As soon as the names of these dishes were reported, the surrounding people began to discuss about it. Even the judges also began to talk.
“Chairman Zhou, this Little Yuan is so confident,” said Bai Xiaoxiao to Zhou Shijie smilingly.
“That is of no matter.” Zhou Shijie answered naturally.
“Haw-haw-haw. Old Bai isn’t a chef, so he doesn’t know how awesome this Little Boss Yuan is. But I know very well that these dishes are probably selected on purpose,” Wang Xiang said smilingly.
He was indeed right. Yuan Zhou was quite famous in the cooking circle of Sichuan Province and he was known to everybody. It wasn’t exaggerated at too to say he was the representative of Sichuan Cuisine.
That’s right. Once the names of these dishes were published, the four judges saw the light. Others hadn’t realized the problem by then, but they were all veterans in the cooking circle. The menu was exactly the same. Of course, Bai Xiaoxiao knew that at the very beginning. After all, the food ingredients were all prepared by him.
“Indeed. Assistant Zhong said the dishes are all the same. On this point, Boss Bai must be very clear.” It was Zhang Yan who had just declared the opening of the competition and got seated.
“Yeah. Two servings of food ingredients that are exactly the same. Even the big crabs are twins,” said Bai Xiaoxiao humorously.
Obviously, Bai Xiaoxiao was telling other judges on site that his food ingredients were all prepared impartially.
“Um.” Zhou Shijie just nodded his head without saying anything.
“I feel quite strange that Little Boss Yuan can agree to come. Those few guys will probably end up in failure even with some superior food ingredients, not to mention the same ingredients,” Wang Xiang looked at Chef Li and his men and then said.
“Little Yuan is a good chef responsible for his customers,” said Zhou Shijie lightly.
Once Zhou Shijie said that, Zhang Yan straightforwardly snorted gently without saying anything. Obviously, he wasn’t satisfied with Chef Li’s dirty deeds at the beginning. However, he didn’t bring that out as it was now during the competition.
Meanwhile, Bai Xiaoxiao and Wang Xiang looked at each other and didn’t ask. They just reminded themselves to ask about that after the competition ended.
After all, Zhou Shijie and Zhang Yan apparently weren’t satisfied with the people from the seafood alliance.
On the other side, Chef Li stood at their kitchen counter and stared at Yuan Zhou’s seven dishes, muttering, “It’s unknown what prawns are used in the Bell Pepper Prawn, but there seem to be many of the same ingredients. For example, sea crabs, squid, and sea snails.”
Besides that, they couldn’t even judge what breed of shellfish and fish Yuan Zhou selected. They were still in the dark.
It had to be admitted that these people were fairly thoughtless. There was an old saying, “Know your enemy and know yourself.” They hadn’t even thought of asking about what Yuan Zhou would cook.
That was really arrogant behavior.
Of course, they themselves didn’t think that way. More than that, they had the same feeling about Yuan Zhou.
“This Yuan Zhou is way too arrogant. He actually dares to use three same food ingredients,” said Ao Pi at the side.
The seven dishes they had chosen were the best masterpieces specially selected by the 28 head chefs.
“Isn’t it better for us? In that way, we can defeat the celebrated Boss Yuan directly,” Chef Li raised his eyebrows and said.
Just when they were talking about how daring Yuan Zhou was, Yuan Zhou had started.
He had begun to process the food ingredients. There were only two hours for cooking. Although the time was enough for him to cook alone, he couldn’t waste any of it.
After all, he could have some rest if he finished earlier and left to prepare the food ingredients required for dinner.
He started with the squid and little yellow croakers. Yuan Zhou had once said that he would let Chef Li lose badly to the extent of doubting his own life. Therefore, he decided to use the exact same dishes to win the competition.
The reason why they had different names was that Zhong Lili arranged it. She said it wouldn’t look good to have two exact same menus during the competition, so she changed several names.
Zhong Lili was really as mischievous as a child.
Chef Li and his men were quite skilled and experienced. They started with the dish Rolling Crab Dumpling. It was the signature dish of Chef Zuo, one of the 28 chief chefs. So he and his sous-chef went up to cook first. Beside them, another head chef was preparing to soak the sea snails.
Others were all conserving strength and storing up energy while Yuan Zhou had to do everything by himself, including processing the ingredients. Therefore, he couldn’t stop for a minute. After pouring several drops of tea-seed oil into the sea snails and soaking them in water, he began to process the mantis shrimps.
Bell Pepper Prawn was also known as the Hot and Numbing Mantis Shrimp. Frankly speaking, Hot and Numbing Mantis Shrimp was delicious, but it was difficult for the flavorings to penetrate the dish. The taste on the shrimp shell outside was heavy while the insides only had a little bit of taste.
Not to mention in Sichuan Province, the problem hadn’t been completely solved even in the coastal cities even if the chefs had rich experiences of processing seafood.
They basically put the flavorings outside of the shrimp shell and ate them along with the prawns.
However, Yuan Zhou found a solution finally. Under the precondition that he didn’t get any help from the system, he had solved 70% or 80% of the problem, even if it was not 100%.
Of course, the concrete effect still depended on Yuan Zhou’s on-site operation. It was time for him to display the high-end actions.
“Shua Shua Shua”. With a faint sound of water, Yuan Zhou took up the mantis shrimp one by one and started to clean them with a soft brush.
After that, the mantis shrimp didn’t bare fangs and brandish claws anymore. They behaved so leisurely and indolent with their green translucent claws stretched as if they had all been massaged.
Even the laymen could tell the differences. After all, the processed mantis shrimps at the other side weren’t as mellow as these ones. They were all moving about in the basket.
While both parties were all busy with their work, some reporters also surrounded the judges and interviewed them.
“Chairman Zhang and Chairman Zhou, what do you think of this competition?” It was a reporter who came up to interview them while the competition was going on.
“This challenge is terrific. It fully proves that Chinese chefs only care about taste rather than authority. It’s a very good friendly exchange,” said Zhou Shijie.
“Those 28 restaurants are said to be dissatisfied with the winner of the Exemplary Restaurant and they even implied that the competition was unfair. What do you think of the matter?” This reporter asked more straightforwardly. Usually, all reporters liked startling news.
“The exemplary restaurant is elected on the basis of various factors like surroundings and taste, etc. I think it’s very fair and just. Only rare chefs have different opinions,” Zhang Yan said solemnly.
The previous remarks were made by Zhou Shijie while the latter remarks by Zhang Yan. It could be judged from their remarks that why one could be the chairman of China Chef’s Alliance and the other one be the chairman of Sichuan Cuisine Alliance.
“Mr. Bai, what do you say about this competition?” The reporter continued asking.
“First of all, that tiny restaurant on Taoxi Road has been known to me for a long while. I have been quite busy in other places and didn’t have time to eat there. And today, I finally got an opportunity to eat the dishes here. So I’m very happy,” Bai Xiaoxiao smiled and said.
Wang Xiang didn’t say anything. He didn’t really like speaking in the face of reporters. Besides, there wasn’t the dish, Australian lobsters, which he was best at among the dishes reported by both parties. Therefore, he was a little unhappy.
“You guys invited me here to be the judge, but don’t cook what I’m best at. I’m also a naughty baby and this naughty baby isn’t happy.” That was the current thoughts of Wang Xiang.
…
