Chapter 505 Purpose of the Rules
She practiced this trick in between cooking other dishes in the virtual space. Although she knew how to make glutinous rice balls before, she didn't pay attention to the shape of the rice balls, and the ones she made were all different sizes, and they weren't round enough.
The reason why I dared to choose these two ordinary-looking dumplings and bean curd skin meat rolls as the ingredients for the competition between myself and nine other contestants is not only because the recipes of these two dishes have been purchased from the system collection page and have been systematically trained to 100%, but also because they are very suitable for the family portrait.
Although the decision this time was to create a high-end version of "Family Portrait," the resulting dishes were quite down-to-earth. After all, high-end ingredients like abalone, sea cucumber, and fish maw are not suitable. These ingredients are flavorless on their own and rely on a rich, strong broth to enhance their flavor. However, in a competition for ten people, if a strong broth is used, the flavor of the other contestants' dishes will be largely overwhelmed by the broth, making the flavor of the dishes less prominent and more homogenized. The judges will find the flavors similar, so naturally, the scores will not be high.
Therefore, the high-end quality of this family-style dish lies mainly in its handicrafts, where each ingredient is carefully selected and made by the chefs themselves. Although the final appearance and ingredients may seem to be found in ordinary restaurants at first glance, the taste is definitely unique.
This dish was not without controversy, but Yu Yiyuan's words ultimately convinced those who thought that the dish made by the whole family was not high-end enough, did not show the excellent cooperation of ten people, and did not bring out the ultimate culinary skills.
Yu Yiyuan asked them if they had ever thought about the purpose of the program team setting up such rules. Ten people are cooking together. Even if they make a high-end dish together, each person can't find a step that everyone can make and is of a high enough quality. How can it be possible for everyone to make a high-end dish and put it together?
After being reminded of this, everyone was shocked to realize that the purpose of the program team was probably to go against their thinking on purpose. This round of ordinary home-cooked dishes was the right way to go, and it would be a misunderstanding to try to make high-end dishes.
After all, the rules clearly state that the highest score is awarded when ten people work together to cook a dish. However, it is impossible for so many chefs from different factions and restaurants to be able to cook any of the high-end dishes. Even if they could, given the complexity and sophistication of these dishes, it would be difficult for ten chefs to master them in just a few hours.
Therefore, this round is probably all about mentality. Only those who can keep a calm mind, follow the popular route and cooperate with others with a high degree of coordination can score points. Those who only want to take the high-end route and compete too much in the competition will probably lose if they get stuck in a dead end.
So in the end, the ingredients everyone made returned to being simple and unpretentious.
After a while, the raw dumplings in Zhao Xiaojing's hands were all formed and floating quietly on the water.
After turning off the control and putting it aside, Zhao Xiaojing continued to make lotus root balls and bean curd meat rolls.
The lotus root used for frying lotus root balls should be the tip of the lotus root stalk, which is called "old tip stalk" in Yangcheng dialect. This part is not the best part of the lotus root, nor is it the most expensive part, but it is much more fragrant than the lotus root body when used to fry lotus root balls, and the taste and chewiness are much better.
However, because very few people use it and it is considered a cheap and low-end part of the lotus root, it cannot be found on the Good Appetite delivery app.
We had to find a staff member from the program team, and the staff member contacted the backstage staff of Good Appetite Fresh, and finally we found a way to find two kilograms.
The fried lotus root balls just out of the pan are crispy and have the unique chewy texture and aroma of Laojianba. The meat filling inside slightly oozes out juice when you take a bite. Zhao Xiaojing ate several of them in a row when she tried them.
Next is the bean curd skin meat roll.
Tofu skin and pork rolls are simply a famous dish in Hecheng, made by wrapping a filling in tofu skin, steaming it, and then either frying or boiling it. Zhao Xiaojing and Geng Mingyan learned how to make it at a rice bowl shop, then saw it online and bought some to try. The shepherd's purse, lotus root, and pork filling are the most classic. Zhao Xiaojing even made it specially for the shop in March when shepherd's purse was in season, but it's not in season now.
Moreover, although the route is simple and unpretentious, people will still choose high-quality ingredients within the range of choices.
Zhao Xiaojing selected black tiger shrimp, tiger prawns, mud shrimp, lobster, shrimp, chanterelles, dried morels, dried chicken mushrooms, dried porcini, dried black truffles, etc. one by one, and finally took a little of each to make stuffing and tasted them separately. For shrimp and mushrooms, she chose beautiful black tiger shrimp and mud shrimp as the stuffing, and for the assorted wild delicacies, she chose fresh chanterelles as the main ingredient. Except for the black truffle, she added a little of each kind of mushrooms, and finally mixed them with eggs to make the stuffing.
Since it was an experiment, Zhao Xiaojing only made ten of each type of bean curd skin and meat rolls. After steaming them, she ate one herself to taste the flavor.
Both are very fresh. The shrimp and mushroom filling has the unique sweetness of fresh seafood and the unique flavor of mushrooms, while the assorted wild delicacies makes people feel like they have eaten half of spring in one bite, with a rich and complex aroma of mushrooms between their lips and teeth.
Zhao Xiaojing looked at the four ingredients in front of her. She thought the tofu skin and mixed wild delicacies rolls were the most distinctive, but she was not sure if the filling would fall apart when put into the soup; then she thought the tofu skin, shrimp and mushrooms might be the most popular, but people usually use seafood in their cooking, so she wondered if it would be too common; then she thought the fried lotus root balls were not bad either, as they were crispy and had a good texture, but she was worried that they would be cooked in the soup for too long and would not be at their best by the time the judges ate them; then she felt the boiled dumplings were the most suitable, but they were filled with pure pork. Although they tasted good alone, she wondered if they would be too ordinary among all the ingredients.
Confused, Zhao Xiaojing looked around.
Everyone was quietly busy with their own work. Apart from the sounds of pots and pans, there was no other sound. It was very different from the atmosphere in the fat team before.
In fact, she discovered during the discussion that although Yu Yiyuan's team also had ten people, they were not so casual and harmonious with each other, perhaps because they had split into three groups in the first game. The ones who expressed their opinions were Yu Yiyuan, two female chefs, and another male chef. The others just listened as if it was none of their business most of the time. It was not until the final conclusion that they raised the objection that the family portrait was not high-end enough, but after the explanation, they immediately expressed their willingness to obey the command.
The judges commented that this team was a ten-person table-sharing team, which was quite accurate when you think about it.
As I was shaking my head and looking away, I suddenly noticed that two stoves were empty.
When she looked at the people again, Zhao Xiaojing immediately realized that Gu Yanghui and Gong Hezhi were not there.
"What's wrong?" Just as he was frowning and looking at the door of the hall, Yu Yiyuan walked over.
Just as he was about to say that the two troublemakers were gone, two people walked in from the door one after the other.
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