The Cheat Emperor of the Culinary World

Liu Yunong stood in front of the kitchen counter and casually replied, ”Classic.”

Although the Liu Family Cuisine has many improved and innovative dishes in later stages, the truly classic dishes passed down from ancient texts have always been preserved.

As for later improved and innovative versions, they were adjusted according to local conditions and timely needs.

So for old-fashioned dishes like the stuffed vegetable banquet, we always make them using classic cooking methods, allowing customers to taste the authentic classic flavors.

Once it was established that these were classics, Fu Yu understood.

In the classic flavors recipe he studied yesterday, it just so happened to include a few dishes from today’s menu.

This gave him some planning, at least knowing what the upcoming dishes are like, what flavors they have, and the general methods of cooking.

Liu Yunong quickly started her culinary teaching.

She picked up a washed bitter melon and placed it on the cutting board, slicing it while asking Fu Yu, ”Have you ever heard of stuffed dishes before?”

Fu Yu answered truthfully, ”It was only after hearing about it from you that I learned about it, honestly hadn’t heard of it before.”

The bitter melon in Liu Yunong’s hand was an empty shell cleaned and hollowed out by the assistant. She directly cut it, quickly slicing it into uniformly thick rounds.

”The stuffed vegetable banquet is a family heritage passed down by the Liu Family...”

What Liu Yunong prided herself on the most in this life is being a descendant of Lady Liu, having a true family legacy to support her.

In the community, many senior famous chefs are kind and supportive to her as a junior, all mostly owing to this respect.

Having a deep background and not having one makes a chef’s status entirely different in the eyes of peers.

This is confidence, an inherently superior family background.

Speaking of their secret family banquet, Liu Yunong was quite interested.

”Our ancestors had a saying: ’Without stuffing, there is no banquet.’ And the origin of this saying actually comes from an experience of our ancestor, Lady Liu...”

Lady Liu used to work in the Imperial Kitchen, specifically preparing banquets for the nobles in the Imperial Palace.

Once, a noble wasn’t feeling well and wanted to eat tofu, but coincidentally was pregnant at the time, worried about nutritional intake and had to eat some meat.

Lady Liu received the instructions and came up with a method to satisfy both needs.

She dug a hole in the tofu, filled it with minced pork, and fried it together.

The noble tasted it, clapped in approval, and said it was much more delicious than eating a single dish!

Liu Yunong was very eloquent, refined by her higher education, full of knowledge and insights.

A story passed down from ancient times, when told by her, seemed as if it had just happened.

Fu Yu listened intently, deeply touched.

Lady Liu was indeed a legendary female chef.

Look at her response and creative thinking.

Just because of one sentence, she could innovate a dish.

This not only required rich cooking experience but also a clever mind, quickly thinking of combining the two, and using her cooking skills, creating a savory and delicious dish.

Truly admirable!

Fu Yu was full of praise.

After finishing the story, Liu Yunong glanced at Fu Yu, who was listening attentively, feeling quite appreciated.

A teacher’s greatest pleasure is having a diligent and hard-working student.

When teaching with devotion, it’s natural to hope Fu Yu learns carefully and doesn’t waste her efforts.

Fu Yu’s serious and earnest attitude gave Liu Yunong extra motivation to teach.

”This story is said to be true, recorded in the family’s genealogy. However, what I want to express is the essence of making stuffed dishes this story reveals.”

”Eating just vegetarian dishes is bland, and eating only meat is monotonous, but if they’re cleverly combined, the flavor is completely different.”

”The taste of stuffed dishes is richer and more interesting than regular stir-fry, and it tests the chef’s skills and creativity more.”

Fu Yu nodded in agreement; indeed, although he hadn’t had the chance to taste it himself, just from the cooking process, he knew the texture of stuffed dishes was truly varied.

Not to mention the outer layer of vegetables, just the ”stuffed core” besides minced meat could include sticky rice and salted egg yolk, not only enriching the flavor but increasing the stuffing’s stickiness, tightly connecting the wrapper and filling, to avoid just picking up the ”outer circle” with chopsticks.

Liu Yunong gestured for Fu Yu to look at the prepared ingredients on the kitchen counter: ”Stuffed bitter melon, stuffed tofu, and stuffed green peppers are the famous trio of stuffed dishes.”

”I’ll make these three first, you watch carefully, see how I do it, and once you understand, then try your hand at it.”

Fu Yu nodded in agreement, watching Liu Yunong cook with concentration.

Once Liu Yunong spoke, Fu Yu understood what she meant.

Just like previous teachings, starting with simple dishes to give him a familiarization process.

The stuffed bitter melon and the following stuffed tofu and stuffed green peppers are the simplest three dishes of the entire banquet, easy to handle and get started with.

And Liu Yunong, being the famous chef she is, amazed Fu Yu from the moment she started cutting.

Liu Yunong used the straight knife technique to cut the bitter melon.

The knife at a perpendicular angle with the ingredient, varying in force and movement of hand, wrist, and arm.

Although it’s a common cutting technique, Liu Yunong’s execution, with just two cuts, revealed extraordinary knife skills.

It’s said that an expert shows their skill just by starting.

Liu Zhangpeng, having received a hint from his master Wang Yulong, handled his tasks while keenly observing Liu Yunong’s movements, eavesdropping on her techniques.

Years of assisting his master in the kitchen made this a reflex for Liu Zhangpeng. As soon as Liu Yunong finished cutting the bitter melon and grabbed the minced meat, his eyelid twitched, and he instinctively reached to hand over the dumpling spatula to assist.