I'm the Culinary God

The local workshops in Southern Yunnan that process rice-silk basically follow this method too, but they use a complete set of noodle presses and pulverizers instead of Lin Xu’s manual operation.

Half an hour later, the moisture had dried up. Lin Xu took the rice paste sheets from the rack, stacked them on the board, rolled them up, and slowly cut them with a kitchen knife.

These fine strands, similar to wide noodles, are the legendary rice-silk.

"Hmm... rice-silk doesn’t look as good as rice noodles. Rice noodles are smooth, while rice-silk looks dull and lacks luster."

Lin Xu said:

"Rice noodles are made by boiling raw paste, first forming, then cooking, so they look smoother, while rice silk is steamed and processed later, naturally making the appearance not as good as raw paste."

Raw rice paste can be used to make a variety of foods, like rice noodle rolls, rice pasta, rice skins, with extensive uses to be explored when there’s more free time.

Lin Xu put the cut rice-silk into a bag, sealed it, and placed it in the freezer:

"I’ll make some rice-silk to try in the afternoon, to feel the difference between rice noodles and rice-silk."

Shen Jiayue asked:

"Can you make some Crossing-the-Bridge Noodles?"

"Crossing-the-Bridge Noodles requires old chicken soup, the kind with a thick layer of fat on top, which is rather troublesome, and the taste isn’t much different; if you really want to eat it, let’s make it later when we’re not busy."

Crossing-the-Bridge Noodles isn’t that difficult, it’s just cooking rice noodles in oily chicken soup, and when eating, you need to pick the noodles out of the clay pot, blow them a bit before eating, otherwise, it’s easy to burn your mouth.

The original crossing-the-bridge meant crossing a bridge, where the noodles in the clay pot still burnt the mouth, but when Crossing-the-Bridge Noodles became popular, the way of eating became complicated, with various rules.

Thinking of the past when Crossing-the-Bridge Noodle shops were everywhere but now rarely seen, one has to sigh, past trending foods fade away like a dog.

"Then I’ll wait to eat!"

Shen Jiayue cleaned and put away the pair of iron maces, and seeing this, Lin Xu said to her:

"Buy two more pairs of large ones; later, we’ll try making some Chaoshan beef balls in the shop to see if they’re really as bouncy as legend says, like a ping-pong ball."

"Sure, sure, I’ll buy them now... by the way, Xu Bao, today’s Qi Siming’s apprenticeship, do you need to bring gifts? Isn’t it said that you can’t go empty-handed to such occasions?"

Lin Xu said:

"My senior brother has prepared everything; we don’t need to worry about it."

For two young people in their early twenties, attending such a traditional ceremony can be a bit nerve-wracking.

If anything goes wrong, it won’t be Lin Xu who gets laughed at but their master, Grandpa Gao.

So, care must be taken to avoid making a fool of themselves.

"Today’s apprenticeship is just an excuse, the real focus is on He Jiajun cleaning the house and tidying up Qi Zhentao’s lineage, while the Meng family is about to be uprooted."

Although the culinary circle isn’t like the crosstalk circle, where without a mentor, you can’t take a step, lineage is still an important reference when competing in advanced cooking techniques.

A chef with a famous mentor is naturally considered a cut above one without lineage.

That’s why many chefs, although skilled, are eager to find mentors to further their careers through the master’s connections.

In a society where relationships matter, a master’s word might be more valuable than a hundred-page resume you wrote.

Lin Xu doesn’t have this worry because he directly apprenticed to the number one person of the era, which is roughly equivalent to going straight to Rome; no one would question his lineage.

Besides his own culinary skills, it’s his master’s light that allows him to thrive at the Fishing Platform and Beijing Hotel.

Having a good mentor is just so important.

Now, Qi Siming is also preparing to apprentice, and it’s with Qiu Zhenhua, one of the top three in comprehensive strength at the Fishing Platform, making Qi Zhentao very happy.

Because, in terms of his master’s stature compared to the Qiu family of Huaiyang cuisine, it’s somewhat inferior.

Moreover, Mr. Qiu is also the director of the Chinese Cooking Association, with both strength and prestige in abundance, and there won’t be any absurdities like with the Meng family.

It’s still a bit early to attend the apprenticeship banquet, so Lin Xu tidied up the small kitchen and planned to pickle the garlic Shen Jiayue had been yearning for, and if quick enough, perhaps it could be eaten by tomorrow.

When doing this, he would also record a video, giving netizens about to return home for the holidays something to do.

The homemade pickled garlic would surely taste different.

He and Shen Jiayue began setting up the filming equipment in the small kitchen and at the same time asked the back kitchen to prepare a basket of garlic with the outer skin removed.

While the young couple was busy, it was a different scene at the Old Sun’s household.

Old Sun held a bowl of takeout meatball soup, drank a sip, and chatted casually with the young couple, then after feeling satisfied, he took Ren Jie to the study.

After closing the door, Old Sun handed a stack of photos to Ren Jie:

"Do you recognize this?"

Ren Jie looked at the photo of a man in his fifties with a crew cut, leather jacket, exuding a distinct Beijing alley ruffian aura.

"Cao Liu, known in the circle as Master Six, grew up in the hutongs and is said to be quite influential around Dongzhimen, with connections both in the underworld and on the surface. I saw his file when I was in Haidian, but Dongzhimen isn’t within Haidian’s jurisdiction, so I didn’t pay much attention... What is it, Grandpa Sun? When you mentioned private work... did you mean working for him?"

Ren Jie suppressed his grin, having no problem carrying a gas cylinder from the first to the fiftieth floor, but interacting with someone with clear criminal tendencies?

He couldn’t do it.

His upbringing and the education from the military and police academy wouldn’t allow him to do so.

Old Sun smiled:

"This matter is a private job for me; for you, it’s supplementary lessons. How about the two of us catching this guy today?"

Catching Cao Liu?

Ren Jie’s mind was momentarily confused.

He opened his mouth:

"Do we have evidence?"

"Yes, these photos were taken secretly by me yesterday. A few days ago, Yanyan, Yueyue, and Xiao Lin hired a fish breeder in a village, right? You know about this?"

"Yes, Yanyan told me, and I was planning to have some fun at the fishpond owner’s place today."

Old Sun said:

"Cao Liu set up an underground casino in that village. I plan to take you to that village for surveillance, teaching you some advanced skills... Are you interested, kid?"

Ren Jie: "!!!!!!!!!!"

This kind of one-on-one supplementary lesson from top industry seniors is something only a fool would refuse.

He excitedly rubbed his hands together:

"Interested, very much interested... Just let me know what I should do!"

The two whispered for a while, then came out of the study, grabbed a fishing rod bag, and pretended to leave home, looking as if they were going fishing.

Seeing this, Grandma Sun prepared to find her old neighbors for some mahjong.

Back in the car, Chen Yan sat on the passenger seat and, smiling, asked:

"Grandpa Sun, what’s the private work you mentioned? Hurry, hurry, I can’t wait to see it."

Old Sun sat in the back seat, not in a hurry, and said:

"Yanyan, this trip might be a bit dangerous. Are you sure you want to come along?"

Even though arrangements have been made in advance with the Special Police Team, and the Criminal Investigation Team has prepared emergency plans, bringing a girl to a capture site is still somewhat risky.

But Chen Yan was unfazed:

"Of course I want to go, I’m eager to widen my horizon... Grandpa Sun, this mysterious thing you’re doing, what is it all about?"

Old Sun thought of his and Ren Jie’s skills; it should be fine to protect Yanyan.

Besides, today they’re just likely to scout and confirm the location of the casino and Cao Liu’s arrangements, so the chances of a capture aren’t high, and he smiled, saying:

"We’re going to help Old Shang get some revenge, incidentally investigating the village’s illegal activities. Do you really want to go?"

Chen Yan: "!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Hahaha, the long-awaited joint investigation is finally here!

"Going, Uncle Shang’s business is my business; I’ve long wanted to get revenge for him!"

From today onward, the name in front of Chen Yan’s should bear a prefix:

"Detective Chen Yan!"

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Sorry, brothers, later again. Feels lousy being sick, dizzy, sore throat, but the antigen test shows negative, maybe just a common cold. This Chapter is 5,700 words, save those monthly tickets till the end of the month, brothers!