I'm the Culinary God

It just so happened that he ran into a regular customer, which brought nearly a million more in deposits to the restaurant.

"Thank you so much, Manager Shu. I'll have Che Zai buy some lamb right away," Lin Xu said.

Shu Yun said with a smile, "Buy a couple more."

"Why?"

"Because when they were reserving the roasted whole lamb at the counter just now, Uncle Yu was there teasing Dundun with little dried fish. Hearing about the roasted whole lamb, he also placed an order for one, planning to have another family gathering before school starts."

"And the other one?"

"The other is ordered by Manager Zhen from the TV station; he plans to host a banquet for all his colleagues from the travel channel here tomorrow night."

Tsk tsk tsk, after the travel channel's viewership went up, Manager Zhen has become more and more motivated.

Lin Xu said to Shu Yun, "If there's no problem with the roasted whole lamb tomorrow, we should officially launch it in the restaurant."

"Alright, Boss… Are you preparing to cook again?"

"My mother-in-law and the others want to try a low-fat dish made with Winter Melon, so I'm planning to go to the kitchen and whip it up for them to try."

Shu Yun had originally planned to just say hello and then go back, but when she heard about a low-fat dish made with Winter Melon, she couldn't help but be tempted. "Can I try it too?"

"Sure."

Lin Xu had just helped the restaurant increase its revenue by nearly a million and had been planning to prepare a more challenging dish to reward Shu Yun. To his surprise, she took an interest in Winter Melon.

Then he'd make hers along with it. After all, this stuff is cheap; the cost is negligible.

He entered the kitchen.

Lin Xu went to the storage room where there was an opened Winter Melon. With a kitchen knife, he cut off a thirty-centimeter-wide section from the middle of it. After taking it out, he first removed the skin and then the seeds. Finally, he laid the Winter Melon flat on the cutting board and, measuring about ten centimeters in length per piece, cut the Winter Melon into even segments. After dividing them, he then cut each segment into Winter Melon slices about three to four millimeters thick.

Once they were all cut, he put them in a basin and sprinkled them with salt to begin marinating. When Winter Melon meets salt, it quickly dehydrates, becoming soft and resilient, and can easily be rolled into Winter Melon rolls.

While the Winter Melon was marinating, Lin Xu took a large piece of Chicken Breast, removed the fascia, and minced it. Then he added ginger juice, Light Soy Sauce, Dark Soy Sauce, Sichuan peppercorn powder, pepper powder, and oyster sauce to the minced meat. Chicken Breast itself doesn't have much taste, so it needs some flavor enhancers. After mixing in the seasonings with his hands and stirring until the mixture was springy, he added an egg white, a bit of dry starch, and a large handful of minced Scallions.

Once mixed again, the ingredients needed for the Winter Melon Stuffed with Chicken Breast were ready.

「Ten minutes later.」

Quite a bit of water had seeped out into the basin of marinating Winter Melon, which had also turned soft and pliable. Lin Xu poured out the water, added fresh water, and rinsed the Winter Melon slices twice to wash off any excess salt.

After draining the water, he started assembling. First, he rolled the Winter Melon slices according to their natural curvature into trumpet-shaped rolls. Then, using a spoon, he filled the Winter Melon rolls with the Chicken Breast mixture and arranged them in a dish with the wider end facing outward. When arranging them, he started from the outer edge of the dish and worked his way inward, layer by layer, so that the Winter Melon rolls formed a flower-like pattern. To prevent them from splitting while steaming, the seams of the Winter Melon rolls had to be pressed underneath as much as possible, ensuring the steamed rolls turned out beautifully.

Since he had prepared a bit too much Winter Melon today, Lin Xu made two large dishes and one small dish in total. After preparing them, he put them in the steamer to start cooking.

While they were steaming, he chopped some small red chilies and prepared some Water Starch. These were necessary for making the sauce to pour over the steamed Winter Melon rolls; the dish wouldn't be complete until the sauce was finished and drizzled on top. To achieve a low-fat result, he wouldn't add any oil to the sauce and would use fewer seasonings.

「Ten minutes later.」

The Winter Melon was steamed and ready. When taken out of the steamer, a delicious aroma wafted through the air. Each Winter Melon roll, wrapped around a ruddy piece of Chicken Breast, looked quite attractive.

Carrying the plates carefully, Lin Xu poured out the excess liquid from them, and then he began making the sauce. He set up a wok, added two bowls of water, and after bringing it to a boil, he added half a ladle of Steamed Fish Sauce, followed by some sliced red xiǎomǐ là chili rings. He turned up the heat and let it simmer for a bit to bring out the aroma of the Steamed Fish Sauce and the fresh spiciness of the chilies. Then, he added a bit of Dark Soy Sauce for coloring, making the sauce look more appealing. Lastly, he poured in the Water Starch. Once the sauce in the pan thickened, he added a small handful of Wash-free Shrimp Skin.

With that, the savory, spicy, and appetizing sauce was ready.

Lin Xu carefully ladled the sauce onto the Winter Melon and instructed a waiter to take the two large plates of Winter Melon Stuffed with Chicken Breast to the grand private room upstairs and to his mother-in-law's private room.

As for the small plate, he carried it downstairs himself and handed it to Shu Yun, whose face lit up with surprise. "Wow, it's so beautiful!"

The Winter Melon rolls themselves were already quite attractive. Now, with the ruddy sauce sprinkled with xiǎomǐ là chili rings and Wash-free Shrimp Skin, even someone who had just eaten their fill would be tempted to pick one up with their chopsticks and try it.

"Thank you, Boss! I need to take a photo to show off on my Moments, bragging about the boss personally cooking to reward an employee. This is so motivating!"

Lin Xu said with a smile, "The cost of making Winter Melon Stuffed with Chicken Breast is pretty low. If customers like it, you can just add it to their order; Chef Zhu in the kitchen is good at making this dish."

When he later saw Lu Lu, he'd really have to thank this female version of Tyson. If it hadn't been for her, he wouldn't have thought of using Winter Melon to make these stuffed rolls.

As Shu Yun picked up her chopsticks to taste it, Lin Xu went to the marinated meat department on the first floor and found Xu Xinhua and the others having a meeting.

"Our homemade Tiger Skin Chicken Feet still can't match the quality of what the boss makes. It would be great if we could make them exactly like his, so we wouldn't always have to wait for the boss to do it..."

"I heard that after the boss gave pointers to Chef Ji, he quickly mastered the knack of making hand-rolled noodles."

"How great it would be if the boss could give us some pointers too. Then the marinated meat department wouldn't have to bother him at all."

"Yeah, always having to wait for the boss to do it makes us seem so useless..."

Lin Xu was taken aback. Do these guys enjoy being exploited—er, I mean, love their work *that* much? Since that's the case, I won't hold back.

Mr. Jin's recent deposit had brought the system points back up to one million.

It's time to redeem a new training task. I was planning to continue redeeming them for the upstairs employees, but since the people in the marinated meat department are so enthusiastic, I should take care of Xu Xinhua, this veteran employee, first.

Entering the system store, he clicked on the teaching and training tab. After finding Xu Xinhua's name, Lin Xu noticed that this chef, who came from a background in roasted meats, had unknowingly improved his Tiger Skin Chicken Feet Skill to the Excellent Level.

Making thousands of Chicken Feet every day really does lead to rapid skill improvement.

Lin Xu pressed the redeem button.

*"Would you like to spend 500,000 points to redeem the upgrade training task for Tiger Skin Chicken Feet?"*

"Yes!"

*"Redemption successful. Beginning task reading: Please instruct Xu Xinhua on how to make one thousand Tiger Skin Chicken Feet within three days. Upon completion, you will be rewarded with one lottery draw for Basic Cooking Techniques, and employee Xu Xinhua will obtain the Superior Tiger Skin Chicken Feet Skill."*

Just like that, five hundred thousand points were gone.

After reading the task, Lin Xu walked into the marinated meat department and said to Xu Xinhua, "Master Xu, you want to learn how to make Tiger Skin Chicken Feet, right?"

"Ah? Boss, can I really learn?" Xu Xinhua hadn't expected the boss to suddenly arrive and looked a bit embarrassed.

Lin Xu said, "I'll teach you tomorrow. Once you've completely understood it, making Tiger Skin Chicken Feet will be your responsibility."

「At the same moment, in the private room upstairs.」

The visually stunning and high-quality Winter Melon Stuffed with Chicken Breast had just been served, causing a stir of exclamations from everyone...