The City of Terror - Chapter 234

Chapter 234: 234

Chapter 234 - 300 Dishes

    The kitchen was extremely wide . Various cooking tools were neatly arranged . Between the kitchen and the dining hall, there was a large partitioning glass that showed the customers how clean the kitchen was and allowed them to see the process of how their food was made .

    Behind the glass, there were more than 10 tall-hat chefs busying themselves . In a separate kitchen further behind it, the staff were busying themselves by cutting vegetables, mincing meat, chopping bones, and preparing various ingredients .

    The person in charge of the kitchen was named Huang Jun . It was said that at 40 years old he became one of the top grade chefs in the entire country who was proficient in Cantonese, Szechuan, and Shandong Cuisines . His face appeared fierce, but his body was chubby and tall . He wore a chef’s white tall hat and looked at Wei Xiao Bei as he asked, “What dishes do you know how to make?”

For him, a person who relied on connections to come in like Wei Xiao Bei was his greatest headache . If it was not a good person who made a lot of careless mistakes, he had to take responsibility and even help them do the last stage of work .

    However, not accepting was also out of the question . It was said that this person was someone personally brought in by the crown prince, Huang Kun . In other words, this person had a high standing .

    It was out of the question for Huang Jun to just let him go to the back kitchen and do odd jobs . Thus, he had no choice but to ask clearly, else he might make a careless mistake .

    Before meeting Huang Kun’s mother, Wei Xiao Bei knew that he was going to work for a Cantonese restaurant . Thus he had carefully looked at materials on Cantonese cuisine .

    After all, in terms off cuisine, Cantonese cuisine used various ingredients and was also nice to look at .

    Wei Xiao Bei had seen a post in the internet forums . It said that among chefs that had finished their apprenticeship, chefs who cooked Cantonese cuisine would have an easier time finding work . As long as their foundations were good, the food that they make would look good .

    Cantonese cuisine took careful consideration on the food’s taste to be light but not weak as they pursued the food’s original taste . Thus, they also needed to exert more effort in designing the food, which suited Wei Xiao Bei’s request .

    “I know all the Cantonese cuisines . ”

    Hearing Huang Jun’s question, Wei Xiao Bei thought for a bit before answering without any hint of modesty .

    He actually wanted to be modest, but he was worried that once he was modest, Huang Jun might strip him of privilege on the kitchen stove .

    Although his idea was to come here and learn, he was not willing to become apprenticed to a chef .

    All cuisines?

    It was the first time Huang Jun encountered a chef that was not modest . He saw that Wei Xiao Bei appeared buff and taller than him, but his age should only be at most 22 years old .

    Being a chef required a lot of experience . The peak age of the occupation should be around 30 to 60 years old . The deeper they walked, the more skilled they were .

    22-year-old chefs should only be at the level of graduating from school .

    Could it be that he is only pretending?

    Huang Jun looked at Wei Xiao Bei’s leaf-like hands and thick joints, seeing that it was an expert’s .

    Maybe I should let him directly go in?

    Huang Jun pondered, but he did not dare risk it . He guided Wei Xiao Bei to a stove and let him cook beef chao fun as a test .

    In Cantonese cuisine, beef chao fun was a kind of snack . It was separated into wet fired or dry fired . Its ingredients mainly include rice noodles, bean sprouts, beef, and many other ingredients .

    Dry frying was the more difficult one . It required the oil to make the dish glisten, the beef tender and fragrant, the rice noodles smooth, and the plate dry and juiceless .

    A slight inattentiveness would cause the beef to overcook and harden, and it would result in the rice noodles sticking together .

    In the occupation, this dish was used to test a Cantonese chef’s skills .

    Thus, it was not Huang Jun’s intention to make things difficult for Wei Xiao Bei .

    There was not much to say about the stir-frying process . Wei Xiao Bei had tried cooking various dishes back in the dojo . Among them, he had already tried cooking beef chao for fun .

    As Wei Xiao Bei finished cooking, Huang Jun, as a chef for almost 30 years, could see that Wei Xiao Bei lacked experience but had a lot of innate talent . Although the fire control during the cooking was a bit high, it could still be considered a good dish .

    Just like that, Huang Jun admired his talent .

    In truth, Huang Jun had seen many talented youths before, but it was the first time he had seen a talent like Wei Xiao Bei in all his years .

    Naturally, Huang Jun did not know that it was all thanks to a skill and not innate talent .

    Huang Jun nodded his head and made Wei Xiao Bei his assistant . Just like that, Wei Xiao Bei would observe him while sometimes helping out, and he would sometimes work on his own .

    As a team member of the Long Hu Dou Restaurant, Huang Jun’s position was high . Countless chefs wanted to be his assistant and learn a few things from him, so that they would not need to worry about their living expenses . Seeing Wei Xiao Bei being nurtured by Huang Jun the first time he began, a lot of them became unhappy, but they could only endure it .

    If they had offended Huang Jun, let alone the Long Hu Dou Restaurant, they would not be able to find any work as a chef in the entire Cui Hu City .

    In current society, everything was a circle .

    Wei Xiao Bei was also not an idiot . Although he was slightly unhappy at being an assistant chef, he knew that there might not be a chance for him to cook a dish with only his intermediate rank [Cooking] skill after observing his surroundings .

    It had previously been said that the people eating in this restaurant were all rich and powerful . Chefs who had lower skills could only be placed at the side, acting as substitutes when the better chefs were out .

    If they wanted to change the situation, who knew how long it would take .

    On his first day as a chef, Wei Xiao Bei was given many pointers by Huang Jun .

    Although he did not work alone in the restaurant, Huang Jun would let Wei Xiao Bei cook a few dishes during their idle time and give him comments, pointing out Wei Xiao Bei’s mistakes .

    When it was time to get off work, Wei Xiao Bei felt that his skills in cooking had increased by a lot . The things that he did not understand in the materials had been connected properly . Even the color of the [Cooking] skill in his status panel had slightly changed .

    After returning to the dojo, Wei Xiao Bei cooked a few Cantonese dishes for Huang Kun and Zhu Xin Yi . While he was cooking, the hard work during the day had been clearly displayed .

    Previously, whenever Wei Xiao Bei cooked Cantonese cuisine, getting one colorful dish out of ten dishes was already lucky .

But now, two colorful dishes had appeared after cooking five dishes . This was a pleasant surprise for him .

    The next morning, Wei Xiao Bei did shadowboxing and trained his Qi . Afterwards, he immediately went to the restaurant .

    This was Huang Jun’s request .

    Huang Jun had regarded Wei Xiao Bei as important . He wanted to find an apprentice and pass down his legacy .

    It must be known that Huang Jun had already received a lot of apprentices, but compared to him, their talents were slightly worse and could only imitate Huang Jun’s skill . If they wanted to inherit everything, they must be able to push out the old with the new, which was beyond difficult .

    This pushing out the old with the new was not as simple as only developing a few dishes .

    Instead, they needed to have their own innovative ideas and their own styles .

    It was like how Huang Jun’s old diners would immediately knew Huang Jun cooked the dish in a single bite . It was only at that point could it be called pushing out the old with the new .

    Just like that, Huang Jun had looked upon Wei Xiao Bei . He was unwilling to waste such a good successor . Thus he was much more stricter on him .

    When Wei Xiao Bei arrived, the restaurant was already open .

    In Cantonese cuisine, there was a concept of morning tea .

    Seeing Wei Xiao Bei arrive, Huang Jun immediately called him to the stove and explained to him how to make various breakfast dishes .

    Compared to other cuisine, Cantonese breakfast could be called as the most abundant .

    If you looked at Hong Kong movies, you would be able to understand how abundant it was . There was the famous roast pork buns, rice noodle rolls, prawn dumplings, steamed shumai, steamed spare ribs, and many other foods that made people drool .

    In truth, Wei Xiao Bei had never eaten morning tea before in his life . When he saw it today, his interest was overflowing .

    Breakfast, lunch, dinner, etc . Wei Xiao Bei’s day was full of color .

    When the kitchen was very busy, Wei Xiao Bei had been appointed by Huang Jun to work on his own .

    Initially, Huang Jun was slightly worried, so while cooking on one side, he examined  Wei Xiao Bei for a while before being relieved .

    The dishes that Wei Xiao Bei cooked might not yet be called nice to look at, but they were flavorful and fragrant .

    After all, not every dish in the restaurant was expensive, there were also cheap dishes .

    Thus, Huang Jun had placed these cheap dishes at the hands of Wei XIao Bei, using this to train Wei Xiao Bei’s skills .

    After getting off work and returning to the dojo, Wei Xiao Bei felt a bit tired even with his strength .

    This was not in terms of stamina consumption, but for every dish he made, he needed to focus all attention, so his mental consumption was higher .

    On the contrary, the main chefs were also focused on their dishes, but with their experience, they could finish their dishes on conditional reflex even if they closed their eyes .

    If Wei Xiao Bei wanted to do such a thing now, it would be a long road ahead .

    However, Wei Xiao Bei felt that the day’s work was all worth it .

    In the entire day, the amount of colorful dishes he had made was 52, making a total of 64 colorful dishes .

    When he returned to the dojo, he cooked five Cantonse dishes for Huang Kun and Zhu Xin Yi, where three dishes were evaluated as colorful .

    Wei Xiao Bei could not help but sigh . This was the difference between reading materials alone and being taught by a master .

    After all, there were too many things involved in cooking . It would be inevitable to miss a few things just by relying on internet resources .

    For example, according to Huang Jun, for a dish to reach the peak, learning its foundation was necessary .

    What foundation you might ask?

    It’s the ingredients!

    The environment where the ingredients were made had a huge influence on them . For example, during the ingredients’ growth, the climate changes for one year could affect them differently .

    Even condiments needed to be studied from their source . Only then was cooking learned .

    In short, Wei Xiao Bei was now admiring Huang Jun .

    In the next four days, the rate at which Wei Xiao Bei made colorful dishes increased . After getting off work on the Friday, his [Cooking] skill’s requirement of 300 colorful dishes had been fulfilled .