Have you ever seen glowing food? That's why you draw a food-themed anime.

"This restaurant doesn't offer cashback for voting during the food festival? They usually offer discounts during food festivals, don't they know that?"

"Who knows? Voting for him only allows you to pre-order any dish three times. What kind of perk is that?"

"Brother Li's casual dining restaurant is still the most affordable. They offer a 50% discount on the day of the food festival! They said they would do the promotion even if it meant losing money."

Xu Zhou overheard it a few times but didn't take it to heart.

Running a loss-making promotion?

You guys can offer discounts, but I'm not.

But the next second, the excited voices of college students outside the door came through clearly.

"Brother Li said there's a new dish coming up tomorrow, and it's a fish dish!"

The speaker was Zhang Yong, a classmate of Cai Cai from the dorm next door. His favorite place to eat was Li Laoge's Simple Meals.

Meanwhile, at this time, there were already some people sitting in twos and threes in Brother Li's casual dining shop.

Hearing the words "new dish" fills everyone with anticipation.

"Really? A new dish?"

"when?"

"tomorrow."

Li Dapeng's face was full of smiles: "It's for mackerel, it should cost over a hundred each."

Upon hearing this, Xu Zhou frowned.

Mackerel?

I cook mackerel because I'm fantasizing about ingredients. You have so many fish to cook, why the hell do you cook mackerel?

Could this be a coincidence?

...

Everyone else in the store was amazed.

"Wow, this price isn't cheap!"

The migrant workers from the construction site next door, who came to eat, became interested when they heard that a whole spicy grilled fish cost over a hundred yuan.

"Brother Li, why are you suddenly thinking about making a new dish? You've never cooked fish before, have you?"

Old Wang and Old Zhang, migrant workers from the construction site, are regulars here. When they heard that there was a new dish, and it was fish that Li Yipeng hadn't made before, they were all curious.

"Sigh, the main problem is with our cooperation with the upstairs store."

A hint of sadness flickered in Li Yipeng's eyes as he gave a bitter laugh: "I had no choice. We'd been working with the massage parlor upstairs for a long time, but the young people next door..."

"Actually, competition is normal, but..."

He didn't finish his sentence; he just hesitated, but the others already understood what it was about.

What else could it be?

They must have had their customers poached!

Many people were instantly filled with righteous indignation.

Seeing everyone's reaction, Li Yipeng breathed a sigh of relief: "They said it was a competition to cook a fish, and whoever cooked it best could continue to cooperate with the restaurant upstairs."

"My dish is Sichuan peppercorn-spicy grilled mackerel with mashed cabbage. Please come and support me!"

"must!"

"This dish sounds very interesting! They're all seasonal ingredients!"

Li Yipeng laughed and said, "If you like it, that's good. I'll go back and try out the research and development today."

How could Sichuan peppercorn-roasted mackerel possibly be inferior to Sichuan peppercorn-roasted mackerel with mashed cabbage?

Besides, you can just add cabbage puree to your own dishes.

Impossible to lose!

...

A clear, youthful voice suddenly rang out from the doorway.

"Research and development? Where do you get your inspiration for research and development? From me?"

Standing outside the door, Xu Zhou said jokingly, "Boss Li, if you're just going to copy the recipe I mentioned yesterday, just say so. It's fine, since recipes don't have copyright."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Brother Li said, his back sticking out firmly.

They showed absolutely no awareness of their plagiarism of the recipe.

Xu Zhou said casually, "Yesterday I told Mr. Li upstairs that I wanted to make a sweet and refreshing Sichuan peppercorn-roasted mackerel with cabbage puree. How about you make a super spicy Sichuan peppercorn-roasted mackerel with cabbage puree?"

"...They even go for the cabbage puree!"

"I don't."

Brother Li smiled憨厚ly: "Sichuan peppercorn-spicy grilled mackerel is the perfect match. This is my own idea."

"The dish already contains Sichuan peppercorns. Your dish is supposed to be sweet and refreshing, don't you think it's incompatible?"

Several people at the nearby construction site, upon hearing this, agreed that it made perfect sense!

Normally, Sichuan peppercorns are meant to be extremely spicy, so it's rare to find one that's actually sweet and refreshing.

Isn't that weird?

The authentic version is definitely the Sichuan peppercorn-spicy grilled mackerel!

Everyone immediately started to chime in.

"This sounds like the perfect match for spicy Sichuan peppercorn-roasted mackerel!"

"Don't worry, Lao Li, we all know what kind of person you are, and we support you!"

Hearing their words, Xu Zhou withdrew his hand, which had been about to take out the comic book.

"Do you really have to use the same ingredients as me?"

Xu Zhou chuckled instead: "Sure, I don't mind, but mackerel is not easy to cook."

Mackerel, in particular, is extremely prone to rotting, and bacteria can easily proliferate once it dies.

Making mackerel yourself is a system-generated fantasy, and with the system's food preparation room, everything is fresh. The system takes care of the source of the ingredients and the accounting.

But do you have a way to buy fresh sea fish?

Even if you could buy fish raised in artificial fish farms in this world, could you really keep them alive overnight?

...

When he returned to his shop and Xu Kai and the others arrived, Xu Zhou spent the entire afternoon creating fun, thinking about the wish points for his new dish.

While Xu Kai and the others waited for their food, Xu Zhou cooked the Burgundy beef stew and began to introduce it to them.

"High-end ingredients are often prepared using simple cooking methods, such as this Sichuan peppercorn-roasted mackerel with cabbage puree..."

"This dish features tender fish with a sweet and refreshing taste, making it perfect for springtime..."

Through tireless explanation.

Xu Kai and the others were drooling with envy.

When I overheard the customers next door who had finished their meal talking about the two new fish dishes that Xu Zhou and Brother Li would be competing against each other at their casual dining restaurant the next day, my interest was instantly piqued.

I was both angry and intrigued by the dish.

"Sichuan peppercorn-roasted mackerel, and it's even sweet and refreshing... What kind of taste is this? I can't quite imagine it."

"But it sounds like the Sichuan peppercorn-spiced grilled mackerel really is... Why did you kick me?"

Cai Cai scratched her head: "Of course, that's relative to others. If it's a small business owner, then it's definitely a masterpiece! No problem!"

After finishing their meal, they promoted the product again in their customer group.

Soon everyone knew about it, and all their attention was focused on the dish: [Sichuan Pepper Roasted Mackerel with Cabbage Puree].

Xu Zhou could only hear the prayer value gradually increasing in his ears.

[Sichuan Pepper Roasted Mackerel with Cabbage Puree: Wish Value: +1 +1 +1 +1...]

By 5 p.m., after selling out 50 fast mackerel burger patties, the price of this dish finally jumped to 100.

[Sichuan peppercorn roasted mackerel with cabbage puree: Wish value: 100/1000 (2)]

[Learning is now open!]

"Time to study!"

When Xu Zhou saw that he could learn how to make this dish, he lost interest in continuing to run the shop and decided to close it down and go home to learn how to make it first.

After dinner, I couldn't wait to get into the training room.

...

The place for this study session was surprisingly Polaris House.

Xu Zhou was somewhat surprised.

In the blink of an eye, we arrived at the communal kitchen of Polaris House.

The kitchen was furnished exactly as I had drawn it before.

"It looks so alike..."

"They're exactly the same."

“That’s right. This time it’s Isshiki Satoshi’s recipe, so he’ll definitely be the one teaching it.”

After waiting for a while, a peculiar figure appeared at the door.

Chapter 53 Learning new dishes 2

In the kitchen of Polar Star House.

The blond young man in the apron looked over with curiosity.

"You're the temporary trainee?"

"It's me, hello, my name is Xu Zhou."

After greeting him, Xu Zhou subconsciously checked the tuition fee.

[Tuition Fee: 0]

Did you not take the money?

Perhaps sensing his expression, the blond youth on the other end smiled slightly, wearing an apron: "You and Yukihira are friends, so if you want to learn how to make this dish, I'll teach you for free..."

"Anyway, this dish was something I made casually with Yukihira during the Polar Star Food Battle. But if you want to learn my other signature dishes in the future, you'll have to pay me."

"Next, I'll tell you the secret to making this dish."

"it is good."

Xu Zhou listened while looking at the ingredients.

The blond youth began his introduction with mackerel.

"This dish uses mackerel, which is in season during the spring, because mackerel has a moderate amount of oil and thick flesh."

"Of course, if you can't find mackerel, you can use other fish, such as salmon, but you'll need to adjust the cooking time..."

He picked up a mackerel, cut it open with a knife to reveal the flesh inside, and carefully explained as he pressed it with his hand.

"The flesh of mackerel is very tender and low in fat, making it easy to break during processing."

"So you have to be very careful when you're handling it; it's impolite to present broken fish to customers."

"it is good."

Xu Zhou nodded, listening to his explanation step by step.

It was explained in great detail, from how to prepare the fish, to which part of the fish to choose, and how to grill it.

It was much more detailed than when I learned how to make beef stew in Burgundy at the Third Cooking Room.