Chapter 432 Dragon Beard Face

Longxu noodles are famous for their exquisite appearance. Each noodle is as light as a filament, and each noodle is extremely thin and long, even and smooth, like a carefully carved work of art, exuding an attractive luster.

When the dragon beard noodles are placed in the bowl, the noodles sway gently in the soup, very lively and full of vitality, just like a group of dragons playing in the water.

Such fine noodles naturally require a very sophisticated production process. Needless to say, the stages of kneading and resting the dough are similar to the usual noodle making methods.

After kneading the dough, let it sit for a while. This step is called resting the dough.

The purpose of letting the dough rest is to allow the gluten in the dough to stretch and relax, increasing the elasticity and extensibility of the dough, while also making the dough more uniform and soft.

Therefore, no matter what kind of pasta you are making, the step of letting the dough rest is essential.

In addition, the resting time of the noodles must also be controlled well, especially for thin noodles like longxu noodles. If the resting time is insufficient or too long, the noodles will break and the production will fail.

How to control the resting time of the dough within an appropriate range depends on the experience of the chef.

For Yan Xian, this is not a difficult task.

Because he has super hearing, he can feel things that ordinary people can't feel, things that are too subtle to be detected.

Just like this piece of dough in front of you.

The kneaded dough was placed on the chopping board. As time passed, the dough seemed to have no change on the outside.

But Yan Xian could hear it, hear the sound of the dough stretching, hear the gluten slowly stretching, hear every slight change in the dough.

It was like the dough was communicating with him without words.

This allows him to clearly grasp the best time to wake up the dough.

This is more accurate than any experience or knowledge.

He could even grasp the timing of each gluten stretching.

When the last gluten is stretched, he quickly picks up the dough at the most appropriate time and stretches it quickly when the dough is most elastic.

The key to making dragon beard noodles lies in the stretching stage after the noodles are rested.

To make dragon beard noodles, the dough needs to be stretched many times, and each stretch makes the noodles longer and thinner until it reaches the fineness required for making dragon beard noodles.

This step of stretching is very challenging for the chef's skills. The noodles must be stretched thin enough but not broken. If they break, they will be ruined.

As for dragon beard noodles, the thinner they are, the better.

But how thin is good enough? How thin can a noodle be stretched without breaking?

For ordinary chefs, this requires experience and intuition, and countless times of practice until they become proficient in stretching the noodles to a very thin degree without breaking them.

But, is this the limit?
Can the surface withstand more force? Can it be thinner?
No one knows this, because if you want to test the maximum thinness of noodles, it takes a lot of time and energy to test them one by one. Even if you finally test it out, the effect is not obvious. Can there be such a big difference if the noodles are one centimeter thinner or one centimeter thinner?
So that's enough, make peace with yourself and don't be too hard on yourself.

However, this is not the case for Yan Xian.

Yan Xian’s cooking skills were already extraordinary, and his super hearing took his already extraordinary cooking skills to a new level, allowing him to grasp the most subtle changes in ingredients and make the best delicacies at the most appropriate time.

Now the dough he stretched became thinner and thinner, as thin as a hair, as he stretched it again and again.

Generally speaking, this is about it.

At this point, you have already reached the top level of culinary skills.

Most people can stop at this step and start the next step.

But Yan Xian did not stop, he continued to stretch the already extremely thin noodles in his hand, again and again. This made the five elderly judges hold their breath and feel extremely nervous.

Every stretch is like dancing on the edge of a knife. The slightest mistake will lead to eternal damnation.

Every time they stretched, the tension in their hearts intensified, and their hearts beat faster and faster, almost jumping out of their chests. And they dared not move their eyes away for a moment.

They were obviously not the ones cooking, but they were more nervous watching than the ones who were actually cooking.

At this moment, the noodles have become as thin as silk, so thin that they are almost transparent, like a willow swaying in the wind, as if they would break in an instant if the wind blows.

That's it, no need to stretch anymore.

They couldn't help but think that if they stretched it any further it would really break.

However, Yan Xian did not hear what they were thinking.

He adjusted the noodles in his hand, wrapped them around his arm, and stretched them again.

The five old men gasped suddenly and subconsciously closed their eyes, not daring to look anymore.

It’s really going to break this time, it will definitely break!

When they opened their eyes, they found that the noodles, which were incredibly thin, were actually intact.

How is this possible?
Such a magical scene shocked them deeply.

They just couldn't figure out how Yan Xian did it.
Wouldn't he feel troubled or afraid?

When the noodles were so thin, wouldn't he have doubts in his heart? Wouldn't he be afraid? Wouldn't he be afraid that the noodles would break in the next second?
The answer is, no.

Yan Xian knew exactly how thin the noodles had to be stretched before they broke. This was not a feeling or experience, but something he heard with his ears.

He could hear the glutens stretching, hear the tearing sounds that ordinary people could not hear, hear the sounds of them struggling in the constant stretching, hear their unknown limits.

Therefore, he had the confidence to stretch the noodles to the limit without worrying about them breaking.

Only people with extraordinary five senses can achieve such unimaginable skills with such precise manipulation at the microscopic level.

This is beyond the imagination of normal people.

Each of the five old men was a top chef when he was young. They had seen and cooked countless dishes, but none of them could bring them such a great shock like the extremely thin noodles in front of them.

Too thin.

What kind of delicious food beyond imagination can be made with such thin noodles?
As soon as they thought of this, their throats began to roll and saliva began to be secreted from their mouths, as if their bodies were already impatient and wanted to taste this unimaginable delicacy immediately.

However, you still need to wait a little longer because the preparation of the dragon beard noodles is not yet finished.

Yan first put the thin noodles into the pot. Not long after they were in, he quickly took them out and put them into ice water.

Because the noodles are extremely thin, they are cooked almost as soon as they are put into the pot. They are rinsed with cold water, allowing the noodles to experience extreme alternation of hot and cold in a short period of time. This allows the extremely thin noodles to have a chewy texture and not melt in your mouth.

Next, comes the broth.

Yan first borrowed Xu Qing’s previous method of roasting the pork bones and then stewing them, allowing the pork bones to fully release their hidden flavor in a very short period of time, making the broth taste more rich and mellow.

The process of making dragon beard noodles seems complicated, but it actually takes a very short time. Not long after Xu Qing's five clay pots boiled, Yan Xian had already finished the first dish.

　The second chapter is not finished yet, don't worry, I will definitely make it up tomorrow
　　
　
(End of this chapter)