Chapter 476 - 310: Offcuts from a Cow

Chapter 476: Chapter 310: Offcuts from a Cow

"Oh, no, why would I do that? Do I look like that kind of person?"

Kardashian beamed at him, then at the cake in front of him.

"The landlord doesn’t like sweets. His daughter does, but the little girl is still young and can’t have too many desserts, especially one with so many things mixed together. To save her from the pain of cavities, I’ll just cut one more small piece."

"Just a tiny piece."

As she spoke, she used her mint-cream-covered fingers to show just how tiny a "tiny piece" was.

’The landlord doesn’t like sweets?’

A flicker of doubt crossed Lin Chen’s eyes. He really didn’t know that.

’No wonder his reaction wasn’t as enthusiastic as everyone else’s when I asked last night. So that’s why.’

"That’s still a no," he said, shaking his head regretfully. He picked up the cake and turned to leave.

"I have to hear him say he doesn’t like it with my own ears before I can even consider giving away the rest of the cake. That’s the professional integrity of a qualified chef."

He transferred the cake to a stainless steel basin, covered it with plastic wrap, and stuck it in the fridge. With nothing else to do, he decided to use the free time in the morning to simmer a pot of red oil.

As a foodie who couldn’t live without spice, red oil was a frequent star in his culinary repertoire.

Whether for stir-fries, cold salads, or noodle soups and tossed noodles, red oil was the soul of the dish—bar none.

Of course, he had to film the process. This wouldn’t be part of the baking class series, but rather the Chinese cuisine series.

"Red oil is one of the souls of Chinese cuisine. It’s also called chili oil or oil-braised chilies. The production methods for chili oil vary slightly by region, which naturally results in different flavors."

"Today, I’m making a type of chili oil often used in the famously spicy southwestern region of Great Xia. Its defining characteristic is that it’s fragrant but not overly spicy."

"If you want to make delicious chili oil, you need to choose the right chilies, the right type of oil, and, most importantly, control the oil temperature."

"However, there are no large Great Xia supermarkets in the town I’m in now, only some small ones, more like convenience stores. I can’t get high-quality chili powder, so I’ll have to make do with some ordinary stuff."

"As for the oil, rapeseed oil is the top choice—it’s pressed from the seeds of the rapeseed flower. I can’t get that here, so I’m opting for a blended oil: a mix of neutral-flavored salad oil and nutty-smelling peanut oil."

"Peanut oil has its own fragrance. If you use only peanut oil, it will overpower some of the chili’s aroma. That’s why you need to neutralize it with a flavorless salad oil. This way, you preserve the nutty fragrance of the peanut oil while also highlighting the chili’s aroma."

He explained the ingredients and principles of each step in detail to the camera while preparing the ingredients at hand.

A few curious passersby glanced over for a moment before moving on. Only the customers who had previously tasted his delicious fried chicken skins and the woman who had just tried the cake at the entrance had the patience to gather around and watch.

After turning on the heat, he poured in the onion, scallions, ginger, and cilantro, letting them heat up gradually with the oil.

"The advantage of adding them to cold oil is safety. If you wait for the oil to get hot before adding the vegetables, the moisture inside them can cause it to splatter, which is quite dangerous if you’re not careful."

Once the vegetables were fried to a golden brown with slightly charred edges, he scooped them out. Then, he added the star anise, cinnamon bark, cumin, licorice, and Sichuan Pepper.

They didn’t need to be fried for long. The oil was already hot, and frying them too long would burn them. He fried them until golden brown and then removed them as well.

"Continue heating the infused oil until thick smoke starts to rise steadily from the surface, then turn off the heat. The temperature is too high to use immediately, so you need to let it cool down for a bit."

"Why go through this step? It’s actually quite simple. Store-bought oil is often cold-pressed, meaning it’s ’raw’ and has a certain smell. This strange smell only disappears after heating it to a specific temperature."

"While waiting for the oil to cool, we need to prepare the chili powder."

"For a normal Sichuan-style red oil, the recipe and ratios vary from household to household. There’s no fixed formula; it’s purely based on personal taste. However, the process for making the scallion oil is basically the same, with the main difference being the types of spices used."

"I’m using dried chili flakes, Sweet Pepper Powder, and Cayenne Pepper Powder. These are the only ones I can get here. So, theoretically, this isn’t really Sichuan-style red oil anymore. You could call it the overseas version, haha."

"The bag for these dried chili flakes doesn’t specify the variety, so we’ll just ignore that and see how it tastes in the end."

"Put the chili flakes in a separate bowl. Mix the Red Pepper Powder and Cayenne Pepper Powder at a four-to-one ratio. The former isn’t spicy at all and only provides color, while the latter is the source of the heat. If you like it spicy, you can add more. But don’t mix the powders and the flakes together, because their different coarseness means they can burn easily."

After letting the hot oil cool for five minutes, he first drizzled a bit of high-proof white liquor into the chili flakes and stirred to moisten them.

"This step serves two purposes: it enhances the aroma and prevents the chili flakes from burning."

With that, he ladled a spoonful of the now-calm hot oil and poured it into the bowl.

SIZZLE—

The chilies in the bowl instantly erupted, with large yellow bubbles frantically bubbling up. A faint fragrance soon began to drift through the air.

He poured in three ladles of oil, quickly stirring the chilies in the bowl to ensure they cooked evenly, preventing the ones on top from burning before the ones at the bottom were done.

After waiting another five minutes, he poured a generous amount of white sesame seeds and the previously mixed chili powders into the bowl. Then, he ladled in all the remaining oil from the pot, one spoonful at a time.

The aroma was instantly reawakened. The pale yellow oil turned a tempting shade of red the moment it merged with the fine chili powder, and the fragrance wafting through the air became several times more intense than before.

At this point, he picked up the bottle of white liquor again and drizzled two circles of it into the mix.

The moment the liquor hit the oil, the slightly calmed red oil began to boil once more, sending up clouds of fragrant steam.

"I already explained the purpose of adding the white liquor, but be careful. If you’re using a ’sauce-fragrance’ type of baijiu, don’t add too much. Adding too much might alter the flavor of the red oil, giving it a note of fermented broad bean paste."

"Besides white liquor, you can also use fragrant vinegar. The esterification reaction will remove the sourness of the vinegar, leaving only its aroma."

"Adding liquor or vinegar has another purpose, which is the most important one: preservation."

"After adding them, you can safely store the red oil in the fridge for six months to a year without it spoiling. You can take it out and use it whenever you want. The only thing to remember is to always use a clean spoon to scoop it out. Any liquid introduced will accelerate the spoilage process."

"Once it’s done, I recommend letting it sit overnight or for a full day. The red oil’s fragrance will become much richer that way. Of course, if you can’t wait to try it, you can eat it right away."

The intense aroma of the red oil drifted everywhere, practically blanketing the entire market.

Many customers shopping farther away were drawn over by the unusually rich aroma, curiously asking what the big basin of red liquid was.

The few customers who had watched from start to finish had eyes full of amazement. They kept sniffing the air, unable to believe that a few seemingly ordinary ingredients could produce such a fragrant infused oil.

The whole process wasn’t very complicated; the only tricky detail was controlling the oil temperature.

While those who had never tasted authentic Daxia Cuisine were merely drooling from the smell, Erica, who had tried beef tallow hot pot before, found her mouth was already watering uncontrollably. She hid behind the camera, swallowing repeatedly.

She had only eaten half a piece of cake in the morning, and after more than an hour, it had been completely digested. 𝘧𝓇ℯℴ𝓂

"Hungry?"

Lin Chen, who had been keeping an eye on her, shook his head with an amused smile. He took two packets of thin dried noodles from the shelf behind him—the ones left over from when he made the pounded chili, century egg, and eggplant tossed noodles.

He went to the pork stall and bought some ground pork with a good fat-to-lean ratio, then went to Bella’s to buy a cucumber and some cilantro.

The iron pot he had just used to make the oil hadn’t been washed yet. He heated it directly over the fire until it smoked, then tossed in the ground pork and stir-fried it quickly until it changed color. He seasoned it with a little soy sauce and oyster sauce for umami, a pinch of sugar and white pepper, and cooked until the pork was browned all over.

He added a spoonful of salt to a pot of boiling water, then dumped in both packets of thin noodles, stirring them quickly to prevent sticking.

This time, there was no need to prepare ice water. After boiling for about a minute, the dried noodles were taken out directly and placed in a bowl. He topped them with the stir-fried ground pork, arranged a circle of shredded cucumber around the edge, and scattered cilantro, cut to the length of a finger joint, over the top.

Finally, he stirred the red oil and the chili sediment at the bottom until they were well-mixed, then scooped up a full ladle and drizzled it over everything.

The snow-white noodles were instantly stained an alluring red. Paired with the vibrant green of the cucumber shreds, the dual assault on their senses of sight and smell made many people start swallowing their saliva involuntarily.

"This must be that new influencer chef from Great Xia, right? The stuff he makes looks simple, but it smells amazing."

"Why are these noodles white? Is it a type of pasta made with flour?"

Some curious customers had already started asking the familiar faces around them.

Lin Chen was already used to this kind of scene. Hearing the low chatter in front of him, he unhurriedly picked up his chopsticks, stuck them into the noodles, and gave them a quick stir, thoroughly mixing all the ingredients and the red oil with the noodles.

"Thin noodles are the best for soaking up sauce; they absorb all the flavor from the seasonings. The only downside is that they don’t hold onto the solid toppings well, so you’ll have a lot of cucumber and ground pork left at the end."

The still-warm red oil, heated by the steam from the noodles, once again released its captivating aroma.

Mixed with the fragrance of the wheat, it was no longer just the smell of oil, but had transformed into the aroma of a delicious dish.

In front of the camera, Lin Chen lifted a long strand of noodles with his chopsticks to show it off, then beckoned to Erica.

"Just talking about it doesn’t seem very convincing. Erica, come have a taste. You’re a foreigner and haven’t tried much Daxia Cuisine. Come and give everyone your review of the red oil’s flavor."

"Me?"

Erica hadn’t expected Lin Chen to call her on camera during filming. Tempted by the bowl of red noodles, she didn’t hesitate for a second. She walked right into the center of the frame, took the chopsticks, and served herself a large bowlful.

"SLURP~~~"

The loud slurping sound reached the ears of the few onlookers, making them lick their lips, their own mouths watering.