The Spirit of Gourmet

Chapter 182 A Heated Showdown

"Ah...I'm full."

After leaving the noodle shop, Cao Dongdong patted his belly contentedly.

After finishing his beef noodles, still wanting more, he ordered another bowl.

The portions at Pang's noodle shop were quite large; he couldn't possibly finish two bowls, but luckily Tuantuan helped him share some of the food.

"Their noodles are all so delicious!" Zhao Qian couldn't help but exclaim. "I feel like the mutton noodles I ate were even better than Qin Lang's plain noodles."

"These two are incomparable." Qin Lang said, both amused and exasperated.

The plain noodles he made before were the simplest version.

How can it compare to the carefully braised mutton of others?

"So Qin Lang, what kind of noodles are you planning to make tomorrow?" Yu Zaozao couldn't help but ask curiously. "Have you thought of anything yet?"

"More or less." Qin Lang nodded with a smile.

He can make so many kinds of noodles. Putting aside all kinds of noodles, cat ear noodles, wontons, and wontons can all be considered noodles.

In addition, there are various other wheat-based foods such as steamed buns and dumplings.

The range of choices is quite extensive.

However, considering that tomorrow's round of 16 will be an open cooking competition where the judges and all the audience will see the entire cooking process, Qin Lang plans to do something different.

Perhaps it was the pressure that Du Ziyan brought out today with the Jade Boat that made Qin Lang feel this way, and for the first time since coming to this world, he had the idea of ​​showing off his skills.

Therefore, this time he plans to present a noodle dish whose cooking process alone is enough to make people applaud.

"You'll find out what kind of food it is tomorrow," Qin Lang said with a mysterious smile, addressing the inquiring looks from Cao Dongdong and the other two.

This noodle dish is truly impressive when you see it for the first time.
-

"ladies and gentlemen!"

The host's passionate voice echoed throughout the main stadium.

"The Tianhua Prefecture Youth Cooking Competition has reached the elimination rounds. Today, the sixteen contestants who have emerged from the preliminary and secondary rounds will compete on the same stage and bring us a culinary feast!"

"To ensure the smooth running of the eight one-on-one culinary duels and to provide the audience with sufficient entertainment, we have imposed an even more stringent requirement on each contestant, in addition to the limited themes and open-ended cooking format, which is..."

"Cooking time must not exceed 100 minutes!"

As the host finished speaking, two standard cooking units slowly rose from under the stage in the vast venue. Each standard cooking unit had a timer hanging above it, and the walls and ceiling had been removed.

"In this competition, seven food critics will serve as judges. After tasting two dishes, they will choose the one they prefer."

"The contestant who received more votes from the food critics will advance, while the other contestant will unfortunately have to leave the cooking competition stage."

"Now, let's give a warm round of applause to welcome Du Ziyan and Zhao Qian from Group A to the stage. Their duel is about mutton!"

Who will ultimately win this match?

"let us wait and see!"

"Zhao Qian's legs seem to be shaking a bit." In the stands, Cao Dongdong muttered to himself as he looked at Zhao Qian's expressionless face in the close-up shot.

“She was definitely a little nervous,” Qin Lang sighed. “When I saw her this morning, she had very noticeable dark circles under her eyes.”

"Zhao Qian, keep it up!" Yu Zaozao shouted at the stage, holding up the camera with one hand and cupping her cheek with the other as if making a megaphone.

Seeing this, Qin Lang and Cao Dongdong also stood up and shouted. Seemingly hearing the shouts of the three people in the crowd, Zhao Qian glanced at the stands in this direction and forced a smile.

As the countdown ended, amidst cheers from countless spectators, Du Ziyan and Zhao Qian made their moves simultaneously.

The next moment, gasps of surprise rang out from the crowd.

Under the watchful eyes of everyone, Du Ziyan calmly led out a whole, still-living sheep and began to bleed and slaughter it in front of everyone.

"Holy crap!" Cao Dongdong couldn't help but gasp. "Isn't this going a bit too far?"

“Indeed.” Qin Lang’s expression was equally serious. “He is indeed very bold to dare to slaughter a sheep on the spot and cook it.”

Without a doubt, the ingredients obtained in this way are the freshest and in no way inferior to those used by Egg Treasure after it has been using plenty of fresh ingredients.

But this also presents a problem: time!
Starting with cooking a live sheep means more time will be spent processing the ingredients, leaving less time for cooking.

As the host just mentioned, the cooking time in the elimination rounds is not unlimited; each person only has 100 minutes to cook!
In this context, such an approach is undoubtedly very bold.

Zhao Qian, on the other side, was also clearly surprised by Du Ziyan's actions, but she gritted her teeth and quickly focused her attention on herself.

Vanilla, star anise, cardamom...

Nearly thirty kinds of spices and fruits were sorted and arranged on the table by Zhao Qian. The next moment, Zhao Qian exclaimed softly, "Bubu!"

"Bu Yi——"

Bubu emerged from the star vein, his body surging with azure light.

Zhao Qian slowly closed her eyes, her body radiating the same light.

"Zhao Qian was the first to choose to use culinary techniques. Judging from her performance, this is the culinary technique of [seasoning simulation], which allows her to simulate a complete cooking process in her mind based on the use of seasonings!"

The host's voice rang out, and the audience erupted in a thunderous cheer.

Compared to ordinary people, the number of Spirit Chefs is extremely small. This is the first time that a culinary skill has been used in public during this competition, and it has naturally attracted a lot of attention.

But when Qin Lang and Cao Dongdong saw this scene, they looked at each other and their expressions became somewhat serious.

"She seems really nervous," Cao Dongdong sighed.

The technique of seasoning simulation is mostly used for improving and optimizing food. In the dish "Thousand Flavors Lamb" that Zhao Qian is already very familiar with, there is no need to use it at all.

"They probably didn't want to make a mistake, so they used a seasoning simulation to confirm it once," Qin Lang said slowly. "After all, this dish takes quite a while to cook, and if a mistake is made, there simply won't be enough time to make it a second time on site."

During their conversation, Zhao Qian reopened her eyes.

After completing the seasoning simulation, she felt noticeably less nervous and began to skillfully and smoothly prepare the braising liquid and pre-process the mutton.

On the other side, Du Ziyan had already cut the whole live sheep into eight pieces, sorted out the different parts, and started preparing to cook it.

After watching for a few minutes, Qin Lang's expression became increasingly serious.

This guy…

Judging from his posture, he seems to want to cook different parts of the lamb simultaneously using different cooking methods.

He didn't intend to cook any part of the sheep at all; he wanted it all!

Even Qin Lang couldn't help but admire his dedication to cooking.

But the problem is...

Is there enough time?
(End of this chapter)