The Cheat Emperor of the Culinary World

Zhang Jinyu seemed oblivious to his own shortcomings.

He happily follows Fu Yu around, assisting him.

”Chef Fu, can these Pleurotus eryngii really taste like abalone?”

Fu Yu slices the cleaned and dried Pleurotus eryngii into thick pieces and scores a crisscross pattern on both sides of each piece.

While making these decorative cuts, he casually says, ”This dish isn’t hard to make. If you want to try it, I’ll make another batch this afternoon when it’s less busy. After all, we still haven’t decided what to have for lunch.”

It’s their turn to organize lunch today.

Although the restaurant has a wide array of dishes, the available ingredients are limited, so the culinary creativity is naturally constrained.

Whether they can have a hearty dish depends entirely on whether any customers return dishes during the day.

As for ordinary home-cooked meals, eaten every day, there’s not much to look forward to anymore.

Zhang Jinyu grinned, ”Great! Chef Fu, please make a little more. I’ll prepare the Pleurotus eryngii when I get a chance.”

Fu Yu couldn’t help but chuckle, nodding, ”Alright!”

He continues to cook the three-cup Pleurotus eryngii.

He chops garlic into small pieces, slices ginger, and cuts chilies and scallions into segments for later use.

He adds a suitable amount of sesame oil into the pan, stirs in the ginger slices until fragrant, then adds the cut Pleurotus eryngii, stirring evenly.

He adds garlic pieces, sugar, and sesame oil to the pan and continues to stir-fry.

Zhang Jinyu watches seriously, unable to resist asking, ”Chef Fu, how exactly is this three-cup sauce mixed? It smells divine!”

While skillfully tossing the ingredients in the pan, Fu Yu replies, ”Actually, the three-cup sauce is just a mix of rice wine, sesame oil, and soy sauce.”

Once the stir-frying is nearly done,

he adds the right amount of soy sauce, sake, and water to the pan and simmers for a while.

This simmering method helps extract the gelatin.

As the bubbling gets more intense, it indicates the gelatin is being released.

When the moisture in the pot is about to evaporate completely, he adds a suitable amount of black sesame oil and Chinese basil leaves, stir-frying evenly.

Try to dry up the moisture in the pot’s ingredients as much as possible,

or else more water will be released later, affecting the taste.

He adds black sesame oil into a clay pot, followed by scallion segments, chili segments, and Chinese basil leaves, stir-frying until fragrant.

He pours the reduced-sauce Pleurotus eryngii from the pot into the clay pot, sprinkles more Chinese basil leaves on top, covers it with a lid, and drizzles over 1 spoon of sake for steaming.

Turning his head, Fu Yu sees Zhang Jinyu’s curious expression and smiles, ”A splash of sake boosts the aroma, but make sure you only use a spoonful.”

Zhang Jinyu nods to show he understands.

The electronic prompt sounds again:

[Please proceed to the next cooking item: Fragrant Nan ”Shredded Eel”]

Fu Yu takes the soaked dried mushrooms, cuts them into thick strips with scissors, and salts them for marination.

He dices scallions, ginger, and garlic for later use.

Zhang Jinyu looks and exclaims, ”Chef Fu, why is there another shredded eel dish? Isn’t this a bit repetitive?”

Fu Yu just laughs, ”Don’t worry, it won’t be.”

Zhang Jinyu watches Fu Yu cook with confusion in his heart.

This Fragrant Nan ”Shredded Eel” and Liangxi ”Crispy Eel,” apart from one being sweet and sour and the other aromatic and spicy, not to mention the similar plating in their restaurant, look nearly identical.

What could possibly be done differently with these shredded eels?

But Fu Yu had already turned to making the fruit and seafood noodle soup.

Carrots, cucumbers, zucchini, and radishes are washed, peeled, and cut into strips for use.

The miso paste, pumpkin powder, and seaweed are mixed with hot water to make a sauce.

The sauce is poured over the plated dish.

Fu Yu instructs Zhang Jinyu, ”Remember, always use hot water to make the soup; this ensures the final effect of hot soup with cold noodles is smooth.”

Zhang Jinyu quickly nods, ”Got it, I remember.”

”Wow! What’s that aroma? Smells so good!”

A kitchen helper comes over with prepped ingredients and can’t help but take a closer look, drawn by the smell.

Zhang Jinyu steps forward and blocks the kitchen helper’s path, seriously saying, ”No copying allowed! What Chef Fu makes is an exclusive secret recipe, not to be shared!”

Upon hearing this, the kitchen helper frowns, glaring at Zhang Jinyu, quietly complaining, ”Are you nuts? Who’s copying?”

With that, the helper turns away.

Zhang Jinyu doesn’t care and continues to stay by Fu Yu’s side, guarding diligently.

Fu Yu noticed all this.

His impression of Zhang Jinyu shifted somewhat.

Though a bit too straightforward, Zhang Jinyu is reliable with anything he’s tasked, requiring hardly any oversight.

Plus, Fu Yu noticed that Zhang Jinyu is quite protective of him.

After thinking it over, Fu Yu says, ”In this hot weather, although this noodle soup uses hot broth, it’s refreshing enough. Why not make another batch for lunch?”

Zhang Jinyu beams, ”Sure!”

The fruit and seafood noodle soup is taken to Room 207.

Ma Hua Chao peeks in and sees no visible seafood in the soup.

However, as he takes a bite of noodles and a sip of the hot broth, the rich seafood aroma fills his mouth immediately.

At that moment, it feels more like eating a bowl of cold seafood noodles. Compared to an ordinary cold salad, this warm seafood-flavored broth, combined with refreshing fruits and vegetables, goes down in big, satisfying slurps, pleasing both mouth and stomach with the combination.

Soon, the server quickly brings in a plate of Fragrant Nan ”Shredded Eel.”

Ma Hua Chao hesitates for a moment and asks, ”Is this really also shredded eel?”

The server is also seeing this style of Fragrant Nan ”Shredded Eel” for the first time.

In a square-dish presentation, the shredded eel is arranged in a fan shape, adorned with delicate, plum-like decorations.

At first glance, it seems like an opened fan with a plum blossom motif—very creative and visually appealing.

”Wow, this dish looks so well-presented, I don’t know where to start with my chopsticks.”

Ma Hua Chao holds the chopsticks, hesitating a moment before pulling away two strands of eel, adorned with the decorative pink flower-like touches. Upon tasting, they reveal themselves as strawberry jam.

No idea how these shredded eels are made, but they taste fragrant and crisp. Blended with the rich strawberry sweetness, it’s a taste all its own.

He picks up more and more strands of eel, musing to himself.

No wonder Qianlima’s dishes are priced so high; the high price is well justified.

Back in the kitchen, Fu Yu waits for the steam to emit fragrance from the steamer before lifting the lid to mix the dish’s ingredients.

The three-cup Pleurotus eryngii is served in an elegant little clay pot on the table; besides the pot serving, Fu Yu sets aside a small bowl for himself.

He plans to taste it himself to see if this dish, described in classic recipes as having the same texture as abalone, really lives up to that acclaim.

It’s said that the chef is often the first taster of a dish.

This saying is quite empirically sound.

After all, a chef needs to test the flavor.

Chefs like Zhao Meng and Yao Shi have long moved past tasting their dishes, as they are very confident in their technique’s precision.

So when Fu Yu presents his small bowl of delight to Zhao Meng, Zhao Meng’s face shows a hint of resigned amusement.