Chapter 5: Chapter 5: First Time as Head Chef

[Ding! NPC Zhao Meng’s task: Complete a banquet as the chef. Task requirement: Customer satisfaction. Task completion reward: One random prize, Task experience +100]

One random prize?

Fu Yu was amused.

There’s even a prize to win?

I wonder what good thing it might be!

He instinctively glanced at the knife set beside him.

Could it be a set of high-quality knives?

It’s just as well that this set in my hand likely won’t last, so it’s out with the old and in with the new.

Fu Yu felt relieved, and only then did he pick up the menu for a closer look.

Room 205 reservation menu: Sweet and Sour Pork, Boiled Fish, Garlic Scallops, Dry Pot Duck Heads, Salted Egg Yolk Pumpkin, Demolli Braised Fish, Vegetable with Dressing, Baby Bok Choy Lamb Meatball Soup.

There’s both meat and vegetables, as well as soup.

Nowadays, meals are ordered in even numbers.

Three people order five dishes, six people order eight dishes.

It looks nice, and the portion size is just right.

The guests at this table are regulars.

A family of six, the elderly couple, a young couple, and a pair of twin daughters.

The elderly love the Demolli Braised Fish from the restaurant, the young couple loves Sichuan cuisine, especially Boiled Fish, and the twins’ favorite is Sweet and Sour Pork.

Every time they come, they have these three regular dishes, and the remaining dishes depend on their mood.

For the reserved banquet, the cold dishes can be prepared in advance.

Preparation and garnish are Fu Yu’s strengths.

He selected the right amount of konjac knots, preserved eggs, black fungus, cucumber shreds, enoki mushrooms, and cilantro segments.

Then he paired it with a premade dressing brought from procurement, plated, and drizzled with dressing.

The Vegetable with Dressing was completed.

The meat pieces for Sweet and Sour Pork have been pre-oiled; putting it in the wok and thickening it is all it needs to be plated.

The duck heads are all braised.

The pumpkin is oiled and ready.

The lamb soup is ready to be put in, just need to uncover the lid.

It only takes ten minutes to place the scallops with garlic on the tray.

The only time-consuming task testing culinary skills was the two live fish dishes.

Killing and cleaning the fish, slicing and scoring the meat, these are nothing significant.

When it came to actually cooking, Fu Yu felt a bit nervous.

Fortunately, despite the mental pressure, he had participated in preparing feasts in the kitchen many times, so he was quite familiar with the cooking techniques. Having seen it done many times, it shouldn’t be a big problem to do it himself.

For Boiled Fish, the key is the texture of the fish and the ratio of the seasonings.

Selecting live fish was the procurement’s job; Fu Yu’s task was to marinate the prepared fish with egg white, salt, dry starch, and cooking wine.

There is a certain ratio of fish to Sichuan pepper and chili.

The main thing is to adjust according to the customer’s taste.

Fu Yu, cooking for the first time, was a bit at a loss.

How to determine the customer’s taste?

Do they like Sichuan cuisine because they enjoy spicy or numbing flavors, or is it heavy spice and numbing they prefer?

He poured a small bowl of salad oil into the wok.

Fu Yu turned and asked Zhao Meng, “Chef Zhao, are these chilies enough? Should I add more?”

Zhao Meng gave a look that indicated: Decide for yourself.

Fu Yu directly poured the prepared chili and Sichuan pepper segments into the wok… and then paused.

As the chilies and Sichuan peppers slow-fried in the low heat oil, a rich, spicy aroma was released.

It’s just that…

Fu Yu was shocked to see a [!] appear in the smoke!

When prepping the ingredients or even when mixing the Vegetable with Dressing, there were no such prompts.

Now, suddenly, there was a human-like annotation.

Is this to prevent me from failing the task by providing cheat-like assistance?

But… it is quite considerate.

Without hesitation, Fu Yu chose to check it out.

[Missing five grams of chili! Sichuan pepper is just right!]

Missing five grams?

There’s no time to weigh it now.

He hurriedly reached for the chili.

As soon as he grabbed a small handful, an electronic voice suddenly sounded next to his ear:

[Ding! Overweight]

His fingers relaxed slightly, shaking off a bit.

[Ding! Exactly five grams of chili]

Fu Yu: “!”

How incredible!

Will these hands of mine become a living scale from now on?

Fu Yu added the chili to the wok.

The [!] in the smoke disappeared.

After the chili changed color, Fu Yu used a spatula to scoop out half of the oil and Sichuan pepper chili for later use.

He turned up the heat and added the pounded garlic cloves and ginger slices.

The [!] appeared in the smoke once again.

[Three grams too much ginger, two grams too few garlic cloves]

Fu Yu hurriedly scooped out the ginger from the wok, changing two slices until it met the three-gram standard.

Then quickly added garlic cloves to the wok.

Finally managed to eliminate [!].

Fu Yu held the spatula and stir-fried in the pot, letting out a sigh of relief.

Phew, thank goodness, I didn’t mess it up.

As the aroma wafted from the pot, Fu Yu turned to grab the large bowl filled with fish heads and fillets.

He glanced up and saw Zhao Meng frowning at him, his gaze quite hostile.

Fu Yu knew his previous performance was indeed a bit over the top.

After all, even when Zhao Meng was cooking, adding a few more cloves of garlic or half a slice less ginger to the seasoned oil didn’t really make much of a difference.

What was a casual thing was turned into a show by Fu Yu.

Fu Yu pretended not to notice, carried the bowl, fished out the fish heads and fillets, placed them in the pot, and stir-fried twice.

When pouring the cooking wine, he deliberately poured it into a small bowl first, and only after eliminating [!] did he add it to the pot with confidence.

Then he followed the instructions to add salt and boiling water.

When the fish head soup boiled out the fresh flavor, he placed the fish slices one by one into the bubbling soup.

The fish cooked quickly, and before serving, Fu Yu hurriedly followed the standard by adding chicken essence, white pepper powder, and salt and pepper powder in turn.

The porcelain bowl used to serve the fish was already lined with blanched bean sprouts.

Just as Fu Yu was about to serve the fish fillets, he saw a [!] pop up in the porcelain bowl again.

Damn!

Fu Yu, under Zhao Meng’s warning gaze, silently removed some of the bean sprouts.

Then, without waiting for Zhao Meng to speak, he resolutely poured the fish fillets and all the soup into the porcelain bowl, then added the half bowl of chili and oil that had been scooped out earlier on top.

During the pouring process, he left a small amount of chili and oil untouched at the bottom of the bowl.

Zhao Meng couldn’t tolerate it any longer and retorted, “Why are you still skimping on the ingredients!”

The bean sprouts have been blanched; there’s not even enough left to stir-fry a dish. As for the chili and oil, they might be useful for other dishes, but you don’t need to be so stingy!

Fu Yu dared not say that too many ingredients would affect the taste.

He could only feign ignorance and excuse, “I was afraid the soup would overflow in the end.”

Zhao Meng was speechless.

The dish is already plated; it’s impossible to add the ingredients back in now.

Just then, someone from the front came over to deliver food.

“The guests in room 205 have arrived.”

Zhao Meng acknowledged and instructed Fu Yu to hand over the finished dish.

The person who came over was Dai Li, a front hall server.

She was surprised to see Zhao Meng without a mask and apron and asked, “Did the chef change today?”

Fu Yu handed over the freshly cooked fish fillets, grinning awkwardly, “Chef Zhao gave me a chance to practice.”

Dai Li winked at Fu Yu, “Chef Fu, good luck!”

Dai Li was about the same age as Fu Yu, but she had been working here for more than four years and was familiar with everyone in the kitchen.

She was generally not very talkative with the kitchen staff due to her proud nature.

She only acted differently toward Fu Yu.

After all, Fu Yu was known as the handsome guy in the store.

Dai Li walked away with the fish fillets.

Zhao Meng chuckled, “Alright, Chef Fu, quit being so pleased with yourself. There are other dishes waiting to be cooked!”

The others chimed in at the sound.

“Chef Fu! Good luck!”

Fu Yu waved awkwardly, “Don’t tease! If it affects my performance, you guys are responsible!”

Everyone burst into laughter.

The next few dishes, Fu Yu cooked more and more smoothly.

When the last dish of cabbage lamb meatball soup was served, Fu Yu finally let out a long sigh of relief.

Sigh…

Handling the main cooking is truly exhausting!

[Ding! NPC Zhao Meng’s Task: Successfully complete a full course meal. Reward for task completion: One random prize, Task experience +100]

[Claim random prize: Yes or No]

Fu Yu froze.

Feeling exhilarated, he listened to the electronic sound.

The first time in his life truly handling the main cooking, he actually got customer recognition!

It was so exhilarating and delightful.

Fu Yu chose to claim the random prize.

[Ding! Congratulations on receiving a random prize: Task experience +666!]

The random prize was actually experience points! And as high as 666!

Fu Yu was taken aback.

Damn!

This had to be the grand prize, right?

Fu Yu was overjoyed.

[Ding! Task experience maxed, your level is now lv4, gaining one skill point.]

He actually leveled up!!

Checked his attributes.

[Name: Fu Yu]

[Profession: Chef]

[Level: lv4: 100/1000 (Novice Trainee)]

[Professional Skills:

Braising: 50/500

Boiling: 50/500

Honorary Title: Rising Star of the Kitchen]

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep