There is a saying in the food circle: "There is no table without knives."
Meticulous knife skills can allow the ingredients to present a unique and ultimate beauty, achieving a perfect unity of deliciousness and shape.
The prepared shredded dried tofu in front of you can be cut into this shape, which requires the players to not only be as careful as hair, but also as bold as a tiger.
And looking at the right hand holding the kitchen knife, you can see that the player's mentality is very stable, and he is calm and calm when cutting.
Shown on the big screen, it is particularly beautiful to watch. At the same time, you can see the knife rising and falling, and the knife is moving like a wind.
The whole process of preparing food was really smooth and done in one go.
And it's not over yet.
A fresh carrot is included in the ingredients.
There is only one.
Other contestants directly use it as a side dish, or cut it into shreds or sections, and cook it with chicken legs.
And the player on the screen is clearly ready to find another way.
First use a kitchen knife to cut out a small section of the carrot, then hold the section with your left hand, and then use the knife to carve out the bottom petal.
The petals in the first row are carved very large, and the petals of the first circle are staggered with the petals of the second circle. The contestants deliberately rounded the water chestnuts of the carrot before starting the second circle.
Whenever a circle is carved, it must be rounded again before continuing to carve the next circle.
Because the player's operation is so neat, it looks like the carrot segments are rotating at a constant speed, while the hand holding the knife is slightly shaking up and down.
It was originally a very beautiful thing, but the contestants did not change the knife, and just held the kitchen knife to perform carving operations.
In this way, it makes people watch more carefully and carefully in a feeling of surprise and disbelief.
I don’t know what the other people’s mentality was at that time. Anyway, Liang Jue was observing with a dark mentality of waiting for carving errors to occur at any time.
Using a kitchen knife to carve patterns, isn't this just showing off?
But when a delicate flower with lush petals was soaked in clear water to preserve its freshness, all the audience looked at the big screen dully!
I saw the contestants carving the remaining carrots into flowers one after another. It is obviously not a special carving tool, but the kitchen knife is used very flexibly, and the tip of the knife can be effectively used to carve at every tricky angle!
A whole section of carrot was carved into three exquisite decorative flowers!
This exquisite carving attracted the attention of almost everyone present.
Even the host forgot to bring up the broadcast screen of switching players.
The main reason is that the players' operations are so smooth that people can get involved unconsciously while watching.
After the carrots are carved, the contestant turns around and puts the shredded dried tofu into a pot of just boiling water.
His timing for this step was perfect, and someone at the expert judging panel couldn't help but sigh: "He didn't even look at the pot, he just picked up the dried tofu shreds, changed hands, and threw it into the pot!"
Others also noticed this, and upon hearing this, they couldn't help but nod along.
If this operation is not a coincidence, it means that the players themselves have predicted it in advance and connected all the operation times just right, so that no extra time will be wasted.
In this way, it also shows that the players plan very accurately in terms of time arrangement.
The dried tofu was taken out of the pot, and as soon as it hit the water, the contestant immediately took it out with chopsticks and put it into a large basin filled with cold water.
Once the dry tofu is heated and then cooled, the texture will become smooth and elastic, and blanch it in boiling water to remove the beany smell.
Those who know the industry will understand at a glance that this contestant should be a veteran in cooking and very experienced in detailed operations.
However, what really made everyone present stunned was the player's operation when fishing for dried tofu shreds.
He didn't even have a slotted spoon, but just used chopsticks to pick it up.
It was just a matter of clamping it up, and he also shook the water!
The most important thing is that after blanching the dried tofu shreds that were cut so finely and being squeezed and shaken by the water, not one of them broke!
What kind of awesome technique is this? !
You must know that dry tofu is easily broken when cut into such fine pieces. After blanching, it becomes even softer.
The chopsticks try to pick it up, but it keeps picking up. This is such an amazing amount of control over the strength!
The people sitting here are all expert judges. They saw the key points at a glance, and they couldn't help but pay more attention to this player.
Before everyone could finish sighing, the contestants poured out the hot water that had been used to scald the dried tofu, rinsed it briefly, poured a shallow layer of water from a bowl into the pot, and after the water boiled, added the dried tofu again. Blanch the tofu.
Liang Jue's eyes lit up when he saw it, and he said aloud: "This step of changing the courtyard is wonderful!"
After hearing that it was "changing the court", the other judges reacted belatedly.
Changing the door is a technique commonly used by master chefs when blanching vegetables.
When cooking ingredients like dried tofu in a pot, they are usually blanched in boiling water first, and then blanched a second time in raw soup.
Use raw soup, that is, use the broth that has not been boiled, and then blanch it again. At this time, the beany smell is completely removed, and the fresh flavor of the soup is slightly absorbed.
And this small half bowl of broth used to make the chicken soup was obviously taken out midway when simmering the chicken soup.
Because he had seen Fu Yu's operation during ironing before, the host quickly came to his senses.
In this situation, it is not possible to immediately change the camera to another contestant, but it does not meet the requirements of the leader to keep showing the cooking operations of the same person.
What's more, everyone is staring at the screen attentively, and the expert judges have no intention of explaining the evaluation.
When footage like this is edited into a video later, there is nothing eye-catching about it.
Thinking of this, the host hurriedly said: "This contestant's cooking operation is very interesting. I have seen it before. He is preparing to use a chicken leg to make chicken soup. Now he has prepared vegetables. It seems that carrots are ready. Now that we’re ready to put on the plate, what kind of dishes do you want to make with the chicken soup and dried tofu? Master Liang, what do you think about this?”
After speaking, he turned the topic to Liang Jue, who was watching the video intently.
Liang Jue has seniority and a good personality. He is considered a relatively educated person among the chefs. He is polite and generous in conversation and has a lot of research on cooking.
The words are meaningful and the expressions are accurate.
On this occasion, it would be a mistake to let him pick up the topic.
Facts have proved that his choice was very wise.
Liang Jue was asked by the host, and then he came back to his senses and looked at the camera.
"Heaps of thin strands of dried shreds with added ingredients, sprouts growing in a cooked copper tobacco bag, and crystal dishes made with shochu! If I'm not mistaken, the dish this contestant wants to cook should be boiled dried shreds."
Big boiled dried silk?
Hearing the name of the dish, there was a burst of discussion from the audience.
Although boiled dry silk is a famous traditional dish, many people here have never heard of it because of its strong regional origin.
The host had obviously never heard of this dish, so he asked in unison: "Big boiled dried silk noodles? I wonder where this dish is a local specialty?"
Liang Jue said with a smile: "It is a Yangzhou dish, also known as dried shredded chicken sauce in the local area. Although the ingredients have been replaced, looking at the cooking method, I think I want to make an improved version of this dish."
It is said to be an improvement, but actually it is because the ingredients and seasonings provided at the competition site are limited, so the contestants can only make the simplest version of Daizhu dried shredded noodles.
Dried tofu shreds were used instead of dried tofu shreds, and the lowest grade clear chicken soup was used as the base soup.
While they were talking, the contestants' cooking operations continued on the big screen.
Liang Jue was originally talking about how to make the dish of boiled dried silk, but his eyes were unknowingly attracted by the operation in the video.
The player's next operation made Liang Jue's eyes light up, and he couldn't help but comment: "This step is so reborn!"
"As the saying goes, 'a stew is worth a thousand boils', simmer with stock like this, adjust the stewed chicken stock to taste, add shredded dried tofu and bring to a boil, then turn off the heat. The chicken soup must cover the shredded dried tofu before using it. The chicken fat is sealed and simmered for half an hour. The dried tofu shreds are almost immersed in the soup stock, and the texture is soft and smooth, and it is also very delicious!"
Du Yingchun, who was sitting next to him, suddenly said: "Oh, is that the saying 'cook soup but not dry shreds'?"
Liang Jue didn't expect that he also knew this sentence, so he smiled and said: "Yes! That's right!"
While they were talking, their eyes fell on the contestant who was cooking on the big screen.
The contestants place the blanched dried tofu shreds in the middle of the pre-selected plate, arrange them into a pagoda shape, take out another pot of chicken soup, wait for it to boil again, and pour it directly on top of the dried tofu shreds.
Although the final plating shape has not yet been made, we can guess that the three carrot flowers specially carved before will definitely be decorated on the plating in the end.
Just imagine it, and you will know that the color and shape match very well.
If they hadn't happened to observe the most critical steps of cooking the entire dish, no one would have imagined that such a seemingly exquisite and simple dish could have as exquisite a cooking technique as silk tofu.
As they were admiring in their hearts, staff began to bring over the dishes cooked by the contestants one after another for the expert judges present to taste.
The host can finally take advantage of this opportunity to introduce the cooking conditions of other contestants.
There were a large number of contestants, and most of the judges only tasted the food briefly. After tasting the taste and texture, communicating with each other, they began to give scores.
The first dishes delivered were mostly fried and stir-fried dishes.
Because the ingredients are limited, the choice of dishes is relatively limited.
Among the dishes that were delivered one after another, there were many similar dishes.
As a result, there is a clear comparison in scoring, and the players suffer more.
After appraising several dishes in succession, Liang Jue said with a smile: "The contestants are still very good at choosing dishes. For example, the dried tofu and cumin chicken strips that we just tasted, and the spicy stir-fried dried tofu and chicken thighs are very good. Yes, very rich flavor.”
Other judges also commented one after another.
When the next dishes were delivered, they were either dry-roasted or braised. Except for the difference in whether the chicken legs were deboned or cut into pieces, the similarities in cooking methods and taste became more and more obvious. The attitudes of the expert judges also began to change. Becoming harsh.
This is something that is unavoidable in the game.
When the judges first started tasting, they still had some fresh energy and were very tolerant in their evaluation.
In the later stage, in addition to the aesthetic fatigue of trying the food, the stomach also begins to gradually become full, and there is not much expectation and demand for food. Therefore, the evaluation will be more focused on the taste of the dishes and the details of the presentation, and conduct a strict and systematic review. .
After tasting another dish of dried tofu and chicken legs with smoked sauce, Liang Jue carefully evaluated and scored, then picked up the prepared mineral water and rinsed his mouth.
After eating too many dishes with rich flavors, I suddenly remembered the boiled dried shredded noodles I just saw.
He had tasted this dish in other places before, and it was very delicious and light. Now it would be nice to have a sip of chicken soup to relieve the greasiness.
When there is concern in the heart, there is obviously hope.
At this moment, the staff brought over the dishes cooked by the contestants.
When they arrived at the judges' area, the host carefully introduced: "The following dish is boiled dried shredded rice cooked by contestant No. 005 of Group B."
Hearing this, Liang Jue suddenly raised his head and looked at the staff.
When the other party came closer, he watched the plate of dishes he saw on the big screen being brought over.
A carefully selected deep-bottomed porcelain plate contains shredded dried tofu stacked in a pagoda shape, and the bottom of the plate is soaked in clear chicken soup.
The three carrot flowers that had been specially soaked in water to preserve their freshness were carefully placed on the edge of the plate.
The whole dish looks very elegant.
Perhaps because he had some expectations in his heart, Liang Jue was more careful when tasting it.
He deliberately picked up a piece of shredded dried tofu with chopsticks. He didn't eat it in a hurry, but shook it first.
This move was not as casual as it seemed. Liang Jue himself knew how carefully he had done that move just now.
Unfold the shredded dried tofu, then put it on a plate and taste it carefully.
After finishing the meal, I poured out another spoonful of chicken soup.
Because it was served right after cooking, the soup was still warm.
When the hot soup entered his mouth, Liang Jue's eyes visibly lit up!
This soup is very delicious!
And the most rare thing is that there is no fishy smell at all!
Normally, when making chicken soup, whole old hens are used. Because old hens are rich in fat, the chicken soup will be delicious.
But the only ingredient provided for the competition right now is a chicken leg.
If you want to achieve the current taste, you need to control the amount of water and heat very accurately.
Especially to achieve this level of complete removal of fishy smell, it must be that you put in the effort when stir-frying over high heat before making the soup.
For example, how deep should the chicken be fried before adding water, and how hot the water should be used to bring out the umami flavor of the chicken to a greater extent.
These are personal cooking experiences that can only be imagined but cannot be expressed in words!
This player handled all the details very well, which Liang Jue admired very much, and at the same time, his impression of him became even better.
Being able to do this shows that the players have really worked hard in private! (End of chapter)
