At home, Liu Weiwei was still a wife and a mother who satisfied her family's taste. From Xiao Bai to Qin Mo, she would take care of everyone's taste. Since celebrating Xiao Hei's birthday, she had paid more attention to the preferences and personalities of the people around her, hoping to create more comfortable meals for everyone. Her personality was getting softer, which, unlike weakness, was a softening due to femininity.
Sometimes, women's love was not perfect, and it had a certain relationship with the rigidity of personality, which was why it was easy to break. Only women who could act coquettishly in front of their husbands could be called soft and cute.
Qin Mo obviously liked Liu Weiwei's little insights and changes when cooking. Xiao Bai and Xiao Hei also enjoyed it very much.
Even Cai Mingkun, who came to be a guest for the first time today, felt that Liu Weiwei exuded a charming feminine brilliance, and even once reminded him of his tender mother when he was young. If he were forty or fifty years younger, he felt that he might become deeply fascinated by this female chef and wanted to pursue her as his wife. What else could be happier than coming home after a long day of work and being able to eat the sweet and hot soup made by his wife?
Of course, Cai Mingkun was late, but it didn't prevent him from having a more favorable impression of Liu Weiwei, a young female chef. His respect was both as an apprentice and a person. In the future, whoever said that female chefs were inferior to male chefs, he felt that he would the first to object.
"Teacher, I lost to you, so I can rest after this year's exchange meeting." Cai Mingkun didn't look angry or disappointed at all, but rather happy, "Can I study with you in the afternoon? By analogy, watching you stir-fry some dishes might add some inspiration to my snack dishes as well." In fact, after eating Liu Weiwei's home-cooked dishes, he thought of several innovations for new pastries.
"Of course." Liu Weiwei glanced at the system. Cai Mingkun name was already in her fifth apprentice position. And what's even bloodier was that her food system was also very intelligent. She didn't know the students under Cai Mingkun's name, but now those eight people’s names were all in her faction. They had become the disciples of her disciple, her grand disciple. (TN: like grandchildren?)
According to the system requirements, if Liu Weiwei accepted two more talented chefs as apprentices, it was estimated that her disciple, grand disciple and great-grand disciple would instantly become a big group.
"Oh right," Liu Weiwei looked at the apprentice section and took out two books from it, "This is a summary of some ancient experiences in pastry making. It will not be very useful to you, but you can let your students take a look." The skill book she had learned herself could be shared with the disciples in her faction. Below advanced skill book of snack would be of limited help to Cai Mingkun, but it was just enough for his disciples.
"Teacher..." Cai Mingkun took it in surprise. After just turning a few pages, he almost fell to the ground with excitement, "Teacher, is this summary of your experience’s notes?"
So exquisite!
With Cai Mingkun's understanding of snack dishes, one glance at one or two cooking methods in the book could at least save him from detours of two to three years. If he could get this book when he first started, his achievements now would obviously be higher. It's like the difference between a normal person going to college at 18 and a 5 year old child genius going to college at 5 years earlier.
Liu Weiwei took out low-level and intermediate-level skill books, which were all summed up by the system based on thousands of years of big data. The skills contained in the books were the comprehension of many generations. Cai Mingkun, a future chef who had been imprisoned by the Chef Association, thought that it was treasure. She glanced at him and the students earnestly, "This is a crystallization of thousands of years of wisdom. I am just trying to continue to spread it. We are all standing on the shoulders of countless predecessors, so we must also strive to become the shoulders that next generations could stand up in."
Cai Mingkun's hand holding the book felt as heavy as a mountain, "Yes, yes, teacher!"
"Well, it's up to you to carry forward Chinese pastries." Liu Weiwei nodded in relief, "We have been suppressed by Western desserts for many years, so it is time for a revival." If she took in a few more apprentices and managed each cuisine separately, she could conquer the world lying down.
Cai Mingkun was so excited that he felt that all his old bones had found a great goal, "Yes, we have to carry forward and spread Chinese pastries to restaurants throughout the universe."
"Well, that's right." Liu Weiwei was satisfied.
…
Qin Mo kept looking at his little wife fooling an old man. He suddenly broke into cold sweat thinking about the future of Meat Bun. He held the Meat Bun silently, serving as a background picture.
Fortunately, Liu Weiwei also remembered that she was going to continue competing in the afternoon, so she quickly drew up some menus, sorted out the ingredients in her space, and was ready to go out.
Before going out, there was a little episode. Xiao Bai refused to go back to the pet park after without anything. Her two rabbit claws pulled on Liu Weiwei’s trousers. In the end, Liu Weiwei had no choice but to let her hide in her trousers pocket.
But because Xiao Bai didn't go to the pert park, Xiao Hei also refused to move. This made Qin Mo, who was pushing the baby stroller, almost beat him.
Seeing that the two males were going to fight, Liu Weiwei also had a huge headache. In the end, she could only carry Meat Bun on her own, let Qin Mo push the stroller with Xiao Hei lying in it.
"It doesn't matter. Just consider this a weight-bearing exercise." As a military wife, Liu Weiwei had always exercised her physical fitness consciously. She was afraid that one day a war would really break out and she would become a burden to everyone. And a good chef also needs strong physical strength and wrist strength, so physical fitness was a must.
Liu Weiwei looked imposing, so Qin Mo could only support it.
…
So, at the beginning of the competition, Liu Weiwei once again became the center of attention. There were even people who didn't have a clear mind. They even tried to use her as a stepping stone, wanting to rise to the sky.
"I'm going to challenge Chef Liu!"
"I-I want too!"
Contrary to Cai Mingkun's expectations, many people actually came to challenge Liu Weiwei. But soon he also figured why.
Now, Liu Weiwei had the title king of snack, so as long as anyone defeated her, it meant they had defeated the youngest king of snack. This name was enough to make many people brag for a lifetime. It wouldn’t even matter whether they defeated the king by cooking what the other party was not good at, or defeated the king by insufficiency of physical strength.
Defeating Liu Weiwei would allow them to gain fame and gain more customers in the coming year, and maybe the cost of cooking appearances would increase exponentially! If they hit right and beat Liu Weiwei in her weakness, it would be luck; but if they lost unfortunately, they would also lost in the hands of a new king, and there would be no shame.
Apparently a lot of people were thinking this way, so for a while, Liu Weiwei became the hottest opponent on the field.
Liu Weiwei was originally arranged for a competition with someone who was a senior chef from the previous association president’s faction, Dou Kou.
Dou Kou was about twenty years younger than Cai Mingkun, but they were very familiar with each other.
"Old Dou, come on." Cai Mingkun was the most bored in the audience, so he happily walked over to say hello with a teapot in his arms, "If you lose, you might as well be my little junior brother."
Dou Kou almost hit Cai Mingkun with a spoon, "Go, go, I won't lose as badly as you! Old Cai, cooking seafood, I won't lose to a snack chef."
It stood to reason that the competition in the exchange meeting was often a competition of similar cuisine chefs. But obviously Liu Weiwei was hacked, so in Dou Kou's view, he would never lose. "An eighteen years old, already a knife master and a snack king. Now she is still trying to defeat my seafood cooking. Hehehe... don't even think about it!" Dou Kou would never believe that he would lose to a female chef with a baby in her weak arms.
Cai Mingkun touched his chin with a complicated expression. He thought the same thing before, but now he has completely changed his mind after eating Liu Weiwei’s home-cooked food. "Be careful, Old Dou. We are friends for many years, I can only remind you that here."
Cai Mingkun held the teapot and wandered back again. Qin Mo, wearing sunglasses, was browsing the battle report, leaning against the wall with a stroller next to him. And Cai Mingkun’s own student was near the cooking table. He opened his mouth wide behind Liu Weiwei, watching her movements like a fool.
At first glance, Cai Mingkun felt that his student was usually very clever, but today he lost face in front of his teacher.
"What are you looking at?" Cai Mingkun walked over in dissatisfaction, "Don't stand there and make trouble. Have you finished reading the basic skill book for pastry that I just gave you?"
His student quickly pointed his finger at the cooking table, and the whole person has not recovered from the sluggishness.
Cai Mingkun wanted to teach him a lesson, but he didn't want to disturb Liu Weiwei's cooking, so he could only bear it. But following the student's gaze, the teapot he raised suddenly froze. On the cooking table, there were more than a dozen kinds of complicated and high-grade ingredients lined up neatly.
Cai Mingkun almost blurted out, "Sea cucumbers, abalone, shark fins, scallops, fish lips, turtle skirts... duck, mutton, pork belly... Ten, eighteen kinds... Buddha, Buddha... Buddha jump over the wall!?"
When Liu Weiwei heard Cai Mingkun’s voice, she turned back and smiled, "Yes, you recognized it. In this seafood theme, I plan to make Buddha Jump over the Wall and seafood porridge."
Buddha Jumps Over the Wall
Cai Mingkun twitched. Thinking of Dou Kou's confidence just now, he immediately felt that Old Dou was going to be defeated badly. He might even cry for a recipe in a while.
Buddha Jumps Over the Wall... this was an extremely luxurious paleo recipe.
If the previous Four Happiness Dumplings were just a gorgeous court snack, then this Buddha Jumps over the Wall was an ultimate dish that combines luxurious ingredients and cumbersome cooking methods!
Cai Mingkun once heard from his first master that this dish was said to be lost. The current Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, which was preserved in the Advanced Cookbook of the Chef Association, was only an imperfect version. But even then, the price of getting that cookbook was enough to make many super chefs bankrupt.
This Buddha jumps over the wall, it was said that in order to fully reflect the taste characteristics of each high-grade ingredient, it was necessary to cook the more than a dozen kinds of ingredients separately and then gather them together. Then they needed to add broth and wine, and simmer them together. The intensity of the cooking process perfectly described the origin of the name "The altar is full of meat and fragrance, so Buddha abandoned Zen and jumped over the wall".
This complicated cooking method, if it was not an experienced senior chef who was familiar with various ingredients, even if he had a recipe, it would be useless.
Cai Mingkun was so shocked that he didn't know what to say. "Teacher... What kind of cuisine are you majoring in?" This was not a recipe that snack chefs would learn at all!
Liu Weiwei didn't stop her movements, "Huh? I don't have a major. I don't care so much, just learn as many recipes as I can."
Cai Mingkun: "...!"
"Teacher, I heard that the skill needed to make Buddha Jumps over the Wall covers almost all the characteristics of Chinese cuisine. To put various ingredients such as seafood, chicken, duck, pig and deer into one dish requires the use of various cooking techniques. It is not as simple as stewing all in a pot, right?"
Liu Weiwei nodded. The recipe was unlocked after she conquered 10% of all the cuisines. This was not a task reward. It cost her 100,000 credits to redeem it.
"Do you want to learn?" Liu Weiwei raised her eyebrows, "This dish requires various techniques of frying, steaming, and deep-frying, and you have to be very familiar with the nearly 20 kinds of ingredients that will be used before you can learn it." If it weren't for the fact that there were enough recipes of various types that were already unlocked up to the level of five stars, this Buddha Jumps Over the Wall would still be gray and couldn’t be redeemed.
"Each ingredient will be handled differently. Shark fins, fish lips, abalone, sea cucumbers, ducks, sheep elbows, pig trotters, pork belly pieces, mushrooms, and winter bamboo shoots... each needs to be specially processed. After being processes, they would be put into the pot layer by layer, then boiled broth and Shaoxing wine will be poured in. After the ingredients, soup, and wine fully blend, then it will be time to seal the pot with lotus leaves and bring it to a boil, then let it simmer slowly."
Liu Weiwei was also very tired when she said, "This is also the most complicated recipe I have learned. If it wasn't for the competition, I wouldn't make it casually."
Cai Mingkun nodded again and again. No one would casually cook such a complicated dish. It could be said that finishing this dish was equivalent to spending the chef's efforts to cook nearly 20 high-quality ingredients, which was extremely troublesome. He wanted to learn, but he was a snack chef. He immediately thought of Dou Kou, and then he shook his head. If the other party knew that he would be facing such an ultimate dish, would he still have the confidence to win?
Cai Mingkun looked at Liu Weiwei with admiration. She was young enough to be his granddaughter, but her cooking ability was enough to be his teacher!
Liu Weiwei's movements were fast. In fact, this Buddha Jumps Over the Wall still gave her a lot of pressure. However, she had read the history of her opponent very well, so she did not dare to take this competition lightly. As she spoke, she also accelerated the processing of the ingredients in her hands.
Shark fins were peeled and arranged on a bamboo grate. Put in a pot of boiling water, add onion, ginger, and Shaoxing wine to remove the fishy smell, then take out the shark fins and place the pork belly meat in. Add Shaoxing wine and steam it on a rack with high heat. Put cut fish lips into boiling water, put the abalone into the steamer on high heat and then add bone broth.
Pigeon eggs were boiled and shelled; chickens and ducks were chopped trimmed; pig trotters were plucked and washed; sheep elbows were scraped and washed. All of them then were cut into pieces. Duck gizzards were put in boiling water to let out the blood...
Cai Mingkun finally understood why his students were dumbfounded. His young teacher's hands were too fast. She was just like an old chef who had cooked for decades. The knife was like the extension of her hand and she was resolute in her every moves. She handled many ingredients and condiments one by one smoothly. There was never a moment of pause or even confusion.
If Cai Mingkun hadn't seen it with his own eyes, he wouldn't believe that such a young chef could cook Buddha Jumps over the Wall so efficiently, as if she had been cooking the same dishes everyday for many years. Every movement was done without thinking, it was as if they had become part of muscle memory.
Liu Weiwei’s hands were like water, gently brushed each high-grade ingredient, making them just right and charming one by one. Her knife skills, without any hesitation, cut the ingredients into strips or strands, blocks or slices. The speed was fast but still graceful, which was like a moving painting in itself.
Being able to turn the complicated and even brutal cooking process of the back kitchen into such an aesthetically pleasing experience that looked like an artistic creation, Cai Mingkun finally know that he was still inexperienced. His impulsive apprenticeship was probably the most correct thing he had done in his life! Those who laugh at him would probably envy him in the future.
Soon, Liu Weiwei went to the final step, simmering the pot full of ingredients on a low fire. She washed her hands, looked at the timing, and had nothing to do left. In the middle of processing Buddha Jumps over the Wall, she also cooked the seafood porridge.
Growing up, Liu Weiwei was the happiest when she was able to hand in her test papers and left the exam ahead of schedule. She immediately threw off her hands and ran happily to the side of Qin Mo, "It's time to play~"
"It's done?" Qin Mo raised his head, hugged his little wife's waist, lowered his head and sniffed the high-grade seafood smell on her body. He frowned slightly. The natural light fragrance combined with a milky fragrance of Little Meat Bun was more suitable for her.
"Yeah." Liu Weiwei looked at the time. She turned her head and said to her new apprentice. "I'll go shopping first, can I left bringing the pot to the judges' seat to you?" For the next step, as long as the pot continued to simmer, there was no need for her to monitor at all. When the competition ended after three hours and the judges spent another hour evaluating other people’s dishes first, her Buddha Jumps over the Wall would be almost done.
As a veteran of the association, Cai Mingkun deeply admired her brain hole at this moment, "Can I... ? Okay, I'll tell the staff."
"Well, tell them not to start too early. They can start to taste it at four o'clock but it will taste better at five o'clock."
Cai Mingkun gave his disciple a look and asked him to negotiate with the comittee on behalf of him. Holding the teapot himself, he once again walked to the cooking table of his old friend Dou Kou, "West Lake Fish in Vinegar Gravy?"
"Well, I also added an exclusive secret seasoning. I made two, do you want to have a taste first?"
"Hehehe, no need."
"...!?"
"Take care of yourself."
The recipes in this world were born with their own advantages and disadvantages. Just like the martial arts, different sects had their own five-star unique skills and entry-level skills. West Lake Fish in Vinegar Gravy, an ancient Hangzhou cuisine, was rated five stars by the Chef Association. But compared to Buddha Jumps over the Wall... how could a fish win the taste of more than 20 kinds of high-grade ingredients that were integrated but independent of each other? This was the level restraint a recipe was born with!
"Hit a stone with an egg, tsk tsk." Cai Mingkun turned around and came up with such an evaluation. He just found out that the disciple of Old Gao, who was competing with his young teacher, actually came down to cook seafood dishes in person this time. He shook his head sarcastically.
When the judges stood up and started to give points around the judging table, they first went to find Chef Liu's cooking. They were all shocked by how she also informed the best time to taste the dish in a competition.
Cai Mingkun came over, smelled the pot, then checked the time, "There's still half an hour. You guys go to score the others first."
The judges were speechless, but they were also willing to give face to the chef. There was no need to entangle for just a short time. But when they began to turn around, a sudden retort sounded.
"Since it's already on the judges’ table, it means it's done. Can you continue to let it cook? Will this be fair to others?"
Cai Mingkun looked back and frowned, "I know your teacher. This recipe couldn’t be reproduced even if your teacher is present. Waiting for another half an hour is harmless but it can let the recipe achieve its high-level ultimate taste. Issue of fairness doesn’t exist." He was very sure that Liu Weiwei's level was simply beyond the level of other seafood chefs. If it was not even at the same level, how could there be a fairness issue?
"Elder Cai, I respect your valuable opinion, but for other young chefs, today's exchange meeting is very important and may change their lives, so I hope you can follow the rules and don't use power for personal gain."
"I... use power for personal gain?! You little... your teacher doesn't even dare to say that to me!" Cai Mingkun was so angry that his beard cocked.
Qian Jun, however, took a step forward and looked around, "Anyone present that agrees to Elder Cai’s request to delay tasting for half an hour can raise their hands."
Only a few people moved, less than one tenth. Most people didn’t care about themselves and hang up high, and some people have the idea of defeating Liu Weiwei from the beginning.
Cai Mingkun snorted, "If you do too much injustice, you will kill yourself!"
Qian Jun hooked the corner of his mouth, pretending he didn't hear, and gave the judges a gesture. He could no longer care about so much at this time. Even if he offended a famous chef, the most important thing was that the female chef had already stood on the opposite side of him! He had to bring her down, even step on top of her and went to a higher place! There was still half an hour before she said her cooking would be complete. What would happen if the pot was opened ahead of time? He almost laughed at the thought.
However, Qian Jun smile soon died in his belly!
As the judges lifted the sealed lid on the pot and opened the lotus leaf tightly wrapped around the opening, a strong fragrance wafted out immediately. This kind of aroma instantly overwhelmed the finished dishes of everyone on the stage... It was like a king that ordered his servants to fall to their knees and bow their heads in submission!
Qian Jun's eyes were full of surprise, but it soon turned into a strong jealousy!
This kind of smell that permeated the audience had a tangy old wine fragrance, which was refreshing, but also had the rich fragrance of seafood. There was also a fresh taste like the best chicken and duck... Various smells penetrated each other, but they still maintained a touch of independence. Layer upon layer, it stretched endlessly!
"This, is this Buddha Jumps over the Wall?" Qian Jun was struck by lightning. And his words also shocked all the judges and chefs who heard it nearby!
"Buddha Jumps over the wall? That super five-star, billion-dollar ultimate recipe?"
"My God! Could she be... the illegitimate daughter of the president?"
"I have eaten at five-star restaurants, but I have never eaten Buddha Jumps over the Wall!"
"My drool... No way, who will give me a spoon?"
"Don't move! I'll call the president first! It seems that his long-lost daughter has been found?"
"...You guys stop talking! Let me have a taste of the dish!"
At home, Liu Weiwei was still a wife and a mother who satisfied her family's taste. From Xiao Bai to Qin Mo, she would take care of everyone's taste. Since celebrating Xiao Hei's birthday, she had paid more attention to the preferences and personalities of the people around her, hoping to create more comfortable meals for everyone. Her personality was getting softer, which, unlike weakness, was a softening due to femininity.
Sometimes, women's love was not perfect, and it had a certain relationship with the rigidity of personality, which was why it was easy to break. Only women who could act coquettishly in front of their husbands could be called soft and cute.
Qin Mo obviously liked Liu Weiwei's little insights and changes when cooking. Xiao Bai and Xiao Hei also enjoyed it very much.
Even Cai Mingkun, who came to be a guest for the first time today, felt that Liu Weiwei exuded a charming feminine brilliance, and even once reminded him of his tender mother when he was young. If he were forty or fifty years younger, he felt that he might become deeply fascinated by this female chef and wanted to pursue her as his wife. What else could be happier than coming home after a long day of work and being able to eat the sweet and hot soup made by his wife?
Of course, Cai Mingkun was late, but it didn't prevent him from having a more favorable impression of Liu Weiwei, a young female chef. His respect was both as an apprentice and a person. In the future, whoever said that female chefs were inferior to male chefs, he felt that he would the first to object.
"Teacher, I lost to you, so I can rest after this year's exchange meeting." Cai Mingkun didn't look angry or disappointed at all, but rather happy, "Can I study with you in the afternoon? By analogy, watching you stir-fry some dishes might add some inspiration to my snack dishes as well." In fact, after eating Liu Weiwei's home-cooked dishes, he thought of several innovations for new pastries.
"Of course." Liu Weiwei glanced at the system. Cai Mingkun name was already in her fifth apprentice position. And what's even bloodier was that her food system was also very intelligent. She didn't know the students under Cai Mingkun's name, but now those eight people’s names were all in her faction. They had become the disciples of her disciple, her grand disciple. (TN: like grandchildren?)
According to the system requirements, if Liu Weiwei accepted two more talented chefs as apprentices, it was estimated that her disciple, grand disciple and great-grand disciple would instantly become a big group.
"Oh right," Liu Weiwei looked at the apprentice section and took out two books from it, "This is a summary of some ancient experiences in pastry making. It will not be very useful to you, but you can let your students take a look." The skill book she had learned herself could be shared with the disciples in her faction. Below advanced skill book of snack would be of limited help to Cai Mingkun, but it was just enough for his disciples.
"Teacher..." Cai Mingkun took it in surprise. After just turning a few pages, he almost fell to the ground with excitement, "Teacher, is this summary of your experience’s notes?"
So exquisite!
With Cai Mingkun's understanding of snack dishes, one glance at one or two cooking methods in the book could at least save him from detours of two to three years. If he could get this book when he first started, his achievements now would obviously be higher. It's like the difference between a normal person going to college at 18 and a 5 year old child genius going to college at 5 years earlier.
Liu Weiwei took out low-level and intermediate-level skill books, which were all summed up by the system based on thousands of years of big data. The skills contained in the books were the comprehension of many generations. Cai Mingkun, a future chef who had been imprisoned by the Chef Association, thought that it was treasure. She glanced at him and the students earnestly, "This is a crystallization of thousands of years of wisdom. I am just trying to continue to spread it. We are all standing on the shoulders of countless predecessors, so we must also strive to become the shoulders that next generations could stand up in."
Cai Mingkun's hand holding the book felt as heavy as a mountain, "Yes, yes, teacher!"
"Well, it's up to you to carry forward Chinese pastries." Liu Weiwei nodded in relief, "We have been suppressed by Western desserts for many years, so it is time for a revival." If she took in a few more apprentices and managed each cuisine separately, she could conquer the world lying down.
Cai Mingkun was so excited that he felt that all his old bones had found a great goal, "Yes, we have to carry forward and spread Chinese pastries to restaurants throughout the universe."
"Well, that's right." Liu Weiwei was satisfied.
…
Qin Mo kept looking at his little wife fooling an old man. He suddenly broke into cold sweat thinking about the future of Meat Bun. He held the Meat Bun silently, serving as a background picture.
Fortunately, Liu Weiwei also remembered that she was going to continue competing in the afternoon, so she quickly drew up some menus, sorted out the ingredients in her space, and was ready to go out.
Before going out, there was a little episode. Xiao Bai refused to go back to the pet park after without anything. Her two rabbit claws pulled on Liu Weiwei’s trousers. In the end, Liu Weiwei had no choice but to let her hide in her trousers pocket.
But because Xiao Bai didn't go to the pert park, Xiao Hei also refused to move. This made Qin Mo, who was pushing the baby stroller, almost beat him.
Seeing that the two males were going to fight, Liu Weiwei also had a huge headache. In the end, she could only carry Meat Bun on her own, let Qin Mo push the stroller with Xiao Hei lying in it.
"It doesn't matter. Just consider this a weight-bearing exercise." As a military wife, Liu Weiwei had always exercised her physical fitness consciously. She was afraid that one day a war would really break out and she would become a burden to everyone. And a good chef also needs strong physical strength and wrist strength, so physical fitness was a must.
Liu Weiwei looked imposing, so Qin Mo could only support it.
…
So, at the beginning of the competition, Liu Weiwei once again became the center of attention. There were even people who didn't have a clear mind. They even tried to use her as a stepping stone, wanting to rise to the sky.
"I'm going to challenge Chef Liu!"
"I-I want too!"
Contrary to Cai Mingkun's expectations, many people actually came to challenge Liu Weiwei. But soon he also figured why.
Now, Liu Weiwei had the title king of snack, so as long as anyone defeated her, it meant they had defeated the youngest king of snack. This name was enough to make many people brag for a lifetime. It wouldn’t even matter whether they defeated the king by cooking what the other party was not good at, or defeated the king by insufficiency of physical strength.
Defeating Liu Weiwei would allow them to gain fame and gain more customers in the coming year, and maybe the cost of cooking appearances would increase exponentially! If they hit right and beat Liu Weiwei in her weakness, it would be luck; but if they lost unfortunately, they would also lost in the hands of a new king, and there would be no shame.
Apparently a lot of people were thinking this way, so for a while, Liu Weiwei became the hottest opponent on the field.
Liu Weiwei was originally arranged for a competition with someone who was a senior chef from the previous association president’s faction, Dou Kou.
Dou Kou was about twenty years younger than Cai Mingkun, but they were very familiar with each other.
"Old Dou, come on." Cai Mingkun was the most bored in the audience, so he happily walked over to say hello with a teapot in his arms, "If you lose, you might as well be my little junior brother."
Dou Kou almost hit Cai Mingkun with a spoon, "Go, go, I won't lose as badly as you! Old Cai, cooking seafood, I won't lose to a snack chef."
It stood to reason that the competition in the exchange meeting was often a competition of similar cuisine chefs. But obviously Liu Weiwei was hacked, so in Dou Kou's view, he would never lose. "An eighteen years old, already a knife master and a snack king. Now she is still trying to defeat my seafood cooking. Hehehe... don't even think about it!" Dou Kou would never believe that he would lose to a female chef with a baby in her weak arms.
Cai Mingkun touched his chin with a complicated expression. He thought the same thing before, but now he has completely changed his mind after eating Liu Weiwei’s home-cooked food. "Be careful, Old Dou. We are friends for many years, I can only remind you that here."
Cai Mingkun held the teapot and wandered back again. Qin Mo, wearing sunglasses, was browsing the battle report, leaning against the wall with a stroller next to him. And Cai Mingkun’s own student was near the cooking table. He opened his mouth wide behind Liu Weiwei, watching her movements like a fool.
At first glance, Cai Mingkun felt that his student was usually very clever, but today he lost face in front of his teacher.
"What are you looking at?" Cai Mingkun walked over in dissatisfaction, "Don't stand there and make trouble. Have you finished reading the basic skill book for pastry that I just gave you?"
His student quickly pointed his finger at the cooking table, and the whole person has not recovered from the sluggishness.
Cai Mingkun wanted to teach him a lesson, but he didn't want to disturb Liu Weiwei's cooking, so he could only bear it. But following the student's gaze, the teapot he raised suddenly froze. On the cooking table, there were more than a dozen kinds of complicated and high-grade ingredients lined up neatly.
Cai Mingkun almost blurted out, "Sea cucumbers, abalone, shark fins, scallops, fish lips, turtle skirts... duck, mutton, pork belly... Ten, eighteen kinds... Buddha, Buddha... Buddha jump over the wall!?"
When Liu Weiwei heard Cai Mingkun’s voice, she turned back and smiled, "Yes, you recognized it. In this seafood theme, I plan to make Buddha Jump over the Wall and seafood porridge."
Buddha Jumps Over the Wall
Cai Mingkun twitched. Thinking of Dou Kou's confidence just now, he immediately felt that Old Dou was going to be defeated badly. He might even cry for a recipe in a while.
Buddha Jumps Over the Wall... this was an extremely luxurious paleo recipe.
If the previous Four Happiness Dumplings were just a gorgeous court snack, then this Buddha Jumps over the Wall was an ultimate dish that combines luxurious ingredients and cumbersome cooking methods!
Cai Mingkun once heard from his first master that this dish was said to be lost. The current Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, which was preserved in the Advanced Cookbook of the Chef Association, was only an imperfect version. But even then, the price of getting that cookbook was enough to make many super chefs bankrupt.
This Buddha jumps over the wall, it was said that in order to fully reflect the taste characteristics of each high-grade ingredient, it was necessary to cook the more than a dozen kinds of ingredients separately and then gather them together. Then they needed to add broth and wine, and simmer them together. The intensity of the cooking process perfectly described the origin of the name "The altar is full of meat and fragrance, so Buddha abandoned Zen and jumped over the wall".
This complicated cooking method, if it was not an experienced senior chef who was familiar with various ingredients, even if he had a recipe, it would be useless.
Cai Mingkun was so shocked that he didn't know what to say. "Teacher... What kind of cuisine are you majoring in?" This was not a recipe that snack chefs would learn at all!
Liu Weiwei didn't stop her movements, "Huh? I don't have a major. I don't care so much, just learn as many recipes as I can."
Cai Mingkun: "...!"
"Teacher, I heard that the skill needed to make Buddha Jumps over the Wall covers almost all the characteristics of Chinese cuisine. To put various ingredients such as seafood, chicken, duck, pig and deer into one dish requires the use of various cooking techniques. It is not as simple as stewing all in a pot, right?"
Liu Weiwei nodded. The recipe was unlocked after she conquered 10% of all the cuisines. This was not a task reward. It cost her 100,000 credits to redeem it.
"Do you want to learn?" Liu Weiwei raised her eyebrows, "This dish requires various techniques of frying, steaming, and deep-frying, and you have to be very familiar with the nearly 20 kinds of ingredients that will be used before you can learn it." If it weren't for the fact that there were enough recipes of various types that were already unlocked up to the level of five stars, this Buddha Jumps Over the Wall would still be gray and couldn’t be redeemed.
"Each ingredient will be handled differently. Shark fins, fish lips, abalone, sea cucumbers, ducks, sheep elbows, pig trotters, pork belly pieces, mushrooms, and winter bamboo shoots... each needs to be specially processed. After being processes, they would be put into the pot layer by layer, then boiled broth and Shaoxing wine will be poured in. After the ingredients, soup, and wine fully blend, then it will be time to seal the pot with lotus leaves and bring it to a boil, then let it simmer slowly."
Liu Weiwei was also very tired when she said, "This is also the most complicated recipe I have learned. If it wasn't for the competition, I wouldn't make it casually."
Cai Mingkun nodded again and again. No one would casually cook such a complicated dish. It could be said that finishing this dish was equivalent to spending the chef's efforts to cook nearly 20 high-quality ingredients, which was extremely troublesome. He wanted to learn, but he was a snack chef. He immediately thought of Dou Kou, and then he shook his head. If the other party knew that he would be facing such an ultimate dish, would he still have the confidence to win?
Cai Mingkun looked at Liu Weiwei with admiration. She was young enough to be his granddaughter, but her cooking ability was enough to be his teacher!
Liu Weiwei's movements were fast. In fact, this Buddha Jumps Over the Wall still gave her a lot of pressure. However, she had read the history of her opponent very well, so she did not dare to take this competition lightly. As she spoke, she also accelerated the processing of the ingredients in her hands.
Shark fins were peeled and arranged on a bamboo grate. Put in a pot of boiling water, add onion, ginger, and Shaoxing wine to remove the fishy smell, then take out the shark fins and place the pork belly meat in. Add Shaoxing wine and steam it on a rack with high heat. Put cut fish lips into boiling water, put the abalone into the steamer on high heat and then add bone broth.
Pigeon eggs were boiled and shelled; chickens and ducks were chopped trimmed; pig trotters were plucked and washed; sheep elbows were scraped and washed. All of them then were cut into pieces. Duck gizzards were put in boiling water to let out the blood...
Cai Mingkun finally understood why his students were dumbfounded. His young teacher's hands were too fast. She was just like an old chef who had cooked for decades. The knife was like the extension of her hand and she was resolute in her every moves. She handled many ingredients and condiments one by one smoothly. There was never a moment of pause or even confusion.
If Cai Mingkun hadn't seen it with his own eyes, he wouldn't believe that such a young chef could cook Buddha Jumps over the Wall so efficiently, as if she had been cooking the same dishes everyday for many years. Every movement was done without thinking, it was as if they had become part of muscle memory.
Liu Weiwei’s hands were like water, gently brushed each high-grade ingredient, making them just right and charming one by one. Her knife skills, without any hesitation, cut the ingredients into strips or strands, blocks or slices. The speed was fast but still graceful, which was like a moving painting in itself.
Being able to turn the complicated and even brutal cooking process of the back kitchen into such an aesthetically pleasing experience that looked like an artistic creation, Cai Mingkun finally know that he was still inexperienced. His impulsive apprenticeship was probably the most correct thing he had done in his life! Those who laugh at him would probably envy him in the future.
Soon, Liu Weiwei went to the final step, simmering the pot full of ingredients on a low fire. She washed her hands, looked at the timing, and had nothing to do left. In the middle of processing Buddha Jumps over the Wall, she also cooked the seafood porridge.
Growing up, Liu Weiwei was the happiest when she was able to hand in her test papers and left the exam ahead of schedule. She immediately threw off her hands and ran happily to the side of Qin Mo, "It's time to play~"
"It's done?" Qin Mo raised his head, hugged his little wife's waist, lowered his head and sniffed the high-grade seafood smell on her body. He frowned slightly. The natural light fragrance combined with a milky fragrance of Little Meat Bun was more suitable for her.
"Yeah." Liu Weiwei looked at the time. She turned her head and said to her new apprentice. "I'll go shopping first, can I left bringing the pot to the judges' seat to you?" For the next step, as long as the pot continued to simmer, there was no need for her to monitor at all. When the competition ended after three hours and the judges spent another hour evaluating other people’s dishes first, her Buddha Jumps over the Wall would be almost done.
As a veteran of the association, Cai Mingkun deeply admired her brain hole at this moment, "Can I... ? Okay, I'll tell the staff."
"Well, tell them not to start too early. They can start to taste it at four o'clock but it will taste better at five o'clock."
Cai Mingkun gave his disciple a look and asked him to negotiate with the comittee on behalf of him. Holding the teapot himself, he once again walked to the cooking table of his old friend Dou Kou, "West Lake Fish in Vinegar Gravy?"
"Well, I also added an exclusive secret seasoning. I made two, do you want to have a taste first?"
"Hehehe, no need."
"...!?"
"Take care of yourself."
The recipes in this world were born with their own advantages and disadvantages. Just like the martial arts, different sects had their own five-star unique skills and entry-level skills. West Lake Fish in Vinegar Gravy, an ancient Hangzhou cuisine, was rated five stars by the Chef Association. But compared to Buddha Jumps over the Wall... how could a fish win the taste of more than 20 kinds of high-grade ingredients that were integrated but independent of each other? This was the level restraint a recipe was born with!
"Hit a stone with an egg, tsk tsk." Cai Mingkun turned around and came up with such an evaluation. He just found out that the disciple of Old Gao, who was competing with his young teacher, actually came down to cook seafood dishes in person this time. He shook his head sarcastically.
When the judges stood up and started to give points around the judging table, they first went to find Chef Liu's cooking. They were all shocked by how she also informed the best time to taste the dish in a competition.
Cai Mingkun came over, smelled the pot, then checked the time, "There's still half an hour. You guys go to score the others first."
The judges were speechless, but they were also willing to give face to the chef. There was no need to entangle for just a short time. But when they began to turn around, a sudden retort sounded.
"Since it's already on the judges’ table, it means it's done. Can you continue to let it cook? Will this be fair to others?"
Cai Mingkun looked back and frowned, "I know your teacher. This recipe couldn’t be reproduced even if your teacher is present. Waiting for another half an hour is harmless but it can let the recipe achieve its high-level ultimate taste. Issue of fairness doesn’t exist." He was very sure that Liu Weiwei's level was simply beyond the level of other seafood chefs. If it was not even at the same level, how could there be a fairness issue?
"Elder Cai, I respect your valuable opinion, but for other young chefs, today's exchange meeting is very important and may change their lives, so I hope you can follow the rules and don't use power for personal gain."
"I... use power for personal gain?! You little... your teacher doesn't even dare to say that to me!" Cai Mingkun was so angry that his beard cocked.
Qian Jun, however, took a step forward and looked around, "Anyone present that agrees to Elder Cai’s request to delay tasting for half an hour can raise their hands."
Only a few people moved, less than one tenth. Most people didn’t care about themselves and hang up high, and some people have the idea of defeating Liu Weiwei from the beginning.
Cai Mingkun snorted, "If you do too much injustice, you will kill yourself!"
Qian Jun hooked the corner of his mouth, pretending he didn't hear, and gave the judges a gesture. He could no longer care about so much at this time. Even if he offended a famous chef, the most important thing was that the female chef had already stood on the opposite side of him! He had to bring her down, even step on top of her and went to a higher place! There was still half an hour before she said her cooking would be complete. What would happen if the pot was opened ahead of time? He almost laughed at the thought.
However, Qian Jun smile soon died in his belly!
As the judges lifted the sealed lid on the pot and opened the lotus leaf tightly wrapped around the opening, a strong fragrance wafted out immediately. This kind of aroma instantly overwhelmed the finished dishes of everyone on the stage... It was like a king that ordered his servants to fall to their knees and bow their heads in submission!
Qian Jun's eyes were full of surprise, but it soon turned into a strong jealousy!
This kind of smell that permeated the audience had a tangy old wine fragrance, which was refreshing, but also had the rich fragrance of seafood. There was also a fresh taste like the best chicken and duck... Various smells penetrated each other, but they still maintained a touch of independence. Layer upon layer, it stretched endlessly!
"This, is this Buddha Jumps over the Wall?" Qian Jun was struck by lightning. And his words also shocked all the judges and chefs who heard it nearby!
"Buddha Jumps over the wall? That super five-star, billion-dollar ultimate recipe?"
"My God! Could she be... the illegitimate daughter of the president?"
"I have eaten at five-star restaurants, but I have never eaten Buddha Jumps over the Wall!"
"My drool... No way, who will give me a spoon?"
"Don't move! I'll call the president first! It seems that his long-lost daughter has been found?"
"...You guys stop talking! Let me have a taste of the dish!"
