Chapter 190 Stew
After Lai He left, Li Yan and Xu Qing looked at each other and felt a lot more relieved.

Although Li Yan is still a member of the dark cuisine world, his mentality is different from before.

He admired Xu Qing's strength, and with the change in his mentality, he no longer wanted to be Xu Qing's enemy.

Lai He's presence here would make him feel uncomfortable.

Li Yan said, "After competing with me, I'm afraid you will have very little physical strength left. When you fight with Lai He again, you will be at a significant disadvantage. This duel is not about winning or losing, so why not just be casual."

Xu Qing shook his head and said, "Regardless of whether there is a winner or a loser, since it is a cooking competition, you must give it your all. Otherwise, it is disrespectful to your opponent and yourself. You are also a chef, you should understand."

Hearing this, Li Yan suddenly felt dazed. He murmured, "I haven't heard such words for a long time..."

He had been in the dark for too long.

The rule in the dark cuisine world is that the winner lives and the loser dies.

Victory or defeat becomes a huge burden weighing on people, making them feel breathless all the time.

Giving your all in a cooking showdown is not to explore the limits of food, nor to exchange skills with each other, but to give yourself a break and to keep your life going.

The two sides in the duel did not seem like equals, but like wild beasts in the Colosseum, using all their strength to bite each other madly.

In such extreme circumstances, people can unleash tremendous potential.

But at the same time, it can also make people feel extremely tired and painful.

At this moment, Xu Qing's words made Li Yan's heart suddenly calm down, and the long-forgotten peace and tranquility belonging to the bright culinary world returned to his heart.

Xu Qing smiled and said, "Then let's conduct this duel according to the rules of the bright cooking world. The duel is not to decide life and death, but to pursue the ultimate in deliciousness, to strive for excellence in cooking, and never stop."

Without the burden of victory or defeat, life or death, such a relaxed duel made Li Yan's emotions extremely excited.

It's not for revenge, not for victory or defeat, life or death, but simply to verify what I have learned in my life.

Such a pure thought turned into a blazing flame in his heart, making the chef's cold and dying heart beat again and making his blood boil.

Li Yan took a deep breath and said, "Okay, let's go all out and present the most delicious food to each other! I will also try my best to use everything I have learned in my life to challenge you and the ultimate in deliciousness!"

Xu Qing nodded gently and said, "I'm looking forward to it."

After saying that, they both turned around at the same time and began to prepare for cooking.

The theme of this time is clear stew, which means using little or no seasoning and simmering slowly over low heat. Clear stew generally follows the "less but better" approach to preserve the original flavor of the ingredients as much as possible. Therefore, it is not advisable to use too many seasonings, generally only salt, onions, ginger, pepper, and aniseed, and no soy sauce or other seasonings with strong colors or flavors, so that the finished soup is as clear as water.

The utensil used for stewing is usually a casserole, because the casserole is heated more evenly than an iron pot.

Because of its material, the heat transfer speed of the clay pot is slow. When the pot is heated, the heat will not be concentrated in one place, but will be slowly transferred to all parts, so that the whole pot is evenly heated. And because of the slow heat transfer speed, the heat preservation performance of the clay pot is higher than that of metal with fast heat dissipation.

The method of stewing is to simmer over low heat, which takes a long time. Therefore, the stability of the temperature inside the pot is very important. Only a stable temperature can slowly release the flavor and nutrition of the ingredients and perfectly blend with the soup.

Therefore, casserole is the best utensil for stewing.

In terms of taste and texture, soup cooked in a clay pot is much more fragrant than soup cooked in metal utensils, and the meat is also softer and more flavorful. Of course, because clay pots heat slowly, they take much longer to cook than metal pots. The cooking time of a clay pot is not fixed, but adjusted according to the characteristics of the ingredients.

If the meat is hard and old, it will need to be stewed over low heat for a long time to make it soft and tender. For example, beef usually takes more than an hour to cook.

If the meat is more tender, it cannot be stewed for a long time. Instead, it should be stewed over a higher heat for a short time. This will ensure the texture and flavor of the ingredients and prevent the tender ingredients from becoming old and tough. For example, the cooking time for seafood generally does not exceed half an hour.

For ingredients like squid, once they are overcooked, the tender and elastic meat will become like rubber, and it will be difficult to chew it. At that time, tasting the food becomes a terrible torture, which cannot be simply described as chewing wax.

Time and heat are both crucial no matter which cooking method is used.

Lobster is also a delicate ingredient, so it should not be cooked for too long.

In addition to seasoning, stewing also has relatively high requirements for ingredients. If it is meat, the ingredients must be washed first, and then cooked over high heat to remove blood and impurities. After being cooked at high temperature, these things will be released from the meat fibers and become foamy.

After skimming off the foam, take out the cooked meat and let it cool naturally, then wash it again with clean water before stewing it in a casserole. This will ensure that the soup is clear and pure without impurities.

The same goes for lobster. Although it contains less blood and impurities than other meats such as pork and beef, cooking and blanching the lobster first can make its taste purer and more delicate, and can make its unique sweet taste even clearer.

After the lobster is processed, it’s time to choose the rest of the ingredients.

Li Yan looked at the many earthenware jars placed at his feet. These were the dry goods he had carefully prepared specifically for the three lobster battles.

These dry goods are soaked in the essence of the sun and the moon, and are soaked in the pain and fire of revenge he has had for so many years. They are the best helpers on his road to revenge.

But at this moment, he no longer needed revenge.

He just wanted to pursue the deliciousness of the dishes and the perfection of cooking skills, just like an ordinary chef in the Guangming cuisine world.

And this food that is soaked in his dark thoughts will become impurities.

Li Yan took one last look at the jars, then picked them up one by one, smashed them one by one, and swept the contents and the jar debris aside.

After doing all this, Li Yan felt as if he had broken free from invisible shackles.

Xu Qing looked at the earthenware jars and the ingredients inside and asked in surprise, "Aren't these the ingredients you carefully prepared?"

Li Yan nodded and said, "Yes. They are witnesses of my past. But at this moment, I want to step over them and move on to a new path."

Xu Qing reminded: "Ordinary ingredients are no match for me."

Li Yan asked back, "Didn't the seafood rice you made earlier use ordinary ingredients?"

Xu Qing burst out laughing.

Li Yan said: "What I am going to make today is the dish that I carefully prepared but failed to make. That duel was the beginning of all my pain. Now let it put an end to the past and illuminate a new path for me."

Hearing Li Yan say this, Xu Qing was very curious.

What kind of dish would the man who was once as famous as Master Jidi prepare in order to win the person he loves?

(End of this chapter)