Chapter 385: Please Take Me As Apprentice
Translator: Xiong_Guoqi Editor: DesTheSloth
Chu Xiao didn’t really like explaining. Since everybody was puzzled in this situation, however, he had to explain to them by himself.
“Do you know about the human scent?” Seeing Yuan Zhou cut quickly and precisely, he also said solemnly.
The two characters of “human scent” stood for too many meanings, so the chefs on site all fell silent.
“The scent of human bodies?” A chef asked tentatively.
“No, it isn’t.” Chu Xiao frowned again and then said, “Everyone has his own scent and the precious foods are most likely to be contaminated by that.”
“I got it. No wonder you have that rule, Master Chu.” Master Cheng was enlightened and he suddenly said.
“What rule is it?” A chef didn’t really know about that and thus he asked curiously.
“Food ingredients sent to me can’t have any scent of humans.” Chu Xiao crossed his arms against his chest and said naturally.
All chefs on site got choked by his words.
Except for the three judges, Xing Min and Lee Yanyi, every chef basically couldn’t smell this thing called human scent. The word of Chu Xiao now instantly made each of them speechless.
“Master Chu, you have a sharp nose.” A chef couldn’t help but say so.
“The ingredients can’t be used anymore if every person touches it once.” There was full of disgust in Chu Xiao’s tone.
“So is that the reason why Master Yuan is keeping us away from the ingredients?” The remaining chefs then got to know why they weren’t needed.
As for the unpleasant words of Chu Xiao, they all indicated that the wind was so strong and they couldn’t hear that.
“A crowd of chefs keeps twittering like those who sing Chinese opera in the tea house.” Lee Yanyi can’t help satirizing when he found Yuan Zhou still hadn’t started.
“Come on. Which of these chefs do you think is not prideful? That young man doesn’t even leave them any soup. Of course, they will embarrass him.” Xing Min knew about these chefs’ mindset better and therefore, he directly brought it out.
“Humph. So complicated.” No one actually knew whom Lee Yanyi was mentioning by saying complicated. After saying that, he sat in the chair and said nothing more.
“Alright. Attention, please.” Yuan Zhou turned the plate upside down and took up the beef.
After a sound of “Peng”, he set it down on the azure stone countertop lightly.
“Why does it look like it isn’t cut at all?” A chef even revealed his accent in surprise.
“It indeed looks like that. I just don’t know what the thickness is like.” Chu Xiao frowned and said. His eyesight wasn’t as good as his smell.
Yuan Zhou wiped the quadrangular beef lightly with the knife and immediately the entire piece of beef became trapezoidal.
Then, Yuan Zhou’s knife skills were well displayed in the trapezoidal beef. Other chefs that watched at the side couldn’t help saying with one accord.
“What the f*ck!”
“Let me get close to have a look.” Chu Xiao took a few steps forward with big strides after he said that.
Yuan Zhou just made a gesture of “Please” to him.
On the white rectangular plate that had no patterns was an entire piece of beef. Every slice of the beef was seen to have the identical spacing and size in the short distance.
Even the thickness that was hard to control while cutting without measuring was the same.
What Chu Xiao specially observed was the first several pieces and the last several ones.
Normally, people would use only the middle part of the beef no matter they sliced or shredded it before cutting it into a square. Only in that way would the beef not be sliced or shredded into different sizes.
However, Yuan Zhou didn’t do that like what people normally did, therefore Chu Xiao specifically observed the two parts carefully.
“He surprisingly cut it along the radian and veins.” Having noticed that, Chu Xiao felt a little uncomfortable.
Yuan Zhou wasn’t wasting any of the ingredients. Even Chu Xiao himself couldn’t even do that. Moreover, the beef wasn’t contaminated with the slightest scent of Yuan Zhou after it was held in Yuan Zhou’s hand for so long time.
What filled his nose was the prime-grade aroma of fresh beef. Just by smelling the aroma, people could feel that the beef would definitely be fresh, tender, and succulent.
“Wait. I want to pick one piece up with the chopsticks and have a closer look.” Chu Xiao suddenly thought of something and then asked Yuan Zhou while looking at him.
“Over there. Help yourself.” Yuan Zhou still respected the rule of his restaurant, “Food should be made by one’s own hands; only then will it taste better.”
“Alright.” Chu Xiao nodded his head.
Having taken the chopsticks, Chu Xiao took a deep breath and then breathed out again.
Only then did he start to pick the beef slice up.
“It truly is so.” Chu Xiao instantly uttered while looking at the beef between the chopsticks.
“Hiss.” Other chefs that stayed behind him couldn’t help uttering that.
The reason why the beef slice made Chu Xiao comment like that and those chefs sigh admiringly was just because of its thinness.
The beef slice contrasted sharply to the ivory white chopsticks. Through the fine-grained beef, they could even see the chopsticks covered by the beef slice. It was thin but meanwhile quite tough and tensile, not breaking at all. Hanging on the chopsticks, it looked like a piece of scarlet white paper painted with the marble patterns.
“This is paper thin! And it was done by cutting without measuring.” Master Cheng almost couldn’t snap out of his daze.
“Are we shooting a film?” A chef suddenly said that.
Another even said, “Master Yuan is ascending the heavens.”
No way out. This technique of Yuan Zhou was way too amazing.
“Beef Sashimi.” Suddenly, Chu Xiao said affirmatively.
“Indeed. This can be eaten directly. As the part between the rib eye steak and sirloin, it’s soft and succulent and we can clearly see the conspicuous frost pattern. The quality is superior and the texture is fantastic.” Yuan Zhou uttered a long speech while wearing his face mask.
“Cutting Beef Sashimi without measuring.” This time, Chu Xiao added another two characters. He appeared to be indifferent and calm, however, there was a slight radiance of surprise in his eyes.
“Take your time and enjoy, please.” While he was saying that, Yuan Zhou didn’t prepare the chopsticks and sauces as usual.
Then, the chefs all ran to take the chopsticks. When they came back and found there were no sauces, they immediately uttered anxiously.
“Master Yuan, you forget to make the sauce. I….” When Master Cheng just wanted to say he had confidence in that, he thought of the embarrassment just now and hence shut up his mouth involuntarily.
“It’s perfect to eat it now without sauce,” said Yuan Zhou. Afterwards, he began to wash up straightforwardly regardless of others, because he would have proper business to do shortly.
Chu Xiao ate it first and then Master Cheng followed suit. He picked one piece up and stuffed it into his mouth immediately.
The beef was way too thin. As soon as it entered his mouth, the beef melted upon touching the warm mouth cavity. With some more bite, the faint milky aroma blended with the sweet and refreshing succulent beef flavor instantly occupied the entire taste bud.
“Good. It’s super delicious.” Master Cheng said affirmatively after he gulped it down.
“Hey! How can you guys do like this? I have only eaten one piece.” Right after Master Cheng praised the dish and reacted, he found the plate had been empty. Then he said in surprise.
“How many pieces do you think there are? The beef is barely enough for everyone to eat one piece.” Another chef who ate only one piece also said that helplessly.
“Master Yuan, you can start now.” The aged chairman set down the chopsticks without a trace and urged him primly.
“Yeah, yeah. Those ingredients should have been cooked earlier.” Lee Yanyi immediately echoed.
“One moment, everyone. The dishes are to be served one after another.” Yuan Zhou changed a new face mask and then said loudly.
“He’s truly an awesome opponent, haw-haw.” Chu Xiao had sat back quietly in a handsome sitting position. While looking at Yuan Zhou, he revealed a strong desire to fight back.
Having eaten the dishes, the chefs all became silent. Any words were feeble and futile while only delicious dishes lasted long.
Master Cheng savored the aftertaste in his mouth for a while and looked again at Yuan Zhou. Then, he made up his mind reluctantly and came over to Yuan Zhou.
“Master Yuan, sorry to bother you.” While looking at Yuan Zhou, Master Cheng appeared rather solemn.
“Go ahead.” Yuan Zhou set down the kitchen knife.
“Could you do me a favor? Of course, you don’t need to answer me now.” Master Cheng looked around at the surroundings and said that.
“Um.” Yuan Zhou nodded his head.
“I want to revere you as my teacher. I will go to visit you one week later. You can tell me your answer then.” Master Cheng said that in one breath and then left straightforwardly, not giving Yuan Zhou any chance to react.
“Interesting!” It was Yuan Zhou’s turn to say so this time.
All chefs on site were looking at Yuan Zhou that remained expressionless and all wanted to know if he would agree. After all, any techniques for vegetable washing or cutting of Yuan Zhou deserved to be learned.
Then, here comes the problem. Would Yuan Zhou agree?
…
