Chapter 304 Weakness
The first dish Chef Tang made was the Dragon and Phoenix Chicken Wings.

After being defeated by the mysterious man, he made many improvements to the Dragon and Phoenix Chicken Wings.

Therefore, the dragon and phoenix chicken wings he made now were more perfect than what he made before.

After making the dragon and phoenix chicken wings, he recreated the fried chicken wings made by the mysterious man.

After tasting the fried chicken wings himself, Chef Tang kept experimenting based on his own impressions, and finally made a dish that was 80% similar to the fried chicken wings.

The purpose is to find a way to deal with the mysterious man while recreating the dish.

But no matter how he tried, the fried chicken wings could only be 80% similar, with a taste that was 20% better, and he just couldn't make it.

The fried chicken wings were mediocre in terms of material and ingredients. Why couldn't he recreate it perfectly? What was missing?
Chef Tang pondered over this for many days but still couldn't find the answer.

At this moment, the improved and strengthened dragon and phoenix chicken wings, as well as the 80% similar fried chicken wings, were placed in front of Xu Qing, waiting for him to taste.

Chef Tang said, "Xu Qing, give it a try. Although my imitation of the fried chicken wings made by the mysterious man is only 80% similar, it should be qualified as a reference."

Xu Qing did not taste it immediately. Instead, after a little thought, he said, "Chef Tang, I have a question for you."

"What is it?"

"When the mysterious man fried the chicken wings, did he poke holes in them with a needle-like object first?"

Chef Tang asked in surprise, "How did you know?"

Sure enough, the other party is indeed a powerful person.

Xu Qing thought to himself.

Chef Tang then said, "Although I don't understand why he did this, I also poked holes in the chicken wings according to his method."

Xu Qing said: "The problem is not with the hole, but with the needle."

Chef Tang frowned and asked, "Needle? Do you mean that he also used unfair means like the people in the dark cuisine world?"

Xu Qing shook his head. "No, I don't think so. I'm afraid the needle he used was hollow, and he injected the pre-mixed seasoning into the food by acupuncture, allowing the delicious taste of the food to radiate from the inside out."

"What? I didn't expect that..."

"Besides that, I'm afraid his technique is specifically designed for the dish you made, Chef Tang."

Chef Tang frowned, "Targeting me specifically?"

Xu Qing put a piece of dragon and phoenix chicken wing into his mouth and chewed it carefully.

Then he said: "Chef Tang's dragon and phoenix chicken wings are crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. They are covered with crispy skin on the outside, and they burst in your mouth with a light bite. Under the crispy skin is the delicious and juicy chicken, which is tender and smooth, and cleverly combines elasticity and softness into one." "Continue to go deeper through the chicken, the taste in your mouth also changes, and the tempting meaty aroma of pork blooms in your mouth with the fragrance of spices. Pork is selected with fat and lean meat, so that the firm lean meat brings a dense taste between the teeth, and also has the delicate fragrance of fat. After high-temperature frying, the fat melts under the action of heat and turns into delicious gravy that soaks into the meat filling. At the same time, the aroma of oil stimulates the taste of spices, making it more intense."

"Then there is the ocean flavor composed of shrimp and kelp. After tasting the deliciousness on land, I came to the sea. The different flavors from the land made the taste in my mouth complex and mysterious again. In just one chew, the taste in my mouth changed three times. At the same time, the unique elasticity and firmness of shrimp meat presents a completely different taste from chicken and pork, which is very interesting."

After tasting the Dragon and Phoenix chicken wings, Xu Qing picked up the fried chicken wings that were 80% similar.

Just by smelling it, Xu Qing knew that something was wrong with the fried chicken wings, but out of respect, he still put the fried chicken wings into his mouth to taste them.

But he put down his chopsticks after tasting it and did not give any comments as he did before.

Seeing that Xu Qing didn't say anything, Chef Tang asked curiously, "How is it? Which of these two dishes do you think is better?"

Xu Qing said: "At the moment, it seems that Chef Tang's Dragon and Phoenix Chicken Wings are naturally better."

Chef Tang was delighted.

Xu Qing then said, "However, if we follow the original taste of fried chicken wings, I'm afraid Chef Tang's Dragon and Phoenix Chicken Wings will still lose."

"why?"

"Chef Tang, why do you think we lost before?"

Chef Tang said, "We lost because of the harmony of flavors. Although my dragon and phoenix chicken wings tasted novel, the transition between the flavors of chicken, pork, and seafood was a little abrupt and not perfect. But now that I have made a lot of improvements, I shouldn't lose. At least we can tie."

Xu Qing shook his head and said, "It's impossible to be a draw. Because his fried chicken wings are specially made to target your Dragon and Phoenix chicken wings, Chef Tang."

"This is impossible! I have never made this dragon and phoenix chicken wings in front of others. The cooking competition was the first time I showed this dish in front of everyone. How could he design it specifically for my dish?"

Xu Qing said: "There are two possibilities. One is that this is just a coincidence. Perhaps his method happened to hit the weakness of the dragon and phoenix chicken wings. The second possibility is that when he saw you, Chef Tang, cooking, he realized the weakness of your dish and quickly designed a design to address it."

Chef Tang asked, "Weakness? Besides the problem with the flavor conversion, what other weaknesses does my Dragon and Phoenix Chicken Wings have?"

"The weakness is the filling. Chef Tang, you want to show as many stimulations as possible to the taste buds, the changes in various flavors and the impact of taste. But this creates a shortcoming, that is, this dish has no protagonist. Various flavors are competing for the taste buds. The conflict between them not only brings strong stimulation to the taste buds, but also makes it impossible for the taste buds to concentrate on a certain flavor, and it is impossible to leave a deep impression on the taste buds."

"The dishes made by the mysterious man are targeted at this point. All his methods are designed for chicken. In order to fully display the deliciousness of the chicken, he injected the seasoning into the chicken's interior, just to not miss any corner, from the inside out, to fully display the deliciousness of the chicken to the extreme. When your Dragon and Phoenix Chicken Wings, Chef Tang, faces a dish that focuses on one point, it will be defeated by it."

If it was as Xu Qing said, then the terrifying nature of this enemy was far beyond Chef Tang's expectations.

The ability to quickly spot weaknesses, the brainpower to quickly design targeted measures, and the ability to put them into practice.

If someone possesses one of these three, he or she can become a top chef.

If one possesses all three, he would be a rare talent even among the top chefs.

(End of this chapter)