Maester had always admired Su Ye's parents. Otherwise, even Kaerton's pleading wouldn't have convinced him to come and see this child's performance.
Su Ye scanned the five assistants and said, "Choose a large, dry porcelain bowl. You have to make sure that there are no traces of water in the bowl."
As he spoke, Su Ye selected a bowl and began carefully wiping it clean. The five men followed suit, each one of them even more delicate and conscientious than Su Ye.
Even though Kaerton had immense self-control, he started to wonder if he had been scammed when he saw how clumsy Su Ye was.
Su Ye was also frustrated.
A few years back, he had attended a baking class in the process of courting a girl. He had learned a lot from those classes, but that had been years ago. Now that he had been placed into the body of a child again, there was no way that he could do things properly.
Lead Chef Maester was still expressionless. He was as stern as a general on the battlefield, and he didn't make any comments.
"Pick up your bowls and point them toward me. I'll do a check… Mm, very good," Su Ye said somberly.
"Following this, crack in three egg yolks. Please be careful: we don't want the egg whites in the bowl, just the yolks. Now then… Mister Maester, in order to complete this miraculous delicacy as soon as possible, do you mind helping me crack in three egg yolks?" Su Ye looked at Maester, his expression earnest. He was treating the reputable lead chef of the Dolphin River Restaurant as his assistant.
Kaerton raised his head to look at the chandelier. He was now confident that he had been scammed.
"Are you sure?" Maester stood up. He wasn't much taller than Su Ye, and he was far from the height of the Silver Warrior Kaerton. However, it felt as though he was the true master of this room. His aura weighed on everyone in the room like heavy storm clouds.
Kaerton saw Maester's face and realized that the chef was on the brink of fury. Maester wouldn't erupt until the last moment, however. Kaerton smiled faintly as he recalled all the times that Maester had thrown him out of his own kitchen.
The other five men who were beating the eggs looked at Su Ye with sympathy. Kaerton was the boss of the Dolphin River, and the employees teasingly called him "Great Emperor." Maester, on the other hand, was nicknamed "Tyrant."
"Of course. I have faith that you won't destroy the delicacy that is to come," Su Ye said.
"Great!" Maester's expression didn't change, but his gaze became even sharper.
He walked to Su Ye's side. Following Su Ye's request, he cracked the eggs and separated the whites and yolks, then placed the three egg yolks into the porcelain bowl.
"Thank you," Su Ye said politely.
Maester remained silent and returned to his seat.
"Now, use a bone spoon to beat the yolks. Keep beating them until I say stop," Su Ye said.
After he spoke, Su Ye picked up the handle of a bone spoon and started to beat the egg mixture in a clockwise direction.
Su Ye kept beating the egg mixture as he scanned the utensils on the table in frustration.
There were none of the specialized utensils he was used to, much less an egg beater.
The Greeks of this era were accustomed to directly eating with their hands. Even if they used knives, they were used more for carving meats than as utensils. There were forks here, but they were large implements that were used to pierce and lift roasted meats.
Even a bone spoon like this was something that had been created by coincidence. They were extremely different from a true spoon. When the Greeks ate soups, they would either drink the soup with seashells or directly from the bowl. They had ladles, but they were large ladles used to scoop water.
Su Ye beat the eggs as he sighed. "Crude, this is all so crude! If I were to manage the Dolphin River, I would first create a set of utensils that was fit for nobles."
Maester remained unmoved, while Kaerton gently knitted his brows.
The Dolphin River was already the most exquisite restaurant in a non-noble district. Many aspects of the restaurant were replicated from items that nobles used. Other than the location, the restaurant didn't pale in comparison to the restaurants that served the great nobles.
Unfortunately, the truly great nobles would never head out to a restaurant to eat. They would either eat at home or in the homes of other nobles.
Kaerton didn't reply.
Su Ye mumbled to himself when he saw that Kaerton wasn't reacting. "That's unfortunate. If my family restaurant had opened for business, we would definitely have taken ancient Greece by storm with the cutlery I created. I have heard about things from all around the world from the sailors at Piraeus Harbor. Northern Europe, Persia, Egypt, Rome, and even farther."
Kaerton's expression wavered. He leaned forward slightly and asked, "Did you come up with the cutlery you speak about yourself?"
"Of course!" Su Ye replied with confidence.
Kaerton was about to ask further, then he caught himself and leaned back into his chair with a cold smile. He would have continued with his questions if some other young man had said this. However, Su Ye was obviously trying to draw him in.
Su Ye noticed Kaerton's actions from the corner of his eye. "What a wily old fox," he thought. Then he continued out loud, "I will continue learning magic, and when I gather enough money, I will partner up with my noble classmates and set up a restaurant in the noble sector. After all, I will require a large amount of money to research magic. The path of magic requires too many Golden Eagles."
Kaerton remained unmoved as he watched Su Ye silently.
Maester didn't care about the hinted-at cutlery. He cared more about the dish, and he continuously observed the egg mixture in the bowls of the six men.
Su Ye noticed that Maester was watching them closely. Luckily for Su Ye, even a god from this age shouldn't know about the effects of emulsification. Furthermore, the process hadn't truly started yet.
Su Ye felt his arms ache even though only a short time had passed. However, he didn't stop. "Continue stirring. This is a rather tiring process."
The five men continued to stir the egg yolks vigorously without speaking.
As time passed, the egg yolks started to become thicker, and their color grew paler.
Su Ye stopped and looked at the rest of the men. He opened his mouth but didn't say anything.
The five men had stirred the eggs better than he had!
"Not bad, even though it's not quite as good as mine… Now we move on to the second step. First, find another empty bowl and pour out a third of the egg mixture, then set it to the side. This egg mixture is very important, but don't touch it for the time being. Then, pour olive oil into the egg mixture left in the original bowl. You must be careful to pour in only a little. See this seashell?" Su Ye asked, holding one up. "Each of you should only pour in a third of that. Once you pour in the oil, continue to stir until I say it's done, then pour in an identical amount of olive oil…"
The group continued to stir the egg mixture, following Su Ye's instructions.
As more and more olive oil was introduced, the egg mixture got thicker and thicker, until it reached a stage where it was difficult to stir.
"Good, now take out a lemon and squeeze in lemon juice. All we need is a sixth of a seashell. Then continue whisking." Su Ye had searched all over the tables, but he couldn't find white vinegar anywhere. He did find a fruit vinegar, but he had never used it before. Thus, he chose the best substitute: lemon juice.
The five men had confused looks on their faces, but they didn't object. They grunted and introduced a small amount of lemon juice as Su Ye had told them, then continued to stir.
Suddenly, Maester stood up. In his alarm, he realized that just a small amount of lemon juice had caused the extremely thick egg mixture to become much thinner.
After that, the six of them repeated the process.
However, the egg mixture of two men became thinner and thinner the more they stirred it. They even added extra olive oil without Su Ye's approval.
Su Ye stopped them in a hurry after he saw this, then got them to pour their failed egg mixtures into the egg mixture they had set aside while continuously stirring it. He eventually managed to salvage it.
The six of them battled valiantly. After an hour, Su Ye finally told them to stop.
"Alright, let me have a taste."
Su Ye tested the consistency of the six egg mixtures and found two of them to be too oily. Those had clearly failed.
He pushed the four successful attempts to the front and said, "The delicacy in these four bowls is a success."