Chapter 908: Chapter 907: Prey and Hunter (Part 3)
"Hmm?"
"The combination of pork and water chestnut, is it some kind of meatball?"
Xia Yu didn’t forget to observe the other kitchen.
To be honest, he was genuinely curious about Wei Zhong’s responsive recipe.
Even a lion uses its full strength to hunt a rabbit.
Moreover, this was a contest where the loser would be branded with the "Tasteless Mark," akin to a life-and-death battle. How could Xia Yu naively assume that Wei Zhong would hold back at this moment?
He had meticulously prepared a "Golden Arrow," ready to shoot down a golden eagle.
And what about Wei Zhong?
Since he had put a chef’s dignity and identity on the gambling table as the conditions for victory or defeat, the weight of the wager was bound to be extraordinary!
"Meatball?"
Xia Yu frowned slightly, "Does this count as part of the pastry category? And as for ancient recipes related to meatballs, I can’t think of any!"
He didn’t dwell on it.
The opponent’s recipe information was either unnecessary or irrelevant; the decisive factor of victory or defeat lay not with others but with oneself!
Retracting his gaze from outside, Xia Yu looked at the counter in front of him.
Half a bag of high-quality flour was already piled into a small mountain peak. Xia Yu’s hands gently penetrated the mound, his skin distinctly sensing the delicate and smooth texture of the flour, silently nodding; there was no doubt that the basic ingredients provided by the Liu family were impeccable in quality.
"Then—"
His hands touched a black rod, but Xia Yu didn’t rush to knead the dough. Instead, he held the rod, went to the sink, and turned on the tap, using clean water and a cloth, like a swordsman polishing a blade, carefully maintaining the black bar.
He had already transformed into a chef of the pastry table, and the kneading rod was the weapon of his battle!
On the other side.
Wei Zhong’s cooking rhythm could be described as swift as the wind, with no hesitation or pause once he started.
"Refined salt, chopped scallions, minced ginger, yellow wine, pepper powder..."
In the guests’ seats, Lan Fengxian, in the center, shifted his gaze from Xia Yu to the opposite kitchen, where Wei Zhong was adding some common and familiar seasonings to a bowl filled with pork and diced water chestnut.
"They are all very common ingredients!" Lan Fengxian said, but his eyes were filled with gravity.
"Common is precisely it!"
Sichuan’s renowned chef, Wang Gong, muttered, "In recent years, amid the wave of fantasy ingredients, Wei Zhong has adhered to tradition, without having cooked with fantasy ingredients, yet undefeated. Moreover, the Chinese Realm increasingly recognizes his title of Reserve Pastry King, doesn’t that showcase this man’s terrifying nature?"
Upon hearing this, the Old Grand Duke Liu shook his head, "Not entirely!"
He chuckled.
"If I too had a pair of hands capable of turning decay into magic, then there wouldn’t be much reliance on fantasy ingredients!"
The judges watched Wei Zhong as he used his hands to stir the diced pork in the mixing bowl.
On screen, the vivid red lean pork and minced fat pork were strikingly distinct in color. This detail, observed by industry professionals, inevitably amazed them. Not long ago, Wei Zhong had chopped an entire board of pork, yet these diced pieces of pork were distinctly separated between lean and fat, highlighting the astonishing skill of Wei Zhong’s knife work.
Wei Zhong was kneading the pork!
"Pa, pa, pa..."
His hands alternated between loosening and tightening with a precise rhythm, and under his hands’ kneading, the mixture of clear water, egg liquid, and various seasonings, the fat and lean pork gradually intertwined.
If he were making meatballs, at this step, Wei Zhong could already form the meat mixture into balls with his hands, but he didn’t.
Halfway through kneading, he suddenly stopped.
Wei Zhong turned to the sink, turned on the tap, washed his hands clean, then surprisingly set up a Chinese Iron Pot on the stove, ignited it, and then took a prepared ingredient box, pouring some white rice grains into the gradually steaming hot pot!
Roasting Rice!
The roasting technique of a top Lin Chef needs no further elaboration; it was naturally skilled.
Soon, the aroma of roasted rice spread from the stage, accompanied by crackling sounds from the pot. Wei Zhong looked down at the pot of golden-brown rice grains with satisfaction, turned off the heat with a click, and directly picked up the hot pot.
"Swish—"
The entire pot of golden rice grains poured into a flat glass container.
Expressionless, Wei Zhong put on a pair of transparent gloves and used his hand as a rolling pin, pressing gently on the slightly roasted rice grains in the container. The subtle sound of shrinking, captured by the amplifier, was broadcast to the entire audience.
The audience was stunned. What was he doing?
Wei Zhong heard the commotion and smiled faintly, lifting his hand to give room for the camera.
At the bottom of the glass container, there was now a heap of yellowish dust!
These were undoubtedly rice flour!
"This rice flour is... steamed meat powder!" Seeing this, Lan Fengxian was abruptly moved, thinking of a composite ingredient involving top traditional cooking skills.
Sure enough, after pressing out the noticeably granular rice flour, Wei Zhong divided the rice flour into three equal bowls, then added various spice powders such as pepper, Shan Nai, amomum, and fragrant grass to the different bowls.
When the yellow rice flour mixed with different colored spice powders was complete—
Three bowls, three colors!
"Three-color Steamed Meat Powder!" Lan Fengxian said in a deep voice, "The bowl with the dark dusty red color should be primarily spiced with red cardamom."
"The yellow bowl is mainly galangal!"
"The white one is mainly white pepper!"
As he spoke, Lan Fengxian, the Dragon Chef’s eyes were full of puzzlement, "How does he intend to use this three-color steamed meat powder?"
On the same table, Jing Chu Lin Chef, Wang Qian and Duan Hong exchanged glances.
"Ah!"
Duan Hong gasped, "Old Wei intends to reveal his Lin-level killing recipe, his super killer move... doesn’t he?"
"The killing recipe!" Wang Qian spoke softly, "Indeed, it’s that killing recipe, a newly perfected recipe he recently completed. I’ve heard from Old Wei that he plans to elevate this recipe to a dragon’s height, to use it as a key to open that door..."
Meanwhile.
"Mianyang Three Steams!"
In the Imperial City, Yan Qi and Xia Qing, who were also watching this cooking duel, had a serious expression.
"It’s a recipe created with the ’Mianyang Three Steams’ technique!" Yan Qi slowly said, "Three-color steamed meat powder, three-colored Phoenix Fish. Huang He has a specialty in ’Steamed Three-Colored Phoenix Fish,’ and since Wei Zhong is his prized disciple, he naturally acquired a mastery of the Jing Chu cuisine from him."
Xia Qing remained silent.
The so-called ’Mianyang Three Steams,’ in simple terms, involves steaming meat, fish, and vegetables.
As for the specific steaming methods, detailed techniques include soup steaming, plain steaming, cannon steaming, steaming, brewed steaming, sealed steaming, among more than a dozen types—Steamed is only one of the famous Chinese cuisine’s steaming techniques.
"Look—" Yan Qi reminded, pointing to the screen.
Xia Qing looked over, his eyebrows twitching.
Wei Zhong directly picked up the bowl of red steamed meat powder and, without hesitation, sprinkled it over the previously mixed fatty and lean pork!
Thus, the mixture in the entire bowl was covered with a layer of grainy red clothing.
This was obviously just a piece of Wei Zhong’s grand culinary tapestry, as he tirelessly grabbed a lively freshwater fish from a tank, expertly breaking it down with a knife, and skillfully slicing off the fish into thin paper-like sheets, without any extra movements.
Soon, on the cutting board, lay pieces of paper-thin fish fillets.
With knife patterns on the fish fillets, Wei Zhong’s hand reached for that bowl of white ’steamed meat powder’, evenly coating each fish fillet with a layer of powder.
Then.
He simply picked up a round pumpkin from the counter, sliced it, and obtained some small, exquisite pumpkin pieces.
"Phew..." Watching the suffocating rhythm on the screen, Yan Qi couldn’t help but clap and cheer, "Look at his ’Mianyang Three Steams’ technique, the idea of mixing, then dipping, rotating, rolling, giving meatballs a coating of powder by rolling, fish fillets by dipping, and pumpkin pieces by rotating... Each technique is incredibly exquisite, even we, the veterans, have to applaud such mastery."
Xia Qing hesitated not before saying, "Seeing this, I think I know what his recipe looks like."
"I also know," Yan Qi nodded, his eyes filled with understanding, and a hint of inexpressible admiration.
At the same time.
"If this recipe works out, it will surely be a classic surpassing the master!" Zhu Ji, high up in the Imperial City’s White Jade Tower, couldn’t help but mumble admiringly.