The Cheat Emperor of the Culinary World

Chapter 312: Chapter 311: The Operation Was Flawlessly Perfect

Beside him, Chen Xinwei couldn’t help but say, ”I was invited to be a judge on the show ’Top Chef.’ Although the contestants were amateurs, they were the best cooking enthusiasts selected nationwide.”

”In one episode, there was a segment on the preparation of the ’Three-Bird Dish,’ requiring deboning without breaking the skin. No contestant could meet the standard within the one-hour time limit.”

Speaking with a self-deprecating smile, Chen Xinwei continued, ”In the end, the program team wanted me to demonstrate it, but I didn’t dare to. Finally, it was a Huaiyang cuisine master they invited who completed it.”

Li Zhiyuan craned his neck and said, ”Just using a kitchen knife, bones are easy to chop, but deboning the whole bird without breaking the skin, now that’s a true skill developed since childhood!”

While they were discussing, Liu Yunong was intently watching the stage.

The host was still introducing the other contestants and their upcoming dishes.

The contestants had already begun their preparations.

Fu Yu didn’t start with the main ingredients but rather calmly prepared the auxiliary ingredients.

His movements were swift, skillfully organizing all the preparations in order.

After the host finished introducing all the contestants’ works, he stepped back to the side of the stage, clearing the way for the cameras, and watched from the sidelines.

As an outsider to cooking, like many in the audience, he was just there for the spectacle.

Perhaps because of his casual observation, Fu Yu inadvertently became the focus of his attention.

On one hand, the young man was handsome and pleasing to the eye.

On the other hand, perhaps due to some subconscious impression, watching Fu Yu cook had an inexplicable aesthetic appeal, making it hard to look away.

Fu Yu’s distinct fingers, whether holding a knife or cutting vegetables, moved with fluid grace, particularly enjoyable to watch.

As a photographer, driven by instinct for beauty, after capturing the stage’s wide shots and fairly recording close-ups of all contestants per the host’s introductions, his lens unknowingly settled on Contestant No. 2.

Unaware that he had once again become the star on the big screen, Fu Yu focused on following the classic old flavor recipe’s method, attempting to debone the duck.

Using the knife, he severed the neck bone from the domestic duck at the slaughtering point.

He made an incision where the neck and wing connect, cutting through the duck skin to extract the neck bone.

With hands, he peeled back the duck skin, cutting with the knife to separate the bone and meat.

He continued cutting to the end of the thigh, severing the knee bone.

Then he removed the leg bones, trimmed the duck fat, and turned the duck skin back to its original shape.

The liver was de-galled, the gizzard was cleaned, and both were washed with the duck.

This entire deboning operation was executed by Fu Yu in one seamless flow.

With his advanced deboning skills, aided by a knife sharp enough to cut iron, Fu Yu smoothly deboned the wild duck and pigeon as well.

As he focused on careful cleaning, there was a collective gasp from the judges’ table.

The judges were incredulous as they watched Fu Yu’s systematic deboning on the big screen.

How much time did that take?

Chen Xinwei gaped at the timer—only 35 minutes!

It’s known that the Huaiyang master specially invited by the program took a full 53 minutes to complete this entire preparation.

This systematic deboning involves individually removing each bone without damaging the outer skin and flesh—imagine the difficulty!

Equally astonished was Dai Jinghe.

This Three-Bird Dish, he had attempted it himself before. As long as speed wasn’t overly pursued, he could reliably complete the task very well.

But in terms of speed, whether he admitted it or not, it wasn’t as fast as Fu Yu’s deboning.

Furthermore, he had observed carefully; Fu Yu was incredibly systematic in his deboning, following a pre-designed process, each step in order.

With one domestic duck, one wild duck, and one pigeon, all performed exactly the same steps in deboning, with nearly the same speed.

To achieve this level of proficiency, you must practice on hundreds or thousands of birds, without question.

While everyone marveled at Fu Yu’s cooking, Liu Yunong was equally absorbed watching the big screen.

She hadn’t even heard of this dish before!

The Three-Bird Dish involves cooking two ducks and a pigeon together?

This dish was fascinating!

The public only knew Liu Yunong as the descendant of Lady Liu, learning ancestral culinary skills from a young age.

But no one knew Liu Yunong had a long period of fascination with medical dissection.

Other women might enjoy dressing up or shopping in private.

Liu Yunong, however, practiced her dissection skills at home.

For her, with these birds, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that even with her eyes closed, she could quickly visualize the complete layout of bones and muscles in her mind.

Because of her proficiency in deboning, she was astounded by Fu Yu’s technique.

Fu Yu’s execution was so perfect, so brilliant!

She even felt that his deboning technique matched hers. In terms of speed, he might even be a notch ahead.

Realizing this, Liu Yunong’s eyes lit up as she looked at Fu Yu!

Successfully completing the preparation of the Three-Bird Dish boosted Fu Yu’s confidence immensely.

Instinctively, he glanced at the judges’ seats.

Without the advanced deboning skills he learned from Liu Yunong, he couldn’t have completed it so smoothly with his previous abilities.

As it happened, Fu Yu’s gaze met Liu Yunong’s.

Before Fu Yu could react, he noticed Liu Yunong giving him a radiant smile.

Fu Yu: ”!”

Was this... satisfaction with his technique?

Fu Yu himself was quite satisfied.

He returned a slight smile to Liu Yunong, completely relaxed.

The most challenging part of the cooking process was done; what remained was simple.

He inserted the pigeon into the wild duck’s cavity through its neck incision, filling the cavity with 10 grams of winter mushrooms, 50 grams of ham slices, and 50 grams of bamboo shoots.

Then he inserted the wild duck into the domestic duck’s cavity through its neck incision, filling it with 15 grams of winter mushrooms, 50 grams of ham slices, and 50 grams of bamboo shoots.

He sealed the domestic duck’s incision, forming the nested ducks, and blanched it briefly in a pot of boiling water.

Positioning the nested ducks and offal in a sandpot with a bamboo mat, he added ginger pieces, scallion knots, and Shaoxing wine, filled it with clear water, and brought it to a simmer over medium heat.

He skimmed the foam, covered with a round plate, and simmered it over low heat.

When tender, he removed it from the heat.

He flipped the nested ducks, breast side up, and removed the scallions, ginger, and bamboo mat.

Fishing out the offal, he sliced it and laid it atop the ducks with the remaining mushrooms, ham slices, and bamboo shoots.

He added salt, then simmered over low heat for about another half hour.

The competition aimed to encourage contestants to create complex and distinctive dishes.

Fu Yu spent nearly three hours on this dish without any sense of urgency.

Some contestants were taking even longer, and when his finished Three-Bird Dish was served to the judges, others were still cooking.