The Gourmet Customizer

Chapter 99: Chapter 75: A Tea Egg? This Is Simply a Work of Art

Ling Shuyu watched, her eyes full of envy.

"Has the guest arrived yet?" Su Chen asked.

Zhang Li glanced outside. "Not yet, it seems, but he should be here soon. We agreed on seven o’clock."

"Alright, tell them to come in and try the new dish. Make the most of this opportunity—the only time you get to sample things for free is during a taste test."

Liu Shengnan meticulously recorded every meal the employees ate on a normal day, settling the total bill at the end of the month.

After Zhang Li made the announcement, all the veteran employees of Delicious rushed into the kitchen at once.

"A taste test? We have a new dish already?"

"Whoa, they’re tea eggs! I’ve loved these things since I was a kid. I can eat three in one sitting!"

"Even a tea egg needs a recipe? Boss, isn’t this making a mountain out of a molehill?"

Faced with their questions, Su Chen just smiled without a word, simply asking Zhang Li to portion out the twenty tea eggs into small bowls.

At that moment, Delicious had eight people in total, including the "guest," Liu Ahbao. Each person got a bowl with two eggs, leaving four in the pot.

"What’s so special about a tea egg... Whoa!" He Shuting exclaimed, looking at the egg she’d tried to crack in her palm. "It doesn’t look like it’s been cracked at all, does it?"

Liu Ahbao quickly grabbed an egg and held it up to the light to examine it. Still not satisfied, he took out his phone, turned on the flashlight, and aimed the beam at it for an even closer look.

"Incredible! Absolutely incredible!"

The others were puzzled. How could a simple egg be described as "incredible"?

"Boss Su, this is masterful craftsmanship! I thought you were just messing around, tapping it with chopsticks. I can’t believe you actually managed to crack the shell of a raw egg without rupturing the membrane. How on earth did you do that?"

Just as Su Chen was about to speak, Ling Shuyu chimed in, "Practice makes perfect!"

Seeing Su Chen’s disgruntled expression, she felt a wave of smug satisfaction. ’That’ll teach you to be so smug!’

Hearing Liu Ahbao’s explanation, the other veteran employees were taken aback. Cracking a raw egg?

Liu Ahbao gently rolled an egg on the tabletop under his palm. With another deft twist, the shattered shell, attached to the thin inner membrane, spiraled off in one easy motion.

A single...

"Boss Su, this color... it’s a little strange."

The color of this tea egg completely subverted everyone’s expectations. Instead of the usual dark brown, it was flawlessly white, marked only by a web of incredibly fine, irregular lines where the shell had been cracked.

At first glance, these lines were barely visible.

"Try it." Su Chen was very confident in his tea eggs.

After all, this was an S Level tea egg!

He had gone through several thousand eggs in the practice room just to perfect this recipe!

Liu Ahbao held the egg and took a bite out of the top—a perfect bite that went exactly halfway through the yolk.

With half the egg in his mouth, Liu Ahbao’s gaze first fell upon the remaining half.

The white albumen surrounded the yolk. It was cooked, yet not completely cooked through—a classic soft-boiled, jammy egg! But it was just a touch firmer than a typical one.

Only then did Liu Ahbao slowly begin to chew the half in his mouth.

With every chew, his expression shifted, and the moment he swallowed, he impatiently stuffed the other half into his mouth.

He then grabbed a cleaver from the cutting board, peeled another egg, and sliced it vertically down the middle.

"Incredible! Absolutely incredible!"

Staring at the cross-section of the egg, Liu Ahbao exclaimed in amazement once more.

Zhang Li: ’Why does this scene feel so familiar...’

"Boss Su, how in the world did you manage this?"

On the outside, the flawlessly white egg only revealed its fine web of cracks upon close inspection. But once it was cut open—!

The dark, savory liquid had seeped in along those cracks, forming a beautiful, intricate pattern on the cut surface that reached all the way to the edge of the yolk.

It didn’t look like a tea egg at all, but a work of art!

"You crack the shell, but not completely," Su Chen said with a shrug. "Honestly, I’m not sure how else to explain it. This way, the broth seeps in through the cracks."

"Then you use low heat. The temperature of the Coca-Cola can’t rise too quickly at the beginning. You have to give the broth enough time to seep in while the egg is still liquid."

"As the temperature slowly rises, the egg begins to solidify, and you get this result. Some people try to crack the raw egg directly, but if you shatter the shell too much, it just turns into a regular braised egg."

After Su Chen finished his explanation, Liu Ahbao took a deep breath.

Just cracking the egg—making it fissure without shattering—was already incredibly difficult!

On top of that, to have such precise control over the temperature of the Coca-Cola and tea-infused broth... what level of heat mastery did one need to pull this off?

But what was even more staggering...

...was just how unbelievably delicious this tea egg was.

Liu Ahbao had an incredibly discerning palate, yet even he, after hearing Su Chen’s explanation, immediately shoved the remaining half of the egg into his mouth.

"The Coca-Cola flavor is subtle, just a whisper of sweetness. The five-spice comes through on the finish... *nom, nom*..." Liu Ahbao savored the egg, and after swallowing, he inhaled sharply. "There’s the tea fragrance! A hint of Pu’er, but the delicate scent of jasmine cuts through everything else. It’s like a lotus blooming from the mud, pure and untainted!"

"And because the broth seeped in beforehand, the egg is incredibly silky and tender. There’s no risk of it being dry or chalky at all!"

"Boss Su, eating this tea egg has left me feeling utterly refreshed!"

In the blink of an eye, Liu Ahbao had polished off both tea eggs. Seeing his glowing review, Su Chen breathed a sigh of relief.

’S Level deliciousness really knows how to shut people up!’

If a master chef was so thoroughly conquered, then what about...

He Shuting: "*Nom, nom!* Delicious! So fragrant! There’s still a delicate, fresh scent in my mouth~"

Liu Shengnan: "Is this really an egg? If I ate this with my eyes closed, I wouldn’t believe it was an egg!"

Bai Xiaobo: "Holy crap, this is amazing!"

Ling Shuyu didn’t say a word, but from her beaming smile, it was clear she was immensely satisfied.

After all...

[Delicious Value from Ling Shuyu +999]

After finishing her two eggs, Aunt Fang said with a grin, "Selling these tea eggs for two yuan really isn’t expensive at all."

Finally, in front of everyone, Zhang Li ate her egg, her cheeks puffed out. "Sho good! Sho good! For two yuan, I could eat ten of these!"

Su Chen shook his head.

Two yuan?

’In some novels, they sell a single tea egg for 888 yuan and can’t even keep up with demand,’ he thought. ’My S Level tea egg... heh, it has to be at least...’

"These tea eggs will sell for five yuan each."

As soon as he said it, everyone stopped chewing.

Su Chen asked with a smile, "Five yuan. Is that expensive?"

Liu Ahbao smacked his lips. "To be honest, for this quality, this flavor, and this texture, five yuan is a bargain."

As someone who worked in a high-end hotel, he was sensitive to pricing. "If we put this in our restaurant, it would easily qualify as a signature dish. At 38 yuan a pop, you’d probably still have people lining up for it."

Seeing that no one else was speaking, Su Chen said, "Alright, the price is set. We’ll officially launch it tomorrow!"

The boss had made his decision, so of course, the employees had nothing more to say.

However... at that moment, the eyes of the entire group kept darting toward the small pot.

Inside, there were still four eggs!