Chapter 416: Heading to the Culinary Association
Leaning lazily against his seat, Mu Liufeng's face was full of satisfaction.
As someone born and raised in Star Luo City's middle class, he carried the innate elegance and love for ceremony typical of Star Luo people. Under normal circumstances, he would never act so unrestrained—unless he was far too comfortable to care.
But this Jixi Yipin Pot was simply too delicious. In all his thirty-some years, this was probably the first time Mu Liufeng had ever eaten so much in one sitting, and so he completely forgot about maintaining his composure.
The other three Tang Sect disciples sharing the table with him were in the same state—each of them with their bellies round and full, leaning back lazily in their seats.
On the table before them, the massive cast-iron pot—nearly a full meter in diameter—was now reduced to just a shallow layer of leftover broth. Not even a scrap of food remained.
After resting for a while, Mu Liufeng was the first to stand up. He glanced at the other three Tang Sect disciples with a smile on his face.
"Thank you for sharing the pot with me today. I've got a few things to take care of, so I'll be heading out first."
"Brother Mu, no need to be so polite," Tang Zi waved a hand dismissively. "Go take care of your business."
Mu Liufeng nodded, then walked over to the recommendation ballot box. Without hesitation, he dropped his vote in favor of Jixi Yipin Pot, before turning and stepping out of Han Shi.
Now that he'd eaten, it was time to get to work.
Weaving through the bustling crowd, he made his way down two streets and soon arrived at the gates of the Shrek City Culinary Association. With a friendly smile, he addressed the receptionist at the front desk.
"Hello, I'm Mu Liufeng, Chief Editor of Star Luo Food Critique Magazine. I have an appointment with your Vice President Zhang today—"
. ..
"Goodbye, boss!"
Qi Han smiled and nodded, watching his five employees depart before turning toward his disciple.
"Lingqing, you can keep practicing your cooking this afternoon."
"Got it, Master. What about you?" Ye Lingqing asked curiously, sensing that Qi Han had other plans.
"I'm heading over to the Culinary Association to discuss a few matters," Qi Han replied with a smile, though he didn't elaborate on what those matters were.
"Eh?"
Ye Lingqing blinked in surprise. After spending so long at Han Shi, he knew very well that his teacher rarely had much interaction with the Culinary Association. Why was he suddenly going there to talk business?
Still, although curiosity stirred in his heart, he didn't press the issue. Instead, he simply nodded obediently.
"Alright then, Master. I'll watch the store together wit—"
"Meow~"
Pururu let out a soft meow and agilely leapt into Qi Han's arms.
Seeing this, Ye Lingqing could only shrug helplessly, a wry smile on his face.
"Alright, I'll watch the store alone, then."
Qi Han chuckled, rubbing Pururu's head as he nodded and stepped out the door.
Leaving Ye Lingqing to mind the shop alone wasn't a problem.
His sudden visit to the Culinary Association, however, had everything to do with the side quest he had received the previous day.
The quest required him to choose a 1 Star recipe and teach it to a thousand people, ensuring that they all mastered the dish at the Good level.
Although "Good" wasn't as demanding as "Perfect," it was still far from easy to achieve.
To complete the quest, Qi Han had two problems to solve:
First, which 1 Star recipe to choose.
Second, how to teach it to others.
If he only cared about finishing the quest as quickly as possible, he could just pick the simplest 1 Star recipe—say, smashed cucumber.
But after some thought, Qi Han decisively rejected the idea.
While smashed cucumber was indeed simple, its flavor depended heavily on the quality of the cucumbers. The ones provided by Ru Yi couldn't be found on the Douluo Continent, and without them, even achieving a "Good" rating would be difficult.
Of course, the more important reason was this—if he was going to make such a big deal out of teaching thousands of people to cook, only to teach smashed cucumber, a mere appetizer…
Even if the students themselves didn't complain, he would feel embarrassed to show his face afterward.
Since this was a rare opportunity to teach on such a large scale, Qi Han wanted to do it properly—something truly worthwhile, something that would make everyone feel they had genuinely learned something.
After thinking it over, the most suitable choice for a teaching recipe turned out to be the very first dish he had ever made—Egg Fried Rice.
Though it looked simple, egg fried rice required solid fundamentals. To stir-fry the rice until each grain was separate, and to coat every single grain evenly with egg—those weren't easy tasks. Moreover, on the Douluo Continent, teaching this dish carried another layer of significance.
It would introduce the people of this world to a completely new cooking method—stir-frying.
Stir-frying was an ancient culinary technique from China on his previous life's Earth. Outside of that culture, it was rarely seen; even now, in modern Western countries, aside from Chinese restaurants, almost no one uses this method of cooking.
The earliest record of "stir-frying" could be traced back to the Northern and Southern Dynasties period, in Jia Sixie's Essential Techniques for the Common People, which already documented how to stir-fry eggs. But in ancient times, the use of iron was tightly controlled, and because iron woks and cooking oil were scarce, stir-frying did not become common until much later. It wasn't until the height of the Tang Dynasty, when the empire was rich and strong, that ordinary citizens had the resources and leisure to experiment with this new cooking style. By the Song Dynasty, stir-frying had spread everywhere.
During stir-frying, ingredients could be cut into small pieces and evenly heated as they tumbled through the wok, allowing their flavors to blend perfectly. This method was revolutionary—it dramatically expanded both the variety and possibility of dishes. In other words, the invention of stir-frying raised the upper limit of what cuisine could achieve.
That was one of the reasons the Eight Great Cuisines of China had flourished through the ages, producing far more diverse dishes than any other culinary tradition in the world.
Once this cooking method spread through the teaching of egg fried rice—thriving and evolving across the Douluo Continent—it would inevitably collide with the local culinary culture, sparking a wave of innovation and giving birth to countless new dishes.
And that was exactly what Qi Han wanted to see.
He even suspected that Ru Yi had chosen this particular side quest for him with that exact purpose in mind.
As for the second problem—how to teach everyone to cook egg fried rice—If he wanted to complete the task quickly, it was impossible to rely on one-on-one lessons. Even teaching a small group at a time would be far too slow.
Ideally, he needed to instruct dozens, hundreds—even thousands—of people at once. That was the only way to finish the quest efficiently.
On Earth, this would be easy. He could simply upload a detailed cooking tutorial online and let everyone learn from it. But on the Douluo Continent, where such technology didn't exist, he had to come up with another plan.
And that was precisely why Qi Han was heading to the Culinary Association.
He needed to use the Association's network to spread news of his upcoming fried rice lesson as quickly as possible to all the chefs who might be interested—especially the restaurant owners in the Food Street district, and a few food-loving residents of Shrek City.
At the same time, he needed to borrow the Association's venue.
Right in front of the Culinary Association stood a massive plaza, easily large enough to hold a thousand people. Thanks to the influence of the Association's president—who was also a Sea God Pavilion elder named Xuan Ye—the plaza had been designated under the Association's management.
And since Qi Han needed a wide, open area for his large-scale fried rice lesson…
Well, it was only natural that his eyes had fallen on that plaza.
Step
Qi Han's footsteps paused—he had arrived at the gates of the Culinary Association.
Gently stroking Pururu, who was nestled in his arms, he stepped forward and walked inside.
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