Shokugeki: Start with an izakaya, making everyone cry

Chapter 143 The Never-Broken Beichen Sirius Blade
Zhang Fan remained silent about Mu Jiuzhi's troubles.

After all, sometimes, the more gentle words of comfort may make her sadder.

"Shopkeeper Zhang, is your izakaya getting busier after the expansion?"

Finally, Mu Jiuzhi, who continued to drink, couldn't help but raise his misty eyes and whispered softly.

"It's okay, just like you."

"You won't be so tired that you don't even have time to drink water."

Zhang Fan said calmly.

"Are you in need of a cook?"

Mu Jiu Zhi Yuan Guo, her young face is slightly red.

She lowered her head slightly, and for some reason she couldn't look directly at him when she said this.

"lack!"

“I’ve always wanted to recruit workers!”

Zhang Fan paused and then said without thinking.

"Then...then, can I be a cook at your place?"

"Huh? Why do you have such thoughts?"

"Because your cooking skills always make me particularly admire you."

"In addition, my Spring Fruit Pavilion has not been doing well recently, so I want to follow you. I hope I can learn some business methods and skills from you!"

After saying that, Mu Jiuzhi's eyes were round, looking full of expectation and desire.

Her answer surprised Zhang Fan.

He had no idea that this neighbor with whom he rarely had contact would eventually want to work as a cook in an izakaya.

Kobayashi Ryodan and Nakiri Erina, the two girls will have the same idea.

Just because they are still students and have to make some plans for their future lives, it is understandable that they want to work part-time as part-time workers in izakayas or become kitchen helpers after graduation.

However, thinking from Mu Jiuzhiyuanguo's perspective, Zhang Fan couldn't understand why she was so condescending?

Wouldn't it be better to run your own restaurant well and make it bigger and stronger?
……

"No way? Come to think of it."

"With my strength, I'm afraid it will hold you back."

Seeing that Zhang Fan never agreed, Mu Jiuzhi couldn't help but tremble in his heart and felt very disappointed.

"You have to be responsible for various affairs of Chunguotei during the day, and you have to come to the izakaya to help out at night. Can you bear it?"

Zhang Fan didn't come back to his senses for a while.

It wasn't until finally that he sighed and asked helplessly.

"Well... Chunguo Pavilion currently has two kitchen assistants, five waiters, one cashier and three cleaning staff!"

"So as the chef and proprietress, my current workload is not very large. I only need to be responsible for the operation of the entire kitchen and restaurant operations."

Mu Jiuzhi heard this and hurriedly replied.

Each restaurant focuses on different cuisines and requires different equipment.

Like a general Chinese kitchen, it requires more manpower.

As far as Zhang Fan knows, the Chunguo Pavilion covers an area of ​​400 square meters. In terms of per capita consumption, he definitely doesn't know how much it costs.

But considering that this restaurant is on the high-end cuisine route, it shouldn’t be cheap.

Therefore, the current manpower issue of this Spring Fruit Pavilion is actually quite conservative.

However, with her ability as a graduate from Yuanyue, she should already have her own team, and such a team has always been relatively efficient and can indeed support the operation of the entire restaurant.

"Okay, since I don't have to move a room for you, I'll agree to it for now."

After staring at her closely for a few times, Zhang Fanwei nodded when he saw that she seemed to have made up her mind.

"really?"

"Then...then please give me more advice in the future."

After learning that he could become a cook at an izakaya, Mujiuzhi couldn't help but have a warm smile on his face.

Although it was just a verbal agreement, she could understand that her life trajectory had quietly changed from this moment on!
For the izakaya, it means that after almost two months, it finally welcomed its first employee.

"Don't take advice seriously, just don't cause trouble."

Zhang Fan shrugged and said jokingly.

The main function of a kitchen assistant is to assist the chef in doing some chores, such as:
Prepare ingredients.

Wash vegetables and cut meat.

Cleaning and sweeping.

Maintain various things in the kitchen.

Moreover, the actual work content will vary depending on the situation of the restaurant.

Like a general Japanese restaurant, the requirements for a chef are that you must have experience in killing fish, be able to cut sashimi, make saury, etc.!
Then, Zhang Fan's izakaya has a rule that diners can order whatever they want.Therefore, the requirements for the position of assistant chef are actually more stringent than those of ordinary restaurants.

Of course, Kikuchi Sonoko is a former Totsuki graduate.

So in his eyes, recruiting her as a kitchen assistant is not necessarily bad or a bad thing.

……

Afterwards, the two chatted happily.

It's a pity that the night is already dark, the cold is deep and the dew is heavy, and I drank too much wine.

Mu Jiuzhi felt sleepy early on, and in the end he could only say goodbye to Zhang Fan with a yawn, and went back to his room to sleep.

"Ding dong!"

"Congratulations to the host for successfully completing the special task and recruiting an employee within a week."

"Hereby rewards you with a special kitchen utensil, an unbreakable Beichen Sirius Blade*1!"

Just when I returned to the dormitory, the system sound started ringing again.

As we all know, Beichen Tianlang Ren can use its extremely cold temperature to preserve the freshness of the sea bream, thereby bringing the taste of the ice-cold sea bream dish to an extreme.

However, this special kitchen utensil has a fatal flaw, that is:
It is a one-time use and will be discarded directly afterward!
But this special kitchen tool [Never-Broken Beichen Sirius Blade] rewarded by the system can be used unlimited times without any negative effects.

Such a reward naturally surprised and delighted Zhang Fan.

At present, apart from the fresh sea bream ingredients and the never-broken Beichen Sirius Blade, there is only one special knife technique:
Arhat Crystal Slash!
And with Zhang Fan's current cooking skills, even without the Arhat Crystal Slash.

It can also enhance the taste of strong chilled sea bream to a level that is enough to satisfy Managi Nakiri!
But as the saying goes, if you can have the blessing of Arhat Crystal Slash, then it will definitely be better.

……

People who are tired day and night.

It is undoubtedly a very happy thing to be able to eat your favorite food in such an izakaya.

Although sometimes the dishes provided are simple home-cooked dishes and snacks.

But after swallowing it, it can always warm the empty stomach, soothe the restless heart, and make people feel relieved during the too quiet night!
Occasionally, for regular customers who come often.

The handsome owner Zhang knows their favorite dishes better.

So even if they sat down and didn't say a word, he could still serve them their favorite dishes.

And no one could imagine that a small place like an izakaya seemed to be full of endless imagination, and Zhang Fan could create all kinds of interesting dishes!
……

The next day, night.

The izakaya continues to operate as usual.

But when some regular customers came here, they were surprised to find that there was an extra chef.Moreover, she is also the proprietress of the Chunguoting Western-style restaurant next door:
Mujiuzhiyuanguo.

Scoop the flour out of the bag, and then tap the scoop gently to prevent any specks of flour from falling outside.

Add appropriate amount of water, and then knead quickly and quickly.

After all the water has been absorbed by the flour, continue to mix the flour with your hands repeatedly until it becomes many small dough pieces.

After that, sprinkle some water, stir with your hands, and knead the small dough pieces into small lump-like dough.

At this time, the flour still has not absorbed enough water, but its hardness is already greater. You only need to cut the dough into pieces, wipe off the sticky batter in the basin, then dip your hands in some water to wash off the flour on your hands, and sprinkle on the dough.

In this way, the dough can gradually take shape until it becomes fine and smooth.

"Not bad! I can know how to use the traditional three-water noodle method."

On the side, Zhang Fan couldn't help but said with satisfaction when he saw Mu Jiuzhi who was serious about his face.

"I am a graduate from Totsuki, and flour is often used in French and Italian cuisine, so the job of making noodles is not difficult for me."

Mu Jiuzhiyuanguo said with a smile.

She seemed very happy to be recognized by Zhang Fan.

……

After waking up the noodles, it’s time to enter the most important step, rolling out the noodles!
She was seen holding a two-foot-long rolling pin. The weight was a bit heavy, but when rolled on the dough, it seemed light.

Although rolling dough is a laborious task, without arm strength or skills, it is difficult to roll it thin and round.

But as a former Totsuki graduate, this job must not be difficult for Mujiuzhi Yuanguo.

She took a deep breath, then held the rolling pin tightly with her left hand and placed it gently on the edge of the dough. With her right hand, she lifted up the dough and placed it on the rolling pin, then pushed the rolling pin inward.

Then press your hands on the rolling pin and roll it back and forth a few times, and then pull the rolling pin back hard so that your left hand can catch it!

Soon, the light, thin and round dumpling wrappers were rolled out.

"You then use the powder, which is also hot water above 80 degrees Celsius, and pour it on the powder."

"Be careful not to add too much water. Pour it in slowly and little by little. After forming the dough, let it rest for about 10 minutes!"

Looking at those dumpling skins and seeing a little bit of flour on Mu Jiuzhi's face, like a powdered cat, Zhang Fan almost didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

Then, he continued to signal her to make dumpling wrappers made of Chengfen.

"starch?"

"Are we going to make two different kinds of dumpling wrappers?"

Mu Jiuzhiyuanguo was stunned for a moment, and then thought of something.

After that, she stopped talking and started rolling out another kind of dumpling wrapper according to Zhang Fan's instructions.

Objectively speaking, if you roll out the dumpling skin, the result will be mostly thin or uneven in thickness, softness and hardness.

So from the aesthetic point of view of most people, this is a minus!

……

On the other side, Zhang Fan also started to take action.

He prepared some fresh shrimps, picked up one at random, and cut off the whiskers and feet with scissors.

Next, press the shrimp onto the drilling board and use a sharp knife to cut open the back of the shrimp.

Then cut the shrimp meat into pieces, mix with cooking wine, ginger powder, white pepper, sugar, salt, sesame oil and shrimp brains, stir well and marinate for 10 minutes.

"Shopkeeper Zhang, can you ask me a question?"

While waiting for the Shenglong dumplings to be steamed, Mujiu Zhiyuanguo, who secretly glanced at Zhang Fan from the side, finally plucked up the courage, raised his head and asked.

"Tell me, you are the chef of the izakaya now. If you have any doubts, feel free to speak up."

Zhang Fan turned around and replied calmly.

"Why do you ask me to pay special attention to the various ratios of flour, dumpling filling and water when making noodles?"

"Is there anything special about this?"

Mu Jiuzhi blinked, seemingly curious about this issue.

"Have!"

"You have to remember."

"Four is very important. It is generally 50% of the dumpling filling, while water is 59% of the flour."

"Among them, dumpling fillings include meat, vegetables and all seasonings, with excess water drained off, while flour refers to dry flour without adding water."

"In other words, if the dumpling filling is 1000 grams, 580 grams of flour and 342 grams of water must be added."

“The dough kneaded in this way is just right soft and hard.”

“It’s easy to roll out, has strong texture, and is not easy to break during the steaming process.”

"Of course, because two different dumpling wrappers are used, and the flying effect of Shenglong dumplings is due to the different expansion effects of the two dumpling wrappers after being heated."

"So the proportion of flour is less, which can be 48% of the dumpling filling."

"I see."

"After all, I even know this experience."

"But due to personal habits, the size and weight of the dumplings I make are not exactly the same as those of you, the shop owner, so they are not completely applicable?"

After hearing Zhang Fan's explanation, the smart Mu Jiuzhi quickly understood.

If I hadn't stayed here to work as a cook for him, I might not have known this kind of trivial knowledge in this life!

On the side, looking at Mu Jiuzhi who was deep in thought, Zhang Fan was secretly pleased with himself.

After all, it was only now that he realized how good it was to have a helper by his side.

Especially her identity is that she is a former graduate of Yuanyue.

And as long as she experiences the feeling of being able to do whatever she wants at will, Zhang Fan will feel even more satisfied.

Although it may be that during this period of time, Mu Jiuzhi's abilities did not improve much.

But I have to admit that she is very talented, whether it is her understanding of cooking or her various processing of ingredients.

She can always quickly follow Zhang Fan's ideas and work hard to complete them.

It is no exaggeration to say that with her current level, she can fully serve as a "right-hand assistant" around Zhang Fan.

……

Time passes slowly.

When the time finally came, Zhang Fan, who had sharp eyes and quick hands, hurriedly opened the steamer.

When looking at each exquisite and small shrimp dumpling rising into the sky like a giant red dragon, Kikuchiengo couldn't help but cover her mouth in shock.

"Wow!"

"It's unbelievable."

"The dumpling wrappers I rolled out can actually produce heavenly effects!"

After saying that, her eyes seemed to be stuck with 502 glue, staring straight at Shenglong dumplings.

At this moment, she was in a very excited mood.

Because she is particularly aware of the magical cuisine like Zhang Fan.

Even if you understand all the principles and methods, it is difficult to reproduce it perfectly with your own abilities.

You know, even Erina, who has the talent of God's Tongue, has tried countless times, but still can't get this "flying dragon in the sky" effect.

(End of this chapter)