The Gourmet Customizer

Hearing this, even the people who were about to play games had to agree.

Weren’t these buns made for eating?

If that’s the case, why not make more of them?

Everyone looked at Su Chen, their gazes filled with questions. ’Why can’t you just make more and let us eat our fill?’

Su Chen certainly could have made more.

But right now, there were other things Su Chen hadn’t figured out and was eager to test. For example... in preparation for Cui Yufen’s arrival, he had been studying the Nine-Turned Pork Intestines for a long time.

It was still stuck at B Level.

Logically, this dish shouldn’t be so difficult, yet he just couldn’t seem to level it up.

Lu Cuisine without Nine-Turned Pork Intestines would be like the West without Jerusalem!

Su Chen really wanted to test how much of a boost Peak of Flavor could give to a B Level dish.

But now, looking at his employees eyeing him like hungry tigers, Su Chen knew he had really stirred the pot with these buns!

"Since we all agree, I suggest we have Boss Su return to the kitchen and whip up eighty to a hundred buns for us. We can talk about everything else after we’ve had our fill." At this moment, Ling Shuyu was like a proud queen issuing commands to her subjects.

"Boss..." He Shuting put on a very insincere, pitiful expression. "You’ll have to forgive us!"

"Ah, sorry, Boss!" Liu Shengnan also shed her usual mature and steady demeanor.

The two women grabbed one of his arms each and practically dragged Su Chen into the kitchen.

"I’ll guard the door! Don’t even think about leaving this kitchen until you’ve made enough buns!" Zhang Li got into character quickly, planting herself at the doorway.

Everyone else also gathered at the door, all eyes fixed on Su Chen.

’What the hell!’

’Is this a mutiny?’

’Are they planning to lock me in a dark room and force me to cook for them?’

Su Chen finally understood the meaning of "dying for a good meal."

"Fine!" Su Chen said fiercely. "I’ll make more buns today! Enough to make you all burst!"

Thankfully, there were still several large pork knuckles in the bucket. A quick glance told him there was more than enough meat to make eighty or a hundred buns. No problem!

Besides, the dough was already prepared!

All he had to do was debone the pork knuckles, then stir-fry the meat with precise heat control.

「Half an hour later.」

Su Chen placed two large steamer baskets on the stove. Inside were exactly ninety-six buns!

"Five minutes. You only have to wait five more minutes to eat. Can I go now?"

Zhang Li stood with her hands on her hips. "Fine, you can go!"

Su Chen stormed out of the kitchen, shooting a glare at Ling Shuyu as he passed. ’Look at this terrible idea of yours!’

President Ling pretended not to notice his glare, turning her eyes toward the window.

"Liu Shengnan, remember to record how many buns everyone eats!"

"You got it! See you later, Boss!"

’Damn it!’

Stepping into the elevator, Su Chen still felt frustrated. ’How did I suddenly become their personal cooking puppet!’

’This time, I’ll set the price sky-high. I’ll eat their wallets empty!’

Back on the 2nd floor.

He Shuting stared eagerly at the steamer. "Do you think we were a little too hard on him?"

"Hard on him?" Liu Shengnan was also staring at the buns. "These new buns are so good, I honestly want to lock Boss in a dark room and make him cook them forever!"

Zhang Li’s face flushed red.

’Sister Shengnan is so aggressive,’ she thought. ’Can she really say something like that in front of everyone?’

"Exactly! If the boss refuses to cook, we’ll just whip him with a little leather whip!" He Shuting replied.

...

"ACHOO!"

Sitting on a lounge chair, Su Chen rubbed his nose. "Can you even catch a cold in this weather?"

’That shouldn’t be possible...’

He found the most comfortable position and immediately entered the Gourmet Practice Room.

’Nine-Turned Pork Intestines! The signature dish of Lu Cuisine.’

If Kung Pao Chicken represented the traditional techniques of Lu Cuisine, then Nine-Turned Pork Intestines could be called its very soul.

A perfect Kung Pao Chicken might only be enough to defeat a chef like Wang Peixing.

But a perfect Nine-Turned Pork Intestines could defeat every chef in the entire school of Lu Cuisine!

It was no exaggeration to say that nowadays, Nine-Turned Pork Intestines was gradually disappearing from the menus of restaurants in Lu Province.

Even in its homeland, very few restaurants were willing to make the dish.

For one, the process was overly complex; one small mistake and the entire dish was ruined.

For another, the complex techniques combined with high costs meant it was no longer a dish for the average person.

The few restaurants that still insisted on serving it were mostly high-end business establishments, the kind ordinary people couldn’t afford.

But Cui Yufen’s party was anything but ordinary, so this dish was an absolute must!

And for all the dishes this time, Su Chen had chosen to use the methods described in the Fragment of the Chinese Cuisine Collection.

Within Lu Cuisine itself, there were two main branches: Jinan and Jiaodong.

The reason Su Chen hadn’t been studying specific recipes for the past few days was that he’d been researching the fundamental differences between these two branches.

And he had actually managed to figure a few things out.

Jinan cuisine was exquisite and meticulous, with a special emphasis on the preparation of clear broths and creamy broths. The flavors of Jiaodong cuisine, on the other hand, were slightly closer to those of Su and Zhe cuisine, showing great expertise in cooking all manner of seafood.

It was precisely this difference in geography that led to Lu Cuisine developing two completely different culinary styles.

This would have a major impact on Su Chen’s menu selection for the banquet. First and foremost, he had to select representative dishes from each of the two styles.

Nine-Turned Pork Intestines was just a relatively famous Lu Cuisine dish. To truly represent Jinan cuisine, there was one particular flavor that was absolutely essential.

"Fat duck, fat chicken, pork knuckle, pork bones."

Su Chen began to summon the ingredients.

The clear broth and creamy broth were the secret recipes of Jinan’s famous Yanxi Hall restaurant. It wasn’t until the 1950s, at the government’s behest, that they shared their proprietary techniques for major state-run hotels to study.

It was no exaggeration to say that if you learned how to make the broths back then, you learned them, and if the techniques were passed down, they were passed down.

But if they weren’t passed down, the skills were truly lost to time.

These two broths, one could say, were the embodiment of a Lu Cuisine chef’s artisan spirit. As the old saying goes: a singer has their voice, a chef has their broth.

With these broths as a base, and paired with Jinan specialties like cattail shoots and water bamboo to create a finished dish, the results were simply unbeatable!

’So, Creamy Broth with Cattails and Clear Broth with Mock Swallow’s Nest can really be considered two halves of a single dish. They demonstrate one’s mastery over superior broths.’

It had to be said, the dishes Su Chen was choosing had an element of showing off.

Now that he had Peak of Flavor, Su Chen could officially begin his training.

He had to be fully prepared for the battle in five days!