Evening.
While Li Wei was wholly focused on cooking, the Old Master slipped into the kitchen without a sound, as though he were conducting tunnel warfare.
If Gengar's arrival hadn't lowered the kitchen's temperature slightly, Li Wei might not have noticed.
Li Wei hurriedly greeted him. "Grandpa."
The Old Master glanced at him. "Keep going."
Li Wei was practicing Squirrel-Shaped Mandarin Fish.
With all his practice lately, the Breeding Center's employees had eaten quite a lot of Squirrel-Shaped Mandarin Fish.
Having practiced dozens of times,
Li Wei deftly angled his knife and pushed it horizontally through the fish, removing the backbone and the rib bones embedded in the flesh.
Once cut, the fillets were long strips, thick in the middle.
The Old Master offered no comments and simply watched in silence.
Li Wei treated this attempt like an exam.
After wetting his knife,
he first sliced into the fish at an angle, stopping at the skin.
Then he changed direction and made straight cuts, again cutting down to the skin.
Once he finished scoring the fish,
Li Wei lifted it to show the Old Master.
Seeing that the Old Master had no objections, Li Wei placed the fish in salted scallion-and-ginger water.
Meanwhile, Li Wei mixed a starch slurry, squeezed the water out of the fish, and put it into the slurry.
Li Wei had seen versions that used egg whites or yolks, but the system's video tutorial didn't include either.
He had also tried making adjustments. Although those attempts were all grade B too, their texture really wasn't as good as the slurry version.
So he followed the video tutorial to the letter.
Li Wei then transferred the slurry-coated fish to a plate of dry starch, evenly coating every piece of flesh.
After shaking off the excess starch, he