Chapter 314 - 141: Chinese-Style Pastries, Preparations

Chapter 314: Chapter 141: Chinese-Style Pastries, Preparations

In Su Chen’s mind, Ling Shuyu had always been the company’s best employee. That was beyond question.

She always had a knack for showing up just when Su Chen needed her most, which was fantastic.

"Boss, is there a problem with the new order?"

When Ling Shuyu asked this, Su Chen wasn’t surprised at all.

"It’s fine."

Su Chen stood up. "You’re just in time. I need you to take some people and buy a few things."

Whether it was Chinese or Western cuisine, presentation was crucial for any dish to look appealing.

"I can’t just tell you what to buy. Come over here."

Su Chen found a few similar pictures online. "These are the pastries that need plating. The theme is to highlight traditional Chinese style and culture."

"I understand." Ling Shuyu took Su Chen’s phone, sent the pictures to her own WeChat, and asked, "Do you need it in three days?"

Su Chen nodded. "It has to be ready in three days. If possible, it’d be best to have it done by tomorrow. That way, we can check for anything unsatisfactory and make adjustments."

"Okay."

Having agreed, Ling Shuyu left.

Su Chen returned to his chair. He was completely at ease leaving these matters to President Ling. Now, there was one more thing that needed his urgent attention.

’The main reason I set the deadline with the client for three days from now was for this!’

Su Chen took out his phone and found a group on WeChat. It was filled with the contacts of his martial nephews, added when they left some time ago.

’Old Ba... I hope you can make it!’

As a master of flour-based cuisine, his Eighth Martial Brother’s skill with pastries might have been average, but his understanding of flour was absolutely god-tier!

If he were here, making these pastries would be like giving a tiger wings!

"Eighth Brother?"

Su Chen sent a tentative message. ’He shouldn’t be too busy at this hour.’

Just as Su Chen expected, the reply came quickly.

[Old Ba: Master Su!!!]

Su Chen shook his head, a bit embarrassed. "Let’s just stick to our own generations. It’s better if we just call each other brothers."

[Old Ba: /Grin. Okay, Boss Su, what’s up?]

Su Chen thought for a moment, then sent a voice message. The gist of it was that he had recently taken a large order and needed his Eighth Brother’s flour-crafting skills to help out.

Of course, Su Chen made it very clear that he would reimburse the round-trip travel expenses and would also pay a sum to compensate his Eighth Brother for lost work time.

"No problem, Boss Su! Your business is my business! I’ll buy a ticket right now and get to Jingzhou as fast as I can!"

Su Chen replied, "Great, thank you, Eighth Brother. Remember to send me the ticket info after you buy it. I’ll have someone pick you up."

Having handled that matter, Su Chen finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Next, it was time for his own performance!

Closing his eyes for a moment, Su Chen appeared in the Gourmet Practice Room.

’The Imperial Consort Cake isn’t supposed to be that difficult to make. I’ll try this pastry first.’

Before Old Ba arrived, he needed to make all the pastries at least once to identify any shortcomings. It would be better to discuss them with Old Ba after that.

Nowadays, you could find comprehensive recipes for all sorts of pastries online, but they were only the most basic versions. Just like the recipes synthesized by the system, you had to modify them to make them truly good.

’The Imperial Consort Cake was originally created by an Imperial Chef at the Li Palace especially for Yang Guifei. It got its name because the consort loved it so much.’

Su Chen started by meticulously following the tutorial he had learned online.

’Honestly, flour-based pastries always follow the same old routine. It doesn’t feel all that magical...’

It was nothing more than mixing flour with fat, sugar, and eggs, and then baking it.

The Imperial Consort Cake was no different. After mixing high- and low-gluten flours, he added lard and egg whites to form a dough. With that, the pastry skin was complete.

Pitted red dates were steamed until soft and mashed into a paste. Just like that, the filling was done.

Su Chen wrapped the red date filling in the dough, formed it into a round cake about five centimeters in diameter, and dotted it with five red spots, resembling the *huadian* forehead decoration of an imperial consort.

’This thing actually looks quite pretty.’

He put it in the oven at 150°C with both top and bottom heat. ’Now all I have to do is wait.’

Twenty minutes later, Su Chen eagerly opened the oven. The moment he took out the baking sheet...

"What the fuck?"

The cakes on the sheet, once as white as jade, had all completely changed!

The pastry skin was no longer pure white, but had turned slightly yellow. Its once-smooth surface had become pitted after twenty minutes of baking.

"This isn’t an Imperial Consort Cake... this should be called a Hag’s Cake, right?"

Su Chen pressed a hand to his forehead and laughed speechlessly. When the "Imperial Consort Cake" was placed on the workstation, there were no surprises.

[Imperial Consort Cake: Evaluation, C Level]

Su Chen wasn’t surprised by this result. At the end of the day, he was a complete novice in the field of pastry. It would have been abnormal if he had managed to make a highly-rated pastry on his first try.

’Just have to keep trying. What else can I do...’

He tossed the edible, but not delicious, baked cakes directly into the trash and started trying again.

He wasn’t in such a hurry on his second attempt.

’If I want the pastry skin to be pure white, all the ingredients must be flawlessly white. First off, the lard...’

There were two possible reasons for the pastry skin turning yellow.

One was that the baking temperature was too high. The other was that the raw materials looked white but changed color during the cooking process.

It was just like steaming mantou.

The dough would look perfectly white, but the steamed buns would come out yellow. Back in Su Chen’s hometown, people called those failed products "military mantou."

Su Chen once again added a fifty-fifty mix of high- and low-gluten flour to the mixing bowl, then made a well in the center of the flour.