Universe Infinite Canteen.

Chapter 577 Taking over the spotlight
The waiters walked over to Sun Mei's cooking table, picked up the 13 celadon moon discs on the table one by one, and carefully carried them to the judges' seats.

Even if it was just painting, completing 13 paintings in just one and a half hours was a very crazy thing, not to mention that Sun Mei also had to prepare the ingredients.

Her cooking speed was amazing. It didn't look like she had been cooking for ten years or so. She was like a complete veteran.

However, completing the cooking is only the most basic requirement of the competition. The key still lies in how many passing cards this dish can get.

"Ladies and gentlemen, now served is the work from cooking station No. 11 - The Ends of the Earth."

The hostess introduced the dish, "It is a very elegant and beautiful dish, just like an oil painting, featuring the famous tourist attraction in Sanya - Tianya Haijiao. Such a beautiful dish is like a work of art, and it is hard to eat it."

Her words expressed the thoughts of many people, and the judges and experts on the scene also took out their mobile phones to take pictures.

As top chefs and food critics, they have seen many dishes painted on plates, but usually only sauces or side dishes.

This is the first time I’ve seen an entire dish turned into an oil painting.

As the team leader, Sun He spoke first, "It is indeed a bold attempt to use the ingredients as paint, which has achieved a breakthrough in visual effects. I can give full marks for the presentation.

“But using a grinder to grind all the ingredients into a paste destroys the structure of the ingredients themselves, and highlights the so-called beauty at the expense of taste. In my opinion, this is like giving up the tree for the tree and buying the casket and returning the pearl.

"Cooking is not like painting. Visual expression is not the first priority. What matters most is that it tastes good."

Upon hearing this, several other judges nodded slightly to show their agreement.

Daimu Sugawara, a food critic from ELLE magazine, tried to smooth things over by saying, "In any case, let's try it first."

As he spoke, he scooped up a spoonful of sand, put it into his mouth, and then let out a light "eh".

Then he scooped another spoonful of beach sand and ate it again. This time he tasted it very carefully and closed his eyes.

After a moment, he opened his eyes again and exclaimed, "So that's how it is. The same color can have different flavors. I can taste mango, potato and pineapple on this yellow beach.

"In this way, the problem of single taste is solved by arranging and mixing the ingredients and adjusting the proportions, making the taste richer.

“Because you don’t know what the next bite will be, it can create a sense of surprise, just like opening a blind box.”

"That's not all," added Julien Roy, the chef from Odette restaurant, swallowing his food.

“On the surface, it looks like this contestant roughly mashed all the ingredients into a paste, but in fact, different foods are ground with different precisions. For example, the rock I just ate was ground from brown mushrooms.

"We deliberately retained large particles during grinding to simulate the roughness of rocks, which allows the ingredients to present a richer texture. This is a very imaginative approach."

“But I would say the highlight is still the sea,” said Rocky Chen, a chef from Hong Kong.

"The rich chicken soup made with Hainan's specialty Wenchang chicken can be enjoyed on its own, and over time, it will give the beach a different flavor after being soaked in the sand."

“In short, this is a dish that appears to have failed because it sacrificed taste for the sake of visual appeal, but in fact it is a genius dish that maximizes the change of taste.”

“I have nothing to say about this dish except to give you my pass card.”

"Full marks." Indian chef Gaggan Anand from Gaggan restaurant said succinctly.

Sun He snorted, but finally took out a qualified card.

In the end, the song "The Ends of the Earth" was unanimously recognized by the judges, and received all thirteen pass cards. Sun Mei was not surprised by the result, and did not show much excitement when facing the female host's congratulations.

For her, she had participated in countless similar competitions when she was a child, and the trophies and medals she won almost filled up Sunhe’s bookcase.

Except for the final of the World Youth Chef Competition, which she lost on purpose, she has never won second place.

She is also determined to win this cooking competition.

Sun Mei then looked at Ma Lu and frowned, "You've been wandering around for a while, right? Why don't you go and cook?"

"Why are you all unwilling to believe that I have finished it?" Malu glanced at the traveler bracelet on his wrist.

"My steamed buns have just finished fermenting and are now baked. They still need to be baked for 17 minutes. If I don't shake them, I have nothing to do.

"But now that you're done, come with us to visit the other contestants' creations. We happen to be in need of a host who can provide a professional perspective."

"Ah, are we short of it?" the female host said weakly.

"No." Sun Mei shook her head. "What's so good about this? As a chef, you just need to stick to your own path. No matter how good other people's paths are, it has nothing to do with you."

"Oh my, this isn't about whose path it is. It's boring for you to go back to your room now. And I see you didn't eat much breakfast. Why don't we go find other contestants to make some luck together?"

"Ok?"

"Someone must have cooked too much, or there must be leftovers, like the whole lamb roasted on a stone in Jirimutu. The judges must not be able to finish it, so we can get a piece to try.

"Aren't you curious about what lamb cooked in a sheepskin container tastes like?"

"That cooking method is too crude, and stones are not suitable for heating. In my opinion, it is more of a gimmick than a practical operation. In addition."

Sun Mei paused, "The temperature in Sanya has warmed up now, and this season is not suitable for eating roasted lamb."

“You also have to consider the season when cooking.”

“Ordinary restaurants don’t need to do that, but if you want to win the title of chef god, you must consider the needs and feelings of the guests in all aspects.”

"So professional." The female host exclaimed.

"Look, what am I saying? Our hosting team still needs a professional one," said Malu.

This time the female host was convinced, "Then please ask Chef Sun Mei to explain the next dish to our TV audience friends."

As the three were talking, someone else finished his homework. This time it was Master Luang Pu Sen from Thailand. Since he was making vegetarian food, he hardly used the stove, so he finished it very quickly.

In fact, when the plate was served, it looked like a miniature vegetable garden, with many kinds of vegetables including loofah tips, snow peas, water melon, hot peppers, green beans, pumpkin, bamboo shoots, etc.

These are common varieties in the Hainan market this season, served with borscht soup with vanilla soy milk as the base.

Master Luang Pu Sen calls this dish the Early Spring Bowl.

(End of this chapter)