The Gourmet Customizer

Showing up in the practice room at a time like this was, frankly, a last resort.

With Su Chen’s current level of skill, if he were to follow the fragments of famous recipes, most dishes would easily reach A Level on his first attempt.

Some dishes could even reach S Level if he had a flash of inspiration during the cooking process.

According to the plan he had worked out with Li Mingtao, the first dish Su Chen served should be an ordinary, A Level dish.

In other words, it had to be delicious but by no means exceptional. It should be good enough to be a signature dish at an old, established restaurant, but not so amazing it would leave them speechless.

If Cui Yufen and her party still found fault with a dish like that, it would be undeniable proof that they were just here to cause trouble.

But if they let it slide, Su Chen could then proceed to cook the rest of the meal at his usual skill level.

The problem was, all the dishes he had mentally prepared were S Level. There wasn’t a single A Level dish among them.

’I can’t believe I have to deliberately downgrade my cooking. Who even does that?’

Su Chen quickly found an appetizer recipe in his collection of famous Lu Cuisine dishes.

The dish was rather uncommon. In fact, to the uninitiated, it might even seem a bit ridiculous.

Fried Watermelon!

It was a creation that could be classified as either a fried dessert or an appetizer.

If you ever saw a restaurant brave enough to put this dish on its menu, you would absolutely have to order it.

Think about it... you’ve seen people eat chilled watermelon, but have you ever seen anyone eat it hot?

Fried watermelon was just that kind of unnatural dish. Su Chen’s job was to make it a little less so.

Following the recipe’s instructions, Su Chen took only fifteen minutes to create a portion of fried watermelon that was identical to the recipe’s description.

The dish, without a doubt, received an A Level rating from the system.

’In reality, this dish is all about novelty. Once you’ve tried it a few times, the appeal is gone.’

It was this exact dish that Su Chen decided to use to probe Cui Yufen’s intentions.

He slipped out of the practice space. Opening his eyes, Su Chen waited until the timer on the counter hit the three-minute mark.

Only then did he retrieve the duck that had been boiling in the pot and rinse it with clean water.

He wrapped the duck in a clean white cloth. The pork, which had been sliced two inches long and just a fraction of an inch thick, the chicken, which was diced into one-inch cubes, and the chicken carcass, which was quartered, were all placed in the pot. They were boiled for five minutes before being removed and rinsed clean once more.

Watching this complicated procedure, the other master chefs in the kitchen couldn’t help but sigh.

"I have to say, you see fewer and fewer dishes like this these days." Jiang Wusheng was the most moved by this, as it was one of the main reasons he had retired from the culinary world.

He couldn’t accept today’s fast-paced lifestyle. Everything had to be quick. Customers would get impatient if they had to wait half an hour for their food; they all wanted to start eating the moment they sat down.

How could anyone possibly make a truly delicious dish under those conditions?

At the same time, it gave him a whole new understanding of Su Chen’s "Delicious" custom dining model.

He watched Su Chen’s movements with deep admiration. "For Boss Su to have this kind of vision at his age... it makes my museum seem rather insignificant by comparison."

Sensing the confused gazes from Lu Yongliang and Jiang Wensheng, Jiang Wusheng continued with great seriousness, "Take a dish like this ’Stuffed Longevity Duck,’ for example. If it were on a regular restaurant’s menu, you could certainly prep it in advance. But if you have leftovers at the end of the day, you’ve lost money on it. If you don’t make enough and a customer can’t get it, your reputation takes a hit."

"I’ve noticed that all the dishes Boss Su is preparing share one characteristic: their procedures are incredibly complex. From processing the ingredients to simmering the stock to the final cooking, everything is painstakingly slow-cooked over time. If it weren’t for the advance custom-ordering model, how could delicacies like these possibly appear in a regular restaurant?"

After hearing Jiang Wusheng’s explanation, Lu Yongliang readily agreed. "Any ordinary restaurant that dared to put this duck on its menu would probably be on the verge of bankruptcy."

Of course, a roast duck institution like Quanjude doesn’t have such worries. For them, it’s a matter of ’delicious or not, you’re here to eat it, so just eat!’

’If you think it doesn’t taste good, that’s your problem. We’re a century-old establishment; how could we possibly be the ones at fault?’

Jiang Wensheng, on the other hand, thought back on his own restaurant’s menu and realized it was true.

No matter what a customer ordered off his menu, it was guaranteed to be on the table within fifteen minutes!

If he were to put this duck dish on his menu, Jiang Wensheng felt he’d have absolutely no confidence in meeting his service time targets.

It would take at least half a year, maybe even a full year, just to figure out the right number of ducks to prep in advance each day. And that was for an established restaurant; an ordinary one would never survive that long!

Su Chen listened to their conversation as he cooked.

’Hmm... not a bad conversation. I’ll have to jot these points down in my notebook later.’

’If someone asks me why I chose the ’Delicious’ custom dining model...’

’...well, now I’ve got a great answer for them.’

He took another clean pot and placed the chicken carcass inside. He set the wrapped duck on top of it, then arranged the pork slices and chicken chunks over the duck.

Then, he ladled in the clear stock he had prepared the night before, along with a measure of soy sauce, a touch of fine salt, green onions, and ginger. He brought it to a rolling boil over high heat, skimmed off the scum, then reduced the heat to a simmer and covered the pot.

"Ah Bao, set a timer for two and a half hours."

"You got it!" Ah Bao placed the timer next to the stove. Once the alarm went off, the dish would be ready!

After all, when Su Chen was cooking at full tilt, he didn’t have time to personally monitor every single dish.