The Cheat Emperor of the Culinary World

Fu Yu spoke with confidence, but in truth, he wasn’t that calm inside.

He was very worried!

What he worried about was not knowing how picky the customers would be, and whether they could accept a flavor different from the original Liu Family Cuisine.

After all, the dish he was about to cook adhered strictly to the classic old flavor recipe’s operational procedures.

However...

Since it is a classic old flavor, it is a representative, authoritative, and enduringly popular taste heritage.

Since this Fan the Third is very picky, he should like the most classic tasting dish, right?

After all, regardless of how many techniques and pairings the modified flavors use, they ultimately extend from the classic flavor to other tastes.

Everything returns to the fundamental.

While the assistant started preparing ingredients, Fu Yu quickly flipped through the classic old flavor recipe book.

The recipe contained a very detailed record of the method of cooking the soft braised soy duck.

From the ingredients, to the cooking method, to the precautions, and even the final plating style, they were all detailed with pictures.

Fu Yu carefully read through the cooking tutorial, memorized all the steps, and then seriously reviewed the plating style and specific operational methods.

No wonder this soft braised soy duck was designated as a specialty dish of the main store.

On the one hand, it serves as a gimmick to attract customers.

On the other hand, it’s also because cooking this dish is really troublesome.

Whether it’s ingredient selection, preparation, or cooking method, it is time-consuming.

By the time it takes to make this dish, you could almost lay out a full banquet.

It’s likely that in the main store, this dish only appears on the menu occasionally, and isn’t sold often.

If Fu Yu had more time, he could study it more closely and make improvements on the cooking details.

However... in the current urgent situation, Fu Yu had no time to ponder and could only start cooking directly following the recipe.

For the soft braised soy duck, the main ingredient is duck.

The requirement for making this dish that appears in the classic old flavor recipe is to use an old muscovy duck.

Apart from the old muscovy duck, the alternative choice is a wild duck.

This dish is actually an improved version of the traditional Hunan dish Thunder God Duck. The classic old flavor recipe records that since its modification, it has become an unmistakably characteristic dish.

Fu Yu knows Thunder God Duck, it’s available in music restaurants.

After marinating and frying, the wild duck is then steamed, characterized by its soft texture and rich flavor.

However, the traditional Thunder God Duck has the drawback of being greasy and spicy.

This limits the audience for the dish.

It’s not very suitable for customers outside of Hunan.

So subsequently, someone specifically improved the dish.

The sauces used in the dish combined northern and southern characteristics.

After dozens of trial productions, they figured out a secret sauce mixed with various sauces ensuring that the duck meat was flavorful.

The challenge has always been that duck meat isn’t easily infused with flavor, making it difficult for chefs.

This soft braised soy duck perfectly solved that issue.

The assistant quickly prepared all the ingredients Fu Yu needed.

Fortunately, there happened to be a semi-finished ginger muscovy duck tonight.

Although the muscovy ducks in the kitchen had been stir-fried and stewed beforehand, serving as semi-finished products where you just needed to fry them again before serving.

However, the restaurant always has the habit of preparing extra ingredients.

So, there were two more muscovy ducks than planned during the procurement.

The muscovy duck delivered by the assistant weighed more than three pounds, perfectly meeting Fu Yu’s requirements.

When making this dish, you absolutely cannot use a duckling.

Because a duckling turns mushy once boiled.

The larger muscovy duck’s meat tastes better and is unmatched by other duck meats.

Using old muscovy duck for cooking soft braised soy duck is understandable.

However, Fu Yu instructed the assistant to prepare canola oil and lard, which puzzled Liu Zhangpeng.

Because although the restaurant typically doesn’t use salad oil for cooking ducks, they mostly use canola oil.

Adding lard won’t make the taste strange?

Although lard itself is very fragrant, the thought of stir-frying with duck seemed off.

Unconsciously, Liu Zhangpeng started multitasking without realizing it.

He was quickly cooking the ingredients on hand, trying to keep up with the orders constantly coming from the front kitchen.

While also paying attention to what Fu Yu was doing.

This made him somewhat flustered.

Fortunately, the assistant chef by his side was very reliable, capable of sharing much of the workload.

After thoroughly checking all the prepared ingredients, ensuring everything was ready, Fu Yu immediately started cooking the soft braised soy duck.

He cut the processed muscovy duck into meat blocks, 4cm in length and 3cm in width.

He cut the cilantro into 3cm long sections.

And cut the green onions and dried chilies into 3cm long strips.

The precise data requirements for all the ingredients in the classic old flavor recipe made Fu Yu operate more smoothly.

Fu Yu picked up the wok.

The assistant, seeing the canola oil and cooked lard laid out on the kitchen counter, furrowed his brow.

He had already noticed when preparing ingredients that Fu Yu would use these two oils while cooking.

But while canola oil was alright, using lard seemed somewhat mismatched, didn’t it?

Employed locally on short notice, the straightforward assistant naturally spoke his mind.

”Chef Fu, do we need to use lard for the soft braised soy duck?”

Fu Yu nodded, ”Yes, lard can enhance the overall flavor of the dish better.”

Upon hearing this, the assistant shook his head!

Although he had been working at Shangshi Private Kitchen for less than two months, he had been involved in cooking for over two years.

He was quite knowledgeable about different cooking oils.

He knew the function of lard as well.

But precisely because he knew, he was more worried.

Lard is very aromatic and can indeed enhance the flavor of the dish.

But its taste is also particularly distinct.

Compared to it, the old muscovy duck to be braised and stir-fried obviously isn’t as strongly flavored as lard.

If affected by the lard’s taste, the flavor of this soft braised soy duck would surely be compromised!

This dish is originally a main feature of Liu Family Cuisine, and outsiders surely can’t recreate this distinctive flavor.

Now Fu Yu again appears to be cooking freely.

Can this work out?

Though unsure how an ordinary soft braised soy duck should be cooked, Fu Yu’s approach seemed unreliable to the assistant!

Don’t assume that a kitchen assistant lacks wok experience and with short working time, knows nothing.

They work close to master chefs, having some chances to learn, though they can’t match the main chefs.

Compared to ordinary people, they are quite knowledgeable in cooking.

Hence, upon seeing Fu Yu preparing to use lard in cooking, the assistant became uneasy.