"It's not very convenient... perhaps next time."

Once you start agreeing to such requests, other customers will certainly want to take pictures as well. It's better to nip it in the bud right from the start.

The head chef said with a smile, "Alright, I'll inform the front desk to relay our response to the customers."

「At the restaurant's front desk.」

After receiving the notification, Shu Yun immediately went to the dessert station to pick up a complimentary dessert. She then carried it over to the table of customers who had asked for the photo and said in a gentle, apologetic tone, "I'm sorry, everyone. Our Chef Lin is currently busy in the kitchen and can't spare the time. He specifically asked me to bring you a small dessert and to convey his apologies."

The customers looked slightly disappointed but suggested taking a photo next time.

They genuinely liked the dish Lin Xu had prepared, "Family"; its presentation alone was captivating at first sight. They had also learned the story behind the dish—how he managed to remain focused and create such a game-changing dish amid the tense competition was indeed thrilling to them.

"Chef Lin, the crabs are steamed. Do you need help shelling them?"

"Oh, no need, I can do it myself."

「In the kitchen.」

The assistant from the steaming station quickly brought in the steamed crabs.

Lin Xu, who was chatting with Shen Jiayue about her lunch, declined the assistant's offer to help shell the crabs without much thought.

After the assistant left, Lin Xu looked at the crabs on the tray and only then realized he didn't know how to shell crabs.

Just then, Xie Baomin came over: "Are they steamed? Do you need help shelling them? Probably not. Your crab-shelling skills might even be better than mine."

Lin Xu was speechless. Senior Brother, if you wanted to help, you could have just started. Could I even have stopped you?

But since he had put it that way, Lin Xu had no choice but to use his remaining few points to exchange for the Excellent Level Crab Shelling Technique from the Points Store.

His points were once again depleted.

He grabbed a small pair of kitchen scissors, flipped a steamed crab over, and opened it from the belly, removing the stomach sac, gills, and other inedible parts. Next, he broke off a claw and carefully scraped the crab roe into a bowl. After scraping it clean, he took another small bowl and picked the crab meat into it.

He meticulously picked out all the meat from the claws, legs, and even the tiny crevices of the body. Xie Baomin, watching from the side, clucked his tongue in amazement: "The Central Plains isn't a crab-producing region, so logically, you should be quite inexperienced at this. But this technique... even fishermen living by Taihu Lake probably couldn't do much better than this! Impressive, Junior Brother!"

Lin Xu shot him a helpless glance. I'm not really in the mood to deal with you right now, Senior Brother. You made me spend all my points, and now you're standing there making sarcastic remarks. You're quite adept at twisting the knife.

After shelling all the crabs, Lin Xu finely chopped the crab meat, mixed it with the crab roe, and then added some ginger juice. Normally, one would add minced ginger, but since his Shen Baobao disliked the texture of ginger, he used ginger juice instead.

Well, since it was being made for her, naturally, the seasoning had to be adjusted to her preference.

After adding the ginger juice, he added a bit of salt, Light Soy Sauce, and fine sugar for seasoning. The steaming time for Crab Soup Dumplings is typically five to eight minutes. This short window means regular White Sugar might not dissolve properly. Therefore, fine sugar is used for flavoring. With a little heat, the sugar granules dissolve and blend into the broth, enhancing its umami flavor.

Besides fine sugar, caster sugar could also be used. However, caster sugar tends to clump when added to the filling and isn't as easy to use as fine sugar.

Once the filling was prepared, Lin Xu covered it with plastic wrap and stored it in the refrigerator.

He then chopped some pork mince. If the Crab Soup Dumplings contained only crab roe and crab meat, the umami flavor would be too intense and overpowering. Therefore, some pork mince was needed to balance it. This also added aroma, ensuring the flavors of the filling were harmonious and balanced. The pork mince shouldn't be too fatty; a ratio of three parts fat to seven parts lean was best. After finely mincing the meat, he seasoned it with Scallion and Ginger water and placed it in the refrigerator as well.

At four o'clock in the afternoon, Lin Xu took some high-gluten flour and began to make the dough needed for the Crab Soup Dumplings. He smoothed out the flour in a basin, then drew a shape resembling a Mercedes-Benz logo in it, dividing the flour into three portions. Next, he prepared a bowl of boiling water and a bowl of cold water, dissolving salt in each. He used the salted boiling water to mix two portions of the flour into a shaggy dough, then used the salted cold water for the remaining portion to achieve the same. After stirring, he kneaded it into a dough ball with his hands. The dough needed to be kneaded thoroughly so that the dumpling wrappers would have better elasticity and gluten strength.

The kneaded dough was left to rest for half an hour.

At half-past four, Lin Xu brought over the solidified chicken stock aspic to chop, along with the pork mince and crab filling. The three components were mixed together. It needed more aspic to ensure a generous amount of soup in the dumplings. He mixed the ingredients until they formed a large, trembling, jelly-like mixture.

He brought over the rested dough and began rolling out wrappers and adding the filling. The wrappers for the Crab Soup Dumplings needed to be large, about the size of a palm. It wasn't easy to roll them thin and even with a rolling pin, especially to achieve the desired thicker center and thinner edges. The edges of the rolled-out wrappers needed to be slightly rippled; only then would they meet the standard.

Holding a wrapper in his hand, Lin Xu scooped a large spoonful of filling onto it. He then gently pinched the dough, meticulously creating 32 pleats.

And just like that, a Crab Soup Dumpling was assembled.

「Elsewhere.」

The three members of the Shen Family left work early, changed clothes at home, and then got into Shen Guofu's Bentley, heading towards the Fishing Platform for dinner. All three were dressed formally; after all, they were going to a formal venue for dinner and couldn't be careless. Besides, it was their son-in-law's first day at work. As his parents-in-law, how could they embarrass him?

"Do you remember when we had Shengjian Buns last time, I casually mentioned Crab Buns?" Shen Jiayue instructed her parents from the back seat of the car. "Well, today Xu Baobao made them for me! So, no matter how they taste, don't forget to praise him, okay?"

Her words made Shen Guofu and his wife exchange a look.

Did their silly daughter save the entire universe in her past life? How did she end up with such a boyfriend who spoils her rotten?

Shen Guofu said to his wife, "Honey, a few days after we meet the old matriarch, get in touch with his mother right away. Let's arrange the wedding soon. I'll buy a house if they need one. We absolutely must hold onto such a good son-in-law..."

--- Author's Note ---

Yesterday, my mind was foggy, and I thought my streak of daily 10,000-character updates was going to end. But after a good night's sleep, I woke up full of energy! Today is another 10,000-character update day. This chapter is 5,100 characters. Brothers, I'm asking for your Monthly Tickets!

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