The Gourmet Customizer

Chapter 268: Chapter 131: New-Style Su Cai and Wild Blade Technique

This was the kind of dish people would skip the Spring Festival Gala for, staying up all night just to make a pot. They’d only feel like the New Year had truly begun the next day, after slicing it and arranging it on a plate.

"You can’t be serious, Senior Brother? If we start making it now, we’ll be lucky to eat it by tonight. We might even have to wait until tomorrow!" Shi Qi was still itching to leave.

Liu Fu beamed. "It’s fine. A good dish is worth the wait. Anyone who wants to leave can go. No one’s stopping you."

The others said nothing.

Ordinarily, they might have let it go for any other dish, but this was the Braised Assortment!

It was simply irresistible. If they had the chance, they absolutely had to try it!

After Su Chen finished the preliminary prep for all the ingredients, he began the most crucial step of making the Braised Assortment Pot!

Arranging the ingredients!

Because the pot had to be assembled all at once, with no manual interference during the cooking process, the way the ingredients were arranged required great skill.

There were specific rules for what went on the bottom, what went in the middle, and what went on top.

If even one ingredient was placed incorrectly, not only would the flavor be off, but it might not even cook through.

The beauty of this dish was in transforming so many different ingredients into the savory-umami flavor beloved by the people of Lu Province. The flavors of the various ingredients would meld together, becoming indistinguishable from one another, making it utterly delicious.

"But where I’m from, we wrap pork belly in kelp. I haven’t seen Boss Su prep any pork belly, though. I can’t say whether it’ll taste good, but this method definitely isn’t authentic," Old Wu said thoughtfully.

His words made Liu Fu laugh. "Wrapping pork belly in kelp? Aren’t you worried it’ll be sickeningly salty? That just shows people from your area don’t know how to make this dish. It should be a layer of kelp and a layer of meat, straight up. If you don’t know what you’re talking about, don’t run your mouth."

Hearing this, the others were not pleased.

Shi Qi took a breath. "The Braised Assortment Pot comes from Boshan, so logically, the version from our hometown should be the most authentic. I don’t see anything wrong with what Boss Su is doing now, but it all depends on how he handles that chicken later. I don’t really approve of putting chicken in a Braised Assortment Pot."

Su Chen listened to their conversation and just smiled, shaking his head.

’They haven’t even really started cooking, and this group of men from Lu Province is already arguing. What will happen when it’s actually done? Are they going to start a brawl?’

’Of course, as long as they don’t start hitting me, they can do whatever they want.’

As for layering the ingredients, before he got to that step, Su Chen first took out the deep-fried tofu left over from the day before.

Deep-fried tofu is an ingredient that keeps quite well.

In the old days in the countryside, no one had refrigerators. You couldn’t just leave fresh tofu lying around; it would either spoil or freeze. Families that were better off would deep-fry it, which meant it could be used directly in any dish later on.

The texture and flavor wouldn’t change much, and it was also exceptionally shelf-stable.

With all the ingredients ready, Su Chen first laid down a base with two blanched pork leg bones, arranging them parallel to each other.

Between the two bones, he placed a small sachet of Sichuan peppercorns wrapped in cheesecloth.

Then, on top of the pork leg bones, he placed a round steamer rack liner to cover them.

This move puzzled many of the onlookers, but no one said anything. They just watched with intense focus.

The addition of the pork bones was essential.

They’re used when making rich broths to enhance the aroma.

With the liner in place, he finally began arranging the other ingredients.

First, he took two clean sheets of pork skin and lined the inside edge of the stainless steel pot, circling it completely. From the inside, it looked as if the pot itself was made of pork skin.

After this step, Su Chen surprisingly took the pot off the stove, laid it on its side on the worktable, and lined the pot wall with a layer of halved fried gluten puffs, their curved sides facing out.

Next came a vertical layer of kelp sheets, followed by an even spread of shredded scallion and ginger, sliced as thin as strands of hair.

This method of layering the ingredients left the men from Lu Province completely dumbfounded.

"This... is unheard of! Who does it like this?"

"It feels like our method has been completely turned on its head. All the ingredients are being placed vertically. Is that even right?"

"I don’t get it either. Boss Su’s cooking techniques are always so unexpected. Before we met him, could you ever have imagined that Nine-Turned Pork Intestines were made that way?"

Indeed, even though it was unheard of, the junior chefs didn’t dare to hastily judge how the dish would turn out.

It couldn’t be helped. The sting of being proven wrong was still fresh, and their egos couldn’t take another beating.

Once the kelp sheets were in place, he took the blanched whole chicken and flattened it slightly with a few whacks from the flat of his knife before placing it on top of the kelp.

At this point, Su Chen took several pieces of lotus root and tucked them into the sides.

By now, the huge pot was almost half-full. Su Chen stretched his muscles a bit.

He scooped the blanched pork hock and trotters out of another pot, skillfully deboned them, and then placed the large piece of hock meat on top of the chicken, tossing in a few pieces of deep-fried tofu from time to time.

He then covered it with another layer of shredded scallion, ginger, and kelp sheets, not forgetting to stuff a few more pieces of lotus root into the edges.

Next came the pork trotters and deboned Spanish mackerel fillets.

Finally, he stuffed two more fried gluten puffs into the remaining gaps at the top. Then, using all his strength, he heaved the fully packed, massive pot upright.

"Whew..." Su Chen let out a breath. "That’s got to be over thirty pounds of ingredients, right?"

"I’d say even more," said Lu Yongliang. He only knew this dish as the Braised Assortment Pot but was unfamiliar with the specific preparation. "At least forty pounds."

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!