Chapter 434 Ordinary

While the five judges were still enjoying the delicious dragon beard noodles, the second dish had already been served.

This is a very common dish of stir-fried celery and lily. There is nothing special about it in terms of ingredients or cooking method.

Celery and “diligent” have the same pronunciation, so it is appropriate to choose celery to reflect the meaning of “diligent”.

Lily also has a good meaning. Lily is white in color, and when fried, it is crystal clear, which looks very noble and elegant. Lily also has the meaning of happiness and satisfaction. When fried with celery, it means to make your life happy and satisfactory through hard work, which has a good meaning.

However, this is a cooking test after all, and the taste ultimately comes down to it.

To be honest, after eating the dragon beard noodles, the five judges had to say that they were a little disappointed with this ordinary dish of fried celery and lily.

People are like this. After tasting delicious food, their threshold will be raised. At this moment, if they taste relatively ordinary food, they will feel that the ordinariness is a fault.

Because after tasting a delicious dish, they expect an even more delicious dish, not just an ordinary meal.

When there is a gap between expectations and reality, people will feel dissatisfied.

Now, this dish of celery and lily stir-fried carries everyone's dissatisfaction.

The five people stared at the dish, but no one picked up their chopsticks.

The fat old man said: "Celery and the Chinese character for 'diligent' have the same pronunciation. This dish meets the assessment criteria."

The thin old man said: "However, it is not appropriate to serve this dish after the dragon beard noodles."

"Yes, this is a strategic mistake. He shouldn't have made the first dish so perfect, raising people's expectations for the subsequent dishes, but in the end he failed to serve dishes that met expectations. If this is the case, he should have been more restrained when making the first dish, and put his energy and skills into the subsequent dishes, deepening and consolidating the diners' expectations little by little."

"Assessing five dishes at the same time requires a chef's cooking strategy to be more tested than a single test. First, the boy chose a more time-consuming method, handing his advantage to others. Then, this young man served an extremely delicious first dish, but the next dish was such an ordinary one, which was really disappointing. The possibility of these two people winning is not high, and it seems that our duties must continue."

The old man sitting in the middle sighed and said, "No need to say more, let's start tasting."

As soon as the old man finished speaking, the other four people immediately shut up and stopped talking, showing great respect for him.

Moreover, they are judges, so even if they are dissatisfied, they still have to fulfill their duties.

The five of them picked up their chopsticks and picked up the dish of fried celery and lily.

As soon as the dish enters the mouth, the crisp celery makes a "crunch" sound as soon as the teeth bite it lightly. The taste of lily is not as crisp as celery, but more tender, softer and more delicate, melting in the mouth, giving people a silky enjoyment. These two completely different tastes are intertwined in the mouth, forming a unique taste experience that is both crisp and tender, which makes people feel extremely happy.

This dish combines the fragrance of celery and the sweetness of lily. The aroma of celery is fresh and rich, with a hint of natural spiciness, while the lily has a light sweetness that is not greasy, but gives people a warm and jade-like feeling. The two flavors penetrate and set off each other, forming an indescribable deliciousness.

This dish was originally bland and in their opinion could not compare to dragon beard noodles. However, its uniqueness was revealed little by little as they chewed it.

The rich flavor of the dragon beard noodles' broth was still lingering in my mouth. Now, when it met this fresh and natural taste, it was like oil boiling over a raging fire, instantly creating an unimaginable deliciousness.

The rich flavor of the broth makes this fresh and elegant aroma more complex and mysterious. At the same time, it does not cover up the fresh aroma. Instead, it makes the fresh aroma become stronger with its power, like a refreshing breeze blowing through in an instant, blowing every pore thoroughly, making people shiver unconsciously, as if the whole person is refreshed.

While Yan Xian was busy, Xu Qing was not idle either. Cooking porridge requires time and patience, but he does not need to keep an eye on the casserole. He can prepare other dishes during this time and serve all five dishes together.

However, other dishes cannot be prepared before the porridge, because temperature is also part of the deliciousness.

If other dishes are prepared first, the delicious taste will be lost as the temperature of the dishes drops during the waiting process.

Steaming hot dishes are not only good for the stomach, but also delicious. Many dishes taste different once they cool down. Some dishes, like meat, will have a distinct fishy smell once they cool down, and the taste will drop several levels.

Therefore, temperature control is very important, which not only refers to the heat and temperature when cooking, but also the temperature after the dish is finished.

Therefore, the next four dishes can only be finished later than the porridge, but not earlier.

According to the order of the assessment, the whole grain porridge representing "faith" must be the first dish, followed by the second and third dishes. If the order is messed up, the person will be disqualified immediately.

It would be even worse if you finish too early and the dish gets cold, losing its delicious taste.

Therefore, no matter what Xu Qing did, he still had to wait for the whole grain porridge to be finished.

If you are slow in one step, all steps will be slow. Now Yan Xian is about to make the third dish.

If Yan Xian had prepared the five dishes before his five-grain porridge was finished, there would be no need for competition at all.

Faced with this unfavorable situation, Xu Qing couldn't help feeling a little anxious.

Who wouldn't be anxious when such a good situation was ruined by one's own hands?

But no matter how anxious he is, if Xu Qing were given the chance to choose again, he would still choose to do so.

Even if he loses in the end, he still wants to make the dish he wants to make. And apart from the whole grain porridge, in his heart, there is no other dish that can match the word "faith".

If you can’t cook the dish you want most, if you can’t present the ultimate deliciousness you imagined in your mind, then what difference does it make whether you win or lose?

For him, a cooking duel is not as simple as winning or losing. If it is just for winning, with his ability, he has thousands of ways to win.

But Xu Qing still remembered what Master Abei said, that cooking duels are not a tool for chefs to fight each other. To him, cooking duels are a way for chefs to express themselves and understand each other.

If he couldn't show off the dishes he had in mind, then the cooking competition would be meaningless to Xu Qing.

After confirming his thoughts, Xu Qing's anxious heart gradually calmed down.

Since you have no regrets, just work hard at it.

As for the results, we'll tell you after it's done.

(End of this chapter)