Chapter 96

Chapter 96: The Heat for Stir-Frying Chili

Chen Ran followed behind Chang Nian, walking up the winding path and eventually arriving at the small temple nestled in the mountains.

It was as if something out of "Peach Blossom Spring," the road seemed incredibly narrow as she rounded the bend, but once she passed it, she was greeted by a vast and open view.

“This area has a lot of self-planted land, and everyone here helps with the farming. So, you’ll have to do some work too.”

This small temple was quite isolated, with only a sparse number of visitors. The livelihood of the temple mainly relied on the self-sufficiency of the nuns. Not only was there a large vegetable garden behind the temple, but there were also two large vegetable patches in front of the main entrance.

Chen Ran's footsteps stopped as she noticed a neat row of small spring onions planted in the ground.

“I’ll work hard!” she said enthusiastically.

Chang Nian nodded, leading Chen Ran towards the temple's backyard.

She had grown up here and learned all her culinary skills here. Although she hadn’t officially become a disciple, she was considered almost like family here.

While walking, Chang Nian explained, “Just address the head nun as ‘Master’.”

Chen Ran nodded and followed Chang Nian, first dropping off her luggage before heading towards the kitchen.

“Let’s go. Wu Jie is waiting for you in the kitchen. You can call her Wu Grandma, no need to address her as teacher.”

Chen Ran silently adjusted how she would address Chang Nian in her mind, settling on “Grandma Chang” as she quickly took the two vegetables Chang Nian handed her and followed her into the kitchen.

Chang Nian entered the kitchen with light steps and introduced Chen Ran to Wu Chao Mei. “This is Chen Ran. I really admire her. You’ll enjoy teaching her; you won’t regret it!”

“Wu Grandma! I’m Chen Ran, and I’ve been learning to cook for almost 20 years.”

Wu Chao Mei had a slightly hunched figure, her face wrinkled behind her reading glasses. She sighed softly.

“Chen Ran... Is she from the Chen family?”

Chen Ran nodded and added, “But I’ve already left my family. Now, I am just me.”

Wu Chao Mei’s gaze seemed to drift past Chen Ran and into the sky not far behind her. “Chen Yunchong was also a smart person. Too bad... he was too smart.”

She didn’t linger on those thoughts, instead pointing to the stove. “Come, let’s start by practicing the heat.”

Chen Ran set the vegetables she was holding aside and immediately followed.

Chang Nian smiled and watched as Chen Ran briskly prepared, wrapping her hand towel around her hand, then cleaned the wok and looked at Wu Chao Mei, waiting for her next instruction.

Teaching such a student was a pleasure!

Wu Chao Mei’s face remained unchanged as she grabbed a sack of chili peppers and placed it on the floor.

“Hot wok, hot oil, stir-fry on high heat. Just stir-fry these peppers, a few at a time. When you can stir-fry a bowl of peppers all the same color, you’ll have mastered the heat.”

Anyone who’s done stir-frying knows that when stir-frying dishes over high heat, chili peppers are the easiest to burn.

Even if you’re a little slow, the peppers would already have changed colors several times.

Not to mention, we’re only stir-frying chili peppers!

It’s hard enough to make sure the peppers don’t burn, let alone keep a whole bowl of peppers the same color.

After giving this instruction, Wu Chao Mei glanced at Chen Ran’s face, seeing that she was just listening attentively, and then pointed towards the back of the kitchen.“A sack of chili peppers isn’t enough, there’s more in the back. If two sacks aren’t enough, add some Sichuan peppercorns.”

Chen Ran took a deep breath.

This requirement, even with her current skills at double S level, felt almost impossible to achieve!

“How is it, Ranran? Can you do it?”

When Wu Chao Mei first suggested this training method, Chang Nian also thought it was a bit too strict.

Even if she had to do it now, she might not be able to meet this requirement!

But since she had invited Wu Chao Mei to help teach Chen Ran, she had implicitly agreed to accept her stern methods.

After all, Wu Chao Mei was a master of Shandong cuisine!

If Huaiyang cuisine is considered the cuisine of scholars, then Shandong cuisine is the authentic cuisine of the imperial court.

The training of Shandong chefs has always been highly rigorous from the start, with fundamental skills being the most important.

It could be said that nearly half of today’s chefs from the eight major Chinese culinary schools are from Shandong cuisine.

Moreover, in daily life, it’s impossible to avoid Shandong cuisine.

Nine-turn pig intestine, braised sea cucumber with green onions, yellow braised chicken, and seaweed egg drop soup are all Shandong dishes.

Even stir-fried tomatoes and eggs are considered Shandong cuisine.

However, for all its success, Shandong cuisine’s downfall is also tied to its imperial court roots.

When cooking for the imperial court, the emphasis was on balance and harmony: precise knife work, uniform seasoning, and perfect pairing.

But when such dishes enter the common people's domain, they’re clearly not as flavorful as Sichuan cuisine, which emphasizes seasoning, or as eye-catching as Huaiyang cuisine, known for its visual appeal.

A dish like braised sea cucumber with green onions or stir-fried crispy pork, when heard by someone unfamiliar, seems plain. But dishes like Sichuan’s boiled chicken with tofu or Huaiyang’s three-layer duck and Wensi tofu can easily surpass stir-fried crispy pork.

Ultimately, the highly skilled Shandong cuisine, which values technique, has become the "outdated" cuisine, mainly serving as a training ground for chefs to other major culinary schools in today’s market-driven, flashy food culture.

Chang Nian’s thoughts shifted slightly as she looked at Chen Ran’s face and asked again, “Do you think you can do it?”

Chen Ran adjusted her hair, then took out her mask and put it on.

When she heard Chang Nian’s question, she answered honestly, “I don’t know.”

She had never tried such a difficult task before, nor had she even heard of it.

But, she had to try!

She squatted down and expertly lit the earthen stove. If she hadn’t spent so long with Shu Jianmin’s grand banquet team, she wouldn’t even know how to use this stove.

When the flames rose, Chen Ran stood up, pulling a handful of chili peppers from the sack. “Just stir-fry them. After I finish these two sacks, I’ll go buy more.”

The flames had already licked the bottom of the wok, and the hot iron wok began to hum.

Pour the oil!

Chen Ran’s focus sharpened. It was as if there was nothing else in the world but this wok.

The oil was hot. Add the chili peppers!With double S-level control, double S-level flipping of the spatula, and even her technique of oil-dipping, the chili peppers entered the wok and were almost immediately scooped out after a quick stir.

But even with all that, a few peppers still had a slightly charred color.

This wok was thin, and the earthen stove’s strong heat made it even harder to control the fire properly. Achieving the perfect cooking heat for the peppers was already a challenge.

What was even harder was that she had to repeat the process dozens of times and ensure every batch of chili peppers was the same color!

Chen Ran scraped the peppers along the edge of the wok, drained the oil, and without hesitation, grabbed another handful of peppers.

Sizzle!

The moment the peppers hit the wok, a pungent, spicy smoke burst from the wok. Chen Ran expertly shook the wok, stirred briefly, and then scooped the peppers out.

Not burnt, the color was just right!

She continued to stir-fry the third batch of peppers. But even though they were all cooked to the right level, there was still a slight difference in their appearance.

The fourth batch, fifth batch, sixth batch.

Chang Nian, standing behind Chen Ran, wiped the sweat from her forehead.

She whispered to Wu Chao Mei, “Wu Jie, can you do this?”

Wu Chao Mei shook her head.

“Every chili pepper has its own natural color, and you can’t control the fire of the earthen stove. Getting a bowl of peppers to all be the same color is nearly impossible.”

She hadn’t been in the kitchen for a while, and as she smelled the spicy fumes, she couldn’t help but cough twice.

In a small rural kitchen like this, it was impossible to install a range hood.

Chang Nian quickly went to open the window and helped Wu Chao Mei walk outside. “Then why let Chen Ran…”

Wu Chao Mei turned her head and glanced at Chang Nian, “The environment you learned in was still too easy.”

Her reputation as the number one in Shandong cuisine wasn’t like Chang Nian’s, where the master carefully taught.

Among all of Wu Chao Mei’s seniors, she was the only girl. That made her work even harder, making sure others took her seriously!

When her senior practiced knife skills for three hours, she practiced for five, six hours! When her senior practiced soup on weekends, she practiced every day!

She practiced in state-owned hotels with her master, and even when she went home, she would buy her own materials to practice.

She practiced during normal times, during holidays, and even when she was sick. When her arms swelled, she still practiced.

Wu Chao Mei, the name now sounds almost humorous, often mistaken by younger generations as meaning “super beautiful.” But in fact, the original meaning of the name was “catch up to the top.”

In that intense era, right or wrong aside, her perseverance pushed her ahead of all her seniors.

The top of Shandong cuisine was her, Wu Chao Mei!

And when she first saw Chen Ran, she knew that, like her, Chen Ran was a practical child.

When asked to practice fire control, Chen Ran didn’t hesitate. She simply went to wipe the wok and prepare the firewood to light the stove.

For a child like this, simply giving her a task and time would not maximize her effort.

She needed a goal just out of reach, something that forced her to break through her limits, to push past that invisible glass ceiling.Whether she jumps up or flies up, or even if the older seniors help her step up, she will climb up!

Chang Nian remained silent, supporting Wu Chao Mei as they arrived in the kitchen’s backyard. The two of them sat in circle chairs, basking in the sun, looking through the window at the meticulous Chen Ran inside.

Having learned the stance method from Tang Yang, Chen Ran's posture looked even more graceful!

Not only was she straight, but she seemed like a sword, ready to draw and strike at any moment.

Chang Nian suddenly turned to Wu Chao Mei and asked, "Look at her. On the surface, she just seems like an ordinary young girl... rather unremarkable."

Chen Ran was considered beautiful, but her beauty didn’t have an ounce of aggression. Her face still carried a roundness, and she was quiet.

However, once her hands gripped the wok, her entire demeanor changed!

"Indeed..."

Wu Chao Mei sighed, "It's a pity, a jade-like beauty born in the wrong place."

The two of them conversed in soft voices. In the warm breeze, their words were even quieter than the chirping of birds.

But even if their voices had been louder, Chen Ran wouldn’t have heard them.

It had been a long, long time since she had been in this kind of state.

It wasn’t that she didn’t take her culinary practice seriously in the past, but under such high goals and pressure, she could give 200% of her focus!

The crackling fire stove, the thin large iron wok, and the high boiling point of vegetable oil.

With all these combined, a single chili entering the wok would almost immediately turn into charcoal!

Even Chen Ran’s double S-level control over heat required utmost concentration to ensure the peppers wouldn’t burn.

As for making the color consistent...

Big beads of sweat appeared on her forehead, rolling down her eyebrows, dripping down her nose, and falling onto the transparent mask, trickling down the mask to the floor.

The basin next to the cooked peppers was already full, so she had to pour the peppers into a nearby iron barrel. The barrel filled up quickly, and she had to switch to a new plastic barrel.

In Chen Ran’s eyes, there was nothing but the rapidly changing colors of the peppers.

The peppers, when first dropped into the wok, started as an unassuming dark red. The hot oil made them shine brightly, then they immediately darkened, turned brown, and even black.

She couldn’t name each shade of red, but as she focused intently, the color-changing process seemed to slow down in her eyes.

From five colors to ten, from ten to hundreds or even thousands.

It only took two seconds for the peppers to turn black in the wok, but in Chen Ran’s mind, the process was stretched out into countless steps...

She suddenly lifted her mask and wiped away the sweat.

When the towel touched her hot face, for a brief moment, Chen Ran couldn’t see the wok.

However, even though her eyes were closed, she could "see" every moment of the peppers changing color in the wok in her mind!

She tossed the towel aside, put the mask back on, discarded the burnt and blackened peppers, and immediately threw another handful into the wok.

The little nun in the back of the hall murmured something, took two buckets of fried peppers to chop them into pepper sauce, and placed two empty buckets at Chen Ran’s feet.

From the little nun’s perspective, all she could see was Chen Ran continuously tossing peppers into the wok, stirring them a couple of times, and immediately scooping them out again.She shook her head, looking at the gradually setting sun, and turned on the lights.

Chang Nian couldn’t sit still either. At this time, sitting outside would only attract mosquitoes.

Wu Chao Mei had already gone back to her room. She entered alone to check on Chen Ran and softly asked, "How are you? Want to rest? I’ll make some vegetarian dishes for the monks."

"Okay."

The moment Wu Chao Mei's voice woke her, Chen Ran realized her back and waist were sore beyond belief, and her shoulders felt as if they were rusted.

She stretched slightly before walking away from the stove. "Grandma Chang, let me help you."

"Rest for a while. I’m not old yet! It’s just a few simple dishes, nothing hard."

Chang Nian encouraged her as she looked at Chen Ran’s appearance: "Don’t be discouraged. Just practice slowly. Go ahead, I can cook quickly. You go check on Grandma Wu."

Chen Ran nodded and walked out of the back kitchen, standing at the door to take a deep breath.

Even in this mountain that was like spring all year round, the night still carried a slight chill.

The cool breeze from the mountain carried the scent of nature and gently brushed her face.

The sun was about to set beautifully.

Chen Ran lowered her head and opened her palm.

Before Chang Nian had told her to rest, she had casually picked out a pepper from the last two batches.

In the beautiful sunset glow, everything was gently coated with a golden-red hue.

So were these two peppers.

Two peppers, identical in color.

Chen Ran suddenly exhaled a long breath and popped both peppers into her mouth, crushing them.

It must... be so fragrant.