Chapter 512: Han Shi Is in Danger
Director Zhang, who was hosting this culinary showdown on stage, paid no attention to what the judges were thinking. Seeing that all forty-nine judges were present, he turned toward Qi Han and Zhao Yangfan.
"If both restaurants are ready, then please begin the first round now."
Hearing this, Qi Han nodded slightly, indicating that he had no objections.
On the other side, Zhao Yangfan exchanged a glance with the sturdy Chef Song, and they likewise signaled that they were ready.
"Whew…" Taking a deep breath, Director Zhang shouted loudly, "The culinary showdown now begins! The competing sides are Han Shi and Bright Court Pavilion! The first theme of the competition: beef! The dishes prepared by both sides must use beef as the primary ingredient, otherwise it will be considered a violation!"
After Director Zhang made the announcement, Qi Han turned around, pushed open the door to his temporary kitchen, and then closed it behind him.
Watching Chef Song enter his kitchen, Zhao Yangfan's gaze lingered on the tightly shut door of Han Shi's kitchen.
Qi Han… your first dish is definitely going to be Tomato Beef Brisket, right?
If it wasn't, then his plan would become difficult to carry out.
But after another thought, Zhao Yangfan's expression relaxed slightly.
There shouldn't be any mistake. Han Shi had only opened recently, so if there were any new dishes, they would definitely have already been released.
Only restaurants that had been operating for several months or longer might hold back some dishes for gradual release later on.
And according to Zhao Yangfan's investigation, Han Shi had been open for less than half a month.
With such a short operating time, there was no way they would still have unreleased dishes.
If Qi Han was making Tomato Beef Brisket, then he was guaranteed to lose this first round.
Last night, Chef Song had stayed up all night thinking about how to improve his Secret-Style Beef Tenderloin. Inspired by Tomato Beef Brisket, he added some sweet-and-sour flavors into the special sauce used for the dish. By using the sweet-and-sour taste to further bring out the beef's natural umami flavor, the dish's overall taste had risen to another level, giving Zhao Yangfan a pleasant surprise.
Although according to Chef Song, the Secret-Style Beef Tenderloin was still unlikely to surpass Tomato Beef Brisket, the gap between the two had indeed narrowed further. Combined with some of Zhao Yangfan's additional preparations, as long as Qi Han didn't switch dishes for the first round, victory was assured.
…
Although Zhao Yangfan's understanding of Han Shi was only superficial, there was one thing he had guessed correctly: Qi Han had no intention of changing dishes.
Inside the temporary kitchen, Qi Han first arranged all of his cooking utensils neatly before beginning the preparation of Tomato Beef Brisket.
In a culinary showdown, there were no strict requirements regarding portion size, but at the very least, every judge had to be able to taste the dish. Therefore, making only a single serving of Tomato Beef Brisket was obviously not enough.
After all, there were forty-nine judges, and according to the competition rules, the opposing side also had to taste the dishes so that the loser would fully accept the result.
That meant he needed enough Tomato Beef Brisket for more than fifty people to sample.
Fortunately, the judges only needed to taste it, not eat a full meal, so making ten portions in total should be about enough.
And here lies another advantage of Tomato Beef Brisket.
This dish could be cooked in multiple portions at the same time. With Qi Han's mastery of the dish, he could easily prepare ten portions in a single batch, with absolutely no difference in flavor compared to cooking one portion individually. This greatly reduced the amount of time needed.
In fact, when working in Han Shi's kitchen, Qi Han often cooked multiple portions together this way in order to save time.
Cutting the beef brisket into chunks, scoring crosses on the tomatoes before peeling and dicing them, blanching the brisket for later use, stir-frying the tomatoes until fragrant before adding more tomatoes, then adding the beef and enough water to cover the ingredients, seasoning, simmering over low heat to reduce the sauce…
Each cooking step had already been repeated countless times by Qi Han. At this point, he was so familiar with the process that he could practically perform it with his eyes closed.
Very quickly, a pot of Tomato Beef Brisket appeared before him, covered with a lid and simmering slowly over the lowest flame as the sauce gradually thickened.
Once the sauce finished reducing, the dish would be ready to serve.
But before that, Qi Han needed to wait patiently for an hour.
If he had been cooking in Han Shi's kitchen, the simmering and sauce-reduction process could have been shortened to just three minutes using the restaurant's futuristic technology. But such technology could not be brought here, so Qi Han could only wait honestly this time.
Still, it wasn't as if he had absolutely nothing to do while waiting.
The second theme was fruit, and Qi Han had already decided long ago what dish he would use for that category.
He would make Crab Stuffed with Orange.
Whether it was hollowing out the orange flesh, carving landscape patterns onto the orange peel, or extracting the crab meat, crab roe, and crab paste from the crab, all of these tasks were extremely tedious and time-consuming.
Moreover, all of these preparations had to be completed inside the temporary kitchen.
Before entering the venue, there would be personnel specifically assigned to inspect one's storage spirit tool to ensure that there were no pre-processed semi-finished ingredients or already completed dishes inside. And when entering the kitchen, competitors could only bring storage spirit tools that had already passed inspection.
With the system space, Qi Han technically could have cheated, but he had no need to do so.
Come on, he was a man destined to become the God of Cooking~
At the moment, all of the preparatory work for Crab Stuffed with Orange could conveniently be done during this one-hour waiting period. That way, the actual cooking time for Crab Stuffed with Orange could be shortened significantly.
This was also one small advantage of handling all three themes alone.
If it were Chef Song from Bright Court Pavilion, he wouldn't be able to do this, because the next dish, lotus-fragrant fruit-flavored fish, wasn't made by him.
Setting the simmering beef aside, Qi Han turned and walked to the other side, taking out the ingredients Ru Yi had prepared for Crab Stuffed with Orange before skillfully beginning the processing work.
…
The specially designed temporary kitchens used for the culinary showdown could block external spirit power perception while also isolating all outside sounds, allowing the chefs inside to devote themselves completely to cooking without outside interference.
Thus, the busy Qi Han had no idea that the judges outside had already begun tasting Bright Court Pavilion's Secret-Style Beef Tenderloin.
Each kitchen door had a signal light installed on it, with the control switch located inside the kitchen. Once a chef finished cooking and pressed the switch, the light would shine with a bright green glow.
And at this moment, under the eager gazes of the waiting judges, the light in front of Bright Court Pavilion's kitchen suddenly lit up with a clear and brilliant green.
Several staff members from the Culinary Association entered the kitchen and began bringing out plates of Secret-Style Beef Tenderloin one after another, delivering them to the judges.
This process would take some time because Bright Court Pavilion's dish had been prepared individually. To ensure that every serving reached the judges in its best possible state, they cooked and served each portion separately.
The instant the green light turned on, the delight on Zhao Yangfan's face deepened even further.
This round was secure.
Although the speed at which dishes were completed was not part of the scoring criteria in a culinary showdown, dishes served earlier still held a certain advantage during the judging process.
After tasting the first dish presented, the judges' expectations for the later dish would naturally rise. If the later dish failed to meet those heightened expectations, it would easily fall into a disadvantage during voting.
At this moment, Wu Henian quietly frowned.
He had eaten at Han Shi yesterday at noon, and from ordering to serving, the wait had not been long at all. So why had Qi Han still not finished now?
Could it be that preparing this Tomato Beef Brisket required a great deal of time, and that the restaurant usually handled some preparations in advance—something that wasn't allowed here?
Sigh… if only he had thought to remind Qi Han about these details yesterday.
Wu Henian shook his head slightly, feeling somewhat regretful.
Hopefully Qi Han would pay more attention to this issue with his next dish. While serving order did not determine the voting results, it still had an influence.
"This Secret-Style Beef Tenderloin really does look excellent. The aroma of the beef is so rich—its taste must be wonderful as well." Sitting beside Wu Henian, Ye Ansheng sighed in admiration. "I never expected Bright Court Pavilion to still have a hidden dish like this. Brother Henian, shall we share one serving?"
Although a serving of Secret-Style Beef Tenderloin was not large, there were still many dishes left to taste afterward, so they needed to control their appetites.
"Alright." Wu Henian nodded. Taking the serving Ye Ansheng handed over, he cut the beef into small pieces with a dining knife, then tasted it with a fork.
The moment he sampled it, his expression grew even more serious.
This round…
Han Shi was in danger.
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