The Gourmet Customizer

In no time, two large, heaping basins of Wanzi were done blasting. Each one was a round ball about five centimeters in diameter.

"Can I have one?" Zhang Li asked tentatively.

Her mouth had started watering while the Wanzi were blasting. Just looking at their golden-brown exteriors, she could already imagine how perfectly crispy on the outside and tender on the inside they would be.

"Of course. But the Wanzi filling has no seasoning, so they might taste a little bland," Su Chen added as a friendly reminder.

"Mhm!"

Even so, Zhang Li stubbornly picked up a Wanzi and stuffed it into her mouth. The freshly oil-blasted Wanzi was so hot she couldn’t even close her lips.

"Hssssss—"

She frantically sucked in cool air, and only after a good while did she manage to bring the Wanzi’s temperature down enough to take a gentle bite.

Mmm...

It was just as she expected—crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. This was a texture most people would love. The first bite into the golden-brown shell brought a pleasure that only deep-fried food could provide!

Inside the Wanzi, there was a distinct texture of minced meat. Since it was mixed with egg yolk and flour, the bits of fatty pork weren’t greasy at all. In fact, if you weren’t tasting it carefully, you wouldn’t even notice the fat; you’d only taste the rich aroma of the meat!

"This is delicious! It would be even better with a little salt!" Zhang Li praised from the bottom of her heart.

Just as Su Chen had said, the Wanzi hadn’t been seasoned. Not even scallions or anything similar had been added, so it did taste a little bland. There was only a hint of meatiness, and the flavor vanished from her mouth after she finished the one.

"I want to try one too!" Bai Xiaobo chimed in.

"Give me one!"

"Don’t fight over them, there are plenty! Let me have a taste!"

Everyone started reaching for them with their chopsticks, giving Su Chen a major headache.

’These are just the plain, unprocessed Wanzi! Are you guys kidding me? How good can they possibly be?’

"Everyone stop. You’re going to eat them all. If you really want some, I’ll make a proper batch for you right now."

Su Chen’s suggestion immediately won everyone’s support.

"Ah Bao, you watch closely too. This next step is the key to Sugar-Crisp Wanzi!"

Blasting unseasoned Wanzi like this was simple. Basically any homemaker could do it. Even if they’d never done it before, they could master it in a few days.

But for Sugar-Crisp Wanzi, the true essence wasn’t in the "Wanzi," but in the "Sugar-Crisp"!

Su Chen grabbed a clean wok and then did a quick headcount of the people there.

"There are seven of us, so twenty-one Wanzi should be about right."

This wasn’t a meal, after all. At most, it was just a taste test—and a free one at that!

He added two large spoonfuls of white sugar to the wok, then poured in some water. "Personally, I suggest adding a bit of banana extract. That stuff really enhances the flavor!"

Edible banana extract isn’t harmful to the body. Besides, the kitchen used a concentrated banana liquid, which was a relatively expensive seasoning.

He only needed to drip a tiny drop into the wok.

Su Chen then turned on the stove, setting it to low heat. "This is different from caramelizing sugar for color. The heat absolutely cannot be high, or it will change color!"

Over the low flame, the sugar and water in the wok looked like they wanted to merge but hadn’t quite done so.

The white sugar seemed to be on the verge of melting, yet not quite there.

Liu Ahbao watched with intense focus, his admiration for Boss Su’s control over the heat growing even stronger.

"How should I put this..." Su Chen thought for a moment before looking at Liu Ahbao. "You have to catch the exact moment when the sugar is about to change color but hasn’t yet. You have to seize that critical point."

Grasping this critical point relied entirely on intuition and experience; it was difficult to teach using a fixed time or temperature.

That’s why there are some dishes that certain people just can’t get right.

"Right when the sugar is about to change color but still hasn’t, pour the Wanzi into the wok!"

Twenty-one Wanzi plopped into the wok, and Su Chen immediately lifted it with his right hand.

With a slight shake of his arm, the Wanzi in the wok began to rotate along with his movements. At first, there was still some water in the wok, but as he tossed them, the water gradually began to evaporate.

It continued until the moisture was almost completely gone.

Zhang Li pointed at the wok in amazement. "The sugar changed! Why is that!"

The once-white sugar had now transformed into something like frost, clinging tightly to the surface of the Wanzi. The patches of snow-white were beautiful to look at!

"This is sugar frosting. That’s why for this dish, you have to pay special attention to the heat when you’re boiling the sugar. If you cook it for too long, you’ll get spun sugar. But if the time is too short, the sugar won’t cling to the Wanzi properly, and you won’t achieve that crispy exterior."

Su Chen’s explanation was very detailed, and it even looked simple to do. Just like this, then like that, and then like that.

Ling Shuyu thought to herself, ’Yep, another one of those dishes that my brain understands but my hands could never make.’

After about two or three minutes of tossing, every Wanzi was coated in the syrup. Within those few minutes, the sugar began to cool, and the few Wanzi that had been stuck together automatically separated.

"There! Sugar-Crisp Wanzi, done!"

Su Chen looked up and saw a neat row of employees, all staring intently at the wok. He could even faintly see a trickle of drool at the corner of Zhang Li’s mouth!

"Forget plating it. Just eat them like this."

"I’ll go!" Zhang Li grabbed her chopsticks and jabbed them into the wok. Maybe she’d learned from her previous experience, because this time she aimed the tips of her chopsticks at a Wanzi and stabbed down hard!

’If I can’t pick you up, I can still skewer you, can’t I?’

ZING~

The moment the chopsticks made contact, the Sugar-Crisp Wanzi shot off the tips as if it had grown wings. It spun around the edge of the wok before landing back in the pile of Wanzi, wobbling slightly.