The Cheat Emperor of the Culinary World

With Zhang Jinyu assisting, Fu Yu found things much easier.

He glanced at the dough for the sesame leaves, it seemed fine, so he took it out and added flour to start rolling it out.

While Fu Yu was efficiently rolling out the dough, Yao Shi was encountering difficulties.

The banquet included a beauty-rejuvenating fish jelly that needed to cool for four or five hours during preparation to form properly.

There definitely wasn’t enough time.

Yao Shi cursed himself inwardly, lamenting that he was so preoccupied with searching for materials that he forgot to have the kitchen prepare the ingredients in advance!

Now what to do about the fish jelly?

Feeling anxious, Yao Shi couldn’t think of a good solution at the moment and had to set the dish aside, focusing on what he could cook first.

For the past two days, Sun Qingning had been with Zhao Meng, honing his skill of reading the room. Now noticing Yao Shi’s troubled expression, he quickly held his breath and concentrated on his oil-frying task.

Meanwhile, Zhang Jinyu seemed noticeably more at ease.

He mixed the stuffing well, and as Fu Yu hadn’t assigned him any further tasks for the moment, he stood by watching Fu Yu cook with keen interest.

Fu Yu rolled the dough into sheets of appropriate thickness, folded them, and cut them into wide strips.

He unfolded the strips and cut them into diamond-shaped pieces to set aside.

Pouring oil into the pot, he heated it until a piece of dough could instantly float when dropped in, then gradually added the sesame leaf dough pieces for frying.

When the sesame leaves turned golden brown, they were ready to be taken out.

Fu Yu entrusted this task to Zhang Jinyu.

Watching the diamond-shaped pieces in the pot, Zhang Jinyu asked in surprise, ”Chef Fu, do these dough pieces need to go back into the pot?”

Fu Yu shook his head, ”No, just let them cool, arrange them on a plate, and it’s ready to serve.”

Zhang Jinyu: ”...”

Damn!

Even the pastry section is easier than expected, thought it was some difficult dish!

Turns out these sesame leaves are just fried dough pieces!

Fu Yu spent just over ten minutes taking care of the first course of the tea banquet.

He started making plum blossom pastries next.

First, he made the oil-based dough.

He placed high-gluten flour, powdered sugar, and water in a bowl, mixing into a flocculent mixture.

Then he mixed in lard, kneading the dough for 10 minutes to make it elastic.

He covered the dough with plastic wrap and let it rest for 15 minutes.

In the meantime, he started preparing snow coat hawthorn, small twists, and little pastries.

He kneaded and rested several doughs in succession.

He was also ready to roll out dough for pastries.

He rolled out the dough to an appropriate thickness, using a bowl to cut out consistent-sized pastry skins.

Then he filled them and pinched them closed with design.

He heated oil in the pot.

Once the oil was hot, he placed the pastries in for frying until they turned golden brown and took them out.

Zhang Jinyu was again tasked with this job.

Having worked together for two days, Fu Yu and Zhang Jinyu were clearly becoming more in sync.

With his hands free, Fu Yu began making the oil pastry.

He mixed low-gluten flour with lard, kneading it into dough.

The oil pastry also needed to rest.

So Fu Yu continued without rest, making several other snacks.

The Three-Turn Banquet’s first course, the tea banquet, consisted entirely of pastries.

Though creatively named, they weren’t substantial enough to serve as meals.

The Featured Family Feast menu noted that these were pre-meal nibbles, and their presence at a banquet didn’t hold much significance in modern dining.

Nonetheless, for authenticity, the Three-Turn Banquet had to include this formality.

Yao Shi was then figuring out how to string apple slices shaped like copper coins together.

The apples soaked in light saltwater were very slippery, so he followed the cookbook to cut the fruit leather into thin strips and carefully threaded two apple slices together, tying them to secure.

The fruit leather, coated in apple saltwater, became incredibly slippery to handle. He cautiously tied them into knots, knowing that too much force could snap the delicate and pliable strips.

Sun Qingning, seeing apple skewers for the first time, was fascinated. He marveled at Yao Shi’s deft hands, which quickly sliced six exquisite copper coin apple slices, drawing his attention unconsciously to Yao Shi’s skillful hands.

But then!

Suddenly, Yao Shi felt the fruit leather in his hand become visibly thinner as he pulled, feeling it was about to break!

No!

Please don’t...

Damn!

It really broke!

Damn it...

Yao Shi’s expression changed, his brows furrowed tightly as he grabbed another fruit leather, but he failed again.

The material was too thin, too slippery, impossible to tie.

Applying a bit of force would cause it to break.

Should he use something else to string it instead?

What should he use?

Just then, the order taker arrived, announcing, ”The guests in Room 401 have arrived!”

Yao Shi immediately panicked and quickly turned to Fu Yu, asking, ”How’s it going?”

The culinary station was some distance from Yao Shi, and Fu Yu replied, ”The dishes can be served!”

Hearing this, Yao Shi, without a second thought for his task, hurried over to check.

At Fu Yu’s station, aside from the small twists that were still frying, all other dishes were ready for serving.

Seeing this, Yao Shi’s eyes instantly brightened!

Golden-fried sesame leaves, greasy pastries, exquisite plum blossom pastries, and snow coat hawthorns and little pastries matched the reference photos perfectly!

Fu Yu had set aside one of each for tasting.

Yao Shi sampled each in turn, finding them all truly delicious.

Whether or not they were authentic, they made excellent pastries with great taste and texture.

Yao Shi felt both relieved and pleased, praising, ”Xiaofu, your pastry skills are truly impressive!”

It’s more than just impressive!

Yao Shi genuinely felt that these pastries were authentically well made!

As the server carried away the plates, Fu Yu instructed Zhang Jinyu to take out the fried twists to drain the oil, while he arranged them according to the Featured Family Feast menu.

Once the beautifully plated small twists were taken away, the first course of this Three-Turn Banquet’s tea banquet was complete.

With his tasks finished, Fu Yu went over to assist Yao Shi.

Yao Shi had unsuccessfully attempted four or five times to tie the fruit leather strips into apple strings.

He even suspected that his shaky hands were a result of too much drinking over the years.

Seeing Fu Yu arrive, Yao Shi quickly called over, ”Xiaofu, come try and see if you can string these apple slices together!”

Fu Yu came over and, looking closely, saw a pile of fruit leather strips next to the neatly cut copper coin apple slices.

Besides the intact ones, there were many short, broken pieces.

Fu Yu stepped forward quickly; the apple slices had all been soaked in light saltwater, making the fruit leather damp and slippery.

According to the Featured Family Feast menu, the fruit leather needed to be tied in a bow, essentially forming a double knot.

This made the task even more challenging.

”Xiaofu, hold it, and I’ll tie it.”

Fu Yu picked up a piece of fruit leather and brought it closer to the apple slices Yao Shi was holding, threading it through the hole in the middle.

With an assured sense of touch, Fu Yu’s movements were steady, but dealing with such a soft and brittle ingredient inevitably made him somewhat anxious.

”When tying, you must use a gentle touch, or the fruit leather might break easily.”

Yao Shi reminded him with care.