The Cheat Emperor of the Culinary World

Zhang Jinyu looked at Fu Yu with admiration and sincerely said, ”Chef Fu, I find that you know everything and can do anything!”

Fu Yu smiled mysteriously and whispered, ”I picked it up by watching Chef Zhao cook before.”

Zhang Jinyu: ”!”

Zhang Jinyu suddenly had a moment of enlightenment!

That’s right!

You can learn by watching!

It’s okay if no one teaches you, as long as you work hard, an iron rod can be ground down to a needle!

Zhang Jinyu’s not-so-large eyes widened into perfect circles, staring intently at Fu Yu’s cooking.

Among the three banquet dishes, the most distinctive ones were Wu’an Stir-Fry, Braised Bowl Meat, and Fermented Red Bean Curd Pork.

In the special family banquet menu, the other dishes were accompanied by regular pictures and cooking techniques.

Only these three dishes were specially marked with the word ”unique.”

Fu Yu looked carefully, the cooking process wasn’t difficult, but the flavor might have a regional specialty.

But before making these three dishes, Fu Yu first followed the instructions from the special family banquet menu, adding washed hawthorn to honey, then pouring in boiling water to soak.

After preparing the ingredients for making sweet and sour soup, Fu Yu started cooking for real.

The first dish Fu Yu prepared was Wu’an Stir-Fry.

He tore the rice noodles into pieces, cut garlic sprouts into small sections, and sliced lotus root into shreds.

He heated oil in the pot until it was 80% hot.

Then he added green onions, ginger, and garlic to the pot.

He put in shredded meat, stir-fried it, and added dark soy sauce.

He added wood ear mushrooms and lotus root shreds and stir-fried again.

He added garlic sprouts and rice noodles and stir-fried.

Finally, he added salt, MSG, and chicken essence and stir-fried.

When it was done, he served it on a shallow square plate identical to that in the special family banquet menu, and the dish was ready to be served.

Zhang Jinyu handed the dish to the waiting server before turning to ask Fu Yu, ”Chef Fu, is this how you watched Chef Zhao cook and learned this dish?”

Fu Yu nodded sheepishly, ”Yeah.”

Zhang Jinyu looked frustrated, ”Sigh, maybe I really have no talent. I thought I understood when I watched you cook just now. But now that you’ve finished, when I think about it carefully, it seems like I don’t really understand at all?”

”It’s okay, when I make it again later, I’ll teach you along the way, and you’ll learn it faster,” Fu Yu said, picking up a fresh piece of pork rib, smiling.

If you can learn by watching once, that’s a genius!

Since his casual remarks had made Zhang Jinyu feel discouraged, Fu Yu naturally hoped to help him more from his standpoint.

So, while cooking Braised Bowl Meat, Fu Yu narrated each step from the special family banquet menu to Zhang Jinyu as he worked.

”Cut the rib meat into pieces weighing about one catty, put it in a pot of water to boil, and add cinnamon, galangal, star anise, and Sichuan pepper as seasoning.”

”After boiling, carefully remove the scum, keep boiling over high heat until you can pierce through with chopsticks, then take it out, drain the water, and set aside to cool.”

Fu Yu let Zhang Jinyu handle the task of skimming the boiled meat.

Whenever an outside person was around, Fu Yu rarely did tasks involving a strainer himself.

While the pork was still warm, Fu Yu started another pot to make Fermented Red Bean Curd Pork.

He cleaned and scraped the pork belly, blanched it, and cut it into cubes.

He heated a wok with salad oil, waited until it reached 80% heat, then put in the pork belly coated with soy sauce, frying until golden brown, then removed and drained the oil.

Zhang Jinyu eagerly stepped forward to remove the meat without Fu Yu’s prompting.

He heated another pot with oil, added tied green onions and sliced ginger to bring out the fragrance.

He added Shaoxing wine, fermented red bean curd sauce, soy sauce, MSG, and star anise, lined the pot with a bamboo steamer, and placed the pork belly skin side down in sequence.

He brought it to a boil over high heat, then simmered it over low heat, and finally thickened the sauce over medium heat.

Once the color was bright red, he plated it with lettuce underneath for garnish.

There wasn’t much to teach about this Fermented Red Bean Curd Pork; at Qianlima, they made it often, and Fu Yu had been familiar with the cooking method since working as a kitchen hand.

Zhang Jinyu, of course, knew how to make it too.

Once the Fermented Red Bean Curd Pork was served, Fu Yu took the cooled cooked pork and continued making Braised Bowl Meat.

”Cut it into one-centimeter-thick strips, place the pork skin downwards in the steaming bowl bottom in an orderly manner, then fill the bowl on top.”

As Fu Yu talked and worked, Zhang Jinyu listened intently.

”Then sprinkle with ginger shreds, green onion shreds, and pour some high-quality broth over it before steaming.”

Coincidentally, the broth Fu Yu needed had been simmering in the back kitchen since morning.

When it was time to use it, he simply scooped it up.

Curiously, he wasn’t sure which dish the broth had been used for, as when he tasted it, it was clear they’d added soy sauce and salt.

Once the pork was placed in the steamer, Fu Yu continued, ”The pork needs to be steamed longer than other dishes, so you can put it in the bottom steamer first, allowing excess fat to render out under high heat, improving the dish’s texture and reducing fat intake.”

Zhang Jinyu looked enlightened; he hadn’t known there was such a trick to steaming meat!

After timing it right, Fu Yu turned to cook Red Braised Fish and Wu’an Braised Vegetables.

As for Stewed Pig’s Trotters, it was even simpler. Today was the Mid-Autumn Festival, and many customers ordered this dish, so the back kitchen had already simmered a batch of pig’s trotters, ready whenever needed with just a simple sauce preparation to serve.

Fu Yu frequently prepared Red Braised Fish, cooking at least three a day, as it was a Qianlima specialty.

His actions were swift, and he cooked quickly.

As soon as Fu Yu finished plating the Red Braised Fish, the Braised Bowl Meat was done steaming.

He opened the steamer and brought out the steaming bowl.

Fu Yu recited the special family banquet menu’s note, ”To ease combining the bowl, first pour out the broth, transfer to another bowl, then pour the broth back over.”

Zhang Jinyu helped move the bowls to the serving counter, waiting for the server to take the tray before turning to Fu Yu, saying solemnly, ”Chef Fu, I’ve basically memorized the cooking steps for this dish.”

”That’s good.” Fu Yu glanced at Zhang Jinyu and smiled, ”Don’t worry too much, when I used to follow Chef Zhao, I was much like you are now; you will get the hang of it.”

Zhang Jinyu’s heart jolted as he realized belatedly.

Indeed!

Fu Yu once followed Zhao Meng as an assistant to reach where he is today.

Zhang Jinyu knew he wasn’t naturally smart or gifted, but he firmly believed that diligence could make up for his lack.

Now, such a good opportunity was before him, and he had to work even harder!

Zhang Jinyu looked at Fu Yu; from now on, Fu Yu was his role model!

They continued diligently cooking and serving dishes.

In the private room on the second floor, Liu Yu’s family of three sat around the table, talking quietly.

The originally ordered table of specialty dishes got swapped entirely because they ran into an acquaintance and, with a casual remark, Liu Yu changed the whole menu.

Before Elder Liu could voice his opinion, Liu Yu’s wife was already displeased.

Liu Yu was forty-five this year, but his wife was actually a year older. However, she was adept at maintenance and loved dressing up, so she looked barely over thirty, a very exquisite and beautiful woman.

At this moment, her pretty eyes were angrily staring at Liu Yu, softly complaining, ”Today is about accompanying Dad for dinner! Dad wants to eat Qianlima’s specialty dishes! Who let you change it to the three banquet dishes? What even are those? Who wants to eat them?”