Chapter 364 Disadvantages
"Old man, who are you?"

The old man smiled and said, "Me? I'm just a greedy old man. When I see something delicious, I want to try it. I heard that the business of this new restaurant is better than that of Juxialou, so I came. I also heard that the chef of this restaurant is going to have a cooking showdown with the chef of Juxialou. Is it true?"

Xu Qing nodded and said, "It's true."

"Oh, that must be a very delicious dish. I really want to try it!"

As the old man spoke, a longing look appeared on his face.

Xu Qing's heart moved, and he said with a smile: "If I invite you, old man, to be the judge of the cooking competition, would you be willing?"

The old man's eyes lit up, "Of course I am willing! It's a pity that they would not hire someone like me. Look at me..."

The old man tugged at his tattered clothes and said, "You are just an old beggar. It's good enough if you don't get kicked out when you go to a restaurant to eat, let alone serve as a judge in a cooking competition."

Xu Qing said, "I am familiar with the people in Juxialou. I will go and talk to them and guarantee that the old man can be the judge of this cooking competition."

"Thank you very much."

The old man rubbed his hands excitedly, his face shining.

The two chatted for a while, and Xu Qing was deeply surprised by the old man's insights into food. He couldn't help but sigh that there are really hidden dragons and crouching tigers in the world. Who would have thought that an old man he met casually would be so amazing.

Who knows how many powerful people are hidden in this world.

He really shouldn't be complacent. He needs to work harder to improve his cooking skills and knowledge.

After a while, two dishes were placed on the table.

A plate of pepper meat and a plate of fresh bamboo shoots in white oil.

One plate is bright red, the other is crisp green. The two completely different colors collide with each other, bringing great visual shock.

In addition to diced meat, Sichuan pepper meat also contains Sichuan peppercorns and chili peppers, which fully demonstrates the unique spicy and fresh fragrance of Sichuan cuisine. This stimulating aroma seems to be unnecessary to smell. Once it appears, it will actively drill into people's noses, and it is impossible not to smell it.

The fresh bamboo shoots cooked in white oil are extremely light, with no other ingredients except the crispy bamboo shoots. The unique fragrance of the bamboo shoots wafts in the air, cleverly neutralizing the excessive stimulation brought by the spicy food.

These are two very monotonous dishes, but it is precisely because of their monotony that they are pure and can reach the extreme in certain aspects.

“It smells so good, so good!”

The old man couldn't wait to pick up the chopsticks, picked up a piece of food and put it into his mouth.

For Xu Qing, his sense of smell has already told him a lot of information, but there are some things that cannot be fully understood without tasting them personally, especially for pure dishes.

Xu Qing also picked up a piece of food with chopsticks and put it into his mouth to savor it carefully.

First is the pepper meat.

The name of Sichuan peppercorns reveals the unique flavor of this dish, which is numbing.

Even the peppers have to take a back seat to the numbing taste. But the numbing taste alone doesn't make it a delicious dish, or you might as well just chew the peppercorns instead of eating.
Therefore, Sichuan pepper meat should not only highlight the taste of numbness, but also make the numbness change from a simple taste sensation to a delicious taste.

The difference between simply feeling numb and feeling numb enough to be considered delicious reflects the skills of the chef.

As soon as he took a bite of the dish, Xu Qing frowned.

To be honest, according to his level, this dish is not up to standard.

His tongue, which had long been spoiled by his cooking skills, was desperately expressing its dissatisfaction and constantly finding fault, saying this was not good, that was not good enough. Many improved methods and techniques flashed through his mind, making him unable to even eat a meal in peace.

First of all, the fusion of numbness and fragrance is not enough. Although the characteristic of Sichuan pepper meat is numbness, it cannot be entirely numb. The spiciness of the pepper and the mellow fragrance of the meat must become part of the numbness. Only in this way can the simple numbness be transformed into what can be called delicious numbness.

Therefore, while tasting the numbness, the aroma of chili and meat is also an indispensable part.

However, the numbing taste in the mouth masked the spicy taste and the fragrance of the meat. The two failed to blend perfectly into one, but each of them acted independently, with one side overwhelming the other.

This causes the flavors in the mouth to conflict with each other, as if a harmonious dance has turned into a gladiatorial arena.

But what’s interesting is that Han Jiang seemed to be aware of the conflict between the flavors. He did not try to resolve the conflict, but instead used another method to intensify the conflict.

Han Jiang added a new flavor to this dish, which is sweetness. The addition of sweetness makes the conflict between the various flavors more intense, but this intense conflict brings a unique stimulation to the taste buds, making people feel addicted.

This made Xu Qing nod his head. Han Jiang's idea was very interesting. It broke the harmonious scene and introduced a stronger conflict, allowing a more intense sense of stimulation to cover up the disharmony in taste. This made the taste of the pepper meat more fresh and uniquely tempting.

After tasting the pepper meat, Xu Qing kept using his chopsticks and immediately turned to another dish, the fresh bamboo shoots in white oil.

Fresh bamboo shoots cooked in white oil, the white oil here means lard, and fresh bamboo shoots are fried in lard. Generally, when cooking vegetarian dishes, chefs will basically choose lard, because the unique taste and flavor of lard in cooking vegetarian dishes cannot be replaced by other cooking oils.

Lard will make vegetarian dishes more delicious. At the same time, the unique delicate texture of lard will make vegetarian dishes more silky and oily, and taste better.

This dish of fresh bamboo shoots cooked in white oil is just like that.

Like the previous dish, this dish of fresh bamboo shoots in white oil also has some shortcomings.

The flavors were also not perfectly integrated. Lard should have enhanced the taste of fresh bamboo shoots, but the addition of lard made the crispness of the fresh bamboo shoots more greasy, making the taste of the fresh bamboo shoots inferior to that of lard, and the fresh bamboo shoots became prisoners of the lard aroma.

Han Jiang's approach was the same as the previous dish. He did not choose a harmonious treatment, but instead deepened the sense of conflict. He added sourness to the fresh bamboo shoots in white oil. The addition of sourness enhanced the refreshing feeling of the fresh bamboo shoots, allowing the taste of the fresh bamboo shoots to go hand in hand with the lard. The two collided with each other, going back and forth without giving in to each other, but instead evolved a more interesting flavor on the taste buds.

In fact, the perfect fusion of various flavors is a great test of the chef's level.

Not all chefs can do this successfully.

While facing up to their own shortcomings, they are able to transform these shortcomings into a unique charm, covering up their own deficiencies and bringing diners a more wonderful enjoyment. This ingenuity is very admirable.

Moreover, the true nature of a chef can be seen more clearly through the dishes. Xu Qing realized through the dishes that Han Jiang was not the kind of person who would make a big deal out of a small matter. Even if Chef Abei really apologized to him and wanted to resolve the conflict, he would never agree.

(End of this chapter)