Chapter 97

Chapter 97: Hand-Torn Cabbage

The cicadas' noise makes the forest even quieter, and the birds' songs make the mountains feel even more secluded.

This small temple is nestled within the mountains, surrounded by the sounds of insects and birds singing nonstop. The mountain dog tied up in the yard occasionally barks loudly.

But all these sounds combined only enhance the peacefulness of the surroundings.

The dining hall is simply decorated, with old elm wood tables that seem to have been used for years. A row of large clay bowls is placed on the table, giving it an ancient, rustic feel.

Chen Ran sighed: "Grandma Chang, your plating has a return-to-basics feel!"

Wu Chao Mei snorted: "What return-to-basics? This huge bowl only has a bowl of milk sauce cabbage. Her plating style is something she learned during her time at Le Cordon Bleu. Don't try to copy her."

Chang Nian smiled as she served Wu Chao Mei some vegetables: "Alright, eat your food. I know you're happy today; you're talking a lot more."

"Happy? I’ve burnt two big buckets of chili..."

Wu Chao Mei was old-fashioned, and her methods of teaching Chen Ran were evidence of her belief that "a strict teacher makes a good student."

As an older woman in poor health, Wu Chao Mei had a small appetite.

Chang Nian’s vegetarian dishes were highly sought after, a meal that could not be bought anywhere. Yet, the monks ate without raising their heads, and Wu Chao Mei had only eaten two bites before putting down her chopsticks.

She poured herself a cup of tea and started questioning Chen Ran.

"What's the most important thing about controlling the heat?"

Chen Ran finished her meal and, after swallowing the last grain of rice, began to seriously think about the question.

If this were before coming to the small temple, she would have answered that it's the chef's control of the heat, the pot, and the oil temperature.

But after stir-frying an entire bag and a half of chili, her perspective had started to change.

"It’s the grasp of the ingredients."

Whether it’s the heat, the pot, the oil temperature, or the chef's stirring technique, the final result of heat control is always reflected in the ingredients.

After spending an entire afternoon stir-frying chili peppers, she could now control the heat of the peppers with ease.

But if it were another ingredient she hadn’t worked with before, she would still need to familiarize herself with it before achieving the same level of mastery as she had with the chili.

After answering the question, Chen Ran cautiously looked at Wu Chao Mei’s face but didn’t see any response from her.

Wu Chao Mei merely pointed to Chen Ran's rice bowl: "Go get another half-bowl of rice. You’re so thin, like a twig… What kind of look is that?"

Chen Ran did as told and went to scoop more rice. Chang Nian, noticing the fatigue on Wu Chao Mei's face, stood up to help her back to the meditation room.

"Are you satisfied?"

Unlike the nervousness she had felt earlier, Chen Ran was now at ease, and Chang Nian and Wu Chao Mei had long been friends.

These two women stood at the pinnacle of Chinese culinary arts—one specializing in vegetarian dishes, and the other a master of Shandong cuisine.

Even though they hadn’t met often before, the daily exchange of news about each other had already made them as familiar as old friends.

Even though their true interactions had only started in the last two years, Chang Nian had a clear understanding of Wu Chao Mei’s temperament.

To have Wu Chao Mei tell a disciple to take another half-bowl of rice, probably hadn’t happened before."Chen family's basic skills have been well taught."

Chang Nian sighed lightly: "You have a high opinion of Chen Yuncong. It was Old Master Xu who personally corrected her, even teaching her how to make chicken congee."

Wu Chao Mei suddenly stopped in her tracks, turned to look at Chang Nian: "Chicken congee?"

Chang Nian nodded: "Yes, chicken congee."

For a moment, she felt that Wu Chao Mei, who had been slightly hunched over, straightened her back.

Thirty or forty years ago, that truly was the golden decade of the culinary world!

The spring breeze of reform and opening up blew through, and the economy flourished. As long as one was willing to work hard, even a small restaurant or a street stall was enough for an entire family to escape poverty and become prosperous.

Wu Chao Mei, Chang Nian, Old Master Xu, and Chen Yuncong—each of them was a renowned chef in their own right!

Every year, the national culinary competition was a given, not to mention regional and provincial culinary competitions, as well as various food competitions hosted by television stations.

Everyone was enthusiastically publishing books, giving lectures, and exchanging ideas all over the place.

But now...

"Is Old Master Xu still alive?"

"He's doing well. In the national culinary competition, you two each won a championship, aren't you supposed to compete for superiority?"

Wu Chao Mei glanced at the woman next to her, the one who had won two championships, and couldn't help but roll her eyes.

"Alright, stop acting all humble. I'll teach her that hand-torn cabbage dish."

Watching Wu Chao Mei brush off her hand and storm back to the meditation room, Chang Nian couldn't help but feel a bit smug.

There was a bit of rivalry between Old Master Xu and Wu Chao Mei!

It wasn’t a matter of character but rather a matter of pride.

Huaiyang cuisine sought novelty, uniqueness, and delicacy, which, in the eyes of those in Shandong cuisine, sometimes seemed to be about losing the essence for the sake of style.

However, for various reasons, neither of them had truly had the chance to compete head-to-head.

Now, though, they could indirectly compete through Chen Ran!

So, the next morning, Chen Ran inexplicably felt that Wu Chao Mei seemed to be a bit... stricter with her.

After yesterday's training, Chen Ran finally stir-fried an entire large bowl of chili peppers that were almost identical in color. She showed them to Wu Chao Mei, but the latter didn’t even offer a single word of praise.

"Alright, stop staying in the kitchen all the time."

Compared to the previous day, Wu Chao Mei seemed to be in better spirits. She waved her hand and led the way to the back yard.

Chen Ran quickly jogged over to help her, but Wu Chao Mei pulled away.

Located in the south, even in December, the small temple’s vegetable garden was still full of variety.

The patch in front of Chen Ran was cabbage of a late-maturing variety. Planted in the autumn, it was just now starting to ripen.

"Go take a look at each one."

The seeds in the small temple’s garden were also obtained through donations. This small patch of cabbage was all crooked and uneven, growing in various shapes and sizes.Chen Ran squatted down, inspecting each cabbage one by one.

Suddenly, as if she had thought of something, she turned her head and asked Wu Chao Mei, "Grandma Wu, by bringing me to look at the cabbages today, does that mean I was right about what I said regarding the heat control yesterday?"

It was nearly noon, and the sun was shining brightly, casting a golden halo over the hand that was holding the shelter above Chen Ran.

Wu Chao Mei was slightly softened by her words, pausing for a moment before gesturing with her hand, "Go ahead and look at your cabbage!"

Chen Ran couldn't help but smile before turning her face back to continue observing the cabbages.

In terms of shape, some of these cabbages were flat, while others were sharp and shaped like ox hearts. Some were whitish, others were a deep green. Some had thick stems, while others had thinner ones.

The way the leaves were wrapped also varied. Some were tightly bundled, while others were loosely spread, as though they would fall apart with a slight tug.

She moved from one cabbage to another and suddenly had a flash of inspiration. She pulled one out.

It wasn't too green, nor too white, and was sharp like an ox heart, with loose leaves.

"I've chosen one! This one!" she said.

Chen Ran picked up the cabbage and, seeing that Wu Chao Mei didn't speak, turned and walked toward the kitchen.

She quickly followed and put her arm around Wu Chao Mei's.

"Grandma Wu, look, isn't this cabbage perfect?"

"Stir-frying needs the leaves to be crispy and tender, right?"

"Those with thinner stems make the stems on the leaves look a bit tough."

"I think this one will definitely smell wonderful!"

Chen Ran chattered on about the cabbage, but this time, Wu Chao Mei didn’t pull her hand away.

"Alright, let's start cooking."

The kitchen was quiet. Chang Nian was waiting there, standing straight with her hands behind her back, watching as Chen Ran carefully washed the cabbage she had chosen.

"There are many names for cabbage, but in the industry, it's mostly called lotus white."

"First, the name sounds nice. Second, this dish was originally made in Sichuan cuisine, and the Sichuan people call it stir-fried lotus white."

"This dish is simple. The process is simple. You just toss it in the wok and stir-fry. Of course, some restaurants may first fry it in oil, but that’s not the best method."

"The ingredients are also simple: chili peppers, Sichuan peppercorns, garlic slices, and only a few ingredients."

"But despite being so simple, this dish is the signature of Beijing restaurants. If done well, it must be crispy, tender, and fragrant."

"The raw materials are simple, the process is simple, but the difficulty lies in the hands of the chef."

She rambled on, and by the time she finished, Chen Ran had already finished washing the cabbage.

The crisp, tender cabbage was cut into four pieces, the stems removed, and only the tender middle leaves were used, green like the coming of spring.

The leaves were torn into pieces by hand, and a bowl of sauce was prepared. Chen Ran, already familiar with the dish, glanced at Wu Chao Mei. Seeing that she wasn’t speaking, Chen Ran continued following her own process.

For a stir-fried dish like this, it was essential to prepare a sauce. Once the sauce was ready, the fire was set, and the same sense of control that had come from stir-frying the chili peppers the day before returned!

The firewood crackled and snapped in the flames, the fierce tongues of fire licking the bottom of the wok. Chen Ran paused for a moment, then threw a handful of Sichuan peppercorns into the pan.The Sichuan peppercorns were fried until they slightly changed color and then scooped out, leaving only the oil behind. The oil, infused with the fragrance of the peppercorns, was then sprinkled with a handful of chili peppers. As soon as the chili peppers changed color, the cabbage was immediately added!

With one hand shaking the wok and a spoon stirring, the cabbage was stir-fried until it reached the point where the leaves seemed soft but not quite, seemed cooked but not fully. At this moment, the sauce was poured along the sides of the wok.

The dish wasn’t even fully cooked yet, but Chen Ran already had a vague sense that “this would be it.”

She recalled when she was at the Yang Lian Mountain small restaurant, and the fashionable and beautiful Chang Nian ordered this dish.

At that time, she had already perfected the recipe for the clear-braised pork knuckles, and her skills had already leveled up. However, making such a simple dish still made her feel a bit uneasy.

The simpler the dish, the harder it is to execute perfectly.

But now, even without watching the wok, she could already sense the crisp, tender freshness of the cabbage. Even without tasting it, she could tell the combination of its fresh, spicy, and numbing flavors.

In just half a minute, she had shaken the wok fifty-seven times. The hand-torn cabbage was ready to serve!

The rough ceramic bowl in the small temple looked clumsy and bulky, dark brown with hints of black. As the fresh, light green cabbage was placed inside, the color was further highlighted, evoking a touch of spring.

Given its Sichuan roots, the dish's fragrance hit the nose first with a distinct spicy and numbing scent.

Besides the spiciness and numbing, there was also a hint of vinegar fragrance.

As the vinegar fragrance lingered and spread, what followed was the sweetness of the vegetables.

The sweetness was like spring.

Chen Ran took a deep breath, savoring the fresh fragrance that only new vegetables could offer.

She looked down at the dish, and the system gave its shortest evaluation yet.

"Hand-torn cabbage (SSS)."

Chang Nian picked up a piece with her chopsticks and gently chewed. She raised an eyebrow and asked Chen Ran, "Understand now?"

Chen Ran understood.

Though she had relied on the system’s recipes to get through every challenge, what recipe was there to study for a 3S-level dish like this hand-torn cabbage?

Everything returned to the most original aspect of cooking.

Choosing the right ingredients, and then... cooking them in the most suitable way.

That was all.

The system’s chime echoed, signaling that her skill level had likely increased.

But now, she wasn’t in a hurry to check it.

The skills were something she had honed herself. The level given by the system was merely a standard.

As long as she could still cook, as long as she still loved cooking, even if her skills reached the 3S level, it would never be the end.

Wu Chao Mei also reached for the chopsticks, took a bite of Chen Ran’s dish.

She tasted three bites, then finally nodded.

"It’s good..."

She put down the chopsticks and looked at Chen Ran with a somewhat serious expression."Next year's Two Capitals Culinary Competition, I will recommend you along with Chang Nian. You just need to find one more person to recommend you."

"Before that competition, I will teach you the 'Oil-fried Double Crisp.'"

Oil-fried Double Crisp!

A second too little and it won't be cooked; a second too long and it won't be crispy. Undoubtedly, the pearl of Lu cuisine!