Abnormal Gourmet Chronicle

Chapter 343: Boss Shi


Cao Guixiang was still making the stuffed Yellow Fish. The Yellow Fish was aired in advance, and the fish fins were pre-soaked and processed, but the ham, sea cucumber, and abalone were cut and processed on the spot.

Qin Huai felt Cao Guixiang did it on purpose, intentionally not preparing these ingredients early for him to slice and dice in front of her, letting him see how higher-level Knife Skills are.

How should I put it, plain but challenging.

When slicing radish shreds or radish slices, relatively simple ingredients more suitable for practice, Knife Skills can be very flashy.

The speed can be so fast, fast enough to produce afterimages. The movements can also be exaggerated, as if a camera is going to zoom in for a close-up of the knife edge the next second.

But Cao Guixiang wasn't like this when handling the sea cucumber, abalone, and ham. Her knife wasn't fast, even a bit deliberate. The knife wasn't heavy either, giving a feeling of being gentle and soft, just like a beginner, cautiously learning to cut, so the movements appeared gentle, slow, and somewhat cautious.

Of course, Cao Guixiang didn't really have that cautiousness. She gently and slowly handled all the ingredients, arranged them together, and upon closer inspection, you'd find that the threads she cut out were uniform in thickness, and the dices almost seemed stamped out from a mold.

Unnoticed yet detailed Knife Skills.

After handling these ingredients, Cao Guixiang began mashing the shrimp into paste. Her movements remained slow, looking gentle and calm, only with heavier force in chopping, creating a rhythmic sound on the chopping board.

Cao Guixiang spoke timely, explaining: "Cutting vegetables requires pursuit of speed, but shouldn't only pursue speed."

"When you were slicing radishes, I told you to cut faster because there were many left uncut, as you were still in the beginning stage. At this time, what you need to do is fast, precise, and fierce. You need to practice a lot to become skilled, enhance your speed, becoming adept and proficient."

"Certainly, now you have entered the beginning stage, but you still need to practice speed, because entering doesn't mean understanding. Entering just means you're starting to lay the foundation, as for how long to lay this foundation, I'm not very clear."

"When your basics are solid, and you've processed various ingredients, you can start challenging more difficult things. For example, deboning a whole chicken, vegetable carving, or even Wensi Tofu, a pure Knife Skills show dish, you need to learn to slow down."

"In handling such major dishes, you must be slow, not only in action but also in mindset. You can't rush to eat hot tofu, nor rush to cook a good dish. Slow doesn't mean unskilled, often slow means detailed."

"This is why many masters, when taking apprentices, don't prefer those with impatient temperament. It's not that impatience is bad, but once forming such habits, it becomes easy to deal with. Those who do things slowly, seemingly gently are not necessarily dumb, sometimes they're more cautious and detailed."

Listening to Cao Guixiang, Qin Huai suddenly thought of Guli.

Guli cooked at a very slow pace, sometimes so slow that others couldn't bear watching, even Tan Wei'an couldn't bear watching. But whether urged or not, Guli was always cooking in such a slow status, he cooked with no major issues but constantly minor ones.

This isn't about criticizing him. Often big issues stem from inadequate skill, unavoidable, but many minor issues can be avoided. Within his capability, Guli avoided all issues he could, leaving only pure lack of skill.

Qin Huai thoughtfully asked: "So, Master, should I slow down a bit when cutting vegetables and making snacks in the future?"

Cao Guixiang shook her head, seasoning and stirring the mashed shrimp: "You're not someone with a very anxious personality, you don't need to change your habits for so-called betterment. Everyone has their own traits and habits, no one can be perfect, when you're skilled enough, you're perfect."

"Now your Knife Skills have just started, naturally you'll find many faults. But if your Knife Skills have reached the peak, even if you have many unconventional habits and minor faults, others will only say it's the flair of a master."

"Anyway, back when I was a chef in Qiu County, my Boss praised me like this every day." Cao Guixiang said, starting to heat oil to fry shrimp heads, simmering them gently while pouring oil and pressing the shrimp heads. "Even if sometimes I make mistakes in cooking absentmindedly, forgetting an ingredient, the Boss would ask if I'm researching a new recipe."

Qin Huai was surprised after hearing: "Can it be like this?"

Cao Guixiang multitasked, chatting while her hands didn't slack off, frying chopped scallions and shrimp heads with other ingredients, stirring the spatula continuously, keeping her expression and demeanor in a conversational status.

"Of course, when was I a chef? Qiu County is essentially just a county town, how rich can the supplies be? Relying on mountains to eat mountains, relying on seas to eat seas, abundant seafood, but many vegetables and seasonings may not be available daily for purchase. I'm not even talking about ginseng, antlers, bear paws... In the initial years when I was a chef in Qiu County, I could still make bear paw dishes, sometimes wanting to buy high-quality millet wasn't always possible."

"My Boss back then was a really nice person, generous, not only was my pay high, but my share was high. At that time, Chi Yuan, my son, after school came to the restaurant to do homework at the counter, the Boss didn't mind, each time bringing Chi Yuan snacks like seeds, dried plums, candies, and later when Old Zhang and I bought a house in the City, the Boss helped us a lot, he was a really great person."

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