Chapter 12: Show Off A Bit
Being down-to-earth and hardworking, plus a little talent, this person may not necessarily achieve success and fame, but can surpass most people.
Before meeting Xiao Mao, Chang Ning thought no one could match him in self-discipline. After seeing Xiao Mao, he realized what a King of Effort really is.
Xiao Mao’s full name is Wang Xiao Mao. He used to be a cook, and now he still is, the difference being he went from a place to the military unit.
“Squad Leader Xiao Mao, I’ve been shredding potatoes for many days now. Can you teach me how to stir-fry today?”
No choice, since Chang Ning is still just a Private now, he has to respectfully call out “Squad Leader” when seeing a Non-commissioned Officer.
Chang Ning placed the cut pumpkin in front of Wang Xiao Mao. The pumpkin pieces in the basin were all the same size. If Wang Xiao Mao hadn’t been nearby while Chang Ning was cutting, he would have thought Chang Ning had measured these pumpkin pieces with a ruler on purpose.
Seeing Chang Ning’s results, Wang Xiao Mao, as an experienced master chef, secretly marveled. If he remembered correctly, when Chang Ning first started, he couldn’t even peel potatoes properly with the kitchen knife. Just a few days later, he was now using the kitchen knife very smoothly.
At this thought, Wang Xiao Mao felt like testing him. He wanted to see if Chang Ning really had talent in this area.
If he did, teaching Chang Ning a few signature dishes wasn’t out of the question. It’s the 21st century now; no one hoards their skills anymore.
“No rush, let me first check your knife skills.”
With that, Wang Xiao Mao casually picked up a potato from the cutting board and placed it in Chang Ning’s hand.
“Come on, I won’t make it hard for you. Shred some potatoes and let me see.”
The assessment task was actually shredding potatoes, which made Chang Ning inwardly delighted. These past few days, he’d shredded the most potatoes. If it were fancy tofu cutting, Chang Ning really wouldn’t have been confident.
Although his knife skills experience bar was now maxed out, and his mind had gained knowledge of knife techniques, he hadn’t actually used them in reality.
It was like listening to a song a few times and thinking you can sing it, but when you actually sing it out loud, it’s not quite the same.
Seeing the Squad Leader wasn’t making it hard for him, Chang Ning felt he couldn’t drop the ball. He picked up the potato and skillfully and swiftly peeled off the potato peels.
The thin potato peels didn’t break under Chang Ning’s knife, and Wang Xiao Mao carefully noticed there wasn’t a bit of flesh on the peeled potato peels.
He immediately knew exactly what level Chang Ning’s knife skills were at.
You have to know, potatoes have uneven surfaces. Peeling the skin off intact is a severe test of knife control, not to mention how perfectly Chang Ning separated skin from flesh.
To achieve both, the difficulty isn’t as simple as one plus one equals two.
Actually, knife skills boils down to one thing: experience!
Just like Qiao Feng becoming a master with Taizu Long Fist—it’s all about proficiency with the moves. Practice more, gain more insight, and your skill grows.
But why can’t everyone become Qiao Feng?
There’s a famous saying: Genius is one percent inspiration plus ninety-nine percent sweat.
Of course, everyone knows the latter half. This saying applies to top scientists like Einstein and Edison. Ordinary people who put in enough sweat in one field will still gain something; it’s just their achievements aren’t as grand.
In twenty years of web novels, few have become gods with one book. The great authors succeeded through decade after decade of consistent effort.
Chang Ning is also an ordinary person. His golden finger made up for that one percent inspiration, so the moment he took the potato, various knife techniques filled his mind, and his whole body’s muscles cooperated perfectly to handle the potato in hand.
The potato, with its skin peeled, had a very smooth surface, without the edges left by the knife, as if the potato in Chang Ning’s hand was naturally supposed to look like this.
Chang Ning temporarily put the potato in a bowl and soaked it in clean water. Then Chang Ning washed his hands before picking up the potato from the bowl.
The test of knife skills isn’t just about how well the ingredients are cut; it’s about multiple aspects. Does the chef love cleanliness? Is he diligent?
During cutting, does he waste raw materials? Is the knife sharpened sharply?
These are the main aspects that test a chef’s knife skills.
Since it was a test, Chang Ning didn’t want minor avoidable details to make his work imperfect.
Next came the main event. Rhythmic chopping sounds rose from the cutting board. Good chefs all have their own rhythm. Chang Ning wasn’t a chef, but he had his own insights into knife use.
Shredding a potato doesn’t take much time. After Chang Ning finished, Wang Xiao Mao looked at the potato slices on the cutting board with a face full of doubt.
“I told you to cut potato shreds, not potato slices.”
“They are potato shreds.”
Putting down the kitchen knife, Chang Ning was also baffled by Squad Leader Xiao Mao’s words. So he looked down, shifting his gaze to the cutting board, and suddenly understood.
It turned out his knife speed was too fast, and the potato shreds had stuck together.
Seeing Chang Ning’s odd expression, Wang Xiao Mao, an experienced chef, knew the properties of ingredients like the back of his hand.
Potatoes contain starch, so they easily stick together, often sticking to the kitchen knife when cutting.
“Squad Leader, next is the moment to witness the miracle!”
Chang Ning put the potato into a bowl full of water. The potato shreds bloomed like flowers in the water, covering the bottom of the bowl.
At this moment, Wang Xiao Mao’s heart was full of disbelief. Could an ordinary person reach this level after practicing for just over ten days? It could only be explained by talent.
Wang Xiao Mao gently picked up some potato shreds from the bowl with chopsticks. The pale yellow potato shreds glistened in the air. If one word to describe them, it would be translucent thinness!
Through the potato shreds, Wang Xiao Mao could really see the texture on the chopsticks. He even thought Chang Ning could make fancy tofu.
Seeing Squad Leader Xiao Mao silent, Chang Ning felt anxious inside. “Squad Leader, did my knife skills not meet the requirement?”
“Ah?”
“Your knife skills are already good enough.”
Hearing Chang Ning’s voice, Wang Xiao Mao snapped back to reality. If this level of knife skills wasn’t enough, then he wouldn’t even qualify to cook.
“Alright, I keep my promises. What dish do you want to learn?”
“Stir-fried tomatoes and eggs!”
With the Squad Leader about to teach him stir-frying, Chang Ning quickly named the dish he’d thought about for a long time.
This dish was a childhood memory. As a kid, he always begged his mom to make stir-fried tomatoes and eggs. And eating it with rice—that taste, Chang Ning could never forget.
Unfortunately, the distant place can’t be reached, and the hometown can’t be returned to.
Chang Ning was in the barracks with pitifully few holidays, so he could only use this dish to send his longing from afar.
“You sure? I know most of the eight major cuisines—Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, Dongpo Pork, and such.”
Wang Xiao Mao couldn’t understand why Chang Ning went to such lengths just to learn something as simple as stir-fried tomatoes and eggs. Isn’t that just something anyone with hands can do?
ps: Three updates achieved!!!
Seeking collection, recommendation tickets, monthly tickets, and follows.
