Chapter 49: Spirit Chef III
He sighed and cleaned the bowl. Although he had failed on such a simple step, it was common. Doing a simple step and doing that step perfectly were two different things. Anyone can whisk the eggs but whisking the spirit eggs perfectly depends on the control of the hand’s speed and angle. He looked into the inheritance once more and looked at the movement and angles required deeply. Although the movement, speed, and angles were the same for low-grade spirit eggs, for higher-grade eggs, it depended on the egg’s properties.
After contemplating for a while he cracked an egg and put it in the bowl. He whisked the egg according to the movement and angle shown in the inheritance for a minute. And lo and behold the perfectly blended egg white and the yolk was produced, it even looked a little shiny. While whisking, Amrit used a little bit of spirit qi which made it easier to mix evenly and eliminate air bubbles. Amrit bearing the legacy of the Asura clan had advantages when it came to the control of his movements and using any equipment, mainly weapons. The Asura had an innate affinity for any weapons and they instinctively knew how to use something as a weapon. So it was easy for Amrit to control his movements and angle of speed. After preparing the perfectly whisked egg, Amrit let it rest for another minute
. He put the pan on the stove, cleaned it again, and started heating the pan. He looked in the ingredients rack and looked for butter. Yes, there was butter and oils in the cultivation world. The butter was produced from spirit beasts reared in the clan and the oil was refined from seeds and leaves. Some of the plants in this world produced oil from their various parts like resin and could be refined into edible oil after going through various processes. He chose a low-grade butter and put a chunk into the hot pan. The pan sizzled and Amrit made a circular movement with his hands so that the butter would coat the whole of the pan. According to the recipe from his inheritance, Amrit put the excess butter from the pan into another clean bowl. After a moment, Amrit put the whisked egg from the bowl into the pan. As the whisked egg touched the pan, there was a sizzling sound and a little smoke came from the butter.
He knew he had failed this step because he had let the butter heat a little more. Although the smoke coming from the butter wouldn’t make much difference Amrit wanted the omelet to be perfect and the ingredients were of low grade, so he started to try again from scratch. He knew he would make progress faster if he didn’t waste more materials because of small mistakes, the perfectionist inside him didn’t let him be. After throwing this batch, he again contemplated for a while and started with the whisking. Although making an omelet was an easy task, making a first-grade omelet was not that easy. This time the steps until he put the egg into the pan were easy, it only sizzled a little and there was no smoke. He then started processing the herb, he used the spirit qi to shred the leaves into identical shapes and used a little fire qi to burn them slightly.
According to inheritance, the little burnt white-fire herb will be free of impurities and give a great spicy taste. If it was mixed with the omelet first without refining impurities, the impurities would easily seep into the omelet and it would be harder to purify it later. The first time it burned more than Amrit had expected, the second time it burned a little less than required and the third time it was almost perfectly burned and purified, the pan gave a sizzling sound and a thin smoke began to rise. This batch was also wasted, Amrit sighed throwing the waste into the bin. He had to finish two more processes while the egg was in the pan. First, he had to shred and burn the white-fire herb to release the impurities and then he had to grind the white salt into powder and separate the impurities using spirit qi.
The white salt contained impurities within but was easy to process. You just had to grind it until it became small crystals the size of mustard seeds and scrape the impurities using spirit qi. You had to coat the crystals with spirit qi after purifying them because the impurities present in the surroundings will seep into in easily, it was highly reactive. The benefit of using the white salt was that after purifying it, it would dissolve more easily in the food than the mortal salt. Amrit had barely purified the white-fire herb and didn’t have time to prepare salt before the thin layer of smoke came from the pan. This time he began to practice purifying the herb and white salt. He first shredded the white-fire herb into identical pieces and then began to purify it. He succeeded this time but it was somewhat time consuming so he began to practice more.
He only became proficient in purifying it within the time limit he had imposed upon himself when he had finished the herbs he brought from the storage room. He went to the storage room to get more white-fire herb; this time he was confident he would make the first-grade omelet. As for purifying the white salt, it wasn’t difficult for him, anyone with little control of spirit qi could do it. But he still practiced to prevent unknown changes. He rested for a minute and started preparing the omelet. He whisked the egg perfectly, put the butter in the pan, collected excess butter in a bowl, put the egg, and began purifying the white-fire herb.
He purified the herb and salt simultaneously and sprinkled them on the egg from above. He used the spirit qi to guide the movements of shredded herbs so they were placed evenly and as for salt crystals, it was easy as they dissolved upon coming in contact with the egg. As he felt the time was right, he flipped the omelet and after letting it cook for a few seconds, put the omelet on the plate. The omelet was a little shiny and was brimming with spirit qi. Even without any toppings, it looked delicious. Although this was a low-tier first-grade food, he had prepared spirit food nonetheless. He had become a spirit chef.