The Spirit of Gourmet

Chapter 422 The Plain White Wine of Dinghu Lake!

Elm ear fungus originates from Gansu Province. It has a pinkish-red surface with fuzz, and has a mushroom aroma after being dried.

The rock ear is brown on one side and carbon black on the other, and grows flat in damp rock crevices.

As for Osmanthus Ear, it is considered the most beautiful among the six types of ear fungus, with its small fruiting body having a bright orange-yellow color.

After the six ears, comes the nine bamboo shoots.

Nine types of bamboo shoots refer to bamboo shoots, golden bamboo shoots, asparagus, vegetable bamboo shoots, hairy-tail bamboo shoots, pen bamboo shoots, ginger bamboo shoots, hanging silk bamboo shoots, and pig stomach bamboo shoots.

Fresh bamboo shoots, short and thick, reveal only white and pale green shoots after peeling off their outer skin.

Golden bamboo shoots sound fancy, but they also have another name: carrots.

Um... it's the carrot that everyone knows.

Asparagus is relatively rare. It is about the thickness of a finger, green and long, with similar length from top to bottom. One shoot is about two to three fingers long.

As for lettuce, it also has another name, lettuce shoots. It is a variety of lettuce, but it is not exactly the same as lettuce.

The latter five types of bamboo shoots are even rarer, to the point that the author could not find any pictures of them.

Beyond the nine bamboo shoots lies a sheng (a type of ancient Chinese opera).

Yisheng refers to the bamboo fungus, also known as bamboo sago.

Bamboo fungus is known as the "Queen of Fungi". It has a long, white stem and a dark green or brownish-green cap. Around the cap, there is a beautiful net-like structure that looks like a thin veil, resembling a long skirt fluttering in the wind.

These are all the main ingredients of Dinghu Shangsu.

These nineteen kinds of precious mountain delicacies would have been incredibly difficult to gather in Qin Lang's previous life, but Qin Lang unexpectedly found them all here while checking the food storage.

At that moment, he decided on the dish to challenge Du Ziyan to.

Some of the ingredients in these food warehouses are dried goods that need to be soaked. No matter how good the dried goods are, they can't compare to freshly picked mountain delicacies.

Therefore, Qin Lang saved the freshest egg for last.

While patiently waiting for Danbao to finish processing all the ingredients, Qin Lang took a pot of soup that had already been cooked from the stove, filtered out the ingredients, leaving only a pot of soup with a rich meaty aroma.

This is the vegetarian broth needed to cook Dinghu vegetarian dishes.

The so-called vegetarian broth is a special broth made by simmering various vegetables together. When the vegetables are cooked together, they can create a unique aroma similar to that of meat.

First, slice the celery and carrots, cut the kelp into sections, and put them into a pot with the bean sprouts. Cook until just tender, then remove and place in a clay pot.

Add longan, dried tangerine peel, white peppercorns, and monk fruit to the clay pot, then add water to cover the ingredients and simmer over low heat for two hours.

Each ingredient has its own unique and peculiar aroma when cooked alone. However, during the process of mixing and simmering, these unique aromas will slowly blend together and become indistinguishable from each other, eventually transforming into a unique fragrance that is indistinguishable from the aroma of meat.

This meaty aroma is the source of the meaty flavor in Dinghu vegetarian cuisine.

Making vegetarian dishes resemble meat dishes, creating dishes that are indistinguishable from the real thing, has always been the ultimate pursuit of flavor in vegetarian cooking.

The spicy cooking speed-up was already used when cooking boiled cabbage, and even the Miracle Knife can't make it work again.

Fortunately, two hours is not a long time, and Qin Lang has completed this step ahead of schedule through reasonable time planning.

Take a clean clay pot, and place the three kinds of mushrooms, six kinds of fungus, nine kinds of bamboo shoots and one kind of shiitake mushroom in the clay pot in order after they are cooked through, either cut into chunks or strips.

Carefully pour some of the vegetarian broth into a clay pot filled with various rare and precious ingredients. Then, place a porcelain plate upside down on top of the clay pot and put it directly into a steamer to steam for 25 minutes.

Finally, remove the steamed ingredients and turn the casserole and the inverted porcelain plate upside down to obtain a neatly stacked Dinghu vegetarian dish. Pour the thickened vegetarian broth evenly over the surface, allowing a thin layer of broth to soak into the porcelain plate.

The famous dish served at state banquets, Dinghu Vegetarian Cuisine, is ready!
As Qin Lang carefully placed the dishes into the food cart, a glimmer of anticipation shone in his eyes.

Du Ziyan, are you ready?
-
"The final battle for the title of champion has begun!"

The host raised his voice again, "Both chefs came out at the last minute, I wonder what dishes they will bring?"

Qin Lang and Du Ziyan on the other side exchanged glances, and it was as if a flash of lightning had appeared in the air.

"It's started, it's started!"

Below the stage, Zhao Qian and the others, who had already arrived, showed expectant expressions.

Di You lost his title as the champion after being defeated by Du Ziyan, which caused him to have a mental breakdown. He was unwilling to continue challenging other arenas, so he came over with Wei Shasha, who had come to cheer him on.

Looking at the two on stage, his eyes were filled with nervousness. "Idol, you absolutely can't lose!"

At Qin Lang's request, Di You stopped calling him "idol" after Lanqiu City, but at this moment, he subconsciously shouted it out.

"Don't worry, Qin Lang won't lose so easily. After all, he's already beaten Du Ziyan twice." Cao Dongdong, standing next to him, crossed his arms.

On the dessert-making stage, he almost made it to the end, but in the end, he was no match for the skill of the other and was defeated by an old man who had been immersed in desserts for decades.

However, Cao Dongdong has always been optimistic and was not saddened by this at all.

On the contrary, he gained a lot of new dessert inspiration by competing with other chefs on the dessert stage.

"I just hope I can be chosen as a lucky audience member." Zog held the number plate with both hands, muttering to himself.

“Superstition is useless; we must believe in science.” Fatima pushed up her glasses and took out her phone to try to hack into the lottery system.

However, once the food presentation began, everyone fell silent.

The first dish presented was Qin Lang's. When the various vegetarian dishes, piled together and drizzled with broth, appeared, everyone fell silent.

"The same trick again?" Du Ziyan couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. "While your soup is indeed very powerful, isn't it a bit disrespectful to use this method time and time again?"

“This time is quite different from before,” Qin Lang said with a smile.

"Hmm?" A hint of surprise flashed in Du Ziyan's eyes as he looked at Dinghu Shangsu in the picture, his expression becoming more serious.

"Then I'd like to see for myself."

After the food presentation ended, Qin Lang spoke calmly.

"Dinghu Vegetarian Cuisine, please enjoy it, esteemed judges."

Next up were Du Ziyan's dishes.

The moment the dish appeared, gasps of surprise rang out from the audience, for the plate contained a jade ruyi (a traditional Chinese ornament symbolizing good fortune).

No, it should be said that it was a dish that was extremely similar to a jade ruyi (a type of scepter), and you could not tell what ingredients it contained from its appearance.

"Please enjoy, Ruyi," Du Ziyan said in a loud voice.

As the food presentations concluded, the divided dishes were presented to the five judges. Facing the final battle of the champion, even the white-haired old man showed a rare hint of seriousness in his eyes.

In silence, the judges began to taste the food.

(End of this chapter)