In the 1970s, it started with contracting out communal dining.

Meanwhile, a constant tinkling sound kept ringing in Chen Wei's ears.

[Ding—Popularity +1]

[Popularity +1]

【+1】

Chen Wei ignored the system's popularity report and instead opened the operation interface.

A semi-transparent system panel immediately appeared before my eyes, and the equipment bar clearly displayed my current proficiency level.

[Current Status]

Knife skills (proficiency): 85/500

[Temperature Control (Beginner): 499/500]

Reputation Points: 642/1000

Title: Somewhat Famous

very good!

Just as Chen Wei had predicted, his proficiency in controlling the heat of the coal-fired stove was quickly maxed out.

Just one last push.

Chen Wei turned to look at the vegetables on the shelf. The late-night snack was now finished, and he could use the remaining skill to try out the new dish he had been thinking about for a long time.

He rummaged through the shelves behind him, found a few potatoes, four or five eggplants, and a bunch of green peppers he had grown in the back garden, and grinned.

The best thing about this dish is that the ingredients are readily available and not anything rare.

He'll use the ingredients the cafeteria already has for lunch tomorrow; surely Wang Defa won't say anything then!

He threw all the ingredients into the large basin and went to the tap behind him to wash the vegetables and get water.

Just then, Wu Xiaochun returned with the late-night snack. He also had soup all over his mouth. Wu Xiaochun came over and asked while burping.

"Brother Chen, what's going on? We've all finished our late-night snacks online, it's time for us to go home!"

"Let's try a new dish, I'll make 'Three Treasures of the Earth'," Chen Wei replied. "You can go home first, I can clean up the kitchen myself later!"

"Hmm? A new dish!" Wu Xiaochun's eyes immediately lit up with a sly glint.

Why would he leave work if there are new dishes to eat? Of course he'd stay and freeload... no, he'd help out in the kitchen!

"Why are you leaving! It's still early. I won't be able to sleep if I go back. Brother Chen, I'll stay and help you out!"

As he said this, Wu Xiaochun forcefully pushed Chen Weiren away.

He snatched the large basin from Chen Wei's hands and began processing the ingredients without saying a word.

Chen Wei shook his head as he looked at him. This kid must have eaten his fill on the way here!

Are you staying?

Can he still eat?

Wu Xiaochun volunteered to stay and help, and Chen Wei ignored him, returning to the kitchen and silently starting the remaining preparations.

I really liked this dish, "Di San Xian" (Three Treasures of the Earth), in my past life; it's also a very pleasant home-style dish.

There's nothing particularly special about how it's prepared; it's all about strong flavors, lots of oil and seasonings, making it especially suitable for people who do physical labor.

Back when he was in high school and growing, his favorite dish was the "Three Treasures of the Earth" from the school cafeteria. He would buy one serving and have two bowls of rice with it. It was so filling that even if he didn't eat meat, he wouldn't be hungry all morning.

The ingredients and raw materials are not fancy at all; they are just the most common eggplant, potatoes, and green peppers. Otherwise, why would it be called "Three Treasures of the Earth"?

This dish uses ingredients that can be found in the vegetable gardens behind every household.

When making it, you need to heat plenty of oil, first fry the potatoes, eggplant, and green peppers in the oil, and then stir-fry them. Only then will the final product be shiny and flavorful.

Locals in Jinshi also know how to make this dish, but not many do.

In this day and age, few people would be willing to use so much oil to cook a dish.

But the canteen kitchen is different. The oil used for frying ingredients can be reused for stir-frying the next time, so it's not really a waste.

Moreover, Chen Wei has used the system to make so many dishes, so even if he only relies on muscle memory, his cooking skills are much better than in his previous life. Therefore, he is confident about tonight's tasting.

Chen Wei prepared ten portions of ingredients at once, intending to max out his proficiency level in one go.

As they were talking, Wu Xiaochun came over with the prepared ingredients.

Chen Wei picked up a cleaver and began to prepare the ingredients.

The preparation of ingredients for Di San Xian (a dish of potatoes, green peppers, and eggplant) requires no special skills. Simply cut the potatoes, green peppers, and eggplant into 2cm chunks of the same size, sprinkle the eggplant with salt, mix well, and marinate for a while.

So he quickly mastered the knife skills and marinated the eggplant. After that, he calmed down and started heating the oil in the wok.

Although confident in his muscle memory, Chen Wei was still a little nervous as it was his first time cooking without the system.

He took a deep breath and opened the air damper of the coal-fired stove.

Flames immediately shot out from the stove.

At the same time, the temperature of the stove was also displayed on the translucent panel in front of them.

Current stove temperature: 380℃

This is the advantage of the equipment panel; regardless of whether there is a corresponding recipe, as long as Chenwei touches the stove, the corresponding auxiliary panel will appear.

This is also the source of Chen Wei's confidence in trying out recipes he doesn't have in tomorrow's competition.

This time, Chenwei didn't wait for the oven temperature to rise before placing the pot directly on the stove.

He poured a large bucket of vegetable oil directly into the pot and started heating it. The first step in making this dish, "Three Treasures of the Earth," is to deep-fry all the ingredients.

When the oil in the pot reached 70% of its maximum temperature, Chen Wei poured all the potatoes into the pot at once. After the outer shells were fried until they blistered, he gently stirred them with a large ladle. The potatoes rolled and tumbled happily in the oil, bubbling and gurgling.

Soon the potato shells turned golden brown, revealing a crispy and caramelized texture.

After scooping out the potatoes, Chen Wei fried the green peppers in oil before squeezing out the excess water from the eggplant and frying it in the oil.

Eggplant absorbs a lot of oil, so it won't taste good if it's not fried thoroughly.

So Chen Wei wasn't in a hurry and just let the eggplant slowly tumble in the pot.

Once the eggplant is fried until the outer skin is oily and the inside is soft, carefully remove it from the oil and set it aside to drain.

After pouring out all the oil from the pot, leaving a little oil in the pot, turn the heat back up to high.

Sauté the scallions, ginger, and garlic in the pan until fragrant, then pour all three of the fried ingredients into the pan and stir-fry.

As soon as the ingredients were put into the pot, a strong aroma wafted out, and the flavor became stronger and stronger as it was stir-fried and heated.

When the stir-frying was almost done, Chen Wei picked up the sauce that had been prepared earlier and poured it all into the pot.

"Sizzle—"

The sauce and hot oil created a wonderful collision at the bottom of the pot, and the ingredients began to roll and absorb the flavors in the sauce.

"Flip the wok!"

"Flip the wok!"

With a quick toss, Chen Wei tossed the ingredients high into the air in a beautiful arc, causing them to quickly turn over in the pan. The sauce, thickened by the high heat, gradually coated the ingredients evenly.

Only the final step remains, which is also the soul of this dish.

Chen Wei casually grabbed a handful of minced garlic from the cutting board and threw it directly into the pot, then tossed the wok again!

The heat from the pot fully released the garlic aroma, giving the whole dish a rich fragrance!

"It's done!" Chen Wei was overjoyed and quickly put the stir-fried potatoes, eggplant, and green peppers into the enamel basin next to him.

Just as the dishes were being placed into the enamel basin, a system notification sounded in my ear.

Congratulations on your upgrade!

[Reward Skill: Recipe Analysis]

[The third equipment slot is now open!]