The Gourmet Customizer

It was for the best, reassigning her to a more suitable position. With Liu Ahbao joining the team, Su Chen could now completely focus on developing new dishes.

This was a win-win situation!

After a brief exchange, Su Chen didn’t hold back.

"Use only the center portion of the pork belly, and cut it into pomegranate-seed-sized pieces. Dissolve starch in Shaoxing wine to make a slurry, score a cross into the base of the bok choy hearts, and prepare a bowl of scallion-ginger water."

This was all prep work, which Liu Ahbao handled with ease. He did have one question, though. "Boss Su, after dicing the pork belly, aren’t you going to chop it up a bit?"

Although Liu Ahbao had never systematically studied Huaiyang Cuisine, he knew a thing or two. For Lion’s Head meatballs, it was difficult to get the meat to bind without chopping it. The professional term for it was ’fine slicing and coarse chopping.’ This process helped the diced meat stick together more easily when it was worked.

"That won’t be necessary," Su Chen replied simply. Seeing that Ah Bao wasn’t satisfied with the answer, he added, "You’ll see in a bit. Oh, and process the river crab we just steamed. I need the meat and the roe."

Since that was the case, Ah Bao didn’t say another word and quickly got to work following Su Chen’s instructions.

Meanwhile, Su Chen himself fished the chicken, scallions, and ginger out of the stockpot, leaving only the broth behind.

The resulting liquid was a turbid, whitish color.

He then took two chicken breasts and minced them into a paste. Liu Ahbao watched, slightly surprised, and asked, "Are you making... Cabbage in Consommé?"

’That’s not right, though!’

’That dish is from the Sichuan school of cooking. It doesn’t match the customer’s request for tonight.’

"Nope," Su Chen said. "I’m making Wen Si Tofu."

’Good lord!’

"No wonder you’re charging five hundred yuan for just two dishes! If you’re using this chicken stock as the base for the tofu, then that price is more than justified!"

The conversation between the two chefs left Liu Shengnan and Aunt Fang completely lost, but they continued to watch with great curiosity.

Once the chicken was minced, Su Chen brought the now-strained stock back to a boil and added all of the chicken paste to the pot.

At the same time, he separated the lean meat from the pork belly trimmings Liu Ahbao had set aside and minced that as well.

He let the chicken cook, then scooped it out and added the minced pork. After this process, the once-whitish, turbid chicken stock had magically transformed into an incredibly clear, pale-yellow broth!

This completely baffled Liu Shengnan, who knew nothing about cooking. "What just happened?"

"The minced meat absorbs the impurities in the stock," Ah Bao explained. "This is the kind of consommé used for Cabbage in Consommé. Ours is less complex than the traditional version, though; we’re missing a lot of ingredients."

The stock for Cabbage in Consommé is supposed to be simmered with several types of ingredients; chicken alone isn’t enough to create the required depth of flavor.

But these were two different dishes and couldn’t be compared. While Wen Si Tofu is also about appreciating pure, authentic flavors, it still requires a bit of seasoning.

After Su Chen filtered the consommé through a cheesecloth, not a single impurity remained. It was crystal clear with a faint yellow hue. Just looking at it made you want to take a sip!

Su Chen set the consommé aside. By then, Liu Ahbao had finished preparing all the other ingredients.

’It’s awesome having a master technician as a prep cook,’ Su Chen thought. ’You just have to say what you need, and it’s ready in an instant.’

’Of course, Aunt Fang and the others could do it, too. They just needed a bit more practice.’

Now, the real cooking began!

Liu Ahbao watched Su Chen’s every move with intense focus, afraid he would miss a crucial step.

He placed the pomegranate-seed-sized diced pork into a large bowl, added a quarter of the scallion-ginger water, a dash of shrimp roe, and the crab meat.

"Is this your own invention, too?" Liu Ahbao was genuinely curious. He had never seen shrimp roe added to this dish before.

"Not exactly. Some places do it this way," Su Chen fibbed. The shrimp roe was part of the system’s recipe. He had tried making it with and without, and he felt the flavor was much richer with it.

He then added some fine salt and poured in half of the prepared starch slurry.

He repeated this process until all the scallion-ginger water had been incorporated, at which point he stopped.

Liu Ahbao had been waiting for this step. He was dying to see how Su Chen was going to form meat diced to the size of pomegranate seeds into a ball!

"Hah!" Su Chen suddenly let out a great shout!

He grabbed a handful of the meat mixture with his right hand and violently slammed it into another clean bowl!

The loud shout made Liu Shengnan jump.

’What is he doing?!’

As if one slam wasn’t enough, Su Chen picked up the mass of meat. "Hah!"

With another great shout, he slammed it into the bowl again!

After repeating this several times, he finally let out a breath. He cupped the meat in his right palm and, using his left hand to help shape it, quickly formed a ball the size of a woman’s fist!

"My god, Boss Su, you’re just..." Liu Ahbao thought for a long moment before finally managing to choke out two words: "Divine skill!"

Meat diced that small simply couldn’t be bound together with a starch slurry. But by slamming it with such force, Su Chen was actually making the pieces slowly adhere to one another.

’But still... isn’t this a bit too brutal?’

After preparing the other portion of meat the same way, Su Chen let out a breath. "This method ensures the individual pieces of meat don’t lose their shape."

’The logic made sense,’ Ah Bao thought, ’but it still feels a little extreme!’

With that step complete, Su Chen stretched his arms, then took out a wok and placed it on the stove.

"If this is really how it’s made, then I agree that these two dishes aren’t expensive at all," Liu Shengnan murmured.

Aunt Fang nodded, her face a stunned mask. "Someone with less strength really couldn’t pull this off..."

"Right, and an older person would have a tough time with it, too..." Liu Ahbao didn’t even realize he was starting to pick up the goofy humor of the other Delicious employees.

The next steps were much simpler.

Su Chen’s movements quickened, and he now had enough breathing room to chat as he worked.

"Where’s He Shuting?"

’Usually when I’m cooking, that girl is the first one in the kitchen, recording a video.’

"Her?" Liu Shengnan said dismissively. "Ever since you told her to go manage that bunch of little brats today, she’s spent the whole afternoon with Ling Shuyu."

"That’s good," Su Chen said with a smile, shaking his head.

’He hadn’t quite figured out what He Shuting’s duties should be, so this saved him the trouble.’

’A new department with three employees assigned right off the bat.’

’He Shuting would be in charge of the children’s daily activities. Having someone in the department with a background in early childhood education would make dealing with the parents much easier.’

’Ling Shuyu would oversee the whole operation. In other words, he’d just hand the new department over to her to manage for a while.’

’And Zhang Li would just act as an assistant.’

’With Liu Ahbao joining the team up here on the 19th floor, they weren’t short-staffed for the time being.’

He heated the wok over high heat and added a generous dollop of lard. As he worked, Su Chen’s mind began to churn.

’Now... all I have to do is wait for that payment to come through, and the mission will be complete!’

’He remembered it clearly: the reward for this side quest was more lavish than any he had received before!’

’It was something every chef dreamed of!’

Chinese Cuisine Collection

’A fragment of it!’