Chapter 352 - 149: Sweet Flavor, Hawthorn Braised Pork Belly

Chapter 352: Chapter 149: Sweet Flavor, Hawthorn Braised Pork Belly

Su Chen was on his reclining chair, flipping through famous recipes for red-braised pork, trying to find a breakthrough.

While browsing through famous regional stir-fries, he discovered a particularly interesting dish.

"Hawthorn Crispy Pork?"

This dish was very interesting. After preparing traditional crispy pork, you’d make a sauce with hawthorn and pour it over the top.

It had a similar feel to the Northeast dish ’Sautéed Pork Slivers,’ but the preparation method was different.

’Hawthorn can cut through sweetness and prevent it from being cloying? That’s a novel idea.’

’So if I add hawthorn to the red-braised pork...’

With that thought, he decided to act on it immediately. Su Chen reappeared in the practice room in an instant.

...

About forty minutes passed in real time.

Jiang Yuan finally finished her makeup and rushed from home to Meiweilai Company.

"Why are you so out of breath?"

Jiang Yuan shot Fang Chang a glare. "You didn’t tell me in advance! I had to climb all the way to the nineteenth floor and then run back down!"

"Uh..."

Fang Chang rubbed his nose. He really had forgotten.

Jiang Yuan hadn’t been here since the engagement party, so it was normal that she didn’t know about the recent renovations.

"I took a peek, and Boss Su is sleeping. You’re not lying to me, are you?"

Fang Chang: "Huh? Boss Su is sleeping?"

"Yeah."

"He told me to call you over, saying he was going to make a new red-braised pork for you to try, and he’s sleeping?"

"Yes!" Jiang Yuan was getting impatient with Fang Chang. "I went to the nineteenth floor and no one was there, so I pushed open the office door and took a look. Boss Su was sleeping in that chair. He didn’t even hear me open the door."

"This..." Fang Chang looked toward Zhang Heping and Chen Wenliang.

The two of them just shrugged. How would they know what the boss was up to?

Just as Fang Chang was wondering how to explain this to his wife, the voice of his savior arrived!

"You’re here."

The group turned to see Su Chen appearing at the doorway.

"Oh, thank goodness! Boss Su, you’re finally here. My wife was about to kill me! Quick, tell her, did you ask her to come try a new dish? I wasn’t lying to her!"

Su Chen found Fang Chang’s antics somewhat amusing.

Still, this couple was quite interesting; their bickering was a sign of a strong relationship.

"Yes, I got up early today, so I was taking a little nap upstairs. Since you’re here, please have a seat."

Jiang Yuan waved at Su Chen. "Then we’ll be in your hands, Boss Su~"

Su Chen shook his head helplessly. "Unfortunately, you probably won’t get to taste the new dish. We’re missing an ingredient for the new red-braised pork. We’ll have to wait for Shengnan and the others to get to work."

Jiang Yuan waved her hand. "No problem, no problem. I took the day off anyway. As long as I get to eat it eventually, I’m happy!"

Su Chen nodded and entered the kitchen.

The reason he had been napping was that after entering the Delicious practice room, Su Chen had spent over ten hours making red-braised pork!

And after all that time, by improving two steps of the process, he had perfectly solved the shortcomings of the current sweet-style red-braised pork!

He had brought the finished product straight to the system’s A Level!

A red-braised pork with flaws that not even the Peak of Flavor could detect was thus born.

And now, as Su Chen entered the kitchen, he planned to have Zhang the Second start processing the two hundred and fifty kilograms of pork belly. He was confident that his home-style red-braised pork would become the new hit dish on Pedestrian Street!

After Su Chen had gone to the kitchen, Fang Chang wore a jealous expression. "Why are you so gentle when you talk to Boss Su? But you’re so fierce with me..."

Jiang Yuan snorted. "Are your skills as good as Boss Su’s?"

Fang Chang was left speechless.

He muttered something under his breath, ’My cooking skills might not be that great, but my skills at night are excellent...’

HISS!!!

Jiang Yuan pinched the flesh on Fang Chang’s waist and gave it a crazy seven-hundred-and-twenty-degree twist!!!

’You dare say anything, don’t you?’

...

「10:00 AM.」

Liu Shengnan and He Shuting arrived at the company, carrying a large bag together.

"What’s the deal... are all the men in this company dead? Except for the boss!"

"Yeah, making two young women like us carry something so heavy is just too much! Where’s Bai Xiaobo? Come out and face your doom!" He Shuting stood with her hands on her hips, looking around for a while. "That guy isn’t at work yet today? Sister Shengnan, mark him down as late!"

They carried the large bag of hawthorns into the kitchen.

Su Chen said, "I don’t know what Xiaobai was up to yesterday, but he pulled an all-nighter at the company. Shengnan, mark him down for overtime. He can take today off as compensation."

That was just the kind of person Su Chen was.

He might talk a big game about docking pay, but in reality, he would subsidize his employees whenever he could. He knew in his heart that if there wasn’t a real reason, you couldn’t get a guy like Bai Xiaobo to stay at the company even if you had ten bulls pull him.

"Okay," Liu Shengnan agreed. "Boss, what are the hawthorns for?" ℯℯ𝘭.

"We still have to run the stall. I’ve developed a new dish that I plan to use today."

"A new dish?" He Shuting leaned over the counter. "Ew! Fatty meat, yuck, yuck!"

Su Chen didn’t say anything.

He thought, ’If even He Shuting ends up loving this red-braised pork, then it will be truly special.’

He shooed the useless people out of the kitchen.

Su Chen called over to Zhang the Second. "Let’s begin. Split the 250 kilograms of meat into two portions. Cut one portion directly. Leave the other portion whole for now, put it in cold water with scallions, ginger, star anise, and cinnamon, and blanch it for twenty minutes."

The benefit of a large kitchen was being able to prepare a lot of things at once.

Four large stainless steel vats were brought out to blanch and set over a hundred kilograms of pork belly, followed by four woks.

Under Su Chen’s guidance, the savory-style red-braised pork was soon in the pressure cooker, starting to stew.

As for the sweet-style red-braised pork, Zhang the Second cut it into 2.5-centimeter cubes. To ensure the pieces looked good, he didn’t even hesitate to discard many of the trimmings.

Those trimmings could be used for other dishes, so they were temporarily put in the freezer.

After the meat was cut!

Su Chen took a dozen or so pieces of pork, added some oil to the first wok, and then scooped in half a bowl of sugar.

"The sweet version?"

Su Chen nodded. "This sweet version will definitely have to sell for more than the savory one."

After all, it involved so many extra steps. Besides, with Su Chen’s guidance, Zhang Heping could make the savory version on his own. But the sweet version was different; it was doubtful anyone but Su Chen himself could get it right.

The reason was...

After Su Chen turned on the low flame and stirred with a ladle until all the white sugar had melted, he immediately added half a ladle of soy sauce!

This left Zhang Heping completely stunned.

"Can you really make it work like this?"

Zhang Heping’s meaning was obvious.

When caramelizing sugar, how do you determine if the heat is right? How do you know when the sugar color is perfect?

You have to watch the color!

But with what Boss Su just did, before the sugar could even change color, it had already turned an inky, dark soy-sauce color. How could you possibly observe it properly?

That’s why Su Chen knew that it would be difficult for anyone else to make this dish properly.

Because he had Max Level [Stir-fry] proficiency, plus the sensitive sense of smell from Peak of Flavor, he could caramelize the sugar perfectly just by relying on his skill and his nose to smell it.

And this was Su Chen’s solution for how to fuse the savory flavor of the soy sauce with the flavor of the caramelized sugar, thereby eliminating any burnt taste.

"You’ll know just by watching."

There was no way to explain it. After giving a perfunctory reply, Su Chen turned the heat up to medium and slowly began to stir with the ladle in his hand.

The inky blackness in the wok gradually began to take on a certain luster. After a few more stirs, it started to shine.

Immediately, Su Chen placed the dozen or so selected pork cubes into the wok, along with scallions, ginger, star anise, cinnamon, and boiling water.

It was the same familiar process.

Except this time... after simmering on low heat for about ten-odd minutes, once the surface of the pork cubes had all been colored...

Su Chen tossed in a large handful of washed fruit.

"Hawthorns?"

"Mhm."

Zhang Heping furrowed his brow, thinking for a long time, but he couldn’t even begin to imagine the flavor that would result from combining hawthorn and red-braised pork.

"Can this really taste good?"

Su Chen shot him a sidelong glance. "Just you wait. One bite and you’ll be speechless."

After tossing in the handful of hawthorns, he boiled them for just ten minutes until they began to soften and turn mushy. Su Chen then lifted the lid, mashed all the hawthorns into a paste, and put the lid back on to continue simmering on low heat.

An hour passed.

Su Chen washed three hawthorns.

"Still adding more?" Zhang Heping grew more and more confused as he watched.

"No, these three aren’t for cooking."

"Then what are they for?"

Under Zhang Heping’s curious gaze, Su Chen abruptly turned the heat to high. The sauce in the wok rapidly reduced and began to thicken!

Thanks to the addition of the hawthorns, the original soy-sugar color had become a more vibrant red, even glistening slightly under the lights!

The red-braised pork cubes, coated in a thick sauce, were arranged on a plate. The three washed hawthorns were placed on the edge of the plate as a garnish, instantly elevating the dish’s class.

"These three hawthorns are just actors."

Su Chen carried the plate of his newly created sweet-style red-braised pork.

Now, it was time to see how Jiang Yuan, the girl from the south, would react!