The Cheat Emperor of the Culinary World

However, Yao Shi did not explain in detail during cooking.

His movements while cooking were extremely fast, and one had to watch intently to notice the subtle brilliance in the details.

If you’re not careful, steps such as adding sugar and honey can easily be overlooked.

When instructing cooking, Yao Shi never mentions these operations.

It’s not that he intentionally hides anything; these actions are just too commonplace. In his mind, such things need not be specially emphasized, as anyone with eyes can see them.

To make a seafood stew, you need to use a clay pot for braising.

After adding oil and heating it up, add half of the onions, ginger, garlic, and dried chili, then stir-fry over high heat until fragrant.

Add the marinated seafood, stir-fry evenly until it slightly changes color, then add potatoes, carrots, the other half of the onions, seafood mushrooms, fish balls, and stir-fry evenly.

Cover the pot, and simmer over low heat until the seafood is thoroughly cooked.

For this dish, you must wait until the seafood is completely cooked before seasoning, so that the sauce can penetrate the meat more easily, making the seafood not only fresh but also savory with the sauce.

Pour the prepared sauce into the pot and stir to coat with the sauce color.

After stir-frying evenly, cover the pot again, and finally simmer over low heat.

Yao Shi adjusted the heat and turned to advise: "To make this seafood stew well, you must pay attention. All ingredients cannot be directly braised; seafood can be braised directly because it cooks easily, but hard ingredients cannot, such as potatoes, carrots, and fish balls, which need to be pre-boiled. Short braising time cannot guarantee these ingredients will become soft and fully cooked, nor absorb the seafood juices well, making the taste not harmonious."

These are experiences Yao Shi summarized through repeated cooking.

Though the reasoning is simple, it’s often easily overlooked.

Fu Yu nodded appreciatively.

It’s not that these experiences are profound or precious, but because Yao Shi’s approach to teaching is very natural and his choice of words shows a high level of maturity.

Fu Yu usually learns cooking from Zhao Meng and Liu Yunong separately, and has slowly figured out the differences in their cooking habits.

But with Yao Shi, since the time of interaction is less, Fu Yu tends to pay more attention during the learning process.

Through several cooking lessons, he discovered that Yao Shi’s understanding and control of ingredients are of a high degree, and when he gives pointers, he meticulously extracts all the key points of a dish during cooking using simple and easy-to-understand language.

In this way, it’s easier for others to understand.

And he can focus more on the cooking process at hand, without getting too distracted by giving instructions.

At this point, the ingredients in the pot were almost fully cooked, Fu Yu opened the pot to disperse the steam by lifting the ingredients from the bottom to the top, then arranged them on a plate, sprinkling a pinch of white sesame seeds and some green onions for garnish.

Finally, he drizzled sesame oil to enhance the aroma.

A seafood stew full of color, aroma, and taste, when arranged on the plate, with all the seafood spread out on top, the orange-red sauce color and the fresh flavor of the seafood were already tantalizing enough.

Yao Shi looked at the dish in the pot with satisfaction and said with a smile, "To make this dish well, you must remember not to stir while braising, and the heat shouldn’t be too high. Adjust with medium-low heat to prevent burning at the bottom of the pot."

All braised dishes are almost similar in their making, and the difference is in the sauce preparation technique.

Besides that, controlling the heat is also critically important.

Fu Yu carefully remembered all the detailed operating methods and swiftly helped to move the pot onto the serving counter.

Sun Qingning stood by and couldn’t even get a hand in.

Zhao Meng watched the performance of the two and their abilities were immediately apparent.

He couldn’t help but sigh inwardly, a disciple taught by hand really is different!

They just seem so pleasing to the eye, despite those who came later still slightly lacking.

This order just requested this seafood stew.

As for the staple food, it was handled by the pastry section, and for a while, the back kitchen relaxed again.

Yao Shi grabbed a paper towel to wipe his hands and, turning to Fu Yu, suddenly thought of something and casually asked, "By the way, Xiaofu, isn’t it less than a week until the annual meeting? How’s your competition preparation going?"

At the mention of this, Fu Yu couldn’t help but sigh.

He had sent out the edited video, but had yet to receive any feedback, no notification, and no receipt notice.

Probably not going to work out, right?

Otherwise, there should have been a notice already.

If he had known, he wouldn’t have prepared such a simple cooking video!

He should have shown off a special skill.

Now thinking back, there’s a bit of regret.

When he recorded the video, he was far less skilled in culinary arts than he is now.

If he didn’t get selected, it’d be a real pity. If only he had more time...

"The cooking video has been edited and submitted, and it seemed okay at the time, but... no reply as yet. I thought about asking Sister Feng, but then thought if there were any news, she would tell me, so I didn’t ask proactively."

"Now that the Little New Year has passed and there is still no news, it’s probably not going to happen."

Yao Shi was taken aback after hearing this: "When did you submit the video? Was it Liu Xiaoxiao who helped you make contact? Should I inquire for you? If it doesn’t work out, contact Liu Xiaoxiao, since she helped you sign up, she should know some internal news."

"No matter what, it’d be good to have some idea from our side."

"I actually know someone from the Provincial Gourmet Association, I’m quite familiar with the vice-chairman. He came to Bei’an some time ago, and we had a meal together. I have a friend from the publicity team, I can ask them for you."

Although Yao Shi hasn’t joined the Gourmet Association, he is quite aware of the things inside.

Moreover, for someone young and new like Fu Yu, with not many opportunities to gain fame, participating in association activities can broaden his horizons and expand connections. If he’s lucky enough to stand out among the excellent participants, it’s only a matter of time before he becomes well-known in the circle.

To become an excellent chef, closing oneself off is the worst practice.

Reputation is something that is not dispensable; if there is an opportunity, it should be grasped to gain fame and build one’s influence.

Liu Xiaoxiao seems to have mixed well in the circle, with presumably broad connections.

Since she is organizing to help Fu Yu sign up for the competition, she must have utilized relationships within the association.

Yao Shi attaches great importance to such large-scale events as the annual meeting.

After all, generally speaking, the judges eligible to make evaluations mainly come from two fields.

One is renowned chefs with excellent culinary skills and a bit of fame themselves.

The other is successful individuals who love to promote food and run their culinary projects.

Both types of people, regardless of their personal character, have in common their in-depth knowledge of cooking.

To gain their recognition and support, you must first have extraordinary culinary skills.

Yao Shi sees Fu Yu’s level visibly, and it’s certainly possible for him to stand out among the contestants.

After all, the works to be evaluated are pre-recorded cooking videos.

Watching a video gives a completely different feeling compared to observing live cooking.

Compared to live cooking, the visual impression from cooking videos and the contestant’s personal image invisibly occupy a certain proportion of judgment.

Everyone loves beautiful things.

Fu Yu has an excellent appearance, plus solid culinary skills and good cooking operations.

In Yao Shi’s view, the chances of winning are still very high.

This is precisely why Yao Shi is so invested in this matter.

Fu Yu’s working time is already too short, and he lacks work experience, so if his culinary skills aren’t solid, it will be difficult for him to be accepted and recognized by everyone.

At this moment, Yao Shi feels a bit of regret, wishing he had initially done a better job checking Fu Yu’s work.

It’s a pity...