ruan Tang had prepared some tenderloin. Tenderloin was smooth and tender, and it is cooked very quickly. It was a common accompaniment for crepes, luo mo (rice wrappers) and shuo zhua bing (fried flatbread). He cut the tenderloin into 2-3 mm pieces of meat, fried both sides in a pan until they were cooked and had turned into a lustrous light brown, which was then lifted out and placed on a plate for later use.
[Miao Miao loves to eat chicken wings: QAQ this meat smells so fragrant, how come it doesn’t taste like much...]
[Can’t stop hugging trees: swipe a bit of the sauce! It became delicious right away! ]
[Small transparent: Really? I will also try it! ]
[Little Lazy: I’m gonna try too~]
Seeing that the two joker had begun stealing food, and even actually instigated the other viewers, Ruan Tang couldn’t help but feel it was ridiculous. Anyway, they can only eat virtual data, and it has no effect on his cooking, so he let them do as they wished.
At this time, the dough was almost ready. He took the dough out of the box, cut it into small rectangular pieces, and then kneaded them into thin slices with a rolling pin. He put them in a frying pan, and fried them until crispy. At this time, they have turned a slightly golden yellow color, similar to churros. The surface blistered with various sized bubbles, thin and crispy. A slight bump would be enough to break it apart.
“Now we can officially start making crepes.” Ruan Tang took out the pan and heated it, brushing a layer of oil on it and then pouring a spoonful of batter into the pan.
The way Savory Crepes were made at home were slightly different from the way they were made outside. After all, the pan was different, so a scrapper wouldn’t be suitable for use. Because the Crepe needed to be thin, his movements were very fast, holding the pan and turning the wrists quickly so that the batter went around the entire pan, gradually forming a complete round cake. It quickly turned a faint yellow, which meant that it was already half cooked.
After the crepe was set, he broke an egg over it and gently scraped it with a spatula to make the egg fill the entire cake. Once the side below was done, he flipped over the crepe so that both sides were cooked to a crispy golden brown.
He spread the sweet noodle sauce on the crepe followed by a pile of the tenderloin, chopped green onions, washed lettuce leaves and the broken shortbread. He rolled up each side, and then chopped it in the middle with a spatula. The Savory Crepe was done.
“Well, everyone can now have a taste.” The fragrant smell of the Savory Crepe wafted about, and the Ruan Tang called on the audience to try it, while he himself continued to make more crepes, preparing the ones he would send out as a prize.
[winkraine: How can he put the raw vegetable leaves into it? Can this really be eaten? ]
[Xing Xin: The commenter above must be new. The things that the anchor makes, must all be edible, not only edible but delicious! ]
[One World Changan:! ! ! ! delicious! ! ! ]
[Miao Miao loves to eat chicken wings: QAQ I finally get it! The anchor is trying to change my name every day! ]
[Can’t stop hugging trees: It’s delicious! Delicious! How can it be so delicious / (ㄒoㄒ)/~~ ]
[Following broadcasts to learn cooking: the outside is soft and the inside is crispy. The meat is delicious and the leaves of the vegetables are crisp and tender, and the sauce, my god, how can there be such a rich taste? I take a bite and feel like birds are flying in the air, the fishes are swimming under the sea... I can’t write anymore, asking the anchor to accept me as a disciple! ]
[Honey Summer: Delicious.]
For a time, a large numbers of crystal flowers and colorful fireworks bloomed in the live room. Almost everyone was conquered by the delicious taste of this pancake. It was salty and sweet. A bite would release heat inside your mouth. The crispiness of the flatbread, with the softness of the eggs and the tasty and smooth tenderloin; the sauces tasted very rich was neutralized by the clear and sweet fresh vegetables. It had a pleasant taste that stayed in your mouth.
Ruan Tang had already done the rest of the crepes, five portions, just five people. “Well, today we have five lucky viewers. After the live broadcast, I will send out my own handmade Savory Crepes.”
[Barely Passing: seeking to win a prize! ]
[Can’t stop hugging trees: seeking to win a prize! +1]
[Miao Miao loves to eat chicken wings: seeking a prize! +2]
[Seven treasures: seeking to win a prize! +3]
......
Opening the lottery function, Ruan Tang quickly selected five lucky viewers from the online audience. He didn’t know if it’s a coincidence. The winners this time were all the old viewers who haven’t won prizes before. “Congratulations to Joyful Yulin, A touch of medical fragrance, Mo family’s jade, DAIMO and Little Lazy. The prizes will be sent later. Please make sure to accept and receive.”
The unsuccessful viewers sent out a stretch of mourning as expected, and he could only comfort them by saying that they had another chance this evening.
“User ‘HE’ gave the anchor a meteor shower.”
Seeing the familiar system notification, Ruan Tang didn’t know why it made him smile a little. It couldn’t be that this local tyrant room manager was saying that he also wanted to eat?
“Thank you.”, Ruan Tang said thanks with a smile and with a bit of mocking said, “Today, there is only five portions of Savory Crepes in total. Bribing the anchor won’t work either.”
It was obvious that this statement was meant to be directed at someone. The entire live chat was suddenly an ocean of glee.
[Can’t stop hugging trees: Anchor, thank you for teaching me that even if you have money, you can’t just do whatever you please!]
[Miao Miao loves to eat chicken wings: No, I’m really not laughing, hahaha]
They laughingly and jokingly sent out a lot of comments, and also noticed how Ruan Tang unexpectedly didn’t shut down the broadcast.
“Tonight, I will make braised meat noodles and a very delicious and nutritious drink. However, because the needed time for the earlier stage preparations is quite long, I need to do these preparations now.”
As Ruan Tang said that, he took out a small pouch of soybeans and soaked them in a large basin. “These are soybeans, after we process these it will make a really delicious soy milk. But we need to soak them in water for several hours. We will leave this here and we’ll come back to it later tonight.”
“Right now, we’re also going to boil these meat bones to make soup.” Ruan Tang took out several large pieces of bones. After washing the bones with warm water, he used a big cleaver to split open the bones, exposing the dark red marrow inside. He placed the opened bones inside the pot, added onions and ginger, and filled it to the brim with water before placing it on top of the stove to boil. The bones also need to boil for several hours. Tonight, you can all see how these two ingredients transform.”
“Okay, today’s broadcast ends here. See you all tonight!”
The author has something to say: Small theater:
He Yun Chen: Unhappy* ╭(╯^╰)╮