Chapter 51 Competition

Everything is ready. The fish are delivered by Chen, the fishmonger who has been supplying fish to Baohua Building and Shenghua Building. The side dishes are brought by the two companies themselves. All are in raw state. It is agreed that the whole process will be demonstrated from start to finish to ensure that everyone can learn it.

The live broadcast started, the host first introduced the heavyweight professional judges invited today. Last night's host Yang Yuhe was there, and there was also a chubby lady, who was the host of the TV station's cooking program, Sister Le Mei. It was said that most of the recipes of Hong Kong city housewives came from her. There was also another very imposing man, whom Yue Ning didn't know, but Miss Su said yesterday that this person was the chef of a high-end restaurant in Hong Kong.

"Why is Lu Jinyong here?" A Zhong whispered beside Yue Ning.

"Who is this?" Yue Ning asked.

"Last year, several big hotels in Hong Kong and Macau held a cooking competition. He and Brother Rong made it to the finals to compete for the title of Chef King. Brother Rong's Chrysanthemum and Five Snake Soup tasted slightly better and won the title. He was just a little short..."

Yue Ning interrupted Ah Zhong and said, "It's our turn to be introduced soon. We'll talk later."

"good."

The host said, "We would like to invite the chefs from Baohualou and Shenghualou to come on stage now."

Yue Ning walked out with A Zhong, and Ding Shengqiang was followed by two apprentices. He was slightly stunned when he saw that there were only two of them.

The host introduced the staff of the two families and asked Yue Ning: "Are you sure you will teach the secret of Po Wah House's fish soup to all the housewives in Hong Kong today?"

"certainly."

Ding Shengqiang said: "There is no secret to making fish soup, you just have to do it with care."

"Okay then! Let's get started."

The two families took their positions. Yue Ning and Ah Zhong each took out fish from the iron box and killed their own fish. Yue Ning was very fast and killed three of the five fish. There were three people in Shenghualou. Two apprentices killed the fish. Ding Shengqiang took off the two sides of the fish. When Yue Ning was about to fillet the fish, the people in Shenghualou had already poured oil into the pan to fry the fish.

At this time, Yue Ning asked Ah Zhong to fillet the fish. She explained to Ah Zhong in a leisurely manner, why did they have to remove the tendons on both sides even if it was a silver carp? She also said that if the housewives found it troublesome, they didn't have to remove it.

By the time they had finished pulling out the tendons from the five fish, Ding Shengqiang was already frying the fish meat. He looked up and said, "Ningning, if you keep doing this, everyone will be hungry, right? Baohualou sells ten servings of fish soup at lunch and dinner. Even if slow work produces fine results, it shouldn't be as slow as you are, right? The most time-consuming part of making fish soup is cutting the fish."

"Uncle Qiang is right. I will catch up soon, and I won't be slower than you." Yue Ning picked up a piece of fish that Ah Zhong had cut, and said to Ah Zhong, "You take a piece of fish, and I will teach you my father's unique skills."

Ah Zhong also took a piece of fish, and Yue Ning asked him: "How do you remove the bones when making sashimi?"

Ah Zhong responded: "One in the middle and one at the tail."

Yue Ning smiled: "Come on!"

She picked out the tiny bones one by one and said to the camera: "The traditional way of making fish soup is like Uncle Qiang's. The most tedious procedure is to pick the bones out. Now I take out the tiny bones in advance, so I don't have to work that hard."

She looked at Ding Shengqiang and asked, "Uncle Qiang, I said today is a time for mutual learning. Have you learned this little trick?"

Ding Shengqiang looked at the fish bubbling in the oil pan. The difficulty in making fish soup lies in the fact that after the fish is put into the oil pan and fried, the fish meat and bones are stuck together, and the thin bones must be pulled out one by one, and then the fish meat is crushed into fish paste. His fish was already fried, and he couldn't pick it out using her method when he picked it up.

Yue Ning and A Zhong removed the bones from the meat together. She put oil in the pan, poured it in a large amount of oil to lubricate the pan, and then poured out the oil, leaving only a little bottom oil, and put two slices of fish in to fry: "My father taught me that people can't take shortcuts. The fish meat for fish soup can't be fried in the pan. It's the same as steak, which is not fried but pan-fried. We need the aroma of the Maillard reaction. Uncle Qiang, you made a mistake in this step. Did my grandfather teach you to fry it directly? You are not a good student."

While Yue Ning was frying the fish, she asked A Zhong to prepare the scallion and ginger water.

Ding Shengqiang, who was sitting opposite me, had never heard of this. Is there such a step?

Yue Ning was seen soaking the golden fried fish meat in the scallion and ginger water.

Ding Shengqiang's fish meat was already in the pot, and two apprentices took over and started to remove the bones.

Ding Shengqiang chuckled: "This is the aroma of fish soup. If you soak the fish like this, the aroma of the fish will disappear."

"You'll find out as you go. I told you I'll teach everyone, including you. Don't worry."

Yue Ning took two more pieces of fish out of the pot, and A Zhong had already cut off the head and tail.

Yue Ning began to tell him the mixing ratio of lard and soybean oil, and asked him to light another pot. After Yue Ning had fried the fish, he immediately went over to fry the fish bones, fish head and fish tail, and made fish soup.

With every step, she not only explained the key points to Ah Zhong, but also to the audience in front of the TV.

Ding Shengqiang was also making fish soup, and his steps for making the fish soup were exactly the same as Yue Ning's.

Yue Ning covered the pot, turned around and started cutting side dishes with A Zhong.

Ding Shengqiang's two apprentices were carefully removing fish bones. When they were in Baohualou, the ingredients for fish soup were common but expensive. Many diners came for Yue Baohua's cooking skills. Only a few servings were sold a day, so they didn't have many opportunities to remove fish bones. At Shenghualou, they had even fewer opportunities. This was all Aunt Awang's job.

Today we are having a competition. If you let the guests find fish bones in their food, you will definitely lose.

Is this the speed? It was much slower than Ding Shengqiang expected. He could only accept his fate and prepare the side dishes himself.

Yue Ning was not satisfied with Ah Zhong's basic skills, so she asked him to peel bamboo shoots and remove melon skin. She also resigned herself to cutting the side dishes.

The camera was pointed at Yue Ning, and the knife on the chopping board was cutting so fast that it left a shadow. The host picked up a bamboo shoot and placed it on a white porcelain plate with the Baohualou brand.

The host went to Ding Shengqiang again. Ding Shengqiang had just finished peeling the side dishes and started to cut bamboo shoots. The host waited there until he cut the bamboo shoots and put them on the white porcelain plate of Shenghualou. He asked, "Ms. Yue, Chef Ding, who do you think has better knife skills?"

"I don't dare to compete with Uncle Qiang in knife skills. He said that he has been apprenticing in Baohualou for 17 years, and he has been a chef for almost 19 years now, right? I'm not even 19 years old yet! One thing that may make me better than him is that my father is more talented than my grandfather, and I am also very talented, so I am better at cooking techniques. But the basic skills have to be honed over the years." Yue Ning said.

When Ding Shengqiang heard her say this, he said, "I can't see how well you can cut, but at your age, it's already amazing to have this technique."

The host invited professional judges to come down and evaluate the two bamboo shoots. The audience on TV could see it clearly. Although they were both very thin, there was always a difference in thickness.

Yang Yuhe looked at Yue Ning and said, "Your knife skills are amazing."

“In fact, some of us Chinese chefs are too obsessed with knife skills. No matter how finely you cut the meat, if it doesn’t look beautiful, it’s of no use,” commented Lu Jinyong.

Another professional judge, Sister Le Mei, said: "In Hong Kong, Chef Lu is the only Chinese chef who can make dishes with good color, aroma, taste and shape."

Seeing them leave, Ah Zhong curled his lips and whispered to Yue Ning, "Isn't it because I lost to Brother Rong that I'm not convinced? Is it just that his presentation is fancy?"

Yue Ning had finished cutting, put down the knife, and gave him a slap on the face: "Who are you calling fancy?"

Ah Zhong wanted to slap his mouth. They watched every episode of Rong's competition last year. After seeing Yue Ning's plating for the banquet for the young masters and ladies, Chef Lu's plating was just ordinary!

"I was wrong, I was wrong!" A Zhong quickly admitted his mistake.

"Give me a clean chopping board."

"What do you need a cutting board for?"

"Teach you Ning-style fish disassembly."

"Oh! Oh!" A Zhong brought over a clean chopping board.

Ding Shengqiang was still working hard on cutting the side dishes. Yue Ning smiled and said, "Uncle Qiang, keep going!"

Yue Ning took out a piece of soaked fish. Silver carp is big. Yue Ning cut the fish in half. She pressed down with the side of the knife and twisted it. The fish meat had become minced fish. She asked, "Did you see it clearly?"

"I see clearly."

"You come and press it."

A Zhong pressed a piece, Yue Ning was very satisfied, and asked A Zhong to press the fish paste.

Both families were stewing soup. There was no range hood here, and the aroma of fish soup wafted in the air. The audience and judges didn't have time to compare which chef cut the fish into finer strips, and they all looked over here.

Yue Ning lifted the lid of the pot, and white mist with a mellow aroma jumped out. Yue Ning leisurely scooped up a spoonful of soup. She covered the pot again and looked at her grandfather.

Yue Baohua brought his disciples to watch. Asong and the others had already seen Yue Ning's cooking skills and knew that she must have some hidden tricks. Wasn't it true?

Especially Ah Ming, he usually partners with Yue Baohua to cook fish soup, he fries fish and debones fish, he is the most skilled in deboning fish in Baohua Building, now he can't bear to watch Ding Shengqiang's two apprentices deboning fish. Even if they deboned fish by hand, it wouldn't be so slow, right?

Yue Ning washed the chopping board and put it aside, then wiped the table with a rag.

"Ningning, I'm fine!" A Zhong shouted.

Yue Ning went over and pinched the fish paste, then looked towards Shenghua Building. Those people were still working hard.

She picked up the wok, greased the pan with mixed oil, and began to stir-fry the minced fish. She said to Ah Zhong, "Filter the fish soup."

Asong said to Yue Baohua: "This step is also different from yours."

"That's your brother Zhirong's trick. If you want it to be quick, you have to soften the fried fish, so that the aroma of the compressed fish paste will be partially gone, and then fry it again to stimulate the aroma. If you are cooking in a restaurant, don't throw away the scallion and ginger water used to soak the fish, you can use it to make fish soup." Yue Baohua said to Asong.

The fish soup is poured into the pan where the fish is fried, and the aroma fills the air.

Yue Ning added the side dishes and started seasoning. She looked at the two apprentices who were still unpacking the fish paste, and they were working much slower than she had expected.

Yue Ning looked up and asked, "It's not finished yet? At this speed, how can Shenghualou provide an unlimited supply of fish soup?"

Which one has better food is definitely not the focus of her competition today.

Ding Shengqiang, who had not yet finished chopping the side dishes, was sweating on his back. He then heard Yue Ning say, "If we use my father's method, which is an improvement in the process, the time it takes to cut a fish can be shortened from more than 40 minutes to only four or five minutes. From now on, Baohualou can supply cut fish soup freely. How many servings of cut fish soup do you sell every day? At your current speed, how many people will Shenghualou need in the kitchen to supply it?"

Yue Ning finished thickening the sauce and put down the spoon. She said, "If you are not good at your craft, it is a problem of ability. But if you cut corners, it is a problem of character."

Ding Shengqiang then realized that he had fallen into Yue Ning's trap. She was hesitant and waited until he put the fish into the pot before starting to remove the fish bones, which was just a trap for him to fall into.

"You don't even want to compete with me to see who makes the better fish soup!" Ding Shengqiang shouted.

"You said there is no secret to making fish soup, only the intention." Yue Ning stared at him and asked, "Where is your intention?"

After that, she snapped her fingers and said, "Get out of the pot."