Humans Shrunk 100 Times

Chapter 45: Hand-Grabbed Pancake

Ever since Chen Mu demonstrated it to Du Jiajia twice, he hadn't been involved in the "kitchen" work anymore.

On the other hand, Du Jiajia seemed to have a natural talent for cooking. The rice cakes she improved indeed tasted much better than Chen Mu's. In reality, Chen Mu was merely a child of poor parents and didn't truly enjoy cooking.

However, in terms of experience, Du Jiajia, who had only dealt with rice so far, still couldn't compare to Chen Mu.

"We have rice, flour, oil, salt, vegetables, and dried meat. Let me think about what I can make..."

Faced with the sudden abundance of ingredients, Chen Mu found it a bit difficult to decide.

"How about cooking noodles?"

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

Now, simple foods like rice and noodles had become a fatal temptation, and even though they saw that there were rice and flour, they still couldn't eat them. This kind of feeling could really drive a person crazy.

"All cooking methods that require boiling water are currently impossible," Tang Jing denied.

"Is it because of the water evaporating?"

"Yes, there's too little water, and it evaporates quickly after a few boils. It's impossible to cook the food thoroughly."

"What should we do then?"

"We'll have to wait for the water supply problem to be solved and for a large enough pot to be made before it becomes possible."

Suddenly, Dong Junwei asked, "I have an idea. Can Chen Mu use metal to create a completely sealed container, then put water and rice grains inside, and heat it up? This way, the water won't evaporate, and maybe we can cook rice."

Tang Jing nodded and said, "I've also considered this method. To be honest, it's not entirely impossible to achieve, but there are still many issues."

"What issues?"

"First of all, I don't doubt Chen Mu's abilities, but creating a so-called 'completely sealed' container is actually very difficult. It might not be noticeable at normal temperature and pressure, but once it's heated, the liquid inside will turn into steam, and the pressure will increase dramatically. Any tiny crack at that time would lead to a complete failure, resulting in wasted food.

"Of course, Chen Mu might succeed after several attempts, but the biggest problem is that it's just too dangerous to do so."

"Are you worried it might explode?" Chen Mu asked.

"Yes, Captain's heating ability doesn't seem very proficient. If he exerts too much force, it might not be a problem if the container isn't completely sealed, but if it's truly tightly sealed and the container's capacity can't meet the standard, it could easily lead to an explosion. Although the delicious food is tempting, it's not necessary to take such risks for it at the moment."

"Yes, yes, you're right," everyone chimed in agreement.

"However, once the Captain becomes more skilled, he can try heating the container to a certain degree and then let it cool naturally. After repeating this process several times, it should be possible to cook the rice properly."

"In that case, I'll practice more with metal in the meantime," Dong Junwei said. Currently, the material she practices with the most is stones. During the time Chen Mu and the others were away, she added more than twenty hand grenades to the team's arsenal, undoubtedly significantly increasing the team's combat power.

"There's no need to rush. Now that we have oil and salt, even if we're making rice cakes, the taste will improve significantly."

In the end, Chen Mu decided to make pancakes. However, he changed the main ingredient to flour. Pancakes made from flour naturally tasted much better than rice cakes, especially with various ingredients and seasonings added.

Chen Mu skillfully took flour, added water, and mixed it into a semi-liquid state. Then he asked Dong Junwei to heat the iron plate.

The cooking environment had improved a lot from the beginning. Not only did they have a larger iron plate, but the entire cooking area had also expanded, resembling a real kitchen.

Chen Mu made two stainless steel containers, one for storing salt and the other for oil. This would prevent the need to open the seasoning packets frequently and speed up spoilage.

The so-called "oil" was not real oil. It couldn't be used for frying or cooking dishes, but it could be used to prevent sticking while making pancakes. And for the people now, even a little sauce with oil was a supreme delicacy.

Chen Mu held his hand above the iron plate. Once he felt it was hot enough, he immediately spread a layer of oil and then used a homemade stainless steel ladle to scoop some batter and pour it onto the iron plate.

The sizzling sound and the aroma of frying oil instantly filled the air. Everyone gathered around Chen Mu, salivating as they watched him work.

He spread the batter into a thin pancake shape and then sprinkled crushed dried eggs evenly over it. After flipping it, he spread sauce and placed celery leaves torn to a suitable size on the pancake.

There were dehydrated chopped scallions in the vegetable pouch, but considering they already had celery, they decided not to add more. After all, these fresh celery leaves couldn't be stored for too long and needed to be consumed quickly, while dehydrated vegetables could be stored for a long time. After a few days, they would be strategic supplies. No one knew when the next batch of vegetables would appear.

He tore small pieces of beef into thin strips and laid them on top of the ingredients.

Skillfully, Chen Mu rolled up the thin pancake, turned it slightly, and then cut it in half with a knife spatula he had on hand. He casually took a plate and placed the rolled pancake on it.

"Who's going first?"

Chen Mu held up the plate and looked at everyone.

Everyone simultaneously swallowed a mouthful of saliva.

"Da Lei, you can go first. I can see you're practically drooling," said someone.

"Nonsense, you're the same!" Da Lei retorted.

Chen Mu handed the plate to Wei Da Lei.

"Then I won't be polite," Wei Da Lei happily reached for half of the pancake and gave the other half to Zhao Xiao Yan.

Since there was no paper or bag to hold the pancake, both of them blew on it to cool it down. It felt like they were busy rushing to work with a pancake they bought by the roadside in the early morning.

"Um, um..." Wei Da Lei couldn't stop talking once he took the first bite, probably trying to say it was delicious, but he couldn't stop eating.

Even Zhao Xiao Yan felt like she was wolfing it down.

Meanwhile, Chen Mu had already started making the second one. Spreading oil, pouring the batter, flipping it, adding sauce, and placing the vegetables... His movements became even more skillful.

"Chen Mu, have you sold pancakes from a pushcart before?" Tang Jing asked with a smile.

"I did sell pancakes, but I didn't have my own pushcart. I just helped someone watch their stall for a while. I earned fifty cents per pancake. If business was good in the morning before school, I could make a little over ten yuan for the morning," Chen Mu replied with a smile.

Everyone suddenly realized and found it amusing, laughing in response.

However, as they laughed, they couldn't laugh anymore.

He Ying didn't know Chen Mu's background and felt a bit puzzled, but in the end, she didn't ask.

...

"What exactly is this pancake?"

"Pancake guozi?"

"Doesn't look like it. It's a bit thicker and lacks youtiao and baocui (thin crispy crackers)."

"You're quite particular."

"Maybe it's more like a hand-grabbed pancake."

"..."

"Let's just call it a hand-grabbed pancake. It's just that the ingredients are fewer and simpler."

Chen Mu distributed the second batch to everyone.

"Where's the simplicity? It's clearly the luxurious, extravagant, unbeatable, and super deluxe version of a hand-grabbed pancake!"

Sun Yuan was the first to start praising.

But this time, his flattery was unanimously accepted by everyone.

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