The Gourmet Customizer

He barely had to think. He simply placed the chicken breast on the cutting board, and with a few flashes of his cleaver, he had diced it into neat, quarter-inch cubes.

Each cube was almost identical in size.

Su Chen nodded to himself. ’This knife work is pretty good!’

He then briefly blanched the diced chicken in a pot of water with cooking wine before setting it aside to drain.

He whisked an egg white with a cornstarch slurry, then tossed the diced chicken in the mixture until evenly coated. Immediately after, he heated lard in a wok and started velveting the chicken.

This method was almost identical to the one Su Chen had used in the Gourmet Practice Room.

’The only difference is... he blanched the chicken?’

Also, contrary to Su Chen’s initial assumption, the chicken wasn’t marinated in cooking wine. It was merely blanched for a moment in water heated to seventy or eighty degrees Celsius with cooking wine added.

A moment later, Wang Peixing plated the finished dish. "Boss Su, please, have a taste."

Zeng Ming handed a pair of chopsticks to every guest present, and Su Chen was the first to try the dish.

He first tried a piece of chicken. In both texture and flavor, it was virtually identical to the one he’d eaten in the private room earlier.

Then he picked up a walnut.

"Boss Su, is it to your liking?" Wang Peixing asked.

Su Chen nodded. "The walnuts are fried perfectly crispy and fragrant. They have a quality reminiscent of pecans. Very tasty."

"You also served it on a heated plate. Not bad, not bad."

With that, he stepped back to let the others have a taste.

No one else noticed anything amiss, but Wang Peixing’s brow furrowed once more.

’What does he mean, praising only the walnuts and not the chicken?’

’And complimenting my choice of plate? Isn’t that just basic knowledge?’

’Does this mean he’s still not satisfied?’

The others couldn’t taste any difference at all. Shang Mingke was a regular here, and after a few bites, he started praising the chef. "Manager Wang, you’ll have to be the one cooking for me from now on!"

Wang Peixing smiled. "But of course."

But looking at Su Chen’s expression, he couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong.

’If you think something’s wrong, just say it!’

Just then, Zeng Ming stepped past his master and said loudly, "Sir, it seems you aren’t quite satisfied with this Kung Pao Chicken with Walnuts. If there’s something we did wrong, please point it out!"

Wang Peixing nodded inwardly.

’This kid, Zeng Ming, isn’t half bad. He just blurted out everything I wanted to say but couldn’t. He’s got potential!’

Su Chen knew he couldn’t get out of this one. But it wasn’t in his nature to lie just to flatter someone.

"This dish is pretty good, but that’s all it is—pretty good."

"What do you mean by that?" Wang Peixing asked.

Su Chen really wanted to say, ’This is just a simple B-Level dish. What more is there to say? That’s how the system defines it!’

B Level—Tastes pretty good.

If a dish could reach A Level—an unforgettable delicacy—it would basically qualify as a restaurant’s signature dish.

The stir-fried chicken at Delicious was a perfect example.

But clearly, Cuihua Building’s Kung Pao Chicken wasn’t up to the standard of a signature dish.

Of course, once you reached the S-Level standard, like his large meat buns and tea eggs, you were talking about food so good it made you eat double your normal portion every day.

Take He Shuting, for example. She normally had the appetite for only two buns, but every morning she’d eat four or five of his, and still need a bowl of millet porridge to wash it all down.

Su Chen said, "First, there’s an aftertaste of cooking wine."

Liu Ahbao puffed up his cheeks, exhaling through his nose. It seemed there really was a faint trace of that flavor, though it wasn’t obvious.

You’d easily miss it if you weren’t paying attention.

"Second, it leaves you with a ’false thirst’ on the tip of your tongue."

’False thirst?’

Those who didn’t understand the term were confused, while those in the know nodded silently.

"Ah Bao, Ah Bao, what’s Boss Su talking about?" Bai Xiaobo whispered. "And why do you still have that video call running? Who is that?"

Liu Ahbao lowered his phone slightly. "’False thirst’ means that there’s chicken bouillon in the dish, and a little too much of it."

"How come I didn’t taste it?"

Ah Bao didn’t know how to explain it to Bai Xiaobo. "You’ll understand if you start eating cleaner food."

At the same time, Lu Yongliang’s voice came from Liu Ahbao’s earpiece.

"Haha, brilliant! Xiaosu’s critique is ruthless. That Wang Peixing’s face has gone pale! Ah Bao, make sure you stop them if they start fighting, haha!"

’Oh, brother.’

’Master, from the sound of it, you’re hoping they’ll start fighting, aren’t you?’

Zeng Ming was unconvinced. "Sir. It’s perfectly normal to add a little chicken bouillon to enhance the flavor, isn’t it? Aren’t you exaggerating with this ’false thirst’ claim?"

"Xiaozeng, watch your mouth!" Wang Peixing barked, before immediately softening his tone. "Boss Su, in your opinion, how should this dish be made?"

’There’s no getting out of it today,’ Su Chen knew. He pointed at the plate and continued, "And there’s a third point."

"What?" Wang Peixing and his apprentices were dumbfounded.

’Two flaws already, and there’s a third one?’

"What’s the mark of a great version of this dish? When it’s finished and served, after all the food is eaten, the plate should show only oil, no sauce."

Su Chen didn’t say the rest out loud. ’Your control of the heat is insufficient...’

Everyone’s gaze followed Su Chen’s chopsticks to the plate.

Sure enough, there were a few thin, sparse patches of sauce on the bottom of the plate. But wasn’t that completely normal?

’Having a bit of sauce left on the plate from Kung Pao Chicken is as normal as your mouth smelling like durian after you’ve eaten it!’

With things having come to this point, Wang Peixing took a deep breath.

"Boss Su, I ask for your guidance!"

The group from Delicious all leaned in closer, their hearts pounding with a bit of nervousness.

Through Liu Ahbao’s earpiece, Lu Yongliang’s voice grew shrill with excitement. "Go on, let ’em have it! Come on, fight! Haha! I’m going to go pour myself another drink!"

’Master, didn’t you just tell me to keep them from fighting? But now...’

"Well, if you insist!"

Su Chen took a step forward, standing in front of the workstation.

He picked up a cleaver with one hand, and as he took a deep breath, his consciousness was already inside the Gourmet Practice Room!

"Summon!"

"Thaw one chicken breast, one pound of lard, one ounce of yellow bean paste!"

"..."

All the ingredients and seasonings appeared on the cutting board. ’Time to save the ingredient state!’

’Time to upgrade!’

’Kung Pao Chicken!’