The Cheat Emperor of the Culinary World

Chapter 318: Chapter 317: Good Grief

Fu Yu habitually stuck the order slip on the kitchen wall and then fell silent.

In Zhang Jinyu’s eyes, Fu Yu looked like he was facing a great dilemma.

He had also heard what the order taker said when they delivered the slip.

The customer for this order is just being difficult!

Go to a restaurant, order whatever you want, how simple is that!

Yet they have to make a bunch of requests!

Four dishes, one soup, and a staple food, made for a pregnant woman, all seafood, and it has to have the authentic taste of a fisherman’s home!

Damn it!

This is the North!

Not a coastal city!

Where am I supposed to find authentic fisherman’s home cooking?

Zhang Jinyu, feeling indignant, complained inwardly as he efficiently tidied up the kitchen counter.

Fu Yu was trained by Zhao Meng, so he picked up many of his habits through hands-on teaching and imitation.

Zhao Meng loves cleanliness and holds high standards for the tidiness of the kitchen counter.

Fu Yu may not be as meticulous as Zhao Meng, but he also detests a messy counter.

Previously, Sun Qingning worked as Fu Yu’s assistant and did a good job in this regard.

Now it’s Zhang Jinyu’s turn, and he’s also very careful.

As Zhang Jinyu worked, he worried on behalf of Fu Yu.

How are we going to arrange this meal?

In Zhang Jinyu’s eyes, the troubled look of Fu Yu was actually him seriously flipping through classic old-flavor recipes.

Authentic fisherman’s home-style dishes!

No chili, fresh ingredients, crabs, or snails.

The classic old-flavor recipes had what he needed, spanning dozens of pages.

Practically encompassing the entire range of fisherman’s daily kitchen practices.

Anything you can think of is on these recipes.

Fu Yu glanced over two pages, selecting dishes with simple cooking methods, abundant ingredients in the store, and visually appealing presentations, quickly assembling four dishes, one soup, and a staple.

If time wasn’t pressing, Fu Yu would have loved to flip through more thoroughly, looking for other more refined and unique dishes.

Fu Yu quickly finalized the specifics of the four dishes and one soup and handed the list to Zhang Jinyu, instructing him to prepare.

Zhang Jinyu glanced at the content on the slip.

Dry Braised Shrimps, Fresh Fish Soup, Three Shredded Fish, Red Braised Water Mullet, Fish Ball Soup, Fish Cake.

My goodness!

Not a single dish was from the store’s menu!

Zhang Jinyu curiously asked, ”Chef Fu, how did you come up with these dishes?”

Just hearing the names of the dishes, they seemed pretty good.

Zhao Meng, who had been busy checking the dishes in the steamer, was unaware of the customer’s order.

Now back, he casually asked upon hearing Zhang Jinyu’s words, ”What dishes?”

Being straightforward and without much guile, Zhang Jinyu quickly recounted the events when Zhao Meng inquired.

Fu Yu tried to stop him but couldn’t, so he racked his brains trying to figure out how to smooth over the situation.

But then he just heard Zhao Meng say, ”Oh, I taught him that. Alright, you guys hurry up, orders are piling up.”

Fu Yu: ”!”

He quickly realized that Zhao Meng probably thought he learned these dishes from the music restaurant, helping him cover up.

Fu Yu felt a warmth in his heart, sent Zhang Jinyu off to prepare the ingredients.

When Zhang Jinyu returned with the prepared ingredients, Fu Yu started cooking.

Actually, according to Qianlima’s recipe, cooking shrimps is just boiling them.

Usually, add some peppercorn, ginger slices, and a bit of salt in water.

Once the water boils, add the shrimps, cook, and serve, or even stir-fry with a bit of chives.

This method is fine, but the water becomes the most flavorful, and the shrimps themselves lose their taste.

So when Fu Yu saw the simple and convenient shrimp cooking method in the classic old-flavor recipe, he realized that dry braising was the most authentic method.

In a clean pan, without water or oil, directly add ginger slices and peppercorns, then the shrimps, cover the lid, and dry braise.

Usually, after covering and dry braising on medium heat for a minute or so, opening the lid would reveal some water under the shrimps.

At this point, keep the lid open, let the water evaporate a bit, and serve when the shrimps are done.

This method retains all the shrimp’s flavor and leaves no sauce, making the dish tidy.

To improve presentation, while Zhang Jinyu was fetching side dishes, Fu Yu quickly flipped through the special banquet recipe.

Because the store’s takeaway boxes have a round bowl shape, Fu Yu specially chose a similar cooking method with a final plating method.

The dry braised shrimps were arranged in a mountain shape, topped with finely fried crispy pepper ribbons seasoned with salt and pepper.

To secure them, he specially rolled a cylindrical shape with foil, enclosing the leftover space in the takeaway box to ensure that during transportation, the arranged shrimps wouldn’t collapse and ruin the exquisite presentation.

When ready to eat, just remove the foil roll, and you can appreciate the entire dish’s presentation as it was.

Zhang Jinyu was amazed by this packing creativity!

Being straightforward and vocal, Zhang Jinyu continuously praised Fu Yu while he cooked the fresh fish soup, leaving Fu Yu in a particularly good mood.

The method for fresh fish soup was also very simple, likely considering that fishermen usually work on boats, so cooking is as simple and convenient as possible.

A bit of oil in the pan, green onions, ginger, and garlic to fry.

Stir in a bit of sugar, add cold water and a bit of soy sauce.

In the cold water, place the fresh fish directly.

Once the fish is in, don’t move it.

The heat should not be too high; once the soup starts to boil, spoon the broth over the parts of the fish not submerged in the soup, let it simmer slightly, and add a bit of vinegar to the edges of the pot.

When plating, Fu Yu was very careful, fearing that the fish skin might break.

This fish, with its intact skin, felt delicate enough to quiver during movement, making it hard even for chopsticks to pick up.

After packing the fish, Fu Yu tried a bit of the leftover broth.

The soup was sweet and tasty, with a fantastic flavor.

Since these were takeaway dishes, there was no need to serve them one by one; Fu Yu finished one dish, and Zhang Jinyu carefully placed the takeaway box on the food counter.

Once all the dishes were done, they were bagged for the order taker to take to the front and hand to the customer.

Zhang Jinyu looked over to watch Fu Yu make the Three Shredded Fish.

The leatherjacket fish was alive, and Zhang Jinyu didn’t trust other helpers to handle it, so he cleaned it himself.

In the store, the usual methods included steaming, home cooking, grilling, soy sauce, and steamed fish with rice.

These methods were store specialties and very popular.

However, Zhang Jinyu had never seen the Three Shredded Fish that Fu Yu was making.

He eagerly helped move all the prepared ingredients next to Fu Yu and couldn’t resist asking, ”Chef Fu, how do you make this Three Shredded Fish?”

Fu Yu turned and smiled, asking, ”Want to learn?”

Zhang Jinyu nodded, ”I do!”