Demon in the world

Amid Xiao Xiong's frequent nods of affirmation, Ah Jiu finally began to face the facts with suspicion.

Recalling what the two masters once taught, it seems that neither of them mentioned such a thing. What should I do?He was quite distressed holding the letter.

Du Shiwei was chatting with a man in the office, and was surprised to see Ah Jiu's phone call.

The person on the phone went through the matter from beginning to end, seeking her opinion in a helpless tone.

"Wait, tell me that person's name," Du Shiwei tapped the keyboard quickly with a pen in his mouth, looked at the search results on the screen and thought, "Li Chuanyun, so it's him..."

"Does Master know him?"

Du Shi raised the corner of her mouth slightly, "I don't know him, but he is an old friend with his master Liu Junwen."

"Then shall I go to the competition?"

"Go, what a good exercise opportunity."

Ah Jiu hesitated, "But..."

Du Shiwei interrupted him, "No but, but I want to remind you that every time you lose, a corner of the free card in your hand will be cut off. When three corners are broken, that card will be invalid, and you It will be a culinary joke in turn. Not only that, but even I will be discredited."

Ah Jiu immediately felt a heavy weight on his shoulders, but said: "Master, don't worry, I will definitely work hard!"

"That's right. All your basic skills are fine. What you lack is experience and the sense of harmony of the five flavors. This is the first time you have been challenged. It doesn't matter if you lose, so don't be nervous..."

Ah Jiu said again: "I will not embarrass Master."

Gui Shi was stunned for a while, then said softly, "Master believes in you."

After she hung up the phone, she found that the man on the opposite side was looking at her intently and smiling, "What's the matter?"

Du Shiwei had a complicated expression on his face, a little proud but also a little worried, "The chef of Congee Love Kongsi issued a challenge letter to my little apprentice."

The man raised his eyebrows, "How could such a thing happen? Could it be that his boss ignored it?"

Du Shi smiled, "If I'm not mistaken, this was originally Liu Junwen's proposal."

"You let an apprentice who is only a few months old to challenge an experienced chef, and you say you believe he will win?"

"Kids, there's no harm in being encouraged."

"But if he believes it to be true, wouldn't the psychological gap be even greater if he loses in the future?"

Du Shi held up the cup and smiled slightly, "If nothing happens, I don't think he will definitely lose."

At first, in Du Shiwei's eyes, Ah Jiu was just a diligent and motivated boy.But after several months of contact, she realized how wrong she was.

For a good chef, culinary skills can be improved by acquired hard work, but a surprisingly keen sense of smell and taste is something that cannot be found. Ah Jiu is the one with the most abundant and bizarre five senses she has ever seen. She can easily judge food with only her eyes The taste of it, she had seen it at the apprenticeship banquet.

At that time, she personally made 64 original dishes. The teenagers around her were a little ashamed to face the media, and kept eating hard. The chopsticks were all the ones she was most satisfied with, and those that had not been improved, he didn’t even taste them. taste.

What is even more astonishing is that later on, he was able to use the same ingredients and seasonings to make it with a world of difference taste from others.

At first she thought that there was a problem in a certain link, but after repeated verification, she came to an incredible conclusion: Ah Jiu has a powerful ability to transform food, as long as everything he touches will taste more or less Weird changes, maybe the sweetness has faded, the bitterness of wild vegetables has disappeared inexplicably, and the soft tofu has become tough and Q...

This strange phenomenon is not a good thing for a well-behaved chef, but in Du Shiwei's view, he may be a different kind of genius.

After realizing this, Du Shiwei decided not to teach him any traditional dishes, because nothing he made would taste as he expected.

Instead, let Ah Jiu try to taste various famous dishes, so as to learn their cooking techniques to adjust his sense of taste, and use his own physique to maximize the comprehensive deliciousness of food.

It was an unpredictable gamble, and if successful, a culinary star might emerge from it.If it fails, I'm afraid that even myself will lose completely.

Du Shiwei always has an unexpected persistence and interest in unknown things.

At noon, Ah Jiu wandered outside and didn't go back to the porridge shop. When he was hungry, he just found a noodle restaurant.

The proprietress is about 40 years old, but her body is very strong, and the muscles on her arms are thicker than Ah Jiu's thighs.While rolling the noodles quickly, he greeted the guests in an easy-going manner.

Ah Jiu sat down and asked for a bowl of buckwheat beef noodles, only to find that the smallest bowl was bigger than Ah Jiu's face when it came up.

The white and chewy noodles are soaked in the red oil sprinkled with white sesame seeds. The sauced beef and quail eggs are cut in the middle and covered on the top. It is very attractive. The most precious soup is delicious and not greasy at all.

It seems that the owner of every snack bar is not simple. Although the finished food does not look exquisite, the taste is not bad at all compared to those so-called expensive shops.

Taking advantage of the proprietress' spare time, Ah Jiu asked: "The noodle soup here is really delicious, did you add anything special to it?"

The proprietress smiled and said, "It's just made from ordinary beef bones."

"Xunyang beef or Alpine beef?" As far as he knows, only these two kinds of selected beef have the closest taste, and it is not easy to taste.

"How can a small business afford such a good thing? It's the cheapest buffalo. For soup, as long as the seasoning is combined with the taste of the food itself, the taste will be the same."

Ah Jiu said: "Do you mean that the material itself is not important?"

This seems to be contrary to the views taught by the two masters, because both Du Shiwei and Cai Jinsheng have repeatedly emphasized the importance of the ingredients themselves.

But the proprietress of this noodle shop said generously: "In my opinion, the processing method is far more than the material selection. Just like crab roe tofu does not have to be made with crab roe, you can also use salted egg yolk. Sometimes cloud legs can also be used. Yam can be used instead, and gluten can be used to make fish-flavored shredded pork, and the taste is not bad... If there are no conditions, as long as the craftsmanship is good, there will be no difference in the products.”

Ah Jiu drank her head silently, but the corner of her heart was faintly touched.

Back at the porridge shop in the afternoon, Xiao Xiong stood at the door guiltily and looked at him in a daze.

If he wasn't talking too much, he wouldn't have caused him such trouble, right?I blame myself... After thinking about it, she decided to go in and ask Ah Jiu: "If you decide to fight on Saturday, do you want to practice now? Maybe I can help you."

Ah Jiu thought for a while, and said, "Can you help me find some materials? I don't need much, just a little."

Little Xiong immediately patted his chest and assured, "It's no problem, my good friend is in charge of the warehouse!"

"Thank you," Ah Jiu took out a pen and wrote down the food list in the notebook, "Everything costs ten dollars."

"Ten coins? What can you do with so little! They are all very common things, let me give you a catty of each!" Little Xiong was extremely generous.

"I don't need so much. My kitchen utensils are very small, and they are wasted if I don't use them up."

"Well, just wait, I'll get it for you right away."

After a while, Little Bear came back with a paper bag and saw Ah Jiu playing with the toy kitchen on the table - he stood aside and observed for a while, and finally couldn't help but interjected: "Wait, don't you use this thing to make a toy kitchen?" Food?"

Ah Jiu said seriously: "Well, I have experimented, and the food can be cooked by lighting solid alcohol in the stove." Although it is a bit inconvenient to operate, there is no better way in this situation.

"Why is it so troublesome, you borrow the kitchen..." At this point, Xiaoxiong consciously shut up. For the safety of diners, the kitchen has always been a place where outsiders are not allowed to enter, not to mention that there are many secrets hidden in the porridge shop. As the opponent Ah Jiu, Master Li would not agree, would he?

Ah Jiu smiled and said nothing, took out all the miniature kitchen utensils and placed them on the iron plate on the table.

"Wow," Little Bear repeatedly praised, "It's so delicately made, it's exactly like the real thing..."

"This is a gift from my master."

The little bear said: "Your master? I heard that she is very good, so you must be very good too, right?"

"Me?" Ah Jiu's eyes dimmed, "I can't do anything but eat."

"No way?"

"real."

Xiaoxiong became more and more uneasy towards the sincere Ah Jiu, "Then why do you still accept the challenge letter!"

Ah Jiu said, "I can't let Master lose face."

Little Bear was silent for a while, and was surprised when he saw Ah Jiu take out the corn kernels: "You don't think you want to use these ordinary ingredients to make Master Li's signature porridge? He has been making it for nearly three years! Rice must be rice from Jiangbei and oats from South Jiangsu! Potatoes and corn are special!"

Ah Jiu immersed himself in assembling kitchen utensils, "I heard that the biggest difference between Chinese food and Western food is the selection of ingredients. As long as Chinese food pays attention to the combination of ingredients and the blending of five flavors, and learn from each other, you can achieve any desired effect."

Little Xiong couldn't bear to pour cold water on him, but had to say: "But all the chefs here say that the aroma and stickiness of Jiangbei rice are unmatched by ordinary rice."

"It doesn't matter, I'm just experimenting." Ah Jiu soaked the rice in water, boiled the water and let it cool, chopped the carrots and potatoes, and carefully tore the broccoli with his hands.

"Why not cut it with a knife?"

"If you use a knife, the cut will be too flat, and the taste will not penetrate into the interior."

The porridge pot is very small, with a diameter of less than two centimeters, and all the ingredients must be cut in proportion. Ah Jiu's knife skills make the little bear stare intently.

After the boiling water cooled down, Ah Jiu poured the soaked rice and corn kernels into the pot and brought it to a boil.

When the rice grains bloomed, Ah Jiu took them out, stirred them and poured in various vegetables one by one, stirring gently with a spoon to prevent sticking to the pan.

After the vegetables were fully cooked, Ah Jiu turned off the heat and added a little salt to enhance the flavor.

Little Bear raised his nose, "It smells so good."

Ah Jiu shook his head after tasting it, poured out the porridge, washed it, and put it back into the ingredients to cook.

This time, he ground the corn into a paste and reduced the proportion of oats. After the porridge was cooked, he just smelled it and threw it away without even tasting it.

Little Xiong looked at the side in a daze, and it was difficult to interrupt him when he saw that his face was engrossed.

After waiting for almost an hour, she finally couldn't stand it any longer, stopped Ah Jiu and said, "Why don't you try it? Don't pour it...let me taste it, um..."

"Is it hard to eat?"

"No, I think it's pretty good!" Little Bear said with a guilty conscience.

Ah Jiu tasted it with half-belief and half-doubt, his brows still unfurled, "It's not the taste I want."

Little Bear asked, "Do you want to be as good as Master Li?"

"No," Ah Jiu gently stirred the contents of the casserole, "I want to make something better than him."

Little Xiong was stunned for a long time before whispering: "Then you go on, I will support you no matter what."

In the next few days, Ah Jiu locked herself in the room every day, and Xiao Xiong was too embarrassed to go in and disturb him except for delivering meals.

The time came to Friday night in a blink of an eye. After sending the internship report to Du Shiwei, Ah Jiu took out the Wuwei Alliance card and looked at it again and again.

If you fail tomorrow, you will be cut off... No, Ah Jiu, you can't lose, you must work hard!

He carefully put the card into the inner layer of his backpack, lay down on the bed to adjust his breathing, let go of his messy thoughts and closed his eyes.

Not long after he fell asleep, the window was opened silently, and a figure quickly jumped into the room from the outside, sat down in front of the bed calmly, picked up the challenge letter from the table, and curled up the corner of his mouth ironically after reading it .

In the evening of the next day, half an hour before the appointed time, Ah Jiu was hesitating in the room, but Xiao Xiong suddenly knocked on the door outside and shouted loudly: "Ah Jiu, hurry up, everyone is here, only you are missing!" !"

Ah Jiu panicked and followed him out, and when he arrived at the booth No. 8, he found that almost all the employees in the store had gathered there, and they all looked at him with joyful expressions.

Everyone was standing, and there were only two people sitting. One was Master Liu, the chef of Congee Love Kong Si Shop. Ah Jiu had greeted him several times, so he recognized him.

The other is quite unfamiliar, a thin man in his 50s, wearing a shirt and jacket that complements the porridge environment.

However, the expressions of the two were very different. Master Liu used to look kind and kind, while the one next to him looked arrogant, staring at Ah Jiu like a sticky poisonous snake, and seemed very dissatisfied with him.

Ah Jiu stepped forward and bowed, "Hi, Master Liu and Master Hu, junior Ah Jiu, please give me your advice."

Liu Junwen smiled and said: "It's easy to say, I also have some friendship with your master. We are all acquaintances, so you don't have to be polite."

Hu Qingshan pulled his cuffs and said coldly: "Don't dare to teach, isn't Du Shiwei very capable, I believe that the apprentices she teaches will not disappoint."

"I've only been a beginner for a short time, and I haven't yet grasped the essence of the master's teaching..."

"That is to say, Du Shiwei kept the bottom-of-the-box kung fu and refused to teach it. Is it wrong to mislead my disciples?"

Hearing his thorny words, Ah Jiu said dissatisfiedly: "Master, she is very good, but I am stupid and can't be compared with her."

A flash of anger flashed in Hu Qingshan's eyes, "Needless to say, you should know the topic tonight, which is vegetable corn oatmeal. Hurry up and start preparing, don't make excuses when you lose later."

Ah Jiu felt depressed, it really came from his mouth, and he caused it by commenting on the porridge at random, if he knew it earlier, he should have said less.

There was an unused spare kitchen in the corner of the corridor, where Master Li was already preparing materials confidently. When he saw Ah Jiu coming over, he gave him a demonstrative smile.

The ingredients are placed separately outside the kitchen, and you can choose them at will. Ah Jiu took the small basket and walked through it, and found that they were all ordinary ingredients, but the origin of the potatoes in Master Li's basket seemed to be different.

Seeing Ah Jiu staring at his ingredients, Master Li laughed and said, "You don't even know what ingredients you use, do you?"

Ah Jiu said, "Your potatoes are from the rubber estate."

Although the potatoes in Master Li's basket

The appearance is almost the same as that displayed outside, but Ah Jiu can clearly smell the difference in their sweetness.

Stem plants will have different flavors depending on the soil quality. The rhizomes produced loosely in the sand will be larger in size and lighter in taste.The gum ground is hard, and the texture of the produced rhizome will be firmer and the taste will be sweeter.

In terms of yield and appearance, sandy land is naturally more popular.But if you are cooking porridge, it is better to choose the boilable gelatinous potatoes.

Master Li's face changed, and he said angrily: "What do you mean by that? Are you saying that I tampered with the ingredients? If you think there is a problem, I can change it with you!"

Ah Jiu hurriedly said, "I'm sorry, that's not what I meant."

Master Li sneered into the kitchen, and Ah Jiu silently picked out some relatively good rice and vegetables.

Washing rice, boiling water, dicing vegetables... are all very familiar processes. While doing these things, Ah Jiu's heart gradually calmed down.

Counting silently in his heart, listening to the gurgling sound of boiling water, and the creaking white air coming out through the air holes, he seemed to be able to see through the casserole that the rice flowers inside were rapidly blooming in the water, one, two, three...

In seat No. [-], Master Liu and Master Hu were sipping tea quietly. Although there were many people watching, they felt that they dared not make a sound.

Why did it take so long? Xiao Xiong looked nervously at the kitchen, and just finished complaining in his heart, he saw Ah Jiu and Master Li walking out of the kitchen almost at the same time.

The two put the porridge bowl on the table and stepped back. Master Liu knew his apprentice's craftsmanship very well, so he directly chose Ah Jiu's porridge.

After removing the lid, I saw that the porridge was obviously different from the one made by Master Li.

The aroma of oatmeal and vegetables is just right, and the diced vegetables are finer, but they all maintain a good shape and are not scattered.Stir it twice with a spoon, and the cooked porridge hangs tightly on the wall of the spoon. The consistency and appearance are completely unlike those made by newcomers.

He picked it up and took a sip, his eyebrows visibly twitched, but he quickly regained his composure, and looked at Master Hu with a smile, "I don't know how Master Hu evaluates the apprentice Chuanyun's craftsmanship?"

Master Hu was full of praise, and boasted sincerely: "It's very good, very good, it's really worth seeing once you hear it. It's no wonder that you are the chef of the congee shop. The dishes are rich in fragrance and refreshing in the mouth. It is perfect and there is nothing wrong with it. I don't think so. In the entire Jade City, there is no other store in Yudu that can compare to Congee Congee.”

Master Liu's smile deepened, "Before I say this, I need to trouble you to taste Ah Jiu's again."

After Master Hu drank some warm water, he solemnly scooped up Ah Jiu's bowl of porridge.

"What do you think?" Master Hu asked Master Liu for his opinion after putting down the spoon.

Master Liu said euphemistically: "After all, he is a child, and his experience seems to be lacking."

Master Hu also said: "Yes, although the ingredients used by Master Li are the same, the products made are like inferior imitations...there are many differences in shape, color, and taste, and the two cannot be compared at all."

Ah Jiu's palms were filled with sweat, and his heart quickly sank into the abyss following the two people's comments.

After a strange silence, Master Li said excitedly: "So I have won? Don't be discouraged, young man. When I was your age, I was still a waiter in a restaurant and I didn't have a teacher. What's more, you have a famous Master, I'm not afraid that there will be no future in the future. However, according to the rules of our industry, I should keep something as evidence."

Ah Jiu looked around, and felt that except for Xiao Xiong, all the faces were gloating. He clenched his fists and said in a trembling voice, "I..."

I don't agree, Master Li's porridge is obviously problematic, why can't they eat it?But so what?The two masters have already judged the ending. No matter whether he accepts or refuses to accept, he is in a helpless situation. Will someone re-judge because of his dissatisfaction?

Master Li came over and hugged him affectionately, "Don't be sad, where is your card? Show us."

Ah Jiu subconsciously covered her pockets, "Don't..."

Looking at the expressions of these people, one can tell that if a corner of the card is really cut off today, how much influence it will have on Master in the future if it is spread out!It's fine if you lose face, but if you want to implicate Master...

Master Liu still kept a mysterious smile, while Master Hu frowned, "How did Du Shiwei teach his apprentices? He doesn't understand any rules!"

The laughter erupted from the crowd slapped Ah Jiu's face like a slap in the face, and his fingers trembled slightly due to the intense sense of shame.

Rather than staying here and being laughed at by others, it's better to hand over the card... It doesn't matter if you break off a corner, right?As long as you can stay away from here, everything is fine.

Under everyone's gaze, Ah Jiu bit her lower lip and reached into her pocket. At this moment, the security guard walked in quickly, "Master Liu, two gentlemen came outside and said they want to see you now."

Master Liu was quite surprised, "Who?"

The security guard said: "It is said that they are colleagues of yours. One is named Bao and the other is named Chang."

Peer?The surname is Bao and the surname is Chang?Both Master Liu and Master Hu's expressions changed rapidly, "Could it be Changhua and Bao Fanguo who are inseparable from Meng? But what are they two doing here now?"

Master Liu knocked on the table and asked Ah Jiu, "Did you invite me?"

Ah Jiu shook her head and said, "I don't know them."

Master Liu originally wanted the security guards to bring people to the reception room to entertain him, but just as he was about to speak, he saw two middle-aged men walking in from the outside, the boss Dayuan clasped his fists and smiled and said, "We two came here uninvited, please invite Brother Junwen Don't be surprised."

Master Liu hurriedly got up, "Where is it? I wonder what the two of you can learn from coming here at this time?"

The two said in unison: "Don't dare, I heard that there will be a cooking competition here tonight, and we are entrusted by someone to make a fair arbitration for a Mr. Ah Jiu."

As soon as these words fell, everyone present was shocked.

According to the rules of the culinary world, arbitration is divided into civil and official. Civil arbitration is temporary. For example, Master Liu and Master Hu are invited based on their past reputation and status in the world.The official arbitration is one of the ten members of the Culinary Association who has an arbitration qualification certificate, and each award will be recorded in the personal file, so it is called fair arbitration, which is more authoritative than private arbitration.

But they usually only participate in large-scale competitions, such disputes between unknown juniors are ignored at all, but who is it that invites two famous referees for such a trivial matter?

But now that the official arbitration has come, the previous judgment can only be overturned and restarted.Fortunately, the casserole has good heat preservation, so there is no need to bother two people to cook it.

Bao Fanguo sat down with Changhua, and in order to show justice, he did not ask who made the porridge. The two exchanged in a low voice after tasting.It's a low voice, but it doesn't shy away from being heard by everyone.

"The ingredients of this porridge are not matched properly, and it makes people feel very uncomfortable after eating."

"I agree, it's much better than this porridge, because it's nighttime, and people's taste buds will be addicted to strong flavors, so the taste will be slightly lighter. But if it's breakfast, it's very suitable, and..."

"This taste is very... unique, I have never tasted it before. Why do snow peas, corn kernels, broccoli, oatmeal and rice have this taste?"

"so……"

The two pointed to Ah Jiu's porridge pot, "Although the taste of this porridge is not outstanding, the taste is worth pondering, and I can't find any flaws." Then they turned to Master Li's porridge pot, "And this porridge has The obvious disadvantage is that there are too many seasonings, potatoes, and corns, so it can appease some cold stomachs, but for most healthy people, this taste will irritate the throat and make eaters vomit... ...a porridge can have no advantages, but it must not have such a big disadvantage, so the previous porridge wins."

Everyone was in an uproar, and Master Li was completely speechless when he heard that their conclusion was exactly the same as Ah Jiu's.

Master Liu seemed to be smiling, "Chuan Yun, don't celebrate Ah Jiu yet!"

Li Chuanyun said dejectedly, "Congratulations..."

Ah Jiu spread out his palms, and transparent sweat dripped down along the lines.Is this the end?It's finally over... Thanks to Lord Buddha, the card given by Master is finally saved!

After the matter was over, the two official arbitrators were also about to leave. Ah Jiu asked, "Excuse me...are you invited by Master?"

One of the men bent his eyes and said: "No, but I know that your master asked me to give you something before we set off. Take out your card."

Ah Jiu took out the card, and the man took out a signature pen to draw on the back twice, and handed it back to him.

"Master Du said that from now on, this card belongs to you completely."

Ah Jiu held the card, not knowing what to say, and mechanically sent the two of them out the door.

The car quickly merged into the stream of lights, but Ah Jiu sat on the side of the road for a long time. He hesitated to take out his mobile phone and dialed an all-too-familiar number.

"Hey?"

"Brother... Thank you for today's matter."

"Well," the other side didn't care about thanking him, but asked instead: "Is there anything else?"

"If you're not my brother, why are you being so nice to me?"

There was a long silence on the phone, and said: "If these things make you misunderstand, I promise there will be no next time."

The call was cut off suddenly, and Ah Jiu was foolishly immersed in the rapid beeping sound.

While not acknowledging the relationship between the two, but silently doing things that care about himself, brother must have some unavoidable difficulties?Or was it because he was too disappointed and didn't want to admit it because he was not good enough?

That's fine, I can only rely on myself in the future.Ah Jiu, you are already a man, you can no longer bother your brother with everything...

You can't cry, you have to learn to be strong. It's not like Lanyin Temple where someone pampers you.

Let's work hard, and become a truly admirable chef in the future...

Thinking of this, Ah Jiu rubbed her eyes and stood up, and said to herself, "It's time to go back, and I have to go to Qianjia Restaurant tomorrow."

The bell rang again, and Wen Renchu ​​picked up the phone a little annoyed, and it showed an unknown call.

The voice over there was filled with uncontrollable excitement, "Second brother, I'm Ouyang Fei, the matter of the Fool's Inn seems to be a little bit closer."