"Go to the basement storage room and find that black volcanic rock slab we brought back from Hawaii last year!"
"Place it in a commercial oven, set the temperature to 300 degrees Celsius, and execute immediately!"
Pierre stood there, stunned, and lowered his arms.
"Chef, would you like to take the guidance of a hunter when preparing the main course?"
Pierre also raised his voice.
"Cold-cured raw bear meat? What if it has too many parasites, or the acidity ruins the taste? The Chart Room's five-year reputation would be completely ruined!"
Laurent took a step closer, their noses less than fifteen centimeters apart.
"Do as I say. If you waste another second, you'll be leaving my kitchen tonight with that broken knife."
Pierre shut his mouth, turned and ran towards the basement passage.
The apprentices quickly dispersed and returned to their work stations, their movements twice as fast as before.
Laurent turned to look at Su Wei, his attitude now completely different.
"Fresh spruce needles need to be picked immediately; the closer to the top of the tree, the more volatile oils they contain. We also have wild blueberries flash-frozen at minus forty degrees Celsius in our cold storage."
Su Wei pointed to the Raptor pickup truck parked outside the back door.
"There's a canvas bag in the truck bed containing tree branches I broke off while tracking in the mountains. They've been frozen in the snow, and now that I've brought them in, the temperature is just right."
A quick-thinking apprentice immediately ran out the back door.
That spruce branch was something he collected using the Gathering Module to prepare for making a marinade.
Now, it has come in handy.
Ten seconds later, the canvas bag, soaked with snow water, was brought in.
The bag was open, and a very crisp, pine resin scent mixed with the aroma of polar ice and snow wafted out.
A fine layer of white frost clung to the dark green pine needles.
This aroma dispelled the greasy smell of butter and animal fat that permeated the kitchen.
Su Wei reached out and grabbed a handful of spruce needles, placed them in his left palm, and covered them with his right.
He clasped his hands together and rubbed them vigorously.
With a slight cracking sound, the essential oil inside the needles was forcibly squeezed out.
The aroma became ten times stronger.
"Bring me a stainless steel condiment bowl."
Pierre ran back carrying a thick, porous black rock slab.
He placed the stone slab into the oven, set the temperature, and then walked to the countertop and picked up a clean spice bowl.
Laurent poured in the flash-frozen wild blueberries he had taken from the cold storage.
The purplish-red fruit develops a white bloom on its surface at room temperature.
"Crush it," Su Wei said.
Pierre picked up the wooden pestle and slammed it down on the bottom of the basin.
The pulp burst open, and thick, purplish-red juice splattered onto the sides of the bowl.
Add sea salt.
Pierre reached out and grabbed a handful of coarse sea salt, preparing to sprinkle it directly into the basin.
"Stop."
Su Wei's left hand gripped Pierre's wrist.
That hand remained motionless, like an iron clamp, unleashing tremendous power.
"Let go. I've been a sous chef for five years; I don't need you to teach me how to add salt," Pierre said through gritted teeth.
Su Wei loosened his grip.
The handful of salt in your hand weighs about twenty-five grams.
"The blueberries in the bowl weigh 200 grams, and their fruit acid content is 4.2%."
Su Wei picked up a miniature electronic scale and a small measuring spoon from the side.
"Adding 25 grams of salt will cause osmotic pressure to draw water out of the bear meat cells."
"That top-quality tenderloin will turn into a lump of inedible wood chips."
Su Wei used a measuring spoon to scoop up sea salt and placed it on the electronic scale.
The numbers jumped and then stopped at "8.0g".
Eight grams.
What we need is a slow, gradual infiltration of a slightly saline environment, not a brutal dehydration process.
Pierre turned to Laurent, hoping his boss would refute this absurd theory.
Laurent, however, stared at the numbers on the electronic scale.
He once studied the optimal salinity profile for meat aging in a molecular gastronomy lab in Paris.
The percentage data that Su Wei casually recited was accurate to the last detail.
Is this the knowledge a hunter should have?
Laurent's mind was completely turned upside down.
Pierre stopped arguing and, as instructed, sprinkled eight grams of sea salt evenly into the blueberry juice.
Su Wei sprinkled the spruce needles, from which the essential oil had been extracted, into the mixture, picked up a long-handled spoon, and stirred slowly.
Dark green needles floated in the purplish-red sap.
"Cut the meat," Su Wei said.
He reached behind his back and drew his Alaska Harpoon Survival Knife from its sheath.
Laurent immediately grabbed Su Wei's arm.
" Su Wei, this knife is too heavy; it's not suitable for slicing thin pieces."
Laurent turned and walked to his personal lockbox, entering the password.
A custom-made, single-edged willow blade was taken out.
The blade is long and slender, and the surface of the high-carbon steel is polished without a single scratch.
"Use this one, it's my personal weapon."
Su Wei tucked the survival knife back into his waistband and took the willow blade.
The blade is extremely light, and its center of gravity fits perfectly at the position of the index finger.
The effects of [ Firearms Mastery LV1] and [ Nimble Hands ] are active simultaneously.
Su Wei placed the dark red bear tenderloin flat on the cutting board.
He pressed the edge of the piece of meat with his four fingers together and his knuckles slightly bent.
Hold the knife in your right hand, pressing the tip down against the surface of the cutting board.
There was no back-and-forth sawing motion.
With a slight exertion of force in his wrist, the blade slid diagonally down along the muscle fibers.
"Sizzle."
A very slight cutting sound rang out, and a slice of meat less than one millimeter thick peeled off.
The slices of meat were laid flat on a white plastic cutting board, and the light shone directly through the muscle fibers, giving them a translucent appearance.
The tiny white fat particles inside are clearly visible.
The apprentices stopped what they were doing and were all stunned.
This level of knife skill is usually only displayed by Laurent when preparing top-grade bluefin tuna belly.
Su Wei's movements did not pause at all; the blade rose and fell rapidly.
Twelve translucent slices of meat, all exactly the same size and thickness, are neatly arranged.
He picked up a pair of long stainless steel tongs and placed the twelve slices of meat into the prepared blueberry and spruce marinade.
The meat slices changed color drastically as soon as they came into contact with the acidic liquid.
The dark red quickly faded, turning into an extremely bright pink.
At that moment, a golden stream of data flashed across Su Wei's vision.
[Ding. Successfully developed ' Touch of the Aurora ' marinade.]
[Triggering the special effect of the Life Module ' Simple Dietary Supplementation ': ' Courage ' (weak).]
[Description: The user experiences a short-term period of heightened alertness and improved decision-making abilities. A small, continuous secretion of adrenaline is also observed.]
Su Wei paused slightly in her grip on the clip.