Chapter 46: Hand-Grabbed Pancake

Chen Mu, after demonstrating to Du Jia Jia twice, has not touched any kitchen-related work since.

Du Jia Jia seems truly talented in cooking; her improved rice cakes taste much better than Chen Mu's. Put bluntly, Chen Mu is just a poor kid who had to grow up early, not someone who truly likes cooking.

But in terms of experience, Du Jia Jia, who has only dealt with rice so far, still cannot compare to Chen Mu.

"We have rice, flour, oil, salt, vegetables, and dried meat—let me think what we can make..."

Chen Mu, faced with the suddenly abundant ingredients, also finds it hard to choose.

"Can we boil noodles?"

As soon as this suggestion was made, everyone felt their mouths watering.

Such simple foods as rice and noodles now seem like a deadly temptation; seeing rice and flour but being unable to eat them can truly drive one to despair.

"All boiling-type cooking methods are currently impossible," Tang Jing said, shaking her head.

"Or is it because of water evaporation?"

"Exactly, the water amount is too small; it boils dry after just a few boils, so food can't be cooked through."

"What should we do then?"

"Only after solving the water source problem and making a sufficiently large pot could it be possible."

Dong Junwei suddenly asked: "I have an idea—could Chen Mu make a completely airtight metal container, seal water and rice grains inside, then heat it so no moisture escapes, perhaps we could cook rice?"

Tang Jing nodded: "I've also considered this method; honestly, it's not entirely impossible, but there are still many problems."

"What problems?"

"First, I'm not doubting Chen Mu's ability, but a so-called completely sealed container is actually hard to achieve; it may not show under normal temperature and pressure, but once heated, the internal liquid water turns to steam, pressure spikes dramatically, and even a tiny crack would cause failure, wasting food."

"Of course, Chen Mu could probably succeed after a few tries, but the biggest problem is that doing this is really dangerous."

"You're worried it might explode?" Chen Mu asked.

"Yes, the monitor's heating ability isn't very skilled yet; if he overdoes it, a non-sealed container would be fine, but if it's truly airtight and the container can't withstand the pressure, it could easily explode. Although food is tempting, there's no need to take this risk for now."

"Exactly, exactly..." everyone echoed in unison.

"However, once the monitor becomes more proficient, we could try heating the container to a certain point, then letting it cool naturally; repeating this a few times should roughly cook the rice."

"Then I'll practice with metal more lately."

Dong Junwei's primary training material these days is stone; during the time Chen Mu and the other two were away, she also added more than twenty hand grenades to the team's armory.

This undoubtedly greatly increased the team's combat power.

"There's no rush; now that we have oil and salt, even if it's still rice cakes, the flavor will improve a lot."

"Finally."

Chen Mu still decided to make pancakes.

But the main ingredient was changed to flour.

The flavor of flour pancakes is naturally much better than rice cakes, especially after adding various toppings and seasonings.

Chen Mu skillfully took flour, added water, adjusted it to a semi-thick batter, then had Dong Junwei heat the iron plate.

The cooking environment now is much better than at the start.

Not only has the iron plate's area increased, but the whole stove has expanded, really giving it a kitchen feel.

Chen Mu made two stainless steel cans, one for edible salt, one for oil; this prevents frequently opening seasoning packets and speeds up spoilage.

The so-called oil is not real cooking oil—it definitely can't be used for stir-frying or deep-frying, but adding a bit when spreading the pancake to prevent sticking works fine, and for people now, even a little oily sauce is already a supreme delicacy.

Chen Mu held his hand above the iron plate.

After feeling the temperature was sufficient.

He immediately smeared a layer of oil, then used his homemade stainless steel spoon to scoop a spoonful of batter and pour it onto the iron plate.

The sizzling sound and the aroma of pan-fried oil instantly spread.

Everyone gathered around Chen Mu, drooling as they watched him work.

He spread the batter out, forming a thin pancake shape.

Then Chen Mu crushed the dried egg and evenly sprinkled it on the pancake.

He flipped it over and spread sauce.

Celery leaves were torn to appropriate size and laid on the pancake.

The vegetable package contains dehydrated scallions, but since we already have celery, we didn't add more; after all, these fresh celery leaves won't keep long and must be eaten quickly, whereas dehydrated vegetables can be stored for a long time—after a few days they could be considered strategic supplies, who knows when the next batch of vegetable foods will appear.

Beef chunks were torn into thin strips and laid horizontally over all the ingredients.

Chen Mu skillfully rolled up the thin pancake, turned it at an angle, then used the knife on his hand to cut the rolled pancake in half, casually took a plate and placed it on.

"Who goes first?"

Chen Mu held up the plate, looking at everyone.

Everyone swallowed a mouthful of saliva at the same time.

"Da Lei, you eat first—I can see your eyes are about to blaze."

"Bullshit, you're the same."

"..."

Chen Mu handed the plate to Wei Dalei.

"Then I won't be polite."

Old Wei cheerfully reached out, took one half, then gave the other half to Zhao Xiao Yan.

Since there was no paper or bag to hold it, both kept blowing on the hot food, feeling like office workers who bought a pancake at the roadside in the morning and hurried to work.

"Mmm..."

Wei Dalei, after taking the first bite, couldn't stop his mouth; he just hummed, apparently wanting to say it's delicious but unwilling to stop eating.

Even Zhao Xiao Yan felt a bit like wolfing down his food.

Meanwhile, Chen Mu had already started making the second one.

Spread oil, pour batter, flip, spread sauce, lay vegetables…

His movements became increasingly proficient.

"Chen Mu, did you used to sell pancakes from your own cart?" Tang Jing laughed.

"I've sold pancakes, but I didn't have my own cart; I just helped others watch their stalls temporarily, earning five mao per pancake. If business was good in the morning, I could make a dozen or so yuan before school." Chen Mu answered with a smile.

Everyone suddenly understood.

They found it amusing and all laughed.

But the more they laughed, the less they could laugh.

He Ying didn't know Chen Mu's background, was a bit puzzled, but ultimately didn't ask.

……

"What exactly is this pancake?"

"Jianbing guozi?"

"No, it's thicker than that, and it doesn't have youtiao or crispiness."

"You're really particular."

"It's more like a hand-held pancake."

"……"

"Let's just call it a hand-held pancake; the ingredients are few, it's a bit crude."

Chen Mu said while distributing the second portion to everyone.

"Where is it crude? It's clearly a noble, luxurious, invincible deluxe version of a hand-held pancake!"

Sun Yuan took the lead in flattering.

But this time his flattery received unanimous approval from everyone.