Given ten kinds of ingredients, process it with at least five different cutting techniques. This topic was very simple for some people, but it would be hard for homecooks and laymen. Normally, they probably only knew how to cut it horizontally, vertically, and dice it.
With this one task, the distance between actual chefs and laymen was widened.
The host patrolled the past row by row, and randomly interviewed some of them.
“Excuse me, why are you gently patting the cucumbers?” the host asked a little chubby guy curiously.
The chubby guy raised his head and showed a naive smile, “I can’t think of any other knife skills. Is patting cucumbers one of them?”
The host was speechless for a second. “Ah… your mind is quite creative.”
“Haha,” Yu Antong turned his head to watch the excitement, and almost couldn’t hold back his laughter. ‘These people are so interesting.’
The host walked over to Yu Antong and said, “Looking at you smiling so happily, it seems that this round of challenges is not stressful for you at all.”
Yu Antong smiled and turned his hand to signal the host to look at the chopping board, only to see Lin Haoning quickly changing different cutting methods, apparently without any pressure.
While Lin Haoning was cutting, Yu Antong explained each technique he used, “This is guillotine cutting, this is hob cutting, knife-press cutting, clapping knife cutting1I’m also a layman about cooking, so I just translated them literally.…”
The camera followed and gave them a close-up of the shot. The host gave them a thumbs-up, remembering what he said just now about knife-press, he asked, “There’s a technique called knife-press?”
“Yes,” Yu Antong’s smile deepened, obviously also thinking of the chubby fat guy who patted cucumbers just now, “But instead of using a knife to pat the food; first, you embed the blade into the food. Then, hold the knife and stabilize it in one hand, while your other palm strikes the back of the blade until it cuts through.”
The host nodded and said, “I see, I see. I gain new knowledge everyday!” Then he went on to the next row.
Ten minutes was not long. Soon enough, while many contestants were scratching their heads, ten minutes was up.
“Okay! It’s time!” the host shouted, “Everyone stop your movements, and the cameras next to each of you will accurately record the cutting techniques you use.”
Some staff checked the replays and counted. The contestants who failed the challenge were directly notified to leave the scene.
“According to statistics, a total of 36 groups of contestants have passed the first round of the challenge! Congratulations to these 36 groups of contestants!”
“Now you can see that there is a door here, and there are five professional judges waiting behind this door,” the host said as he grandly gestured towards the door, “Then, you have an hour to go to our ingredients supermarket to choose ingredients and make a dish that you are best at.”
The host continued, “You will bring your specialty dish to this door to impress the five judges behind the door. If you fail to get approval from at least three judges, you will be eliminated!”
“Now let’s get to know our five judges through the big screen.”
The door the host pointed at just now became brighter. It turned out that the door was actually two movable electronic screens that merged together.
The images of the five judges and teachers were displayed on the electronic screen, and they waved to the people outside: “Everyone, welcome.”
“We also welcome you all!” the host said, while the screen switched to a single image of the first judge from the far left, and the host continued, “Let’s first meet the first judge. She’s a famous food critic and the author of many famous cookbooks! We welcome Qing Ning-laoshi!”
Qing Ning was a 37-year-old career woman. Her waist-length wavy long hair and bright red lipstick make her look mature and attractive.
Next, the host introduced the other four food judges one by one. Next to Qing Ning was Shun Ming, the executive head chef of a well-known domestic hotel. He had a medium build, and was around his forties. He looked like a clean, savvy middle-aged man.
Sitting in the middle was Jiang Liushen, the vice president of the Chinese Chefs Association. He was 75 years old this year. He has made a lot of contributions to the development of Chinese cuisine in his life. He has gray hair, a protruding beer belly, and wearing a brown Tang suit. Despite his age, his complexion was still rosy and he looked energetic.
Next was the celebrity Shen Yuexin, who has the title “Foodie of the Entertainment Industry”. Her appearance could only be considered average in the entertainment industry, as that circle was saturated by beauties of many kinds, but her charm lay in her pure look. She was slender, and claimed to be able to inhale food without getting fat. She had this “cute foodie” persona that was popular with the masses.
The last one was the program sponsor, the CEO of Red Sun Rice Cooker Company, Jia Sibo. He’s a gourmet entrepreneur, was thirty-five years old this year. He was tall and big, with a square face. Overall, he’s a middle-aged man with a relatively ordinary appearance.
Yu Antong saw that Jia Sibo somehow looked familiar, and for a moment he couldn’t remember if he had seen this person before. But, most likely he didn’t – he never personally knew the owner of the Red Sun Rice Cooker Company.
Without giving Yu Antong time to think about it, the light of the screen disappeared, and the electronic screen changed into the shape of a door again.
The host said, “Just now, everyone has finished greeting the five judges. Next, go choose the ingredients and utensils you need, and prepare to cook. The time limit is 1 hour! From my count, 3, 2, 1! The timer starts! “
Following the host’s order, many people went straight to the “supermarket” prepared by the staff to choose their ingredients. Many of them were grouped into a team of two or three people, and were in a circle to gather and discuss what dishes to prepare.
With the first round of preliminary challenge acting as a buffer, Lin Haoning and Jiang Yuxiu were no longer nervous facing the camera. The preliminary round was originally just an appetizer used by the director to attract the audience, but unexpectedly it helped them.
The three gathered together to discuss what to cook.
“We are only given one dish to prepare,” Lin Haoning started, “Master, should we make a simpler one that keeps our strength hidden, or a more complicated one that will awe people?”
Yu Antong asked them both back, “What do you think?”
Jiang Yuxiu gave her opinion, “We came here to promote the Immortal’s Banquet. Naturally, we want to cook something that will leave other participants in the dust from the very first episode.”
“Smart!” Yu Antong snapped his fingers, fully agreeing with Jiang Yuxiu’s statement, which was exactly what he thought.
It’s natural to be steady and progressive, but that’s a routine suitable for ordinary contestants. They came to this show to promote their restaurant, so of course they had to be eye-catching from the very beginning.
He wanted his team to be the center of everyone’s attention, then continue to surprise everyone in every episode afterwards, constantly deepening the audience’s good impression and expectation of the Immortal’s Banquet. Of course, this was to allure people to visit and eat in his restaurant by themselves.
Yu Antong decided: “We have practiced cooking Fengming Qishan2凤鸣岐山; this is actually a name of traditional dance performance based on a mythology. It translates into “Phoenix Singing on the Qishan Mountain”. Qishan is a county in Baoji.. One hour is doable, let’s go.”
The two said in unison, “Okay, let’s get the ingredients and utensils.”
The “phoenix” of Fengming Qishan was represented by pigeons. The meat of the pigeons was delicious, perfect to symbolize the “phoenix” compared to other birds. First, they wash the pigeon, then make a stuffing to put into the belly of the pigeon. After that, marinate the whole bird in cooking wine, salt, light soy sauce, star anise, cinnamon, bay leaves, and other aromatics for 30 minutes.
The proportion of various seasonings was particularly important. Adding more or less seasoning would affect the taste of the pigeons, so Yu Antong personally took care of the marinating steps.
“Haoning, please prepare the stuffing.” Yu Antong arranged work for the two of them in an orderly manner, “Yuxiu, prepare the carved flowers for the plating.”
Both of them nodded in unison. “Okay.” “Got it.”
Lin Haoning cleaned the scallops in cold water, added green onion, ginger, and cooking wine, and steamed them in a bamboo steamer. At the same time, he soaked the dried shrimp in boiling water until it softened. While waiting, he chopped the lean pork belly, Jinhua ham3a very flavorful dried ham. I personally don’t like the texture, because it’s very tough to chew. But the taste is amazing., mushrooms, and water chestnuts into small cubes, and used lard to fry the pork belly. After it started to change color, he added the diced Jinhua ham, mushrooms, water chestnuts, scallops, and shrimps to stir-fry. For the seasonings, he used soy sauce, oyster sauce, pepper powder, cooking wine, and collected the juice into fillings for later use. The stir-frying was fast, as it only took about 8 seconds or so, because it would all be baked together inside the pigeon later.
Jiang Yuxiu was careful, and much more suitable for delicate work like carving flowers. With her skillful hands, she carved carrots and watermelons into various graceful, luxurious flower and auspicious cloud patterns.
After the pigeon was marinated, Yu Antong fixed the head of the pigeon with a toothpick so that the head was raised, as if to sing. He poured hot oil to shape it, and stuffed the stuffing that Lin Haoning had prepared just now into the belly of the pigeon to prop up the pigeon. With proper stuffings, the pigeon looked plump and lively. The tail of the pigeon was tied with a string to prevent the inner stuffing from drying out. Then, he squeezed a few drops of lemon juice on the outer layer of the pigeon to remove the gamey smell, applied a layer of honey juice, and then put the whole bird in the pre-heated oven for ten minutes.
While waiting for it to be baked, Yu Antong boiled a small pot of quail eggs. After it was soft-boiled, he peeled them and arranged them to look like “little birds”.
This dish took a lot of workmanship, and there were only 10 minutes left before the timer was up. Many other groups had already finished their dishes one after another and raised their hands to signal.
The finished dishes would be taken to the judges for tasting. The host said, “Another group of contestants have finished their dishes, and there are still 8 minutes left. I see that some contestants seem to be still busy, can you finish in time?”
The host created a wave of tension, which made some people visibly flustered.
The host walked to Yu Antong’s group and said, “I see that your group has taken a lot of raw ingredients, but you haven’t finished your dish yet. Is there something wrong?”
Although Yu Antong and his assistant hadn’t finished yet, they knew it well and were very stable. They were not impatient because of the host’s interference. Yu Antong peeled the quail eggs methodically and answered, “There is no problem, we can finish it on time.”
“Okay, you did a great job in the knife competition, and I’m looking forward to your performance this round.”
“Ding!” The oven arrived at the scheduled time.
Yu Antong took out the pigeon and removed the fixed toothpick as he said, “Okay, we can start arranging the plating.”
On a long oval plate, a layer of carved “auspicious clouds” was placed on the bottom, and roasted pigeon was placed in the middle of the top. Then, the “little birds” were placed on both sides and behind the pigeons, implying that a hundred birds had to bow to the phoenix. Finally, the flower carvings were placed as the garnish.
A “Fengming Qishan” that took a lot of work is finally completed!
Yu Antong raised his hand to signal, and a staff member came over. The staff’ eyes lit up, clearly dazzled: “Wow, amazing!”
“I hope its taste can also amaze the taste buds of the five judges,” The host waved his hand in the direction of the door, “Take your dish and go in!”
Let the five judges taste the on-site comments and decide whether to stay or not for each group of contestants.
The recording of this episode was over at this point. After getting the result, they were allowed to leave.
With the recording finished, Yu Antong went home. At night, Xing Lixuan came home from work and asked, “How is it? Are you tired?”
“It’s more interesting than I imagined,” Yu Antong raised his head and said to Xing Lixuan while soaking his feet in the super comfortable foot bath, “Don’t worry, I’m not tired at all. It’s a small thing for me. The scene was very fun. It should be more interesting when it is edited and aired.”
Yu Antong raised his head and was tired of talking, so he pulled Xing Lixuan and said, “Sit down and soak your feet with me. Let me tell you, there is a very funny person at the scene…”
Xing Lixuan watched Yu Antong’s recollection of the event. He twittered about the show with a radiant look. Seeing that attending this show could make Yu Antong happy, Xing Lixuan felt it was worth it.
Yu Antong was talking to Xing Lixuan, and he stomped on Xing Lixuan’s feet dishonestly.
“Don’t move around, soak your feet well,” Xing Lixuan gently chided, “The water will get cold later.”
Yu Antong quibbled, “I’m helping you massage the back of your feet.”
“Okay, come out, don’t soak for too long,” Feeling the water temperature had cooled slightly, Xing Lixuan took out his feet and wiped them hastily. He put Yu Antong’s slipper on, while Yu Antong stretched his feet in front of Xing Lixuan, talking cutely, “Husband , wipe my feet4he actually said “jiojio” in alphabet. This is slang for limbs, and sounded very cute. I normally saw it used for flirting or referring to your pet’s paws :3c for me~”
Xing Lixuan took his legs to his knees and wiped his feet.
“Ah, you really wipe it?”
Yu Antong just mentioned it casually. Of course, if Xing Lixuan dared to refuse, he would definitely make trouble!
Unexpectedly, Xing Lixuan wiped it for him without saying a word, which made him very happy.
Xing Lixuan scratched the soles of Yu Antong’s feet, complaining, “Look at how thin you are.”
Yu Antong’s feet don’t have much flesh. Both were very skinny and pale, and the blue blood vessels were clearly seen.
“Hahaha! Don’t tickle me!” Yu Antong giggled uncontrollably. His sole was the most ticklish spot on his body. He struggled and shouted, “I don’t want you to rub it! Ah! Hahaha! Stinky husband, you’re so annoying!”
Xing Lixuan held him down and didn’t let him move. “I won’t mess with you anymore. Don’t move around, be careful not to fall.”
After wiping her feet, Yu Antong stretched out his hand towards Xing Lixuan, and said coquettishly, “Husband, Husband, carry me up! I want to be carried princess-style. After all, I am my Husband’s little princess~”
“Aren’t you ashamed, stinky brat?” Xing Lixuan complained, but he really lifted Yu Antong’s legs, and carried him up, princess-style.
The author has something to say:
Tongtong: If he dared to say that I stink, then I’ll banish Xing Lixuan to the study!
