The Cheat Emperor of the Culinary World-Chapter 53 - 52: Frenzied Favorability Grinding

The atmosphere in the kitchen suddenly became stagnant.

A rich aroma of rice porridge wafted from the wok.

The bubbling sound of simmering was rhythmic.

Fu Yu looked at Zhao Meng through the hazy steam.

Zhao Meng also looked back at him.

Their eyes met.

Fu Yu: Chef Zhao?

Zhao Meng’s eyes widened in a tiger-like glare, desperately signaling: Why are you looking at me! Look at the pot! It’s burning!!

Reminded by Zhao Meng, Fu Yu recalled that he had forgotten to stir as a pretense earlier!

He really couldn’t afford to be careless!

Knowing that the wok wouldn’t burn no matter how he adjusted the heat because it would stay at the perfect temperature, he had been negligent.

Fu Yu hurriedly tried to remedy the situation.

He picked up the wooden spatula and began stirring alternately in the two woks.

Zhao Meng breathed a genuine sigh of relief.

Looking at Fu Yu’s stirring technique, it seemed there was no burnt bottom.

What a relief!

Simmer on low heat.

About ten minutes later, Fu Yu added the prepared seafood to the two woks separately.

He added the ingredients very quickly.

The others didn’t notice anything special, but Yao Shi’s eyes lit up.

It wasn’t because Fu Yu was fast.

Nor was it because the seafood didn’t splatter the rice soup when poured in, indicating Fu Yu’s steady hand.

It was because he noticed that Fu Yu distributed all the ingredients evenly.

He was even certain that the amount of seafood added to the two woks was exactly the same, down to the number of pieces.

This kind of skill can only be achieved through years of practice, appearing casual but actually precise.

However, Zhao Meng and Gu Yunwu didn’t notice this impressive detail.

Because the process of making seafood porridge was all too familiar to them.

Cook the rice, add the seafood.

The cut and cleaned seafood was just piled together anyway, since it was all thrown in to cook at the same time, no one bothered to separate them by type.

Fu Yu’s cut seafood was also piled together casually.

But when adding ingredients, he subconsciously followed the guide of the green line, quickly and precisely dividing the seafood into two portions, adding them to each wok.

Yao Shi nodded in appreciation.

Zhao Meng felt the weight lift, fortunately, nothing went wrong.

With the seafood in the pot, its unique freshness immediately filled the air.

"Yo! What’s cooking? It smells amazing!"

Yao Shi and the others turned around upon hearing the voice, saw the visitor, and greeted: "Boss!"

Dong Jun Tian, in his early forties, was not tall, skinny, yet sported a round beer belly.

"Oh, everyone’s been busy for a while, must be hungry, I had some seafood porridge made for a late-night snack." Yao Shi stepped forward, smiling, "Boss, have you eaten? Want to join us?"

Dong Jun Tian sniffed, "I did eat, but this smells so good, bring me a portion!"

As he spoke, Dong Jun Tian walked a few steps inside and was surprised to find a young guy stirring the pots at the stove.

The head chef and two main chefs, plus a few assistants, stood around watching without any intention of helping.

Is this a test scene?

Dong Jun Tian remembered the recent talk with Yao Shi about assigning two regular positions in the kitchen.

In fact, Dong Jun Tian usually managed the restaurant’s staffing in a general sense.

For instance, determining how many waiters or kitchen workers were needed, and hiring based on those numbers.

As for which specific waiter or kitchen assistant performed well, got promoted to full-time, or received a promotion, he left those decisions to Yao Shi and the restaurant manager.

Once a decision was made, they would just inform him, and he would typically agree.

Because he had little contact with the frontline staff, after all, the department heads knew more about their people.

Thinking of this, Dong Jun Tian looked up at the young chef busy at the stove.

At first glance, the side profile looked handsome and familiar.

Oh, he remembered.

This young worker was named Fu Yu.

When he came for his interview, Xin Li, the accountant, had mentioned that there was a new handsome guy in the kitchen.

Curious, he went to take a look.

The young man was quite spirited, fresh out of culinary school, with a bit of naivety, dressed plainly, nothing special in terms of temperament, just a better-looking face.

Now standing at the stove in his chef’s uniform, his aura seemed improved.

Two woks were brewing on the stove, hot steam curling up, apparently making porridge.

Porridge?

Weren’t those woks meant for stir-frying?

Dong Jun Tian turned to Yao Shi, asking seriously, "Hey, why are you using woks?"

Yao Shi regretted a bit internally.

He originally intended to use the seafood porridge incident to give Fu Yu a bit of a scare, planning to transfer him to the music restaurant eventually.

But unexpectedly, Dong Jun Tian showed up.

Dong Jun Tian, after all, had some culinary skills, inheriting the restaurant from his parents; he had some expertise.

Now seeing Fu Yu using woks to make porridge, regardless of other factors, this matter of promotion was almost certainly off the table.

Yao Shi instinctively glanced at Zhao Meng.

As expected, Zhao Meng also looked troubled.

Besides today’s incident, Fu Yu’s usual performance was quite good.

After all, if Fu Yu wasn’t competent, Zhao Meng wouldn’t have valued him so highly.

Now with the boss here, Fu Yu was facing him making porridge with woks...

Zhao Meng quickly exchanged a glance with Yao Shi.

Yao Shi explained, "Oh, an urgent customer order required delivering 80 servings of seafood porridge to the central plaza by 10 o’clock. The kitchen didn’t have time, so we had to temporarily use woks."

By saying this, Yao Shi took the responsibility upon himself.

As expected, Dong Jun Tian’s expression softened a bit, though he was still a bit disapproving, saying, "Despite circumstances, you can’t compromise on taste and quality; be more mindful next time."

Yao Shi felt relieved, knowing this matter was settled.

By now, Fu Yu had lifted the pot lid, added some salt and pepper, finally sprinkling ginger and chives, before starting to serve the porridge.

Plain round porcelain bowls.

Fu Yu habitually followed the green line to serve the porridge.

Three scoops of rice porridge, two pieces of shrimp, one crab, two pieces of green fish, three pieces of squid.

As the wooden spoon moved, all the ingredients were evenly distributed into the bowls, placed portion by portion.

Several porcelain bowls placed side by side.

Upon close inspection, one would notice the height of the rice soup and the angle and quantity of the shrimp, crab, and other seafood floating on the surface were almost identical across the bowls.

The assistants had no interest in admiring the presentation of the seafood porridge in the presence of the boss and main chefs.

However, Yao Shi was genuinely surprised when he saw the neatly arranged bowls on the kitchen counter.

The porridge was served with great attention to detail!

Dong Jun Tian also stepped closer, took a look at the bowls, and his expression softened even further.

"This young chef has great technique!... Hey, Yao Shi, look at his plating skills. The angle of the crab shell and how the seafood is placed – it showcases all the essence of a bowl of porridge, yet...even though it’s packed full, it doesn’t feel deliberate. Did you guys specifically train this? There’s progress, better presentation than before!"

"Make sure to maintain this, it’s really good!"

Yao Shi, hearing Dong Jun Tian’s praise, was momentarily stunned.

Was this credit being given to him, assuming he had instructed the porridge serving technique?

Yao Shi felt a sense of pride: "Sure thing, boss, but it’s also their hard work and high cooperation level."

He glanced at Fu Yu, his eyes filled with admiration.

[Ding! Earned 5 favorability points from NPC Chef Yao Shi]

Fu Yu’s joy erupted; he could finally increase his favorability with Chef Yao again!