The Spirit of Gourmet

Chapter 481 The Ultimate Temptation of Carnivorous Food

Place the whole piece of golden-brown pork belly into a pot of cold water, add scallions, ginger slices, and cooking wine, and then simmer over low heat.

Then, Qin Lang couldn't help but look at Lala.

The latter's cooking skill, [Cooking Acceleration], received a significant boost as its strength increased to a two-star food spirit.

And this upgrade is a qualitative leap.

【Cooking Acceleration (2 stars): Accelerates all accelerable processes within the cooking skill range. The maximum total acceleration time for all processes is 1500 minutes, with a 3-minute interval and a 12-hour cooldown.】

【烹调加速】从0星提升到1星的时候，过程加速总时长从1000分钟提升到了1500分钟，同时食技冷却时间从48小时缩短为24小时。

Now upgraded to 2 stars, the total acceleration time of [Cooking Acceleration] remains unchanged, but the cooldown time is further shortened. At the same time, a brand new effect has been added: Intermittent.

In short, as long as the total acceleration time has not been exhausted, the Food Technique can be used intermittently with intervals of less than 3 minutes.

Previously, the spicy cooking acceleration could only affect one process or a cooking process that could be done in parallel. Even the miracle cleaver given to Qin Lang by the Traveler's Book could only extend the duration of the acceleration.

However, such acceleration still has considerable limitations for cooking. After all, many steps in the cooking process are sequential, and the next step can only begin after the previous one is completed. Moreover, these steps take a considerable amount of time, so acceleration cannot be used.

The qualitative change brought by 2 stars further enhances the strength of [Cooking Acceleration].

After turning the heat down to low and closing the lid, Qin Lang spoke to La La.

"40 minutes."

"Chop!" Lala nodded emphatically. Having cooperated with Qin Lang many times, it was now able to accelerate to within 5 seconds.

Once the process was completed quickly, Qin Lang carefully but swiftly scooped out the entire piece of pork belly, rinsed off the blood foam on its surface with hot water, placed it on the table, covered it with a wooden board, and added a basin of water.

The large pieces of pork belly that had bent and deformed due to stewing had to flatten themselves again under the pressure of a basin of water. After this shaping process was completed, the pork belly would solidify without falling apart, with a neat shape, while the excess fat inside would be squeezed out by gravity.

After doing all this, Qin Lang glanced at the top of La La's head.

Above its head is a countdown cursor. If you use [Cooking Acceleration] again before the countdown ends, you can successfully continue the acceleration time and avoid the cooldown of the [Cooking Acceleration] cooking skill.

At this moment, the cursor is still a long way from completing its journey.

“120 minutes.” Pointing to the pork belly being squeezed, Qin Lang methodically began to prepare the other necessary ingredients.

The previous interval was ample, but in the next interval, every second must be used efficiently, otherwise it may exceed 3 minutes, causing the [Cooking Acceleration] to cool down.

If the [Cooking Acceleration] skill were to be deactivated... Qin Lang's entire cooking time would more than double out of thin air.

Once the second acceleration ended, Qin Lang took the basin down, picked up the flattened pork belly, glanced at it, and quickly cut it after confirming it was correct.

The large piece of pork belly was trimmed of its uneven edges, leaving only a whole square piece. Then, with Qin Lang's quick and steady knife skills, it was swiftly cut into small squares that looked almost exactly the same size.

After slicing the pork belly, Qin Lang quickly heated the wok over high heat, without adding oil, until the heat was palpable above the wok. Then, he placed the sliced ​​pork belly, skin side down, into the wok.

"Thorn-"

With a soft sound, the fatty part of the pork belly, which had already been stewed, was heated through the skin and instantly released a large amount of oil. As Qin Lang shook the pot, the pork belly slid along the inner wall.

Throughout the process, keep the skin side down and avoid direct contact between the lean meat and the inner wall of the pot to ensure that the lean meat is always full of juice.

After checking the heat, Qin Lang quickly removed the pan-fried pork belly from the pan. Under the heat, the skin had turned a tempting golden brown, and an incredibly rich aroma of meat wafted out, whetting one's appetite. But Qin Lang had no time to pay attention to this rich and enticing aroma.

He glanced at the countdown timer above Lala's head, which was already halfway through, and his hands moved even faster.

fast!
Hurry up!
Pour off the rendered lard from the pot, leaving only a smooth film of oil residue inside.

Qin Lang took out a bunch of pre-washed scallions and laid them at the bottom of the pot. Then, he placed chunks of pork belly, skin side down, on top of the scallions.

Then, pour in a glass of aged wine.

In his previous life, the best choice was Shaoxing wine. Although Shaoxing wine doesn't exist in this world, Qin Lang found a grain wine with a similar flavor after careful selection, which can achieve a similar effect.

When the liquor was poured into the hot pot, the high concentration of alcohol was instantly ignited. After the fire in the pot went out, Qin Lang poured in the star anise, cinnamon, scallion segments, ginger slices, rock sugar, soy sauce, and red yeast rice powder that had been prepared in the correct proportions.

Finally, add water to cover all the ingredients, reduce the heat to low, and close the lid.

"45 minutes!" Qin Lang shouted as he closed the lid, looking up at the countdown timer above Lala's head.

At this moment, the cursor had dimmed to the point of being almost invisible.

But we made it!
Lala quickly activated [Cooking Acceleration], enveloping the pot simmering over low heat in accelerated time.

Qin Lang finally breathed a slight sigh of relief.

Soon, the third acceleration ended, and after Lala moved aside, Qin Lang casually opened the pot lid.

An incredibly rich, irresistible aroma of meat wafted out.

That was the ultimate meaty aroma of Dongpo pork, which had been building up for a full 45 minutes but couldn't be released due to the special nature of accelerated cooking. At this moment, it exploded like a bomb on the entire stage!
Almost all the contestants who smelled the fragrance went blank for a moment, and when they came to their senses, screams erupted in the arena.

"Ouch! My meat is overcooked!"

"My cabbage is overcooked!"

"I…"

The deadly nature of open-air cooking was laid bare at this moment.

The countless audience members below the stage didn't think so much. At this moment, they were all staring straight at Qin Lang's location, their almost green eyes revealing only two words.

"Want to eat!"

The twenty judges on the panel were also caught up in the same commotion.

"Who did this contestant choose?" one of the judges swallowed hard and couldn't help but ask.

"It's Lao Zhou." Another judge looked on with envy and resentment. "Damn it, why didn't this contestant choose me?"

"Go away, what are you doing here, a vegetarian, getting involved in this mess?"

Amidst whispers of envy, the judge surnamed Zhou, chosen by Qin Lang, was already beaming with excitement.

He won't leave a single drop of soup with this dish!
(End of this chapter)