The beginning is only when you become a chef

Chapter 98: Glowing Dishes Deserve Full Marks (Two Chapters in One)

"Such a strong fish flavor, is this fish noodles?"

Boss Liu Heng had actually met Xia An once. That night, he and Gao Shengqi waited for Xia An after a late-night food battle and offered him a very high price.

Later, Gao Shengqi came to invite Xia An again for the gift of ancient recipes, which was given and instructed by the big boss Liu Heng.

"Yes, to be precise, this is a fantasy dish I modified from the 'Catfish Noodles' recipe." Xia An added with a smile.

???

Catfish noodles?
Upon hearing the name of this recipe, many ordinary viewers were at a loss, but those in the industry were all excited and their spirits trembled, as if the dormant genes in their blood were immediately activated.

"The recipe for "Catfish Noodles" was created by the former chef Liu Maoxing in the four-year special exam in Guangzhou, where he solved the non-face-to-face exam questions."

Xia An stood there by himself and explained calmly:

"As you can see—"

He raised his hand and pointed, directing the attention of the entire audience and the camera to the bowl of noodles.

chopped green onion.

Fish rolls.

Fish soup.

There are also handmade noodles that are curled in the soup base.

At first glance, this fish noodle dish looks and tastes similar to Charme's "angel hair" pasta.

The dishes are simple.

There is no unnecessary fancy matching.

The only side dish was chopped green onion, and the snack in the bowl of noodles was just three or four pieces of fish rolls.

If the fish soup wasn't cooked very thick and white, this would be no different from "clear soup ramen".

Liu Bo looked at Xia An:

"I have confirmed before that you have mastered the lost skill of White Snake Chain Rotation."

"As we all know, this is a supreme skill in the field of pastry making. In order to forcefully quote this skill, did you have to modify "Catfish Noodles"?"

There is nothing wrong with admitting it. Xia An nodded:

"Yes, mastering a special skill but not using it is like holding back on using your sword."

Hearing this, Liu Bo smiled and did not blame Xia An for modifying the ancient recipe of his ancestor Liu Maoxing.

On the contrary, Liu Bo is very happy to see the younger generation have the courage to overthrow authority and bring forth new ideas.

After all, today's food industry is very different from that of our ancestors.

"Pity."

Liu Bo said with regret:

"The old noodle jar of the noodle king Logan is missing. Otherwise, with the thousand-year-old noodles and the White Snake Chain, it would be possible to recreate the "Four Gods Seafood Eight Treasures Soul-Calming Buns" of the past!"

The next judge, Liu Heng, laughed out loud:

"Today I am able to see the White Snake Chain Spin again, and eat the noodles made with this unique skill."

"Besides, this noodle dish is an improvement on the ancient dish 'Catfish Noodles', which is a double blessing. I'm going to try it carefully——"

Say it.

This Liu family boss.

President of the Shu branch of the China Food and Chefs Association.

He couldn't wait to pick up the chopsticks, picked up a big ball of handmade ramen, and slurped it into his mouth.

"How can these handmade noodles mixed with minced fish be so flexible and chewy?"

After the first bite, Liu Heng was quite shocked. Then he tried to chew the noodles with his teeth, making a crunching sound.

Even though I have high expectations for the quality of the noodles that the White Snake Chain Turning Technique will give to them.

But while chewing the noodles, Liu Heng found that his expectations were still too conservative and too low:

"What's going on? Why are these noodles so elastic? Just the noodles alone, even a chef with ultimate pastry skills can only make this... Hey! After biting through the noodles, the fresh taste of the fish gushing out, the flavor is so extreme and rich?"

Liu Heng simply swallowed the last sentence and shouted out in a daze.

Other guest judges.

Some people chew quietly with their eyes closed.

Some, like Liu Heng, stopped after taking the first bite and stared blankly at the half-section of noodles on the chopsticks.

From the cross-section, you can see that the noodles are very tender. In the wisp of hot mist, you can vaguely see plump, colorful fish with horizontal stripes swimming leisurely on the chopsticks.

Just the first bite.

The judges in the close-up shots all looked a little dazed.

On the second floor, next to the railing.

Wu Zhu and Xiang Shilin stared with wide eyes at the large bowls of noodles in front of the judges in the studio below.

The venue was suddenly filled with cries of surprise and doubt!

At this time, Nakiri Masanagi held up the large bowl of noodles and was about to drink the rich soup.

It was because of her actions.

The noodle bowl illuminated by the spotlight of the venue encountered an external force, and the originally calm and clear soup suddenly swayed. The bright light shone on the surface of the bowl, and it seemed that a strange-looking imaginary fish jumped high into the air.

Nakiri Managi seemed to have also seen the miracle of life leaping up, and her face was full of surprise and she was no longer in a hurry to drink the soup.

thump!
As if freed from a cage and freed from its restraints, the alien fish leaped in the air, swinging its body, splashing juice, and the rich lychee flavor spread out like a storm.

Many audience members at the scene rubbed their eyes vigorously, lowered their heads to look at the judges' seats below, and then looked up blankly at the broadcast screen.

It seems like I'm hallucinating.

There were no leaping fish in sight.

Only a few judges looked more solemn.

This is...alive!
The real taste of the soul!

Nakiri Managi gulped down a mouthful of hot fish soup, and her pupils dilated instantly:

"This soup is sweet and sour, with a rich umami flavor, without any fishy or greasy taste!"

Take a sip.

Then there was a second bite, and a third bite.

It seems that it is not enough.

Nakiri Managi put down the bowl and slurped the noodles in big mouthfuls.

Eating noodles in such a hurry, the wife and the lady were sweating profusely, which was visibly happening to the naked eye.

"Gulu~"

Another big mouthful of thick soup.

There was an obvious swallowing movement on the white and slender neck, which was wet and covered with sweat.

"what--"

After drinking the hot soup, Nakiri Masagi also let out a sigh of ecstasy.

Her eyes were already blurred, and in a trance, she found herself holding tightly onto a small boat, drifting and surfing on a dangerous river.

The boat is carved with regular lines of various colors, much like the appearance of a striped salmon.

In the river, there live terrible schools of fantasy fish.

Thousands of lychee sturgeons are like piranhas smelling blood.

Suddenly, they all rioted, and attacked her with ferocious force.

"Run."

“This river is full of aggressive lychee sturgeons.”

"You can't control it."

A reassuring voice came faintly from the sky.

And at the same time.

On site, in the studio.

The hearty laughter of Liu Heng, Liu Bo and Chi Xiaobai resounded throughout.

“It’s been a long time since I had such delicious noodles!”

"As expected, we should have unlimited faith in the glowing cuisine. My expectations were too low before!"

"Let's not talk about the noodles made with the White Snake's special chain-turning technique. Just talking about this fresh soul soup base, how many people can cook it? I tasted the soul flavor of fantasy ingredients!"

Quietly, the judges wolfed down a large bowl of fish noodles.

Chi Xiaobai touched his bulging belly.

There was no discomfort on her face, only a full and happy smile:

"Fish noodles made with salmon stripes and a soup base made with lychee sturgeon, from now on, they will be the perfect golden combination in my restaurant!"

Wei Xuelin smiled happily, "The utilization rate of using salmon to make fish noodles is about 80%."

"The utilization rate of lychee and sturgeon soup base is also 80%."

“But when these two fantasy ingredients with an 80% utilization rate are combined, they seem to complement each other, echo each other, and support each other, pushing the utilization rate further to a terrifying 90%…”

Liu Bo's face was full of redness and he said:
"Just the method of using lychee and sturgeon to make soup is absolutely right. There is no need to add ginger and scallions to remove the fishy smell."

"Because this fantasy fish meat itself has a sweet and sour lychee flavor and does not require any additional processing!"

"Therefore, from the perspective of the entire fantasy dish, the noodles are noodles and the soup is soup. The style that Boss Xia displays in this dish is completely different from the richness and layering of French cuisine that Chef Shigong pursues!"

Nakiri Managi woke up last.

With misty eyes, he stared at Xia An and murmured, "...anything else?"

Xia An: "What?"

"Another bowl!" Nakiri Managi didn't care about anything else and said directly, "I'm not full yet, you can have another bowl!"

Everyone:? ?

This is a show, it is for you to appreciate, not to entertain and feed you.

"I want to eat, too!"

Liu Shimeng suddenly raised her hand and said:

"I mentioned before that my determination to make the small noodle bowl tower came from the catfish noodles that Boss Xia gave me on the day of the preview!"

Hearing this, the audience and the production crew's cameras all turned their attention to this young genius of the Liu family.

"But the catfish noodles I had two days ago were a standard ancient dish."

“Now, what Boss Xia is actually performing on the show is a modified fantasy dish based on an ancient recipe!”

When Chalmers saw someone willing to take the lead, he immediately stood up to express his support:
"I also want to try Boss Xia's dish!"

"We want to, too!" Wang Tie and a few others quickly spoke up in the rest area in the corner.

Shinomiya Kojiro pushed up the frame of his glasses, his eyes showing a strong appetite:

"please."

A famous graduate of Totsuki who is serious and has a rather arrogant personality.

Actually facing the program and live camera.

He gave Xia An a standard Japanese bow.

Xia An: ? ?

Uh.

To be honest, there is still a lot of thick soup left from the whole lychee sturgeon, which can be easily mixed into seven small bowls of noodles.

As for the "fish noodles", it was the same. He pounded the fish paste and only used one side of the salmon with stripes, leaving the other side unused.

The ingredients are just there.

What's more, for Xia An, diners are of all identities.

Glowing food is precious?
However, no matter how precious a delicacy is, it is only meaningful if it is eaten by people.

Xia An didn't think that this kind of "precious" thing should be worshipped, otherwise, he wouldn't be selling the glowing version of the flame dumplings at the night market for 5 yuan each.

"In exchange, you each have to make me the same dish." Xia An proposed the condition.

"make a deal!"

In addition to Xia An, the other six celebrity chefs in the starting lineup said in unison.

As a result, the first episode of the first season of "The Chrysanthemum Goes Downstairs Contest" saw some very interesting story changes.

Six of the seven starting chefs actually surrounded the seventh chef’s kitchen and watched his entire cooking process intently.

Soon, another seven small bowls of pasta were ready.

Why seven bowls?

Because the last bowl is for Nakiri Managi.

"Ms. Nakiri? Mrs. Nakiri?"

Seeing that she actually had a share, Nakiri Masagi, who was also watching with interest outside Kitchen No. 7, heard Xia An calling her and hurried out:

"I'm here! I'm here!!"

After saying that, she quickly squeezed over, her pretty face flushed, and excitedly took the tray handed to her by Xia An.

Hey!
Seeing this, Chi Xiaobai and other judges couldn't help but slap their thighs.

Oh my god, is this true?

If they had just raised their hands and asked for another bowl...

Unfortunately.

At this moment, the stainless steel pot used to cook the thick soup with lychee sturgeon was completely empty, not a drop left.

However, the show's camera has already ignored these judges.

Give close-up shots of famous chefs such as Liu Shimeng, Chalmers, and Shinomiya Kojiro.

“This taste is completely different from the catfish noodles I had two days ago!” Liu Shimeng slurped the noodles and drank the soup, feeling completely controlled.

A symphony of umami flavors on your tongue!
The three kinds of umami flavors come from the salmon in the noodles, the lychee sturgeon in the soup base, and the forced...extremely fresh flavor!
When I exhaled from my mouth and nose, I seemed to see shadows of schools of fish.

Liu Shimeng's expression quickly softened and gradually evolved into a kind of pure happiness like a baby.

He stood blankly outside Kitchen No. 7, being restrained for a long time, and seemed to have fallen asleep without realizing it.

There was the sound of rushing water. Liu Shimeng sat up and found herself lying on a small boat, drifting aimlessly in the rapids.

Looking into the distance, there are huge snow-capped icebergs in front of us, and there are also unmelted ice blocks in the river that have been washed down from upstream.

On both sides of the river are high and steep mountains, and the cries of monkeys can be faintly heard.

suddenly!

The boat followed the rapids and suddenly rushed out of the cliff, where a waterfall fell to an unknown depth on the ground.

Just when the boat was about to be destroyed and everyone was about to die.

The delicious melody resounded through the sky, and a huge shadow of a building was cast from the sky. Liu Shimeng looked up and was stunned.

Blue heaven!

The singing of the believers' choir came from the temple.

“This is so harmonious and epic!”

After Liu Shimeng woke up, she was amazed and praised: "Whether it's lychee sturgeon, striped salmon, or the ultimate ice-fresh, these three flavors are all coordinated, and the main melody is firmly controlled by the music conductor in the blue hall!"

Shinomiya Kojiro also slurped up a lot of noodles and soup before he slowly said:
“No wonder the judges just said that the umami flavor in this bowl is so integrated…”

"really!"

"Their flavors are almost intact, but under the guidance of the music conductor, they blend very well with each other! A meeting of souls!"

Chalmers' face was filled with shock:
“It’s simply a perfect symphony of umami soul!”

talking.

Chalmers stared at Xia An with sharp eyes:

"Boss Xia, can you tell me? The key to playing the role of a music conductor is your culinary heart..."

Xia An smiled but said nothing.

Tsk, based on the embarrassing lines of Japanese female disciples like Erina and Alice, what should the giant hand of God be called?

But in fact, it is the heart of a dad, the broad chest, and the strong arms that are enough to support a sky of fantasy.

So, the celebrity chefs also finished eating.

Haven't waited for the rating yet.

Liu Shimeng took the initiative to lead the rhythm again, her voice was sonorous and powerful: "I am willing to admit that Boss Xia is the first in this issue!"

Chalmers, Shinomiya Kojiro and others heard this.

Without hesitation:

“A near-perfect triple umami reverb performance, it deserves first place!”

The five judges looked at each other in bewilderment.

Ah this?

How come this generation of young people is so good at stealing lines? What should we, the old Deng, do?

"Cough cough."

Chi Xiaobai's face was solemn, and he said righteously:
"It's a luminous dish, so it deserves full marks!"

This sentence.

It was directly misappropriated by other reviewers.

"It's a luminous dish, so it deserves full marks!"

The remaining four judges all became parrots, and this episode slowly came to an end with a funny yet shocking scene.

(End of this chapter)