Chapter 43 Tofu

"Fuck, is Zhou Ningren crazy? He actually said something like that."

"What he said is no longer just referring to our Brother Mo."

"What's the difference between what he said and calling all the chefs present rubbish?"

"Look at the faces of the others, they've all turned green."

…

The audience in the live broadcast room listened to Zhou Ningren's speech and felt that he was really too arrogant.

Pheasant chef, daydreaming?

Mo Qingyan was really amused by Zhou Ningren's arrogant remarks.

Where on earth does this guy get so much confidence?

Mo Qingyan asked: "I heard that you became a level 3 state banquet chef a few years ago?"

"That's right." Zhou Ningren said proudly, "I became a level three state banquet chef when I was eighteen years old."

Eighteen years old is the minimum age limit for participating in the state banquet chef competition.

In other words, Zhou Ningren participated in the Level 3 state banquet competition for the first time and directly became a Level 3 state banquet chef in one go.

Over the years, the number of people who have become state banquet-level chefs at the age of eighteen can be counted on one hand.

Therefore, Zhou Ningren does have reason to be proud.

Of course, talent is important, but acquired efforts are even more indispensable.

Zhou Ningren, on the other hand, had a higher starting point than others because his father was a first-class state banquet chef.

"Becoming a third-level state banquet chef at the age of 18 is indeed quite remarkable. But..."

Mo Qingyan crossed her arms and said, "You are in your twenties now, eighteen, twenty-something. For several years, you have not been promoted to a second-level state banquet chef. It proves that your cooking skills can only reach the level of a third-level state banquet chef. And now, you are not even a third-level state banquet chef. So, you say we are quack chefs, then what are you now?"

Mo Qingyan's words directly shattered the pride on Zhou Ningren's face.

For several years, he has not been promoted to the second-level state banquet chef, which is his pain.

Being stripped of his third-level state banquet chef badge this year is even more of a pain for him.

Mo Qingyan's words directly hit him in two sore spots.

He laid his failure bare for everyone present to see.

This instantly put Zhou Ningren in an awkward situation.

For a moment, he didn't know what to say.

Just as Mo Qingyan said, what was the difference between him, who did not have the third-level state banquet chef nameplate, and these so-called idiot chefs he mentioned?

While he was mocking Mo Qingyan and others, he was also mocking himself.

It seemed as if he could feel the mocking, cynical and disdainful looks from those around him.

Zhou Ningren's face turned black.

I see he finally shut up.

Mo Qingyan felt that the air was fresher.

Little guy, are you afraid that I can’t cure you?

Although Zhou Ningren didn't say anything else, his eyes towards Mo Qingyan were filled with raging anger.

Mo Qingyan was not afraid and completely ignored him.

When Li Zhenmin saw that Mo Qingyan had directly silenced Zhou Ningren, he immediately gave Mo Qingyan a thumbs up.

Mo Qingyan smiled at him.

The audience in the live broadcast room were originally very angry, but when they saw Mo Qingyan's scolding to the point that Zhou Ningren was speechless, they immediately felt relieved.

"Haha, our Brother Mo won't indulge certain people. When it's time to criticize someone, he will definitely not be polite."

"Then Zhou Ningren deserves it. You said to compete, so just compete. Why did you target our Brother Mo for no reason?"

"He just feels too good about himself. He really thinks that he is invincible just because he became a level 3 state banquet chef at the age of 18. No one in this world can match his cooking skills. In fact, if it weren't for Wu Guo's reputation, even Li Zhenmin would not be able to compare with him."

"They say our Brother Mo got in through the back door, but I think he is the one who got in through the back door. Otherwise, why did he become a third-level state banquet chef at the age of 18, but didn't make any further progress in all these years? And now his nameplate has been taken away by someone? Isn't it because he doesn't have enough strength?"

…

In fact, many chefs present couldn't help but feel that their cooking skills were worse than Zhou Ningren's when facing him.

So, mentally, you have already lost.

How good can the dishes be?

However, in reality, is Zhou Ningren really that strong?

Mo Qingyan thought that might not be the case.

Although he had never eaten Zhou Ningren's cooking, he could tell from his blind self-confidence and his refusal to believe that anyone was better than him. The dishes he cooked were not much better.

A truly good chef will accept the fact that he is not as good as others. They will even humbly ask for advice.

Just like Chen Kang, he is also a state banquet-level chef. Although he is equally proud, he still admits defeat very quickly after losing.

It is not shameful to admit that you are not as good as others.

What's embarrassing is that even though you are obviously not as good as others, you still blindly think you are the best in the world.

In this case, this person's cooking skills will never improve.

Soon, the judges for the promotion round began to enter.

There are twenty fewer judges this time than in the elimination rounds.

There are only ten judges left for the promotion round.

Gao Moqi still sits firmly in the C position of the judges' panel.

The host began to announce the rules of the competition.

"This promotion tournament, the first match. It will be a themed cooking competition."

"The theme of this competition will be randomly drawn by one of our judges. All ingredients and kitchen utensils and equipment for the competition will be provided by our organizers."

"In this promotion round, there are thirty contestants. The top ten with the highest scores will enter the second promotion round tomorrow."

"This promotion competition will last for one hour. Now please invite our judges to draw the theme of this promotion competition."

To be elected as a representative, he must be the one with the highest status.

Among the ten judges, Gao Moqi has the highest status.

So, he naturally became the representative of the judges.

Gao Moqi took out a piece of paper from the box.

After the host opens it, he shows it clearly to all the audience members in the audience.

There were only two black words written on the white piece of paper: "Tofu".

Seeing that the theme of this competition was tofu, many chefs in the audience felt that this theme was difficult.

Tofu, one of the most common ingredients.

The method of making tofu is simple, yet not simple.

Because tofu itself has no taste.

In China, tofu is usually paired with other things to become a proper dish.

It can be said that in China, tofu is almost always used as a side dish.

Very few people use it as the main dish.

Therefore, it is actually quite difficult to make tofu into a main dish.

The organizers began to serve ingredients to the chefs.

All the ingredients and side dishes of the participating chefs are the same.

Each person was served three large pieces of tofu, followed by various side dishes.

Please note that the side dishes here are really just side dishes. There are only onions, ginger, garlic, coriander, and so on.

The seasonings are only the most basic ones.

Looking at the ingredients provided by the organizer, the chefs were dumbfounded.

"How do you do this?"

"Yeah, there are only three pieces of tofu, how can I cook this?"

"That's just a little bit, what a joke."

"It's impossible to make a dish with this little stuff."

…

Although the theme was tofu, I didn’t expect that the only ingredient provided by the organizer was tofu.

How to cook with this little bit of food?

Isn't this just making things difficult for them?

When Zhou Ningren saw those things, he was also a little dumbfounded.

He went berserk on the spot.

"I wonder if you are too poor to buy food? It's just a small amount of food. Who are you looking down on?"

In the competitions that Zhou Ningren participated in before, the organizers also required the provision of food ingredients.

But at least there is a choice of ingredients provided.

But they don’t even have the chance to choose the ingredients here.

Li Zhenmin looked at the three large pieces of tofu in front of him with a troubled look on his face.

He even began to suspect that the organizer was so poor that he could only afford tofu.

These people also paid the registration fee to participate in this competition.

The registration fee alone can buy a lot of food.

Not to the point of being so poor that only tofu is left.

Looking at the chefs talking below, the host felt a little embarrassed.

After all, it was Gao Moqi's idea to only provide the ingredients needed for the theme.

If you win something else, there will be a lot of ingredients available.

But who knew that Gao Moqi's luck was so bad that he directly drew the designated ingredient, tofu.

According to the rules of the competition, they could only provide tofu.

When the other judges saw this, they looked at each other in bewilderment.

Afterwards, Qian said to Gao Moqi:

"Judge Gao, providing only tofu is indeed a bit difficult for them."

"Yeah, this is just tofu, without anything else, how can we cook it?"

"At least it should be accompanied by an egg or some meat or something."

Gao Moqi disagreed and said, "No need. A good chef's cooking skills will not be limited by the ingredients."

Seeing Gao Moqi said this, the other judges didn't know what to say.

After all, these judges are older than Gao Moqi.

But his status is not as high as Gao Moqi's!

The judging panel for this competition is mainly composed of Gao Moqi.

The rule of only providing theme ingredients this time was also proposed by Gao Moqi.

In Gao Moqi's opinion, this is the only way to truly see the quality of a chef's cooking skills.

Good ingredients make good food.

What is going on?

It takes real skill to make delicious food with bad ingredients.

At a glance, you can see that all the chefs in the audience have sad faces.

Only one person seemed to not care at all. He used a knife to cut off a small piece of tofu and put it directly into his mouth to taste it.

It seems that there is no complaint about the fact that tofu is the only ingredient provided.

That person is Mo Qingyan.

I thought about the cold noodles I ate yesterday, and I remembered that Xu Yi said that the three-fresh dumplings were made by Mo Qingyan.

Gao Moqi couldn't help but feel a little bit of anticipation towards Mo Qingyan.

He wanted to see what other surprises this person could bring him.

Mo Qingyan didn't know what Gao Moqi expected of him.

After he took a bite of the tofu sent by the organizer, he already had an idea of ​​how to deal with it.

Tofu may seem simple, but there are many types of tofu.

Different tofu has different cooking methods.

What the organizer sent was spring water tofu.

Spring water tofu is more tender and smoother than ordinary tofu, but it is also more fragile.

At the same time, because it easily releases water and is difficult to absorb flavor, this kind of tofu is not suitable for cooking.

The most suitable food is to eat it cold or cook it in soup.

Of course, spring water tofu and ordinary tofu can be distinguished at a glance.

No need to taste it with your mouth.

The reason why Mo Qingyan wanted to taste it was to confirm the taste of the tofu and whether it was authentic.

Only authentic handmade tofu has a rich aroma.

What the organizer provided was very good handmade tofu.

The kind that lives a hard life without involving any technology.

After tasting it, Mo Qingyan had already thought of how to cook the tofu.

When the bell for the competition rings, no matter how reluctant they are, the participating chefs have to start cooking.

However, with these three pieces of tofu in front of me, I really don’t know what to do with them.

Some people try to fry directly in hot oil.

Unfortunately, the tofu is too tender and contains too much water.

As soon as the hot oil is put into the pan, it starts frying.

In the end, the tofu turned into dregs.

Some choose fried tofu.

Unfortunately, this tofu is too tender.

It breaks into pieces with just a slight flip.

Finally, I have to start over.

Looking at the contestants, they were all in a panic.

The judges on the stage began to discuss.

"Not only did they give them only one ingredient, they also gave them the most difficult spring water tofu. This tofu is difficult to use as a side dish, let alone as a main dish."

"That's right. This tofu is made to be looked at, not to be used for cooking!"

"Gao Moqi chose tofu as the theme for the competition. Isn't that just making things difficult for the chefs? Just this tofu alone would be difficult for even a third-, second-, or even first-level state banquet chef."

"Yes, look at those chefs in the audience. If they continue like this, they can't make a finished dish with ten pieces of tofu, let alone three."

"I can't help it. He is the chief judge after all!"

…

The competition has just begun, and many chefs have no plans for tofu.

I can only go ahead with it.

However, after trying a piece of tofu, they were in despair.

Because this spring water tofu is so delicate, it will break into pieces with the slightest touch.

It's okay that only one piece is broken, but the remaining two pieces are basically broken as well.

When I wanted to ask the organizer's staff to get a few pieces of tofu, I was told that these ingredients were limited in quantity.

Each contestant can only offer so much.

Now the tofu is gone and I’m eliminated before I even start cooking.

Some with poor mental abilities actually started yelling on the spot.

"You are such a piece of broken tofu. It breaks when you touch it. How can you cook?"

"I don't care, you have to bring me more fast tofu. I paid the registration fee. Can't I afford this little tofu?"

"Or did you, the organizer, take our money and the advertisers' money and embezzle it all?"

"Yes, this brother is right. This tofu breaks with a slight touch. How can we cook? It's obvious that they want to eliminate us on purpose."

"You, the organizers, must give us an explanation."

Those whose tofu was broken were disqualified.

These chefs also took risks and started to make a fuss together.

However, he was soon taken away by the organizer's staff.

This kind of thing actually happens quite often in this kind of competition.

So, it is easy to handle.

Some contestants were affected and simply gave up the competition.

Some are still struggling to persevere.

Mo Qingyan was not affected and concentrated on cutting one of the pieces of tofu into two-centimeter squares.

Then, soak the tofu in ice water.

While the tofu was soaking in ice water, Mo Qingyan began to prepare the sauce.

He chopped the onion and garlic, then added a little salt, bean paste, light soy sauce, oyster sauce, and MSG, stirred well, and started heating the pan.

After the pot was heated, Mo Qingyan poured the prepared sauce into it.

Seeing that the sauce had begun to boil, Mo Qingyan poured in some oil.

Suddenly, the soy sauce in the pan began to boil.

The fragrance began to spread everywhere.

Zhou Ningren, who was standing nearby, could smell it.

He just took a quick glance and after seeing that there was only sauce in Mo Qingyan's pot, he immediately turned his head and continued doing his own thing.

Mo Qingyan turned off the fire, poured the sauce into a bowl, and set it aside.

Then, Mo Qingyan flattened the garlic and began to chop it into paste.

After the side dishes were prepared, Mo Qingyan took out some bean powder, added a little water and minced garlic, and stirred it into a thick paste.

Then, take out the chilled tofu and soak it in the sauce.

The originally delicate water tofu becomes tougher and less fragile after being chilled.

After the tofu has been soaked in the sauce for one minute, quickly take it out and then put it into the soy powder and garlic paste and roll it a few times.

Try to evenly coat the tofu with the soy flour and garlic paste.

Next, heat the pan and pour in a certain amount of oil. When the oil temperature is about right, put the tofu coated with soy powder and garlic paste into the pan one by one.

After the tofu was put into the oil pan, it started to boil instantly.

The high temperature frying allows the tofu coated with soybean flour paste to quickly take shape.

In just one minute, no more, no less, Mo Qingyan quickly fished out the tofu.

Then, coat it with a layer of bean powder and garlic paste again, and then put it into the oil pan for frying again.

After the second time, Mo Qingyan started frying for the third time.

The tofu has been fried three times and the skin has become crispy.

Finally, take out the golden fried tofu cubes and place them on a plate.

This dish with tofu as the main ingredient is ready.

Just as it was done, the bell for the end of the game countdown rang.

The timing is just right.

The chefs who had not yet had time to prepare their dishes looked desperate.

How come this hour went by so quickly?

Out of thirty chefs, only twenty-two were able to actually cook the dishes and enter the scoring phase.

Among the eight people who were eliminated, four of them were taken away directly because they broke the tofu and caused trouble.

The remaining four were those who failed to finish their dishes within the time limit.

In the end, only twenty-two were left who were able to complete the race.

The staff evenly divided the dishes of the twenty-two contestants into ten portions.

The dishes were then shuffled and brought to the judges' table one by one for the judges to taste and score.

Although twenty-two people successfully prepared dishes, due to the limitation of ingredients, the preparation methods of the dishes produced by these contestants were almost the same.

Same ingredients, same method.

Some dishes not only don’t look good, but they also taste so bad that they are inedible.

Some of them look good, but the taste is hard to describe.

However, some of them may not look good but taste okay.

Among so many dishes, there is only one that is the most special.

That is Mo Qingyan’s “beauty hidden in the golden house”.

The pieces of tofu were fried until golden brown. They are stacked together in an orderly manner like small pieces of gold.

It looks amazing.

“Is this made of tofu?”

“This is quite nice.”

“I just don’t know what it tastes like.”

I've seen enough of those various ways of cooking tofu.

The sudden appearance of such a different answer made the judges feel curious.

After frying, the tofu expanded from two centimeters in size to three centimeters.

However, this size is just right for one bite.

The judges picked up a piece and put it in their mouths.

Take a bite.

There was a crisp "click" sound.

The skin of this tofu is fried till crispy.

After biting through the crispy skin, a rich garlic flavor explodes in your mouth.

However, before the garlic aroma has time to completely occupy the mouth, another tender, smooth and fragrant taste immediately follows.

The tofu soaked in sauce has been marinated.

After high-temperature frying, the flavor of the sauce is completely locked in the tofu.

This makes the tofu tender and fragrant.

The most amazing thing is that the outer surface of the tofu is hot, but the tofu inside is cold. It's like ice cream, but not as freezing as ice cream.

This tofu is truly crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, a perfect combination of ice and fire.

Fried food should be a bit greasy, but the greasiness on the outside was offset by the cool, tender and fragrant tofu inside.

This taste is so unique, so magical, and so delicious.

After eating the first one, I immediately wanted to eat the second one.

The judges were amazed by this dish.

“How on earth is this done?”

"It's amazing. This is the first time I've eaten a dish that's hot on the outside and cold on the inside."

"Is this really made from humble tofu? I can't believe it."

Gao Moqi was also amazed by this dish.

He was watching Mo Qingyan while she was making this dish.

This dish is quite labor-intensive.

The most important thing is, if you want to make it crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, you need to make it hot on the outside and cool on the inside, and you need to control the frying temperature very accurately.

If the heat is not controlled well, the dish will be ruined.

However, Mo Qingyan did a very good job.

Moreover, the saltiness and fragrance of the tofu is just right.

One point more will be too salty, one point less will be too bland.

It’s hard to believe that such delicious tofu can be made with such ordinary ingredients.

At first, the judges thought Gao Moqi was deliberately making difficult questions.

How could anyone in this world be able to make something delicious out of such simple tofu and such simple ingredients?

However, unexpectedly, it really exists.

Mo Qingyan didn't do much, so each judge could only get two pieces.

Two pieces of tofu were gone in no time.

Many of the judges were still unsatisfied.

This dish completely beats other chefs' dishes in terms of taste and innovation.

Perhaps it was because Mo Qingyan's dish was so amazing that the dishes that followed seemed mediocre when eaten.

Li Zhenmin and Zhou Ningren’s dishes were served after Mo Qingyan’s.

These two are different from the others.

What others do basically is boiled tofu.

The two of them made tofu soup.

Moreover, the soup made is plain tofu soup.

In addition to the scallions and ginger, only add cilantro.

Although the ingredients are simple, the two of them relied on their cooking skills to make this simple plain tofu soup taste good.

However, compared with Mo Qingyan's "A Beauty Hidden in a Golden House", it is far inferior.

So, when the scores came out, Mo Qingyan ranked first with a far leading score.