Chapter 498 - 332: The Magical Wrapper-Rolling Technique

Chapter 498: Chapter 332: The Magical Wrapper-Rolling Technique

As if sensing her gaze, Lin Chen first took out several large cuts of pork from the bag, each with a thick layer of fat on the surface.

"This is pork from the front leg. Compared to the hind leg, the meat is more tender, and the fat-to-lean ratio is closer to three-to-seven. In Great Xia, we often use this cut to make dumpling filling."

"And this cut here," he said, pulling out another large piece of meat. "This is pork shoulder butt, also known as plum blossom meat. It’s the shoulder blade area, equivalent to a blade steak on a cow. This cut is also perfect for all kinds of fillings. Its only drawback is that there’s less of it, so it’s more expensive."

A sharp blade sliced across, trimming away the sinew and fascia from the surface of the meat.

All this meat was skinless. Foreigners don’t eat the skin, so most supermarkets and butcher shops remove it beforehand. You can only buy skin-on pork at Asian supermarkets.

After trimming the sinew, he simply cut the meat into long strips, then casually chopped them into small pieces, spreading them out to cover the cutting board.

With a vegetable cleaver in one hand and a bone chopper in the other, the two blades flew up and down in turn, mincing the chunks of meat into fine pieces with minimal movement.

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to use two identical knives; he just hadn’t thought to prepare them at home before. A single set of knives is enough for a normal household. ’What kind of normal person buys two kitchen cleavers just to have them lying around?’

As his chopping speed increased, the rhythm of the two rising and falling blades gradually settled into a steady frequency.

TAK TAK TAK.

TAK TAK TAK.

The meat in the center of the board visibly grew finer and smaller. He then scraped the surrounding pieces back to the middle to continue chopping.

Jin Meiyan had never seen such a spectacle. She thought he would use a food processor to grind the meat, but he was actually mincing it by hand!

"Is there a special reason for chopping it like this? Wouldn’t a food processor save more time?"

"The flavor is different," Lin Chen said without looking up. "I’m not sure how to explain it to you, but it’s the same principle as how dough from a stand mixer tastes different from dough kneaded by hand."

"In South Korea, you’re used to pre-made dumplings. Later, I’ll make some handmade ones and boil them for dinner. Once you eat them, you’ll know the difference between handmade and machine-made dumplings."

He was making 132 pounds of dumplings in total, which meant about 44 pounds for each type of filling.

He didn’t care about the small expense; what mattered most was making sure the workers ate their fill. So, the filling had to be plentiful. A one-to-one ratio was best.

That is, one pound of wrappers for every pound of filling.

With eleven pounds of pork, the chopping alone would take two hours.

In the meantime, he also found a moment to prepare some basic dough with the stand mixer. It didn’t need to be kneaded for long, just until initially mixed. The rest would be kneaded by hand.

While he was busy with these troublesome steps, Jin Meiyan followed his instructions, chopping all the scallions and cabbage. She placed the cabbage stalks and leaves in separate bowls, sprinkling a thin layer of salt over each to cure them.

After ten minutes, the cabbage would release its water. Then, she was to wrap it in cheesecloth and repeatedly squeeze out the moisture until it was about 70 or 80 percent dry.

What does 70 or 80 percent dry mean? It’s about the same as if it had been sun-dried for two days. Many restaurants make fresh stir-fried pickled vegetables with this kind of dried cabbage. It’s incredibly crisp without the characteristic raw taste of cabbage.

Jin Meiyan had no idea about any of this; she was simply following orders and occasionally asking a curious question about the reasoning behind it.

Fortunately, she wasn’t like those celebrities on South Korean variety shows who love to boast. She actually had some cooking skills and worked very cleanly and efficiently.

She managed to process all twenty-odd pounds of cabbage in just about an hour.

The only part that required too much strength was squeezing out the water. With her slender arms and legs, she couldn’t get it dry enough, so she swapped tasks with Lin Chen, taking the opportunity to try her hand at mincing with two cleavers.

The moment she picked up the two knives, her expression changed slightly.

’They’re so heavy?’

Although they have Chinese-style cleavers in South Korea, most households tend to use smaller, lightweight knives, the kind that are very similar to Western chef’s knives.

Compared to those, a Chinese cleaver is about sixty percent to a hundred percent heavier, and a bone chopper is even heavier than a standard one.

Holding the two knives felt like gripping two heavy stones.

’He was just holding two cleavers this heavy and chopping continuously for over an hour?’

’What incredible muscle strength!’

South Korea has a social climate where nearly everyone is obsessed with body image. Women do Pilates and yoga, men go to the gym. In their minds, being strong is synonymous with being in good shape.

"Oppa, do you work out regularly? You look so well-proportioned, I didn’t expect you to be this strong."

"I used to, but working in a kitchen is exhausting, so I gradually stopped going. The physical labor in a professional kitchen is no joke—it’s just as heavy as lifting at the gym. Plus, building shelters in the wild often requires mixing cement, chopping wood, and all that. You need strength to carry materials and food."

"Oh, I see..."

She secretly glanced at Lin Chen’s rolled-up sleeves. As he repeatedly squeezed the cheesecloth bag, the muscles on his forearm bulged from the exertion, their lines clearly visible.

Just one glance made her heart beat inexplicably faster and her cheeks flush slightly. Like a thief, she quickly averted her eyes.

A few seconds later, she couldn’t resist sneaking another peek.

For women in most countries, especially South Korean women, the muscle definition on a man’s arms is fatally attractive, on the same level as abs.

What does that mean? It’s the same principle as a man involuntarily staring a little longer when he sees deep cleavage or long, fair legs.

The twenty-odd pounds of cabbage was reduced to about eleven pounds after squeezing out the water. To this, he added the scallions and minced meat, a little light soy sauce for color, oyster sauce and sugar to enhance the umami, white pepper, salt, and MSG for flavor, and finally, an appropriate amount of thirteen-spice powder.

It didn’t need much; just a little was enough to transform the entire flavor profile of the filling, making its aroma much richer.

After preparing the filling, Lin Chen immediately began kneading the dough without a break.

Dough for dumpling wrappers doesn’t need to be kneaded as long as bread dough. The first step is to use a stand mixer to combine all the ingredients until they form a shaggy mass.

The second step is to roughly knead it into shape. The surface doesn’t have to be smooth, just as long as the dough comes together. Then, cover it with a damp cloth or a large container and let it rest for ten minutes.

After resting, you knead it again, then let it rest again. This process is repeated three times, a technique known as "three kneads and three rests." The resulting dough is not only smooth and doesn’t spring back, but the dumplings made from it also won’t break or get waterlogged when boiled, and they have a wonderfully chewy texture. Most importantly, it saves a lot of effort.

The dough ratio is simple: one part flour to half a part water by weight. An extra 20 or 30 grams of water is fine. The key is to make sure the dough feels soft to the touch; that’s what makes delicious dumpling wrappers.

You also need to add five grams of salt and a small amount of oil. This helps develop the flour’s gluten and prevents a dry skin from forming on the dough’s surface.

He flattened the prepared dough, covered it with a damp cheesecloth to prevent it from drying out, and used a bench scraper to cut off a strip. He rolled the strip into a long log of uniform thickness, then divided it into evenly sized pieces.

With a series of seemingly casual cuts, the pieces of dough that rolled off looked completely identical in size.

Disbelieving, Jin Meiyan grabbed a few at random and placed them on the kitchen scale. The weight of each piece varied by no more than three grams.

This miraculously precise result left her with an expression of pure disbelief. Her gaze, fixed on Lin Chen’s focused profile as he worked, now held a deep sense of curiosity.

’A guy from Great Xia who’s an expert cook and a survival specialist. He’s in great shape, he’s a vlogger with more followers than me, and in the short half-day I’ve known him, he’s been a perfect gentleman in everything he says and does.’

’Truly exceptional people are always hardworking!’

She had always thought of herself as hardworking, but her accomplishments seemed like nothing compared to Lin Chen’s.

Being a chef and a survivalist—both require years and years of accumulated knowledge. And managing one’s physique isn’t something you can achieve in a short time; it requires long-term dedication.

Most important was his character. Although a person can put on an act, some subconscious little details can’t be hidden.

Having been tempered by the South Korean professional world, and being a woman, she was very confident in her ability to pick up on details.

Even though they hadn’t known each other long, she was already 70 or 80 percent sure that the man before her was a kind-hearted, good person.

"Alright, now I’ll teach you how to roll the dumpling wrappers. After all, you already know how to fold dumplings, and you’ve seen how the dough and filling are made. Once you learn how to roll the wrappers, you’ll be able to make dumplings for your family and friends. I bet almost no one you know has this skill, right?"

"Uh-huh! Absolutely no one!"

The thought of being able to show off her skills to her friends and parents, and the shocked expressions on their faces, made Jin Meiyan rub her hands together in eager anticipation. She couldn’t wait to get started.

She watched as Lin Chen rolled an irregular piece of dough on the counter with his hands, using a skillful touch to shape it into a rough circle. He then gently pressed down with both hands, flattening two pieces of dough into the shape of persimmon cakes.

He grabbed a wooden rolling pin, sprinkled some dry flour on the flattened dough, held its left side with his left hand, and rolled the pin back and forth across the center with his right hand. As he rolled, he used his left hand to rotate the dough.

He didn’t seem to be doing anything special, yet the dough was exceptionally obedient in his hands. In just a few seconds, it was rolled into a thin dumpling wrapper.

She couldn’t quite believe her eyes and rubbed them with her hand.

"Huh? What just happened? Oppa, can you show me again~"

"Of course. Don’t forget, I have to make over three thousand dumplings. I can demonstrate as many times as you want."

This time, he took three pieces of dough, stacked them in his palm, and repeated the process of rolling them out.

Again, in just a few seconds, three perfectly uniform dumpling wrappers appeared out of nowhere.

He held them up, lightly shook off the excess flour, and tossed them aside. He glanced at the girl, whose cherry-red lips were parted in an "O" shape, and smiled.

"So, did you see it clearly that time? If not, I’ll just keep going. There’s an extra rolling pin over there. I suggest you try it yourself while you watch. You’ll learn faster that way."