Chapter 179 Competition Results
A piece of rice cake, a piece of fish, and a spoonful of crab soup.
After a bowl of this dish, you will find the crab meat is rich, the fish meat is tender, and the rice cake is soft and sticky. The softness and tenderness are intertwined, and the fragrance and mellowness dance together. Every bite is full of surprises, making you want to eat one bite after another. After two bites, the dish is already finished. We are all adults in our 40s, but we can't help but feel disappointed.
At this moment, an overbearing aroma came. The whole plate was filled with rosy shark fins, but no lamb cutlets. It was also served with a plate of crispy baked sesame cakes.
Tianjin is home to many Hui Muslims. Before liberation, there were twelve high-end restaurants in Tianjin that served halal cuisine. Braised sea sheep is the signature dish of Hongbinlou, one of the twelve halal restaurants. This dish combines the palace whole lamb banquet with Tianjin cuisine's braised shark's fin.
"Turn over the shark fin and observe its shape. The spoon and scoop require the ingredients to be turned over as a whole and fall to the ground neatly without breaking. It must be exactly the same as it was before turning it over. Break open the sesame seed bun and stuff a piece of juicy mutton offal into the sesame seed bun to let the bun absorb the soup." said Yue Ning who was filtering the fish soup.
In order to avoid having to deal with two different people for the same thing, the judges gave the task of turning over the shark fin to Xu Lemei. Xu Lemei used a knife and fork to turn over the shark fin, and sure enough, under the intact shark fin was a complete set of eight pieces of lamb.
Yang Yuhe broke open a sesame bun. The inside of the bun was steaming hot. He picked up a lamb's eye and stuffed it inside.
"Yue Ning, do you have the skills to scoop and scrape?" Yang Yuhe asked while eating a sesame seed bun with a lamb eyeball in it.
The soft inside of the sesame seed bun absorbs the soup, the lamb's eyes are juicy, and the outside of the sesame seed bun is crispy, dry and fragrant, and the taste is amazing.
Yue Ning twisted the gauze to drain out the last bit of soup. She opened the gauze and found the residue of crucian carp and eel bones inside.
She said with a look of despair: "Uncle Yang, do you want me to compete with all the chefs in special skills? I am a human, not a god!"
"I don't believe it. Chef Ma's flipping of the yellow croaker just now must be your special trick. How can someone with this skill not know how to fry it?"
"This is not a big flip." Yue Ning explained, "That's a turn. I can flip the whole dish. But I also fail in the scattered flip, which is a dish of braised winter melon, not to mention the eight pieces of lamb with different hardness. I am not sure I can turn it over completely. Let me learn more from Brother Lu, and then I will show you later."
Yue Ning personally admitted that his flipping skills were not good enough, and everyone laughed when they heard it.
The audience and judges, who had just eaten Niannian Yuyu, had this dish again. The wonderful taste of the previous dish had not yet faded, and now here came another dish that could shock the soul.
After eating the lamb kidneys, people lamented that they didn’t get to eat the lamb tendons. After eating the lamb sandwiches, people were still staring at the lamb tongues.
They just want to ask, when can they eat this dish in its entirety?
Now comes the difficult part, they have to rate these two dishes.
The host asked Yue Ning: "Ms. Yue, as a top chef in Hong Kong, tell me honestly, which of these two dishes would you vote for today?"
"Children make choices, while adults say they want them all."
Normally, everyone would say this girl is a little rascal, but now everyone thinks she is right. How to choose? Isn't this embarrassing?
While they were struggling, Baohualou served a dish called "Zilong Tuopao", which was stir-fried with peeled eel shreds, winter bamboo shoots, ham, and mushrooms.
They once again switched from extreme complexity to extreme simplicity in style. The eels were skinned, without the gelatin of the skin, and combined with the side dishes, the main feature was a refreshing and sweet taste.
Soon, Lu Peide also served a plate of braised shredded pork with three strips of pork, which showed off his knife skills. Chicken, pork, ham and bamboo shoots were all cut into thin strips and neatly placed together, with a soaked mushroom on top and chicken soup poured at the bottom of the plate.
It’s the same here, the transformation of complex and simple, and the combination of rich and light.
The professional judges and audience judges were giving scores nervously. Yue Ning said he wanted both and they didn't want to decide who was better. Finally, the scores came out.
In this round, the professional judges gave Baohualou's Niannian Youyu a higher score, but the audience judges preferred Ba Haiyang.
Lu Peide's three-shredded pork was slightly better in terms of knife skills and seasoning. Overall, Lu Peide was only 0.5 points higher than Baohualou, which means that the cumulative score difference between them was 2.8 points.
After the hot dishes were over, everyone gave up hope that Lu Peide could save the situation. It looked like Chef Zhang would take the Chef King trophy this time. The last time, it was Li Xinrong from Baohualou. If Baohualou could still take the crown this time with the successor of northern Cantonese cuisine, then Baohualou would be the undisputed number one in Hong Kong and Macau.
Lu Peide returned to the stove. After Yue Ning drained the soup, he put the remaining crucian carp and eel bones into the pot and fried them.
"Why did Chef Lu fry those crumbs?"
The host reacted very quickly and asked Yue Ning who was peeling the winter melon. Yue Ning looked up and said: "This is the essence of Dongtai fish soup, three steps of soup. But if you make it at home, one step of soup is enough. If the second and third steps are mushy, it will be bitter."
"What if it's not blurry?"
“That would be delicious.”
Lu Peide had already fried the leftovers. He added a few pieces of blanched chicken bones into the leftovers and continued to make the soup.
Yue Ning had already handed the working table to Lu Peide, who began to cut the soft and tender part of the winter melon into thin strips, coated it with starch, put it in a sieve to shake off the excess starch, and then steamed it in a steamer.
He took the remaining winter melon and winter melon peel, added a handful of bean sprouts, and used the broth he brought to make soup again.
The people at Baohua Building have already raised their hands to complete it.
They made a dish called Wensi tofu.
"This Wensi tofu is Baohualou's way of showing off their knife skills, and also telling everyone that their soup-making skills are as good as the Lu family's, right?" said Chef Gong.
Yue Ning heard this and shook his head: "Everyone has their own strengths. Don't try to suppress one party. That would be meaningless."
Lu Peide's soup is ready and the winter melon is also prepared. After being coated with starch and steamed, the winter melon becomes crystal clear. He puts the winter melon shreds into soup bowls, four bowls in total, and the remaining winter melon shreds are poured into a glass soup pot.
"Leave one bowl for me." Yue Ning said.
Lu Peide left her a small spoonful of shredded winter melon.
He poured the broth into the soup bowl and the glass pot in turn.
The soup poured into the glass pot, and everyone watched the transparent winter melon shreds expand more and more. Isn't this a full pot of bird's nest?
He said: "Lo Han Gua Yan, pure vegetarian."
Yue Ning took a spoon and tasted it first. The soup was sweet and delicious, and it was very comfortable to drink. People in Guangdong Province who love to drink soup should love it, right?
Chef Gong, who just said that Baohualou’s soup is as good as Lu’s, drank the bowl of soup silently.
"Absolutely, absolutely!" said Chef He.
Just like in the first game, Lu Peide did a great job, but Zhang Junming and Ma Yaoxing took the lead with the colorful phoenix.
In this round, Lu Peide scored more than two points, and the gap between the two teams narrowed to 0.5 points.
"Everything is possible now. The final dish will determine the outcome."
Yue Ning drained the third dish of soup for Lu Peide, and the place was already filled with the pure aroma of fish.
Lu Peide went to the stove, mixed the three soups together, added seasonings, and the soup in the pot became milky white and mellow.
In another pot, the water was already boiling and Lu Peide put the noodles in.
He went to get two large basins and a small bowl, divided the milk soup into three bowls, scooped up the noodles and put them into the soup, then sprinkled them with green chopped green onions.
He stretched out his hand first and said to Yue Ning, "Try it."
Yue Ning picked up the small bowl, and Lu Peide raised his hand: "Dongtai fish noodle soup."
Lu Peide looked at the noodles being served to the judges. He wanted to know Yue Ning's opinion more than the judges': "How is it?"
Yue Ning nodded: "It's pure and authentic."
Lu Peide laughed.
After Yue Ning finished his noodles, he looked at Zhang Junming and Ma Yaoxing, who were still busy.
They put a lot of effort into this event. Although they couldn't make Ningyan's Lion Cake and Dragon Head Cake due to time constraints, they also brought some amazing pastry today.
The two of them made barbecued pork puffs in the shape of coin bags and maltose milk puffs in the shape of ingots, and just put them in the oven to bake.
"This soup is not only fresh, but also more fragrant than the soup that Ningning taught the Japanese to make seafood noodles. When Ningning taught the Japanese to make seafood soup, she also fried small fish and then mashed them, right?" Xu Lemei said.
Yue Ning smiled: "Sister Le Mei, you know how to cook. Go home and try it. If you don't add scallions, ginger, and cooking wine, and don't remove the scales of the crucian carp, will the soup smell fishy? And if you fry the crucian carp twice, will the soup still be milky white? The method I teach you can be used by everyone. The soup of Dongtai fish noodle soup is known as the best milk soup in the world. Brother Lu's method really tests the chef's skills. Most chefs basically can't do it well."
“This soup truly deserves to be the best soup in the world,” the chef judge also said.
Zhang Junming opened the oven, took out their last pastry and put it on a plate.
Full purses and round gold ingots were brought up.
Zhang Junming said: "This is 'Gong Xi Fa Cai'. The money bag is made of barbecued pork puff pastry, and the ingot is made of milk puff pastry."
Yang Yuhe picked up a purse, and the moment he picked it up, fine crumbs fell out.
Not only is the shape beautiful, the crispy crust is also light and when he takes a bite, the barbecue pork sauce flows out. He quickly takes a tissue to wipe the dripping sauce.
I blew it gently in my mouth, and even though it burned my mouth, I was reluctant to spit out this delicious bite.
Xu Lemei ate Yuanbao milk puff pastry. She said: "This milk puff is delicious. It tastes like full moon coconut milk puff pastry."
"Yes. This is the filling recipe taught by Mrs. Qiao." Zhang Junming said.
There is no need to talk about Mrs. Qiao's skill in making pastries. After consulting her, Yue Ning came back and discussed it carefully with Zhang Junming and Ma Yaoxing. He adjusted the recipe and tried it many times before finally deciding on the style and taste.
These two kinds of snacks, one salty and one sweet, are popular at the end of the year, have good meanings, and are highly competitive.
Unfortunately, today we encountered Dongtai fish noodle soup made by Lu Peide. In the end, Baohualou lost 1.1 points in this round.
Lu Peide advanced with a slight advantage.
Lu Peide was not very happy. The host asked him, "Chef Lu, you have advanced. Say a few words."
Yue Ning turned his words around, and Lu Peide looked at her: "What can I say? Today, I dare to let go and make braised sea sheep and fish soup noodles because Ningning will be my assistant. Who doesn't want to win in the competition? But... Chef Zhang and Chef Ma are really amazing..."
Lu Peide didn't know what to say.
Yue Ning turned his head immediately after hearing what he said.
The host said: "Yes! If you hadn't participated, Baohualou would definitely have won today."
"Do you remember why Baohualou participated in the competition?" Yue Ning asked.
The host was stunned for a moment, and Yue Ning reminded him, "At that time, Lou Jiafu from Yulongxuan was going to participate in the competition. It was reported on TV and newspapers that all my grandfather's capable apprentices had left. I said that I had found a chef from Fuyunlou to exchange ideas, but they said that I was looking for a chef with average skills from a declining old restaurant in the mainland. So I decided to let my grandfather's youngest apprentice, who was also said to have the worst skills, partner with the chef from Fuyunlai in the mainland to participate in this program to prove the strength of Baohualou. What about today? Their opponent is the heir of the Lu family who eliminated Lou Jiafu by a large score. In that game, Brother Lu's assistant was still a person who could not cook and could only speak Cantonese. Today, I will be Brother Lu's assistant. I will allow him to maximize his skills. Under such circumstances, my uncle Ming and Xing lost the game by only 0.6 points. Is it enough to prove their strength? Is it enough to prove the strength of Baohualou?"
Yue Ning's words reminded everyone that just over seven months had passed, and the three words "Baohua Tower" had already taken on a completely different meaning.
Zhang Junming took the microphone and said, "Like Ningning said, I am very happy to compete with Chef Lu in his normal state. I lost, but I lost with conviction. Moreover, I am very proud of this game today. Before the competition, I never thought that I could become a real top chef. Through the competition, I know that I have become one."
Yue Ning translated these words to Lu Peide, who smiled. He stretched out his hand to shake hands with Zhang Junming, but Zhang Junming hugged him and said, "Come on!"
"Thanks!"
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