Chapter 2411: The First Test

Translator: Henyee Translations  Editor: Henyee Translations

“Have you guys mastered the hot and sour shredded potatoes?”

“I tried to make it twice at home. They stuck to the pot, but my father finished it and said that it was not bad.”

“I did it thrice. I was successful once, but the taste was still too sour.”

“Then, you have to put less vinegar and only add the oil in after the pot is hot. In this case, they won’t stick to the pot…”

At the training center’s entrance, the children who were waiting for class to start were discussing their cooking experiences.

“Farah, you must have done very well, right?” Beck walked towards Farah, who was staying in a corner by herself.

“No. I only learned how to make the hot and sour shredded potatoes. The salt & pepper potatoes weren’t well executed.” Farah smiled shyly.

“You already know how to make the salt & pepper potatoes? Teacher Mag only mentioned a few words about it!” Beck looked at Farah with shock.

Beck’s voice attracted the children’s attention and all of them looked at Farah.

Farah wasn’t used to being looked at by so many people. She nodded with a blush. “Mmm. I think that it sounded interesting, so I went back to try it out, but it didn’t turn out very well.”

Source: novgo.co

There was an additional hint of admiration and envy in the children’s eyes. After all, most of them couldn’t even make good hot and sour shredded potatoes, and Farah was already starting to make the salt & pepper potatoes.

Mag stopped his bicycle with Miya, who was sitting on the backseat, and smilingly said to the children at the entrance, “Why are you children here so early today?”

“Good morning, Teacher Mag!”

“Good morning, Teacher Miya!”

The children greeted them enthusiastically with pure love and respect on their faces.

Perhaps before this, most of their love for culinary lessons came from being able to taste delicious food every time they came for classes. However, after cooking for their families, their attitude began to have an interesting change.

The affirmation and expectation from their family members made them want to improve themselves. It gave them a different idea about learning to cook.

Of course, it made them have a better understanding about the differences between them and Teacher Mag.

The food that Teacher Mag cooked was so scrumptious that they felt like crying, but the hot and sour shredded potatoes they cooked were so sour that they felt like crying.

“Let’s all go in.” Mag could sense the children’s interesting change too and his smile widened.

A source of motivation was required for doing anything. To children of their age, giving them a sense of mission was easy, but giving them the meaning of doing something wasn’t that easy.

This was also one of the reasons why he gave them homework.

Looking at it now, the effect of the homework was achieved.

Soon after, the bell for class rang, and it was time for classes to commence.

Mag looked at the children and said, “Before we start our lesson today, I want all of you to make a helping of hot and sour shredded potatoes. I will observe your cooking process and taste the hot and sour shredded potatoes that you made.”

The children immediately turned nervous when they heard that.

“Teacher, is this a test?” a child asked.

“To you guys, it’s a check, but you may call it a test too.” Mag nodded with a smile. “I will give you guys a score based on your work and rank all of you accordingly.”

Mag didn’t agree with the so-called ‘Happy Education’. That wouldn’t even work on the middle-class children, let alone on these children, who were struggling on the poverty line.

Thus, he wanted these children to know their standards clearly and do all they could to climb to the top of the ranking board.

The cruelty of the school’s rankings were much more gentle than starvation.

After hearing Mag, there was a hint of expectation in the children’s nervous expressions.

“Alright, the time frame for the test is 15 minutes. The potatoes and condiments are already prepared for you. Now, you may begin!” As soon as Mag finished talking, the clock on the wall started the 15 minutes countdown.

Every child received four big potatoes, which meant they had one chance to start again, but that was on the premise that they had to be fast enough.

Wash the potatoes before peeling and shredding them.

Peeling the potatoes’ skin was a test on their cutting skills. Steady hands were the crux to peel a continuous strip of potato skin.

Mag walked around the classroom with a checklist. His gaze scanned over the potatoes in the children’s hands.

The recent cutting skills practice enabled these children to grasp the knife firmly compared to being absolute noobs in the beginning. However, they would need to practice for a longer time to reach a certain degree of proficiency.

For example, that little demon fatty called Pete. The potato skins that he peeled were all shorter than one centimeter. He chose thinness between thinness and continuity, and so his efficiency was greatly decreased.

The classmate next to him chose continuity. The potato skins that he peeled were so thick that the potato became slimmer.

Mag walked past them without any expression and continued to observe the other students’ performances.

Mag paused for a while when he passed by Beck.

This lad who was a head shorter than his classmates, had found a balance point between thinness and continuity. He wasn’t fast, but he was steady. The potato’s skin wasn’t thin, but not too much potato was wasted. After peeling two potatoes, it was just nice for frying a plate of hot and sour shredded potato.

“Not bad. Seems like he has practiced seriously at home.” Mag nodded slightly. Teachers indeed liked children who were hard working.

Going to the other side, Mag stood in front of Farah’s cooking bench.

The potato spun deftly in Farah’s hands and a thin potato skin spiraled downwards.

Yes, one potato, one piece of potato skin.

Her peeled potato was golden, smooth and without any fingerprints.

She could already go to work at Mamy Restaurant with her standard.

“So, this is a natural talent? It’s indeed enviable.” Mag secretly lamented inwardly.

After placing the peeled potato on the cutting board, Farah took out the chinese cleaver from the knife rack and started to shred the potatoes.

Tok, tok, tok!

A light and rhythmic sound appeared and the two potatoes soon became a plate of shredded potatoes and were soaked in a plate of clear water.

Mag continued to walk by her. This lass’ cutting skills were getting better. He didn’t meet her last weekend due to the elves’ incidents and wasted a free laborer.

The shredded potatoes were soon all done. Although their standards were different, they all began to turn on the fire.

Mag returned to the lectern and after the shredded potatoes were placed in the pot, an aroma began to drift over.

However, a situation began to happen.

A burnt and sourish smell began to spread. The smell slowly started to get complicated.

Mag frowned as he looked at the shredded potatoes that were slowly turning to charcoals in Pete’s pot. Even though he was sweating profusely, he was still stir-frying as hard as he could, as though if he was fast enough, the potatoes wouldn’t get burnt.

Farah was the first to finish cooking. Her excellent cutting skills had given her plenty of extra time, so she only used five minutes to cook a plate of hot and sour shredded potato.

She looked at her classmates who were working hard, and then looked at the salt, pepper and two remaining potatoes at the side.

After a moment of hesitation, she picked up the two remaining potatoes and started peeling them.