The Game of Life

Chapter 864: Chapter 863 Delicious Dish

Chapter 864 -863 Delicious Dish

After deciding on the final menu, the practice began, leaving Jiang Feng and Sun Maochai with very little time. There were theoretically over thirty hours left, but after accounting for necessary rest, meals, and travel time, they only had a dozen or so hours to truly prepare.

The time for one competition.

On Friday, neither Jiang Feng, Sun Maochai, Sun Jikai, nor Wu Minqi went to work. Instead, they borrowed the keys to Fen Garden from Zhang Guanghang to use its well-equipped kitchen for a real simulation of the competition.

The ingredients in the Fen Garden kitchen were still fully stocked, and Jiang Feng also brought some fresh seafood from Taifeng Building that Fen Garden lacked.

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Jiang Feng and Sun Maochai were the main forces behind the cooking. Sun Jikai was able to assist Sun Maochai with the seafood preparation and, if necessary, help watch over the sea cucumber and abalone soup. For Sun Maochai, at his age, watching a pot of soup continuously for seven hours was no small physical burden.

Wu Minqi had a significantly lighter workload. None of the steps in making Jiang’s Sea Cucumber Soup required her intervention, starting from brewing the superior stock. To create a truly perfect Jiang’s Sea Cucumber Soup, Jiang Feng had to take full responsibility for everything, including food preparation, by himself. He was young with plenty of energy and vitality, fully capable of going non-stop for twelve hours.

What Wu Minqi needed to do was prepare the ingredients for Jiang Feng that weren’t part of the competition, similar to Rolan’s role.

The main goal of this pre-competition sprint was to see if Sun Maochai could produce a pot of high-quality sea cucumber and abalone soup within the allotted time. Neither Wu Minqi nor Sun Jikai knew that Sun Maochai’s dish was a last-minute change; they thought it was pre-arranged by Sun Maochai to assist Jiang Feng and were kept in the dark only because there was no need to discuss it with them.

Everything began smoothly, until the production of the sea cucumber and abalone soup reached the middle stage.

That is, the stage that required frequent ingredient additions and fire control adjustments at intervals.

After all, it was Sun Maochai’s first time making it, and he couldn’t remember some of the steps.

Jiang Feng had written him a detailed note with all the steps, and Sun Maochai had repeatedly practiced them in his mind the night before. But due to the complexity of the recipe and having not performed the actual cooking, a small mistake still occurred.

He got the order wrong, but fortunately, Jiang Feng was alert and constantly monitoring his neighbor’s progress, otherwise the pot of soup would have been ruined.

“Master Sun, it’s wrong, it’s wrong! You shouldn’t be adding the dried scallops now, that’s the next step, you’ve got it reversed,” Jiang Feng shouted, seeing Sun Maochai about to add the dried scallops into the soup.

Sun Maochai paused, fortunately managing not to shake the dried scallops into the pot, and it took seven or eight seconds for him to realize, “Oh right, it’s reversed, Jikai, pass me that small bowl on the edge, I should be adding this.”

Sun Jikai: ?

Wu Minqi, the onlooker: ?

The two exchanged a look, reading confusion, bewilderment, and shock in each other’s eyes.

“Master Sun, You… you can’t possibly be making this soup for the first time, can you?” Wu Minqi said incredulously.

“Yes, the dish was changed last night. The original menu I had chosen had some ingredient issues. Since the show is going to be live, it could affect the broadcast, so I had to make a switch,” Sun Maochai said calmly, even though he had just nearly destroyed a precious pot of soup that had been cooking for two hours.

Wu Minqi: …

Wu Minqi couldn’t understand how such a terrifying, shocking matter that could directly affect the outcome of the competition could be stated so matter-of-factly. Fengfeng didn’t have any particular reaction either. Most crucial was the fact that the dish had been changed and she and Sun Jikai only found out about it now, and the competition was the very next day.

Wu Minqi was flabbergasted.

She considered herself to have weathered many storms and not easily startled by much, but today’s incident was truly beyond her capacity to comprehend and her range of knowledge. This was a question that was seriously off the syllabus.

Wu Minqi was stunned, and Sun Jikai continued where she left off with her question.

“So, this soup…”

“Actually, the reason Master Sun called me up last night was to discuss which dish to switch to. Although we had some options, neither of us thought they were good enough. After all, our opponent, Chef Arno, given his reaction the last time, is definitely preparing two very excellent and even unique trump cards. Ordinary dishes might really not be competitive,” Jiang Feng began to explain. “So after discussing, we felt my dish was better, novel enough, unique enough, something no one has seen or even heard of before, having a definite advantage in the competition.”

Sun Maochai nodded, “One of the most outstanding cabbage dishes has always been boiled cabbage in plain water. If we can prepare a dish in the competition that is as good as boiled cabbage but is actually fried and looks no different from ordinary fried cabbage, like ‘Gold and Jade Cabbage,’ our advantage will be significant.” Sun Maochai nodded in agreement.

“But, you haven’t made it before,” Sun Jikai pointed out the logic, which he understood, but he really couldn’t grasp why Jiang Feng and Sun Maochai were so audacious. Is this the strength of a top ten chef from ‘Master Chefs’?

To dare to use a dish for the finale that has never been attempted before.

“Don’t be fooled by the complex steps of the soup; as you just saw, it’s not difficult, even simpler than regular broth. My mistake earlier was due to unfamiliarity with the process. I’ll review it tonight, and if necessary, I’ll bring cheat notes to the venue to make sure it doesn’t happen again during the competition. Hey, Jikai, hand me that red dish,” Sun Maochai explained while multitasking with the broth without getting it wrong again, demonstrating by his actions that this soup was indeed not difficult for him.

By this time, Wu Minqi had somewhat recovered. Initially, she thought ‘Gold and Jade Cabbage’ – a dish she’d never heard of – was Sun Maochai’s signature dish, only to find out that it was actually Jiang Feng’s, and it was one she, as Jiang Feng’s girlfriend and having been in a relationship for over a year, had never even heard of.

Wu Minqi felt it was inconceivable, baffling, unbelievable, and shocking.

“Fengfeng,” Wu Minqi looked at Jiang Feng, “but I’ve never seen you make this ‘Gold and Jade Cabbage,’ nor have I heard of it.”

“Naturally, because I’ve never made it either,” Jiang Feng said.

Wu Minqi: ?

Sun Jikai: ?

Sun Maochai: ?

Even Sun Maochai had a question mark on his face. He assumed that Jiang Feng thought of this dish immediately last night because he was very confident about it, but now Jiang Feng was telling him it was also his first time making it.

Sun Maochai began to doubt whether he had placed too much trust in Jiang Feng.

Seeing question marks on everyone’s faces, Jiang Feng quickly explained: “Although I’ve never made it and you’ve never heard of it, I can vouch for the taste of this dish. It may be… I’m not sure, perhaps it was a creation of my great-grandfather. It only appears at the Jiang family’s New Year’s Eve dinner. It’s normal you haven’t seen or heard of it; it would be abnormal if you had.”

After hearing Jiang Feng’s explanation, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Wu Minqi casually asked, “Why does Grandpa Jiang only make it for the New Year’s Eve dinner?”

“My grandpa doesn’t know how to make it either,” Jiang Feng said.

All three: ?

“Theoretically, my great-grandfather and great-aunt knew how to make it, and it was my great-grandmaternal grandfather who told me when he was still alive. There won’t be any problems,” Jiang Feng explained, realizing he had to justify the dish with a backstory to avoid having to explain it later to Sir and Granduncle Weiming.

The expressions of Wu Minqi, Sun Jikai, and Sun Maochai clearly told Jiang Feng that they thought there were issues with his explanation.

Since nobody seemed convinced, Jiang Feng could only say that he’d prove the ‘Gold and Jade Cabbage’ was truly a trustworthy dish and perfectly suitable for competition with the final product.

“In a few hours, the sea cucumber and abalone soup will be ready. Once the soup is done, I’ll prepare the ‘Gold and Jade Cabbage’ and everyone can taste it to see if it’s good enough. If not, we can always choose something else, as we have lots of backup options. Changing dishes at the last minute isn’t a problem, is it?” said Jiang Feng helplessly.

“It’s a good thing you are telling us this now,” Sun Maochai sighed in relief. “If you had waited until the competition tomorrow to tell us, you would really be testing my psychological resilience and my heart’s capacity to handle stress.”

Sun Maochai didn’t forget to crack a joke to lighten the mood.

Of course, Wu Minqi believed in Jiang Feng. Out of everyone here, if she had to choose someone to trust unconditionally, it would definitely be Jiang Feng. She just couldn’t quite comprehend.

“Fengfeng, how can you be so sure it’s a good dish if you’ve never tasted or made it?”

“It definitely is,” Jiang Feng said with certainty. “Qiqi, you have to believe that any dish that my great-grandfather took the time and effort to make must be a good dish.”