"The host has expended one Superior Cooking Learning Card and obtained the Superior universal cooking technique—Dry-frying. This technique can be used to make all types of dry-fried dishes. Congratulations to the host."

Ha! Originally, I just wanted to learn one dish, but I ended up accidentally learning an entire cuisine. Now, *that's* what I call a surprise!

Lin Xu was very happy.

Because with this Dry-frying Technique, the restaurant could offer so many more dishes. Apart from dry-fried green beans, there were dry-fried fatty intestines, dry-fried meat shreds, dry-fried beef, dry-fried chicken pieces, dry-fried pork trotters, dry-fried squid, dry-fried potatoes, and various other dishes perfect for pairing with drinks or complementing a meal. Although, compared to stir-fries, dry-fried dishes do rely heavily on deep-frying. But they're delicious! Who can resist all kinds of dry, fragrant, and spicy dishes?

Xie Baomin, who was stir-frying the green beans, looked at his junior brother with curiosity.

"Why are you suddenly so excited? Did you learn it?"

Only then did Lin Xu snap back to reality and, with a smile, said, "I've pretty much figured it out. When I have time, I plan to give it a try and see how the dish turns out."

"Learning it just by watching once? Junior Brother, your talent is really something else. If I'd had your talent when I was an apprentice, I would've been spared so many beatings."

Actually, Xie Baomin's talent wasn't bad. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been taken on as an apprentice by Chief Gao, nor would he have become the executive chef of Building Two at the Fishing Platform State Guesthouse in his forties. In the culinary industry, this already put him at the very top of the pyramid. He was a figure countless chefs looked up to. But his junior brother was so outrageously talented, it made Xie Baomin, who should have been a top student, look like a complete novice by comparison.

Lin Xu waved his hand. "I don't have much talent. I've just watched a lot of similar cooking videos before, and just now I watched you make it live. I just grasped the key points of dry-frying, that's all."

"What? You've even mastered the key points of dry-frying? Junior Brother, your talent is just incredible!"

Lin Xu: "..."

Why does explaining it just make things sound worse?

When the dried chili and Sichuan peppercorns in the wok had been fried until completely dry, Xie Baomin drizzled some light soy sauce along the edge of the wok. This would add a savory, soy-sauce fragrance to the green beans, making them even more delicious.

"If you have Sichuan peppercorn oil, this is also when you'd add it. The Sichuan peppercorn oil helps to bloom the savory notes of the light soy sauce. As the moisture in the light soy sauce evaporates, the fragrant and numbing flavor of the Sichuan peppercorn oil infuses into the green beans."

I get it, I get it. It's a shame the restaurant doesn't have Sichuan peppercorn oil; we'll have to skip this step for now.

Xie Baomin went straight to seasoning. He added two small spoons of salt to the wok, then one small spoon of white sugar to enhance the umami. He continued to stir-fry, allowing the sugar and salt to dissolve completely. Next, he added a large handful of roasted white sesame seeds, tossing them quickly with a small spatula for ten seconds. This ensured the sesame seeds coated the green beans evenly and allowed the heat to release their fragrance.

He turned off the heat and dished out the green beans. The sesame-coated green beans were placed onto a tray, ready to be sold at noon.

"Junior Brother, try the flavor."

Lin Xu didn't hesitate. Using chopsticks, he picked up a bean that was emitting a rich, spicy aroma and took a taste.

The flavor was numbing, spicy, fresh, and fragrant upon entering his mouth. The slightly browned green beans were perfectly dry and aromatic, yet they had a substantial, tender texture when chewed, almost as if he were eating meat instead of beans. After he finished, a slight sweetness lingered in his mouth, leaving him wanting more.

Delicious!

The combination of the numbing-spicy flavor and the dry fragrance was perfect, making one instantly crave a cold beer to go with it.

"Thanks, Senior Brother, for giving my restaurant another great dish to serve with drinks."

Xie Baomin smiled and said, "Why be so polite between us martial brothers? It's only right that I help you."

Lin Xu took out his phone, shot a short video of the freshly made dry-fried green beans, and then posted it under the Lin Ji's Food topic. The topic was currently ranked sixteenth on the Yanjing Region food list. Although it had climbed a few spots in the past few days, there was still a huge gap to the number one spot, #YanjingFoodShare#. So, Lin Xu had been frequently posting updates in the last couple of days to increase the topic's popularity, which in turn could also boost the enthusiasm of netizens for posting.

"Boss Lin has more and more tricks up his sleeve these days! And I mean his cooking skills."

"SLURP... I want to try it."

"I want to try some too..."

"You two above, make it clear. Do you want to try Boss Lin or the dry-fried green beans?"

"What? Can you try Boss Lin too?"

"Every last one of you above, you're all under arrest! Take 'em away!"

"..."

No matter when, the goofy netizens were always online. Under this post by Lin Xu, they frantically built up the comment thread, drawing in many passersby netizens to spectate.

After Lin Xu posted his update, he also shared the short video he recorded to the group chat. The reactions here were much more normal.

Shen Jiayue: "Wow! It looks so tempting, I want to eat it!!!"

Chen Yan: "Brother-in-law, are you introducing a new dish? @Wu Kexin, you should try making it when you're free."

Wu Kexin: "@Chen Yan, please spare me, Boss Chen! My attempt at egg yolk baked pumpkin yesterday was such an epic fail, my fans were as excited as if it were the Spring Festival."

Geng Lele: "All hail the Queen of Fails!"

Yue Liyue: "All hail the Queen of Fails!"

Hair Loss Qiang: "Queen of Fails... Geng Lele, can you stop changing my group display name? I've decided, next week I'm going to shave my head bald, and then you'll all stop bringing up my hair!"

Geng Lele: "Alright, Bald Qiang!"

Yue Liyue: "Alright, Bald Qiang!"

Won't Change Group Name Until I Lose 30 Pounds: "Alright, Bald Qiang!"

Bald Qiang: "Who was that just now... Who was so quick and changed my name again?"

Unexpectedly, the group chat had also become goofy, and the meme was spreading like wildfire. Lin Xu put away his phone and continued with his work.

Once the morning rush was over, Xie Baomin said, "Now that we finally have a little break, let me make some Sichuan peppercorn oil for you."

"Is it difficult?"

"The difficulty isn't high, but the steps are a bit tedious."

As long as it wasn't difficult, it would be fine.

Xie Baomin set up a wok and poured in half a wokful of oil. He first heated the oil, then turned off the heat to let it cool a bit. While the oil was cooling, he took out a stainless steel bowl and poured in a large bowl of red Sichuan peppercorns, followed by a third of a bowl of other Sichuan peppercorns. Then he added half a bowl of boiling water to the peppercorns.

"Soaking them in boiling water helps to remove the bitterness and medicinal taste from the Sichuan peppercorns as much as possible. It also washes off any surface dust. Additionally, soaking them helps to fully release their fragrance when they're later processed with oil."

By the time he was about done with this, the oil in the wok had cooled to about 60-70% heat. Xie Baomin added the prepared scallion sections, slices of ginger, sections of celery, and cilantro roots to the wok, using the residual heat to fry them and enhance the oil's fragrance.

「Twenty minutes later.」

The red Sichuan peppercorns and the other Sichuan peppercorns had swollen from the soaking. He used a strainer to transfer them from the bowl to a basket. First, he drained the water, then placed them near a fan to blow-dry as much surface moisture as possible. Then, he poured the dried Sichuan peppercorns into a clean bowl.

By now, the oil in the wok had completely cooled down, and the scallions, ginger, celery, and cilantro had been fried until their surfaces were slightly yellow. Using a strainer, he fished out these aromatics. Afterward, he lifted the wok and poured the infused oil into the bowl holding the Sichuan peppercorns.

CRACKLE...

Even though the oil temperature was already below 30% of its peak, it still sizzled upon contact with the slightly damp Sichuan peppercorns.

Lin Xu, standing by, found this quite strange.

Pouring the oil into the bowl? What was this step? Weren't they going to fry the peppercorns later? If they weren't fried, how would the flavor of the Sichuan peppercorns be released?

Just as he was pondering, he noticed Xie Baomin bring over kitchen plastic wrap and carefully seal the bowl containing the Sichuan peppercorns and oil.

"Senior Brother, what's this for?" Lin Xu had once again encountered something beyond his knowledge.

"Steaming!"

Steaming? There was a steaming step in making Sichuan peppercorn oil too?

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