Xu Qinyu was also standing in the crowd watching. Lianhua, Yang Zhizhi and Xu Yunlan were also looking at the chefs with great excitement. It was the first time for them to see this kind of competition, so they were naturally excited. Yang Zhizhi was whispering to Xu Yunlan and Lianhua, and they were discussing who looked the most skilled in the first round. After a while, seeing that everyone was cooking the same way, they began to discuss which day would be Xu Qinyu's turn.
Xu Qinyu was also watching how the contestants in the first round made the braised pork.
The stove is equipped with a stove and a large pot. Firewood can be put into the stove and the temperature can be controlled.
Most cooking methods involve cutting the pork belly into pieces and blanching it in water. Set the blanched pork belly aside for later use. After cleaning the iron pot, put it on the stove and add oil and sugar to stir-fry the sugar color. Stir-frying the sugar color is critical. If some sugar colors are not fried well, the taste will easily become bitter. After frying the sugar color, pour in the pork belly and stir-fry. Then add scallions, ginger and garlic and stir-fry until fragrant. Finally, add salt and soy sauce and continue to stir-fry. When it is almost done, add clean water, cover it with a lid and simmer it.
Xu Qinyu saw that many of them gave the sugar randomly, not paying much attention to the proportion, and even did not control the heat when frying the sugar color. The heat at other times was also similar, not paying much attention, and frying at medium heat throughout the process.
Many other people could only smell the aroma of meat, but Xu Qinyu could smell the fishy smell of meat.
She did not comment on these cooking techniques, as cooking techniques of this era were still in their infancy.
And her knowledge of cooking is the result of thousands of years of discarding the dross and retaining the essence.
Apart from anything else, the braised pork tasted very good. After a while, the rich aroma of meat wafted through the air.
Xu Yunlan and Yang Zhizhi often eat meals cooked by Xu Qinyu. Braised pork is also on Xu Qinyu's menu, but not many people order it because braised pork is a dish available in every restaurant and restaurant. In addition, braised pork is a bit greasy and most girls don't like to eat it. Yang Zhizhi would not eat braised pork because she wanted to lose weight.
Although they had never eaten the braised pork made by Xu Qinyu, they had eaten many other dishes made by Xu Qinyu, so they felt something was wrong when they smelled the aroma of the braised pork.
Yang Zhizhi couldn't help but say, "Why do I feel that this doesn't smell very good? It even has a bit of the fishy smell of pork."
Xu Yunlan said: "Indeed, that's because we often eat the food made by Qinyu, so our taste has become more picky, and our sense of smell for food has also improved, so we can naturally smell the difference."
Lotus stood nearby, not even swallowing her saliva.
She did often eat braised pork, which was not made by her master but by other chefs at Xu's. The cooking standards were also the same as those served to guests in the restaurant. However, since it was not made by the head chef and her master, the taste was definitely a little worse, but it was much more fragrant than what she smelled now.
In addition to guarding the restaurant and making daily patrols, Lianhua also has other jobs. Other jobs in the restaurant also require a lot of physical labor. The food their master provides them is very good, and they often eat braised pork. When she was a black-armored guard, she didn't get to eat meaty food every day.
Xu Qinyu just kept watching.
In fact, there are still a lot of seasonings. In addition to these common ones, there are also some strange spices, Huadiao wine, various bean pastes, moldy tofu and the like. Some chefs will even add Huadiao wine and moldy tofu. The cooking methods are generally similar.
Half an hour later, the braised pork of the contestants in the first round was taken out of the pot. In order to make it better flavored and stewed until it was tender, their braised pork was cut into smaller pieces and then served from the pot onto twenty small plates, with three or four small pieces on each small plate.
The ten contestants made braised pork of different colors. Some were red, some were too red, some did not have enough sauce, some were white, and one contestant was even too nervous and used too high a heat when frying the sugar color, so some of the braised pork was burnt. The braised pork that came out later was black and bitter. This contestant's face turned pale, with beads of sweat on his forehead, his face and lips were white, and he knew in his heart that he would not pass this time.
Regardless of any competition or exam, your attitude is actually very important.
There is only one contestant who can get 60 points or above from all the judges in the first round.
Sixty points is just the passing line.
The contestant who made the braised pork taste bitter and black was even scolded by many judges, and the contestant was so upset that he could hardly lift his head.
Each round lasts half an hour, or one hour. For the chef, this time is definitely enough. However, there are nearly a thousand contestants in the initial round, and there can only be ten contestants in one hour. The competition is still a bit slow. Today, due to the draw and other reasons, the competition started at almost noon, so there were only about seven or eight rounds on the first day.
Kong Kun took the turn in the fifth round.
When he cooked the braised pork, he first used Huadiao wine and scallion ginger water to remove the fishy smell from the pork. He also paid attention to the proportion and heat when frying the sugar color. Overall, there was nothing wrong with it.
Xu Qinyu watched very carefully. As expected of the chef of Zuixianlou, he was very focused while cooking without any distractions. His control over the heat was also good. Xu Qinyu gave him a score of 90 in her heart.
For Xu Qinyu, 90 points was considered a relatively high score.
Chef Wang and Dongqian have studied cooking for a long time and have been with her for almost a year, so the scores she gave them were similar.
Sure enough, when the twenty old gentlemen gave Kong Kun scores, all of them scored above 95 points, and one even gave him a score of 100.
By the end of the first day of competition, it was already very late and the city gates were still open.
Because of the cooking competition taking place in the city during this period, the governor delayed the closing time of the city gates by one hour. In addition, the guards in the city were also tightened.
It would be quite fast to go back by carriage, so Lianhua drove the carriage to take Xu Qinyu out of the city and back to the restaurant.
Yang Zhizhi and Xu Yunlan came with their mother and sisters-in-law, and followed Lianhua's carriage back to the restaurant.
Xu Qinyu had breakfast early in the morning and went into the city to draw lots. She was now extremely hungry.
After returning to the restaurant, the evening meal was almost over, but the chefs left some food for Xu Qinyu and Lianhua. After dinner, everyone went back to rest. Xu Qinyu also returned to the house. Wen was worried and felt relieved when she saw her come back.
Wen chatted with Yu Niang for a few words, and then asked her to wash up and go to bed.
It would be a few days before Xu Qinyu's turn came. It would be okay if she didn't go during these few days, but Xu Qinyu still wanted to go and take a look.
The next morning, everyone had breakfast early because the competition was going to start at noon.
The city gates were also opened at the beginning of the Mao hour.
Xu Qinyu got up before dawn and went to the restaurant to cook something to eat. Today she also specially made a lot of brown sugar steamed cakes.
Today she had to have breakfast earlier, and still wait until dark before having dinner, which meant she would be hungry for six or seven hours. So she learned from her experience today and brought some food with her to continue watching the competition.
Brown sugar steamed cake is made of brown sugar, red dates and flour, and the method of making it is also very simple.
However, the brown sugar steamed cake made by Xu Qinyu also added chopped red dates and some raisins, as well as eggs and milk, which made it taste even sweeter and more fragrant.
Dissolve the brown sugar in warm water, then add the flour and stir, then beat in the eggs and stir, and finally pour in an appropriate amount of milk. The resulting batter is fine and has just the right consistency.
Pour the delicate batter into a container and add chopped dates and raisins. Xu Qinyu also likes to eat dates and raisins, so she gives more dates and raisins.
The batter with this perfect consistency needs to ferment for half an hour. Xu Qinyu uses the temperature on the kitchen stove to ferment it, which makes it ferment faster.
The fermented batter can be steamed directly in a pot for 15 minutes.
The steamed brown sugar steamed cake is fluffy and soft, with a dense, compact and delicate texture, a strong brown sugar aroma, and a milky flavor, sweet and delicious.
There are a lot of red dates and grapes when you take a bite, which makes the taste richer.
Xu Qinyu couldn't help but ate two pieces first. Seeing Lianhua looking at her eagerly, she handed her two pieces as well. Lianhua took it and took a big bite. Then she nodded vigorously, "Master, it's delicious." It was as delicious as the custard buns made by the master before. She especially liked the sweet and milky taste.
Even for the custard buns, Lotus only had the chance to eat them made by Xu Qinyu during the first half month when the restaurant was relatively quiet.
Xu Qinyu smiled and said, "When we go to the city later, tell me if you feel hungry. Take these brown sugar steamed cakes with you. We will be here for a long time today, so we can eat these if we feel hungry."
Lianhua was stunned, and then she couldn't help grinning, which meant that she could eat such delicious cakes to her heart's content today.
Xu Qinyu even specially saved a few pieces for Huo Jiang. She always asked Huo Jiang to help her, so whenever she had time, she would save a portion of the snacks she made for Huo Jiang.
The finished brown sugar steamed cake is directly wrapped in oil paper and placed in the carriage.
Xu Qinyu even brought a water bottle with her, planning to go to the city with Lianhua.
Yang Zhizhi and Xu Yunlan are also going to the city today, but their mothers are not going. They both plan to go to see Xu Qinyu on the day of her competition.
Young girls are different. No matter who is competing, they all want to join in the fun. So today, Lianhua drove the carriage, and Yang Zhizhi, Xu Yunlan and Xu Qinyu sat in the carriage together. The three girls talked and laughed as they arrived in the city.
When she went over, it was already bright outside. Since it was not her competition today, it was okay for her to come late. The contestants in the eighth round had already started competing.
Seven rounds of players were completed yesterday.
Xu Qinyu even brought a few small stools with her and asked Lianhua to lead the three of them to the front and sit on the stools to watch.
Many people in the front row brought small stools, so her behavior was not out of place.
Lianhua was holding a big bag in her arms, which contained brown sugar steamed cake.
The people around me were a little puzzled. They felt that in addition to the smell of braised pork today, they could also smell another very sweet smell from time to time, which contained the fragrance of brown sugar and red dates. However, there were not many people eating nearby, so they just thought it was their own illusion.
After watching for two hours, it was already the end of noon. Everyone had breakfast early today, so now was a perfect time to have lunch.
Xu Qinyu asked Lianhua to open the bundle and share the brown sugar steamed cake inside with everyone.
She cut the steamed cake into relatively large pieces. As a girl, she can feel full after eating two or three pieces.
Yang Zhizhi and Xu Yunlan particularly liked the taste of the brown sugar steamed cake, which was soft and sweet, with a strong aroma of brown sugar and milk. Both of them couldn't resist and ate one more piece. In total, they ate four pieces each and were very full.
Xu Qinyu ate three pieces, and there were about ten pieces left, which she gave to Lianhua.
Lotus rice is big in size, so ten yuan is just enough for her.
Once the brown sugar steamed cake is taken out of the package, the sweet smell becomes stronger.
The aroma of brown sugar steamed cake is strongest when it is hot, that is, right after it comes out of the pot. This is also the characteristic of sweet pastries. The aroma is strongest when it is hot. When it cools down, the aroma will be greatly reduced. Only when you are close to it can you smell the sweet taste.
So when the brown sugar steamed cake is taken out, even though the people around may smell the sweet aroma more strongly, people who are farther away still cannot smell it.
When a few people started to eat, the people around them realized that they were holding fluffy steamed cakes, which looked a bit like brown sugar steamed cakes, but were dotted with a lot of red dates and other grains that looked like dried fruits.
There are no dried grapes here yet. These dried grapes were dried by Xu Qinyu herself.
The grapes on her several acres of land are not used to make wine, but are used to dry them into raisins, which are usually used in pastries in restaurants and restaurants.
Someone couldn't help but ask, "What are you eating, little lady?"
Xu Qinyu smiled and said, "It's steamed cake made with brown sugar."
There are also steamed cakes here, including osmanthus steamed cakes with the flavor of brown sugar and ordinary sugar. But they don’t smell as good and sweet as the steamed cakes that the girls in front of me are eating. They also have the fragrance of milk and the sweet smell of red dates.
The brown sugar steamed cake they eat on a daily basis only has a hint of brown sugar flavor.
Even ordinary brown sugar steamed cakes, which are half the size of a fist, cost two cents.
The cakes and snacks here are more expensive because they use sugar.
There were also many ordinary people who came to watch. Some of them could not resist the fragrance. One old lady's grandson was a little noisy. He twisted and turned in the old lady's arms, shouting, "Grandma, I want to eat, I want to eat too."
The old lady couldn't stand being harassed anymore and couldn't help but ask, "Young lady, can you sell us a piece?"
Smelling such a sweet aroma, it was really hard to resist. And seeing that the young lady's brown sugar steamed cake was quite big, three or four times bigger than the small piece they usually bought, it was bigger than two fists. Thinking that five cents for one piece was quite a good deal, it smelled so good and must taste delicious. Look at the taller young lady next to her, who was wolfing it down. She bought it just to fill her grandson's stomach.
Xu Qinyu said: "Sorry, this is just enough for us to eat."
She made portions for several people. Lianhua eats a lot of rice. She didn't prepare any food for Lianhua yesterday, and she was so hungry when she went home. That's why she thought of making some cakes to take with her today.
The old lady couldn't help but said, "You four young ladies, I see that each piece of the steamed cake is so big, and each of you can eat two pieces and be full. Isn't there still a lot left? Young ladies, why don't you sell me one piece for five cents, and I will give it to my grandson. It's not that I'm greedy, just sell me one piece for the sake of the child."
The old lady was also thinking that although this piece of meat was four times larger than what was sold outside, it was made by the young lady herself, so she could just sell it to her for five cents.
Xu Qinyu glanced at the three or four-year-old child, who was making a lot of noise and kept clamoring for food. He even tried to snatch it from Lianhua's hand, but Lianhua dodged him.
Lotus glared at the child. She was originally busy eating, but upon hearing this, she immediately said, "I have a big appetite, and I am still not full after eating ten yuan. These are enough for us. If your grandson wants to eat, he can go outside to buy some. There are many snack stalls nearby."
Steamed cake is indeed a common food, and it can be found in almost all food stalls.
There were quite a few food stalls behind the crowd, all of which took advantage of the cooking competition to do business. They thought that everyone would be together for the whole day and would be hungry even after breakfast, so they simply set up stalls nearby, and business was indeed pretty good.
The old lady muttered, "If I go out for a while, I will definitely not be able to squeeze in."
Most people want to squeeze to the front because of another reason, that is, in this cooking competition, in addition to the judges tasting the dishes made by the contestants, they will also select some people on the scene to taste the food and give them scores, but their scores are only for reference and are not included in the total score. They are also afraid that the judges may be unfair sometimes, so many people want to be selected to taste the food.
The old lady's grandson was still making a fuss, but now he began to sob, "Grandma, I want to eat, I want to eat too, give it to me quickly."
Xu Qinyu glanced at the naughty child.
Feng Ge'er and Yan Jie'er in the family are both relatively well-behaved children. Even Shao Ge'er and some children who usually come to the restaurant to eat are relatively obedient. Xu Qinyu rarely encounters naughty children, but she didn't expect to meet one today.
Most children, even if they envy other people's food, would just stare at it silently and would not cry or try to grab the food.
Xu Qinyu also hated naughty children, but she was more tolerant of them. She said, "You heard it, old lady. My sister has a big appetite. The three of us can eat three or four pieces. The rest will be given to my sister. But if you really want to buy it, it's twenty cents a piece." Even if it was sold in the restaurant, it would cost twenty cents. Not only brown sugar was included, but also eggs, milk, red dates and grapes. Grapes were a rare thing, so they were naturally expensive.
Lianhua was older than her, and she wasn't a bought maid, but just a hired guard. So when she introduced her to others, she would just say that Lianhua was her sister.
When the old lady heard that it would cost twenty cents, her face changed. "Twenty cents, are you trying to steal money, young lady? This is not something precious, it's just a brown sugar steamed cake sold outside. A piece as big as yours only costs eight cents, and it's made at home, so five cents a piece is about right."
Xu Qinyu said, "It's twenty cents a piece."
She also knew that the old lady would never buy it for twenty cents.
The old lady was indeed muttering, "You are really greedy, you just want to sell it to me at such a high price because you think it's hard for an old woman like me to bring a little grandson with me. You are really mean, you little girl."
Xu Qinyu was a little helpless. "Madam, I put eggs and milk in this brown sugar steamed cake. I also added red dates and raisins. You know, in summer, fresh grapes cost thirty cents a pound. They are also dried in the sun. You only get a handful of raisins per pound. The brown sugar in it is also sufficient. If you charge five cents, you can't even recover the cost."
She gave it a lot of brown sugar, with a rich brown sugar flavor. The brown sugar steamed cakes out there only have very little brown sugar, with just a hint of sweetness, and the taste is actually quite bland.
The old lady didn't listen at all and kept yelling that Xu Qinyu was mean and sold her a brown sugar steamed cake at such a high price. In addition, her grandson was so noisy and kept clamoring for food. The old lady had no choice but to pick up a small stool and lead her grandson out of the crowd to buy brown sugar steamed cake for him. At the end, she glared at Xu Qinyu angrily.
Xu Qinyu's ears finally felt quiet.
She continued to eat the steamed cake, which had a strong brown sugar and milky flavor and a dense and sweet texture. It was really delicious.
She plans to add brown sugar steamed cake to Xu’s breakfast in the future, but the taste can be richer, so she will go back and try it a few more times.
As they were eating, Xu Qinyu felt a timid gaze coming from the side. She turned around and found that it was a little girl of three or four years old. The girl was a little thin, with big eyes. She was looking at them while eating, secretly swallowing her saliva. When she noticed Xu Qinyu looking at her, she quickly buried her head in her mother's arms.
Her mother also noticed that the little girl was watching others eat, so she smiled apologetically at Xu Qinyu and nodded.
Xu Qinyu found that the little girl was really cute, but a little thin, which made her eyes look particularly big, and her pupils were black. She looked well-behaved and pitiful.
She couldn't bear to see the well-behaved child looking so pitiful, so she handed the little girl a piece of brown sugar steamed cake and asked, "Would you like some, little girl?"
The little girl was a little surprised and her eyes widened when she saw that her sister was willing to give her a piece.
The little girl's mother also hurriedly said, "Thank you, young lady, but it's not necessary."
At twenty cents a piece, she was reluctant to buy one for her daughter as it was a bit expensive.
She also heard the conversation between the young lady and the old lady just now.
Xu Qinyu smiled and said, "It's for little girl. Look, little girl is a little thin."
The young woman hesitated for a moment before signaling her daughter in her arms to take the brown sugar steamed cake and thanked Xu Qinyu repeatedly.
The little girl also held the brown sugar steamed cake in her hands and said timidly to Xu Qinyu, "Thank you, sister."
Xu Qinyu smiled and said, "Eat quickly."
The little girl took a bite of the brown sugar cake, then her eyes widened, she couldn't help but exclaimed, and whispered to the woman, "Mom, it's delicious."
The young woman thought that it was because she didn’t buy her daughter anything delicious on weekdays, which made her think that a brown sugar steamed cake was delicious. “If it’s delicious, Niuniu should eat more.”
The little girl thought it was delicious and wanted to let her mother have a taste of it, so she broke the brown sugar steamed cake into two halves and gave one half to her mother.
Naturally, the woman was reluctant to eat it. Finally, her daughter insisted, so she could only break off a small bite to taste it. The woman was stunned as soon as the steamed cake entered her mouth. It was really delicious. It was not the taste of the brown sugar steamed cake she usually ate. She had never been educated and could not describe how delicious it was. She only knew that it was the most delicious food she had ever eaten in her life. Even the snacks in the best snack shop in Raozhou City were not as delicious as this steamed cake, and the taste of those snacks was even worse.
The woman looked at Xu Qinyu in shock. She remembered that Xu Qinyu seemed to have drawn lots yesterday and was also going to participate in this cooking competition. Such delicious food, this young lady is still so young, but has such skills, she will definitely win the championship of this cooking competition.