Chapter 318: Boiled Dried Shredded Vegetables

Caleb Ryan patted Tang Jia's thigh and whispered, "People come and go, so give him some face and don't show too much disdain."

George Patton nodded repeatedly.

Tang Jia made a "tsk" sound and glanced at Caleb Ryan. The former commander of the Central Legion immediately turned off his microphone.

Bing Lulu and Hai Rouer simultaneously lowered their heads, shrugged their shoulders, and smiled silently with their backs to the camera, but they couldn't help themselves at all.

Tang Jia's family status and social status are still too high!

What's the difference between negotiating terms with her and seeking death?

After holding down George Patton and Caleb Ryan, Tang Jia finally turned his attention back to the game.

Cooking is a time-consuming and labor-intensive task. From noon until sunset, only four groups of contestants showed their cooking skills despite their hard work.

For fear that everyone would have to wait, Tang Jia and George simply made a reasonable plan for the rest of the competition process and posted it on StarNet to save time and energy for the players.

Of course, if the contestants are not afraid of hardship and fatigue and insist on participating in the whole process and getting to know their opponents, Tang Jia and George will not stop them.

Even if three games were scheduled in the morning and four games in the afternoon, it would still take everyone four full days to complete the round for all twenty groups of players to compete.

On the afternoon of the fourth day, the sixty contestants who entered the semi-finals were officially decided and entered the draw stage.

The one at the front of the line was the little girl Wang Qiuqi, who Tang Jia took a liking to at first sight.

Although the little girl Wang Qiuqi has some strength, she lacks luck and draws the fourth group of death in her first draw.

You know, among her opponents, there are three chefs from catering companies who signed lifetime contracts with the host company to be allowed to participate in the competition, four mature chefs signed by George, and two newcomers who were offered the culinary major by the Logistics Department of Tang Jiafa Green Leaf Education Group.

The probability of little girl Wang Qiuqi winning is not much greater than pie falling from the sky.

Fortunately, this girl had a good attitude. After confirming the game time, she ran away.

The staff told her that among the dishes provided by the hotel, there seemed to be lobsters that she had never seen before. The girl was afraid that if she went too late, they would be snatched away, so she ran to "broaden her horizons".

This mentality is unique!

Even the "well-informed" Tang Jia was dumbfounded for a while.

However, on second thought, having a pure heart is better than having impure intentions, so Tang Jia let it go.

If the auditions were a farce, the preliminary round was a battle to set things right and prove one's strength, then the semi-finals were the real beginning of the "MasterChef Contest".

When the sixty chefs wore the uniform chef uniforms provided by the competition organizing committee and pinned their own competition number plates on their sleeves, this group of chefs finally looked like a "regular army".

The person who set the questions for the semi-finals was still Tang Jia, but the questions were not as simple as those in the preliminary round.

When the words "Big Boiled Dried Silkworms" appeared in front of everyone, not only the audience, but even the sixty chefs standing in front of Tang Jia were stunned.

What kind of dish is this?

Not to mention doing it, no one has ever seen it.

Tang Jia noticed everyone's confusion, took the chef's uniform from the staff, put it on slowly, walked down the judges' seat slowly, stood in front of a set of kitchen utensils, and began to explain in a gentle tone.

"Big boiled dried bean curd, also known as chicken juice boiled dried bean curd or chicken fire boiled dried bean curd, is one of the classic Huaiyang dishes among the eight major cuisines of the Flower Planting Family during the Blue Star era."

“Huaiyang cuisine has always been famous for its knife skills and cooking techniques, and Dazhu Gansi is no exception.

I'll show you once, so please watch carefully."

Tang Jia selected a hen that was more than three years old, a pig's trotter with meat, and fresh pork ribs, put them into a large, rustic casserole, added enough water, boiled them over high heat first, skimmed off the foam, then turned to low heat, letting the ingredients quietly "tell" their story in the pot, and then turned to prepare other ingredients.

The "home-produced" dried tofu, ham, the main star specialty shrimp, fresh chicken breast, crispy fresh bamboo shoots, soft wood ear mushrooms, and the green onions and ginger as supporting roles were carefully selected by Tang Jia and gathered together.

Dried tofu must have a dense texture and be very tough so that it can be cut into shreds as thin as a cicada's wing or as fine as a hair, while retaining its rich bean aroma.

The middle part of the ham should be selected. The meat here is fat and lean. After several years of pickling and fermentation, it has a salty and mellow flavor, and every fiber condenses the taste of time.

The shrimps must be shelled and the meat removed on the spot to ensure that they are fresh, tender and chewy with a hint of sweetness.

Even the supporting ingredients like onions and ginger cannot be neglected.

Choose old ginger with a rough skin and a strong spicy flavor to remove fishy smell.

The green onions need to be tender and juicy to enhance the flavor of the dish.

Everything was ready, so Tang Jia stopped talking.

Place the dried tofu flat on the chopping board, concentrate and hold your breath, hold a kitchen knife as thin as a cicada's wing, turn your wrist lightly, and the blade moves like a nimble paintbrush, slowly flattening the dried tofu into evenly thin slices. Each slice is less than one millimeter thick, yet remains intact.

The audience and contestants were so impressed by the exquisite knife skills that they dared not breathe, for fear of disturbing this artistic performance on their fingertips.

I thought this was the limit.

Unexpectedly, Tang Jia stacked the slices neatly again, moved the knife quickly, and the thin threads fell like silver threads. In a blink of an eye, the dried tofu turned into thousands of threads.

Not only dried tofu, but also ham, fresh shrimp, chicken breast, fresh bamboo shoots, fungus and ginger could not escape the fate of being turned into shreds.

Only the green onions are different, they have become finely chopped green onions.

After all the ingredients were sorted, Tang Jia put the chopped dried bean curd into the boiling water.

After the dried vermicelli noodles were put into boiling water, they were clearly separated into strands without any signs of sticking to each other.

The layman watches the excitement, while the expert watches the details.

It was not until then that everyone realized that they had underestimated Tang Jia's cooking skills.

Tang Jia didn't care about everyone's surprised looks. He was concentrating on blanching the dried bean curd in boiling hot water twice to remove the bean smell!

The ingredients were ready. Tang Jia glanced at the time, moved away from the stove, and then spoke again.

"That's all the preparations. Do you understand?"

All sixty contestants swallowed their saliva.

Tang Jia touched his back teeth and looked around. Seeing that no one dared to say anything, he could only do it again helplessly.

This time, Tang Jiaxue was smart and didn't waste time or cause trouble for himself.

After completing the preparations, he immediately turned around and opened the lid of the large casserole.

After several hours of slow simmering, the soup gradually becomes thick and white like milk, full of fresh fragrance, and every drop of soup concentrates the essence of the ingredients.

Tang Jia put the blanched dried bean curd strips together with chopped ham, chicken, shrimp and other ingredients into the chicken soup, brought it to a boil over high heat and then simmered it over low heat.

At this time, a rich and complex aroma began to fill the air, with the salty aroma of ham, the mellow fragrance of chicken, and the sweetness of shrimp intertwined with each other.

Under the gentle "embrace" of low heat, the soup gradually seeps into every gap of the dried bean curd. The dried bean curd absorbs the deliciousness of the soup and becomes soft but still tough.

Finally, sprinkle with green shredded ginger and chopped green onion, and drizzle with a few drops of golden sesame oil. As the sesame oil spreads on the soup, a dish of boiled dried bean curd with color, aroma and taste is ready.

What does it mean that the great way is simple?

This is it!