Chapter 282: Piling More Fillings Onto The Bread
Although the people in Class Eight Grade One had almost turned into human-shaped gluttons under Xiang Chuan’s subtle influence, everyone was still those youths with five stresses, four beauties, and three loves at heart.
Before the meal started, Class President Lu Daiqing instructed that each person could only take one portion of each kind of sandwich, and everyone strictly followed this rule.
Although some people secretly ran to the nearby preparation counter after getting their sandwiches to add a slice of meat or an extra spoonful of mayonnaise to their own sandwiches, after everyone dispersed, several portions of small sandwiches still honestly remained on the serving plate.
At this moment, the four members of A Bite of China Club sorted these sandwiches onto one serving plate, sat around in front of the brick stove, and began discussing today’s results.
“I didn’t expect such a chemical reaction between the oven and flour. Clearly, when we made egg pancakes before, frying them directly in oil still felt a bit single in flavor.”
Ainuo sincerely admired.
“The historical connection between flour and fire can basically be traced back to the origin of human civilization. There must be fire between humans and carbohydrates—sometimes directly baked in the fire, sometimes steamed over water, sometimes baked near a heat source. In short, eating flour cannot be separated from a heat source.”
Xiang Chuan hummed.
“But calculating it this way, roasted chicken, roasted eggs, roasted beef, plus the current baked bread—that’s already four kinds of food, right? This should be enough to prove that this kind of enclosed heating equipment is helpful for cooking, so shouldn’t we consider applying for an official roaster?”
Liang Gong said nervously.
He wasn’t eagerly anticipating a modernized roaster like Xiang Chuan was; rather, it was because he was the one who always took the baking pan. When opening the rotary kiln, the wave of heat that hit his face always gave him quite a scare, even though he knew the surrounding firefighting equipment was intact and the brick stove’s quality was reliable—he still felt a bit scared.
“This probably won’t work for now. The main issue is that the mechanized roaster, as a modernization processing equipment for staple food, doesn’t have enough food samples produced yet. If it’s just for making bread, those people at the Agriculture Bureau would likely only allow building more brick stoves out of safety considerations.”
Ouyang Yating poured cold water.
“Samples… meaning we still need to make even more kinds of bread?”
Xiang Chuan touched her chin thoughtfully.
Ouyang Yating nodded.
“Not only more kinds, but best like today—with differences in eating methods, ingredient variety for pairings, texture… all aspects should have differences. You know, the ban on civilian use of enclosed internal dry heating equipment has been in place for many years.”
“For the government to lift the ban means they have to withstand pressure from the First Fleet and enforced laws, so to get them to be our assistants, we need to produce a large enough quantity of finished products to impress the Agriculture Bureau.”
This statement helped Xiang Chuan sort out some information.
However, bread with differences…
She opened the light screen and looked up a list of traditional European and American breads on Geegle.
After all, 21st century European and American countries were the main consumption markets for bread, and with a long history of eating bread, the varieties were even richer than Huaxia’s buns.
However, the ones Xiang Chuan had actually tasted were just some chain bread shops from the 21st century back then or handmade small workshop freshly baked bread near her rental room while working—those places sold common bread types like round bread, toast, red bean buns, and such.
Although the European and American breads searched on Geegle all had matching pictures for illustration, Xiang Chuan hadn’t personally tasted most of them, so she wasn’t sure which ones had flavors or eating methods different from the breads she tried in the 21st century.
This meant she’d have to spend a long time next soaking in bread information research. Xiang Chuan sighed.
Seeing Xiang Chuan silently staring at the light screen, Ouyang Yating and the other two didn’t disturb her, but shifted their attention to the few small sandwiches on the serving plate.
“It’s really impressive that ancient people could think of such a usage—putting raw vegetables and cooked meat and protein between baked flour?”
Ainuo used a fork to lift the toast bread on top of one small sandwich.
“That’s not a big deal, right? Don’t you remember those cakes we made before? Those cakes had steamed cake bases, the cream smeared on the outside was whipped from raw eggs and milk, and the fruit decorating the surface was even rawer than raw.”
Ouyang Yating wasn’t too surprised.
“Come to think of it, that seems right too… Hey, Yating, you said we can smear cream on cake bases, so can we smear it on bread too?”
Ainuo suddenly had a flash of inspiration.
Was he coming up with some crooked idea again? Ouyang Yating and Liang Gong looked at him warily.
When Xiang Chuan guided them in cooking simple cooked food at school, every time she brought out a new recipe, she would nag them: no sudden inspirations when cooking; seasonings can be adjusted appropriately to taste, but don’t stuff in things not on the recipe.
“It’s possible.”
However, this time Xiang Chuan broke her own previous warning. Her eyes were still fixed on the light screen, but her mouth didn’t stop as she simply explained to them:
“Some bread shops and convenience stores in the 21st century sold this kind of fruit sandwich. Cream smeared in the middle of toast, with fruit added—but these are more like desserts than proper meals?”
“Ah?”
The three were extremely surprised, and even Ainuo, who proposed the idea, was shocked by the ancient people’s wild imagination.
Li Wei, who had been silently listening to the four chatting on the side, couldn’t help but slightly open his mouth to express his surprise.
“Just like how rice was the main grain in several major countries and surrounding areas in the 21st century, bread made from wheat was once the staple food across several continents on Earth. So in several centuries of bread-eating history, it’s no surprise that imaginative ancient people came up with all sorts of ways to eat bread—just like how rice can also be made into desserts.”
Xiang Chuan casually added.
“Ah?”
This time even Li Wei joined the ranks of voicing surprise.
Rice? Dessert?
Their current impression of desserts was foods like cake, yam rolls, steamed milk pudding—how did white rice connect to those?
The four’s impoverished imagination was now glitching from overload.
Xiang Chuan glanced at them, shrugged, and continued flipping through her information.
——
“Why is it so quiet over here? Did you guys make a mistake and get scolded by Xiang Chuan again?”
Nancy walked over holding her meal box, smiling brightly.
“Not at all, they’re just refreshing their worldview.”
Xiang Chuan stretched lazily and looked up at her.
“What? Haven’t had enough yet? There are still a few sandwiches here—if you’re hungry, you can take some.”
Nancy waved her hand, shook the meal box in her hand, and placed it on the table.
“No need, no need—I need to save room for pork tonight. I just came to show you a new pairing I thought of.”
Ouyang Yating and the other three turned to look at Nancy’s meal box on the table; the sandwich in the middle, which originally had only one kind of ingredient, now had three kinds combined, though each in only one-third the normal portion.
“You sure have ideas.”
Xiang Chuan sighed.
If there were even more ingredient varieties in the middle, it could make a mini Subway. She muttered in her heart.
But this piqued everyone’s interest. With a few uneaten sandwiches still on the serving plate, they started imitating Nancy’s pairing method, trying different ingredient combinations to see which sandwich suited their taste better.
“Sigh, if only this bread were a bit bigger, then I could put all sorts of things on it.”
Ainuo said regretfully.
“This is already pretty big—what size are you aiming for?”
Xiang Chuan looked up at him helplessly.
“As big as a serving plate?”
Ainuo pointed at the half-meter-wide serving plate on the table.
That wouldn’t be bread anymore—it’d be pizza. Xiang Chuan complained fiercely in her heart.
…Pizza?
This seems… worth trying?
Xiang Chuan touched her chin, thinking it was a pretty good new direction. Her eyes lit up as she opened her light screen again to look up pizza recipes.
Ten minutes later, she silently closed the light screen.
…How about we get cheese sorted first?
