Prepare a dish that would be enticing enough for Shen Lingqing to eat? To think that she had managed to embarrass Zhang Yong earlier by spitting out the food he cooked earlier… was Liu Jinfei ready to face and receive such humiliation from the Shen princess?
Qiao Lian wasn’t sure whether Shen Lingqing was being unfair to Liu Jinfei or not. Since the Shen princess was very picky with the food she ate, she rarely ate food that wasn’t prepared by her mother or the two Michelin chefs of their family businesses. Qiao Lian wasn’t even sure how Shen Lingqing survived, living overseas on her own without anyone to feed her what she deemed edible.
As Qiao Lian glanced at Shen Lingqing’s face, she realized that the Shen princess wasn’t joking at all. She truly wanted to test Liu Jinfei’s skills in cooking, but would he be able to convince the Shen princess to eat the dish he would serve?
“Fine.” Liu Jinfei refused to back down from Shen Lingqing’s challenge. It seemed that he was more needed here in The Savory Alley than Oriental Bliss.
If he couldn’t please the taste buds of Lu Xinyi’s daughter, how would he be able to prove that he was ready to work alongside her and Tian Lingyu? He held high regards and respect for the two ever since he was younger so it was his dream to be acknowledged by his idols.
“Good.” Shen Lingqing uncrossed her legs and stood up. “Follow me to the kitchen. The others should resume their work and clean the restaurant as we call it a day,” she said before leaving with Liu Jinfei in tow.
Jiao Jiao and Qiao Lian followed the two to the kitchen. Fu Shuren decided to be left behind to help the other staff clean up the place while their miss was busy testing their applicant.
The young waitress, who served them earlier, went to Lin Xiao and tugged on his sleeve, trying to get his attention. With all the sudden turn of events, she wasn’t sure how it would affect them in the future.
“Dad, isn’t it really alright? Are you sure you don’t want to resign?” Lin Xiaoyu asked her father.
They’d been considering leaving the restaurant as they both couldn’t take how the Zhang brothers manage The Savory Alley. If they weren’t in debt to the previous owner of the restaurant, they wouldn’t bother to stay here to repay it.
“It’s alright, Yu’er. I think Director Shen would be able to save this restaurant.” Lin Xiao patted her head and decided to join the others in the kitchen. He was amazed at how on-point Shen Lingqing’s taste buds were, and he was curious as to what extent she knew about cooking.
Didn’t she claim that, unlike Zhang Yong and Liu Jinfei, she wasn’t a chef? How come she was able to tell so much? He wondered.
Shen Lingqing went to the chest freezer and opened it. There, she saw that the meats, as well as the seafood, were properly arranged. Surprisingly, the kitchen was kept clean in spite of the number of customers they had to serve on a daily basis. ρꪖꪕᦔꪖꪕꪫꪣꫀꪶ
She took out a pack of fish and passed it to Liu Jinfei who took it without a word, the man not surprised that Shen Lingqing would want to test him out.
“Make something out of it.” Shen Lingqing then glanced at her wristwatch. “I’m only giving you an hour to prepare dishes.” She then pulled a stool and took a seat at the corner of the kitchen where she could observe Liu Jinfei properly.
Liu Jinfei looked at the pack of fish in his hands and nodded in understanding. He expected nothing less from the demon king’s daughter. Like Shen Yi, Shen Lingqing had such a domineering aura that made people follow her, not because of fear, but out of respect.
“Chef, I’ll be troubling you today. I’ll use your kitchen.” He told Lin Xiao who was surprised by his words. He had gotten so used to being bossed around by Zhang Yong that Liu Jinfei’s respectful tone came as a shock.
The older chef waved a hand and rubbed his neck nervously. Until today, he was only the Sous Chef and never had authority within the kitchen. He supposed that, under the new management of Shen Lingqing, things were about to change.
“Ah, it’s alright. It’s alright. I hope you’ll be able to see and use what you need from our pantry as well,” Lin Xiao said, peeking towards Shen Lingqing who was now waiting for Liu Jinfei to start.
Liu Jinfei borrowed a clean apron from one of the kitchen staff and started working on the task at hand. The pack Shen Lingqing had given him had three kinds of fish individually packed inside.
One seemed like cod fillet; the second one was salmon. The third and the last one was halibut. All of them were already filleted as it was the most popular way to cook and eat fish.
He started to get busy at once, not wasting a minute on the allotted time Shen Lingqing had given him. Instantly, the kitchen was filled with constant chopping sounds, and the atmosphere was filled with different aromatic scents as Liu Jinfei continued to cook.
Qiao Lian stood next to her boss and waited along with Shen Lingqing whose attention was solely focused on Liu Jinfei’s cooking methods, not giving any opinions as he cooked.
Liu Jinfei started cooking the black cod. Because of its rich flavor and velvety texture, he decided that this kind of fish would work well with the recipe he had in mind.
He combined mirin and sake in a small saucepan and brought it to boil over high heat. Shen Lingqing cupped her chin with one hand as she realized what Liu Jinfei planned to do for his first dish.
He would have to boil the mixture for exactly twenty seconds—while taking care not to boil off too much liquid—and turn the heat down to low before stirring in the miso and the sugar.
Shen Lingqing had to admit that it was an ingenious way to prepare a black cod dish under such limited time, but she wondered how he was able to make a delicious miso-glazed fish fillet that was usually marinated for two or three hours under an hour.
