Chapter 198: One Point Less
Translator: Xiong Guoqi Editor: DesTheSloth
After observing for quite a while, the man in a suit at the side suddenly uttered, "I feel Boss Yuan has decent reasons to fill the bag like that."
"What? You feel that you can pick the beans up easily?" Wu Hai turned the head and looked at the man in a suit, saying with an impolite tone.
"No, not really," the man in a suit shrugged, indicating he wasn’t able to pick up the beans smoothly either.
"Then why did you interrupt?" Wu Hai felt speechless.
"Because I know why Boss Yuan filled the bag like that," the man in a suit said affirmatively.
"Say it," Wu Hai revealed a manner of "say it".
"This dish is Spiced Beans, isn’t it?" The man in a suit appeared to be one that enjoyed leaving others in suspense.
However, Wu Hai didn’t give him the opportunity. He said impatiently, "You are speaking nonsense. We all know that."
The man in a suit nevertheless didn’t mind Wu Hai’s bad temper. He just shrugged and continued to say, "With the faba beans and the strong scent of the five spice powder, you can think of the consequences by yourself. What will happen if they are filled in an open plate or bowl."
"To prevent the fragrance from leaking out?" Wu Hai soon realized that the fragrance of the spiced beans would all emit from the plate or bowl."
"Yes, right. If the fragrance was all contained in the beans, you will be able to have the best experience when you eat it," the man in a suit said with a quite affirmative tone.
"That does make sense," Wu Hai considered for a while and then agreed with the man in a suit.
However, he poked the soft bag again and asked curiously, "What’s it used for?"
"For that, I don’t know. You have to ask Boss Yuan," the man in a suit spread out his hands, indicating he had no idea of that.
"Boss Yuan, tell me what it is," Wu Hai asked without courtesy.
"It is edible. You’ll know what it is after you eat it," Yuan Zhou said frankly.
"You are leaving me in suspense again. I don’t want to guess anymore. I’ll know after eating it," Wu Hai’s temper appeared and didn’t want to ask anymore.
"Please enjoy," Yuan Zhou reached out his hand and made a gesture of "please". After that, he didn’t speak to him anymore and directly left to prepare the dishes for others.
Wu Hai then started to practice the special technique of picking up the beans, making up his mind to pick all the beans out.
Ten minutes later, Wu Hai finally ate up the spiced beans in the soft bag. It was probably the only time that he had eaten with so much difficulty.
The feeling of eating it, however, was really great. Every time he picked up a bean, he felt quite satisfied. Also, it tasted especially luscious when he had the bean in his mouth.
"Where has the broth inside the bag gone?" Suddenly, Wu Hai found that the warm broth formerly contained in the soft bag had disappeared while the beans were being eaten up.
Wu Hai turned the plate in a circle and didn’t found any soup dripping onto the plate. Nevertheless, after careful observation, he discovered the color of the soft bag turning darker.
The broth had apparently been absorbed by the soft bag.
"This thing is pretty interesting," Wu Hai poked the bag again and then said.
He tried to pick up the soft bag with his chopsticks and then found it was very easily picked up.
It seemed to be a design of being easy to take up but difficult to fall off.
Since Yuan Zhou said it was edible, it definitely could be eaten. However, before eating, Wu Hai still took a poke at the bag.
He then bit it from the fish mouth.
When Wu Hai bit it, it tasted like well-cooked beef tendons. There was a hint of stickiness in the softness. With a little chewing, it melted in his mouth.
"This is really like the stewed beef tendon, isn’t it?" Wu Hai said after swallowing it.
"It’s indeed so," the man in a suit at the side also nodded approvingly.
"But it shouldn’t be the beef tendon as the texture is different. Boss Yuan, what exactly is it?" After another bite, Wu Hai asked vaguely.
Yuan Zhou didn’t answer him but just silently uncovered a cauldron. Inside, some animal skin was being stewed and rolling along with the creamy broth. It could be seen clearly that the skin inside was processed cleanly and neatly.
It was completely free from any fat. There was also no hair at all on the skin.
"Is it made from collagen?" Wu Hai said incredulously.
"Yes. The fat has been removed; hence, it is good for health," with a nod, Yuan Zhou said, pretending to be serious.
"Indeed. But it requires great effort and work to make it into such a form. It’s actually the edible gelatin, right?" Wu Hai considered for an instant and then said.
That’s true. This kind of edible gelatin was made entirely from the collagen extracted from fresh animal skin and bones. To girls, the collagen was not only the delicacy but also good for beautifying.
"It’s easy to be absorbed," Yuan Zhou nodded.
"For sure it is. Besides, the texture is not bad since it has absorbed the fragrance and broth of the Spiced Beans and had a similar texture to the stewed beef tendon. This is also a top-notch delicacy," Wu Hai said generously.
Eventually, Wu Hai got to know the purpose of filling the beans like that. The fish mouth opening could best prevent the fragrance from leaking. This guaranteed that it penetrated the Spiced Beans thoroughly as well as the spiced bag outside.
The vanished broth was absorbed by the spiced bag, therefore it was a dish of the two ingredients supplementing each other.
Nothing could be better than it to be eaten with wine.
…
Time was like the flowing water and never came back.
After Yuan Zhou finished reading all those seemingly childish books, he also learned composition from Wu Hai for ten days. During that period, only Yuan Zhou was learning. As for Wu Hai, he hadn’t even started to learn cooking.
However, Wu Hai truly satisfied his craving for teaching others during the period. Every day, he ordered Yuan Zhou freely about.
As he wanted to accomplish the mission earnestly, Yuan Zhou met all the expectations of Wu Hai.
Adhering to the principle of reciprocity, Yuan Zhou intended to teach Wu Hai earnestly, seriously and wholeheartedly when he learned cooking from him and made sure that he could master it.
Luckily, Yuan Zhou had absorbed the god-tier cutting techniques himself, which could be mastered quickly.
"You have understood most of the composition skills. Now you can practice by yourself. If you have any problems later, you can ask me," after the last lesson, Wu Hai said bitterly.
"Humm, thank you," Yuan Zhou gathered his stuff and said as he walked to the door.
"Never mind. It’s just an equivalent exchange," Wu Hai waved his hand smartly.
"Dong Dong Dong"
Yuan Zhou returned to his restaurant in quick steps. It was the time to examine his accomplishments.
"System, I need to practice the knife skills," Yuan Zhou said.
The system displayed, "It’s ready."
Afterwards, a big radish with a height of a man suddenly appeared in the kitchen of Yuan Zhou’s restaurant, standing upright there.
When he caught sight of the radish, Yuan Zhou first washed his hands and wiped the knife before starting to observe it in a very careful manner, including the texture of the radish.
Half an hour later, Yuan Zhou started to take up the menu and prepared to move the knife.
Accompanied by the sound of "Shua Shua Shua", the pieces of radish skin flew all over the place and the translucent flesh was then revealed. The big radish started to take shape slowly in Yuan Zhou’s hands.
After two hours, Yuan Zhou finally stopped.
"Hu", Yuan Zhou let out a long sigh of relief and put the knife down and then he started to observe his work.
In almost three hours, Yuan Zhou had carved an extremely beautiful court lady who was dressed in Chinese Han clothing of Tang dynasty with the kitchen knife.
"System, please give a mark," Yuan Zhou felt satisfied and started to let the system to score.
The system displayed, "The score is 11. Congratulations, you have completed the mission."
"Isn’t it full score?" Yuan Zhou felt he had basically used his best technique and mind in the three hours.
This time, however, the system didn’t mention where he had lost the marks.
Now that he had come so far for the mission, he had a stronger reason to make it better.
Yuan Zhou’s target was to get the full score. He started to check what exactly the problem was with the radish sculpture before he even had time to receive the reward...