jdhmnovel Chapter 487 - 399: Purple Sweet Potato and Pork Floss Sandwich, Chinese Fried Chicken Burger
Chapter 487 - 399: Purple Sweet Potato and Pork Floss Sandwich, Chinese Fried Chicken Burger
This technique is something they’re all familiar with, at least as Michelin chefs, especially since Marchello is a three-star chef, making it as easy as pie.
However, they never thought about using this dough to make toast and then using it to make sandwiches.
Usually, this dough is used solely for making bread.
But after using this method, even the least tasty parts of the toast became extraordinarily soft, completely avoiding unnecessary waste.
This discovery offered them even greater inspiration than the various culinary procedures of last night, completely breaking their cognitive barriers towards innovation.
From now on, in their concept, there will be no fixed combinations; anything can undergo a new attempt.
Seeing the father and daughter devouring it so eagerly, Helena couldn’t help but swallow secretly.
The daughter’s taste was quite similar to hers, and as she gobbles up large mouthfuls without regard for manners, she thinks she must like this taste too.
But she forced herself to suppress her inner cravings and put another small strip of sandwich into her daughter’s palm.
"Eat slowly, be careful not to choke, no one’s going to snatch it from you."
"I won’t, Mommy!"
Lisa tightly grasped the sandwich and shook her head repeatedly, "This sandwich isn’t dry at all, it’s very moist, I can finish it even without water."
"Really? Sounds good. Would you like a cup of hot milk with it? You need to supplement protein in the morning to grow tall~"
"Yes, yes!"
After getting Lisa’s affirmation, Lin Chen also breathed a sigh of relief.
If even kids love the taste, it must be good, and it looks like there shouldn’t be concerns about today’s breakfast sales.
Not staying idle, he took six more slices of toast and placed them on the parchment paper, beginning to make the second flavor of sandwich.
The vegetable layer was the same combination: iceberg lettuce, cucumber slices, tomato, pickled purple cabbage, and sweet corn kernels, then he added a soft-boiled egg, and covered with a slice of cheddar cheese, lightly torching the surface until it was slightly charred before quickly covering with a second slice of toast.
This time, instead of pouring tomato ketchup, he scooped a large spoonful of the dark purple puree from the bowl and spread it using a spatula into a shape thicker in the center and thinner at the edges.
"Is this sweet potato?"
Seeing the purple once again, Marchello and Raphael instantly recognized its true identity.
The purple of the sweet potatoes was a deep shade, very easy to identify, unlike the light purple mixed with a bit of red seen yesterday, which they’ve never encountered before.
"Yes, it’s mashed sweet potatoes,"
Lin Chen nodded in response, then took a handful of meat floss and spread it on top, and drizzled with mayonnaise again, finally sandwiching it with a last slice of toast.
He looked up and signaled to Dais.
The latter understood and immediately started packing.
Dais was indeed the most experienced waiter, only needed to see twice and she perfectly mastered the skill, although her speed wasn’t fast enough, the end product was almost as neatly packaged as Lin Chen’s.
"Using sweet potatoes and meat floss as the main ingredients for the sandwich?"
This combination was unheard of.
Even Raphael and Marchello, let alone Nagishiro Sho, couldn’t imagine what this sandwich would taste like.
Before yesterday, they’d never even seen meat floss.
Although it tasted alright, similar to the flavor of very thin slices of meat, pairing it with mashed sweet potatoes and various vegetables... could it be tasty?
Not doubting it, just purely curious.
Since Lin Chen chose this flavor to sell, there must be a reason, perhaps it’s one of the most popular flavors like the previous Orléans chicken chop sandwich.
"Crunch, crunch"
As the sharp bread knife’s serrated edge sliced through, a brand-new cross-section appeared before everyone.
Light green, tomato red, deep green, carrot orange, soft-boiled egg yolk, sweet corn yellow, pure white toast, deep purple sweet potato mash, and orange-yellow cheese slice with meat floss, this sandwich’s color combination was even more striking than the previous one.
The addition of sweet potato mash seemed to add a patch of dark purple starry sky within the sandwich, making other colors even more vibrant and captivating.
"Beep beep beep"
The timer sounded.
The deep fryer ’pinged’ as it lifted a basket of golden crispy fried chicken fillets, its surface still bubbling with tiny bubbles.
Meanwhile, Zhao Shun opened the oven, and took out a tray of bread puffed up like a balloon.
The surface had been baked to a hamburger bun-like golden brown, sprinkled with many black sesame seeds, the rich sesame aroma flowing with the air, mingled with a noticeable wheat scent.
"Pocket bread?"
The shape made it instantly recognizable, considered one of the more basic products among many baking creations.
With the ingredients beside them, almost instantly, the image of the final form of this sandwich took shape in the chefs’ minds.
Now it was just a matter of seeing how each would choose to pair them.
Lin Chen had just sliced the purple sweet potato sandwich into small pieces for Lisa when he noticed her big eyes were fixed unblinkingly on the golden chicken cutlets hanging over the fryer.
Clearly, the allure of fried chicken was far greater for the little girl than that of a healthy sandwich.
But although her mouth watered, she knew the freshly fried chicken was too hot to eat immediately and needed to cool down first.
She took a sip of the warm milk and refocused her attention on the sandwich in her hand.
Purple sweet potatoes weren’t commonly used here, but regular sweet potatoes were, and aside from the color, their taste wasn’t all that different.
The chicken sandwich she’d had earlier was so delicious that she didn’t doubt the taste of this one. After a glance, she popped it into her mouth.
This time, she changed tactics and started with the purple sweet potato floss layer instead of the vegetable layer.
She expected a texture similar to mashed potatoes but was surprised to find it completely different!
The purple sweet potato mash seemed to have a bit of milk added, giving it an incredibly smooth and delicate texture, with a faint milky aroma and the refreshing sweetness of the sweet potato itself.
The purple sweet potato mash had been chilled, giving it an icy, cream cheese-like texture. Paired with the savory meat floss and sweet toast, the salty and sweet combination was even tastier than she had imagined.
After chewing through the purple sweet potato layer, she followed it up with the vegetable layer.
The various crunchy, juicy, and fresh vegetables crackled in her mouth, juices flowing, perfectly offsetting any stickiness.
While the purple sweet potato mash was delicious, eating too much could be cloying, and the vegetables’ role was to counteract this downside.
Despite the lack of meat, the taste in her mouth was akin to eating a dessert version of a sandwich, a flavor she had never imagined before.
"How is it, sweetheart? Is it good?"
Seeing the emotions playing across her daughter’s face, Helena couldn’t decipher her thoughts, so she straightforwardly asked.
"Not bad, like sweet potato-flavored cream cheese."
"Cream cheese?!"
With just a simple word, everyone immediately envisioned the taste of this thing.
Cream cheese is one of the most commonly used cheese products in Western daily life. They love to use it in sandwiches or desserts because it combines the texture of butter and the milky aroma of cream.
Some ice cream shops even took an innovative approach, creating cream cheese ice cream in sweet potato, ginger, and onion flavors, becoming a fleetingly popular dessert sensation.
Although it tasted good, Lisa stopped after just one piece this time.
She was well aware of her appetite and, given her limited stomach space, would rather eat more fried chicken sandwiches.
Besides, she could always pack some to take home and have plenty of opportunities to eat them later.
Noticing her gaze, Zhao Shun chuckled, slicing open a plump bun, pouring on plenty of mayonnaise, and adding a handful of lettuce and mayonnaise-mixed purple cabbage shreds.
He laid the piping hot chicken thigh cutlet on top, placed the other half of the bun on top, and there, a simple little burger was made.
"Isn’t this just a pocket pita burger, with the filling swapped for fried chicken?"
"That’s about right. The main focus is on how the fried chicken is made and the bread’s texture."
Lin Chen was candid that the inspiration for this newly popular Chinese-style burger likely coincided with the pocket pita burger. Whether it was borrowed or purely coincidental, he did not know.
Pocket pita burgers have been around in Western bakeries for many years, but the fillings inside are simple, not much different from regular sandwiches, like ham and lettuce.
However, the shape of the pocket pita, true to its name, resembles a pocket, made from a cylindrical hollow bread cut in half.
The Great Xia’s burger had subtle differences in recipe and shape, emphasizing a thin crust while being chewy.
Pocket pitas are relatively harder, not as soft.
Lisa eagerly took the burger Zhao Shun handed her. This thing wasn’t as small as a sandwich, only as big as an adult’s palm, making it easy for her to take a big bite.
She first brought it up to her nose to smell it—the aroma of bread mixed with rich sesame fragrance—making her mouth water, eager to take a bite.
This method of making sandwiches immediately after the bread is freshly baked is uncommon. Holding it in her hand, it was warm, soft, and aromatic, completely different from the long sandwich bread sold in sandwich shops outside.
Especially the fried chicken inside, emitting that distinctive aroma of fried food, made her eager to take a bite.
Taking a big bite, she expected a soft, somewhat dry texture like a burger bun, but it wasn’t at all!
This burger bun had a chewy texture; calling it bread didn’t quite fit. It was more like... a Middle Eastern pita?
Yes, that soft flatbread texture!
The bun’s texture was more akin to a pita but incorporated some bread elements, creating a fascinating texture that was chewy yet easy to bite through.
"Crunch"
Her first bite aimed for the meaty part, and the crispy fish-scale-like coating shattered, exposing the steaming chicken thigh cutlet inside, making her instinctively lean forward from the heat.