Chapter 318: Chapter 317 Sweet and Sour Yam A+ Grade (Extra for Alliance Hierarch doraemons!)
Xu Cheng finished his second glass of water just as Jiang Feng’s Sweet and Sour Yam was ready.
The Sweet and Sour Yam must be eaten hot. Xu Cheng had just broken into a sweat from the spiciness of two bites of Mapo Tofu and now he needed to eat something sweet to relieve it.
Even though eating something sweet doesn’t actually alleviate the spiciness, what does that have to do with him, Xu Cheng? He just felt like having something sweet.
The Sweet and Sour Yam made by Jiang Feng was all too familiar to Xu Cheng.
He had witnessed the beginning of this dish and once thought that its inception was its peak.
With a stretch of his chopsticks, he pulled out thin threads of sugar.
Xu Cheng liked this pulling sensation; it felt as if eating Sweet and Sour Yam any other way would lack soul, only considering it Sweet and Sour Yam if he could see the fine threads stretching from the yam clutched between his chopsticks.
He took a bite.
Xu Cheng realized he was wrong.
The Sweet and Sour Yam that Jiang Feng made in the Good Taste cooking competition wasn’t the peak but merely the beginning.
Even though his taste buds were still numb and the lingering effects of the Mapo Tofu might have affected his judgment on the delicacy, it didn’t prevent him from recognizing that Jiang Feng had improved his Sweet and Sour Yam.
For the first time, Xu Cheng began to doubt his own tongue.
He suspected that the numbing spiciness from the Mapo Tofu hadn’t fully dissipated, causing his tongue to malfunction, making him think that the Sweet and Sour Yam he had just tasted could be considered a masterpiece.
Xu Cheng put down his chopsticks and went to rinse his mouth.
He rinsed his mouth very seriously, wanting to wash away all the flavors in his mouth, including the numbness, so that he could thoroughly and carefully appreciate Jiang Feng’s Sweet and Sour Yam.
After rinsing, Xu Cheng picked up his chopsticks again, took another piece of Sweet and Sour Yam, and watched as it pulled into long threads.
Crispy, fragrant, sweet, soft.
This dish almost encompassed all the strengths of Chinese desserts.
It might even have no flaws.
Xu Cheng had tried similar dishes before. Eight years ago, when he took the staff of “Taste” to the United States to interview Peng Changgui, he thought that the meal Peng Changgui personally cooked for him represented the pinnacle of contemporary Chinese cuisine.
That year, Peng Changgui was almost 80.
Peng Changgui started learning the art of cooking from his father at the age of 6 and spent over 70 years without taking a single day off from wielding the kitchen knife. Even though he had moved to America and hadn’t set foot in a kitchen for years, he still undisputedly stood as a great master of Chinese cuisine.
Even someone as astonishingly brilliant as Sun Maochai, a figure who made the entire culinary world marvel, Xu Cheng didn’t believe he could surpass Peng Changgui.
But now, Xu Cheng actually thought that Jiang Feng could reach the same heights as Peng Changgui, or even go further.
Some people work as chefs their entire lives, and even when revered as top chefs, they can’t be called masters.
But with just this Sweet and Sour Yam, Jiang Feng could be called a master.
A 21-year-old master, so young it was intimidating.
Xu Cheng once thought it impossible to differentiate between chefs, given the different cuisines and specialties. With such a complex and variable profession, how could one determine who was first or second?
But now, he felt that perhaps chefs could indeed be ranked.
With the likes of Wu Minqi, Zhang Guanghang, and Jiang Feng, these three promising young chefs at Taifeng Building, it could truly become the number one restaurant in the world.
“Ding, acknowledgment from a customer obtained, task progress (5/10).” A game notification sounded.
Jiang Feng could barely conceal his surprise.
From the moment the dish was ready, he knew it would satisfy Xu Cheng, but he didn’t expect that Xu Cheng would be so pleased that he regarded Taifeng Building as the world’s number one restaurant based solely on this dish.
Jiang Feng looked at the Sweet and Sour Yam in front of him.
[Sweet and Sour Yam A+ Grade (Pseudo)]
A new level, higher than A grade.
After that, Jiang Feng felt like he was floating on air.
For a chef, there’s no greater praise than the approval of a top gourmet.
Even though the real reason behind that approval was the game giving him a cheat, Jiang Feng still felt elated.
Jiang Feng floated through the end of today’s interview, floated through the evening business, and floated back home.
Before going to sleep, Jiang Feng still felt as if he was floating in the clouds.
Tomorrow he would definitely succeed in making the A-grade Yun Chicken!
Jiang Feng floated as he dreamed.
The next morning, Jiang Feng and Wu Minqi bought green bean buns from the breakfast store at the community entrance and then headed for Taifeng Building.
An entire morning passed, with nine unsuccessful attempts.
Jiang Feng hadn’t experienced such a brutal series of failures in a long time.
Wu Minqi, who tasted all nine of Jiang Feng’s failed attempts at the Yun Chicken, was puzzled.
“There’s no difference in the few plates of Yun Chicken that you’ve made,” Wu Minqi said. “You keep saying something’s off, but what exactly is off?”
Jiang Feng didn’t know what was off either since he’d never eaten real Yun Chicken.
“It just feels off, it’s a feeling. I always think the taste of this dish should be better than this,” Jiang Feng said.
Wu Minqi couldn’t understand his logic and continued carving watermelons.
Since she started carving watermelons the afternoon of the previous day, Wu Minqi had fallen deeply in love with the activity, obsessed with it. No matter how complex the shapes or patterns, she tackled them eagerly and then sent her creations to Mrs. Wang Xiulian as a pre-meal/post-meal fruit.
Jiang Feng’s series of failures continued until the special interview was over.
With enough failed attempts, you eventually get used to it.
In the meantime, Jiang Feng had repeatedly studied Cao Guixiang’s tutorial videos on making the Yun Chicken, convinced that there was nothing wrong with his method. He even recruited many taste testers like Wu Minqi, Zhang Guanghang, Ji Xue, Zhang Weiyu, Sang Ming, Han Yigu, and Tang Tang—all excellent chefs from the Taifeng Building’s kitchen. He didn’t even spare Jiang Jiankang, Wang Xiulian, the two respected elders, and Chen Xiuxiu, who had finally submitted a satisfactory article to Xu Cheng and came to dine at Taifeng Building.
They all asked him the same question.
“What kind of flavor are you trying to achieve?”
Jiang Feng didn’t know what kind of flavor he was aiming for. He had no clue what Yun Chicken was supposed to taste like.
The creator of Yun Chicken, Cao Guixiang, had passed away, and those who knew the taste of Yun Chicken couldn’t describe it.
Jiang Feng had messaged Zhang Zhiyuan, but even Zhang Zhiyuan couldn’t describe what Yun Chicken was really supposed to taste like.
Yun Chicken was the taste of Zhang Zhiyuan’s childhood, and now he was a young man.
For the last few days, Jiang Feng had stayed at Taifeng Building, battling it out with the Yun Chicken deep into the night. Wu Minqi, because of her addiction to carving watermelons, didn’t stay with him at Taifeng Building but instead went home to carve. After all, Mrs. Wang Xiulian, the one who enjoyed the watermelons, kept regular hours.
The one who stayed up late every night at Taifeng Building, fighting the battle alongside Jiang Feng, was Zhang Guanghang.
He had also gotten into a struggle with the chicken.
Zhang Guanghang faced the same difficulty in cooking as Jiang Feng — a bottleneck.
Jiang Feng’s bottleneck was someone else’s taste of childhood, whereas Zhang Guanghang’s bottleneck was his own taste of childhood.
In the last few days, Taifeng Building’s kitchen staff ate chicken until they burped, and every breath they took was either the flavor of Yun Chicken or Shafu Roast Chicken.
After several days of meaningless struggle, Jiang Feng and Zhang Guanghang realized that their efforts were in vain and would yield no results or effects.
The two decided to take a day off to relax, clear their minds, and refresh their thinking, which might lead to new discoveries.
Zhang Guanghang chose to go hiking, while Jiang Feng went to the Benevolent Doctor.
It had been several days since he checked in on the tasks of the Benevolent Doctor’s small kitchen; it was time to explore some new “guinea pigs.”