Chapter 16 Fragrant Potatoes with Diced Meat and the Otherworldly City Management Officer Fragrant Potatoes with Diced Meat...
Since sending away Old Tom, the first pay-to-win player, and successfully verifying the feasibility of the menu trading model, Lin Yue felt as if his Ren and Du meridians had been opened, and he was full of motivation to make money and acquire resources!
Before, cooking was mainly to fill the stomachs of himself and his friends, and incidentally to satisfy his own meager appetite. But now, when Lin Yue is thinking about new recipes, an extra thought automatically pops into his head:
"If this dish were on the 'Today's Exchange' menu, how many flints would it be worth? Could it be exchanged for a sharp iron dagger? Or... a few shiny magic crystals?" Although he didn't know what magic crystals were used for, it sounded very high-end.
This mindset of exchanging everything for resources greatly inspired his enthusiasm for developing new dishes!
After all, if you want to attract more "Old Tom" customers to deliver (or exchange) their treasures, you can't just rely on filling hot soup and simple roast meat. You have to have a signature dish! You have to have that kind of "star dish" that people will crave after just one bite and will make a detour to try it next time they pass by!
So, following the stewed bluebird meat with potatoes and the original charcoal-grilled potatoes, Lin Yue turned his research and development attention to their most important ingredient at present - potatoes, as well as a small amount of precious meat.
He recalled all the potato dishes he had eaten on Earth, and combined them with the limited seasonings and cooking conditions at hand, he began his dark... no, I mean, innovative culinary experiment.
After several failures—such as roasting potatoes until they turned to charcoal or stewing meat until it was too salty, which drew a roar from Uncle Stone Fist—Lin Yue finally managed to create a masterpiece that even amazed himself!
He named it "Fragrant Stone Slab Baked Potatoes with Diced Meat"!
The method is actually not complicated:
Peel and cut the potatoes into small pieces, then marinate them with a little salt and crushed herbs.
Take the tenderest leg meat from the fat rabbit Gray caught yesterday, cut it into small cubes, and marinate it with salt and exotic herbs.
Find a relatively flat and thick stone slab and heat it over a fire until it is scorching hot.
Then spread a small amount of animal fat on the scorching hot stone slab. It was collected while grilling meat, and I treasured it.
Spread the marinated potato chunks and diced meat evenly on the stone slab.
Then place another heated stone slab on top to create a simple stone oven.
Using the heat from the stone slabs above and below and the residual heat of the fire, slowly bake it until cooked.
This process requires precise control of the heat and time, ensuring the ingredients are cooked through without burning them. Lin Yue was completely focused, as if conducting a meticulous chemistry experiment.
Finally, when a rich aroma, a blend of caramelized potatoes, meat, and exotic herbs, wafted from the cracks in the stone slabs, Lin Yue knew that it was a success!
He carefully moved the stone slab on top.
On the stone slab below, the potato chunks were an enticing golden yellow, with slightly charred edges, while retaining a soft and chewy texture inside.
The diced meat was baked until crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, sizzling with oil and exuding a wonderful aroma. The potatoes absorbed the savory meat juices, while the diced meat took on the fresh fragrance of potatoes and the aroma of exotic herbs—a perfect match!
"Perfect!" Lin Yue exclaimed, picked up his newly sharpened "high-efficiency stone scraper," and carefully scooped the baked potatoes and diced meat onto the clean leaves.
"Dinner's ready! Dinner's ready! Try my new dish today!" Lin Yue excitedly called out to Gray, Stone Fist, and Xiao Fen, who were already drooling over the aroma.
The three people and the dog sat together, eagerly savoring the uniquely fragrant stone-baked potatoes with diced meat.
"Woo-woo!" Little Fen was the first to grab a piece of meat, and she ate it so hard that her tail wagged like a whirlwind.
"Hmm...um..." Gray chewed on a piece of baked potato, his eyes slightly narrowed. Although he didn't speak, his expression of enjoyment said it all.
Shi Quan, his mouth greasy, mumbled indistinctly, "...This...is better than...the stewed one!...Give me some more!"
Watching everyone devour the food, Lin Yue felt a surge of satisfaction and... business acumen!
"This is it!" Lin Yue decided in his mind. "This 'Fragrant Stone-Baked Potatoes with Diced Meat' definitely has the potential to become the signature dish of our 'Lin's Bistro'! We'll put it on the menu and price it high! It wouldn't be too much to charge ten or eight flints for it, would it?"
[System Notification: Successfully developed a new dish: [Fragrant Stone-Baked Potatoes with Diced Meat]. Deliciousness Rating: B+ (limited by cooking conditions and seasoning types). Customer satisfaction has greatly improved. Unlocked achievement: [A Dawn in the World of Dark Cuisine]. Culinary skill proficiency increased.]
Just as Lin Yue was immersed in the wonderful fantasy of successful research and development and future business blueprint, a sudden, warning red light flashed on the system interface!
[WARNING! WARNING! The overall aesthetic score of the community's basic dry toilet has been found to be seriously substandard!]
[Reason for judgment: The structure is rudimentary, the design is crude, the colors are monotonous, and it lacks harmony with the surrounding environment, seriously affecting the overall appearance of the community and the experience of potential visitors!]
[Penalty: Rectification must be completed within three days! The aesthetic rating must be raised to at least C (the passing grade)! Otherwise, random penalty events will be triggered (including but not limited to: random tool damage, random food spoilage, attracting special 'aesthetic censorship' creatures for harassment, etc.)!]
Lin Yue was completely dumbfounded when he saw the bright red, bold warning message with an exclamation mark.
"What the heck?!" He almost spat out the baked potato he was eating. "The toilet... failed the aesthetics test? And it needs to be rectified within a certain period? Or else a random punishment will be triggered?!"
He looked incredulously at the dry toilet, a monumental structure he and Gress had painstakingly built, a testament to their blood, sweat, and wisdom.
It's...it's just a toilet, isn't it?!
A toilet designed to meet physiological needs, providing shelter from wind and rain, though its effectiveness is only so-so, it can still prevent odors and provide ventilation!
What aesthetics are you talking about with a toilet?! What harmony with the environment?! Are you suggesting we carve ornate beams and paint murals, cover it with mosaics, and plant a few orchids in it?!
"System! Come out here! We need to talk!" Lin Yue angrily typed furiously on the system interface with his mind. "Isn't this a bit too outrageous?! This is an alien wasteland! A cursed land! Not some five-star resort! It's just a toilet, as long as it works, that's enough, what more do you want!"
[System Response: The progress of civilization is reflected not only in the material realm but also in the spiritual and aesthetic realms. A harmonious and beautiful community environment helps improve residents' sense of happiness and level of civilization. Please take this seriously and do not attempt to challenge the system's rules. Countdown: 71 hours, 59 minutes, and 58 seconds.]
Lin Yue: "..."
Well, it seems these otherworldly city management officers are serious! And they're doing it by force! They're not even giving anyone a chance to appeal!
He stared, tears welling in his eyes, at the dry toilet that the system had mercilessly deemed severely substandard. It was just a frame made of a few pieces of wood, surrounded by thatch and bark, and topped with some stone slabs... It certainly wasn't aesthetically pleasing, and even looked a bit like... a makeshift chicken coop?
But! This is already the limit of what they can do right now!
What other changes are needed? Do you really want to paint it, hang up colored lights, and put two more stone lions at the entrance?!
Gray and Stone Fist, who were standing nearby, noticed that Lin Yue's expression was off and curiously came over.
"Lin Yue, what's wrong?" Gray rarely took the initiative to show concern.
"...It's nothing." Lin Yue waved his hand weakly. He couldn't very well tell them that he had been warned by the system because the toilet was too ugly, could he? That would be too embarrassing! "It's just...I suddenly feel that our toilet seems...a bit too rudimentary? Shouldn't we...beautify it a little?" He tried to express himself in a tactful way.
"Beautify?" Shi Quan's eyes widened, his face saying, "Are you out of your mind?" "A place for pooping, you want to beautify it? Are you out of your mind?"
Gray also looked confused.
Lin Yue: "..." See? Even cavemen would find this absurd!
But the system's punishments are no joke! Tools break randomly? Ingredients mold randomly? And there's even a "beauty inspector squad" of creatures harassing you?! Just thinking about it sends chills down your spine!
No way! To preserve their meager possessions and to avoid being harassed by strange creatures, this toilet must be renovated! And it must be renovated to be more aesthetically pleasing!
"I don't care! I say it needs to be beautified, so it needs to be beautified!" Lin Yue acted like a rogue. "This is to improve the overall image of our restaurant! To attract more... uh, customers!" he forced a reason.
He began racking his brains to figure out how to improve the aesthetic rating of a dry toilet under limited conditions.
Painting? No.
Tiling? Absolutely not.
Planting flowers and herbs? I did find some plants with strangely colored flowers while searching for spices...
"That's it! Greenery!" Lin Yue's eyes lit up. "We can plant some flowers and grass around the toilet! And then wrap it with vines! Create a pastoral or forest-themed look! That should improve the aesthetics, right?"
He shared this idea with Gray and Stonefist.
Gray replied, "...Whatever you want," as long as it doesn't interfere with work.
Shi Quan rolled his eyes: "...Just messing around." But he didn't strongly object, since he wasn't allowed to do physical labor.
Thus, following the "Settlement Project" and the "Agricultural Project", "Lin's Restaurant" was forced to launch a brand new project that sounded full of complaints - the "Five-Star Eco-Friendly Luxury Dry Toilet Beautification Project"!
Lin Yue felt that he, an engineer, was being forced to become an all-around artist.
While mentally ranting about the unreliable system and its bizarre rules, he resignedly began planning his toilet beautification scheme.
The first close encounter between the city management officers from another world began so unexpectedly.
A note from the author:
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