Food: Starting with Wonton Noodles

However, before Zhou Yu could recover from his shock, and before he could figure out why his wish list showed "Nothing available,"...

The system notification sounded in his ear again.

[Ding! Today's reward has been settled. Please check.]

He glanced at his phone; it was 10:30. It seemed the system started settling accounts at 10:30 every night.

We can verify this again tomorrow.

After a while, Zhou Yu reopened the panel.

[Master Chef System]

Today's satisfied customers: 6 (Click to view detailed customer wish list)

[Wishlist tasks claimed/Completed: 1/1]

Today's settlement rewards:

[Today's Customer Satisfaction Reward: Perfect Cucumber Salad Recipe (To be claimed)]

Basic settlement reward: None (to be activated)

[Note: Today's customer satisfaction bonus will be randomly awarded based on the number and quality of satisfied customers that day. The basic settlement bonus will be activated after normal business operations resume.]

Zhou Yu shook his head; another technique for smashing cucumbers had appeared in his mind.

However, what is this basic settlement reward?

Zhou Yu was very curious. Would it attract customers for him, or would he be rewarded a hundredfold for cooking a single dish?

He thought of the "Godly Rich System" on Qidian.com, but before he knew it, he laughed at himself.

This is a God of Cookery system, how could there be such a tycoon? Besides, we'll find out after we open for business tomorrow.

......

The next day, after getting up, Zhou Yu habitually opened the system.

Chef System

Today's satisfied customers: 0 (Click to view detailed customer wish list)

[Wishlist tasks claimed/Completed: 0/0]

Today's settlement reward: None (pending settlement)

[Recipes already mastered: Wonton noodles, perfect cucumber salad]

"It seems that both completed and unclaimed tasks on this wish list will be cleared," Zhou Yu thought.

When Zhou Yu came out of the room, Cao Xuezhen had already prepared breakfast.

Today's breakfast is congee and some local pickled vegetables.

Seeing that Cao Xuezhen had also bought cucumbers among the vegetables she brought back, he remembered the perfect cucumber salad he had made yesterday and couldn't help but feel a little itchy to try it himself.

He took the cucumber and went into the kitchen.

Seeing Zhou Yu enter her territory, Cao Xuezhen habitually called out, "What are you doing in here? Are you going to cause trouble again?"

"Mom, actually I learned more than just wonton noodles from the chef who makes them. I also learned how to make smashed cucumber. You're making porridge, so smashed cucumber can be served with the porridge too."

As Zhou Yu spoke, he picked up the cutting board and cleaver.

Cao Xuezhen was skeptical, but thinking of the wonton noodles from yesterday, she held back and said, "Then don't waste so much, we still need to cook some dishes tonight."

Zhou Yu agreed verbally, but his hands didn't stop working.

He washed the cucumber clean, removed the ends, and then peeled it in a zebra-like pattern, alternating between the peel and the stem.

He felt as if the cleaver was extending from his own body into his hand.

The weight of the cleaver instantly appeared in his mind: six ounces and eight mace.

"Am I really that good?"

As he was thinking this, he tried cutting something else, but the sensation immediately disappeared.

It seems that the control over this knife only exists when you create the food that the system rewards you with.

"I wonder if I can improve my basic abilities later on," Zhou Yu thought with a hint of regret.

He started making cucumber salad again, and that feeling of complete control returned to Zhou Yu's hands in an instant.

"Slap, slap, slap." He slapped the cucumber very steadily, and without needing to cut it, the cucumber naturally split into six pieces.

The cucumber core naturally detached from the flesh under Zhou Yu's gentle shaking.

"When did you acquire such knife skills?" Cao Xuezhen looked at Zhou Yu in utter shock. "With such knife skills, how could your cooking be so terrible?"

"I just really liked eating smashed cucumbers when I was working in the provincial capital. I got the skill from smashing them so much that I can't cut other things anymore."

Zhou Yu felt that his skin had become even thicker.

"Mom, please go out. You won't damage your kitchen. I feel uncomfortable with you watching me here." Afraid that Cao Xuezhen would ask more questions, Zhou Yu coaxed and tricked Cao Xuezhen away.

Cao Xuezhen then reluctantly left the kitchen.

After Zhou Yu cleaned the melon, he cut it into sections and put it in an iron basin. He was very satisfied with his handling of the melon.

At this moment, with perfect control over the cleaver, he knew very well that the cucumber's interior had been shattered to a suitable degree by his tremors.

Smashed cucumber is a very simple dish, but the hardest part is smashing it. If you smash it too much, it will be too salty when pickling and won't be crisp. If you don't smash it hard enough, the flavor may not penetrate the cucumber even after soaking overnight.

Some shops will even cut it directly to save time, which makes it even less tasty.

There's a reason why many restaurants don't do well. The simpler the dish, the more skill it takes. If a restaurant doesn't even put effort into making a cucumber salad, 99% of its other dishes won't be good either.

Zhou Yu used white sugar to slightly marinate the smashed and chopped cucumbers.

This step is crucial to whether the cucumber is crisp or not.

After preparing the cucumber salad, Zhou Yu went to the kitchen to find the seasonings.

Unfortunately, I didn't have many seasonings at home, only rice vinegar, garlic, and the chili oil and Sichuan peppercorn oil I bought for the barbecue.

Zhou Yu was a little disappointed. After adjusting the existing seasonings according to the proportions, he poured the seasonings into the chopped cucumbers.

Then, a unique massage technique is used to "inject" the seasonings into the cucumber, reducing its soaking time.

While the ice was soaking, Zhou Yu took out a bowl of ice from the ice maker—the ice maker was bought by Zhou's father because his two grandsons wanted to drink ice water in the summer.

After adding the ice, he patted it again.

Only after the ice began to melt did Zhou Yu scoop the cucumbers out of the basin.

He tried a piece himself first.

"Snap!" A crisp sound reverberated from the mouth to the eardrums.

Then came the sourness of rice vinegar, the spiciness of chili peppers, the numbing sensation of Sichuan peppercorns, and the aroma of minced garlic, all combined with the refreshing fragrance of cucumber, dancing on Zhou Yu's tongue in turn.

"This is so delicious," Zhou Yu groaned comfortably.

He took out a piece from the kitchen and used a toothpick to poke a piece for each of Zhou's parents, saying, "Try it."

The two were still somewhat skeptical, but fortunately, the trust they had placed in the wonton noodles yesterday hadn't expired, so they decided to try it.

Two crisp "crunch" sounds rang out from Zhou's father and mother's mouths respectively.

Then came the sourness of the rice vinegar, the spiciness of the chili peppers, the numbing sensation of the Sichuan peppercorns, and the aroma of the minced garlic, all combined with the refreshing fragrance of the cucumber itself, dancing on the tongues of Zhou's father and mother.

"It's so delicious, how can it be so delicious?" Zhou's father couldn't help but exclaim.

Seeing Zhou Yu and Cao Xuezhen looking at him strangely, Zhou's father blushed and said, "Ah, it really is delicious."

At this moment, Zhou's mother also said, "Xiaoyu, is there anything else you can cook that you didn't tell me?"

"Mom, let's continue. I want to surprise you slowly," Zhou Yu said without blushing.