Gan Lan swallowed the last bite of her shrimp dumpling and said to the audience in the livestream room, "I won’t be setting up a street stall for the next five days. I’ll be selling everything directly in the livestream, so everyone will have a chance."
[I am Huanhuan: I don’t think I have a chance anymore. My hand speed is too slow, boo-hoo! I really want to eat this shrimp dumpling. Its appearance won me over, and the taste is truly unforgettable!]
[I’m So Stressed: Ever since I got the Wolf King, I feel like I’ve reached the peak of my life. So many people came to my birthday party yesterday! Hahaha, I’m usually invisible, but thanks to the streamer, I’ve upgraded to highly visible. Love you!]
[Binbin: So you all divided and ate the Wolf King together? That’s too cruel! My Wolf King!!]
[I’m So Stressed: No! How could I possibly eat my beloved Wolf King? I just took it out and put it on display for the entire night, even setting up a protective shield over it! After the party ended, I carefully stored it away. I can brag about this for the rest of my life!]
Gan Lan chuckled softly. To think they actually didn’t eat it and planned to collect it instead. She felt a bit touched, yet also found it amusing. "Now we’re going to start making egg tarts. The tart crust is a bit troublesome, so we’ll make this second and leave the simpler things for later."
She took out a large, clean bowl, added an appropriate amount of cake flour, butter, water, and salt, and kneaded it into a dough. Then, she placed it in the high-tech refrigerator to let it rest quickly.
After putting it away, she said, "We’ll come back to this in half an hour. For now, let’s prepare the dough for the barbecue pork buns.
"Prepare a bowl, add some warm water, sugar, and yeast. Mix well and let it sit for a while until everything fully dissolves.
"Next, grab another clean bowl and add an appropriate amount of cake flour and a little sugar. While pouring in the yeast water, stir clockwise until it forms flakes. Then, pour in a bit of cooking oil and knead it repeatedly until it becomes a smooth dough. Cover it with plastic wrap and let it ferment."
Gan Lan washed her hands clean. "Before we make the tart crusts, let’s prepare the egg tart filling."
She poured heavy cream, milk, and caster sugar into a bowl and whisked until they were fully blended. In a separate clean bowl, she placed egg yolks and sifted in some cake flour, mixing them well. Finally, she poured the milk mixture into the egg yolk batter and stirred everything together evenly.
"This is the egg tart filling. It’s already done—it’s just that simple!" Gan Lan tapped the bowl holding the filling and smiled at the audience in the livestream room.
[One Grilled Shrimp Per Bite: Although I don’t understand what the streamer is making, the shrimp dumplings are seriously delicious. Half-lying down while watching the stream and eating good food—this feeling is just too good. It would be even more perfect if the shrimp dumplings weren’t just virtual data.]
Seeing this comment, Gan Lan suddenly remembered that she hadn’t started making the soy milk yet. Feeling a bit annoyed with herself, she said, "We’ll do the egg tart crusts in a few minutes. Let’s make some soy milk first. By the time the soy milk is done, our egg tarts will be ready too. You can pair them together when you eat, which will be even better!"
Gan Lan poured the soaked soybeans into the juicer and adjusted the settings.
"The soy milk is blending now, so it’s time for the egg tart crust." Gan Lan went to the refrigerator and took out the rested dough.
She divided the dough into two portions and rolled each out into an ultra-thin rectangular strip—the thinner, the better. She then spread butter evenly over the dough sheets before rolling them up from one end to the other.
Wrapping them in plastic wrap, she placed them into the high-tech refrigerator to quickly set their shape.
DING-DONG.
"You have a visitor," the system announced.
Hearing this voice, Gan Lan was pleasantly surprised. She quickly told the robot, San, to open the door. She wondered if her two apprentices had arrived. She was feeling a bit tired, and the two robots still had a lot of ingredients to process. She was simply too short on manpower.
"You guys are here? Isn’t it before class ends?" Gan Lan smiled at her two apprentices. Despite her question, she was thrilled that they had come early.
Cheng Haozhen, naturally, didn’t reply; he merely nodded. Su Wanying, however, said softly, "The teacher let me leave class early to come over and help. I bumped into Senior Cheng on my way here."
Cheng Haozhen nodded. His voice was slightly hoarse as the usually quiet young man suddenly spoke up. "Me too."
"Come here, quick! I was just worrying about not having any help. Let me teach you how to make this."
The two of them went to wash their hands, then put on masks, sleeve covers, and aprons. They stood to the side, quietly listening to Gan Lan and nodding from time to time.
Gan Lan recounted the earlier steps to them.
She took out the fully shaped dough. The high-tech equipment was simply amazing; it significantly cut down the time needed for these steps.
She sliced the dough into thin pieces, about a centimeter wide, and placed them into the egg tart molds. Using her fingers, she pressed the dough to fit the shape of the molds, keeping the bottom as thin as possible and letting the edges rise slightly above the rim of the mold.
Gan Lan made twenty of them first and put them back into the high-tech freezer for a few minutes, leaving the rest to her two apprentices.
Once the tart crusts were chilled, she poured in the previously prepared egg tart filling until each mold was about seventy percent full. Then, she placed the egg tarts into the preheated oven, baking them with both top and bottom heat for roughly twenty minutes.
[Barbecue Flavored Nutrient Fluid: I feel like I can already smell the aroma! I’m so looking forward to seeing what the final product will taste like.]
[Not Coming Tomorrow: We need to properly cherish the livestream for the next few days. Boo-hoo, the streamer definitely won’t have time to stream once she leaves for the competition. Right now, I can’t bear to look away from the stream for even a single minute.]
[I’m Here to Learn: This year’s culinary competition is on Banan Star, and every year’s competition is live-streamed. We’ll definitely be able to see the streamer then. I’ll absolutely go support my beloved streamer. Love you the most!]
[Retreat: Eh? Is that so? I usually don’t pay attention to those things. After all, there’s never anything new. Even if some of the dishes they make taste good, they’re definitely super expensive. Just like how Sunny Day Restaurant has branches all over the Federation, but not everyone can afford to eat there.]
[Immortal Barbecue: That’s right. Those types of foods aren’t something ordinary commoners can afford. Even if you have the money, you still have to wait in line. Good culinary masters are monopolized by aristocratic families and the like. Alternatively, the culinary masters open their own restaurants, but the prices are quite steep. While there are cheaper options, their taste leaves much to be desired.]
[Sky Blue: I think my precious junior is in danger. Her appearance is like dropping a particle cannon into the Culinary World! Once she participates in the competition and secures a good ranking, she’ll definitely become a thorn in certain people’s sides!]
[Hot Pot Balls: But doesn’t our junior only make affordable food? The consumer demographic is entirely different. There shouldn’t be any conflict, right?]
[Moonlit Grace: Naive! If people from aristocratic backgrounds like you are captivated by the streamer’s food, what makes you think others won’t be? Sooner or later, the streamer is going to cause a massive wave in the industry.]
[Feiran: I will protect you. ^^]
Gan Lan had been keeping an eye on the livestream comments and learned quite a bit of new information. Although the academy’s dean and the others had already briefed her, they hadn’t mentioned too many specifics. They had simply weighed the pros and cons for her and assured her that the academy would protect her, telling her not to worry.
Having been here for so long, she hadn’t even known about Qingtian—the Sunny Day Restaurant that was famous throughout the entire Federation. Now she did. Furthermore, the analysis from her livestream friends was spot on. While her influence was currently limited to a small circle, once she placed well in the competition, a large number of people would undoubtedly notice her.
But the food she made in the livestream was completely open and transparent. All the recipes and secret formulas were freely available on her homepage.
Even her video clips were meticulously organized by a dedicated teacher, and all her tutorial videos were grouped under the title "Huaxia Culinary Series."
However, there was no use worrying about this now. She would just let nature take its course.