Chapter 428 - 164: One Yuan a Skewer...

Chapter 428: Chapter 164: One Yuan a Skewer...

More than a dozen Chinese medicinal herbs, all potential spices, were mixed together. You can just imagine the heady aroma released the moment the container was opened.

Su Chen couldn’t be bothered with the clamor from the other contestants.

He poured half a bucket of rapeseed oil into the iron wok, heating it to 160 degrees Celsius. He then immediately took the scallions Liu Ahbao had prepared, tied them into knots, and placed them into the oil with large chunks of ginger to fry slowly.

At the same time, Su Chen activated his Skill—White Jade Hand.

Under the effects of White Jade Hand and the Magic Sticker, his mind became clear, his vision sharp, his movements nimble, and his sense of taste heightened.

Just as the scallions and ginger turned a crisp, golden brown, he used a strainer to scoop them out and discard them. The rapeseed oil in the wok had now transformed into a fragrant oil, infused with the essence of scallion and ginger!

He took a stone mortar from a cabinet under the workstation, placed aromatic spices like Tsaoko fruit and cardamom inside, and began to grind them.

He added more than a dozen spices to the hot oil, and the aroma instantly exploded outward!

It had the character of Chinese medicine, but it was completely different from the bitterness of a boiling decoction. Instead, it was a complex, heady fragrance.

This aroma made the other contestants wrinkle their noses, while the audience members, in contrast, couldn’t stop sniffing the air.

The six children, who had been busy with their games, were also drawn in by the peculiar scent.

The children had varying skin and hair colors, but none of them were black-haired and dark-eyed like the people of Huaxia Country. What they had eaten and seen growing up was also primarily Western cuisine.

Suddenly smelling such a complex fragrance, their palates were, for a moment, a little overwhelmed.

While the spices were frying, Su Chen had another task to attend to.

He needed to prepare three different types of chili peppers, each in a different form.

Su Chen was very particular about the chili peppers he chose for this seasoning.

The Erjingtiao peppers, which were mildly spicy and fragrant, just needed to be soaked in water and snipped into small segments with scissors.

The Lantern peppers had very little heat but a vibrant red color. They needed to be ground into a powder. Besides adding fragrance, they would also turn the rapeseed oil an enticing shade of red!

Finally, there were the goat horn peppers.

Back in Huaxia, he generally wouldn’t use goat horn peppers. He would use Facing Heaven peppers or other, much hotter varieties.

But this was abroad...

’After some consideration, Su Chen decided it was best not to make the seasoning too spicy. For one, the judges were children. For another, he wasn’t sure about foreigners’ tolerance for spice.’

Goat horn peppers are a type of sweet pepper with thin skin, thick flesh, and a fresh, fragrant flavor, with almost no heat. Grinding them into a medium-coarse flake would make the resulting chili oil richer and more mellow.

This sense of richness is a crucial element in Sichuan-style seasoning.

Some Sichuan dishes are fragrant at first bite, but then the flavor in your mouth feels flat and one-dimensional. That’s considered a failure in seasoning.

With all three types of peppers prepared as needed, he set them aside. The spices continued to fry slowly over medium heat in the wok, and Su Chen moved on to his next task.

Making the stock!

Thanks to his experience making consommé, preparing a bone broth like this was almost trivially easy for Su Chen.

However, due to the competition’s time constraints, he didn’t have a full day and night to let the broth simmer slowly. Su Chen’s solution was to boil it intensely over high heat!

First, he would use high heat to boil the bones and meat until they were falling apart, then switch to medium heat for a slow simmer.

As he worked, Su Chen noticed that the contestant from Japan, the one Liu Ahbao had mentioned, had already rung his bell.

Under the host’s guidance, Yoshikazu Ono began to speak. "After being massaged for fifty minutes straight, the octopus flesh becomes tender, resulting in a more delicate texture."

"The nori must be toasted over a flame 100 times to guarantee its crispness and flavor."

"The rice is pressure-cooked. Afterward, we use a special container of our own design to hold it, keeping it at precisely human body temperature."

With that, Yoshikazu Ono pushed up his glasses. "The finished sushi must be eaten within ten seconds, or it will lose its intended texture and flavor."

The host certainly didn’t dare to slight this invited guest, the successor to the Sushi God. She immediately led Yoshikazu Ono over to the six young judges.

"Which of you would like to be the first to try it?"

After the female host translated his words for the six children, they all shook their heads in unison and went back to playing with their toys, heads down.

This left Yoshikazu Ono in a rather awkward position.

’In his Tokyo restaurant, a single piece of his sushi was a delicacy madly pursued by countless members of high society. People would spend a fortune just for a taste of his creations!’

’And for a supplier to have their ingredients chosen by the Ono Family was considered the highest honor!’

’And here he was, getting stonewalled by six little kids?’

Of course, Yoshikazu Ono was unfazed.

’His status and skill didn’t need to be validated by the outcome of this competition or the approval of six children.’

"I will prepare it first, then."

Yoshikazu Ono stood before the six children. This time, he selected chutoro, the medium-fatty tuna belly.

He placed a delicate dot of wasabi on the fish, added a small ball of rice, then executed a series of movements: a turn, a pinch, a squeeze, and a final press.

Finally, he brushed on a thin layer of soy sauce.

And just like that, a piece of sushi madly sought after by high society the world over appeared on the plate before Yoshikazu Ono.

"Please."

The six children gave the man a baffled glance before returning to their toys.

Suddenly!

The child in the fourth seat pointed in horror at one of the workstations in the center of the venue. "Pig’s feet! It’s pig’s feet!"