Chapter 66: Crème brûlée p2
Facing the extravagant Jiang Lingling, Mi Hongdou silently swallowed her words, “If not, then it’s okay, we can make something else.”
“Just a few people, a large hot pot will be fine, not the traditional Beijing copper pot, just a regular stockpot. For the bones, just pork bones, lots of marrow, delicious.” Mi Hongdou calculated the number of people. “Um, let’s prepare six pork bones… have the kitchen staff cut them and soak them in water, I’ll be there soon to handle them. For the other ingredients, just the usual hot pot stuff, meat and vegetables.”
As Mi Hongdou was speaking, her phone chirped.
[Heard the little empress is in trouble, don’t worry! I’ll help you figure something out~~ See you tonight!] Sender: Director Pan.
“Did you see Pan Xiang this morning?” Mi Hongdou put away her phone and looked at Jiang Lingling and Ji Junxin.
Ji Junxin shook her head, Jiang Lingling nodded.
Director Pan’s wife had gone home over a month ago and wasn’t with the crew anymore. Mi Hongdou thought for a moment and said to Jiang Lingling, “Make it eight pork bones…”
Jiang Lingling gave a thumbs-up and went off to send a message.
Well, no matter what, Jiang Lingling could be reliable sometimes. She would forgive her earlier schadenfreude then, Mi Hongdou thought.
An hour later, arriving at the restaurant kitchen, Mi Hongdou was stunned by the numerous basins of bones soaking in water… Jiang Lingling, was your math teacher also your PE teacher? Did she think that just because the bones were cut, she wouldn’t notice that there were far more than double the amount she asked for?
Mi Hongdou called the thin chef over and pointed at the basins. “How many bones are there?”
“Forty, as Boss Jiang requested, not one less!” the thin chef said proudly. “We were worried that the ones bought outside wouldn’t be cut properly, too many bone fragments, so we bought whole pork bones and cut them ourselves. We cut off the ends, then cut the ends in half, keeping the middle section with the marrow intact. Two bones per basin, twenty basins here, the water was just changed, are you satisfied, Miss?”
Heh… well played, Jiang Lingling. Did you buy all the pork bones in the market? Or did you buy two whole pigs and have them slaughtered? Does your godfather know how good you are at math? Tell him to come, let’s have a chat!
Stewing pork bones took a long time, and the process was tedious. Mi Hongdou had originally planned to come early, prepare everything, and have Ji Junxin come over just before dinner, so she could get some rest. These past two months had been exhausting.
But Ji Junxin insisted on accompanying her, so the one stunned by the twenty basins of pork bones wasn’t just Mi Hongdou, but also the little foodie.
“These pork bones… can we even finish them?” Ji Junxin looked at the twenty basins with a conflicted expression.
“You won’t be asking that after they’re cooked.” Mi Hongdou smiled and wanted to pat Ji Junxin’s head, but she restrained herself.
Ji Junxin blinked, confused, then understood, and punched Mi Hongdou playfully.
The soft little fist landed on Mi Hongdou’s arm, seemingly forceful, but actually without any strength. Mi Hongdou’s heart suddenly pounded, and she instinctively grabbed Ji Junxin’s small fist, her movement faster than her conscious thought.
Their friendship had blossomed in this life, and this wasn’t the first time Mi Hongdou had held Ji Junxin’s hand. But looking at the slightly angry, actually just tsundere little foodie, Mi Hongdou felt the small fist in her hand heating up, the warmth spreading from her palm to her heart. So warm, so tingling, yet also a little painful…
Mi Hongdou discreetly released Ji Junxin’s fist, as if she had just been stopping her from hitting her.
No one knew, not even herself, that she had simply been unable to resist the urge to touch Ji Junxin.
These past two months, Mi Hongdou had become increasingly skilled at controlling her occasional loss of control. But these moments seemed to be happening more and more often. She didn’t want to analyze why she always wanted to see and touch Ji Junxin, didn’t want to think about why she was starting to have different feelings about normal physical contact between friends. It seemed that as long as she didn’t think too deeply, everything could remain as beautiful as this moment.
“Are you angry? Did I hurt you?” Ji Junxin, her hand first held, then quickly released, was worried that she had hurt Mi Hongdou, but she hadn’t used any force…
“No, I’m fine.” Mi Hongdou couldn’t bear to have Ji Junxin feel guilty and quickly changed the subject. “These bones still need to soak for a while. How about I make you some dessert? We can have it while waiting for the bones to be ready, okay?”
Ji Junxin, who had been slightly apprehensive, immediately brightened and nodded.
This was the life she wanted. Mi Hongdou’s eyes softened. “What do you want to eat? Not something too filling, or you won’t be able to eat the bone broth hot pot later.”
Ji Junxin silently removed dumpling soup from her mental menu. “Crème brûlée!” she said, quickly finding a second option.
It wasn’t a complicated dessert, but the chilling time… Mi Hongdou looked at the eager Ji Junxin, unable to refuse.
“Okay, crème brûlée it is.” Mi Hongdou agreed. Anyway, with the cold weather, not chilling the pudding too much might actually be a good thing.
At Mi Hongdou’s request, the restaurant wasn’t closed today, which meant that it would be open for business as usual, and the kitchen would be preparing and serving other dishes.
Fortunately, it was only a little past one in the afternoon, and the kitchen wasn’t too busy. Besides the two familiar chefs, there were only a few new faces. Mi Hongdou asked the thin chef to change the water for the bones every fifteen minutes and then went to get the ingredients for the crème brûlée.
Crème brûlée was a basic dessert for beginner bakers. Simple ingredients, simple techniques.
First, separate the egg whites and yolks, keeping only the yolks. Mi Hongdou washed the eggs, cracked them against the side of the bowl, and gently separated the shells. Holding half a shell in each hand, she tilted them back and forth, letting the egg white flow into a bowl below, then transferred the yolk to another bowl. One egg separated.
After finishing one egg, Mi Hongdou looked up and saw Ji Junxin watching her with interest. She suddenly remembered that in her previous life, Ji Junxin couldn’t cook, but she was quite good at making desserts. She had also made crème brûlée, and later even learned to bake cakes. Thinking about cakes, Mi Hongdou recalled some unpleasant memories, she shook her head and smiled at Ji Junxin. “It’s boring just watching, want to try?”
She handed Ji Junxin a washed egg.
Ji Junxin blushed and shook her head, her hands behind her back. “I can’t…” She could even burn scrambled eggs, she didn’t want to embarrass herself in front of Mi Hongdou. Always afraid of losing Mi Hongdou as a fan, Ji Junxin didn’t want to show her incompetence.
“It’s easy.” Mi Hongdou put down the egg. “Wait a minute.”
She walked away.
It wasn’t easy! Even scrambled eggs required cracking eggs, and Ji Junxin often got eggshells in the bowl, having to pick them out carefully. Cracking eggs was already difficult, let alone separating the yolks and whites using the eggshells like Mi Hongdou did. While Mi Hongdou was away, Ji Junxin looked around, wondering if it was too late to go back to the hotel and pretend to be asleep.
So, when Mi Hongdou returned with a tool, she saw Ji Junxin looking at the kitchen door with a mixture of apprehension and longing, like a startled bird.
Have some pride! You’re going to be a cake-making master in the future! She was still hoping to taste that ice cream flavored cream cake!
“Here, try this.” Ignoring Ji Junxin’s refusal, Mi Hongdou placed a plastic, spoon-shaped object in her hand, then held her wrist, positioning the spoon above the bowl of egg whites.
“Hold it steady.” Mi Hongdou cracked an egg directly onto the spoon.
The egg white flowed through the holes in the spoon, leaving only the round, orange yolk.
“See? With this, you can do it too. This is specifically for separating egg yolks and whites.” Mi Hongdou took the egg separator and handed Ji Junxin an egg. “Try it, crack it gently, then hold it over the separator and separate the shells.”
Mi Hongdou’s demonstration was smooth and simple. Although the tool was small, it was very useful, and Ji Junxin was intrigued. Under Mi Hongdou’s encouraging gaze, she took the egg.
Whether it was Mi Hongdou’s encouragement or just luck, Ji Junxin cracked the egg without breaking the shell and perfectly separated the yolk and white with the separator. She was thrilled.
Why did seeing Ji Junxin successfully separate an egg feel more rewarding than making a whole table of dishes? … Mi Hongdou again resisted the urge to ruffle Ji Junxin’s hair and smiled. “There’s another method, want to see?”
Ji Junxin, basking in the glow of her success, nodded vigorously.
So, three minutes later, Ji Junxin learned another egg-separating technique, using an empty plastic bottle. It was so easy and fun!
When they finally stopped, there were more than ten egg yolks in the bowl…
She had only intended to separate three yolks for the crème brûlée… Mi Hongdou glanced at the basins of bones, well, getting carried away was understandable.
Mi Hongdou figured that hot pot was very filling, and they probably wouldn’t be able to eat crème brûlée after the meal, so making too much would be a waste. She kept six yolks, planning to make one pudding each for Ji Junxin and Yang Miemie. The rest were mixed with the egg whites to make egg crepes for the hot pot later, no waste.
She heated the milk and cream together, then set it aside to cool.
She added sugar to the six egg yolks and mixed well, then slowly poured the cooled milk and cream into the bowl, stirring constantly. Mi Hongdou poured, and Ji Junxin stirred.
It suddenly felt like her previous life, when Ji Junxin had just started learning to bake, always needing Mi Hongdou’s help.
It was good, she was still here, and so was she…
After mixing, she strained the mixture, and the pudding went into the oven. Setting the timer for thirty minutes, the crème brûlée was almost done.
The water for the bones had been changed twice, four times including the earlier changes. Mi Hongdou figured that after one or two more changes, they could be blanched.
But should she really stew all forty bones? Even if each person could eat two, that would only be twenty…
Jiang Lingling didn’t understand Mi Hongdou’s dilemma. Jiang Lingling, who had ordered forty pork bones, was currently video chatting with her godfather, Dong Yuannan. Or rather, video supervising him.
After their last meal together, both Qiao Rubai and Mi Hongdou had subtly conveyed the same message to Jiang Lingling, although in different ways: “Your godfather needs to lose weight, being overweight is unhealthy.” Mi Hongdou had tactfully said that studies showed that a healthy diet and exercise could help middle-aged and elderly people maintain their vitality and live longer. Being overweight could lead to cardiovascular diseases and should be prevented early. Qiao Rubai was more direct, besides saying similar things, she also sent Jiang Lingling some case studies of strokes in middle-aged and elderly people, which scared Jiang Lingling.
Dong Yuannan treated Jiang Lingling even better than his own daughter, and to Jiang Lingling, he was irreplaceable. If Mi Hongdou’s words were just a reminder, then Qiao Rubai’s message was like hitting her with a sledgehammer.
Since then, for the past two months, Jiang Lingling had diligently studied health and wellness for the middle-aged and elderly, supervising Dong Yuannan’s diet and exercise. From his three meals a day, his fruits and snacks, to his daily walks and blood pressure checks twice a day, she was even more meticulous than his family doctor. Although Dong Yuannan jokingly said that with Jiang Lingling’s constant supervision, his doctor could retire, he didn’t stop her. A daughter’s filial piety, no matter how troublesome, was always welcome!
Mi Hongdou and Qiao Rubai had no idea that their well-intentioned reminders had strengthened the bond between Jiang Lingling and Dong Yuannan. Of course… some problems also emerged faster.
Dong Yuannan was taking a walk, and Jiang Lingling felt guilty about having bone broth hot pot without him. She decided to spend more time with him and go to the restaurant later, since she couldn’t help with the cooking anyway. She didn’t know that this decision would make her miss out on a delicious dish.
The pork bones were simmering in a large pot of water, and the chefs, following the thin chef’s instructions, diligently skimmed off the foam.
So, Mi Hongdou had time to complete the last step of the crème brûlée.
The pudding, after baking for thirty minutes, had been chilling in the refrigerator for half an hour. Although it ideally needed more time, if they didn’t eat it soon, the little foodie would be unhappy if she couldn’t eat the hot pot later.
The cold weather meant faster chilling in the refrigerator. The small bowl of pudding was frosty when she took it out. Mi Hongdou sprinkled some brown sugar on top, told Ji Junxin to step back, and took out her final weapon: a kitchen torch.
The flame caramelized the sugar, forming a smooth, even layer on top of the pudding. After the flame was extinguished, the caramelized sugar hardened into a crisp crust.
Mi Hongdou waited for the sugar to cool, then handed a small spoon to Ji Junxin and told her to tap the crust. It was hard and brittle.
Unexpectedly, the little foodie didn’t take the spoon.
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