Chương 59: A Kitchen War Inside His Head

After the competition, the production team gave all the contestants a rare day off. Nerves that had been stretched taut could finally relax for a moment, and most of the contestants chose to catch up on sleep or get out for some air. Owen and Jack went off to play a game of basketball; Sarah went shopping with a few of the other women, trying to shop the stress away. Only Chris shut himself in the apartment the production team had arranged and didn't go out all day. He wasn't resting.

He was waging a fiercer war—one that existed only inside his head.

"System, activate the Dish Simulation module." Chris sat cross-legged on the bed, closed his eyes, and his consciousness sank quickly into a pure white virtual space. Before him, a station identical to a real kitchen's appeared out of nowhere, complete with every tool and ingredient. This was the complete form of Dish Simulation. It wasn't merely a tool for data analysis—it was a fully functional virtual kitchen. Here, Chris could run cooking war-games without any limits.

"First test. Target dish: French onion soup." The moment Chris gave the order, every ingredient the soup required appeared on the station before him: onions, beef stock, butter, thyme, a baguette, and Gruyère cheese. He began to simulate the work in his mind.

"Step one: slice the onions." [Simulation begin. Knife Work skill B (70) engaged. Estimated time: 3 minutes. Onion-slice uniformity: 98%.]"Step two: butter in the pan, sweat the onions over low heat." [Simulation begin. Heat Control skill B- (68) engaged. Warning: a low, slow sweat is an extreme test of patience. 35% probability that a lapse in focus causes heat fluctuation and uneven caramelization.] Chris frowned at the warning.

The system wasn't wrong—caramelizing onions was grueling work, and one moment of distraction could scorch them or color them unevenly.

"Adjustment: add a small amount of water partway to lower the temperature; caramelize in stages." [Plan adjusted. Risk reduced to 15%. Estimated time: 45 minutes. Onion caramelization: 88%.] And so, step by step, Chris ran his virtual cooking in his head. From sweating the onions to adding the stock to the final bake, the system gave a corresponding completion estimate, a flavor-curve analysis, and potential risk warnings for every step.

Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. In the end, a bowl of virtual French onion soup appeared before him. [Dish: French Onion Soup (simulated)] [Completion: 84%] [Rating: B] [Flavor analysis: Onion sweetness pairs well with the savory salt of the stock; the cheese aroma is rich. Weakness: the body of the soup is slightly thin, lacking depth.] [Improvement suggestion: add a small amount of brandy while cooking the onions to add flavor complexity.] By the end of the whole process, Chris had a far deeper grasp of the Dish Simulation function. It was powerful—the equivalent of handing him a laboratory where he could fail an infinite number of times. Before ever lifting a knife, he could dodge most of the low-level mistakes that might crop up and find the optimal cooking path. But it had clear limits too. First, it couldn't create from nothing. Every simulation had to be based on technique and ingredient knowledge Chris already possessed.

If a dish, or a method of handling, lay beyond Chris's understanding, the system couldn't simulate it. He had to "input" the knowledge into his own brain through study first, before the system could draw on it. Second, a simulation was only a probability forecast, not a guaranteed result. Cooking in reality was full of variables. Ingredient quality fluctuated, equipment performance differed, and a cook's mental state was harder still to pin down. None of that could be fully covered by a virtual war-game.

"Looks like the system is, after all, only an aid. Real cooking still comes down to me." Chris exited the simulation space, the point clearer than ever in his mind. He decided to run a second simulation—and a more important one.

"System, simulate an evolved version of the Triple-Flavor Potato Gratin." The dish that had made his name was his strongest weapon right now. But he knew very well that on the stage of Burning Kitchen, leaning on the same dish over and over would quickly tire the judges and the audience. He had to build on it, to make a breakthrough. [Simulation begin.] [Plan one: add truffle. Fold black truffle paste into the potato, shave fresh black truffle over the top.] [Result: 89% completion (B+). Sense of luxury raised, but mildly at odds with the original's core idea of "acidity balance." Predicted judge comment: "Showing off over flavor—a bit of gilding the lily."]"Rejected." Chris didn't hesitate. The thing Vane hated most was exactly this kind of expensive-for-the-sake-of-expensive piling-on. [Plan two: change the structure. Convert the layered build into potato spheres, injected with liquid cheese and sour cream, wrapped in a shell of potato crisps.] [Result: 82% completion (B). Highly creative, but extremely difficult to execute; the structure is unstable, with a 50% probability of rupturing during plating. Risk too high.]"Rejected." Too gimmicky, not his style. [Plan three: deepen the flavor. On the existing base, add a smoked element. Season with smoked paprika and give the finished dish a brief treatment with a smoking gun.] [Result: 87% completion (B+). Richer layers of flavor; the smoke complements the aromas of potato and cheese well.] [System note: This plan is technically mature with high completion, but insufficient innovation may fail to surprise the judges. Predicted judge comment: "Delicious, but we've seen something like this before."] Looking at the three plans, Chris sank into thought. He realized he'd fallen into a fixed pattern of thinking. All his improvements still sat at the level of stacking technique and flavor; none of them broke out of the dish's framework at its root. He couldn't keep guarding his "potato" forever.

He needed a brand-new arsenal—one that could represent the highest level he was capable of at this stage. And building that arsenal required more solid foundational knowledge. He opened the system shop, his eyes searching through the dazzling array of goods.