The Cheat Emperor of the Culinary World

Fu Yu has a very good trait.

It is focus when doing things.

No matter what it is, as long as he wants to do it, he will put his heart into it.

Thus, during the cooking process, because he wholeheartedly wanted to complete the task of perfectly cooking the classic dish of Hibiscus Pork, Fu Yu was focused solely on the cooking task at hand from start to finish.

In his mind, he carried the cooking methods from the classic traditional recipes for this dish.

And during every step of the operation, he would refer to the recipe that Liu Yunong had given him.

The comparison between the two gave Fu Yu a deeper understanding and insight into the dish.

After cutting the pork fatback, Fu Yu spread the tenderloin slices flat on the cutting board and sprinkled them with dry starch.

On the curved edge of the tenderloin, he placed a piece of pork fat.

Close to the pointed edge, he placed a shrimp.

Then, with the flat side of the knife, he gently tapped both sides, so that the fat and shrimp adhered closely to the meat.

This operation really tested the chef’s control over their force.

Too much force would squeeze and deform the meat slices.

Too little force, and the fat and shrimp wouldn’t adhere perfectly to the meat.

During cooking, Fu Yu, relying on his impeccable sense of touch, managed to control the force of the knife perfectly on his first try.

Watching quietly, Liu Yunong swallowed the words on the tip of her tongue.

She initially intended to give Fu Yu some tips on the finer details of this step.

But Fu Yu’s swift actions left her with no chance to speak.

Instinctively biting her lip, Liu Yunong fell silent.

What a genius!

Liu Yunong had already decided to cultivate Fu Yu into the heir of the Liu Family Cuisine.

The Liu Family was in need of such talent!

Thinking of this, Liu Yunong watched Fu Yu cook with even more meticulous attention.

After handling all the meat slices, Fu Yu applied beaten egg whites to the shrimp and pork fat.

He divided the minced ham into 25 portions, placing them on each shrimp.

This operation of Fu Yu’s once again astonished the three onlookers.

Liu Zhangpeng almost flipped the ingredients out of the pan.

The minced ham was chopped so finely that it felt even more sticky to the touch.

When distributing the minced ham, Fu Yu used his hand to place it directly onto the shrimp.

In total, he did this 25 times, and the dish of minced ham was used up completely, leaving no fragments.

After completing the operation, Fu Yu didn’t adjust or redistribute the ham on the shrimp.

This indicated that he was very satisfied with the quantity he had distributed.

Because all the ham on the shrimp was evenly distributed.

At least, that was the effect by eye.

This was quite astonishing!

When learning to cook this dish, because of her personality, Liu Yunong had initially used a scale to measure the ham bit by bit before distributing it.

She had cooked this dish hundreds if not over a thousand times.

Practice made perfect, and only now could she distribute by feel alone.

But this was Fu Yu’s first time handling this dish, and he managed to distribute it precisely.

What does this mean?

It means Fu Yu has an innate sense of absolute touch.

This kind of talent is a perfect tool for a chef.

The control of touch can be applied to the use of ingredients and seasonings.

Many old chefs, after long years of accumulating cooking experience, develop a very precise sense of touch.

With a dish they cook often, a casual grab can yield the right amount of ingredients.

And when using seasonings, they rely entirely on feel to add them, each time adding the perfect amount based on the feel of their experience.

This is also a skill.

A skill honed through repeated cooking operations day after day.

At this moment, Fu Yu casually picked up a freshly washed bunch of cilantro, selecting the cilantro leaves and plucking them one by one to place onto the pork fat.

It was a simple operation, but Wang Yulong watched it with praise on his face.

Fu Yu was a very meticulous chef.

This seemingly ordinary, casual operation was executed as if it were on a machine-set assembly line.

The placement of each cilantro leaf was almost identical, even the direction faced the same way.

This arrangement was simply a blessing for someone with a compulsion for order.

It looked very neat, making one feel emotionally comfortable.

Fu Yu deftly adorned every piece of pork fat with cilantro leaves.

Then he spread the tenderloin slices flat on a slotted spoon, first dipping them into boiling water briefly before draining.

This move once again left the three onlookers speechless.

They all knew Fu Yu’s hand speed was fast.

But no one had imagined it would be this fast.

Not sure about the others, but Liu Yunong, who was standing closest, realized she hadn’t clearly seen Fu Yu’s last move.

She only saw Fu Yu lay the tenderloin slices on the slotted spoon and dip them into the boiling water.

But the following scene was a blur, and next thing she knew, the meat was drained and placed on a plate.

Liu Yunong blinked, a slight sense of anomaly flashed across her mind, but she was quickly pulled back by Fu Yu’s following actions, quickly casting the small incident to the back of her mind.

With the meat blanched, Fu Yu heated the wok, added sesame oil, heated it to seventy percent hot, added Sichuan peppercorns, and sautéed for about 5 seconds until the peppercorns turned black and then removed them.

He added rendered pork lard, and when the oil temperature reached sixty percent hot, he poured the oil over the tenderloin slices.

Following the recipe instructions, Fu Yu poured the hot oil over the dish three times in total, and the shrimp and tenderloin slices turned a jade-white color.

With the cooking done, the next step was plating, which was the most crucial aspect of this dish.

Fu Yu set the selected white round porcelain plate in place.

He layered the meat slices on the plate, placing 10 slices on both the bottom and the second layer, 7 slices on the third, and 5 on the fourth, using ginger slivers as the flower center.

He placed ham flowers around it, poured the hot oil from the pot, and put it on medium heat.

He then added glutinous rice wine, refined salt, MSG, and yellow wine, cooked it until the juice thickened to a sticky consistency, and poured it over the Hibiscus Pork.

While plating, Fu Yu’s movements were fluid and coherent.

Although it was simply meat slices, the plating by his hand turned them into a slowly blooming meat hibiscus on the plate.

The visual effect was immensely stunning!

As Liu Yunong watched Fu Yu plate, the scene in front of her eyes suddenly blurred for a moment.

It seemed to unknowingly coincide with a certain scene in her memory.

The same tall, upright figure, wearing the same chef’s uniform, standing in the kitchen, patiently and meticulously plating the Hibiscus Pork.

This scene struck Liu Yunong profoundly.

It wasn’t just Fu Yu’s entire coherent and smooth cooking process that amazed her.

But rather through Fu Yu, she unexpectedly saw the figure of her father from years ago.

How similar the techniques must be, almost identical operations, for her to have such a sensation!

Thinking of this, Liu Yunong felt her breathing quicken, with an indescribable excitement in her heart!