By the time Xu Qinyu and Lianhua finished eating the brown sugar steamed cake, the little girl next to them hadn't finished eating her piece of brown sugar steamed cake yet.
She ate very slowly, almost swallowing it bit by bit until it melted in her mouth. Sometimes, she would not let go of a little crumb that fell on her clothes, but would pick it up and eat it in her mouth.
She had only eaten half of it, and wanted to save the rest for her brothers and sisters to try, because this was the most delicious thing the little girl had ever eaten.
A total of twelve rounds of competition were completed today, and about ten people passed.
The cooking competition here is also simple and crude. Most of the people will be eliminated in the first round, and only about a hundred people can advance.
By the time the halftime competition comes, another ninety people will be eliminated, leaving only the last ten.
In the final competition, only one out of ten people will win.
Xu Qinyu calculated that it would be her turn in about two days.
Over the next two days, she came to watch the game every day without fail, bringing different food every day.
On the first day, I brought brown sugar steamed cakes, and on the third day, I brought marinated duck. Marinated duck is also a signature dish of the restaurant. It is difficult to make. It must be soaked in twenty or thirty kinds of Chinese medicine and spices, and then it must go through more than ten steps such as air-drying and baking. Finally, it must be smoked repeatedly with straw. However, now that autumn has arrived, marinated duck can be preserved, and the kitchen can make a lot at one time. It tastes spicy, with crispy skin and meat, and a strong flavor of sauce.
Fortunately, the four of them can eat spicy food, and they brought some steamed buns with them.
In short, after watching the competition for three days, no one was hungry again.
On the fourth day, it was finally Xu Qinyu's turn to compete. She would probably start the competition around noon today.
So today, I brought some milk biscuits that I baked myself, and planned to eat them while I continued to watch the game.
Soon it was noon. Lianhua, Yang Zhizhi and Xu Yunlan were all getting nervous. Only Xu Qinyu seemed fine and not nervous at all. The three of them couldn't help but look at her frequently, feeling a little panicked, but they didn't dare to ask any more questions, for fear that Xu Qinyu's mentality would be affected by their questions.
What they didn't know was that Xu Qinyu had participated in a world-class cooking competition before, and she remained calm even in such a competition, let alone this one, even though it was a cooking competition that happened once every ten years.
Soon, it was finally Xu Qinyu's turn.
The twenty judges were quite impressed by her. She was also the youngest in this cooking competition, at just nineteen years old.
When Xu Qinyu went up, some people in the crowd around her began to whisper.
"Is this correct? This young lady is also participating in the cooking competition? She doesn't even look twenty, and it seems that female chefs are rare. I've only seen a few in the past few days."
"You're so young! Look at those participating in the cooking competition. Most of them are in their thirties or above."
"That's right, which chef's family is this young lady from? How dare she come here by herself instead of asking the elders in the family? Isn't this a joke?"
"Hey, isn't this the owner of Xu's Restaurant? It's the one outside the city. I've been there for dinner and the food was truly delicious. I also met this Miss Xu once. She was also busy in the kitchen, and I think she was the head chef."
"Is all the food in the restaurant prepared by this young cook?"
"It doesn't seem so. The restaurant has other chefs and kitchen assistants, but I heard that the recipes of Xu's Restaurant were all thought up by this young lady."
"This young lady Xu must have inherited this recipe from her master or an elder in her family. I heard the recipes are very fresh, completely different from those in other restaurants. I think everyone is just going there to try something new."
"Not really, because there are some ordinary dishes there, and they taste pretty good."
"So, how good is this young lady's cooking? Is she not the chef at Xu's? Why didn't the other chefs from Xu's come to participate in this competition? Is it because she is the owner that she doesn't allow the other chefs from Xu's to come? The other chefs are all men, right? Only men can stir the wok. How much strength can a young lady have..."
Everyone was talking about it.
Yang Zhizhi was still a little angry after hearing this, and wanted to refute something, but was stopped by Xu Yunlan.
Xu Yunlan leaned over to her friend and whispered, "There's no need to argue with them. The taste of what Qinyu makes will be the most convincing. Arguing with them now will only affect Qinyu and make her focus on us."
Yang Zhizhi finally nodded angrily. "I'm just a little pissed. We've all been eating breakfast cooked by Qinyu for four years. It's not because of the recipe at all. Whatever Qinyu cooks is delicious. Even if it's the same dish in other restaurants, she makes it taste different. And what about Qinyu not letting the other chefs from Xu's come? It's because they don't want to come. Everyone knows that as long as Qinyu comes, the others have no chance. And what about the saying that women are not as good as men at cooking? That's nonsense!"
Xu Yunlan smiled and said, "Zhizhi, what are you worried about? You know in your heart that the winner will be Qinyu, a young lady. Let them see that a woman can also win. Let's see if the world dares to look down on women."
In the decades before this, no woman had ever won a cooking competition.
Even though Xu Qinyu heard these doubts, she didn't care.
When she participated in her first cooking competition, she was about the same age as she is now. She was a little nervous at that time. Later, she participated in a few more times. She even participated in a world-class cooking competition when she was 27 or 28 years old. The competition was broadcast live, and there were more voices of doubt. Some people said that she was too young to dare to participate in a cooking competition of this level.
She didn't care, and later won the championship, which hadn't been awarded in decades, silencing all the doubters. Unfortunately, just after winning the championship, she got into a car accident...
Xu Qinyu ignored the noises outside the venue. She first lifted up the piece of pork belly that was distributed to her and took a look at it. The pork belly weighed about two and a half pounds. She lifted up the pork belly and smelled it. The pork belly used in the competition was all three-strand meat. The ingredients were excellent and very fresh. It should have been slaughtered yesterday and there was no need to blanch it. She rubbed the whole piece of pork belly with green onion, ginger and Huadiao wine to remove the fishy smell.
When removing the fishy smell from the pork belly, Xu Qinyu had already boiled a pot of water.
There were many chefs watching the competition outside the venue. Some of them came to participate in the cooking competition, while some came just to watch the competition and were not participating in the competition.
When I saw Xu Qinyu boiling water, I thought she was going to blanch the pork belly.
But this meat is fresh, so it basically doesn't need to be blanched.
Even the twenty gentlemen who were judging the dish thought she was going to blanch the pork belly, but she actually smeared green onion, ginger and Huadiao wine on the pork belly and started rubbing it. The water in the pot had already boiled, and she actually put a steaming rack in the pot, put the whole piece of pork belly on a large plate, placed it on the steaming rack, covered it with a lid and started steaming the meat.
Everyone was a little dumbfounded.
"How can you steam pork belly? Does she even know how to cook?"
Even some ordinary people do not steam the meat before cooking it at home. Instead, they cut the meat into pieces and stir-fry it in a pan.
Xu Qinyu ignored such doubts. No matter how fresh the pork belly is, it will still have a fishy smell. Spreading pork belly with scallions, ginger and Huadiao wine and steaming it in a pot can better remove the fishy smell, shorten the cooking time, and make it better shaped when cooking braised pork.
While steaming the meat, Xu Qinyu started frying sugar color using the stove and pot next to her.
Everyone has two stoves and two pots, and in later competitions, there will be more stoves and pots.
Most people only use a stove and a pot to make braised pork.
Stir-frying sugar color is also very important. Stir-fried sugar color can make the braised pork more red and brighter in color, and taste more fragrant.
After heating up another iron pan, add rapeseed oil, then add rock sugar that is just enough to cook two and a half pounds of pork belly. Use low to medium heat to fry the sugar color, and you need to control the heat yourself. Wait until the rock sugar is melted and the sugar bubbles turn from large bubbles to small bubbles, then add the same proportion of hot water, boil the sugar water until it becomes thick, and set aside.
Everyone was even more surprised when seeing this. Even when frying sugar color, they would just fry the sugar until it melted and then add the pork belly and start frying. Why did this young cook add water to the fried sugar to turn it into syrup?
"Really? This little cook doesn't even know how to cook. Why does she add water to the sugar color instead of just stir-frying the pork belly?"
"This method is really weird. Will the pork belly be edible after it's cooked? I think she put a lot of sugar in it. Paired with the fatty pork belly, it's going to be greasy."
The pork belly was not steamed for too long, only for a quarter of an hour. Then the pork belly was taken out of the steamer and small holes were poke in the skin of the pork belly with a small toothpick. Then it was cut into evenly sized pieces. The pieces Xu Qinyu cut were about the size of mahjong pieces.
Today, there was only half an hour to cook the braised pork. Otherwise, she could cut the meat into pieces the size of half a fist. But that would require too long to stew, and the time was not enough, so the pieces she cut were only the size of mahjong pieces.
After draining the cut pork belly, she put oil in another pot and heated it to 70%. She poured the drained pork belly into the oil pan and fried it until it turned golden brown. This way, most of the fat in the pork belly could be fried out, so that the braised pork would taste fat but not greasy.
"Why are you still frying the meat? Wouldn't it be more greasy if you fry it for a while?" Everyone questioned.
While frying the pork belly, Xu Qinyu selected about ten kinds of spices and other seasonings from the side and wrapped them in gauze. She would need them when stewing the meat later. This way, the braised pork would have a better color and a stronger aroma.
Almost everyone's eyes were on Xu Qinyu, because every step she took was different from that of other chefs.
The remaining nine chefs had already started stewing the meat, and they couldn't help but look at Xu Qinyu to see her strange cooking method.
In fact, there are many ways to cook braised pork. Some can be steamed first and then fried, some can be fried first and then steamed, or the pork skin can be fried until crispy and then cut into pieces and roasted. There are many methods and ingredients, it all depends on how you want to cook it.
Her movements were swift and agile, and she remained calm even when using two pots for steaming and frying. Some people outside the venue were questioning her, but their voices were quieter. They were just there to watch the fun, wondering what the braised pork would taste like.
Set the fried pork belly aside, bring the oil to a boil in a pot, sauté the scallions and ginger, then pour in water, add salt, soy sauce, and seasoning packet and bring to a boil, then pour in the fried pork belly and syrup, and simmer over low heat.
Braised pork must be simmered slowly over low heat. The taste is completely different from that cooked in a pressure cooker. Only pork belly simmered slowly over low heat can melt in your mouth, and even the lean meat part is tender and not dry at all.
In fact, it would have been better to simmer it for an hour, but there was not enough time, and the pieces she cut were only the size of mahjong pieces, so simmering for forty minutes was enough.
During the simmering process, the unique aroma of the braised pork spread. The aroma was so strong that many people in the outer circle could smell it, and it even reached the prefectural governor's mansion.
In the prefect's mansion, the prefect and Mrs. Zhu knew that Xu Qinyu would participate in this year's cooking competition, but the prefect was busy with official duties and had little time to watch. The prefect's wife had never watched it before, so it was not convenient for her to watch it this year.
Inside the prefect's residence, Zhu was talking to her daughters-in-law when the rich aroma of meat reached the prefect's residence. The daughters-in-law couldn't help but sniff and say, "What a nice smell! Is that the aroma of the braised pork from the cooking competition outside? It's been going on for a few days now, and I've never smelled anything like it before. It's really nice, and even has a slightly sweet smell."
Zhu also smelled it. It was indeed very fragrant. Even though she had smelled enough meat in the past few days, when she smelled this fragrance, she couldn't help swallowing and wanted to eat it.
Another daughter-in-law said, "It must be Miss Xu. Two years ago, Miss Xu came to the house and cooked for Grandmother. We had the pleasure of trying it, and it was truly delicious. Grandmother even sent her to Yuanbao Town to recuperate. She was much better by then. The aroma coming from outside must be Miss Xu's cooking."
"Miss Xu should be able to win the first place in this cooking competition."
"Of course it must be Miss Xu."
"If it's really Miss Xu, she'd be the first woman to win the championship in decades. She's truly amazing."
Upon hearing this, Zhu couldn't help but raise the corner of her lip. She also thought that Yu Niang would win the first place.
The people outside couldn't help but talk about it.
"Yes, it smells so good."
"It smells so good! It's completely different from the delicious pork belly cooked by those chefs before. It makes me hungry just by smelling it. Is it the smell of the braised pork made by that young cook?"
"That shouldn't be the case, right? Her behavior is so strange..."
"But everyone else's recipes are pretty much the same. There's not much difference from what we made a few days ago. The ones we made a few days ago didn't have this aroma."
Even the twenty judges couldn't help but swallow their saliva. It was delicious, and it was the kind of meaty aroma that was not greasy.
Twenty people have been smelling the aroma of braised pork for the past few days. After eating braised pork for five days, they feel a little sick of it and feel uncomfortable.
However, braised pork is a dish that is quite challenging. It has to be fragrant but not greasy to prove one's cooking skills, so I chose this dish. In the next two days, even if I tasted the braised pork, I would just take a light bite and savor the flavor in my mouth. I was not willing to take a second bite at all.
But the fragrance today made them feel a little greedy.
The others made wild guesses, but they knew in their hearts that it must be the aroma coming from the braised pork cooked by the young lady.
However, no matter how fragrant it is, you still have to taste it to know its taste.
Soon, the time came and everyone took the pot to the side and started to load the dishes.
The judges tasted the food one by one. When they started to taste the braised pork made by the first contestant, the second contestant had just put it on the plate. Xu Qinyu was the ninth from the last, so her braised pork was still simmering in the pot with the last bit of residual heat. Otherwise, if she put it on the pot now, it would be a little cold by the time it was served, which would affect the taste.
After tasting the braised pork of the first eight contestants, the judges basically just took a small bite, tasted the flavor and then started scoring. Only one contestant scored more than 60 points across the board.
When it was Xu Qinyu's turn, she put a piece of food on each plate and poured the sauce on them. She put a total of thirty small plates, twenty of which were for the judges to taste, and the remaining ten were for ten people to be selected from the scene to taste and score, but their scores were not counted.
The helpers brought the twenty plates of braised pork prepared by Xu Qinyu to the judges and asked them to taste them.
The first thing is to look at the color. The braised pork made by Xu Qinyu is bright red in color, with a little thick sauce on it. Even after it was served and put down, the braised pork in the small dish was trembling and plump, not stewed at all, and still in one piece.
The second is to smell the fragrance. Without fanning with hands, the rich aroma has already hit their noses. It is the same meaty aroma they just smelled.
The third step is naturally tasting. All the judges picked up the trembling piece of braised pork, and first, as they did at other times, they only took a small bite to taste it. However, the braised pork was soft, sticky and chewy, fat but not greasy, and melted in the mouth. You couldn't taste the fat at all, but a slightly sweet taste. Even when paired with the braised pork with more fat, it didn't feel sweet at all, but only sweet and delicious. Even if they had eaten braised pork for a few days, they would not find the braised pork they tasted at this moment greasy.
When they came to their senses, the twenty judges had already put the whole piece of braised pork into their mouths and chewed it. Even though it was such a big piece of meat, the fat part was still not greasy and melted in the mouth. The lean meat part was not dry and also melted in the mouth.
It smelled delicious. After finishing the whole piece of braised pork, they subconsciously looked at the plate, wanting to eat the second piece. The plate was empty, with only a little thick sauce left. If this sauce was mixed with rice, it would definitely be delicious.
All twenty judges were a little shocked. How was this made? It was so delicious.
I thought this young lady was too arrogant, but now I know that she is not arrogant at all. She just has the ability. She is just a young lady who is not even twenty years old.
After tasting this kind of braised pork, they all felt that the high score of over 90 points given before was too high. Compared with the braised pork made by the other lady, those scores of over 90 points were only worth 90 points at most. However, the scores given could not be changed. Everyone unanimously felt that the braised pork cooked by Xu Qinyu deserved full marks.
In fact, if you use a casserole and simmer it over low heat for more than an hour, the taste will be more perfect. However, I don’t have enough time and I only have an iron pot, not a casserole.
Xu Qinyu still felt it was not perfect.
"Wow, the gentlemen finished this whole piece of braised pork."
"So the braised pork made by this young lady is delicious, right? Before, I saw the gentlemen just taking a small bite to savor the flavor, but the young lady made the braised pork, and the gentlemen actually finished it in one bite. Why do I feel like they still feel a little unsatisfied?"
"Everyone says that the food made by Miss Xu is delicious. You guys refuted it before, but now you know what I mean."
"It seems so. Is it really delicious? I hope I can be chosen when the people around me taste it later."
"Me too, I want to try it too..."
Soon, the judges randomly selected ten people from the crowd to taste the braised pork made by Xu Qinyu. They happened to choose the young woman from two days ago and the old lady with her grandson.
Both of them were happy. The young woman didn't expect that she could actually taste the braised pork made by the young lady.
She couldn't describe the color of the braised pork that was served to her, but she felt it was very tempting. She wanted to eat it with a bowl of rice. It must be extremely fragrant, and it must smell even more fragrant. She couldn't help but take a small bite. It was so delicious that she almost cried. The woman thought, is there really such a delicious food in the world?
The young woman resisted the urge to eat the whole piece of braised pork in one bite. She swallowed hard and handed the remaining half to her little girl. "Niuniu, try the braised pork made by the sister who gave you the brown sugar steamed cake two days ago."
The little girl swallowed her saliva and took a light bite. She didn't even have time to say anything, her cheeks were puffed up, and the food was so delicious that she couldn't help squinting her eyes. She originally wanted to leave one bite for her mother, but she was too young to resist the temptation, so she couldn't help but eat the last bite.
"Mom, it's delicious. The braised pork my sister made is so delicious that I didn't save the last bite for you."
The little girl lowered her head with a bit of self-blame. She couldn't help but look at the sauce in the dish and wanted to eat it too.
The woman smiled and said, "It's okay, Niuniu, just eat it. The braised pork my sister made is so delicious, in fact, even mother almost couldn't help herself."
How could a child resist such a delicacy?
Several other people who tasted the braised pork made by Xu Qinyu also exclaimed in surprise.
“How come it’s so delicious?”
"Oh my god, this smells so good and is so delicious. Even though it's only a small piece, I still want to eat more."
"This is the most delicious thing I have ever eaten in my life. I won't be able to eat it again in the future." Xu Ji Restaurant is expensive and ordinary people can't afford it.
"Me too. No wonder all the wealthy men and women in the city go to Xu's Restaurant. It's such delicious food. If I had money, I would eat there every day..."
"I heard that the restaurant sells braised fish, fish head stewed with tofu, and fish balls every evening at the restaurant entrance, and they're very cheap. I can go out of town to buy these to eat in the future. I also heard that Miss Xu opened the Xu's Restaurant in Yuanbao Town, and they also sell cheap fish every evening at the restaurant, which is especially delicious. I didn't believe it before, but now I believe it a little. I'll go to the city tomorrow to buy some, the price is affordable for us all."
Xu Qinyu did not change this tradition even after opening a restaurant. She would cook three kinds of fish every day and sell them at the restaurant entrance, and the prices were the same as before.
But people who go to the restaurant to eat are not short of money and will not order these foods. Only the villagers in the nearby villages know that these fish meats taste good and are cheap, so they come to buy them almost every day. However, the population of the nearby villages is not large, so not much fish is cooked for each evening meal. Sometimes there are some left over, which are still given to the employees to eat.
"It's really delicious. I'm from a nearby village. Fish balls are ten cents a pound. I buy half a pound and stew them with cabbage and radish at home. It's delicious. And the braised fish, the smaller ones are five cents a piece, and the big ones are only eight cents a piece. Anyone can afford it. The fish head stewed with tofu is also very delicious. You can buy it back and stew it with the vegetables grown at home. We always buy some when we entertain guests, and no one has ever said it's not delicious."
Now that the people in the city have heard that the restaurant still has cheap and delicious fish to buy, they all plan to go out of the city to buy some to eat. If it is really delicious, they can afford to buy it and eat it every day.
Needless to say, all the people who tasted Xu Qinyu's braised pork gave it full marks.
Only the old lady from before opened her eyes wide after taking a bite. She even couldn't wait to stuff the remaining big mouthful into her mouth. However, her little grandson was quick-witted and grabbed the braised pork from the plate and stuffed it into his mouth. The little grandson ate the braised pork in one bite, his eyes widened, "Grandma, it's so delicious."
The old lady couldn't say anything to her grandson, but she was angry in her heart. Thinking about how the young lady refused to sell her brown sugar steamed cake for five cents two days ago, she said, "What's so delicious? This braised pork is so disgusting that even ten cents is too much for me!"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
