Culinary God in Wilderness

"Maybe. Who knows."

He wasn’t worried about anything really happening to Connor. The production crew wasn’t just for show. If there were any real trouble, they would have heard the sound of helicopter engines by now, not this dead silence.

With that, he got up, went inside, and took the two smoldering Swedish torches with him.

It was freezing outside, and the warmth from the mutton soup couldn’t last forever. Andre hurried in after him.

As soon as he stepped inside, he saw Lin Chen pick up a bag of flour.

"Flour?!"

His eyes lit up. "You can actually trade for something like this? But it’s such a precious ingredient. Are you sure it’s alright to use it to cook for me, instead of keeping it for yourself?"

"We’ll eat it together. Just consider it payment in advance for using your mutton to trade for ingredients with the production crew. You have a right to a share of this flour."

With the steady heat from the two torches, the room quickly grew warm.

"What are you going to make with the flour? Bread? Sandwiches? Burgers?"

"Stop, stop," Lin Chen said, holding up a hand. "Please stop showing off your shallow culinary knowledge in front of the audience. Without yeast, you can’t make any of those things."

"Ah? Is that so?"

Andre chuckled sheepishly. "I really don’t know anything about this. If you can’t make any of that, then what can you do with flour? Pancakes?"

"No, I just said I can’t make the kind of burger that uses a bun. That doesn’t mean all burgers are off the table."

"You can really make burgers???"

"That’s right. Paired with the stir-fried mutton leg I mentioned, I’ll make you a Great Xia-style burger for dinner."

He didn’t start cooking immediately. Instead, he gathered all the ingredients for dinner and laid them out neatly for later use.

Burgers are best eaten fresh, especially the buns. Once they cool down and are reheated, the flavor is never the same.

This is the main reason why the buns at most fast-food chains are so bad. They’re all pre-made, and who knows how long they’ve been sitting around? It’d be a miracle if they tasted any good.

...

Having just finished their morning routine inspection, the production crew was now back at the log cabin base camp. Before starting their afternoon work, they had one important task to attend to.

The helicopter had barely come to a stop when Robert and Daniel hastily threw open the hatch, jumped out, and carefully unloaded the precious mutton soup.

"Easy now, don’t spill it," Ariana warned, sticking close to Daniel. Her eyes were glued to the pot in his arms, terrified the clumsy oaf would ruin the lunch she had been so looking forward to.

"Wait a second, what did he just say? He’s making a Great Xia-style mutton burger for dinner??"

Walking on the other side, Daniel held up a tablet, pointing at the screen with a look of utter disbelief.

"Without yeast, the dough can’t rise. How is he going to make the buns?"

"I trust him," Hei said, the last to jump from the helicopter. He hurried to catch up, flashing a wide, toothy grin. "You’ve all been doubting him from the start, and you’re still at it. And for what? The man has proven himself time and time again."

"That’s just how the Da Xia People are. No matter what trouble they run into, they always find a solution."

"You talk as if you know Great Xia so well."

"Haha, I just like to keep up with international news. The facts have proven that our country’s politicians and leaders are just businessmen looking out for their own interests, right? They couldn’t care less if ordinary people live or die. Decades have gone by, and our country has made zero progress."

"And look at them. They left America in the dust a long time ago."

"Shh! Are you trying to get yourself killed?!"

Robert shot him a glare over his shoulder. "Good thing we don’t have cameras on us. If that little speech got broadcast, our show would be shut down within half an hour."

"Hmph," Hei rolled his eyes in disdain. "Of course I know that. It’s the only reason I dared to say it. Freedom of speech... Ha, what a joke."

"Alright, Blake, that’s enough. Quiet down and I’ll give you an extra egg later."

Ariana nudged him in the arm with her elbow, and he finally shut his mouth.

If you had to pick someone from the production crew who was at least a decent cook, it would have to be Ariana.

She was a woman, after all, and did her share of chores at home. At least she wasn’t like the men, who were liable to turn a fried egg into a lump of charcoal.

Before the four of them could even get inside, the wooden door was suddenly thrown open from within.

The few crew members who had stayed behind stared eagerly at the pot in Robert’s arms, their anticipation written all over their faces.

"I already made a torch. Should I light it now?"

"I chopped a bowl of mushrooms. I remember Lin saying they make the soup taste great."

"The meat you brought back is still in the helicopter, right? We’ll go get it right now!"

Without waiting for Robert’s orders, they all instinctively divided up the tasks and busied themselves in the blink of an eye.

"Anna, what’s the plan?"

As the soup pot was placed over the newly lit torch, all eyes turned to Ariana in anticipation.

"Simple. Toss in all the chopped mushrooms. Add the instant noodle seasoning packets. Once the water boils, we’ll cook the noodles. One poached egg per person."

"Sounds good," Robert nodded, satisfied. "That mutton-fat chili oil Lin made earlier looked delicious. Can we replicate it?"

"We don’t have mutton fat, and we don’t have organs. We can’t replicate it."

"What about using butter instead?"

"Why do you think Lin didn’t mention it?"

"Maybe he forgot?"

"Why don’t you just shut up? You keep talking, you can cook it yourself!"

Robert flinched, then glared as his eyes swept over the crew members who were desperately trying to stifle their laughter.

"Laugh, laugh, laugh. Is it that funny?"

The crew members hastily put on serious expressions, but the twitching at the corners of their mouths quickly gave them away.

「A little over ten minutes later.」

Hei and Daniel worked together to carry a full pot of instant noodles to the table. Its rich aroma was a world away from the "just add hot water" cup noodles they’d had before.

Hei inhaled rapturously, sighing in admiration. "See? I knew listening to Lin was the right move. I never realized boiled instant noodles could be so fragrant. It looks just like Japanese ramen."

"Idiot, they were invented by the Japanese in the first place. Isn’t it normal that they look alike?"

Their lives were nowhere near as difficult as the contestants’. With a full supply of disposable cutlery, seven or eight hands shot out toward the soup pot, all scrambling to ladle themselves a heaping bowl.

For a moment, the room was filled with the sounds of slurping noodles and the potent aroma of the broth.

"Damn, how can it be this good?"

Daniel stared at the bowl in his hands, shocked. From the flavor and texture of the noodles to the overall aroma, boiled instant noodles were a completely different beast from the steeped kind.

While the mutton soup certainly played a huge part, one thing was for sure: after this meal, no one would ever want to go back to just adding hot water to their instant noodles.

"Where’s my egg?"

Robert had just slurped down a bowl of noodles when he remembered he hadn’t gotten his poached egg. He fished around in the pot with the ladle for ages, only to find a few stray wisps of cooked egg white.