Chapter 450 is similar to the Wen family's secret recipe

Use medium-high heat to grease the pan with oil, then add a little water to the prepared starch, pour it into the pan and start grinding the brine.

This step is called stir-frying, which is a technique of using high heat to quickly shrink the marinade and then wrap the ingredients.

While Zhao Xiaojing poured the starch from the bowl into the pot with her left hand, she kept stirring it with a spoon in her right hand. The liquid in the pot began to change color and shrink as she stirred.

This step must be done over high heat. High temperature can maximize the flavor of the marinade and also make the marinade bright in color.

When the volume of the liquid was reduced by half and the small bubbles in the pot became increasingly dense, Zhao Xiaojing continued to use a spoon to speed up the grinding of the brine, while quickly picking up the colander and pouring in the fried lychee meat and water chestnuts.

Then keep the heat high and stir-fry quickly for three or five times to evenly coat the surface of the lychee meat with the marinade. Then turn off the heat and remove from the heat.

While shaking the pan, Zhao Xiaojing scooped out the lychee flesh wrapped in the marinade with a spoon, and then carefully placed it in the center of the plate surrounded by wavy cucumbers.

Just as I was about to raise my hand, I looked up and saw two judges standing in front of the table of the contestant in the back row of the first group. In front of them was a long, well-arranged plate. At either end of the plate were the heads and tails of Australian lobsters, and in the middle were several meatballs stacked on the body. The two judges were wiping their mouths and preparing to leave.

Zhao Xiaojing raised her hand while secretly thinking that this time they even skipped the process of staff serving dishes and let the judges just come over and eat, which was so down-to-earth.

The two judges immediately noticed Zhao Xiaojing and walked over one after the other. Zhao Xiaojing quickly rummaged through the drawer and put out two pairs of clean chopsticks.

After the two judges came over, they were not in a hurry to eat. Instead, they picked up the teacups in their hands and rinsed their mouths carefully in the sink on Zhao Xiaojing's desk.

Zhao Xiaojing took a special look and found that in order to keep the taste pure, the two judges even used boiled water in their teacups.

As usual, Dang Yongge let Nan Rongquan walk in front and waited until Nan Rongquan picked up the chopsticks before taking her own. They each took a piece of lychee flesh and put it into their mouths to savor it carefully.

After finishing a piece of lychee meat, Dang Yongge picked up another piece and placed it in a small bowl on the side. He used chopsticks to scrape it out, revealing the water chestnut inside, and then tilted the bowl to show Nan Rongquan.

Nan Rongquan nodded, Dang Yongge stuffed the lychee meat in the bowl into his mouth, and the two of them each tasted a piece of water chestnut covered with juice, and finally ate a piece of cucumber surrounding it.

"Go back to your seats." The game was still going on, and the two of them didn't give any comments. After putting down their chopsticks, Dang Yongge waved his hand.

Zhao Xiaojing quickly walked around and returned to the audience seats.

On the way back, I didn't forget to take a look around. There were already six groups of contestants on the field, and only the contestant in the first group and myself had finished cooking.

100 minutes is not a short time. My dish took less than half the time. The other contestants probably had big dishes, which were either stewed or braised and were still in the pot, so I couldn’t tell what was going on.

As soon as he sat down, he found that Wen Xinyuan was staring at him strangely.

"What's wrong? You want to eat lard scraps too?" Zhao Xiaojing subconsciously recalled the attention the lard scraps attracted.

"What's that lard residue? I was wondering where you learned how to make lychee meat, and why it's so similar to my family's secret recipe?"

Zhao Xiaojing was stunned. "...I learned this from a Fujian chef I met in the countryside, and then I changed it a little bit...Is it really similar to yours?"

Wen Xinyuan nodded, his eyes still strange. "Countryside Fujian chef? What kind of country Fujian chef knows my Wen family's secret recipe?"

"Perhaps this recipe isn't a secret? There are so many ways to make lychee meat, maybe it's just a repetition?"

"Impossible! Do you think the secret recipe is just radish and cabbage? The lychee meat in my restaurant has been passed down through generations, and we put so much effort into researching it! It's the best lychee meat in Fujian Province! It definitely won't be sold out!"

"You said they were similar, but not exactly the same, right? The Fujian chef is not usually in the countryside. He rushed back specially to celebrate the old man's birthday. I didn't leave his contact information. I'll ask him for you next time we meet." Zhao Xiaojing laughed.

After saying this, Wen Xinyuan was even more resentful. "It's certainly not exactly the same, but it feels a little better than my family's secret recipe. I was originally planning to make this, and the ingredients are easy to put together..."

Zhao Xiaojing suddenly understood. The system was truly impressive. A recipe it casually gave out was even more impressive than the painstaking efforts of generations of aristocratic families. No, perhaps it was the Wen family itself that was truly impressive. The system was clearly a far more advanced entity than the modern world, and after several generations, the Wen family had perfected recipes that were practically on par with the system's.

The fat man who had come over earlier smiled evilly, "You can continue to do it, just in time to form a control group. When the TV broadcasts it and your second grandfather sees it, you can happily get kicked out. Then remember to record your second grandfather's scolding of you and make me laugh."

"Oh, so you're afraid I might cook better than you." After being interrupted by the fat man, Zhao Xiaojing pretended to have suddenly realized something and teased Wen Xinyuan. "Next time, tell me what you want to cook. I might not be able to do it, but just tell me and I won't cook that dish."

"Sister Jingzi, although you and Fatty have the same surname, you shouldn't always imitate him!" Wen Xinyuan said madly.

While chatting and laughing, another group of contestants chose their ingredients and started the competition. Zhao Xiaojing took a look at the ingredients chosen by the two people and found that the special ingredient this time was a handful of garlic sprouts, which made her more certain of her guess.

"Sister Xia, let me tell you something." Zhao Xiaojing lowered her voice and leaned close to Guan Yingxia's ear. "The first set of premium ingredients is green onions, my set has pork fat, and Jing Ziheng's set has cilantro."

"Huh? They're all auxiliary ingredients?" Guan Yingxia also lowered her voice with a serious expression.

"Yes, so... grabbing the premium ingredients is not the key." Zhao Xiaojing stopped there.

Guan Yingxia didn't say anything, silently turning Zhao Xiaojing's words over in her mind, "I understand, mirror, thank you."

"What are you two whispering about? Let me hear it. I promise not to tell Fatty!" Wen Xinyuan saw that the two of them looked serious, so he raised his eyebrows and said with a playful smile.

Zhao Xiaojing lowered her voice and repeated it to him.

After hearing this, Wen Xinyuan glared, turned his head immediately, and whispered something into the fat man's ear.

The fat man rolled his eyes, and then suddenly realized, "This is psychological warfare!"

"That's right. If you insist on getting the premium ingredients and cook based on them, it will be terrible! You might not be able to find them even after searching for a long time!" Wen Xinyuan immediately agreed.

"Keep your voice down!" The fat man slapped Wen Xinyuan on the thigh.

"...Hiss! Didn't you say that? Are you taking this opportunity to hit me? You just want to hit me, right?!" Wen Xinyuan slapped back with a look of grievance on his face.