The Spirit of Gourmet

Chapter 417 The Strange Review
As the white-haired old man finished speaking, not only the audience present, but even the four judges who had spoken before him couldn't help but cast strange glances at him.

Admittedly, Wang Man's dish was indeed inferior to Yang Hua's.

But to say it's "a complete waste of a fish"...

Isn't that a bit of an overstatement?

On stage, Wang Man's face was visibly grim, but the old man with white hair was not finished with his evaluation.

Or rather, the astonishing statement just now was merely the opening act.

"The soup's color isn't rich enough, and while it has a umami flavor, it's not pure enough. This indicates that they skimped on ingredients during the soup-making process." The old man snorted angrily. "The competition only lasts half an hour. If you can't make a decent fish soup within half an hour, then you shouldn't have chosen this dish at all!"

Wang Man opened his mouth, but the explanation he was about to give was cut off by the old man.

"And this fish meat," the old man said, picking up a piece of fish from his bowl. "What's the point of just slicing it thinly? Did you even slice it along the grain?"

"The fish has such a noticeably tough and astringent texture, how can I possibly serve it to others?"

"And these scallions." The old man picked up a small piece of scallion from the top of the fish fillet. "You think you can just throw something together as a garnish?"

"These scallions are all wilted, can't you tell?"

When he got excited, the old man slammed his hand on the judging panel, exclaiming, "The taste is no good, and the knife skills are no good either!"

"Most importantly, the attitude is wrong."

"And you too!" After saying that to Wang Man, the old man turned to look at Yang Hua on the other side. "You're smug because I didn't mention you?"

Yang Hua's smile, which had been on his face because he had received four votes, vanished instantly.

"When stir-frying chives, why don't you pick out and throw away the older, tougher ends of the chives? Can't you see that this old man has bad teeth?"

"Also, the cooking time is a bit off; the chives are overcooked."

"Don't think you're all that just because you won this game. You still have a lot to learn!"

After criticizing both chefs on stage, the white-haired old man slowly sat down and finally said, "I choose Yang Hua."

silence.

There was silence.

After quite a while, one of the lucky audience members who had also tasted the dish couldn't help but mutter to himself.

Is it really that bad?

"That white jade fish soup was the most delicious fish soup I've ever had, and the stir-fried chives were so tender they were practically dripping with juice..."

“Yes, yes.” The other lucky audience members nodded in agreement, and then a strange look appeared on their faces.

I always felt that they and that old man were eating different dishes.

The audience erupted in uproar. The two chefs who had been the center of attention were now ignored, and everyone couldn't help but look at the white-haired old man.

Who is this old man, that he has such a sharp tongue?
On the judging panel, the other four judges also looked at each other in bewilderment.

As qualified judges in the culinary world, they all knew each other, but this old man didn't know anyone.

Did those two dishes have so many flaws?
The four judges couldn't help but glance at the elderly man who sat calmly in his chair with his eyes closed, seemingly resting.

If they keep praising it, wouldn't that make them seem very unprofessional?
"Unfortunately, according to the rules of the Culinary Arena, Wang Man cannot challenge this arena again." The host finally realized what was happening and quickly warmed up the atmosphere, "We hope he achieves good results in other arenas."

"Now, let's give a warm round of applause to congratulate Yang Hua on temporarily becoming the champion of this arena!"

As he spoke, the host grabbed Yang Hua's hand and waved it.

Yang Hua, who had become the temporary champion, looked somewhat dazed, clearly still reeling from the sharp words of the white-haired old man.

"So now, which chef would like to come up on stage?"

"I'll go." Qin Lang walked onto the stage without hesitation.

On one hand, he was quite interested in his opponent, Yang Hua; it wasn't easy to elevate a simple vegetarian dish to this level. On the other hand…

He was genuinely curious whether the white-haired old man's sharp criticism was true or an exaggeration.

"My name is Qin Lang. Nice to meet you."

After patiently waiting for the staff to quickly finish cleaning the cooking unit, Qin Lang strode towards the cooking unit that Wang Man had just used.

On the other side, Yang Hua finally came to his senses.

He glanced at Qin Lang's back, then walked heavily into his cooking unit, his eyes burning with fighting spirit.

But this fighting spirit had nothing to do with Qin Lang.

He wants to use his culinary skills to conquer that sharp-tongued old man!
-
"The ingredients are quite complete." Qin Lang glanced at the ingredient storage area; all the usual ingredients were there, and they were all very fresh.

"Gurgle gurgle~" Egg Baby came closer with an expectant look on its face.

"Making fried rice for the first round?" Qin Lang shook his head, both amused and exasperated. "Trying to defeat Yang Hua with fried rice might be a bit difficult."

Upon hearing this, Egg tilted its head.

The old man with white hair just now scolded Yang Hua so badly, does that mean the other person's cooking skills are actually superb?

"Indeed, it's not bad." Qin Lang said seriously, "That stir-fried chives dish is almost at the top of the stir-fried vegetable dishes category."

"Unless there's something wrong with the seasoning, it's impossible for it to taste bad."

"But the white-haired old man didn't mention the seasoning at all, so there must be nothing wrong with the dish."

"And more importantly, Yang Hua took half an hour."

"A simple stir-fried chive dish shouldn't take this long."

"There is a rule in the culinary competition: the losing team's standard cooking unit will be cleaned up to prepare for the next challenger."

"But the winner's standard cooking unit will not be cleaned up."

"So, while the official cooking time is half an hour each time, the defending champion can use the remaining cooking time from the previous duel to prepare for the next cooking session and thus expand their advantage."

"Yang Hua should have done this just now."

"So his next dish will be even more amazing."

Upon hearing this, Danbao suddenly looked enlightened.

"Chapter?" Spicy asked curiously from the side.

So what dishes are they going to make next?

“Hmm…” Qin Lang pondered for a moment and quickly came up with an idea.

"Let's make scrambled eggs with beef tenderloin."

This dish doesn't take long to cook, more than half an hour, which saves time for preparing other dishes, such as speeding up the cooking process with spicy food or making a pot of broth for later use.

In addition, this dish requires eggs.

Qin Lang casually pulled out a rare egg from the Traveler's Book, and then selected a piece of fine beef tenderloin from the ingredient storeroom.

"Gurgle~" Egg Baby immediately came over, wanting to use the fresh beef tenderloin, but was stopped by Qin Lang.

"No rush." ​​Qin Lang smiled. "The beef tenderloin prepared by the association is already very fresh. It doesn't need to be super fresh to be perfectly adequate."

"A six-hour arena battle, full of excitement, and you only get one chance."

Good steel should be used where it's most needed.

(End of this chapter)