Cooking System: Street Food Rules

In front of Jiang Feng's stall, there was a long queue yet again. This was a common sight by now. Basically, wherever he set up his stall, the scene was the same. After all, as a top influencer in the food industry, such scenes were quite normal. It was all because he was so popular!

Thanks to the food festival's early promotion, and mainly due to Jiang Feng's portrait on posters, people knew early on that he would be setting up a stall here. Jiang Feng had also made preparations in advance. He planned to introduce different snacks every day, starting with meat-filled eggs on the first day. A large iron pot beside him was filled with seasoned meat filling. Jiang Feng had specially marinated this meat filling, giving it an extraordinary taste.

Moreover, his stall operations were live-streamed for five hours each day. The event organizers also wanted to leverage Jiang Feng's popularity. Of course, Jiang Feng still adhered to his own live streaming style: no tipping. People were welcome to watch, but tipping was unnecessary—besides, he couldn't receive tips anyway.

The live stream started quickly. The stream chat was full of people, as was the area outside his stall. Everyone really liked Jiang Feng's style; just seeing him made people happy. Sun Zhuangfei was quietly busying himself in the background, helping with whatever was needed.

Soon, the stall officially started operating, and the live stream began. Netizens grew very curious when they saw the scene. The bullet comments began to fly:

[What is Boss Jiang going to make today?]

[It looks like it's going to be a specialty dish!]

[He's made a lot of specialty dishes before, I wonder what he'll make this time.]

[I remember he used to sell stinky tofu and teppanyaki squid at his stall, and the business was particularly good.]

Jiang Feng calmly told the viewers in the live stream, "Today I'm making an intangible cultural heritage food, meat-filled eggs. The method is not complicated, but the step of filling the meat into the egg yolk requires some effort. I'll demonstrate it to everyone now."

As he spoke, Jiang Feng began to work. He had practiced on his own for the past two days, and with his superb culinary skills and extraordinary talent, his success rate was very high. He cracked a duck egg into a bowl, its round yolk resting in the clear egg white. Then, holding a chopstick in each hand, Jiang Feng located the yolk's air sac and gently pried it open. Next, he used the chopsticks to pick up a small amount of meat filling and carefully stuffed it inside. Jiang Feng worked with both hands simultaneously, looking like a surgeon performing an operation. The crowd watched, taking in the entire scene.

After stuffing the meat filling into the yolk, Jiang Feng boiled the duck egg until it resembled a white poached egg. Then, he took a small, clear plastic bowl, poured in the specially prepared marinade, and placed the boiled duck egg inside. A meat-filled egg was successfully made.

The essence of the meat-filled egg lay in two things: the marinated meat filling cooked inside the yolk, and the specially prepared marinade. Having made countless snacks, Jiang Feng naturally excelled at preparing marinades.

Soon, the customers got their meat-filled eggs and began tasting them. At this very moment, many viewers in the live stream were watching this scene.

[What's so difficult about this? Isn't it just boiling a duck egg? I can make this dish too!]

[I thought the same! I could make this dish!]

[You can try. Try stuffing the meat into the egg yolk without breaking it.]

[I don't think it's difficult. Let me try, and if I succeed, I'll post a video!]

[This is an intangible cultural heritage dish? I can make it too.]

The comments kept coming.

Similar things had happened before: whatever Jiang Feng made, many food bloggers would try to replicate. After all, Jiang Feng drew a huge online audience. Seeing how simple this dish appeared, many were eager to try it themselves. How hard could it be? Soon, people rushed out to buy duck eggs.

A blogger named Uncle Qiu's Kitchen thought this dish would make a great video, so he diligently followed Jiang Feng's method, buying meat filling and duck eggs. Jiang Feng wasn't secretive; during the live stream, he openly shared the complete recipe with everyone. After all, there wasn't anything worth hiding.

Once Uncle Qiu bought the ingredients, he started preparing the meat filling, chopping up meat and shiitake mushrooms, then mixing in the seasonings. After the meat filling was ready, Uncle Qiu didn't even wait for it to marinate. He eagerly began making the meat-filled eggs. He pried open the egg yolk with chopsticks and then stuffed in the meat filling. He then had to seal the yolk.

It didn't seem difficult while watching the live stream. But when he tried it himself, Uncle Qiu discovered it wasn't something an ordinary person could do. The yolk quickly broke. The meat filling and yolk immediately mixed into the egg white, spreading evenly. This egg was ruined; it could only be scrambled or fried now. Still unconvinced, he continued trying. Indeed, directly adding meat filling into a raw egg yolk was truly challenging.

Frying the duck egg on a griddle first and then adding ground meat to the yolk wouldn't have been as difficult, but that would completely alter the texture and flavor. And the meat filling wouldn't cook properly either. The essence of a meat-filled egg lay in its cooking method, which allowed the duck egg to retain its original flavor while making the meat filling taste fresher.

The first bite tasted like a plain boiled egg, but upon chewing, the flavor of meat emerged. The meat was plentiful and fragrant, brimming with delicious juices. It was incredibly satisfying.

"Is it that difficult?" Uncle Qiu was a skilled chef who had previously prepared many delicacies with ease, always wearing a smile. This time, however, was different. Far from being at ease, his face was etched with worry, as if he were wearing a mask of pain.

He then made a second attempt. It also ended in failure. Then came the third attempt, which also failed. He recorded all these attempts, thinking they would make a good compilation video, as netizens enjoyed watching such bloopers. His fourth attempt also ended in failure!

Uncle Qiu's expression grew increasingly pained. No, could it really be that hard? Wasn't it just filling duck eggs with meat? Why couldn't he succeed! Could there be something wrong with the duck eggs Jiang Feng used? No, that couldn't be possible. After all, Jiang Feng had to make so many meat-filled eggs; he would surely use ordinary duck eggs.

Finally, after failing twelve times in a row, Uncle Qiu succeeded once. He was immediately thrilled, declaring he was done making meat-filled eggs. Quickly, he posted his creation process online. The video's title was "Recreating Boss Jiang's Meat-Filled Eggs."

His fans quickly came across the video. Viewers were quite amused by the repeated failures in the video.

[Hahaha, Uncle Qiu failed so many times! It seems it's really difficult!]

[Seeing his serious expression, I know this dish is not for me to learn!]

[Yeah, whenever we follow his cooking tutorials, if his expression is serious, it means the dish is challenging and not for beginners.]

[A lot of people are saying this; meat-filled eggs are indeed very difficult to make!]

Everyone commented one after another.

It wasn't just Uncle Qiu; many others tried to recreate this delicacy, only to fail. The difficulty of this dish lay in the extensive practice required. It's a case of "difficult for those who don't know how, but not for those who do." Once you mastered the knack, it wasn't so hard.

Jiang Feng was very skilled at it. In front of the live camera, he kept busy making meat-filled eggs, the pile of discarded eggshells growing quite tall. Generally speaking, duck eggs taste slightly worse than chicken eggs, especially when boiled. But Jiang Feng somehow made the duck eggs taste exceptional, which was impressive.

Initially, viewers in the live stream didn't think much of it. However, as more people attempted the dish themselves, they increasingly realized that meat-filled eggs were not so easy to make. The bullet comments flew thick and fast:

[I'm back! Just tried it myself. Seven or eight attempts, all failed. Looks like it's stir-fried ground meat with eggs for dinner.]

[Me too! Not a single success. I feel like cursing!]

[Wasted so many duck eggs and not a single success! I thought it would be easy!]

[How does he make it look so effortless?]

[This dish is definitely not something ordinary people can learn!]

A trend of imitating Jiang Feng's dishes swept the internet. Unfortunately, this time, many were destined to be disappointed because stuffing meat into an egg yolk and then sealing it was incredibly difficult. Most people could hardly manage it.

[No wonder it's an intangible cultural heritage food! With a method this tricky, it's lucky it hasn't been lost to time!]

[Yeah, no fancy tricks, but this step is still quite tough!]

[Isn't that what top-tier cuisine is all about? It's not something the average person can just replicate.]

The online discussions continued to buzz. Meanwhile, the people queuing at the stall were overjoyed. Regardless, they had finally gotten to taste Jiang Feng's food. They stood to the side, taking photos to post online, checking in at this must-visit spot.

Many people enjoyed posting photos online of their visit to Jiang Feng's stall; this too had become a trend. Consequently, many young people came. For them, eating was secondary; the main purpose was to take photos and check in. Jiang Feng was very popular, partly for this reason.

Jiang Feng was still cooking with intense focus. He knew how to make so many dishes. Making meat-filled eggs was no great feat for him.

Someone even asked, "Boss Jiang, how do you know how to do everything? This dish looks really difficult, but you make it seem so effortless."

Jiang Feng responded with a light smile, "I've practiced it specifically; it is quite tough. But practice makes perfect. The more you do it, the more familiar you become."

He was still as composed as ever. Hearing his words, people nodded, their admiration for the young, handsome chef growing. He was, after all, the man known as the "Culinary God." His culinary skills were truly beyond comparison with ordinary people. He was truly remarkable!