The Gourmet Customizer

[Kung Pao Chicken: Evaluation S Level!!!]

Whoa!

Su Chen staggered back a few steps.

’That was too much, way too much,’ he thought. ’This practice session really overdid it.’

The problem now was that in the practice room, Su Chen had used a chicken breast that had been soaked in cold water for an hour.

But the kitchen at Cuihua Building didn’t have that luxury.

He couldn’t just toss a chicken breast in to soak and make everyone wait an hour before he started cooking.

"I’ll have to take a shortcut, then."

Gritting his teeth against the stabbing pain in his head, Su Chen put a pot of water on to heat and casually summoned a freshly cleaned chicken breast.

With his Max Level [Boiling] Skill, temperature control was effortless. But what Su Chen needed to do now was...

figure out how to keep the water at a temperature that was just shy of cooking the chicken through, but wouldn’t actually cook it.

This critical point was crucial!

The old Su Chen would have scoffed at such esoteric concepts.

He had even watched a show about cooking steak at low temperatures and thought it was all a scam.

It wasn’t until he became a streamer and was exposed to more things that he learned it was real.

Take steak, for example. Between 55 and 60 degrees Celsius, a steak can reach a medium-rare state. Once the temperature exceeds 60 degrees, the myoglobin and pigments in the beef begin to denature, changing from a deep red to a charming pink!

This is what many people refer to as myoglobin.

In that show, a world-famous Western chef marinated a steak, vacuum-sealed it, and then submerged it in 59-degree water for eight hours!!!

That was supposedly the optimal state for eating steak.

And now, Su Chen had to find that same critical point for chicken!

Fortunately, his [Boiling] Skill was already at Max Level, so the process wasn’t too difficult for him. After about three more hours, Su Chen let out a huge sigh of relief.

That critical point was incredibly subtle, but he had finally found it.

Once everything was settled, he immediately left the practice room. In reality, Su Chen had just walked up to the cutting board.

"Hiss..."

"Boss Su!" He Shuting was quick to react, weaving through the crowd to support Su Chen. "What’s wrong? What happened?"

"I’m fine. Just a little hypoglycemia."

Everyone in the kitchen pulled a sour face.

’Hypoglycemia?’

’Didn’t you just eat a walnut?’

’He’s just making excuses!’

He borrowed a cleaver and grabbed a chicken breast.

Now, Wang Peixing and Zeng Ming both crowded closer, their thoughts basically in sync.

Wang Peixing, in particular, was thoroughly disdainful of Su Chen’s supposed skills. He only held his tongue because Su Chen was President Shang’s honored guest.

You couldn’t really blame Wang Peixing.

In their Capital City culinary circles, lineage was everything.

Anyone who knew him knew that Wang Peixing’s master was Cui Yufen. She had been a chef at Quanjude in the seventies and became the head chef of the Lu Cuisine Restaurant at the Capital City International Hotel in ’85—a position she held for thirteen years!

And if someone argued that Cui Yufen, being from Ji Province, didn’t have enough authority to cook Lu Cuisine, Wang Peixing would immediately name his grandmaster.

Wang Chunlong, an authentic native of Lu Province who was featured in the *National Chefs* compendium!

Wang Chunlong had even helped compile the famous cookbook published by the Finance and Economics Press in the seventies. The man was a legend in the Capital City!

Wang Peixing’s skills were passed down through this very lineage. If even that could be called subpar, then Wang Peixing really didn’t know what "good" was supposed to be.

’Could a twenty-five or twenty-six-year-old kid really be any better?’

They watched as Su Chen flattened the chicken breast with the back of his cleaver, removed the fat and white sinew, and then diced it into small, even cubes.

This step was no different from his own.

It was almost identical!

Except...

Zeng Ming commented with a hint of mockery, "This chef’s knife work is a little unorthodox!"

The other chefs at Cuihua Building pursed their lips, trying to stifle their laughter.

Su Chen pretended not to hear them. It was true; his Spiritual Power was running a bit low right now.

That’s why he could only move slowly.

’Besides, it’s just dicing chicken. What kind of knife skills does that even take? Anyone can do it.’

Behind them, Liu Ahbao had no love for these Cuihua Building chefs. Seeing their smug expressions, he thought, ’Just you wait!’

’One bite and you’ll all be speechless!’

’If we weren’t making Lu Cuisine today, I’d have Boss Su show you his Wen Si Tofu, one way or another!’

’Unorthodox style?’

’You haven’t even seen what truly unorthodox is!’

With the chicken diced, Su Chen also got a wok and filled it with cold water.

Wang Peixing asked curiously, "Aren’t you going to add some cooking wine?"

Su Chen shook his head.

’I spent hours painstakingly finding that critical temperature precisely so I wouldn’t have to use cooking wine!’

You could add it if you were stewing chicken, since the long cooking time would allow the alcohol to completely evaporate. But a stir-fry is over in five or six seconds, making it difficult for the wine to fully cook off.

"Huh?" Zeng Ming was really getting into his role as the heckler. "When I was first learning this dish, I forgot to add the cooking wine, and my master nearly broke my hand!"

Many of the Cuihua Building chefs had already lost interest in watching.

Just from this one step—not adding cooking wine—they had already concluded that this young man probably didn’t know how to cook.

If you don’t use cooking wine when blanching diced chicken, how gamey would the meat taste?

They watched as Su Chen added cold water to the wok and immediately poured in the diced chicken. He then began to stir it constantly with a ladle.

He also occasionally lowered and then raised the flame. This process continued for about six or seven minutes.