Chapter 406: How to Clean Up This Mess

Chapter 406: Chapter 406: How to Clean Up This Mess

Ji Huan gave Manager Hong a look, telling him to calm down.

Once the noisy scene had quieted down a bit, she walked to the front of the stage.

"Thank you all for speaking up for me, but the chef’s suspicions are not wrong. A win should be an honorable one. Since he feels my victory wasn’t fair, why don’t we both use seasonings for the third round and have a truly fair and square competition."

"Alright! Compete with him!"

The crowd below erupted in thunderous cheers. Some were heckling, some were clapping, and others were hurrying them along.

"Hurry up, don’t dawdle..." ’I’m waiting to eat! I wonder what delicious thing it’ll be this time.’

The third dish was a bit more complex—Stir-fried Kidney Flowers.

In Ji Huan’s opinion, it barely qualified as a signature dish. However, almost none of the major restaurants in Yeyang used it as an ingredient, and even some street stalls tended to avoid it.

The chef said this was mainly because the strong, gamy smell was very difficult to remove. If you couldn’t get rid of the odor, it was hard to make the dish palatable. Besides, pork kidney was a cheap ingredient, not something you could serve at a high-class establishment.

At first, he’d also had his doubts about Ji Huan choosing this dish for the finale.

Saving on costs was understandable, but they shouldn’t put the cart before the horse. What if no one liked it? Wouldn’t all their efforts be for nothing?

Ji Huan hadn’t offered much of an explanation. She had simply gone to Hongfu Restaurant yesterday afternoon before returning to her village and given him a personal demonstration.

After seeing and tasting it for himself, he had no more doubts.

To ensure there were no mistakes today, he had practiced all night long. Luckily, the kidneys were dirt cheap. If it had been pork or mutton, the cost would have been heartbreaking.

He took a kidney and, following Ji Huan’s instructions, sliced it open down the middle, peeled off the outer membrane, and removed the gamy core.

On the cut surface, he made diagonal cross-hatch scores, cutting a section every three strokes, then marinated it with salt, wine, sugar, vinegar, and a little starch.

He heated a wok of mixed oils until it was very hot, then stir-fried Sichuan peppercorns, dried chilies, and slices of ginger and garlic until fragrant before tossing in the marinated kidney.

As soon as the kidney hit the hot wok, the scored cuts quickly curled up to resemble ears of wheat. He flash-fried it, adding salt, five-spice powder, and other seasonings. Just before taking it out of the wok, he tossed in some scallion segments.

Ji Huan’s process was more or less the same.

She washed the kidney, removed the membrane and the core, scored it, and marinated it on the spot. Then she heated her wok, stir-fried the aromatics...

The slight difference was that she mixed soy sauce, vinegar, broth, sugar, yellow wine, and starch to create a sauce slurry.

After quickly stir-frying the kidney flowers, she added blanched baby bok choy and tossed them together. Finally, she poured in the sauce slurry, gave it a quick stir, and plated the dish.

Both of them plated their dishes at almost the same time. This time, however, they weren’t placed separately. Instead, they used a blind-tasting method, placing both dishes on the same tray so the tasters wouldn’t know who cooked which one.

Stir-fried kidney had to be eaten hot; it wasn’t as good once it cooled. So this time, they had several people take trays down into the crowd in different directions to let everyone have a taste.

The old gourmand was the first to act. As quick as a flash, he snatched a piece and stuffed it into his mouth, slurping loudly from the heat but not caring one bit.

Those who hadn’t gotten a piece grabbed him, asking how it was.

The old gourmand just nodded furiously, too busy eating to speak.

The knifework was exquisite and the heat control was perfect. After being flash-fried, the kidney was especially crisp, tender, and smooth. It had a clean, refreshing taste, and most impressively, there wasn’t a trace of any off-putting or gamy flavor!

’AAAAHH! I want more!’

The old gourmand shook off the people grabbing him and started pushing his way through others. But by the time he fought his way into the next cluster of people, the plate was already empty.

Many people started yelling at the stage, asking if there was any left in the wok.

As for which dish was better, who knew? They were all too busy eating.

"I think they were both great. I didn’t notice much of a difference when I was eating..."

"I thought so too..."

"In that case, it’s not that the chef is a bad cook, or that the young lady is that good. The key is whether or not you use the seasonings!"

"That makes sense! Look, in the first round, neither of them used seasonings, and the young lady naturally lost. In the second round, she used the seasonings and immediately made a fantastic dish, while the chef who didn’t use them lost. And in this round, they both used the seasonings, and suddenly they’re evenly matched!"

"If you ask me, there was a difference. The one with the sauce was better. That must have been the chef’s, given his age and experience. As for that young lady, she doesn’t look like she cooks much..."

"Hey! Don’t be so harsh, all of you! For a young girl to cook like that is already pretty good."

"Think about it another way. If someone who isn’t a great cook can make something that good with these seasonings, then wouldn’t someone who’s already a good cook be able to make dishes on par with a restaurant chef?"

This remark struck a chord with the crowd, proving that quite a few people there were thinking the same thing.

This reaction was due not only to everyone’s direct experience but also because Ji Huan’s status as a married woman made her very relatable to the women in the audience.

Those who weren’t skilled at cooking found confidence in her, while those who were expert cooks felt a sense of superiority. ’Just think,’ they thought, ’if someone that clumsy can transform their cooking with just some seasonings, won’t ours be even better when we use them?’

In any case, they were sure they wouldn’t lose to Ji Huan.

"If it’s really like that, wouldn’t it be like eating at a restaurant, but at home...?"

"Oh, I have to try it then! You have no idea. It’s fine on a normal day, but during festivals and holidays when we have guests, it’s a huge headache for me..."

"Me too, me too! I’m good at everything except cooking. My mother-in-law is always complaining that I don’t have any impressive dishes to serve..."

Everyone chattered all at once, their conversations revolving around the seasonings. No one mentioned winning or losing, which was a tacit admission of a draw.

Manager Hong wiped his sweat and secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Just then, someone stood up.

"You’re doing this on purpose! What cooking competition? This is all just to sell your seasonings!"

The one who said this looked like a loafer, and his voice was loud enough to overpower the entire crowd.

The moment his voice fell, a buck-toothed woman on the other side chimed in.

"I knew something was off. If your cooking is bad, it’s bad. It doesn’t matter what you put in it."

The buck-toothed woman was one of those expert home cooks. Whenever neighbors in the area held a wedding or a funeral, they always asked for her help. She had always taken great pride in this, so she looked down on people who weren’t skilled but tried to take shortcuts. She especially refused to believe that just adding a little seasoning could turn a bad dish into a good one.

A round-faced woman, unable to stand it, said, "You just tried it yourself. Can you swear on your conscience that the dish wasn’t delicious?"

The buck-toothed woman rolled her eyes. "Maybe her cooking isn’t bad to begin with, and she’s just pretending to be clumsy to highlight the importance of the seasonings. How could someone who supposedly can’t cook well cut the kidney like that?"

On stage, Ji Huan showed no embarrassment at being exposed, nor did she seem to feel like the subject of the conversation.

Not only was she listening with great interest, but she even clicked her tongue in admiration. "The eyes of the people truly are as sharp as a tack."

Manager Hong and Xu Laifu stared at each other in dismay.

’Sharp as a tack? The whole plan’s a disaster! How are we supposed to clean up this mess?!’