Who gave this heretical practitioner permission to cook?

Chapter 174 At this point, if they can't even handle French sauces, is what they're making really French cuisine? (3K First Update)
【Foie gras】

One of the core ingredients in classic French cuisine.

Along with truffles and caviar, it is known as one of the "three great delicacies" of French cuisine.

It can be found in appetizers, main courses, and desserts.
If we were to draw an analogy with Chinese cuisine, it would be equivalent to "abalone, sea cucumber, shark fin, and fish maw," representing the refinement and luxury of French banquet cuisine.

Han Tianyan's choice to present "foie gras" as an "appetizer" is actually a relatively "beginner-friendly" approach in the eyes of Western chefs.

However, unlike the normal French way of serving foie gras, Han Tianyan chose to present it as "pan-fried foie gras with apple".

In fact, upon closer examination, the Gauls rarely used "hot" foie gras as an appetizer.

More often, "cold" foie gras is used to awaken the taste buds.

For example, the most classic "foie gras with bread" and the standard "foie gras cold appetizer".

Both of these ways of eating actually make full use of the rich aroma of foie gras, combined with its delicate texture, highlighting some of the umami flavor while stimulating the judges' taste buds.

However, the "New Chef Competition" is hosted by China, and the overall process of the test is more geared towards Chinese chefs.

Because the higher authorities place great importance on this, they try their best to meet the requirements for ingredients in the dishes, so it's not surprising that the menu includes "foie gras".

But he understands that the world's largest producer of foie gras is actually in China.
Linju in "Da Lu District" and Huoqiu in "Da Wan District" are both its core production areas.

Compared to imported "top-grade foie gras," Huaxia's "foie gras" is more affordable, has a slightly lower fat content, and a firmer texture.

If you use something other than the finest foie gras as a cold appetizer, it might end up looking fishy for Han Tianyan right now.

Even if he avoided this situation, he could imagine that the final foie gras would hardly achieve the "perfect" texture of ice cream.

Even though the Guangzhou-Shenzhen area is a city that highly values ​​the original flavor of ingredients, it doesn't necessarily mean you can get fresh foie gras if the area doesn't produce it.

The aforementioned drawbacks are amplified when dealing with frozen foie gras.

Therefore, after confirming that the only dish in the menu was "chilled foie gras", he chose to present it as "pan-fried foie gras with apples", which is more of a "main course", in order to avoid a mishap.

Although Xia Ming doesn't fully understand French cuisine, he knows enough about offal.

He recalled tasting "foie gras" and "duck liver," although he ate them during his university years. Due to economic constraints, the quality of the food was certainly not very good, but he could understand the basic logic.

At that moment, smelling the "apple" aroma from Han Tianyan's side, Xia Ming pondered for a moment before finally turning back and walking into the food storage area.

Meanwhile, Han Tianyan was processing the Gala apples (a type of apple native to overseas regions, known for its unique crispness and sweetness).
The biggest advantage of this type of apple is that it allows for a reduction in the amount of sugar used when making "caramel apples".

Although Han Tianyan chose the theme of "French banquet cuisine", he knew for certain that the seven judges present were all Chinese chefs.

Chinese tastes are very different from those in Gaul. No matter how much he wants to use "traditional French cuisine" to gain points, he still needs to consider the most practical situation.

即.
The judges' tastes.

As an appetizer, a dish that is "delicate, sweet and slightly sour" and designed to tantalize the taste buds, he set two goals for it.

1. The presentation is exquisite, delicate, and appetizing.

Second: It needs to be completed before Xia Ming.

The former meets the standards of a "French appetizer," while the latter is because Han Tianyan actually had some concerns deep down.

Xia Ming's previous behavior made him hesitant to let Xia Ming serve the dishes first.

In terms of preparation process, the preparation time for French appetizers is generally between 20 minutes and 1 hours.

The biggest difference comes from the pre-processing of the ingredients.

Cold dishes are generally served faster than hot dishes, but they rely more on "pre-treatment". For example, proper "foie gras" needs to be refrigerated for at least 2 to 3 hours, and professional-grade foie gras needs to be refrigerated overnight.

In contrast, hot dishes take longer to prepare, but at least they don't require pre-treatment.

In order to prevent Xia Ming from gaining the upper hand, he optimized the process as much as possible. The original cooking time for "pan-fried foie gras with apples" was about 1 hour and 15 minutes, of which the "caramel apple sauce" took half an hour.

To simplify the process and prevent the appetizers from overshadowing the main course, he used a method of making the "apple" into two parts: apple chunks and apple sauce.

In addition to optimizing the layers, he also prepared figs to make "fig" sauce in order to improve the taste.

Although three seem more complicated, they can actually be made simultaneously.
This way he can reduce the time to within 50 minutes.

Of course, this places even higher demands on him.

Because all three basic combinations follow the same method.

That is, "granulated sugar" + "butter" + "jam ingredients".

However, the proportion of "granulated sugar" varies among different jams.

Therefore, Han Tianyan chose to set the "chilled foie gras" aside and let it slowly warm up before cooking it.

Many viewers in the live stream were knowledgeable, and they started discussing Han Tianyan's actions.

The cooking method is rather traditional, showing that Han Tianyan has a basic understanding of French cuisine, but it's hard to say exactly how.

[The issue isn't how well Han Tianyan cooked anymore; it's that Xia Ming seems to have absolutely no idea how to cook French cuisine.]

[Damn it, this guy came prepared! He ambushed my Xia Ming.]

[It seems a bit difficult. Xia Ming clearly hasn't figured out what to do yet. The gap between Chinese and Western cuisine is indeed hard to bridge suddenly.]

[How about we try fusion cuisine? Xia Ming is so good at Chinese cuisine, his fusion dishes should be impressive!] [Has the guy upstairs not seen how Shuai Qixing got criticized? The basic definition of fusion cuisine is that you need to have a good understanding of both Chinese and Western cuisines. The problem is, Xia Ming doesn't know how to cook French food.]

Viewers in the live stream were worried, and the judges on site were also holding their breath for Xia Ming.

Sui Wubai's expression remained simple and honest, but there was a hint of something else in his eyes.

"How did such a good match turn out like this? It's hard to say... hard to say..."

Sui Wubai was "hard to say," but Wei Yan was quite easy to say.

"I think it's absurd that anyone could pass a question like this."

"If this continues, can I just have a chef from the UK prepare 'Sunrise Island' cuisine for the next 'Exchange Competition'?"

Mao Xianzheng smiled indifferently upon hearing this.

That attitude clearly suggests that by choosing to feature "French cuisine" instead of serving good Chinese food, one is somewhat disrespectful to their own school of thought.

Hearing Wei Yan's obviously sharp words, and glancing at Mao Xianzheng's expression beside him, Yin Shengjiang sighed.

"According to the rules, although the questions are a bit obscure, they still have value in the exam."

"Leaving aside Han Tianyan, Xia Ming has already gone very far on the path of Chinese cuisine. It's not a bad thing for him to have more exposure to overseas things."

"Of course, although this competition format complies with the rules, it will affect the progress of other players' competitions, so it is not good in essence."

As the chief judge, Yin Shengjiang cannot openly express his likes and dislikes in front of the camera.

But deep down, he must have felt some dissatisfaction with Han Tianyan.

He had already decided that if Han Tianyan couldn't capture the essence of "French cuisine" later, he might not be able to give away the slight advantage brought by this subject matter.

Tan Zhifeng thought for a moment, then spoke up to smooth things over.

"Isn't the competition still going on? Xia Ming is a contestant with a lot of tricks up his sleeve and he doesn't follow the usual path."

"Although Chinese and French cuisines differ in their thinking and ingredient ratios, their fundamental culinary logic is the same."

"Why don't we see what Xia Ming does first before we talk?"

Just after Tan Zhifeng smoothed things over, Xia Ming also came out of the food storage room carrying the ingredients.

As the AI ​​camera zoomed in, everyone discovered that Xia Ming's basket contained many fresh "long scallops," as well as some flowers, lemons, dried tangerine peel, gelatin, hawthorn, sesame seeds, glutinous rice, and rosemary.
He walked to the stove, threw the "long scallop" (commonly known as: Jiangyao clam, scientific name: Jiangyao family) into the sink next to him, then quickly searched inside the stove and finally took out a "thin knife" from underneath.

Xia Ming raised an eyebrow slightly as he looked at the knife.

Theoretically speaking, an oyster knife is easier to open, but for someone with Xia Ming's arm strength, there isn't much difference between the two.

Because the edges of the Jiangyao clam shell are extremely sharp and can easily cut your hands, in order to save some blood essence for protection, Xia Ming put on gloves and then quickly started to open the "belt" in front of the camera.

On camera, Xia Ming worked swiftly, opening the strap and removing all the unwanted internal organs.

In the end, only the whole piece of meat in the middle and the "skirt" that had already been cleaned were left.

Upon seeing Xia Ming's action, most netizens immediately understood.

Xia Ming was collecting fresh scallops.
After seeing that he had taken about a dozen, Xia Ming put the scallops aside and began to make the jelly.

He added a small amount of water to the pot, then melted a small amount of rock sugar, and then added dried tangerine peel strips.

Next, remove the dried tangerine peel strips, then add the softened gelatin and stir. While stirring, add lime juice. After the ingredients are mixed, Xia Ming sniffs the mixture and then adds a little vinegar.

After that, he put it in a special square container and then refrigerated it.

Next, he put the glutinous rice into the rice cooker, pressed the quick steam mode, and then took out the roasted sesame seeds, grinding half of them into powder and reserving the other half.

After making the preparations, he took the hawthorn, melted the hawthorn and dried orange with butter, and finally added water to make a very light yellow hawthorn-flavored kumquat juice.

After all the preparations were complete, Xia Ming took out the glutinous rice, then mixed sesame powder with glutinous rice flour, and finally pressed it into a uniform thin pancake using an iron plate.

Then deep-fry it until it sets, and then cut it into 14 square slices.

While the scallops were cooling, Xia Ming added a little butter to a frying pan and then fried them.

In just two minutes, when the scallops were golden brown on both sides, Xia Ming sprinkled pepper and sea salt on top.

Xia Ming finished all of this in less than half an hour, while Han Tianyan across from him was still preparing the foie gras and had already started plating it.

A thin slice of fruit, topped with a fried scallop, drizzled with "hawthorn and kumquat sauce" on the left, and a thin layer of "tangerine peel and lime jelly" on the right.

Then, some flowers were arranged on top, and an arc of sauce was spread around the edges. Finally, a small amount of fresh jasmine petal fragments were sprinkled on top.

After making final adjustments to the colors and plating, Xia Ming raised his hand and pressed the button.

Han Tianyan on the other side was a little stunned; Xia Ming's speed far exceeded his expectations.

Before he could even feel afraid, he suddenly realized something.

"Wait a minute, at this time, they shouldn't even be able to prepare French sauces."

"Is what he made really algorithmic cuisine?"

(End of this chapter)