Cooking System: Street Food Rules -
Chapter 67: Give it up, you can’t surpass him!
Chapter 67: Chapter 67: Give it up, you can’t surpass him!
Juxing Shopping Mall food court.
At the noodle mixing stall.
These past couple of days, Xiao Lin, the owner of the noodle mixing stall, was practically buzzing with energy, spending every day in the kitchen trying to perfect his braised noodles.
He and his wife ran a small stall there, a mom-and-pop operation.
Xiao Lin was a man with a strong competitive spirit, but he never resorted to cunning tricks; he always defeated his opponents fair and square.
Previously, many vendors sold noodles in this food court, but none did as well as he.
After learning his craft from a master in Lanzhou, Xiao Lin was quite skilled at making noodles.
As a result, he was able to maintain his stall there for a long time, and his business was reasonably good, until Jiang Feng arrived.
Jiang Feng’s almost magical culinary skills, where every noodle dish reached the pinnacle of flavor, were a real eye-opener for Xiao Lin.
This immediately ignited his competitive spirit.
If all the vendors who had set up stalls there before were like small hills, then Jiang Feng was like a towering mountain.
After tasting the noodles made by Jiang Feng, Xiao Lin felt that the summit was hopelessly out of reach.
But he refused to concede defeat.
He swore he would make noodles even more delicious than Jiang Feng’s!
Xiao Lin finished braising a pot of green bean noodles, poured them onto a plate, and placed it in front of his wife.
"Try this bowl," he said, his face full of anticipation. "See if the taste is closer to yesterday’s braised noodles, or maybe even better."
For this pot of braised noodles, he had ensured every step was flawless, even meticulously measuring the seasonings.
Food made with a chef’s heart and soul rarely tastes bad.
A hint of helplessness flickered in the depths of Xiao Lin’s wife’s eyes.
She’d eaten a lot of noodles these past two days—every single meal.
Although each batch tasted good, they still fell short compared to the braised noodles Jiang Feng had made, which she’d eaten for lunch the previous day.
That pot of braised noodles Jiang Feng made was truly divine.
The noodles were coated in rich pork fat rendered from stir-frying, mingled with a symphony of savory flavors.
Every bite was an unparalleled pleasure.
Looking at the noodles Xiao Lin had made, she thought to herself:
My dear, just give it up. You can’t surpass him.
But she didn’t say it aloud. Instead, she ate a few strands of noodles to taste, then picked up some green beans and pork.
"Hmm, it’s pretty good," Xiao Lin’s wife said, nodding in praise.
These noodles really did taste good.
But the texture was still a world away from Jiang Feng’s.
The noodles Jiang Feng braised were perfectly chewy and didn’t stick together at all. The meat was cooked just right, with an excellent texture. The green beans were full of broth, carrying a unique, fresh fragrance.
Eating them gave one feeling: pure satisfaction!
But Xiao Lin’s bowl of noodles always seemed to be missing something.
Objectively speaking, his noodles weren’t bad. For an ordinary person, they were delicious enough to finish the whole plate.
But once you’ve seen the ocean, it’s hard to be impressed by a stream; once you’ve beheld Mount Wu, other clouds seem pale in comparison.
After eating Jiang Feng’s noodles, this bowl just fell a little short.
"Really? How does it compare to the noodles he made yesterday?" Xiao Lin asked, full of anticipation, as he picked up the plate and tasted them himself.
His braised green bean noodles were delicious, but they didn’t engage the senses nearly as much as Jiang Feng’s.
Xiao Lin felt the difference.
"Sigh... it’s the exact same recipe. Where did I go wrong?" he lamented with a sigh.
"Later, when it’s less crowded, I’ll go buy a couple of bowls from him. I need to study them more," Xiao Lin told his wife.
"Okay, I’ll go get in line right now!" Hearing this, his wife’s interest was piqued, and she immediately got up to queue at Jiang Feng’s stall.
At that moment, Jiang Feng was still prepping ingredients.
"Executive Chef Jiang!" Xiao Lin’s wife called out.
Lately, she’d been watching short videos about Jiang Feng’s exploits and found them quite interesting.
Moreover, for the past two days, she had eaten lunch at Jiang Feng’s noodle stall, clearly becoming a fan.
"Hello," Jiang Feng responded immediately when he heard someone call him.
"We’d like to order two bowls of braised green bean noodles," Xiao Lin’s wife said with a smile.
"Sure, no problem. I’ll make them for you as soon as I’m done prepping these vegetables," Jiang Feng replied, snapping green beans as he spoke.
Jiang Feng snapped the fresh green beans into segments by hand and placed them in a basket.
Soon, the basket was piled high with green beans.
Next, he started chopping meat and making the fried sauce.
The morning hours were busy.
But customers hadn’t arrived yet at this hour, so Jiang Feng felt quite at ease working alone in the kitchen.
He had come in quite early that morning, mainly to stew beef.
He needed to start early and stew it for a longer time to get the beef perfectly tender.
Jiang Feng took out a piece of beef rib meat and cut it into large chunks.
Then, he blanched the beef chunks to remove any scum.
He heated oil in a wok, added seasonings, the beef chunks, and peeled tomatoes, then began to stir-fry.
Once stir-fried, he transferred everything to a pot, added a spice packet and more seasonings, and began to braise the meat.
Jiang Feng was already very familiar with these procedures.
Essentially, the beef for the Braised Beef Noodle was prepared similarly to the braised meat he had sold before.
It only needed to simmer in the pot for an hour and a half. This allowed the tomatoes to completely break down into the sauce and the flavors of the spices to fully infuse the beef.
Beef prepared this way would be not only tender but also extremely flavorful.
When the time came, he would cook the noodles, ladle the beef and broth over them, and it would be a steaming hot bowl of Braised Beef Noodle.
Braised Beef Noodle wasn’t particular about the type of noodles. Slightly thicker ones would do, and Jiang Feng had them prepared.
In the pot, the beef was steadily transforming under the high heat. All he had to do was wait.
Then, Jiang Feng continued to busy himself with prepping ingredients.
Once the ingredients were prepped, he began to work on the current orders.
Soon, a pot of braised green bean noodles was ready. Jiang Feng stepped outside and called towards Xiao Lin’s stall,
"Number one, your noodles are ready!"
Hearing Jiang Feng’s call, Xiao Lin’s wife immediately stood up. "Coming!"
She then went over to get the noodles.
The neighboring stall owners saw this and clicked their tongues, finding it peculiar.
Generally speaking, those in the same trade are rivals.
If there were two vendors selling the same product in one place, they would usually wish the other would just go out of business.
But now, here was Xiao Lin, buying noodles directly from Jiang Feng!
Xiao Lin, however, didn’t care about such things.
He believed improving his own culinary skills was paramount.
It had to be said, in his efforts to ’surpass’ Jiang Feng these past few days, he had worked incredibly hard, and the noodles he made had genuinely become tastier.
He had definitely made progress.
A short while later, Xiao Lin’s wife brought the noodles over.
The two of them picked up their chopsticks and immediately began to dig in.
Tasting the braised green bean noodles made by Jiang Feng, Xiao Lin closed his eyes, savoring them carefully.
The flavor of the meat, the green beans, the noodles—he didn’t know how they all blended together, but every bite was incredibly satisfying.
"He didn’t add any extra seasonings, so how could his food be this delicious!" Xiao Lin wondered, completely baffled.
The plate of braised noodles Xiao Lin himself had made was right beside them. He took another bite of his own creation.
With this comparison, he too could tell the difference.
The texture of the green beans was different. Jiang Feng’s beans were clearly more tender, perfectly cooked through, and emanated a delicate fragrance.
The texture of the meat was also different.
"Forget it, I’ll think about it after I eat," Xiao Lin decided, pushing his thoughts aside and starting to heartily devour the steaming hot braised noodles.
Then, as time went on, the food court began to fill up with customers.
It was another bustling day.
Diners flocked in, drawn by the delicious food, eager to enjoy a satisfying bowl of noodles at Jiang Feng’s stall during lunchtime.
Whether it was fried sauce noodles, braised noodles, or Braised Beef Noodle, each offered a uniquely delightful taste.
After finishing their meal, they felt completely refreshed, like a car with a full tank of gas, ready to get up and tackle the demands of life once more.
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