Chapter 968 - Yuan Zhous Weird Action (1/2)

In truth, relying on the system, Yuan Zhou could win without doing anything. In the system’s own words, Yuan Zhou could master both Chinese and Western cuisines.

But Yuan Zhou himself had once said that he first learned cooking to make money, but as his skill improved progressively, he started getting interested in cooking.

Yuan Zhou was similar to many people. When he first learned cooking, he did not like it. But as time went on, he started liking it and eventually even started pouring in a large amount of time and effort to it.

Thus, during the free time in the afternoon, Yuan Zhou would not slack around. Perseverance was crucial to improve cooking skills.

More importantly, if he did not practice cooking in his free time, he did not have anything else to do anyway. This was a luxury only afforded by singles.

“Many chefs can sculpt a flower out of tofu, but what about sculpting a blossoming flower with a lot of minute details to it?” Yuan Zhou considered.

Tofus were tender and fragile. Thus, the majority of the flowers sculpted out of tofu would focus on simplicity. The so-called blossoming flower mentioned by Yuan Zhou was not a specific flower. Rather, it was any flower with complicated layers to it.

Time would never stop, and Yuan Zhou would never stop challenging himself as well. He started attempting the complicated design he had in mind, one that even the veins of the leaves had to be clearly visible.

And it was no surprise that his first attempt ended with a failure.

“Shaping a tofu is too hard. I was already very careful in my application of force,” Yuan Zhou muttered with a frown.

If it was a radish or something else, a slash of the knife would leave a clear outline behind. But when it was a tofu, the outline would be gone in the blink of an eye. Thus, Yuan Zhou failed to form the outline during his first attempt.

“Slice, slice, this is so hard,” Yuan Zhou muttered while he contemplated without stop.

Regardless of whether it was radish or ice sculpting, the subject was a hard object yet tofu was a soft object.

In a way, this was somewhat similar to the minute details of ice sculpting when one had to be very precise when slicing. However, the precision in applied force needed for tofu sculpting was even greater.

Moreover, there were specialized knives for tofu sculpting. These knives were small and exquisite, making it easier for one to sculpt, engrave, or dig at the tofu. If one wasn’t using one of these specialized knives, using a bamboo knife was still a good choice.

But Yuan Zhou behaved like the lyrics of a certain famous song: “We are all different, everyone lives a different experience…”. He directly used a kitchen knife, the hardest knife one could choose for tofu sculpting.

“Again, again,” Yuan Zhou took out a new piece of tofu from the kitchen and continued.

This lasted until 5:00 pm. His neck was already going stiff after maintaining the same posture for so long.

Yuan Zhou raised his arm and found that his arm was already aching. Thus, he decided to stop and start cleaning up the mess.

Those tofus could no go to waste. Thus, Yuan Zhou used all the failed tofu sculptures into tofu pudding of two flavors, sweet and spicy.

Yuan Zhou knew all the dishes in Sichuan Cuisine, snacks included. Thus, his spicy tofu pudding was truly delicious.

Yuan Zhou stood before his condiment counter. Currently, excluding the different spices, he had over 200 different condiments here on the counter. It was worth noting that Yuan Zhou himself had also created and mixed numerous unique condiments.

It would not be an exaggeration to say that any other chef would be stunned by the sight of all these condiments. For example, for something like vinegar, Yuan Zhou had mature vinegar, wheat vinegar, persimmon vinegar, bran vinegar, draft vinegar, malt vinegar, peach vinegar, grape vinegar, jujube vinegar, glutinous rice vinegar, corn vinegar, and so on.

In the beginning, Yuan Zhou was quite slow when locating condiments on this counter. But with practice, he gained familiarity and the counter was now akin to an extension of his arm.

A few drops of oil, half a spoonful of aromatic vinegar, a spoonful of chili oil, Sichuan pepper, ground pepper powder, a tiny amount of chicken powder, and with no other unique gravies or sauces, he was done mixing the condiments of this dish.

Next, he poured it into the scalding hot tofu pudding before sprinkling some bean sprouts to improve the flavor of the tofu. Then, he added eight soybeans to uplift the color of the dish and also added some turnips to give some crispiness to the dish. Finally, he added some chopped onions to complete the dish.

“I feel hungry just looking at it,” muttered Yuan Zhou. He was not feeling hungry before this, but after looking at what he made, he felt like he could eat two bowls of it.

The tofu pudding was fair and tender, and resting atop the tofu was a layer of red chili oil. Sprinkled all over were some crisp-fried soybeans, turnips, and bean sprouts. The entire dish looked incredibly appetizing.

Yuan Zhou scooped up a spoonful of tofu and stuffed it into his mouth. The fair and tender tofu mixed with the crimson chili oil together. The tofu was hot yet tender at the same time, and when he pressed his mouth together, he could feel the tofu melting within. At the same time, the turnip pieces in his mouth were springy and chewy.

The second scoop was more balanced in terms of condiments and ingredients. The chili oil was still wrapped around the tender tofu, but at the same time, the aromatic vinegar’s sourness caused his mouth to secrete a large amount of saliva. The tofu was hot and spicy, and when swallowing, even his throat was subjected to the intense sensation. Even so, he could not bring himself to stop eating.

Just like that, one scoop after another, he stuffed the tofu into his mouth without a stop. Every now and then, he would add some of the soybeans into his mouth. The soybeans were crispy, and the more he chewed, the more fragrant the soybeans felt. The flakes of the chewed soybeans also matched perfectly with the hot and numbing tofu pudding.