Who gave this heretical practitioner permission to cook?

Chapter 31's ability to judge the aroma of his own sauce was completely stripped away at this moment.
"no."

Xia Ming shook his head as he looked at the sweet and sour sauce in front of him.

The bald cook took it and tasted it himself.

"There's nothing wrong with it!"

Xia Ming glanced at him silently.
Where are you from?

"I'm from the Beijing area!"

After saying this, the bald cook was stunned; he seemed to know where the problem lay.
Xia Ming also sighed.

"As a chef, it's normal to have your own taste. If this were your own restaurant, there would be no problem in making the sauce you think tastes good. But this is a competition."

Xia Ming knew that the bald cook actually wanted to make a "spicy soy sauce" that the Shanghai area liked.

This should have been readily available, but the problem is, this is a variety show.
Every variety show has a title sponsor, and all the ingredients Xia Ming and his team used, including seasonings, were subject to brand requirements.

There are two types of "hot sauce": one is an imported product with a flavor profile from the "British Empire," and the other is a product with local flavors adjusted for local tastes.

The biggest difference is that the local soy sauce base flavor uses vegetarian flavor (that is, vegetarian soy sauce, meaning the ingredients do not contain any meat or fish), while the soy sauce from the UK sometimes adds meat or fish ingredients.

Since there was no hot sauce on hand, the bald cook had to make his own.

The problem is that he adjusted it according to his own taste, making the soy sauce too salty, with sweet and sour flavors as secondary ingredients.

The original "Wort sauce" (also known as Worcestershire sauce) is a complex sauce with a sour main flavor, complemented by saltiness and sweetness, and a hint of spiciness from chili oil.

The domestic version was modified to suit local tastes, with the sweetness slightly increased and the spiciness removed.

People in that region can tell the difference just by looking at it, which is why Xia Ming said his seasoning was subpar.

The bald cook was helpless; for things like this, it's hard for non-locals to get the right flavor.
After all, China is such a vast country, it's hard to find a chef who can cater to all tastes.

Seeing his expression, Xia Ming narrowed his eyes slightly. In his memory, he had eaten and smelled many seasonings. If he was not mistaken, the authentic "spicy soy sauce" flavor must be hidden somewhere in this body.

As he closed his eyes, the bald cook stood quietly to the side. He had now realized that Xia Ming was indeed much better than him, especially in the details.

Xia Ming was searching his mind. Based on his proficiency in cooking, he could deduce the answer simply by finding the flavor.

Whether in the Nine Provinces or in the city, regardless of the variations in the flavor of fruits or whether meat contains spiritual energy, the flavor itself is like a complex equation, and often there is more than one solution.

Memories flashed through his mind, and finally, a flash of inspiration struck him.

"Found it. Judging from this flavor, you need... Never mind!"

Xia Ming felt that describing taste was a bit troublesome, so he asked the bald cook to wait for him.

Then, he turned back and cut all the prepared tenderloin into regular pieces, bringing the total to 104 pieces, including the previous 5 tenderloins.

He threw all the remaining scraps into the pork offal pot, and by the way, he also scooped up the ingredients from each of the five pots with a ladle.

After doing all this, he returned to the bald cook's side, then took a bottle of ketchup from the table and tasted it.

"Um"

After a moment of silence, he picked up the candy again and licked it. Finally, he raised an eyebrow.

"Go to the 'Food Storage' and get some apples, or pure apple juice. They have to be green apples. Hurry back!" Upon hearing Xia Ming's words, the bald cook turned and rushed towards the "Food Storage" without hesitation.

Xia Ming himself added a suitable proportion of sugar and an appropriate amount of tomato sauce to the soy sauce he had prepared to improve it. When the seasoning was almost mixed, the bald cook came back panting with two green apples and a bottle of apple juice.

"This is the only pure green apple juice in the warehouse. Please check if it meets the requirements. If not, we will have to squeeze it fresh."

Xia Ming took the green apple juice, smelled it, then poured it into a bowl, took a sip, and nodded.

"Enough."

As he spoke, he stirred the soy sauce while pouring in the green apple juice, doing so in three separate steps. Finally, he looked at the pot of soy sauce in front of him and nodded.

"Use this! First, strain it through a clean strainer, then set it aside and hurry up and make the next flavor."

The bald cook nodded, and after Xia Ming left, he poured out some soy sauce and tasted it. When he tasted it on his tongue, his eyes lit up instantly.

On the other side, Xia Ming, having finished his preparatory work, returned to his five pots.

Xia Ming took out five large soup spoons, scooped out a little from each bowl, and began to taste each one.

Objectively speaking, without salt, each of the five bowls of soup was unpalatable in its own way, but he didn't even flinch as he tasted them all.

Then, he licked his lips, picked up a bottle of vinegar from the side, poured 1/5 of it directly into the rabbit offal pot, and then turned back and threw a handful of bay leaves into the beef offal pot.

Finally, he picked up the piece of pigskin next to him.

After quickly cutting it into small pieces, he began rendering lard on the spot.

Unlike the lard commonly used to render pork fat, it's difficult to render the milky white fat from the fat under the pig skin. However, Xia Ming himself didn't expect this to produce pure white pork fat.

As the wok rolled around, a thin layer of oil quickly formed on the bottom.

Xia Ming scooped out the lard, smelled it, and then poured it all out. He repeated this process twice until the pig skin was browned and yellow. Finally, he got a bowl of yellow lard with impurities floating on it.

After a quick filtration, he set it aside and then looked at the five large pots in front of him.
Now, all the preliminary preparations are complete, and all that's left is to wait for the heat and the broth to develop.

On the other hand, Chen Xiaodong's team's "Beef Tartare" went exceptionally smoothly. With an hour left, they had almost completed all the preparations.

Unlike Xia Ming and his group, because their main dish was cold, they had ample time to consider the layers of sauce.

This is the fourth sauce Yang Yanbin has made, but Chen Xiaodong still believes there is room for improvement.

"Our theme is to bring out the original flavor of the beef! Only the purest flavor can immediately attract the judges."

"Your sauce has a great flavor profile and layers, but it lacks aroma—that kind of aroma that makes me want to eat it just by smelling it. It needs to awaken my desire for food!"

Yang Yanbin acknowledged that Chen Xiaodong's point was valid, but the problem is that, given a fixed formula, enhancing the aroma is not easy unless the formula is completely modified.
Just as Yang Yanbin was about to share his thoughts with Chen Xiaodong, he suddenly smelled an extremely strong scent.

It's not just a fragrance, but more of a flavor that's a perfect blend of fats and spices.

It was obvious that Chen Xiaodong smelled it too.
The two exchanged a glance, then looked across at each other. They saw Xia Ming smiling as he prepared five different kinds of offal soup in a new pot.

As the broth continued to blend, the entire arena was filled with an aroma bomb, and even the assistant director sitting in the distance couldn't help but sniff a few times.

"It smells so good! I could eat two bowls of rice just from this aroma!"

Just as everyone was marveling at the terrifyingly fragrant "Five-Ingredient Soup" that Xia Ming had made, Yang Yanbin across from them suddenly realized a very serious problem.
His ability to judge the aroma of his own sauce was completely stripped away at this moment.
(End of this chapter)