Chapter 517 The Last Points Race
After Guan Yingxia finished making the juice, she began to process the ham, scraping and cutting it. After confirming with Zhao Xiaojing the parts they each wanted, she soaked the remaining parts in warm water. Then she immediately went to the sink, took out the frogs one by one, knocked them unconscious with a knife, then cut an incision along the frog's belly and skinned it.
Halfway through peeling the frogs, the timer rang, and Zhao Xiaojing helped transfer the soaked ham to the steamer. After she finished peeling the frogs and steaming the ham, she washed the steamed ham, soaked it in the secret sugary syrup, and placed it in the refrigerator to chill. After that, she immediately soaked the dried shiitake mushrooms in warm water and began busily preparing the peeled frogs.
None of the four had expected that it would be so troublesome for Guan Yingxia to deal with the frogs.
After peeling and cleaning the frog, you still have to remove the bones.
Frogs are frogs, and after skinning, the flesh is smaller than a palm, and the bones are even smaller and thinner, making deboning time-consuming and laborious. Furthermore, Guan Yingxia's technique seems to have a fixed shape. After deboning each bone, three fixed pieces of meat are connected by fascia to form three sections, and each section is symmetrically cut in the middle with a hole the size of a chopstick.
The four of them watched for a long time but didn't know where to help. Seeing that Guan Yingxia was meticulous, they didn't dare to disturb her. So they quietly fried a dish with the extra ingredients, ate the lunch boxes sent by the program crew, and left a portion for Guan Yingxia before starting to do their own things again.
By the time Guan Yingxia finished processing a plate of frogs, it was already one o'clock in the afternoon. She didn't even have time to eat and started to prepare the Chinese kale.
Only the stems of Chinese kale, and the thinnest stems at the tip of the kale, must be removed. After picking a large bunch of Chinese kale, only a small bowl of the tips will be left.
After cleaning the Chinese kale, Guan Yingxia took a look at the broth on the fat man's side and started to process the mushrooms.
The broth was still hanging, but there was no need to worry too much. The fat man just glanced at it occasionally to check its status. He marinated the salt-baked chicken and brushed lard on the rice paper. Yu Yiyuan also put the eels as thick as a pen into a gauze bag, threw it into the boiling water, and began to boil it. Wen Xinyuan had just finished preparing his unique sauce and started to stir-fry ginger. Zhao Xiaojing also picked up the mandarin fish in the bucket and gutted it by the pool.
At 3:30 p.m., Fatty's broth was ready. To enhance the dish's appearance, he even slurried it with minced chicken. He poured the tea-clear broth into the pot, gave a portion each to Zhao Xiaojing and Guan Yingxia, and saved the rest for the final stir-fry.
Guan Yingxia took the broth and used it to blanch the mushrooms and Chinese kale. After blanching, she set them aside with a fan on, cut the mushrooms into strips, and took out the ham from the refrigerator.
The frog meat had been carefully dried with kitchen paper and then marinated with egg white, cornstarch, and a little oil. Guan Yingxia picked up a piece of frog meat and fiddled with it for a long time, folding the three pieces of meat in an orderly manner, aligning the three holes neatly.
Then, pick up a slice of shiitake mushroom cut into strips and pass it through the three aligned holes, then pick up the ham strips and pass it through the holes, and finally the broccoli stems.
After passing through, the size of the hole is just right to catch the three strips of side dishes, making the frog meat look loose but firmly wrapped around the three side dishes.
Zhao Xiaojing was already amazed after watching Yu Yiyuan process the eels. When she turned around and saw Guan Yingxia's operation, she was even more in awe.
Yu Yiyuan prepares eels. After blanching, each eel is kept open without breaking the skin. After blanching, it's rinsed with ice water, cleaned of slime, and then split open with a bamboo blade. Since there aren't any bamboo blades available, he improvises by shaving and sharpening bamboo chopsticks. The first cut removes the blood from the entire eel. The second and third cuts completely separate the eel's bones. The fourth cut separates the black eel's back from the yellow eel's belly.
The whole eel was cut into pieces with four cuts.
After Guan Yingxia had finished threading all the frogs, Yu Yiyuan had also finished cleaning the eels. Although the eel bones, blood, and belly can all be eaten, for the soft-shelled eel, only the best-tasting meat on the back is taken, so only the eel back is retained.
They exchanged glances and began the final cooking part.
The dishes should be served together, of course, to maintain the best taste.
Zhao Xiaojing's soup was already cooking, and she only needed to add the shredded mandarin fish and ham and thicken the sauce when serving. Fatty and Yu Yiyuan's chicken and duck were both in the pot and did not need to be moved at the moment, so one began to prepare the Shanjia Three Crisps according to Yu Yiyuan's method, while the other started to make ginger juice and would make ginger-juiced broccoli later.
The mushrooms in Shanjia Sancui were originally going to be replaced with flower mushrooms, but when Guan Yingxia was looking for ingredients, she found that the quality of flower mushrooms was average, so she ended up using dried shiitake mushrooms instead, and took the small mushrooms that were originally supposed to be used in Shanjia Sancui, namely the black-skinned long-root mushrooms.
At 4:30, the stoves in the five-person competition hall were blazing, and the clatter of pots and pans echoed.
Yu Yiyuan had already prepared the Shanjia Three Crisps, and was now sprinkling a handful of leeks on the eel coated with sauce in the pot; the fat man had removed the oil paper from the salt-baked chicken, and was cutting the chicken and arranging it on a plate; Wen Xinyuan's ginger duck was undergoing the final process of collecting the sauce in the casserole, and in another pot was stir-frying ginger-juiced kale; after Guan Yingxia's hosta frogs were fried in oil to set the shape, she added wine and starch sauce to the pot, and then added the hosta frogs and stir-fried them; Zhao Xiaojing's Songsao Fish Soup had been added with shredded fish, shredded ham, and starch sauce, and was undergoing the final simmering over low heat. At the same time, the fried double crisps were removed from the oil to control the oil, and chopped green onions and ginger were started to be stir-fried.
Yu Yiyuan's soft-shelled eel was the first to come out of the pot. After waiting for a few seconds, he saw that the dishes of the other four people were about to be served, so he hurriedly pushed the cart over and pressed the green completion button at the same time.
These dishes are almost all wok-fried dishes, and the competition is all about the taste of every second. It takes time for the staff to come in. If they come in early, the delivery time will be shortened, and the taste will be better when the judges taste the dishes.
Almost at the same time as the bell rang, the door of the small hall was pushed open. Yu Yiyuan thought that the staff was about to give instructions, but Nan Rongquan took the lead, followed by five judges including Dang Yongge and Huang Jinge, who walked straight in.
Although they didn't understand why the process was changed, the five people in the hall were delighted at the same time. Some turned off the fire, some took the food out of the pot, and some quickly got chopsticks and bowls for the six judges.
The six judges first tasted Yu Yiyuan's soft-shelled eel, which was the first dish to come out of the pot. After tasting two pieces, Guan Yingxia's hosta frog came out of the pot. After rinsing their mouths, each judge began to eat a piece of the hosta frog. Then, Zhao Xiaojing's fried double crispy dish came out of the pot. After rinsing their mouths, each judge tasted the fried double crispy dish. As the fried double crispy dish came out, the other five dishes followed suit.
The five carefully placed the seven dishes and one soup on the counter, ready to listen to the judges' comments, when a staff member approached them, "Please gather in Studio 2 at 6:00 PM to participate in the final ranking of the points competition. You may now leave the competition venue and move freely."
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