Who gave this heretical practitioner permission to cook?

Chapter 9: The first blind box contestant is born. What exactly did Xia Ming write that made the production team so wary?

[Pfft, I'm numb.]

[Outrageous! They cooked for about ten minutes, then it all collapsed. Sichuan and Chongqing Ice and Fire Chef, you understand the importance of entertainment value!]

[I instantly hallucinated a zombie tuna head in the Great Lu District]

[Soak the zombie tuna head in water for 24 hours, blanch it in cooking wine to remove the fishy smell, cut the fish meat into small pieces, deep-fry it in 180 degrees Celsius for 30 seconds, sauté the spices until fragrant, then stew the fish again, add all the previous ingredients, plus chili peppers and Sichuan peppercorn sauce, finally thicken it with a mixture of light and dark soy sauce, garnish with chopped green onions and red and green chili pepper strips, and finally discard the pot!]

[You're doing it wrong upstairs. You should plate it first. You're being too stingy; you're throwing away a plate.]

[Damn it, they didn't throw away one plate!]

The comments section was completely stunned by Xia Ming's outburst, and the production team also fell silent.

The three directors felt like they had been tricked, but they couldn't find any evidence for the time being. After all, Xia Ming hadn't said that this stuff had anything to do with douzhi (fermented mung bean juice).
After a long pause, the director grinned.

"Young people these days are so quick-witted; look how clever they are at using data!"

The two assistant directors immediately followed suit, but although it was to cover up their embarrassment, the director was now genuinely curious about Xia Ming.

It's one thing for a chef from Sichuan and Chongqing not to cook according to the proper Sichuan and Chongqing methods, but he also manages to create such amazing effects, delivering three or four potential highlights in one go. He's definitely worth keeping in mind.

What the production team thought and how they operated had nothing to do with Xia Ming. After disposing of the blood that had been drained of its essence "without leaving a trace," he turned around and tasted a cup of hot soy milk.

"When heated, the texture becomes soft and fluffy, the odor dissipates significantly, and the saltiness becomes more pronounced than when cold. The fishy smell is temporarily masked by the temperature. Hmm, let's cook it a little longer."

I quickly divided the hot soy milk into two portions, reheating one half and letting the other half cool under the central air conditioning to test its taste when warm.

Then, he took out another pot, picked up the beef from before, and started slicing it.

Seeing his actions, the viewers in the live stream waved their hands repeatedly.

[You devil, don't try to fool me! It's definitely just a ruse!]

The more seriously he cut it, the less I believed him. This guy's got something wrong with his head; he's so desperate for fame he's willing to throw away all his dignity.

[Yeah, a chef who doesn't study recipes is looking at "number selection secrets" instead!]

[But it's normal for experimental dishes to fail, right? The Ice and Fire Chef didn't say anything; it's all your imagination. You can't blame him entirely!]

[The person upstairs has been identified as a paid shill for the show.]

Seeing Xia Ming continue making beef, the three directors in the control room fell silent this time.

Although he looks very serious, he is also someone who specializes in doing things unexpectedly. Let's say less and wait until he finishes before making a judgment.

Xia Ming didn't really have any ideas. He wanted this piece of beef not to draw blood. How many drops of blood could he draw from a piece of fresh beef? If he really wanted to draw blood soul, he should at least give him a bag of cow blood!
So, after frying the meat until it was three-quarters cooked, he sprinkled some salt on it and then ate it while waiting for the soy milk next to him to heat up.

The netizens who witnessed this scene fell silent. They were watching the live stream and ordering takeout, but they overlooked one issue: several hours had passed since the competition started, according to normal schedules.
It's time to eat.
Although the show didn't provide meals, everyone was a cook. There was a small warehouse in the back with vegetables, meat, and common spices. If you were really hungry, it would be reasonable to cook a meal yourself.

However, this takes up time to think about the topic, so some contestants simply didn't eat, some ate a little, but Xia Ming was the first among the 32 to order.

If Xia Ming knew that someone hadn't eaten because they were thinking about the dishes, he'd probably laugh.

Isn't the point of being a cook to eat better than others? If you don't even eat, where will your inspiration come from? Are you hoping your intestines will take over your brain? After leisurely finishing the meat on his plate, Xia Ming licked his lips and then glanced at the time.

With 1 hour and 12 minutes remaining, the hot soy milk in the pot had been boiled a second time. He poured it out and tasted it, then squinted his eyes slightly.

Searching his memory for all the ingredients he had ever tried, he suddenly had a brilliant idea for a perfect combination!

"Haha, this stuff is pretty good, but whether the judges will dare to eat it is another matter."

Xia Ming smiled, then took the remaining requirements form and wrote down a lot of the materials needed. When the staff came over and saw the contents of the form, they couldn't hide their excitement.

"I'm asking you again, 'Sichuan-Chongqing Ice and Fire Chef' contestant, are you really going to use the ingredients listed on this table?"

Xia Ming smiled and rubbed his nose.

"Of course, and by the way, remember to prepare extra materials; I'm afraid we won't have enough."

The staff member looked bewildered, and after hesitating for a moment, directly notified the production team via SMS.

The production team was stunned when they saw the materials on the list. Then, the first "blind box contestant" was born among the 32 contestants.

As the live stream ended, the viewers who were watching Xia Ming were all kicked out. At this moment, these users were all wondering what had happened.
[What exactly did the Sichuan-Chongqing Ice and Fire Chef write on the demand form? It turned into a blind box contest!]

[I'm new here, can someone tell me what a blind box player is?]

[The "blind box contestant" is a rather unique mechanism in this round of challenges. If a dish or ingredient that the production team deems particularly explosive appears, that contestant's live stream will be shut down. It's similar to the practice of blurring out the food in a pre-recorded variety show to create suspense.]

[So, the ingredient list for the Sichuan-Chongqing Ice and Fire Chef's menu contains an extremely mysterious ingredient? Could it be canned herring?]

I'm betting on stinky tofu.

[Stinky tofu isn't really the hot topic; I think it's stinky mandarin fish.]

He's a chef from Sichuan or Chongqing, and I think houttuynia cordata (a type of herb) is the most likely candidate!

[It's over. No matter how you look at it, this is the most awful dish imaginable. The three judges were incredibly unlucky to have encountered this.]

Regardless of what netizens speculated, Xia Ming's live stream was already blacked out, so even if they were curious, they could only wait quietly for the match to begin.

Finally, after two hours, the highly anticipated second round of "One Meal to Fame," the 1v1 competition, officially began.

However, Xia Ming did not expect that the order of the competition would not be arranged according to the initial lottery draw. Instead, the three judges would arrange the competition based solely on the themes of the 16 districts, without knowing who the two competitors were.

This disrupted the order of everyone present. Although Xia Ming was not placed at the very front, he still received card number 7, which was in the middle of the order.

In other words, Xia Ming will appear 3 hours after the first group of people takes the stage, which is several hours less than he had expected to have time to observe the program's hidden rules.

However, since the deed has already been done and the rules cannot be changed, he can only try to analyze the parts that are more favorable to him through more careful observation.

At the same time, he also discovered that the "bald cook" who had a connection with him had actually gotten license plate number 1.

That means he'll be going on stage soon.
(End of this chapter)