Who gave this heretical practitioner permission to cook?

Chapter 126 I'm really curious, come and try a bite, you probably don't mind~ (4K Second Update)
Looking at the screen, I saw the rather elderly judge, number 21, on the judging panel.

Xia Ming's lips slowly curled up.

That's right, just as the judge said, he did indeed make his own "imitation plum soy sauce" when he didn't have any salt on hand.
First, he cleaned the white frost off the half-jar of salted plums, then put them in a pot to boil.

After the saltiness dissipates, most of the moisture is removed, leaving behind a salty juice with a hint of plum sweetness.

Then, take the washed fresh seaweed, press it to separate out a small amount of seaweed water, and obtain a seaweed cake rich in moisture.

After slightly removing some of the moisture from the seaweed pancakes, place the slightly dried seaweed pancakes on a fire and bake them briefly.

Then cut it into pieces and put it in a frying pan, stir-frying over the lowest heat.

This is mainly to further remove residual moisture and give the seaweed a slightly charred aroma.

"This step requires extremely precise control of the heat; even if other contestants had seaweed, they couldn't do it."

"Of course, some clever people can extract the salty and umami flavor from sea fish, but that requires them to find live sea fish."

Xia Ming smiled, then remembered the small bowl on his table.

After preparing the "concentrated plum sauce" and "seaweed", he used broth as a base, added a small amount of chopped shiitake mushrooms, and simmered the appropriate amount of ingredients together.

Simmering over low heat, the flavors of the ingredients gradually meld together, eventually forming a brownish-yellow sauce.

After filtering the sauce, the final liquid is only different in saltiness from the soy sauce. At this point, take the plums that were used to cook earlier and put them into a food processor to make a puree. Then, stir and blend the puree little by little.

After adding some saltiness and plum flavor, the top layer of the remaining "concentrated plum salt juice" that had settled and was placed in a bowl was poured off, leaving only the bottom layer with the strongest flavor.

The saltiness of this layer is used to make a final touch to the "imitation plum soy sauce".

"Although the process is a bit complicated, the final soy sauce is pretty good except for not reaching the perfect saltiness."

With the addition of a concentrated sugar solution, the base flavor of this braised pork is fully developed.

Compared to most contestants, they relied on the natural flavor of a single ingredient to overcome the lack of seasoning.

Xia Ming's complex flavor soy sauce is a game-changer.

Not to mention the broth they could only dream of getting!
"Of course, if this braised pork were just delicious, I wouldn't have put in so much effort."

"All of these sensations are for that perfect fusion of 'meaty aroma' and 'plum' scent."

"The competition started around 1 p.m., and the food was served at 2:30 p.m. After 4 hours of digestion, most of the judges began to feel hungry."

"At this moment, the senses are subconsciously amplified, and the higher the quality of the food, the more distinct the various flavors become."

"Especially the smell!"

Xia Ming glanced at the judges who were enjoying the food with a contented expression, and at the other judges who were drooling with envy, and smiled to himself.

"Things in this world are most vulnerable to comparison; the more refined something is, the more discerning people become."

"But if you start by looking at things with a critical eye, in most cases, flaws that could have been overlooked will be magnified."

As he spoke, Xia Ming raised an eyebrow slightly.

"Therefore, a massive avalanche that shakes the earth can sometimes be caused by just a single snowflake."

"And I will personally bury it for everyone present."

"Judges' Seat"

After listening to Judge No. 21's analysis, the judges who hadn't tasted Xia Ming's cooking were frantically trying to deconstruct and simulate it in their minds.

Theoretically, what judge number 21 said is indeed achievable.
However, it's important to understand that there's a significant gap between theoretical implementation and practical application.

Don't be fooled by how casually judge number 21 spoke. Being able to taste it doesn't mean you can replicate it. He himself assessed that if he were really in this situation, he would most likely find it very difficult to do it.

"This chef has an exceptional ability to utilize the ingredients at his disposal. Even when ingredients are scarce, he can still rely on his understanding of flavor to present the most exquisite aspects of the dish to diners."

Judge number 21, savor the taste of braised pork.

"If this were a dish sold in a real restaurant, I would definitely buy it again."

I won't say any more.

Judge number 21 took the scoreboard from the side and silently entered a number.

Upon hearing his words, the other judges pondered for a moment and then took the scoring devices.

This is the fourth time the judges have given their scores in this evaluation.

Before Xia Ming, three dishes had won the favor of some judges.

However, due to some flaws, the final rating was not very high.

The first place received an overall score of "79.1".

The second-ranked team received an overall score of 77.3.

The third place received an overall score of 72.9.

In fact, you can tell from the scores that for the first dish that the judges chose, the judges would still subjectively add some encouragement points on top of the score.

But when it came to the second person, his cooking was clearly compared to the first person's.

The third one may be more controversial, but some judges are still willing to give it a chance. However, whether intentionally or unintentionally, his score will definitely be compared with the first two.

This is the benchmark.
Regardless of which 16 judges are on the first try, the aroma and the state of the dish are definitely the first things everyone can notice.

In this context, the score of 79.1 serves as a model for the other judges.

Until a certain level is reached, all subsequent dishes will be compared to the first sample dish.
Similarly, Xia Ming's cooking performance exceeded the judges' expectations, making him a new model.

As for whether the model is 90, 94, or 96, it doesn't really matter that much.
His greatest significance lies in fixing the standards in place.
Of course, each judge has their own criteria, and everyone's knowledge of cooking is different, so the scores they give will also be different.

In the end, Xia Ming received the lowest score of 89.7 points and the highest score of 98.8 points among all the judges.

[Comprehensive score: 95.8]

[Currently in first place among all contestants!]

Upon seeing this result, the live stream chat room erupted in excitement.

[Single-handedly raised the scoring standard to 95, making it difficult for the other contestants!]

[Even if you don't get a perfect score, there's still a chance; there are so many talented people waiting!]

[That's not how it's calculated. Subjective scoring isn't an objective math problem. This score is already incredibly high; it seems unlikely to be surpassed.]

[Xia Ming, keep it up! You're the best~~~] There will always be smart people in the live stream who can understand this.
At this moment, all 160 lights were on, and the dish that ultimately received a score of 95.8 became the mountain that all the contestants had to strive to overcome.

Unless you achieve a complete dominance in every aspect, the more the judges see, the harder it becomes to make a breakthrough.
Xia Ming acted as if nothing had happened. After receiving his score, he returned to the competition venue under the guidance of the staff.

As before, he had to wait until all the other contestants had finished and the results were fully announced before he could leave.

"Backstage Judges' Room"

The four judges looked at the final scores and all showed thoughtful expressions.
After a long pause, Yin Shengjiang slowly spoke.

"Wei Yan, how do you control the proportion of pork you mix in the pork section?"

Wei Yan blinked.

"The lowest grade is spoiled, thawed meat; the good grade is fresh chilled meat that has almost expired; and there is also some thawed meat of acceptable quality."

"The highest grade is only two boxes, one box of pork tenderloin and the other box of pork belly, both of which are taken from the kitchen."

Yin Shengjiang raised an eyebrow when he heard this from the kitchen staff.

"The kitchen killed them fresh today, right?"

"That's right. Brother Jiang, didn't you say you wanted it fresh? Absolutely fresh. I've even timed the exact time it was put in, not a minute off!"

Wei Yan blinked.

He had been wondering before why they didn't just take the top-quality chilled meat delivered from the supermarket.

Easy to store and easy to control variables
Yin Shengjiang frowned.

That's right, he wanted Wei Yan to put in "hot fresh meat" (that is, meat that is cut off directly after slaughtering a pig without any refrigeration, which is often seen in wet markets). As for the specific reason, it was to balance the ingredients in the dish.

First of all, those who frequently eat beef in the Guangzhou-Shenzhen area should know that in the districts and counties below, beef hot pot restaurants often feature freshly slaughtered beef on the side and eaten immediately, because the cuisine of Guangzhou and Shenzhen people emphasizes "freshness".

Beef at this time is generally referred to as being in its "fresh" stage.
Three hours after a cow dies, the meat enters the "rigor mortis" phase, during which it naturally begins to harden.
At this point, you'll find that the beef is a bit tough no matter how you eat it.
The meat will then enter a "post-ripening period".

The lactic acid deposited in beef during the "rigor mortis" period will gradually decompose naturally over time, eventually reaching a relatively stable state during the "post-ripening" period.

At this moment, the muscle fiber structure has regained its softness, and you can still feel its elasticity when you press it with your hand.

Beef that has undergone "post-maturation" may be a little watery, mainly because the water is naturally produced after the lactic acid breaks down, which some people may find makes it tender.

The natural gamey smell of meat that has undergone "post-ripening" will decrease significantly, while the umami and meaty aroma will be more noticeably enhanced.
As a result, with the advent of current technology, a comparison has emerged between two types of meat: "hot fresh meat" and "chilled fresh meat".

"Chilled fresh meat" is not frozen meat. It is processed to better preserve it until the "post-ripening period". Of course, it also needs to be placed in a low-temperature freezer.

Similar to beef, pork follows the same physiological process.

Therefore, most of the so-called fresh pork that people buy in the market is "hot fresh meat". However, in the past, when butchers still existed, freshly slaughtered hot meat could indeed preserve its taste to a great extent.

But nowadays, these are all slaughterhouses. By the time the so-called "hot fresh meat" is delivered to the butcher shop after going through a whole process, it has already passed its "freshness period".

This is the theoretical basis for the claim that "chilled meat" ultimately tastes better than "hot meat".

Fundamentally, this is inaccurate because it's not comparing actual, fresh meat at its peak.
For some pigs slaughtered for the New Year, the taste of that pork can never be replaced by chilled fresh meat, and that is precisely the reason.

Chilled meat, on the other hand, is a compromise made to allow people in urban areas to enjoy relatively fresh and better-tasting meat.

However, Yin Shengjiang deliberately held back in this area.

To prepare lunch for everyone, he specially brought in live pigs from the slaughterhouse, just to plant this last bonus question for the top genius.

That is, "the best is not necessarily the most suitable!"
Just like the piece of pork belly that Xia Ming got, from the time of slaughter, when he got it, the meat should still be in the "fresh period", but when he was taken back to the stove, the meat should have entered the "rigid period".

The key is this timing difference, which is designed to trap the most discerning player who can spot this particular piece of meat.

Because, in Yin Shengjiang's view...

In this world, things tend to reverse when they reach an extreme. If you want to use the freshest ingredients to pass the level, you have to bear the changes that those freshest ingredients undergo over time.

Therefore, theoretically speaking, those who obtain the "pork loin" and "three-layered pork belly" cuts face a more challenging task than others.
Of course, high risk, high reward. If the problem of rigor mortis in pork can be solved, then the characteristics of the ingredients can be brought to their fullest potential.

The problem is that the judges are watching a split screen!

From the moment Xia Ming returned to the stove, every move he made was observed by the judges.
Throughout the entire event, he did not perform any special treatment on the pork, or rather, he did perform special treatment, but the audience was too blind to notice.

This is why all four judges remained silent after the braised pork received a high score.
They weren't concerned about the score; they were simply curious whether, without ginger, plums and lemon juice alone could combat the tough, gamey taste of pork during its "rigor mortis" period.

At least in all of Yin Shengjiang's years of learning to cook, there has never been a situation that goes against the laws of nature.

He wasn't trying to obtain Xia Ming's so-called secret formula or learn such a technique; he simply wanted to ensure complete fairness in the competition from an absolutely objective perspective.

Since Wei Yan said he acted according to his initial plan, the problem most likely doesn't lie with him.

Looking at Xia Ming on the screen, Yin Shengjiang smiled slightly.

"This is getting more and more interesting. Let's go. Simply thinking about it won't verify our guesses. Let's go take a look at his stove and we'll know what's going on."

"Inside the competition venue"

After returning to the stove, Xia Ming didn't rest. He continued to process the scraps left over from making braised pork and cooked himself a meal.

I didn't eat much at noon, and I'm a bit hungry now. Eating in front of the camera is pretty beaver-like, right?
People can't go hungry, and besides, it's such a waste to have so many scraps!
So while other contestants were desperately trying to get good scores from the judges, Xia Ming simply prepared a three-dish meal and a soup for himself.

"Stir-fried cabbage", "Lemon plum-flavored shredded chicken", "Stir-fried salty and savory twice-cooked pork", "Fresh clear soup", and a serving of rice that has been heated in the rice cooker since morning, make up a perfect set meal.

The viewers in the live stream were dumbfounded by Xia Ming's outrageous actions.

[No, at first I thought he was taking so many dishes to make a mixed flavor, and I was wondering why the judges didn't notice. Turns out it wasn't for the judges!]

[Okay, okay, so feeding the judges is part of the competition, but feeding yourself is part of life, right?]

[Judge: Good heavens, this contestant is eating better than I've been served!]

Xia Ming has finally figured out how to be a chef; he really doesn't want to endure any hardship!

The judges received a piece of braised pork smaller than a bottle cap and were curious about where the scraps went. Turns out they used it all to make twice-cooked pork.

Just as Xia Ming saw the camera turn around, smiled and greeted the audience, preparing to start eating, someone knocked on the glass door behind him.

Looking back, he saw four staff members in formal attire standing behind him. He recognized Tan Zhifeng at a glance.

"Is this the special operations judging panel?"

As Xia Ming raised an eyebrow, Yin Shengjiang spoke with a smile.

"Seeing you eat so deliciously, I got curious and thought I'd come and try a bite. You probably don't mind, right?"

(End of this chapter)