In a short while, a pile of unevenly cut potato shreds appeared, some as thick as French fries.
The thin ones might not have been impressive in width.
But in thickness, they could even be considered as thin as cicada wings.
There was clearly a long way to go before they met the full requirements.
One of the most crucial factors in stir-frying shredded potatoes was that the shreds must be of uniform thickness. If they were too thick, they might either be undercooked, or the inside would be just cooked while the outside turned mushy. If they were too thin, they could easily become mushy and lose their shape. Stir-frying shreds of mixed thickness made it even less palatable.
They had to be of uniform size to achieve perfection.
Otherwise, even a master chef of a state banquet wouldn't be able to make unevenly cut potato shreds taste exceptionally good.
Looking at the pile of potato shreds she had cut, even though no one was around and the knife skills instructor hadn't appeared, Ding Yun felt a little embarrassed. She finally adopted a serious attitude, slowed down, and began to cut the potatoes more carefully and cautiously.
However, skills were obviously not something that could be acquired in a short time. Even though she cut as carefully as she could, she only managed to reduce the number of unevenly sized shreds.
Occasionally, she would accidentally cut them too thick.
Or too thin.
Or thick on top and thin on the bottom, or thin on top and thick on the bottom, and so on.
Every time she made a mistake, Ding Yun would feel a pang of annoyance. With repeated errors, her mood would become impatient, especially when she saw the large pile still waiting to be cut. She felt her speed was too slow, wondering how long it would take to finish cutting like this.
It could be said that within just one hour.
Ding Yun's emotions fluctuated greatly, from initial disdain to helplessness, then to calmness, followed by anxiety, then impatience, and then back to calmness.
This cycle repeated several times.
Only then did her mind finally settle, and she began to truly focus on cutting potatoes with concentration. Simultaneously, her manual dexterity gradually became more proficient. Initially, cutting one potato took about five minutes, and the result was not very good. Later, the time gradually shortened to three minutes, then two minutes, and she could even cut several potatoes together.
The size of the potato shreds also became more uniform.
In less than an hour, her arms began to ache, to the point where holding the knife felt difficult.
But she persisted, continuing for another hour and a half before she truly couldn't bear it any longer.
She felt like her arms were about to be ruined.
At this point, she wanted to give up again, because she felt that if she continued cutting like this, her arms would be disabled. The original body was not in good health, and although it had recovered somewhat after half a month of recuperation, it was still no match for someone who was naturally strong and healthy.
Both exercise and work require moderation.
And a gradual progression.
Excessive or incorrect exercise could even lead to rhabdomyolysis.
For someone who didn't cut vegetables often, it was certainly unbearable to suddenly cut potatoes and radishes for such a long time.
However, just as Ding Yun had this thought, a beam of white light enveloped her the next second. Simultaneously, a special energy flowed into her body, rapidly repairing her physical damage and alleviating her muscle fatigue.
"Don't think about being lazy. Keep cutting.
The space is equipped with professional medical equipment. Let alone fatigue and muscle soreness, or minor injuries, even losing a limb or two is not an issue.
As long as you can endure the pain.
You can be rapidly restored.
From now on, if you feel you can't take it, you can directly say 'need treatment' in your mind. The medical equipment will provide targeted recovery based on your sensations."
Although the knife skills instructor did not appear this time, his voice was clearly transmitted to Ding Yun's ears.
Being treated like this, Ding Yun felt both much more relaxed and relieved, as well as quite helpless.
The relaxed and relieved part was that she didn't have to worry about suffering any irreversible damage to her body. The helplessness stemmed from the complete lack of any excuse for laziness.
Next, of course, was to continue cutting.
She finished cutting potatoes and then moved on to radishes.
And when cutting radishes, because the overall texture of radishes differed from that of potatoes, Ding Yun ended up ruining over ten catties of radishes before she barely grasped the key points and slowly started to get on the right track.
By the time she finished cutting both the radishes and potatoes.
She had no idea what time it was, nor how long she had actually been cutting. All she knew was that it had definitely been a very long time.
"Um, Instructor, I'm done cutting.
Can I leave now?"
Ding Yun had initially assumed that after finishing, she would be able to leave directly. However, the space remained silent, so she had to shout out her question loudly.
"What's the rush? Don't you want me to inspect it?"
The next second, the knife skills instructor, who looked like a dean of students, reappeared with an impatient expression. He operated the equipment and began to carefully examine the potato and radish shreds Ding Yun had cut. He then said disdainfully:
"With this skill, you still have the nerve to ask if you wouldn't have to cut so much if the shredded potatoes and radishes were up to standard. How many of these piles can be considered acceptable?
You've wasted good ingredients like this.
Come here, I'll explain it to you in detail."
"The uniformity I mentioned for shredded potatoes has no precise standard. The uniformity standards for home cooking and large-scale catering kitchens are different. The uniformity standards for stir-fried shredded potatoes and shredded potato patties are also different. The standard for uniform shredded potatoes must be adjusted appropriately according to different cooking methods and conditions.
So, you'll have to practice again tomorrow.
You'll need to cut different shredded potatoes according to different cooking standards, requirements, and dishes."
"It's the same for shredded radishes."
"Also, all the shredded potatoes and radishes you've cut now belong to you. But there's one requirement: absolutely no waste. You either eat them all yourself, or you let others eat them.
The space can help preserve them for three days.
If there is any waste, there will be severe punishment!"
After saying what he needed to say, the knife skills instructor disappeared again. Ding Yun looked at the large pile of shredded potatoes and radishes in front of her, let out a helpless sigh, and didn't rush to leave. Instead, she began to process the potato and radish shreds right there in the large kitchen space.
If these two items were directly stir-fried or made into cold dishes, it was unlikely anyone would want to buy them.
Keeping them all for herself was also impossible. She wasn't an elephant, able to eat two tons of potatoes and radishes in three days. Therefore, finding a way to sell them was essential.
And in the absence of other ingredients, Ding Yun could only choose to make shredded potato pancakes and shredded radish pancakes. She would use less seasoning and mix in some starch paste. This would create a simplified raw material for shredded potato and radish pancakes.
The seasonings and oil were available in the kitchen and supplied without limit. The only thing lacking was starch.
This wasn't a difficult problem, as starch could be obtained by washing the shredded potatoes. With so many shredded potatoes, the potato starch obtained after washing, if used sparingly,
should be just enough.
If it wasn't, she could always buy some from the general store.
After deciding on her next course of action, Ding Yun got busy again, washing the potato shreds, letting them settle to obtain potato starch, and seasoning the shredded potatoes and radishes. Once all these tasks were completed, she chose to leave the learning space and prepare the shop sign, and so on.
Even if she didn't need to buy a big sign, she would at least need a piece of cardboard to write down what she was selling and the prices.