"You've worked hard. What would you like for breakfast?"
Dylan naturally understood the meaning behind Rindo Kobayashi's words and asked with a smile.
"I'm fine with anything. As long as you make it, I'll like it. I'm not a picky eater."
Puffing out her rather proud chest, Rindo Kobayashi winked at Dylan, giving him a rather playful smile.
"I'll need you to put in some effort later, so let's make breakfast a little richer."
"Let's have 'early tea.' I spent a relatively long time in the Guangzhou region and gained quite some insight into their way of early tea. I pestered an old lady for a long time to learn it back then."
Recalling that precious memory, Dylan smiled knowingly, a warm current rising in his heart. Although he had eaten breakfast in many places.
His favorite, indeed, was still the early tea from the Guangzhou region.
"Early tea?! Are you talking about the specialty of China's Guangdong region? I've never had it before! Let's have that! I'm very interested!!!"
Hearing Dylan's words, Rindo Kobayashi swallowed, an interested expression appearing on her face, and then she grabbed his hand.
"What are you doing?"
Seeing Rindo Kobayashi suddenly take his hand, Dylan's expression was somewhat surprised.
"I can't wait any longer! Let's speed things up!"
"You can't eat hot tofu if you're impatient. Besides, it's only a two-step distance; there's no need to hurry."
Looking at the kitchen, which was just two steps away, Dylan tapped Rindo Kobayashi on the head, then pulled his hand free from her large grip and strode into the kitchen.
"Isn't it because I'm eager?"
Watching Dylan's back, Rindo Kobayashi muttered softly and followed him in, looking with anticipation at the young man who had arrived at the cooking station.
"Shrimp, spareribs, phoenix claws, money tripe…"
"Call someone to deliver these ingredients. The hotel procurement department should have them. I'm starting the pre-cooking preparations now."
Glancing at the ingredients on the cooking station and pondering the missing side dishes, Dylan looked at Rindo Kobayashi and said, then began to busy himself.
"Okay."
Rindo Kobayashi responded.
Then she took out her phone from her skirt pocket and quickly dialed a number.
"Hey, Tsukasa, yes, it's me! Come to the kitchen on the 21st floor of the hotel later. Remember to bring shrimp, spareribs, phoenix claws, money tripe…"
Once the call connected, Rindo Kobayashi rattled off the list. There was a moment of silence on the other end, followed by a hesitant voice:
"Sorry, Kobayashi, could you repeat what you need again?"
"Honestly! Is Isshiki next to you?"
Hearing Tsukasa Eishi's words, Rindo Kobayashi stomped her foot in dissatisfaction.
"Isshiki, Kobayashi has something to ask you."
On the other end of the phone, Tsukasa Eishi very naturally handed the phone to Satoshi Isshiki. And Isshiki, though somewhat puzzled, still took the phone.
"Hello, Kobayashi-senpai."
"Oh! It's Isshiki! I have a favor to ask you. I need these things here…"
Hearing Satoshi Isshiki's voice, a smile appeared on Rindo Kobayashi's face, and she then listed the ingredients she needed.
"Understood, Kobayashi-senpai. I'll go over with Tsukasa-senpai later."
After listening to Rindo Kobayashi's explanation, Satoshi Isshiki nodded, then looked at Tsukasa Eishi beside him:
"Tsukasa-senpai, let's go to hotel procurement to get those ingredients Kobayashi-senpai needs."
"Okay."
"You've already finished all the preliminary work? I was just thinking about what I could help with. Isn't that a bit too fast…"
Seeing Dylan, who had already completed the initial preparations, Rindo Kobayashi, who had just hung up the phone and was about to come over to lend a hand, said with a surprised expression.
"How much time did that even take?"
From when she started the call to when she finished, it was two minutes at most…
"It's all basic stuff, nothing to be surprised about."
As Dylan spoke, he placed a basin of wheat starch and a small bowl of potato starch on the countertop. He then added plain water to a pot and brought it to a rolling boil over high heat.
"What are you preparing to make now?"
Looking at the hot water in the pot and the wheat starch on the cooking station, Rindo Kobayashi asked curiously.
"Har Gow (Shrimp dumplings)."
Dylan answered softly, then poured the boiling water into the wheat starch, stirring it slightly with chopsticks until it formed large and small floury clumps.
He kneaded it with his hand, then placed it on the cutting board, pushing forward with the side of his palm, using both left and right hands simultaneously, pressing on the left and right sides respectively, and finally gathering it towards the center, repeating the previous actions dozens of times.
This technique gives the dough a buffering time, allowing its elasticity and resilience to be released.
When it was almost ready, he added a lump of lard inwards; this can effectively adjust the softness of the wheat starch dough, and secondly, make its texture smoother.
Although it was just a small detail, it often makes the texture of a dish better and its taste more delicious.
After kneading it until moist, he added a little potato starch to further adjust the softness of the wheat starch dough.
Neat, elastic, and moderately soft and hard.
This was the most perfect state for making har gow!
"That looks really good!"
Looking at the round wheat starch dough on the cutting board, Rindo Kobayashi praised from the side, her voice pleasant, instantly boosting the emotional value.
However, Dylan paid her no mind, instead quickly squeezing the processed dough into a long strip. With a pinch of his fingers, the long dough became equal-sized small dough portions, which were evenly arranged on the cutting board.
"Professor Dylan, here."
Seeing this, Rindo Kobayashi thoughtfully handed him a rolling pin, but Dylan shook his head and then said:
"This is enough for me."
As he spoke, he lifted the cleaver in his hand, poured oil onto a towel, and scraped the back of the cleaver on it a couple of times to make its surface oily.
"A cleaver? How do you roll dough with a cleaver…"
Seeing Dylan lift the cleaver, Rindo Kobayashi looked completely puzzled. She wasn't very skilled in making pastries, so she didn't understand what Dylan meant.
"Simply put, it's like this."
This kind of thing wasn't easy to explain; it was better to give an answer through practical demonstration.
Dylan picked up a small dough portion, placed it in front of him, pressed it lightly with his palm, then held the cleaver in one hand, the oiled back of the cleaver aimed at the dough portion.
His other hand pressed on the back of the cleaver, and with two exquisitely simple outward strokes, a round wheat starch wrapper appeared before them.
"This… this is even rounder than what a rolling pin makes? How on earth did you do that?"
Looking at the round wrapper in front of her, Rindo Kobayashi's cherry lips parted slightly. She reached out, wanting to touch it, but then worried she might damage it, and finally retracted her hand dejectedly.
"By utilizing rotational force, the dough spreads evenly in all directions, eventually forming a nearly perfect circle."
"It's very easy to pick this up with a knife. Just a light stroke with the sharp end will do."
As he spoke, Dylan demonstrated it himself. He lifted the kitchen knife, the tip of the blade aimed at the wheat starch wrapper, and gently made a stroke.
The next moment, the wrapper flew up and then landed on the cutting board. The whole process looked very light and effortless, giving a sense of lifting something heavy as if it were light.
Just like that, one by one, the dough portions were transformed into uniformly sized, round wrappers, neatly stacked into a pile, and set aside for later use.
Meanwhile, there was a sound from the kitchen entrance. Rindo Kobayashi turned her head and saw Tsukasa Eishi and Satoshi Isshiki carrying large and small bags.
"So slow, you're finally here! The preliminary work is all done; all that's missing are the ingredients I asked you to bring!"
Running up cheerfully, Rindo Kobayashi took the ingredients from their hands, found the bag of fresh shrimp from among them, and then looked at Tsukasa Eishi and Satoshi Isshiki.
"I see. We were wondering why you needed these ingredients, Rindo. So it's because Professor Dylan is here."
After handing the items to Rindo Kobayashi and seeing Dylan standing at the cooking station, an expression of realization dawned on Tsukasa Eishi's face.
"I've long heard that Tōtsuki's elementary division has a formidable Chinese cuisine teacher. Seeing you today, you truly live up to your reputation."
Looking at the pre-prepared ingredients on the cooking station, each portion meticulously handled and neatly arranged in a row.
Satoshi Isshiki couldn't help but praise. Although it was just a small detail, it was enough to show Dylan's exquisite culinary skills, cultivated over many years of cooking.
"You must be the Elite Ten's former Third Seat and Tenth Seat, right? Rindo mentioned you earlier. Are you Tsukasa Eishi and Satoshi Isshiki?"
Although Dylan knew their names, it was, after all, their first formal meeting. Dylan approached with a gentle expression and said with a smile.
"I am Satoshi Isshiki. It's a pleasure to meet you for the first time; please give me your guidance."
Seeing Dylan take the initiative to greet him, Satoshi Isshiki stepped forward, bowed slightly in respect, and introduced himself.
"I've heard about you from Megumi Tadokoro and Yūki Yoshino. You're a very outstanding young man."
Dylan nodded slightly at him and said with a friendly smile.
"I am honored."
Hearing Dylan's words, Satoshi Isshiki replied.
"I am Tsukasa Eishi. This should be our second meeting."
"We spoke during the Sino-Japanese Culinary Exchange Competition. I have some things I don't understand about cooking; I wonder if I could consult you on one or two matters."
Looking at the man before him, Tsukasa Eishi briefly introduced himself, then spoke to him solemnly, his expression very serious.
"What do you want to ask?"
Taking the live shrimp from Rindo Kobayashi's hand and pouring them all into a basin, Dylan turned to look at Tsukasa Eishi, his expression unchanged.
"I've recently encountered a difficult problem in my cooking."
"When cooking, I can converse with the ingredients. They reveal to me their growing environment, their emotions when caught, and how they wish to be cooked."
"Different ingredients express different emotions and wish to be cooked in different ways, but it's hard to gather ingredients that share the same wish."
"Therefore, I cannot cook according to the ingredients' own wishes and can only compromise. But such dishes always feel like they're lacking something."
Thinking of the problem that had been troubling him greatly recently, Tsukasa Eishi spoke slowly, a pained expression on his face.
"The more complex a dish, the more ingredients are used, and the more voices he needs to listen to. It's very difficult to have all the ingredients radiate their warmth in the dish they aspire to be in."
"Tsukasa, isn't your problem a bit too common? How could anyone possibly answer that! And this is your special ability, isn't it!"
Hearing Tsukasa Eishi's question, Rindo Kobayashi couldn't help but laugh mockingly from the side.
The ability to communicate with ingredients.
This was Tsukasa Eishi's innate talent. To ask others about one's unique talent was undoubtedly impolite.
Besides, someone who hadn't experienced it themselves couldn't possibly understand his troubles!
"Because the wishes between ingredients differ, and you yourself cannot satisfy the wishes of all ingredients, the resulting dish feels like it's lacking something?"
Hearing Tsukasa Eishi's words, Dylan summarized simply.
"Yes. Although everyone's evaluation is good, I can clearly feel that the dish has shortcomings. This kind of flaw is maddening."
Dylan was an incredibly formidable figure. Tsukasa Eishi didn't hesitate to voice his troubles, scratching his hair as he spoke, his eyes fixed on Dylan's, filled with a strong thirst for knowledge.
"I see. Although I don't have your ability, it's not hard to tell from your description that you've been swayed by the opinions of soldiers?"
"Swayed by the opinions of soldiers?"
Hearing Dylan's words, Tsukasa Eishi's face showed a look of confusion, as did the others. They didn't quite understand what he was saying.
What did cooking have to do with soldiers?
Weren't these two things completely unrelated?
"You should be a general who commands the ingredients, not a blade of grass on a wall swayed by their words. The wishes of the ingredients are the ingredients' business. You can satisfy them without violating your own requirements, but you cannot let them lead you by the nose."
"You've actually achieved this point, but your inner thoughts aren't firm enough. That moment of hesitation is the unavoidable flaw in your cooking!"
Dylan's voice resonated in the room, directly pointing out Tsukasa Eishi's biggest problem.
He was too gentle, wanting to satisfy the wish of every ingredient, but he couldn't possibly do such a thing.
Just like soldiers on a battlefield, a general might care about their lives, but he would never listen to all their wishes.
Because there were simply too many; it was impossible to hear them all.
A general's job is to lead troops and win battles!
A chef's mission is to utilize ingredients to create the best dishes they possibly can!
There's no need to hesitate about this, nor can one hesitate. Once there's hesitation, flaws will appear in the dish, affecting its inherent taste.
"More words are useless. Come and try! Follow my steps, one by one. Listen to the ingredients, and then truly command them!"
Looking at the few who had fallen into deep thought, a glint flashed in Dylan's eyes. He then looked towards a nearby cooking station where numerous processed ingredients were placed.
"Command them…"
Tsukasa Eishi muttered to himself, pondering Dylan's words.
"That's right. Don't overly pursue perfection. There's no such thing as absolute perfection in the world. Sometimes, flaws are also a part of perfection."
"They complement each other and cannot be separated."
"Take, for example, a 'burnt' flavor. Normally, if a dish is burnt, it becomes inedible, and its taste is hard to accept."
"But, for dishes like Tiger Skin Peppers or Dry-Fried Green Beans, they themselves need to have a bit of a 'burnt' flavor to be delicious."
"The key is where this flavor is used. Turning an ingredient's defect into an advantage—that's what a chef should do!"
Stepping up to the cooking station, and knowing that Tsukasa Eishi was a perfectionist, Dylan suddenly said this before officially starting to cook.
Being too entangled with perfection will ultimately lead to being consumed by the concept of perfection itself.
"I've been taught."
Regarding Dylan's words, Tsukasa Eishi spoke after a few seconds of hesitation, but his eyes told Dylan that he hadn't truly understood the sentence.
However, Dylan wasn't in a hurry. Culinary matters should be resolved with cuisine; the food would tell Tsukasa Eishi the correct answer.
"First, let's process these shrimp."
Shrimp are key to making har gow. Looking at the lively shrimp jumping in the basin, Dylan divided them into two portions, handing one to Tsukasa Eishi.
"Mm."
Looking at the shrimp Dylan handed him, knowing that there was an element of testing him involved, Tsukasa Eishi nodded solemnly and then picked up a pair of scissors nearby.
And just as he picked up the shrimp, preparing to process them, Dylan suddenly tossed all the shrimp into the air, which made Tsukasa slow down his actions.
Then, Dylan reached behind his back in a grasping motion. The next moment, a knife was drawn out by an internal force and landed steadily in his hand.
Next, the shrimp, contorting in various poses in the air, after a flash of silvery-white light, their shells and heads landed steadily on the table, piling into a small mountain.
"What just happened?"
Looking at this scene, Rindo Kobayashi rubbed her eyes, thinking she had seen wrongly. But even after rubbing her eyes red, the scene before her remained the same.
"The knife separated the shrimp in an instant, simultaneously performing extremely delicate processing, separating the shell and head from the meat, and also removing the intestinal tract…"
Satoshi Isshiki was also shocked by this. His usually squinting eyes suddenly opened wide, staring intently at Dylan, who was handling everything with ease beside him. His understanding of common sense was shattered.
This kind of thing, which would only seem awesome to a layman, was like a divine miracle to an expert like him!
So elegant, so effortless, simply cleaning the shrimp perfectly. Could this guy have some kind of superpower?!
Such thoughts surfaced in his mind, yet his face remained relatively calm. His eyes, however, unwilling to close for a long time, still betrayed the unrest in his heart.
"This technique requires extremely precise control over the knife, and also over the 'knife path' executed. Too much force can easily damage the shrimp, while too little force won't cut through them."
"Furthermore, because a single shrimp has no point of leverage in the air, Professor Dylan throws a bunch of shrimp into the air at once, using the slight resistance from their collisions to process them quickly."
Because he was staring intently, Tsukasa Eishi saw it very clearly, but Dylan's speed was truly too fast; even he only got a rough idea.
"It just takes practice. Wait until I'm done processing before you start; otherwise, I'm afraid you won't be able to keep up."
After Dylan finished speaking, he used the back of his cleaver to pat the shrimp, mashing them into a paste. He then made two vertical cuts, allowing it to be minced while retaining some large particle texture, which is the most important aspect of har gow.
Texture.
Many people eat har gow for this texture, and secondly for the taste. The combination of ingredients is the key to the taste.
And since shrimp is an ingredient with no fat, Dylan chose to add a small amount of pork fatback to the filling to enhance its flavor and texture.
Dice the scallions, their volume being about one-third of the shrimp, and also some minced ginger; no piece should exceed one millimeter horizontally or vertically. The same applies to the scallions and ginger.
The handling of the shrimp is very particular. Salt and white pepper powder must be added first. Because the shrimp are very fresh, there's no need to add extra egg white.
After adding the pepper, stir clockwise until it becomes firm, and at the same time, use the force of slamming it down to allow the shrimp filling to release its 'glue' (become sticky and elastic). Once it has emulsified, set it aside.
Add salt and sugar to the pork fatback, then add umami sauce to reduce its greasiness, light soy sauce, and a small amount of lard. Stir clockwise, add diced bamboo shoots, minced ginger, and minced scallions. Continue to stir evenly and mix with the shrimp filling, using a grabbing and mixing method to combine them. Finally, add sesame oil to enhance the aroma of the filling.
Watching Dylan's extremely skillful movements, Tsukasa Eishi, Satoshi Isshiki, and Rindo Kobayashi forgot everything else, staring intently.
This feeling was like appreciating a waltz of extreme beauty!
_____
🔥 PATREON FLASH SALE: 30% OFF! 🔥
Yoo-hoo! ✨ Director Walnut here with a killer deal for you!
For a limited time only, get 30% OFF on Patreon and secure your early access to all content!
What's more, by joining now you'll help us smash our community goal! We're just 20 members away from unlocking 10 BONUS CHAPTERS for everybody!
Be the hero who gets us there! Subscribe with 30% off today!
👻 Join the fun at: patreon.com/Walnutchan