Chapter 1403 - 549: Making Qiegao and Kebabs! A Wonderful Northwest-Style Night!

Chapter 1403: Chapter 549: Making Qiegao and Kebabs! A Wonderful Northwest-Style Night!

While Lin Xu was cooking, Shen Jiayue stood next to him, snacking on pecans and raisins, never giving her mouth a rest.

Lin Xu wasn’t sure if he would learn how to make cut cakes, but they had definitely eaten plenty for now.

"Aren’t you two supposed to be making cut cakes? Why are you snacking instead?"

Chen Yuanyuan walked in and saw Shen Jiayue tasting all the dried fruits as if she were testing for poison.

"We’re melting the sugar right now. Once it’s ready, we’ll start making the cakes."

After Lin Xu explained, he said to Chen Yuanyuan:

"Thanks for your effort, sis. I feel bad making you work on the third day of the New Year."

Chen Yuanyuan waved her hand dismissively:

"It’s all good, I’m here to earn money by working, not helping for free. If you feel bad, just make more cut cakes so I can bring some tomorrow for everyone to try."

No problem, with today’s ingredients, they could easily make over fifty pounds of cakes.

Plenty for Yuanyuan to bring along.

Before long, the sugar in the pot had melted, and Lin Xu turned down the heat to keep cooking.

The sugar needed to be cooked until it reached a stringy consistency, ensuring it’s sticky enough to be tasty.

Once the sugar melted, Lin Xu poured a jar of honey into the pot, continuing to stir so the honey’s sweetness infused into the syrup.

After stirring evenly, he turned off the stove, then poured in all the dried and nuts and quickly mixed them.

Without continuous heating, the syrup quickly became sticky and thick.

Before reaching this stage, the sugar and dried fruits needed to be mixed thoroughly to ensure all ingredients were coated with syrup.

This step required speed and resilience to heat, ensuring complete mixture with every stir, so the syrup was evenly distributed.

Lin Xu busily explained:

"Traditional street cut cake making involves each ingredient being dipped in sugar separately, then layered for a nice presentation. But since this is for ourselves, we’ll avoid the hassle."

Although their baby wanted to bring up their sister-in-law’s unpleasant memories, Lin Xu wasn’t willing to aid in this mischief.

That technique was not only cumbersome but also wasteful of sugar; mixing it all in one go was more efficient.

When the syrup completely coated the ingredients and started stringing during stirring, it was time to stop to avoid the sugar becoming grainy.

If that happened, the result wouldn’t be cut cakes but sugared dried fruits.

After a thorough mix, Lin Xu took out a detachable tray.

The so-called detachable tray had a bottom and sides that could be removed, useful for making foods like tofu and Shakima where shape needed to be maintained.

He oiled the inside of the tray with peanut oil and poured in the mixed dried fruits.

There were so many dried fruits that they spilled over the tray’s edges.

Curious, Shen Jiayue asked:

"Do we need to change molds?"

Lin Xu shook his head with a smile:

"No need."

He took out a rolling hammer, a rolling pin with thick middle and thin handles, oiled it, and began pressing the mixture in the tray.

By rolling, the air between the ingredients was expelled, making the mixture denser and reducing its volume.

Soon, the overflowing parts became flat and even.

Shen Jiayue filmed this process with her phone and sent it to Chen Yan:

"Yan Bao, I’m learning to make cut cakes. Yuanyuan will bring you some tomorrow. No inflated prices or scams, eat as much as you want."

Seeing the footage while shopping with Ren Jie, Chen Yan pouted:

"Annoying Yueyue, can’t she live without teasing me?"

She sent back a scornful emoji, stuffing her phone into her pocket angrily.

Ren Jie, noticing her expression change, asked curiously:

"What’s up? Your face suddenly changed."

Chen Yan replied angrily:

"I was once conned by a cut cake vendor. Yueyue knows about it and is learning the craft with her brother-in-law to tease me."

Ren Jie curiously asked:

"Why didn’t you report it to the authorities?"

"Pfft, it was only a few hundred bucks, no need, and it was partly my fault for not asking the right questions, just considered it a paid lesson."

She had asked the price, and the vendor had indicated two fingers and said twenty.

Neither specified the weight unit, so she got tricked out of several hundred bucks.

Luckily, the Chen Family business was picking up, and Chen Yan had ample spending money, more than enough for cut cakes. It just left her feeling aggrieved.

Ren Jie suggested:

"You should have reported it. Even if you paid, claiming it made you sick would at least get you some compensation. If he scams others, he should be prepared for retaliation."

"Forget it, no need to get serious about it... Besides, it taught me a valuable lesson. Now, for any transaction involving money, I triple confirm, and if contracts are involved, I consult legal experts to avoid any pitfalls... From this perspective, I kind of profited. Just a few hundred bucks for a lifelong lesson? Worth it!"

She couldn’t help but look forward to Lin Xu’s cut cakes:

"I wonder how my brother-in-law’s cut cakes will taste. When Yuanyuan brings them tomorrow, I’ll try some. If they’re good, that’ll be another treat for the office."

In Yinzhou, inside the kitchen.

Shen Jiayue and Chen Yuanyuan looked at the cut cakes on the table, eager to take a peek, but the temperature was still high, and the syrup hadn’t fully set.

They needed to wait for it to cool down more before removing the sides and base, cutting the cakes into small pieces to eat.