Zhang Chuanlu was so focused on keeping his eyes on Mrs. Ye that he didn't even notice that the person who went up before him was Qian Yunfei.
The dish Qian Yunfei drew to make was a Jiangsu dish - glutinous rice and eight-treasure duck.
Although it is a southern dish, it is not difficult for him.
The biggest difficulty in making glutinous rice eight-treasure duck is not the seasoning, but how to remove the bones while keeping the skin intact.
Although Qian Yunfei knew something about this, he was not proficient in it.
Fortunately, something unexpected happened yesterday, giving him a night.
That night, he disassembled countless ducks in the kitchen of Fudingxuan and only stopped when his hands became weak.
After resting for more than an hour, Qian Yunfei set out to participate in the second cooking competition of the day.
So the Eight Treasure Duck he made today was deboned very smoothly without any damage to the skin.
The duck's belly is stuffed with glutinous rice and other ingredients, and the duck's body is squeezed into a gourd shape.
The duck skin is caramelized, and when cut open, it reveals the juicy glutinous rice and other assorted dried fruit fillings inside.
This dish uses duck as a base, paired with a variety of glutinous rice and dried goods, ultimately presenting a rich and unique taste.
It not only cleverly combines the deliciousness of duck meat, the softness of glutinous rice and the sweetness of dried fruits, but also allows you to experience a different taste enjoyment with every bite.
Qian Yunfei cooks this dish to just the right temperature. While preserving the integrity of the duck body, he steams the duck meat to the greatest extent possible until it is soft, tender and melts in your mouth.
The glutinous rice wrapped in the duck meat has fully absorbed the deliciousness of the duck meat and the flavor of the dried fruits. It is soft and delicious, almost integrated with the duck meat. The sweetness of the various dried fruits in the glutinous rice blends with the deliciousness of the duck meat. It can be said that it is very beautifully completed.
After tasting the food, several judges showed expressions of particular satisfaction.
After Qian Yunfei went down, several people were still whispering to each other.
"As expected of the Qian family, they have a rich family tradition. Even though they didn't get to choose the Shandong cuisine they're good at, they were still able to make dishes of this level. It seems that Fengle County is really full of hidden talents!"
"Shopkeeper Qian's cooking skills have always been impeccable. If he wasn't so stubborn and refused to bow to his family, he would definitely have a place in the Beijing catering industry by now."
"Let's not even talk about the mess that is the Qian family. Old Master Qian is so foolish that he didn't cultivate such a good son, but instead chose to favor those flattering villains."
"Stop talking about this. It's fine if we just chat about it between ourselves. It would be bad if others heard it and spread it out. I don't want to provoke those unreasonable people from the Qian family."
"Yes, let's just talk about the dishes and nothing else."
Everyone immediately brought the topic back to Qian Yunfei's superb cooking skills.
Just at this moment, Zhang Chuanlu came up with his pagoda meat.
After all, Zhang Chuanlu is from the south and learned his cooking skills in the south, so everyone is actually quite looking forward to his pagoda meat.
I especially want to compare him with Qian Yunfei, the Shandong cuisine chef mentioned above.
Regardless of how Zhang Chuanlu's dish tastes, it looks quite similar at first glance.
The green vegetables are spread out on the plate to create a rippling feeling, and on top is a piece of pork belly, which is wrapped around layer by layer to form the shape of a pagoda.
The inside of the pork belly should be stuffed with fillings made from dried bamboo shoots, pickled mustard greens, etc.
But Wan Ziqiu frowned slightly when he looked at the pork belly pagoda, whose shape was not very clear.
Generally speaking, the pagoda meat made by a chef should have sharp edges and corners when stacked.
However, the dish served by Zhang Chuanlu not only had no clear edges and corners, but also looked like a round ball when viewed from a certain direction.
Zhang Chuanlu was extremely nervous at this moment. This dish only looked okay now, but as soon as he moved his chopsticks, its true nature would be exposed.
But when he saw the knife that had just been used to cut the eight-treasure duck on the plate on the table, he suddenly got an idea. He reached out and grabbed the knife, saying, "I'll help you cut the pagoda meat..."
The knife fell before he finished speaking, but it was still not faster than Wan Ziqiu's hand.
Wan Ziqiu pulled the plate away, causing Zhang Chuanlu to cut it on the table.
He scratched a deep scar on the table.
It can be seen how much force he used in this knife strike.
"Does it take so much strength to cut meat?" Old Cen looked at him suspiciously.
Seeing that he still had the weapon in his hand, the officer beside him approached with a serious expression.
Zhang Chuanlu quickly let go, threw the knife on the table and said, "I'm sorry, I really wanted to help you cut it up so it would be easier to eat, but I didn't expect to be too nervous."
Seeing him drop the knife and take two steps back, Mr. Cen temporarily believed what he said.
"Pagoda meat is a dish that really tests your knife skills. No one has even seen it yet, so how can we rush to cut it?"
As soon as Mr. Cen finished speaking, Zhang Chuanlu hadn't thought of what to say yet when he saw Wan Ziqiu picking up the pagoda meat from the plate with a chopstick.
Suddenly, a pile of pork belly slices of varying thickness and lengths scattered on the plate, revealing the stuffing wrapped inside.
"No wonder you're so anxious to cut it open!" Elder Cen frowned. "Is this the pagoda meat you made?"
Zhang Chuanlu lowered his head, his cheeks flushed, and he felt like his skin was about to burst.
He has been surrounded by all kinds of praise since he became an apprentice. Except for the last time when he was slapped in the face by Mrs. Ye, this is the first time he has been embarrassed in public.
In fact, the platform above is far away from everyone, and basically only the chef who comes up and a few officials around can hear what is being said here.
But Zhang Chuanlu was already overwhelmed by shame at this time, and felt that everyone present today could hear what Mr. Cen said.
He silently clenched his fists at his side.
It’s okay for others, but Mr. Cen himself has been committing favoritism and fraud. What qualifications does he have to blame himself?
No matter how badly I do, I am still much better than You Niangzi who is secretly favored. At least what I present is real.
After seeing the pagoda meat being picked apart, everyone suddenly lost interest in even tasting it.
Wan Ziqiu even gave Mr. Cen a look, indicating that this person could be eliminated directly.
Although no one said it explicitly, when Zhang Chuanlu saw that no one was even willing to taste the dishes he cooked, what else could he not understand?
He felt his face getting hot, and he couldn't even muster the courage to fight for it. He could only turn around and walk back with the messy plate in his hand.
At this time, Miss Zhou had finally finished preparing the dish and was bringing it to the table. Seeing Zhang Chuanlu coming towards her, she hurriedly walked close to the side to make room for him.
Who knew that when Zhang Chuanlu walked to Mrs. Ye's stove, he suddenly tripped over his left foot and fell flat on his face. The plate in his hand flew straight towards Mrs. Ye's suckling pig that was almost roasted.
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