The Cheat Emperor of the Culinary World-Chapter 34: Mastering the Art of Dish Division
The other kitchen helpers heard these two sentences and immediately looked over with gossip-filled faces.
This customer is really something, having a dish served in seven separate portions, are they playing house?
Zhao Meng was about to speak when he turned and saw everyone else looking on with a curious expression, and his face fell immediately: "Have you all finished your work?"
As he shouted this, the others quickly bowed their heads and were silent, continuing their tasks, though their ears perked up.
After all, everyone was curious about how short-tempered Chef Zhao would deal with such a trouble-seeking customer.
Just as Zhao Meng was about to instruct Fu Yu, he saw that Fu Yu had already picked out two creative sets of serving plates from the dish rack beside him, each set with seven, and carried them back to the kitchen counter.
The flame of anger in Zhao Meng’s heart was like being doused with a bucket of cold water, extinguished in an instant.
The work of a chef is to serve the customers.
No matter how unreasonable a request a customer makes, as a chef, the only thing to do is strive to fulfill it.
This is without a doubt.
Yet now, the only one who truly understood this was Fu Yu.
Zhao Meng felt a mix of emotions, both comforted and helpless.
...
Although the customer requested separate portions, when ordering, they were straightforward.
Abalone, lobster, sea urchin, scallop, whatever is expensive and delicious, they ordered it.
Aside from the effort in serving the dishes, everything else in the kitchen remained the same.
Only the service staff delivering the dishes had it a bit tougher, running back and forth several times.
After serving this table, the order taker successively brought in several more orders.
The kitchen staff were busy again, working until the restaurant closed, before they could clock out and go back to rest.
Fu Yu followed Zhao Meng back to the dormitory.
The two chatted a bit, touching on Zhao Meng’s apartment.
Fu Yu was simply amazed, couldn’t help but ask: "Chef Zhao, you must have spent a lot on that apartment’s renovation, right?"
Zhao Meng thought for a moment and said: "About four hundred thousand." 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂
Fu Yu took a sharp breath, surprised and incredulous, and asked: "Since you could spend so much on renovation, why not hire a housekeeping company to help tidy up afterward?"
Zhao Meng replied helplessly: "It’s too messy, no housekeeping company is willing to take the job."
Fu Yu: "..."
No wonder you’re using the rent to offset cleaning fees.
Fu Yu initially felt like he was taking advantage of Zhao Meng, grateful for his kindness.
Now, he doesn’t feel that way anymore!
A good night’s sleep.
The next day, Fu Yu got up early, tidied up, sent Zhao Meng a message, and rushed to the music restaurant by taxi.
This time, Fu Yu was familiar with the place, went straight to the front desk, mentioned Yao Shi’s name, and was smoothly taken to the locker room.
His previous locker was still there, with a clean work uniform inside.
After changing, Yao Shi came over as well.
Although it had been several days since he last helped in the kitchen, Fu Yu felt no nervousness or restraint this time.
He was no longer the novice kitchen helper he once was.
His personal skills, like "grilling," "stock preparation," and "stewing," had reached intermediate level.
In addition, he possessed two super skills: an oil-proof skimmer and a non-stick stir-fry pan.
With the title of rising star in the kitchen and a badge of unique craftsmanship.
Fu Yu felt he could easily handle any unexpected situation now and independently take charge at the stove.
Perhaps feeling more assured, his presence had grown stronger.
Following Yao Shi to the back kitchen, they ran into the beautiful waitress, Qu Jing, whom they’d met last time.
Qu Jing greeted politely: "Hello, Boss!"
Yao Shi smiled in response, brushing past her.
Qu Jing then looked at Fu Yu: "Hello, Chef Fu!"
Fu Yu smiled, nodded, and walked away.
Qu Jing was stunned, dumbstruck as she watched them leave, her gaze lingering on Fu Yu’s back.
Why does it feel like he’s changed a lot, as if he’s walking with a breeze now?
Upon reaching the kitchen, Yao Shi introduced Fu Yu to everyone and then came to his own kitchen station.
Yao Shi asked, "You’ve looked over the order slips, right?"
Fu Yu nodded: "Yes, I have."
Yao Shi circled three dishes on the order slip and crossed out one, instructing, "Start preparing the ingredients; I’m going to explain the division of labor to them."
Fu Yu took a glance at the order slip.
Among the fifteen dishes, Yao Shi selected One Whole Duck, Beautiful Six-Colored Dish, and Ginger Scallion Stir-Fried Crab.
The crossed-off one was the Beautiful Fruit.
The Beautiful Fruit was just a fruit platter, not difficult to prepare, the setup for plating was standard, a chef demonstrates, and the helpers can replicate, a production line task, directly assigned to the helpers.
As for the One Whole Duck dish, which is just a platter of deboned braised duck, though Fu Yu hadn’t done it, he had watched Zhao Meng do it.
Cut off the head, slice the legs, chop into pieces, regardless of how you cut it, it must have 28 pieces on the plate, each piece with skin.
Before, Fu Yu might have been a bit intimidated, fearing he couldn’t do it well, having never tried.
But now, he wasn’t afraid, with intermediate level stock preparation skills, and a built-in guide to show where to segment the pieces, not to mention deboning duck, if permitted by the system, he felt he could disarm a bomb.
And ginger scallion stir-fried crab wasn’t hard either,
The cleaning of crabs, removing the heart, lungs, gills, etc. into smaller parts, was the helpers’ task to complete.
The chef just needed to take the prepared ingredients and stir-fry them, basically ten minutes per plate. If quick, with helpers applying the dry starch powder evenly, they could be done in five minutes from wok to plate.
