Who gave this heretical practitioner permission to cook?

Chapter 237 Bai Susu's Scoring, Next Round's Topic: "Shumai" "Not Shaomai?" (First Update)
As Bai Susu sucked up the last bit of broth from the chicken carcass, all that remained in front of the judges was a pile of chicken carcass remains.

Savoring the last drop of soup in her mouth, Bai Susu turned her gaze to Xia Ming, thinking to herself.

"This young man named Xia Ming is quite skilled at making soup!"

"A simple chicken carcass, cooked only in the simplest way, is infused with the aroma of chicken after being concentrated."

"The ingredients are so simple you could count them on your fingers, and they fit the theme perfectly."

"If I had to point out a drawback..."

Bai Susu looked at the plate in front of her, then looked up at Xia Ming's stove.

"The downside is that the portion is too small. Although the judging took almost 10 minutes, it was actually only about three sips of soup."

Cooking chicken for too long will make it tough and dry.

This is especially true for the meat close to the bone on frozen chicken frames.
The deliciousness of the chicken soup was a great bonus, so Xia Ming cleaned the chicken carcass extremely thoroughly, leaving only the soup to enjoy.

The occasional small bits of meat left at the joints and edges were intentional, mainly to give the judges different layers of texture when sucking on the chicken frame.

Bai Susu could naturally have thought of this as well.

What she wasn't entirely satisfied with was that Xia Ming could have brought each judge a bowl of soup after they finished eating the chicken frame.

But Xia Ming did not do that.
Although this wouldn't affect the rating of the chicken frame dish, Bai Susu always felt a sense of emptiness welling up inside her.

Tan Zhifeng, who was standing to the side, felt it was alright.

"Imperfection can sometimes be a kind of perfection. There are still nearly 20 contestants. If we bring out a huge pot of soup, and then serve the other contestants other dishes, they won't be able to eat it all."

He was actually a little surprised. From the moment Xia Ming served the chicken frame until he finished tasting it, putting aside the taste, he didn't seem to find anything wrong with it.

"The timing, technique, and flavor all seem very reasonable and appropriate."

For Tan Zhifeng, who had been exposed to Xia Ming's cuisine many times, this was a novel experience.

He didn't believe Xia Ming had reformed.

"They probably felt they had enough spots, so they wanted to make a good impression on the other judges first..."

Tan Zhifeng actually felt that this reason was a bit far-fetched.
In his view, even if Xia Ming adds some subtle touches to his dishes, he can still achieve a double suppression of both the visual and gustatory senses.

He prefers to believe that Xia Ming chose the simplest and most direct way to present the deliciousness of the chicken frame in order to fit the theme of "the extraordinary in the ordinary" without any calculation.

If Xia Ming knew about Tan Zhifeng's idea, he would definitely nod with a smile.

Because he guessed half of it correctly, as for the other half... it was a test from a different angle...

Finally, seeing that there was nothing left to eat, the judges reluctantly entered the scoring phase.

Although Xia Ming's dishes were served in small portions, they certainly gave them an extraordinary experience.

"Chicken soup is a familiar and ordinary flavor, but with skillful cooking, it can present a sweetness that far exceeds expectations. Isn't this an extraordinary thing in the ordinary?"

As Yin Shengjiang pondered this, he raised the scoreboard in his hand.

He would give Xia Ming's "Boiled Chicken Shell" a score of 9.6.

In Cheng Xieyun's eyes, however, the theme that Xia Ming wanted to embody was "not showing his true colors".

"When the chicken carcass is served, the aroma is not apparent at all, and it looks very ordinary and is easily overlooked."

"But when you actually taste it, you will find that it is full of fresh and fragrant flavor, truly living up to the saying 'gold and jade inside'."

Although it felt like using the "su" method was a bit inconsiderate of an elderly person like her, Cheng Xieyun was still very generous with her ratings.

She gave Xia Ming a score of 9.9, partly for the chicken carcass he presented, and partly for his amazing method of making soup at lightning speed.

Tan Zhifeng was just as radical as her.

If there weren't still several rounds left in the competition, he would have given it a perfect score of 10 long ago.

Xia Ming's strength was known best to him, and as long as he performed steadily, there was often no need to worry about the score.

However, this is not a variety show like "Wild West Kitchen". In order to take into account the opinions of other contestants, Tan Zhifeng ultimately only gave it a score of 9.8.

Seeing this, the other judges also gave their scores.

[Tong Song: 9.7 points]

Cao Fujun: 9.5 points

Ding Yongxing: 10 points

"10 points?"

When Ding Yongxing saw his score, even the usually calm Yin Shengjiang looked at him curiously, his eyes clearly questioning his score.

But when he turned his head, he realized that while everyone else had eaten the chicken frame, they were all satisfied but not quite satisfied, only Ding Yongxing had actually shed two lines of tears.

Unlike most chefs, Ding Yongxing's early life can be described as one of hardship and uncertainty.

Born in Liaoning Province, his parents' generation happened to be caught up in the most famous "graduation wave" of that era, and many workers suddenly became "freelancers" who could completely control their own time.

In that environment, meat dishes were always scarce on Ding Yongxing's family's dining table when he was a child.

Even though it was a transportation hub and a breeding base, meat in Liaoning was really not cheap at that time, and most families could only afford chicken frames.

“Sucking the broth and searching for every bit of the broth clinging to the bone was what the children longed for most back then.”

"Those were truly bitter times. It was so bitter that all we had was boiled chicken bones in salted water. It was so bitter that many people survived, had a 'good' meal, and then never woke up again."

The analysis of Xia Ming's technique differed from that of the other judges.

In his view, the theme that Xia Ming's dish embodies actually has little to do with chicken frames anymore.

"Xia Ming is actually using the most direct way to recreate an era for us!"

"An era that was both ordinary and extraordinary. An era that evokes deep sorrow."

Like most families that survived that era, Ding Yongxing also came from that time.

Nowadays, very few people in the area choose chicken frames to supplement their nutrition.

After all, chicken is really not expensive now, and people have long since moved from looking forward to eating meat to choosing which meat to eat.

As for the traditional flavors that most food stalls still retain, in the eyes of many people, they are the mark and badge of honor of the times.

Ding Yongxing admitted that his score of 10 included his personal emotions.

But as he mentioned at the beginning, chicken frames, as an ingredient, inherently possess "historical significance." Therefore, in a way that fits the theme, giving Xia Ming the only perfect score of the entire event was perfectly reasonable in his view.

But while he made a reasonable argument, Bai Susu, who was standing to the side, was unintentionally lifted up.

However, she didn't care about any of that...

In Bai Susu's view, cooking only follows two judgment logics.

According to the logic of the competition, Xia Ming's "clear water chicken frame" far exceeds the cooking level of "Hua 5 level".

Giving it a score of 9.5 or higher is not an exaggeration at all.

However, according to Bai Susu's personal scoring logic, a perfect score of 10 is one that can balance emotion and culinary taste.

As a judge, such thinking is clearly biased, but Bai Susu doesn't care.
Her family background, her resume, and her current status are all sufficient to support her in making such an assessment.

Therefore, even though Ding Yongxing gave Xia Ming 10 points, Bai Susu still did not change her score.

【8.9 minutes】

Xia Ming wasn't surprised at all when he saw the score, but the comments section exploded.

【Wait, is this woman a trendsetter?】

[Is she the only one who didn't get a 9? Does she have a problem with all the other contestants?]

This woman seems incredibly picky about food. Following her logic, I'm genuinely curious what kind of dish could possibly get a perfect score.

[The culinary association brought this woman over just to control the scores, right? Looking around, she has the most problems and the lowest score.]

But this woman's resume is really impressive, so it's understandable that she's demanding.

[What do you mean "normal"? The definition of a judge is to give the most objective score while adhering to the theme and competition standards. I don't see how this person surnamed Bai gave an objective score at all!]

[I looked her up online, and this woman is incredibly arrogant. She's had this personality ever since she started acting. She even gave a low score to a senior chef who was more senior than her.]

Why did they invite such a judge?

Unlike the netizens who were focused on Bai Susu's low score, the contestants in the rest area below only showed a solemn expression when they saw Xia Ming's score.

Although they had heard about Xia Ming's strength beforehand, their feelings became more direct when the scores were actually released.

【67.4 minutes】

He directly pulled ahead of second-place Kang Xincheng by 3.9 points.

When averaged out to each judge, that's a margin of error of 0.55 points.

This means that, in the judges' eyes, this chicken frame completely outshone all the previous contestants.

Including world-class "West 7 level" chefs.

Upon seeing this score, even the usually calm Kang Xincheng couldn't help but look somewhat serious, let alone the others.

Compared to their serious expressions, Xia Ming took the plates back as if it were the most natural thing in the world and walked towards his stove.

This score was within his expectations, including Bai Susu's score of no more than 9 points.

This time, he didn't add anything related to the scheme to the dish; it was essentially part of the scheme itself.

"A mix of truth and deception is what makes it impossible for others to judge."

"Moreover, the absence of other clever ideas does not mean that it has no effect."

Xia Ming was actually using this dish to test the new judges, since analysis based on observation is never as convincing as analysis based on personal experimentation.

At this moment, he probably understood what kind of person Bai Susu was.

Similarly, in this round of matches, which was more of an adaptation for him, he also gained a general understanding of the strengths of the other players.

Because the judges are not allowed to speak, the taste of Kang Xincheng's dishes remains a mystery to the other contestants.

Xia Ming knew perfectly well that the dish, which looked extremely "ordinary," was anything but "ordinary" inside.

“The chicken bone paste alone involves more than a dozen steps, and he had a plan in mind from the beginning for every flavor.”

"No wonder he's such a good candidate for Western cuisine. This chef, Kang Xincheng, seems to have an innate talent for controlling temperature, taste, and portion size."

“The elaborate aspects of Chinese cuisine can sometimes feel restrictive to him, so he prefers Western food, which is less strenuous for him.”

"Jiang Chuanhong is very experienced and his incense blending is particularly good. He is quite skilled."

"Hu Xing's performance in this round was average. It's a bit too abstract to focus on emotions in a chef competition."

"I'm actually quite curious how Luo Hui would handle a dish that has absolutely nothing to do with anime."

"Maintaining a persona is easy, but also difficult. If all cooking problems could really be 'anime-ized,' then Level 5 would definitely not be this person's limit."

Of course, boiled chicken frames were far from Xia Ming's limit. At the beginning of this "final selection round," he simply used the most direct method to achieve victory.

After he finished presenting the dish, the others had very little time left.

After returning to the stove, Xia Ming used the leftover chicken broth as usual to cook a pot of noodles for his work lunch.

Aside from Bai Susu's somewhat irritating gaze from afar, the others seemed rather used to it.

Just as Zheng Zeqian said.

"Sometimes I don't know whether Xia Ming is processing the scraps himself or feeding them to the judges—it seems like most of the time, there's no difference."

Time ticked by, and as the "time limit" reached its final second, the first round of the "Hua 5 Level Final Selection Round" came to an end.

Xia Ming scored 67.4 points and won first place in the game with his boiled chicken frame.

Just when all the contestants thought the day's competition was over, the host announced that the next match would begin in an hour.

This time, the question did not restrict the main ingredients, and even generously gave the contestants an hour to come up with ideas.

Just as the contestants who advanced were expressing their gratitude for the organizers' understanding, the theme for the next round was displayed on the large screen behind the judges.

"Second round theme of the 'Hua 5 Level Final Selection Round'."

"【Shumai】."

"【Not shumai】"

(End of this chapter)