Food: Senior year internship, you take over the university cafeteria

诶!

But suddenly.

Wang Sheng thought of pork floss bread.

The combination of salty and sweet flavors creates a richer taste experience.

The crispy, savory pork floss, the oceanic aroma and slight crunch of the seaweed...

If it could be combined with soft and chewy mochi or crispy fried dough sticks...

This idea gave him a boost.

Although traditional mochi is just sesame sugar powder, isn't "innovation" precisely an encouragement to make reasonable improvements based on tradition?

The combination of salty and sweet can always create unexpected sparks.

Give it a try!

"Let's do a small-scale trial run today and see the reaction!" Wang Sheng decided immediately.

Wang Sheng made this decision.

This means the third innovative dish has arrived!

Next, we'll see the positive reviews!

The lucky draw is just around the corner!

He glanced at the time; it wasn't even six o'clock yet.

The first batch of dough for fried dough sticks is proofing, the filling for xiaolongbao (soup dumplings) has been prepared, and most of the side dishes for the mixed rice noodles have been prepared.

"There's still time!"

Wang Sheng walked quickly to the backyard.

Have two students drive a tricycle to help them buy it.

"Understood!" The two men took the money and keys without hesitation and ran towards the tricycle parked in the corner. Soon, the chugging sound of the tricycle faded into the distance.

Before long, the remaining two finished making the glutinous rice balls.

The procurement is complete.

"Senior, I bought it! Pork floss and seaweed flakes, just as you said." Lin Xiaowen handed over the items, slightly out of breath, but with bright eyes.

"Thanks for your hard work!"

Ingredients received!

Wang Sheng took it and the first thing he did was quietly activate the [Eye of Ingredients].

Pork Floss (Original Flavor)

[Quality Rating: Average (Not freshly cooked, pre-packaged product, decent crispness, weak meat flavor, slight additive taste)]

[Recommendation: It can be used as an auxiliary ingredient to enhance flavor, but it is not suitable as a primary source of flavor.]

Roasted seaweed flakes

[Quality Rating: Average (fragmented, weak seaweed flavor, insufficient umami, slightly fishy smell)]

[Suggestion: It's acceptable as a garnish to enhance color, but its effect on improving flavor is limited.]

Sure enough, the only thing you could buy at the wholesale market was this kind of common, mass-produced goods.

The quality is so-so, but it's barely enough; at least it can be used to test whether the flavor combinations are feasible.

Better pork floss requires slow frying with pork tenderloin, and better seaweed requires carefully selecting whole sheets, baking them, and then shredding them. That's for later.

"Okay, that's settled for now."

Wang Sheng poured the pork floss and seaweed flakes into two clean bowls and placed them next to the sesame sugar powder.

He started making mochi.

Pinch off a small lump of warm glutinous rice dough, quickly roll it into an oval shape in your palm, then roll it in sesame sugar powder, and a traditional mochi is ready.

He made more than a dozen and set them aside.

Next, he tried a new combination: he rolled out glutinous rice dough, dipped it in sesame sugar powder, and then quickly rolled it halfway in the bowl of pork floss, so that one side was evenly coated with the golden pork floss. Others were coated with seaweed flakes.

After making several samples, he picked up a freshly fried, still-hot youtiao (Chinese fried dough stick), pressed a traditional mochi (glutinous rice ball) covered in sesame powder into the middle of the youtiao, and gently pinched it together with his hands.

I also made one mochi ball each, one coated with pork floss and the other with seaweed flakes.

The aroma is wonderful.

The four of them immediately started drooling.

I was already full.

But it looks so tempting...

"Come on, try them all and see which one tastes better, or if you have any suggestions for improvement."

Seeing their reaction, Wang Sheng immediately smiled and handed three different versions of "youtiao sandwiched with mochi" to the four people, while he picked up a traditional one for himself.

Lin Xiaowen and Sun Wei, in particular, were extremely curious and had never eaten this before. They took it and immediately started biting into it.

"Crunch!" The extreme crispness of the fried dough stick brings an immediate sensory impact.

Immediately afterwards, your teeth sink into the soft, chewy mochi, and the sweet aroma of sesame and sugar powder fills the air.

Then, the crispy, savory flavor of pork floss (or the subtle savory and oceanic taste of seaweed) is subtly added...

"Mmm! This pork floss is delicious!"

Lin Xiaowen's eyes lit up as she pointed to the pork floss version, "The salty pork floss, the sweet sesame powder, and the aroma of fried dough sticks—it's so unique when all mixed together! The more you chew, the more fragrant it becomes!"

Sun Wei prefers seaweed:

"The seaweed flavor is also fragrant, with a unique taste that is refreshing and not greasy."

Wang Sheng himself was also carefully savoring it.

While the traditional version is a classic, the addition of pork floss or seaweed makes the flavor more complex, and the contrast between salty and sweet makes the taste experience more multi-dimensional.

The pork floss version, in particular, has a wonderful contrast between its crisp texture and savory flavor and the soft, sweet, and fragrant mochi.

"It's really good." Wang Sheng felt confident. "Today, we'll make a small batch of pork floss and seaweed flavors to test the waters. Once we find better ingredients, we can improve the taste even further."

"It's delicious, but we feel a little guilty for doing this little bit of work in the morning, eating and drinking, and only getting a hundred yuan."

At this moment, Li Dali pushed up his glasses and said seriously:

"I saw you were so busy this morning, how about... we stay and help out while you're selling breakfast? No extra pay! Just do whatever you can, like packing, carrying plates, keeping things orderly. We don't have classes this morning anyway."

Lin Xiaowen and Sun Wei immediately nodded and said, "We can too!"

Wang Sheng was somewhat surprised, but also touched.

These four students are hardworking, honest, and have good intentions.

"I am very grateful for your kindness."

Wang Sheng thought for a moment, "However, let's keep things separate. Helping is fine, but it can't be for free. Here's what we'll do: if you're willing to help during the breakfast sales hours (around 6:30 to 9:00), in addition to the original 100 yuan 'hammering fee,' I'll add an extra 100 yuan per person as payment for your morning assistance. But let me make it clear beforehand, the work might be varied, so you have to follow instructions and can't skip it halfway through."

"Two hundred?!" Zhao Gang's eyes widened. "Senior, this...this is too much! You only make about that much a day working part-time!"

"I'm not saying much, I just want to fight against involution." Wang Sheng waved his hand. "The effort you put in, the early mornings, and the time you sacrificed your morning rest time—it's worth the price. But..."

He lowered his voice, "Keep this salary to yourselves, don't tell anyone else. Firstly, to avoid any issues with other part-time staff at other counters, and secondly, to avoid unnecessary trouble. If you do a good job, you'll be given priority consideration in the long term when we need more manpower."

The four looked at each other and nodded emphatically.

Two hundred a day, plus a top-notch breakfast—that's top-tier pay in the university part-time job scene! Who would tell anyone?

"Don't worry, senior, we understand!"

"I promise I'll do a great job!"

"Thank you, senior!"

Wang Sheng checked the time; it was almost 6:40.

Wang Sheng told Zhao Gang and the other two to go wash up and rest for a few minutes while he began the final assembly and meal preparation.

And just after giving the instructions.

[Ding! Detected that the host has proactively established and initially improved a small catering team, effectively alleviating operational pressure!]

[Side Quest Triggered: A Team of Culinary Delights!]

[Task Description: A single tree cannot make a forest; many hands make light work. The success of a culinary business depends on the support of reliable partners. Please establish and maintain a core assistant team consisting of at least 3 full-time, regular staff.]

[Current progress: Initial team members finalized (3/3) – Zhao Gang, Li Dali, Lin Xiaowen (probationary period).]

[Task completion reward: 1 random chance to win a late-night snack/food skill!]

[Long-term team maintenance reward (to be distributed in the future): Team collaboration efficiency improvement halo (basic).]

[Task completed!]

[Win a prize!]

Late-night snack giveaway!