Shokugeki No Douluo Dalu (Patreon)

Chapter 97: Kneading Dough with Three Shines

The Xiaolongbao in one steamer were quickly devoured by Qi Han, and he patted his slightly bulging belly. A satisfied expression appeared on Qi Han's face.

Since coming to the Douluo Continent, it had been a long time since he had eaten something like Xiaolongbao.

Confidently walking to the noodle case, Qi Han began making Xiaolongbao.

For such a pastry like Xiaolongbao, there was no difficulty in cooking. It was just a matter of neatly arranging the prepared Xiaolongbao on the steamer, steaming for a few minutes, and they would be ready to serve.

With the high-tech provided by the system, the steaming process could even be shortened to one minute.

This traditional pastry with a history of nearly a thousand years had its main challenges in making the dough and preparing the meat filling.

Qi Han picked up a basin the size of a face basin from the noodle case, poured in a whole bag of high-gluten flour, and then added cold water in batches, starting to knead the dough.

The requirement for kneading was to knead the dough until it had three shines.

The so-called "three shines" referred to the shine on the surface of the dough, the shine on the basin, and the shine on the hands. The shine on the surface meant that the kneaded dough should be smooth, without too much graininess. The basin shine meant that the flour should not stick to the basin, uniformly mixing into the dough. As for the hand shine, it was similar to the basin shine, requiring the hands not to get sticky with flour.

This was the requirement passed down by the older generation for kneading dough. Only by achieving these three points could one be considered a master at kneading dough.

Qi Han had already mastered this step, greatly speeding up his process of making Xiaolongbao.

Why had he already mastered it? This was thanks to the previous one-star recipe: Dragon Whisker Noodles.

The difficulty of Dragon Whisker Noodles lay in stretching the noodles. However, to stretch the Dragon Whisker Noodles with twenty buckles, the kneading process had to be perfected. Strictly speaking, the requirements for kneading dough for Dragon Whisker Noodles were higher than those for Xiaolongbao because only with a dough of utmost quality could it be stretched as thin as a strand of hair without breaking.

This was the reason why Qi Han spent two full days on the Dragon Whisker Noodles.

However, as the saying goes, "Tools make the work easy." The time Qi Han spent on Dragon Whisker Noodles was now saved on Xiaolongbao.

Even in the future, when learning other pastries, the crucial step of kneading dough would no longer be a challenge for Qi Han.

He took a piece of plastic wrap and tightly wrapped the well-kneaded dough, letting it sit quietly on the side. This process needed to continue for about ten minutes, known as "fermenting the dough."

Qi Han had gone through countless attempts before and mastered the secret of marinating meat. The process of fermenting the dough this time had a similar essence and name to marinating meat.

Marinating meat was to let the surface temperature of the meat penetrate into the interior, making the internal and surface temperatures consistent. Fermenting the dough had a similar magic to marinating meat.

Even if the three shines were achieved, it was impossible for the moisture inside the dough to be completely uniform. Some drier dough fibers were inevitably present inside, and during the fermentation process, these fibers could absorb excess moisture from other parts, making the overall moisture of the dough more uniform.

The fermentation process not only increased the dough's toughness and extensibility but also enhanced the dough's texture, preventing cracking and hollowing during the rolling of the dough for the bun skin.

For pastries like buns that wrap fillings, revealing the filling was a big taboo.

Taking fatty and lean meat in a 1:4 ratio, chopping them together into meat filling, adding seasonings and egg whites, stirring in some water, then adding pigskin jelly. Mixing meat filling and pigskin jelly in a 2:1 ratio until the color of the meat filling became bright and light, the process of making the meat filling was completed.

It's worth mentioning that the lean and fat meat in the meat filling is selected by the system to be from a badger pig. However, the raw material for making pigskin jelly comes from fragrant pigs, which are the original ingredients for Dongpo Pork.

Because of this, the well-made Xiaolongbao will have a faint osmanthus fragrance and a hint of sweet fruity aroma in the meat filling, enhancing the flavor.

With the meat filling ready, the dough has also almost finished fermenting. Qi Han pinched the dough into small pieces about the size of a thumb, rolled them into thin-edged and thick-centered dough skins on the cutting board.

After rolling, he tapped away excess flour, filled the dough skins with the meat filling, buckleed them into neat umbrella-like patterns, creating cute and chubby Xiaolongbao.

Placing the Xiaolongbao in the steamer, after a minute, when Qi Han opened the steamer again, a faint aroma of Xiaolongbao, similar to those made by the phantom, wafted into his nostrils.

Smelling the familiar aroma of the Xiaolongbao made by the illusion, Qi Han couldn't help but show a smile.

"System, how should I price the Xiaolongbao?"

【The pricing for Xiaolongbao is 5 Gold Coins per steamer.】

"Isn't it ten Gold Coins per steamer?"

Qi Han was somewhat surprised. He thought that with ten buns per steamer and one Gold Coin per bun, it should be ten Gold Coins in total.

【The cost of Xiaolongbao is not high, and the difficulty of making them is also not high. The pricing of this system is based on these two factors.】

Qi Han nodded in understanding. It was a good thing to have a cheaper option for main dishes in the small shop, aside from egg-fried rice.

Dragon Whisker Noodles took Qi Han two full days, but completing the making of Xiaolongbao only took a little over two hours, with only a few mistakes occurring during the preparation of the filling; the rest went smoothly.

After all, Qi Han had already undergone significant changes, and culinary skills were interconnected. With the increasing number of recipes he mastered, Qi Han's overall understanding and control of culinary skills had also improved significantly.

For the staple suggested by Fu Ya, Qi Han chose Dragon Whisker Noodles. Considering Xingshuang's desire for buns, he went for Xiaolongbao. Now, only Ji Yunruo's sweet dish remained.

"System, exchange for a one-star recipe: Crystal Sugar Hawthorn."

For desserts, Qi Han had long had an idea and spoke without hesitation.

There were many sweets on Earth, and Crystal Sugar Hawthorn could be said to be the least suitable for sale in the small shop.

In his previous life, Crystal Sugar Hawthorn was mostly sold by elderly people holding tall straw targets, with dense strings of crystal sugar hawthorns inserted on them, selling them along the streets.

However, no matter what, Qi Han still whimsically chose it because those old people selling crystal sugar hawthorns along the street formed part of his childhood.

The method of making Crystal Sugar Hawthorn was not difficult. It involved washing hawthorns, removing the seeds, stringing them onto bamboo skewers, and rolling them in boiled sugar syrup. Before the syrup cooled down completely, sprinkle some white sesame seeds, then place them on an oiled cutting board and wait for the syrup to cool, forming a hardened sugar coating.

The only difficulty lay probably in the preparation of the sugar syrup. It required a ratio of 1:1 of rock sugar to water, placed in a pot to slowly simmer over low heat. This process should not be stirred to avoid a chain reaction of crystallization, turning the pot of syrup into a pot of sand sugar.

After simmering for a while, spoon a little syrup into cold water. If it quickly solidifies into a crispy sugar crystal, it means it's done. At this point, the heat needs to be turned to the minimum to maintain the syrup from solidifying; otherwise, the syrup will gradually darken and turn yellow, losing its translucent color and slightly bitter taste.

The making of Crystal Sugar Hawthorn was even simpler than Xiaolongbao, to the point that Qi Han had not made mistakes fewer than ten times and was able to make perfect Crystal Sugar Hawthorns.

Exiting the system space, Qi Han slowly descended the stairs, looking up at the price list on the wall of the small shop. At the bottom right of the right half of the wall, three new price tags quietly appeared.

Dragon Whisker Noodles — 10 Gold Coins per serving

Xiaolongbao — 5 Gold Coins per steamer

Crystal Sugar Hawthorn — 1 Silver Coin per skewer

Among the dozen or so Gold Coin price tags, the Crystal Sugar Hawthorn with the unit of pricing in Silver Coins was particularly eye-catching.