Who gave this heretical practitioner permission to cook?

Chapter 139: The Freezing Magic Performed On-Site, and the Judges' Tongues Kidnapped by Xia Ming! (Bonus Chapter for 2K Players)

Fang Xu's expression at that moment looked particularly comical to Xia Ming.

Xia Ming glanced at him, then his lips moved slightly.

Fang Xu clenched his fist instantly after seeing the movement of Xia Ming's lips, because Xia Ming had clearly said...
"You saw it quite clearly, now, are you surprised?"

Taking a few deep breaths, Fang Xu suppressed the myriad emotions in his heart and regained his composure.

His thoughts raced as he began to consider the feasibility of Xia Ming's dish from various angles.

First, set the abalone sauce aside. This sauce can be made with fish broth or chicken broth. As long as your seasoning technique is not too bad, you can basically achieve the desired result.

There's nothing particularly outstanding about it, and the problem doesn't lie there.
While it might seem absurd to cut fish meat into the shape of an abalone, the method is based on the principle of making "abalone pastry" in Chinese cuisine. The joining parts are replaced with fish meat, and the adhesive used is either the natural viscosity of the fish meat or eggs.
From a technical standpoint, the most challenging aspect is how to shape it.
"So Xia Ming wrapped the abalone in fish skin to prevent the fish meat inside from falling apart."

Fang Xu knew that fish skin would shrink when fried, so if controlled properly, it could indeed be used as a mold!
Although this requires far greater control, imagination, and an extreme grasp of temperature than ordinary people, at least in this step, Xia Ming is still within the realm of humanity.

But this fish is stuffed inside!
It's stuffed!
People who often eat soup dumplings or pork dumplings should know that the juice inside the dumplings is not actually filled in as soup from the beginning.

Generally, to simplify the process and ensure that the broth does not affect other parts, "aspic" is used for preparation.

Of course, it's not to say that there aren't any buns filled with broth, but this puts extremely rigorous demands on the structure of the bun and the skin.

It was obvious that Xia Ming didn't have that much time to prepare, so Fang Xu could only conclude that Xia Ming had used "aspic".
If all else fails, it might be "fish jelly".
Although fish jelly has a less gelatinous texture than pork skin jelly, and requires more precise temperature control, it is still possible to make it.

There's no pig skin here, so Fang Xu figured it was highly likely that Xia Ming used fish jelly.
Thinking about this, Fang Xu felt numb.

The question is, fish jelly is formed when the gelatin in the fish meat solidifies at low temperatures, forming a jelly-like substance.

Leaving aside the temperature outside in October, let's just talk about the temperature inside the competition venue. With everyone using stoves, the temperature here can only be higher than outside, and it's absolutely impossible for it to be lower.

Fang Xu is so afraid of sweat dripping into the food while cooking that if you expect room temperature fish jelly in this place, you're basically dreaming.

Even if the map turns you to the East Third Time Zone, where it's -1°C, you still have to leave the fish outside for half an hour to make fish jelly.

Unless Xia Ming can conjure up a refrigerator here, there's absolutely no way his fish jelly could have formed here!

"Backstage, in the judges' room"

The four judges stared at the abalone broth overflowing from the bowls of the judges on the screen, lost in thought.

Wei Yan's face twitched.

"It's fish jelly, isn't it?"

The other three nodded; eliminating other options, this answer was essentially the only one.

The problem is, they are also wondering where Xia Ming conjured up the fish jelly from.

After a long pause, Tan Zhifeng slowly spoke.

"Old Jiang, the ice we used to put under the fish should be usable!"

Yin Shengjiang nodded, then shook his head.

"Ice can indeed be used, but it's crushed ice, commonly known as soft ice, which is often used for transporting live fish."

"Because hard ice can hurt fish, but soft ice generally won't."

"But correspondingly, the temperature of soft ice should be above -4℃, which is completely incomparable to the -18℃ of hard ice."

"Letting it sit for a while to cool down bottled water is definitely an option, but to say it's for making fish jelly is really a stretch." After Yin Shengjiang finished speaking, Tan Zhifeng nodded. He knew the difference between ice and other substances, but at this moment he really couldn't think of any other methods.

At that moment, You Zhangwen frowned.

Compared to others, he and his brother are considered to be among the more educated chefs, mainly thanks to their father who is good at both cooking and cooking.

At this point, since he couldn't do this through normal means, he could only consider whether there was a way to further cool the ice.

Suddenly, his pupils shrank.

"I understand, Xia Ming used salt!"

"Salt?"

Upon hearing You Zhangwen's words, the other three were initially taken aback, but apart from Wei Yan, the other two quickly reacted.

“I understand. The lowest temperature that crushed ice can reach is -4°C, but if it is a salt solution, the temperature can be lowered to -16°C or even below.”

"To prevent anyone from running out of ingredients while making salt-baked fish on site, we provided ample table salt and sea salt on everyone's stove!"

"Xia Ming took ice from under the fish, then mixed it with salt to create an icebox on site!"

Those who realized this exchanged glances, their astonishment evident in their eyes.

It sounds simple, but given the intense pressure and the fact that Xia Ming was outmaneuvered, it's no wonder he came up with this trick on the spot – he's practically a genius.

Just as they were marveling at this, Wei Yan finally managed to recall the knowledge from his mind, but after a moment of thought, he spoke with a puzzled expression.

"I understand the logic, but is -16℃ a theoretical value? It's so hot here, and the ice melts into water so quickly. Won't that affect the temperature?"

If Xia Ming heard Wei Yan say that, he would definitely laugh.

That's right, the temperature at the scene was high, the ice melted quickly, and it was very difficult to lower the temperature significantly.
Of course, this is from the perspective of others.
For Xia Ming, however, there is another solution to this problem.

"While I can't remove the water from the fish soup to enhance its flavor, removing the water from the brine solution that affects the temperature is no problem at all!"

"The higher the concentration of a salt solution, the lower its freezing point and the faster it absorbs heat."

"Although there is a limit to the amount of salt, I still have a lot of Blood Soul left, which is more than enough to make frozen food!"

After all, Xia Ming knew that the amount of fish jelly needed for five abalone was actually not much, and although the time was short, it was enough.
Fang Xu also realized what Xia Ming had done. Although he was also wondering about the temperature, since he had already done it, it must have been in accordance with the rules.

However, he still harbored a sliver of hope.

In his opinion, although Xia Ming can use fish jelly to enhance the umami flavor, achieve a perfect balance inside and out, and counteract his sweet and sour sauce, the time is too short, and the taste is definitely not as rich as Qian Youdao's "fish soup"!
Although the judges gave Xia Ming extremely high praise.
Xia Ming scored 467 out of a total of 500 points.

But he still felt that Qian Youdao still had a fighting chance!
Back at the stove, Fang Xu saw Qian Youdao, who had been preparing for a long time, taking the stage as the judges rinsed their mouths. He calmed himself down.

To him, this dish was definitely no less delicious than Xia Ming's.

At this moment, the five judges shared the same thought. As they savored the "fish soup" in front of them, they nodded to each other and then drank it down together.

Xia Ming, sitting below, gave a sly smile when he saw the judge's action.
"Fang Xu, you don't actually think that I made piping hot soup inside just to enhance the umami flavor and break free from your sweet and sour prison, do you?"

"Haven't you noticed that I've already hijacked the tongues of the five judges?"

"You don't actually think they can still taste all the flavor of 'fish soup' after being scalded, do you?"

(End of this chapter)