Chapter 197 Choice and Attempt

After the initial preparation, the squid needs to be blanched.

This can further remove the fishy smell of the squid and make the meat taste better. Boil the squid in boiling water in advance to keep the squid fresh and tender.

This is especially true for giant squid.

The blanching step is essential.

Because the bigger the squid is, the stronger the fishy smell will be. The fishy smell is not only on the skin, but also penetrates into the squid meat. If it is not blanched, it will greatly affect the taste.

After the water boils, put the squid meat into the boiling water and cook for about a minute, then quickly take it out, wash it with cold water, and set it aside.

After Xu Qing completed this step, he discovered that Lai He was actually one step faster than him.

Lai He skipped the blanching step and went directly to the knife skills step.

Doesn't he deal with the fishy smell?
Xu Qing was confused.

But he didn't have time to think about it, because Lai He was much faster than him.

Knife skills have always been Xu Qing's forte.

Lai He's knife skills were not very good to begin with, but after using acupuncture to improve his physical condition several times, his knife skills have successfully reached the top ranks.

Moreover, with the help of his keen five senses, Lai He even felt that he was close to the knife skills displayed by Xu Qing.

The silver blade light was no longer out of reach. He could clearly feel that he was closer to it. The distance that seemed like an inconceivable chasm became within his sight, as if as long as he worked a little harder and made a little more progress, he would be able to completely reach where the silver blade light was.

Driven by this motivation, Lai He's knife skills became faster and faster, and the knife shadows gradually merged into one and turned into a blurry light.

Li Yan's expression suddenly froze. Lai He's knife skills actually had some of Xu Qing's qualities at that time.

How can this be?

Is that unreachable phantom really something that can be reached by human power?

Or, is the secret method of the dark cooking world really so magical? Can it increase a person's strength to such an extent that he can become an inhuman being?
Li Yan subconsciously looked up at Xu Qing's desk opposite him, wanting to compare the knife skills of both parties.

At this moment, Xu Qing had put away the kitchen knife. Next to his chopping board, there were squid shreds as crystal clear as jade. Each shred of squid was slender and translucent. The length and thickness of each shred of squid were exactly the same, and as thin as a hair. From the appearance alone, they did not look like squid at all, but rather like soaked vermicelli.

Lai He pursued speed, so the slices he cut were slightly larger.

Cutting into strips is more time-consuming than slicing, not to mention cutting the squid into extremely thin strips like Xu Qing did.

Even so, Xu Qing still finished one step faster than Lai He, and even wiped out the time advantage that Lai He had tried every means to gain in an instant.

However, Li Yan noticed Jidi's expression, which was a complex mixture of shock and extreme joy.

Jidi's gaze fell directly on Xu Qing's kitchen knife, and there seemed to be a flash of silver knife light passing through his eyes.

He was already deeply immersed in the mysterious world that Xu Qing had constructed with his knife skills, unable to extricate himself.

What kind of knife skill is this?
It's a shame he didn't get to see it.

Li Yan felt extremely regretful.

He could only watch with jealousy and envy as Jidi immersed himself in the world of knife skills.

Lai He looked at the squid slices in his hand and felt very proud.

This was the best thing he had ever done in his life. It had never happened before and probably would never happen again.

The comprehensive strengthening of his body made him seem to have crossed an invisible threshold. The knife in his hand and his perception were completely different from before.

Lai He raised his head and was about to admire Xu Qing busy cutting the squid, but was surprised to find that Xu Qing had already cut the squid, and it was squid shreds that were more complex and delicate.

Xu Qing has already started heating the pot and boiling water.

Xu Qing, who had been lagging behind him, suddenly got ahead of him just by relying on his knife skills.

How could it be so fast?

Lai He couldn't help feeling frustrated.

Even after being catalyzed by the secret methods of the dark cooking world, which strengthened his body in all aspects, he still could not catch up with Xu Qing.

Is Xu Qing's knife skills really that amazing? Is it so amazing that it's inhuman?
Now is not the time to think about this.

Lai He quickly collected his thoughts.

Now he is behind.

However, he has an absolute advantage when it comes to stir-frying.

Those are the eight brass stoves meticulously crafted by craftsmen in the dark cuisine world.

Only with such strong firepower can the squid be fried until cooked in the shortest time.

At the same time, Lai He also wanted to challenge himself.

In making the first dish of Eight Delicacies from the Sea, Lai He demonstrated consistency. He integrated eight kinds of rare ingredients from the sea into one, allowing their different flavors to achieve unprecedented consistency under the exquisite control of the heat, making these eight distinct delicacies blend into one.

But at this moment, what Lai He wanted to show was difference.

Lai He uses a single ingredient, squid, to create eight completely different flavors simply by varying the heat and cooking time.

For him before, this was a skill that only existed in his imagination.

Because this requires extremely delicate control over the temperature, which is not something that can be achieved through hard work alone, but also requires extraordinary talent.

At this moment, Lai He, whose body was strengthened in all aspects, stepped over the threshold of talent. His keen five senses allowed him to control firepower to an unprecedented level.

Therefore, Lai He has the confidence to display the skills in his imagination.

This dish will be the pinnacle of his career!

He will completely defeat his greatest enemy in this life with this masterpiece that only exists in his imagination.

Just thinking about it, Lai He felt that he had no regrets in his life.

In terms of firepower, Xu Qing is definitely no match for him.

During the first duel, Xu Qing spent a lot of time heating the sand and gravel, using the heat of the sand and gravel to make up for the difference in firepower.

But in the situation where every second counts, Xu Qing had absolutely no chance to heat the sand and stones, so he could only cook the ingredients with a weak fire.

If the fire is weak, it will take longer to cook, otherwise the squid will not be cooked through.

Either Xu Qing sacrifices the taste of the dish, or ensures the taste and sacrifices time.

There is no third option.

No matter which one Xu Qing chooses, there is only one outcome before him, and that is loss!
Xu Qing also realized this.

The only way to speed up the cooking of squid is to blanch it in hot water.

This is different from blanching, which only involves boiling the squid in water to remove the fishy smell and does not require cooking.

However, blanching in hot water is to cook the squid shreds as much as possible, so that less time will be spent on stir-frying.

However, blanching in hot water has a huge disadvantage, as it will make the squid shreds hard and lose their original tender texture.

If the squid is blanched in hot water and then stir-fried, a lot of its flavor will be lost and the taste will become worse. It is not worth it. It is better to stir-fry it directly.

The only skill Xu Qing currently has that allows him to keep the fresh texture and flavor of the squid strips during the blanching process is the secret skill he learned from the imperial kitchen - the Jade Hand.

However, direct contact of hands with boiling water for even two seconds can cause severe burns, and two seconds is clearly not enough to cook the shredded squid.

Xu Qing had no choice but to use chopsticks as an extension of his hands.

It was the first time for him to use chopsticks instead of direct contact to perform the Jade Hand Maneuver.

Perhaps even the person who created the Jade Hand gesture never imagined that someone would perform the Jade Hand gesture with chopsticks.

This is simply ridiculous.

I don’t know if it will succeed…

However, now that things have come to this, we can only give it a try.

(End of this chapter)