Chapter 159: Spirit Turtle Egg Tart
Translator: OnGoingWhy Editor: Vermillion
“Juan’Er, what do you want to eat? Hurry up and tell Owner Bu!” Luo Sanniang said with a smile as she put her arm around Juan’Er’s delicate shoulders in a boisterous manner. Juan’Er was the only one left who had not ordered, so she could not help but remind her.
Juan’Er shyly gave the menu a glance and seemed rather embarrassed to speak her thoughts. All of the dishes on the menu were delicious, so… she wanted to order all of them. However, if she did that, that would give others a bad impression of her.
“Owner Bu… Spirit Turtle Egg Tart… What’s that? Is it delicious?” Juan’Er softly asked in a voice that was gentle like water.
Bu Fang was slightly startled. Spirit Turtle Egg Tart? Wasn’t that the new dish? That was the mission reward for getting first place in the Hundred Family Banquet, which he still had not checked after all this time. He did not anticipate that the dish would already be added onto the menu.
“Spirit Turtle Egg Tart is just Spirit Turtle Egg Tart. It’s very delicious,” Bu Fang said as he gave Juan’Er a glance.
Juan’Er’s eyes immediately lit up. She realized that none of her sisters-in-law ordered this particular dish, so she was rather tempted to do so.
“Then… I’ll have a serving of Spirit Turtle Egg Tart,” Juan’Er said while pointing at the menu on the wall with her slender hand.
Bu Fang nodded in response and told them to wait before heading into the kitchen.
Meanwhile, Yang Chen led his sisters-in-law toward a table on his own. His sisters-in-law were rather pleased by the comfortable layout and furnishing of the store.
Cold sweat was actually dripping down Yang Chen’s back. Every single one of his sisters-in-law was extremely tough and their cultivation levels were pretty high as well… Oh, except for his second sister-in-law, Juan’Er, who was a bashful young lady.
Today, Yang Chen brought four of his sisters-in-law. Three of them were the wives of his brothers while the last one was the wife of his cousin. They were all women of the Yang family who were capable at both public and domestic affairs.
He had always been praising Owner Bu’s culinary skill in front of his sisters-in-law, so he specially brought them here today.
Bu Fang entered the kitchen and started cooking the dishes ordered by the customers one after another. His movements were extremely proficient. After cooking the same dishes every single day, he was naturally becoming more efficient and his cooking speed became even faster.
“Xiaoyi, serve the dish.”
After finishing each dish, he placed the dish at the window and called for Ouyang Xiaoyi.
In the meantime, he continued to focus all of his attention on cooking the dishes.
Soon, he finished cooking all of the dishes with the exception of the Spirit Turtle Egg Tart, which the delicate beauty ordered at the end.
Bu Fang was naturally quite familiar with egg tarts. However, he was actually feeling somewhat perplexed and bewildered. All along, he assumed that the system was only going to provide recipes of oriental style dishes. Contrary to his expectation, the Spirit Turtle Egg Tart suddenly appeared.
Bu Fang washed his hands with water and then his mouth widened into a smile. He focused his mind and started poring over the steps of cooking the dish provided by the system.
After muttering to himself for a while, Bu Fang finished memorizing all of the steps and then took out a large blue and white porcelain bowl from a cupboard.
The cooking process of egg tarts was more complicated. Bu Fang took out tools and ingredients from the cupboards one after another, which included a bag of graham flour, a cup of milk from an unknown spirit beast, a cup of evaporated milk, and a few Spirit Turtle eggs.
The first step was making the crust of the egg tart. Bu Fang mixed the flour with water and added butter before kneading the mixture into dough. While adding the water, he employed some techniques. Instead of pouring everything at once, he slowly poured the water to adjust the hardness of the dough.
When the outside of the dough was smooth, Bu Fang stopped kneading. He stored the dough inside a cupboard prepared by the system and let it rest for a while.
After waiting for some time, he took out the rested dough. He first sprinkled some flour on a chopping board and rolled the dough into a rectangular shape with a rolling pin. Next, Bu Fang utilized the true energy within his body to churn the dough. Each time the dough was folded, it would be filled with true energy which caused every inch of the dough to be flipped inside out.
The kneading method was the same as the one that Bu Fang employed while making dumplings during the Hundred Family Banquet. This was a kneading technique that Bu Fang developed on his own. However, this technique required the user to have precise control over their true energy.
Once a mistake was made, the internal structure of the dough would become uneven and the crust may crack during the baking process.
After folding a few times, the dough was placed back into the cupboard once more to let it rest and Bu Fang moved on to making the custard of the egg tart.
The flavor of an egg tart mainly depended on its custard.
He took out the Spirit Turtle eggs. These eggs were small and there were some ugly markings on their surface. There was even a faint fragrance emanating from them. Bu Fang first poured the spirit beast milk and evaporated milk into the blue and white porcelain bowl. Then, he added some high quality granulated sugar into the mixture and started mixing.
When the mixture was evenly stirred and the granulated sugar was fully melted, Bu Fang cracked the Spirit Turtle eggs into the bowl.
There was some skill involved in cracking the eggs as well because only the egg yolk was needed. Therefore, Bu Fang could not let the egg white fall into the mixture or the flavor would be affected.
Bu Fang nimbly broke open an egg with his fingers. Just as the egg yolk touched the mixture in the bowl, he instantly caught the egg white with the egg shells and perfectly separated the egg white from the egg yolk.
After adding egg yolks from a few Spirit Turtle eggs, Bu Fang continued stirring the mixture.
After stirring for a while, the color of the mixture was changing from milky white into pastel yellow. Furthermore, the consistency of the mixture was thickening after stirring for so long.
Bu Fang took out a strainer and strained the liquid mixture. Once that was done, only a paste formed from egg yolk and milk was left.
Bu Fang then took out the rested dough from the cupboard and cut out round pieces with an exquisite cutting technique.
An egg tart mold was conveniently prepared by the system, which slightly surprised Bu Fang.
Once the pieces of dough were fitted into the mold and the creamy paste was poured into the mold as well, Bu Fang finished the initial step of making the egg tarts.
The kitchen was well-equipped. After Bu Fang placed the egg tarts into the oven, he just had to wait.
Bu Fang was feeling somewhat excited as he looked at the Spirit Turtle Egg Tarts that were gradually changing inside the oven. He was staring at them without blinking while waiting in anticipation for the completion of the egg tarts.
Fortunately, the oven provided by the system was very efficient and the baking was done before long.
As Bu Fang pulled open the oven’s door, a rich aroma of milk and eggs gushed out.
The Spirit Turtle eggs possessed a sort of bewitching fragrance in the first place. After getting processed in such a manner, the aroma became even more intense.
Bu Fang smacked his lips in anticipation. Even though the grade of the Spirit Turtle eggs was not that high, its aroma after getting cooked was extremely good.
As Bu Fang removed the egg tarts from the mold, the tender and fragrant Spirit Turtle Egg Tarts appeared before him.
He greedily inhaled the aroma wafting in the air. The smell of the spirit beast milk was almost captivating.
Bu Fang placed two of the egg tarts onto a white porcelain plate before walking out of the kitchen while carrying the plate.
The attention of the customers within the store were already attracted by the aroma wafting out of the kitchen. They were eagerly staring at Bu Fang as he slowly walked out of the darkness.
Bu Fang was carrying a white plate in his hand with a weirdly-shaped food placed on top. A rich fragrance and steam was rising from the plate.
“Here’s your Spirit Turtle Egg Tarts, please enjoy your meal,” Bu Fang said as he placed the Spirit Turtle Egg Tarts in front of Juan’Er, who was already filled with anticipation.
Juan’Er’s eyes were sparkling as she looked at the strange dish in front of her, which was both exquisite and extremely adorable but also bewitchingly fragrant. She was very excited and her delicate face was flushed in embarrassment.
“This dish has a really unusual shape, is this a pastry?” Juan’Er asked in curiosity. She also enjoyed cooking and she was most proficient in making pastries. Therefore, she was quite excited about the egg tarts which somewhat resembled pastries.
Bu Fang gave this bashful woman a glance and replied with a frown, “This isn’t a pastry[1]… You can think of this as an after-meal dessert.”
“This aroma is really fragrant, it’s not something that pastries could compare with… An after-meal dessert? Hmm, I’m really looking forward to this!” Juan’Er’s eyes narrowed and her face became flushed once more.
“Juan’Er, are you going to eat that? If you’re not, then I’ll go ahead and eat them! This smell is too fragrant, I’m really craving for them…” Luo Sanniang said in a boisterous manner while looking on from the side.
Hearing that, Juan’Er hurriedly grabbed one of the egg tarts in panic. The egg tart was still somewhat hot to the touch and caused Juan’Er to lightly yell out in surprise. She quickly blew on the egg tart before taking a bite out of it.
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[1] Egg tarts are pastries. I think Bu Fang is just differentiating between Chinese and Western pastries here as pastry(糕点) and dessert(甜点) respectively.
