Who gave this heretical practitioner permission to cook?

Chapter 12 You're doomed. This isn't an egg; it's clearly a...
[Is this for real?! With the skill level of the Sichuan-Chongqing Ice and Fire Chef, how could he see that far?]

[This feels scripted. Who just happens to walk by and deliver the conclusion? He barely spoke to anyone else before!]

[Among a group of chefs, the only barbecue restaurant owner advanced by a hair's breadth, raising suspicions from the production team. A "blind box" contestant—their words proved prophetic! This isn't scripted, I'm utterly astonished!]

[Not necessarily. He makes barbecue, and the taste is very different when eaten cold versus hot. Maybe he just happened to get a taste he's more comfortable with!]

[Yeah, I think it's just a different perspective, a shortcut!]

Most of the players present shared similar thoughts with the viewers in the live stream.

No wonder, looking around the contestants, they were all chefs, and there were even several domestic and international champions, so Xia Ming was the only one who stood out.

The dishes that advance them don't have to be high-end creative dishes, but they have to be signature dishes from classic cuisines. Xia Ming's dish is roasted scorpion, and now he has taken the lead in revealing the key to the victory or defeat of the dishes.

Isn't this like slapping these self-proclaimed elite chefs in the face with size 43 shoes? How can they tolerate this?
Of course, not all contestants hold such prejudices; at least, contestant "Banquet Graduate Student" doesn't think so.
"Banquet Master" is the head chef of "Mei Shi Yan" and also the "National Champion of Chinese Molecular Gastronomy". He is extremely skilled at making banquet dishes in various extreme environments.

As a girl, her appearance was extremely androgynous, even somewhat masculine. When Xia Ming first sat down on the second floor, he almost thought she was a delicate and handsome young man.

At this moment, "Banquet Graduate Student" was standing in the middle of a group of female contestants, quietly watching Xia Ming, who was clearly a distance away from the others.

"Wow, that's impressive! He doesn't seem like a naive chef."

"Little Flower" next to her seemed to have heard her words and silently shook her head.

"He doesn't have a single trace of the demeanor of someone who has worked as a kitchen helper in a proper restaurant. Putting aside his good looks, no chef starts out as a kitchen helper!"

The "banquet graduate student" paused after hearing this.

She knew that "Xiao Hua," as the head chef of "Embroidered Red Flower French Cuisine," had always had extremely high standards for the kitchen.

After all, "Embroidered Red Flower French Cuisine" is a genuine "Michelin one-star" restaurant. Although its owner is young, he values ​​the team very much. As the head chef, "Little Flower" is adept at kitchen management, teamwork, and training newcomers.

Xia Ming's free, easygoing, and somewhat unruly aura is completely different from "Xiao Hua's" understanding of the chef team.

Anyway, the "bald cook" was right up "Xiao Hua's alley." Both were wild, but the "bald cook" had more of a youthful arrogance. Once he was on the stove, his personality blended perfectly with the kitchen.

Unlike other "banquet graduate students," she has traveled extensively, visited many places, and dealt with numerous unexpected situations.

She has seen many unassuming people, even those who seem completely out of place in a Western kitchen, create dishes that amaze her. She feels that China is a vast country with a wide variety of culinary styles and schools. As long as one can create dishes that touch people's hearts, one can be called a master chef.

But when opinions clash, even a few words are unnecessary. Both "Banquet Graduate Student" and "Xiao Hua" are head chefs, and they are both people with strong opinions. Even if they argue further, they cannot change each other's minds.

Xia Ming also noticed the two people looking at him, but he only glanced at them before turning his attention back to the competition arena.

Because the "Old Man with the Stove" has moved.
With only 8 minutes left, he quickly grabbed the seasonings and mixed the sauce on the spot, then heated the wok over high heat and instantly added the ingredients.

Stir-frying is an art of fire, and the "Old Man of the Stove" is clearly skilled at it. His precise cooking technique stems from his confidence in himself and his demand for the wok hei (wok aroma) of his dishes.

Watching his fluid movements, Xia Ming narrowed his eyes slightly. As expected of someone with decades of training, from an operational standpoint, he could hardly find any flaws.

However, the "Old Man with the Stove" is too unconventional. Judging from his appearance, he is probably planning to cook a whole dish without dividing it up and then serving it to the stove.

Xia Ming rubbed the tip of his nose with the back of his index finger, then looked up at the person opposite him.

He admitted that the "Old Man of the Stove" dish contained decades of experience, but the problem is that the opponent is no pushover either, and it is still uncertain who will win.

However, he personally felt that "Old Man with the Stove" had little chance of winning, mainly because its flavor profile was too monotonous, making it easy for the opponent's more layered flavors to exploit any openings.

After all, although the chef across the table only had one plate of shrimp, if you really think about it, the shrimp brain sauce, the shrimp shell hot and sour sauce, and the shrimp meat can each be considered as a flavor profile on their own. When combined, they definitely create more layers of flavor.

Sure enough, 20 minutes later, the announcement came from the field again.

[Chef "Chen Xiaodong" vs. Contestant "Old Rascal by the Stove"]

Rating: 3:0

Chef Chen Xiaodong wins.

Then, less than half an hour later, the announcement sounded again.

[Master Chef "Zeng Huaijun" vs. Contestant "Chemistry Department Fantasy Chef"]

Rating: 3:0

Chef Zeng Huaijun wins.

In the 16 vs 16 match, the chef delivered a triple blow to the contestant right from the start.

It can only be said that this kind of impromptu on-site material selection competition is more about testing experience and the use of ingredients. Most of the contestants are very young, and although their ideas are good, they also make quite a few mistakes.

Just as the third group's competition ended, Xia Ming received a message from the production team asking him to go on stage. After coming down from the second floor to the competition venue, Xia Ming and "Micas" stood still, looked at each other, and began their pre-competition warm-up.

This time, it was Micahs who spoke first. Despite his short stature, he spoke very concisely.

"You will lose, I will win."

After hearing this, Xia Ming smiled, rubbed his nose with his finger, and then closed his eyes and took a sniff.

"It smells like lemon, pine nuts, peas, and a bit of fish; it smells like springtime."

"Unfortunately, you're destined to lose."

Upon hearing Xia Ming's words, Michael was taken aback, his brows furrowing instantly. What Xia Ming had just mentioned was precisely the ingredient he was about to use. Could it be...?
No! The production team has no reason to give such a person a backdoor.

He raised his arm and smelled his clothes. Indeed, there was a faint smell on his clothes, which was left from his experiment in the lounge.

Having understood the reason, Micas grinned.

"A very sensitive sense of smell, but cooking isn't just about the nose!"

Xia Ming shrugged.

"Looking forward to it~"

After saying that, he walked straight into the "food storage" on the side.

Watching Xia Ming's retreating figure, Michael's eyes became serious and sharp. Perhaps he had underestimated this kid who had just barely made it to the finish line at first.

"But it doesn't matter, the result won't change because of this."

"So, are you considering using lemon juice to counteract the acidity, and then neutralizing the flavor of 'douzhi' in a more extreme way?"

Inside the produce storage area, Xia Ming stood in the fruit section, a slight smile playing on his lips.

"In that case, things actually become much simpler."

As he spoke, he bent down to take the ingredients he wanted, then packed a lot of hawthorns, took some of the necessary seasonings, and quickly left the "ingredients storeroom".

The production crew had already transported his main ingredients to the stove using a cart.

The contestants on the second floor started discussing as they saw Xia Ming walk out.

What's in his cart?

"Eggs, lots of eggs! Judging by the breed, those over there are ostrich eggs, right? And these two look like chicken eggs!"

"They definitely look like eggs. The white ones might be some kind of free-range egg, and the yellow ones are sterile eggs?"

"No, normal free-range eggs are slightly smaller. From my perspective, there's no difference between the two."

"Goose eggs?"

Because of the distance, the contestants on the second floor couldn't fully judge Xia Ming's ingredients, but the pigeon that was locked up next to them was quite obvious.

Xia Ming didn't dawdle. He returned to his seat and started processing the eggs. But unlike what the contestants had expected, he first filled a pot with water and threw all the yellow eggs in to boil. There were probably 40 to 50 of them.

On the other side, he first selected the white eggs, then opened a small pot, poured in soy milk, added some eggs, and began to slowly simmer them.

Everyone in the live stream was stunned by what they saw: eggs cooked in fermented soybean juice – they'd never heard of such a thing before.

Is he out of his mind? Using soy milk like water?

[Braised eggs have a wonderful braised flavor, but eggs cooked in fermented soybean milk must smell terrible!]

[Oh no, the Poison King is back! This time he's not going to randomly pick a lucky victim; he's poisoning three right off the bat!]

I can almost picture the smell of freshly boiled raw soy milk; it's so familiar.

The audience didn't understand, and neither did the contestants present. Smelling the soy milk in the air, they also thought Xia Ming had gone mad.

Xia Ming ignored all of that and continued to boil the eggs diligently. After a few minutes, he took a slotted spoon, quickly scooped out all the eggs, and immediately put them into cold water to soak.

Just as the contestants were wondering how well the eggs should be cooked, he quickly took out the eggs that had been soaked in cold water and cracked them open one by one.

As the eggshell cracked, all the contestants' previous guesses were overturned, and the live stream chat instantly went wild.

"That's fuzz? This...this isn't an egg, this is clearly a balut!"

(End of this chapter)