Who gave this heretical practitioner permission to cook?

Chapter 16 Different Foods, Turning Sour into Sweet: Xie Tingfeng's Frowning!
Upon hearing Xie Tingfeng's words, the other two judges also realized what was happening and looked at the soup on the table.

In terms of color, this soup is similar to mutton soup, but it has a faint bean juice flavor. However, the flavor is not strong and is within the range that Nicholas Tse can accept.

Next comes the umami flavor. Umami is a mysterious flavor, and you can't really smell it. Seeing that there was nothing to analyze, Tse Ting-Fung simply put it to his lips and took a sip.

As the warm soup entered his mouth, Nicholas Tse's first reaction was a slightly sour taste.

The sour taste is clearly from fermented soybean juice. After the sourness comes a rich and intense umami flavor with distinct layers, a taste completely different from chicken bouillon.

After the ultimate umami flavor, a hint of bean flavor and a slight lingering fishy taste emerge in the soup. The flavors are not strong, but rather add a wonderful layer to the taste.

Smacking his lips, Xie Tingfeng's eyes revealed doubt. He felt that the soup should be made of chicken, but he couldn't be completely sure.

After hesitating for a moment, he tried eating the soup and egg together. He swallowed the remaining balut in one gulp, then poured in a mouthful of soup. The two mingled and swirled in his mouth, eventually creating a bright ray of sunshine.

He felt as if he were in a bean field, the sun warming his body, and a circle of chicks circling around him.

The base flavor of beans, the chewy texture of tiger skin, and the tenderness of chicken—all these elements combine to form two great qualities.

【tasty! 】

This is a call from the deepest part of Nicholas Tse's soul; he feels that what he is eating is not food, but happiness!

The other two judges were the same; from chewing to swallowing to smiling, in front of the camera, they looked as if they had just taken a hot bath, revealing their most genuine and comfortable expressions.

In the lounge, "Miccus" looked slightly annoyed by the judges' performance.

He never imagined that such a seemingly awful dish could elicit such expressions from the judges.

"Damn, who is this guy? But it doesn't matter, maybe the judges just haven't had enough of bald eggs and are just excited to try something new."

Based on his more than 20 years of experience, he believes that creativity plays a significant role in food competitions.

That's true. As someone once said, once chefs set aside their hard skills, what's left is a battle of imagination.

He agrees with this point.

He believes he has found a delicate balance between Chinese and Western cuisine. The combination of lemon and soy milk, along with his ingenious special creations, will definitely amaze the judges.

Thinking of this, "Micahs" curled up the corner of his mouth.

"You can be smug for now. Once my meal arrives, you won't have a chance to turn things around!"

Blind Tasting Room

After the three judges finished their balut (fertilized duck egg) and the prepared soup, they looked much more relaxed.

Now, they still have one last dessert to enjoy.

At this moment, their expectations for this dessert had been raised to an unprecedented level. It was Zhang Yong who spotted the small spoon that was integrated with the serving dish from a corner of the dessert.

"It's quite exquisitely made; I thought it was meant to be drunk straight away."

Nicholas Tse smiled, then picked up a small spoon and gestured with it.

"The portion size is just right. I suppose the chef took into account that the seventh person would be serving, so he deliberately made the portion a little smaller."

Indeed, a balut, a small bowl of soup, and a small dessert were hardly much for the three male judges.

Zhang Yong stirred the dessert with a spoon, then raised an eyebrow.

"There aren't many desserts, but they've given quite a lot of fruit peel on top."

I picked one out and tried it; it had a slightly sweet and sour taste.

"This shouldn't be hawthorn peel, it has a texture similar to cherry tomato peel, but the taste isn't like it either, and it doesn't have any special aroma. It's probably used for decoration." After saying that, he laughed at himself. A chef whose plating of the first two dishes was so simple it was almost like a bare shell, was now talking about color harmony at the end.

However, this isn't a major drawback, since color, aroma, and taste should be considered together. But if the flavor is truly so good it touches the soul, then the other two aspects can be overlooked.
Nicholas Tse licked his lips slightly; the taste of soy milk and balut still lingered in his mouth, and he was just missing a dessert to cleanse his palate.

So he scooped up the hawthorn puree with a spoon and started to taste it. The moment he put it in his mouth, he was stunned.

"?"

As he savored the hawthorn puree on his tongue and the slightly layered peel on top, he showed a slightly puzzled expression for the first time.

Seemingly to verify something, he scooped up another spoonful, this time specifically including the soy milk underneath.

After taking another bite, he paused with his spoon, slowly mashing the hawthorn puree in his mouth with his tongue, but the exquisite taste he had been hoping for did not appear.

This isn't to say the dessert was bad; in fact, Nicholas Tse approved of it in terms of both taste and theme. But the problem lies in...
Gap!

Compared to the amazing soup and balut that came with it, this was just an average dessert. It was good enough to cleanse the palate and leave a lingering aftertaste, and it barely highlighted the theme, but it always left him with a feeling of wanting more.

Similarly, the other two judges shared this view: making desserts was a good thing, but it didn't earn them extra points.

They were thinking that if this dessert could still impress them, then as the first to serve, they would likely have a good chance of winning. Now, they would have to see what the other contestant's dish would be like.

Watching the plate being carried away by the conveyor belt, Xie Tingfeng sighed softly.

"Everything is fine, except for one more thing."

Zhang Yong, who was standing to the side, also nodded.

"It's already very good. You can tell that they put a lot of effort into that tiger-skin frizzy egg. This is a competition, there's no prior preparation, and the theme is random. The fact that the dessert came up with such a way to connect with the theme already shows their ability."

Upon hearing Zhang Yong's words, the other two smiled and then began their usual banter.

Just as I finished cleaning my mouth, the tray was brought over by the conveyor belt.

The three judges looked up and nodded to each other.

The final presentation of this dish, visually speaking, is much better than the previous one; it's clearly the work of a chef with professional experience in Western cuisine.

Looking at the beans next to the golden fish, Xie Tingfeng raised an eyebrow slightly.

"These three colors of beans... wait, one of them isn't a bean, is it?"

Zheng Yongqi, who was standing nearby, poked it with his cutlery.

"It's bouncy and looks like the popping boba commonly used in milk tea. I guess the white stuff inside is probably soy milk."

Upon hearing that it was douzhi popping boba, Nicholas Tse's expression changed slightly, but thankfully, this dish was the same as before, and you couldn't really smell the douzhi.

After mentally preparing himself for a while, Nicholas Tse tried picking out a tiny bit of the milk foam from the side.

Seeing this, "Micahs" smiled slightly.

The milk foam was made with soy milk, which removed the saltiness of the soy milk and balanced some of the sourness, making it sour but not pungent, and also adding a light touch to the dish.

Watching Nicholas Tse put it in his mouth on camera, Michael Jackson looked extremely expectant.

Meanwhile, in the other lounge, Xia Ming saw this scene and suddenly smiled slyly.

"If you want to balance the taste of sour sour with sour sour, then I'll turn your sourness into sweetness!"

"If the five flavors aren't balanced, this dish will end up with a raw, beany taste!"

Just as Xia Ming finished speaking, Xie Tingfeng, who was in front of the camera, suddenly frowned, and then a faint expression of pain appeared on his face.
(End of this chapter)