APTnovel Chapter 479 - 391: Great Xia-Style Mulled Rice Wine with Sweet Rice Dumpling Soup
Chapter 479 - 391: Great Xia-Style Mulled Rice Wine with Sweet Rice Dumpling Soup
"It tastes very similar to our cherry blossom rice brew. When my family used to brew it at home when I was a kid, I’d often sneak a taste. The wine jar was filled with rice just like this."
"Tasting this, it feels like I’ve suddenly returned to my childhood."
His mention of this made Raphael and Marchello feel awkward.
People want to drink it for nostalgia, but we... how did we end up acting like we’ve never seen the world before!
However, they didn’t expect Lin Chen would actually pour this semi-finished rice wine into the pot. Could he be using it to make a sweet soup?
A hot sweet soup?
With rice wine?
Wouldn’t that feel somewhat similar to drinking mulled wine?
Apart from mulled wine, they really couldn’t think of anything else that could be compared to the pot of soup in front of them, which looked like rice soup.
After pouring two large jars of rice brew into the pot, Lin Chen casually stirred it a few times to keep the liquid in the pot rotating. Then he quickly cracked a few eggs into a small metal basin and gave them a light beating.
There’s no need to beat it thoroughly, just roughly spreading the egg liquid is sufficient.
"Eggs need to be added too?"
The more this soup progressed, the more baffled they became, mainly because the ingredients added seemed to have no strong connection with each other.
That white glutinous rice dumpling should feel similar to the pearls in bubble tea. The rice grains in the rice wine feel mushy and carry a faint wine taste.
Combining those two ingredients is understandable, but adding eggs... it’s hard to imagine how it would turn out.
Next to the eggs was a bowl of starch water, presumably for thickening.
This stuff isn’t used much in Western cuisine, usually added for thickening sauces.
Western thick soups favor pureeing ingredients, using the carbohydrates and texture of ingredients to thicken the soup.
Another method is to use butter-fried flour as the base for creamy white soup.
Having watched Lin Chen cook so often, they have now more or less gotten used to the common practice of using starch water for thickening in Chinese cuisine.
But thickening with rice wine soup—doesn’t that feel like drinking sticky wine?
It’s like boiling a pot of mulled wine and then thickening it; can this be drunk?
Incomprehensible.
As they stared with puzzled expressions, small bubbles gradually surfaced on the water.
Lin Chen added a few spoonfuls of white sugar and stirred, tasted a bit of the soup, nodded in satisfaction, then picked up the bowl of starch water, stirring it to mix the settled starch with water evenly again.
The spoon dipped into the pot to continue stirring, the bowl slightly tilted, allowing the milky-white turbid liquid to naturally blend into the soup along the vortex.
In the blink of an eye, the liquid in the pot quickly turned sticky and showcased a faint translucent glaze color.
After stirring a few more times, Lin Chen directly turned off the heat, lifted the bowl containing egg liquid high, eyes closely watching the rotating liquid surface in front.
At a certain moment, when the flow rate gradually slowed down, the bowl tilted slightly, allowing the egg liquid to drip smoothly from a height, drawing a golden thread.
His hand was extremely steady, maintaining a consistent flow rate throughout.
The golden egg liquid dripped into the thick rice wine, neither spreading nor immediately solidifying, but continued to flow forward with the slow-moving vortex.
During the flow, the egg liquid gradually began to solidify and form.
The golden egg liquid, squeezed by the thick rice wine, turned into thin, long ribbons. When it reached the vortex’s center, it had fully solidified, settled to the bottom, and scattered outward.
Lin Chen exercised great patience, like a robot maintaining perfect consistency throughout the process.
The bowl held high in his left hand stayed fixed, unaffected by the movements of his stirring right hand.
Every time he stirred, he’d pause for seven or eight seconds to ensure the vortex flow maintained a steady pace.
By the time all the egg liquid was poured, around thirty seconds had passed.
At this moment, the originally slightly translucent rice wine soup was covered with countless golden and white egg threads, some as thin as silver needles, others as flat as ribbons, instantly enlivening the visual effect of the whole pot.
Finally, a few handfuls of golden-red dried goji berries were sprinkled on top, instantly bestowing vibrant liveliness to the soup like finishing touches in a painting.
A few beautiful waitresses very sensibly brought over many small bowls, handing them one by one to Lin Chen.
Each bowl was filled with just one scoop, about half a bowl, to prevent it from being too hot to hold.
If anyone wasn’t satisfied after drinking, they could have more servings from the large pot, where the warm preservation was even better.
"Is it done?"
The three head chefs rubbed their hands, quickly each taking a bowl in their hands, then Jonathan stepped forward quietly and took a bowl too.
While cooking in the pot earlier, it didn’t look very eye-catching, but now that it’s served in white porcelain bowls, the color of the thick soup seemingly appeared even brighter and whiter.
Scooping a spoonful, the translucent thick soup with white rice grains and golden egg threads hung like honey, slowly dripping and forming a long thread in mid-air.
After boiling and heating, the wine flavor of the rice wine nearly disappears, leaving only a faint fermented sweetness.
Tiny white glutinous rice balls, the size of a fingernail, float within, smooth and adorable, making one eager to take a bite.
I thought it would be very hot, but after holding it, I found it’s not too bad, at most slightly hot to the touch.
For these chefs who deal with high temperatures daily, it’s nothing at all.
Lin Chen scooped himself a bowl as well, eagerly taking a bite, feeling the rich fermented sweetness flow down his throat into his stomach, involuntarily letting out a deep breath.
"Phew~"
This is the feeling!
The sweet soup of fermented rice balls is actually best suited for cold weather, late autumn, winter, and early spring.
When the whole body is cold and limbs are icy, having a bowl of warm sweet fermented rice balls can instantly invigorate your spirits, warming you all over.
The Great Xia people present don’t need to be called; once they know it’s fermented rice balls, they all naturally come over to grab a bowl, drinking without a second thought.
A couple of mouthfuls later, their faces visibly become more flushed, and faint smiles appear at the corners of their mouths.
Not only them, even Lucas is early with a bowl, scooping and drinking non-stop, as if savoring a rare brew, exclaiming with each sip.
"Ah~"
"That’s the taste~"
"Refreshing!"
The head chefs glance around, noticing everyone drinking so sweetly, even General Manager Wang and his wife are no exception, their concerns vanish, and they suddenly realize this rice wine egg dumpling soup could be a national-level delicacy.
They hesitate no more, scooping a spoonful and sending it into their mouths.
The texture of the thick soup entering the mouth is as they imagined, sticky yet smooth, with a noticeably gelatinous texture.
But the taste completely exceeds their expectations.
Although so much sugar was added to the soup, the sweetness is surprisingly mild, and the fermented taste of the rice wine is washed away by the heat, leaving only a unique rice wine aroma.
The golden-silver egg threads have no sense of presence, seemingly added only for a touch of unique visual effect, detectable only when intentionally savoring the unique taste of eggs.
This way of preparing egg liquid is their first time trying; due to its excessively fine shape and surrounded by slick thick soup, it becomes incredibly tender when eaten.
It’s almost like the texture of half-cooked scrambled eggs freshly off the pan.
At this moment, they instantly understand why Lin Chen turned off the heat before pouring the egg liquid and waited for so long, it was to keep the temperature low enough to prevent the egg liquid from cooking quickly.
It’s equivalent to the low-temperature slow-cooking effect in Western cuisine, maintaining the smooth texture of the egg liquid.
While savoring meticulously, the scattered rice grains within are crushed by the tip of the tongue, releasing a faint wine aroma, occasionally biting into soft sweet glutinous rice balls and sweet-sour wolfberries.
The rice wine itself has a low alcohol content, and after boiling, most of the alcohol has dissipated, but due to not being fully boiled, a small portion remains.
After entering the stomach, the residual alcohol quickly spreads through the limbs and bones along with the warm liquid, speeding up the flow of blood throughout the whole body.
A few mouthfuls in, the originally fair cheeks of the crowd immediately turn rosy.
Yellow-skinned people’s flushing is slightly less noticeable, but white-skinned people’s redness is incredibly obvious, akin to being drunk.
"How does it taste?"
Lin Chen quickly finishes half a bowl, scooping another spoonful for himself, drinking leisurely, scanning the room and taking in everyone’s expressions.
"It’s amazing."
Marchello nods slightly, unable to hide the smile on his lips.
"I never imagined these unrelated ingredients could come together in a pot of hot soup, and the taste is harmonious. Could this be called Great Xia’s version of mulled wine?"
"If you must compare, it’s roughly similar, you can describe it that way. Anyway, in winter, whenever we go to restaurants to dine, most would order a pot for everyone to share as a dessert afterward, which keeps the body warm for more than half an hour."
As his words fall, he seems to remember something, hurriedly puts down the bowl, walks to the back, returns holding something unknown.
Getting closer, it seems to be... a jar containing strange flowers in honey?
Oh no, it should be nectar, right?
"This is sweet osmanthus, honey made from a unique flower in the south of Great Xia, its sweet aroma fills the air during autumn when it blooms, widely used in various desserts and pastries."
"But its taste is somewhat peculiar, originally meant to replace the sugar cooked in, but fearing you might not accept it, I didn’t add."
"If interested, feel free to scoop a little for a taste."
"Nectar?"
The appearance of this item instantly piques the interest of the two head chefs.
Other ingredients require multiple attempts before integrating into dishes, but honey can be directly replaced.
With their professional experience, just a simple taste and they can immediately simulate the flavor of the finished product after substitution in their mind within minutes, determining whether it is suitable for improvement.