Matt stood up and casually tossed the gravel back onto the ground, where it bounced crisply twice on the ice.
"At that time, we will come in, lay a double layer of steel mesh, pour the highest grade antifreeze concrete, and finally lay a seven-centimeter-thick layer of anti-slip asphalt."
Matt patted his chest.
"I assure you, even if Rolls-Royce drives in, not a single drop of red wine in the wine glasses inside will spill!"
Su Wei listened carefully to Matt's explanation.
The logic is rigorous, the steps are clear, and it is extremely professional.
His guiding principle has always been to entrust professional matters to professionals. He put aside his last doubts about the road surface.
As noon approached, the temperature on Kodiak Island in December remained stubbornly at minus fifteen degrees Celsius.
The pale sunlight slanted across the concrete base, bringing no warmth whatsoever.
Su Wei prepared to return to the cabin. His gaze swept over the workers sitting on the insulation board once more.
The twelve burly men were now hunched over like frozen quails, struggling to eat their lunch.
A young worker Luke was breaking off a piece of bread with his hands, which were red from the cold.
He chewed hard, and the hard bread shattered into ice crystals all over the floor.
The soybeans in the can had frozen solid, and could only be eaten by scraping them with a fork.
It was a terrible sight.
Su Wei stopped and turned to look at Matt.
What time does your lunch break end?
Matt rolled up his sleeve and glanced at the waterproof mechanical watch on his wrist.
A thin layer of fog formed on the dial due to the temperature difference.
"We start work at 1:30 PM. Winter days are short, so the guys are used to shortening their lunch break to catch up on the schedule."
Matt shrugged.
Looking at this group of people, Su Wei suddenly thought of the all-bear banquet at the Chart Room restaurant the day after tomorrow.
Laurent readily offered a $20,000 appearance fee and further enticed the option of prioritizing the purchase of top-quality ingredients.
The male bear's meat was thick and fatty, with a strong, wild, gamey smell.
A French dinner cannot be made up of just two dishes: cold marinated and quick-fried.
He needs a more multi-faceted approach to impress the banker.
The traditional Chinese spice-based approach to handling strongly gamey or muttony ingredients, using heavy oils, sauces, and spices to neutralize the gamey smell of wild animals, would definitely have a superior effect on Western banquets.
Now, he's at a perfect juncture: he needs a real-world test.
Try his method using frozen beef from the cabin's refrigerator.
And these twelve strong men before me, cold and hungry, desperately needing calories and protein, aren't they the perfect food tasters?
That might be one reason, but there's another.
In the freezing cold, only by filling their stomachs could they have the strength to build his museum.
This isn't necessarily a bad thing.
Perhaps only the Huaxia people in the whole world possess this kind of reserved gentleness.
"I wouldn't mind giving you an extra meal."
Su Wei looked calmly at Matt and made the suggestion.
"Consider it a celebration of the completion of the first phase of the foundation. Perfect timing, I need to test a few new recipes."
Matt froze on the spot.
Having worked in this wilderness for twenty years, he had never heard of a millionaire employer personally cooking for a group of construction workers covered in mud! Most bosses would only push for faster progress.
Luke, who had been struggling with the hard bread, suddenly looked up and stopped chewing.
A few frozen breadcrumbs still clung to his young beard.
"Extra meal?"
Matt reacted quickly, turning to the shivering workers and yelling at them.
"Did you guys hear that? Boss Su Wei is going to cook us a hot meal himself!"
"Clang!"
Almost simultaneously, the twelve workers tacitly threw the cold, hard cans of food and bread they were holding onto the snow.
A deafening roar of cheers erupted across the empty wilderness.
Several burly men excitedly blew loud, rascal-like whistles, some even slapping their gloves and letting out wild howls.
In this icy and snowy landscape, a hearty meal brimming with calories and fat is the ultimate gift.
Under the expectant gaze of the workers, Su Wei turned and walked towards the wooden hut.
The sturdy military boots pounded firmly on the snow, leaving deep and resolute marks.
Push open the heavy oak door.
The burning pine charcoal in the fireplace emitted an amazing heat, instantly enveloping the entire body in warmth and dispelling the chill.
The white, fluffy Cotton Candy were already waiting.
Upon seeing Su Wei enter, it leaped up and jumped into Su Wei's arms.
Soft fur rubbed against Su Wei's chin, and her warm little body exuded a pleasant scent.
Su Wei held the fox in his arms, looking at the various spices hanging in the open kitchen, a thoughtful look flashing in his eyes.
The magic of Eastern spices is about to descend upon Alaska.
Chapter 167 A Message Sent to Seattle! (Please Subscribe!)
Su Wei carefully placed the Cotton Candy on the softest plush cushion of the sofa.
The little guy had just finished eating and drinking and was curled up into a snow-white ball of fur.
After settling his pet, he turned and walked towards the open kitchen, pulling open the bottom freezer compartment of the refrigerator.
The cool white light instantly illuminated the neatly arranged ingredients inside.
On the top layer, several packages of top-grade Black Angus beef hind leg meat, wrapped in oil-proof paper, lay quietly.
That was meant for Cotton Candy and for improving my own meals.
Su Wei's fingers brushed over the expensive greaseproof paper without pausing.
He bent down and pulled a heavy, transparent plastic bag from the bottom of the freezer.
This was a batch of the cheapest, most common meat he purchased before the heavy snow blocked the mountain passes when he first arrived on Kodiak Island.
Inside were several large, rock-hard pieces of beef brisket and shank, covered with thick, whitish fascia.
Because of the lack of professional acid removal treatment, the red muscle fibers appeared coarse and rough.
If you put this level of scraps directly into the oven or frying pan, the resulting texture will be as tough as a truck tire.
But this happens to meet his current needs.
That 450-kilogram male bear from the north slope, apart from the tenderloin he sliced into thin pieces.
The meat characteristics of the rest of the parts are exactly the same as those of these frozen pieces.
It's all made up of extremely high-strength coarse fiber, plus the strong, wild, gamey smell that comes with binge eating.
Su Wei threw the giant chunk of frozen meat, weighing over twenty kilograms, into the large stainless steel water tank with a thud.
He turned on the hot water tap, and the rising steam quickly enveloped the meat, accelerating the melting of the ice.
At this moment, the passive data stream of Cooking LV3 was running wildly in Su Wei's consciousness.
Solutions for handling high-protein, high-fiber, and strongly flavored ingredients quickly came to mind.
French red wine slow cooking, American applewood sous-smoking, Russian pickled cucumber pressure cooking...
Su Wei expressionlessly crossed all these Western-style solutions off his mind.
The underlying logic of Western culinary spices has always been about concealment and integration.
Using heavy butter, red wine, and fruit acids to neutralize the smell of wild animals might still be effective with ordinary farmed venison.
But when faced with the most powerful predators in the wilderness, it absolutely cannot suppress that strong, acidic odor.
What he needs is complete dismantling and rebuilding.
In this world, only the complex spice matrix of Chinese cuisine, which has been refined over thousands of years, can accomplish this almost magical transformation of taste.
Su Wei bent down and pulled open the storage drawer at the bottom right side of the kitchen counter.
A dozen or so transparent, airtight glass jars were arranged tightly inside.
His long, slender fingers reached out and grabbed five of the most essential dried spices from the East: star anise, cinnamon, bay leaves, Sichuan peppercorns, and dried red chilies.