The Gourmet Customizer

So this is an SS Level big meat bun?

Su Chen didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

He had assumed an SS Level delicacy would be something earth-shattering, maybe even glow or something.

He never expected it to taste so... unremarkable.

Relying on his Peak of Flavor Skill, Su Chen’s most direct impression was simply: this is a bun.

Yes, that was the feeling.

The impression an SS Level bun gave was that this is exactly how a bun *should* be!

And when he ate it, he couldn’t detect a single obvious flaw. Both its texture and flavor were a pure, simple pleasure for body and soul.

"This is just my own perception. I need to see how others feel."

Having made up his mind, Su Chen’s consciousness slipped back into the real world.

He then went to the second floor and saw Liu Ahbao chatting idly with Brother Fang Chang and the others. There were five or six fish plates on their table.

"You guys ate that much?"

Brother Fang Chang patted his stomach. "Of course! This stuff is addictive! The more you eat, the more you want. Zhan Yang and I polished off five of them!"

Five fish would be over five and a half pounds. Once you remove the bones, there isn’t actually that much meat, and fish doesn’t make you feel particularly full.

"Alright. Ah Bao, come with me for a second. I have a new idea."

Hearing this, a flash of delight crossed Liu Ahbao’s face. "Coming!"

Fang Chang glanced at his good buddy. "Let’s go, we’ll follow them and see what’s up!"

Zhang Li had been catching up on sleep in the office. Hearing the commotion outside, she mumbled groggily, "How dare they make something good to eat without me? I’m going too!"

The group reappeared in the kitchen.

Su Chen glanced over. There was still some braised pork knuckle in the bucket. This must be the pork that they didn’t have time to wrap into buns because he had been making stinky mandarin fish.

Following the same procedure he used in the practice room, he first took out the pork knuckle and deboned it.

"Buns?" Ah Bao asked.

Su Chen nodded. "I feel like this bun can be made even more delicious, but I’m not entirely sure."

If you ate an A Level delicacy and then ate the same dish at S Level, you would feel a very distinct difference—the kind of difference that would directly astound your taste buds!

But for an SS Level delicacy, according to the perception of Peak of Flavor, it was flawless but not necessarily stunning. That’s why Su Chen wasn’t sure what the result would be once it was made.

After deboning, he used low heat to slowly render the fat and juices from the pork knuckle skin in a wok. Once enough juice had collected at the bottom of the wok, he added the prepared diced vegetables and began to slowly stir-fry them.

"Tsk, Boss. I feel like your cooking skills have improved a lot again recently. Have you been secretly practicing on the 19th floor every day?"

Watching Su Chen’s technique, Liu Ahbao was truly impressed from the bottom of his heart.

Putting everything else aside, Su Chen’s control over the heat for ’boiling’ was the technique he admired most.

And now, this technique of stir-frying over low heat made Ah Bao feel like Boss Su was secretly improving every day. After all, when you take fully cooked meat and stir-fry it again, the slightest misjudgment of heat would turn it to mush.

But Su Chen was able to control the heat just enough to render the fat and juices without causing the skin to turn gelatinous. It was nothing short of a miracle!

"I haven’t been secretly practicing." Su Chen told the truth. "It’s a breeze, isn’t it?"

Damn it!

Ah Bao clenched his fists. ’The boss is showing off again!’

’I’m going to practice secretly on the second floor too, and then I’ll blow everyone away! And when I do, I’ll say, ’It’s a breeze, isn’t it?’’

’Damn it all!’

With the experience from the practice room, Su Chen’s hands moved with complete familiarity.

He quickly wrapped the buns and placed them in the steamer. Five minutes passed in a flash.

He took the steamer down. Since it was a small steamer, there were only 12 buns inside.

"Boss Su, are these buns any different from before?" Brother Fang Chang had already eaten 10 buns and 5 fish with Zhan Yang that morning. Honestly, if there wasn’t much of a difference, he was pretty sure he couldn’t eat another bite.

"I’m not sure. We’ll have to taste them to find out."

Brother Fang Chang hesitated. According to Boss Su’s rules, non-employees didn’t get to be taste-testers; if they wanted to eat, they had to buy. "So, how much is this new bun?"

Su Chen thought for a moment. "I’ll let you have one for free today, but I haven’t decided on the price yet."

Compared to the previous big meat buns, the filling in the new buns was more substantial—it was all meat and nothing else.

This counted as an increase in cost.

But when it came to the bun’s sale price, the cost of ingredients was secondary. The real cost was the labor.

These buns were at least twice as much effort to make as the previous version. Moreover, Su Chen was certain that, for now, he was the only one who could make them. Even Liu Ahbao wouldn’t necessarily succeed on his first try.

’If Ah Bao can make them, I can set the price a bit lower. But if he can’t learn how...’

Su Chen thought to himself, ’Then I’ll have no choice but to set a high price.’

But since this was the first time he’d made them, he didn’t mind letting everyone try them for free. Su Chen was also very eager to see what an SS Level bun would be like in the eyes of an ordinary person.

Hearing that they could try them for free, both Brother Fang Chang and Zhan Yang broke into wide grins.

"Here, one for each of you. That’s all you get!"

In a little while, the other employees would be coming in for their shifts, and he could share some with them as well.

Brother Fang Chang took a deep breath and loosened his belt. He really was feeling a bit stuffed.

Everyone had just taken a bun and was still examining it when they saw Zhang Li had already taken a huge bite out of her meat bun.

"Careful..." Su Chen reached out to stop her, but it was too late!

"FWOFWOFWOFWO!" Zhang Li hopped and spun in place, her tongue trying to dodge the high-temperature assault of the juicy filling, making a particularly hilarious sound.

The sight sent the men into fits of laughter, leaning against the wall for support.

"What’s the rush, little lady? You can’t eat like that no matter how hungry you are!"

"She’s a real trooper! That must have been a nasty burn."

"Spit it out! Stop with the fwofwofwo and just spit it out!"

Zhang Li spun around a few more times before the temperature in her mouth finally dropped. "Hsss~ Hsss~ It’s burning hot! How is this different from the old buns?"

Su Chen sighed heavily. "Eat slowly. You all be careful not to get burned, too."

Zhang Li stuck out her tongue. She had to wait a good while before it felt better, and only then did she go back to eating her bun.

Having learned her lesson, her second bite was much more cautious. She took a small bite with a little smack and chewed gently twice.

Her eyes immediately curved into crescent moons.

Meanwhile, Brother Fang Chang also took a huge bite. He wasn’t afraid of the heat.

The bite of bun went down.

Fang Chang stood there, stunned, for a long, long time.

Then he suddenly blurted out, "Holy shit! Now *this* is a goddamn bun!"