Who gave this heretical practitioner permission to cook?

Chapter 116 Emerald branches overturn the fields, golden waves shimmer across the banquet (3K First Update)
[Huh? What is that? Open it!]

I don't know what happened, but at this moment, I'm kneeling down, completely still.

[It looks so good! Regardless of whether it tastes good or not, its appearance is definitely top-notch.]

Based on my years of experience monitoring various food bloggers online, anything that can be made in such a short time is unlikely to be unpalatable.

[Xia Ming? It's him again!]

The viewers in the live stream rarely saw something completely separate from their daily diet, and they were all quite excited at that moment.

However, the judges in the audience seemed a bit unsure where to begin.
Mainly, they didn't want to ask questions in order to keep quiet, and Xia Ming didn't set an example.

Just as they were pondering where to begin eating, Xia Ming felt that the live stream was almost over, so he silently walked up to the youngest judge.

Then, he nodded, signaling the judges to hand him the spoon.
The young judge hesitated for a moment, but still handed over the spoon.

Xia Ming picked up a spoon, compared it to the tree covered in golden threads, then found a spot slightly below the center and tapped it with the spoon.

Upon receiving the blow, the entire tree trembled first, and then began to disintegrate along the point of impact.
As the tree fell, the golden threads on it began to dance as they fell, eventually covering the pearls and fried rice along with the ruins of the tree.

In an instant, the golden willows in the entire plate disappeared, leaving only the still slightly trembling golden threads.

Upon seeing this, the "Jiangsu cuisine judges" and the "Zhejiang cuisine judges" nodded repeatedly.

It's important to know that among the eight major cuisines, Jiangsu cuisine places the most emphasis on knife skills, while Zhejiang cuisine places the most emphasis on cultural heritage. In their eyes, Xia Ming's skill was definitely a plus.

In particular, one of the judges for the Jiangsu cuisine competition was a very senior chef who discovered the tree falling apart.

It wasn't the hammering that caused the trees to break apart; rather, the trees they saw were actually pieced together from scraps of burnt rice.

"They probably first made a cross, similar to a '3D paper Christmas tree,' using thin, elongated pieces of rice crust. Then they placed it on top of a pile of hollow rice crust fragments and used gold wire to maintain balance."

"Because the underlying structure is just a pile of materials, it may only vaguely contain a little bit of egg liquid or rice as a binder, so its structure is inherently fragile."

"When you tap it with a spoon, the balance is broken. The bottom pieces of rice crust collapse first, and the cross-shaped branches on top fall down like a lid. Thousands of golden threads fall right underneath and cover the pearl."

"Incredible! Absolutely amazing! Such ingenuity is simply breathtaking!"

The Jiangsu cuisine judges felt that this dish could be extended in countless ways, as long as the stable structure remained the same, the ingredients on top and at the bottom could be changed.

"Wonderful, absolutely wonderful!"

The Jiangsu cuisine judges even felt that the taste of this dish was not so important at this moment. For its creativity and practicality, giving it a score of 95 is definitely not an exaggeration.

He also didn't believe that a player capable of such skill could make the dish taste that bad.

From the perspective of the Zhejiang cuisine judges, the dishes in front of them present a completely different picture.

"If the initial scene was like 'golden willow branches swaying in the wind, pearls falling onto a jade plate,' then with that masterful tap, the artistic conception of the dish has changed."

"It is just like 'emerald branches overturning the fields, a feast shimmering with golden waves.' Elegant, truly elegant."

"This contestant's name is Xia Ming, right? He's definitely a promising talent for Zhejiang cuisine. I'll have to ask him after the competition which family he belongs to and see if I can take him in and mentor him."

In the eyes of the judges of Zhejiang cuisine, ingredients should bring out their inherent characteristics.

So what if it's simple?

Back then, even a piece of pork belly with three stripes inspired Su Dongpo to write "Ode to Pork."

As the saying goes, "When the firewood is covered with smoke, the flames won't rise; let it cook on its own, don't rush it. When the heat is just right, it will be delicious."
It's not that the inability to upgrade a dish can be excused by a lack of ingredients.

Even ordinary ingredients like eggs and rice can shine in the hands of this contestant named Xia Ming, right?

Viewers cannot fully understand the judges' thought process through the video.

But Xia Ming's "cooking skills" truly amazed all netizens.

[Oh no, the eggs and rice look like something I can't afford. I need to tag @沪.]

[Don't tag me, I'll come myself. I can't afford it, I really can't afford this.]

[The cost is 4 yuan, the craftsmanship is 9000 yuan, so giving you a discount and charging you 8888 yuan isn't unreasonable, is it?]

[That's still too petty. I suggest adding a "1" at the end!]

[I've already taken a screenshot. @NanxiangDoesn'tLikeEating, got a job!]

I still don't understand how the crispy rice at the bottom could form! It just doesn't make sense!

Just as netizens were marveling at the scene, Xia Ming pushed the plate toward the judges.

The Jiangsu cuisine judges in the middle immediately understood that Xia Ming didn't intend to divide the food into smaller portions and wanted them to eat it themselves with spoons.

If this were just fried rice, the judges would have a lot to say about it, but since it's already turned out like this, it's not unacceptable to make some changes.

When the judges on both sides saw this situation, they also stood up and walked to the plate.

Then each person takes a spoon and tries to wrap the entire contents of the dish inside.

The "Cantonese cuisine judge" nodded as he looked at the golden threads in the spoon.

Actually, these golden threads are "golden egg threads," which are essentially made by adding egg yolks to a pan of oil and then quickly stirring them to create the final product.

It is used in many cuisines, but it is more difficult to make than frying eggs.

Good "golden egg threads" should be as distinct as silk threads, and the thickness of the "golden egg threads" that Xia Ming made in front of him perfectly meets this standard.

The Cantonese cuisine judge lightly touched the egg strands and noticed their lightness and slightly thicker air layer. He could almost imagine the smooth and creamy texture of these egg strands in his mouth. Just based on these egg strands alone, they surpassed the fried rice of countless other contestants.

However, what caught the attention of the Cantonese cuisine judges even more were the pearls that were initially scattered at the bottom.

With a slight brow raise, the judge put the spoonful of food into his mouth. The first thing he felt upon entering his mouth was the golden thread texture.

The texture is somewhat like salted pork floss with an egg flavor, but it's not as chewy, and you can taste the unique flavor of eggs.

That is, while eating the golden threads, the judges felt as if many pearls were jumping around in their mouths.

He knew very well that the so-called pearls here were actually a dish that required a great deal of skill from the chef, called "pearl protein".

The usual method is to take egg white, add milk, a little flour or starch, and then stir it into pearl-like shapes in a moderately sized oil pan.

In terms of basic techniques, it is similar to Bai Heng's hibiscus egg white technique, but it is more difficult.

Moreover, Xia Ming used pure protein.

Without milk, even a slight mistake in the process will result in the pearls not being white enough. Without starch for basic shaping, the difficulty increases by more than double.

Even the Cantonese cuisine judges themselves said that when making this "pearl egg white" dish, they had to add milk, otherwise they might not be able to achieve a pure white color.

But Xia Ming's is almost pure white, which is the absolute ultimate without milk.

Don't be fooled by the fact that these pearls seem tasteless; when paired with the golden threads, they greatly enrich the layers of flavor in your meal. From a taste perspective, it's like taking a sip of sago pudding with the flavor of egg white.

However, unlike sago pudding, these pearls are exceptionally smooth, quite different from the dense texture of gold threads.

Although it wasn't seasoned, you could still clearly taste the freshness of the egg white.

Just as the two textures are intertwined, the rice grains add a touch of smoky flavor. Although the rice grains are white after being fried, the outer shell of the rice still has a slightly charred texture.

"This is most likely made by stir-frying with water, or with a little bit of egg liquid, over low heat."

"Although it doesn't feel oily, it complements the egg shreds perfectly."

He felt that Xia Ming didn't use oil to stir-fry it, firstly to make it look better, and secondly to make it less greasy when paired with egg shreds.

Finally, the rice crust became harder. Although it lost some of its crispness, the contrast with the egg white was still clear.

"To be honest, the whole dish is just a normal savory flavor, with only a hint of sweetness in the fried rice."

"In terms of flavor profile, it's a bit simple, but that's due to the limited ingredients."

"In terms of texture, the golden silk is soft, the pearl protein is smooth, the rice grains are refreshing, and it is paired with the crispy aroma of the rice crust."

"Four levels, superimposed and integrated, can be considered a masterpiece!"

"To be able to think clearly in such a short time, and even subconsciously consider the balance of flavors."

"What a genius."

The Cantonese cuisine judge took a deep look at Xia Ming's name tag. He felt that Xia Ming might be the biggest dark horse in this new chef competition.

The Sichuan cuisine judges breathed a sigh of relief.

The presentation, the creativity, the taste – everything was perfect except for the aroma, which was difficult to discern clearly within the competition venue.
"This is a bit tricky. How many points should I give it?"

At that moment, his thoughts were exactly those of the other judges present.

Under normal circumstances, even if they have some disagreements, two of them would usually reach a conclusion earlier.

But they were conflicted when faced with Xia Ming's dish.

From a judge's perspective, no matter how a dish is prepared, it should not be given full marks.

Because giving a perfect score is tantamount to admitting that, at that moment, the dish is flawless.
But from another perspective, for Xia Ming's age, to make such a dish using only eggs and rice, giving it 95 points is definitely not an exaggeration.

The eight judges went through all the chefs they could think of who were around Xia Ming's age, but still couldn't raise their paddles.

However, according to the procedure, the judges must give scores within the specified time, otherwise it would be unfair to the later contestants.

After much deliberation, the youngest Hunan cuisine chef took the initiative and gave Xia Ming a perfect score of 100.

The other judges gasped in shock upon seeing this.
After a long pause, the Anhui cuisine chef held back and gave Xia Ming a score of 96.
When the other judges saw the scores of the two, they also had their own calculations and quickly presented their scores.

[Shandong Cuisine Judge's Score: 97.5]

[Sichuan Cuisine Judge: 98 points]

[Cantonese cuisine judge: 100 points]

[Jiangsu Cuisine Judge: 98.5 points]

[Fujian cuisine judges: 96.5 points]

[Zhejiang Cuisine Judges: 99.1 points]

[Hunan cuisine judges: 100 points]

[Anhui Cuisine Judge's Score: 96 points]

Remove the highest score of 100 and the lowest score of 96.

In the end, Xia Ming achieved an astonishing total score of 98.3 points (rounded to one decimal place).

Upon seeing this score, the live stream chat exploded with excitement!
(End of this chapter)