Chapter 180: Food shortage
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
After the host emphasized, he tried to smooth things over, “With so many viewers still watching online, although there are few people on your side, it’s not to the extent that there are none at all. If you withdraw from the finals, it’s equivalent to giving up.”
Xu Le frowned slightly. He knew that he could not fight against the person who set the rules. He only said, “Alright, I’ll make you admit defeat.”
His words caused a thousand ripples in the comments section.
“What an arrogant tone. Children like him just don’t know the immensity of heaven and earth!”
“Maybe he really will win?”
“Could it be that Xu Le is too lucky in the finals and doesn’t dare to continue?”
“He definitely won’t dare. He’s just lucky!”
“It’s clearly a draw. Why do the fans of the Little Master Chef make it seem like he won?”
“I support the add-on round. I still want to see it!”
“Do the contestants really still have the energy? Even an adult won’t be able to withstand this match for more than ten hours, right?”
“Why don’t we continue the competition tomorrow?”
“Xu Le, you can do it!”
“Anyway, the Master Chef will definitely win! There won’t be a mistake!”
Even if Xu Le was unhappy, he could wait until the last step. There was no point in pestering with them. In the end, he nodded and agreed.
Lu Yuxi was indignant. She gritted her teeth and did not continue to retort. In the end, she said, “They just don’t dare to have a fair competition because they’re afraid that you’ll continue to win. Otherwise, why didn’t they exchange the ingredients from both sides if they were going to have an add-on round? Wouldn’t it be obvious that he cheated if he had so much seafood left?”
Just now, the Yanyun flat food had already used up a lot lean meat. Xu Le made a rough calculations and what was left most was the eel. There was about the same amount of fatty meat and lean meat, bamboo pith, celery, a small amount of shrimp, and so on…
“There’s not much ingredients left. The time limit doesn’t allow for troublesome and cumbersome dishes. How about this? Go make a big pot of rice. Later, we will make a braised saddle bridge, a stir-fried meat, and a bamboo pith meat roll. Finally, this… watermelon, let’s make a traditional sweet drink.”
“Why don’t you just squeeze it to make watermelon juice?”
“It’s not enough to make juice. Traditional sweet drinks tend to have a strong taste and are better at winning over people’s taste preferences.”
Braised saddle bridge was a famous Huaiyang dish. The fresh eel was cut into sections and sliced on the surface twice, without cutting through.
Lu Yuxi leaned over and asked, “Why is it called Saddle Bridge? Why not braised eel? That’s more intuitive and easier to tell what dish it is.”
Xu Le picked up a section of the eel that had been cut. The eel that had not been completely cut was bending one section after another. He gestured the arc with his fingers and said, “Doesn’t this look like a saddle?”
“… a little.”
“When it’s fried later, the arc will be even more curved, like the shape of a bridge. That’s why it’s called that.”
The blood on the eel could be washed off with a rub of salt. When Li Qing went to turn the tap, he did not notice that he had mixed hot water. In an instant, the piece of yellow eel in the bowl was alive and kicking. He widened his eyes in shock and said, “Did the corpse… just move?”
Zhang Tong, who was cutting the watermelon, looked at him speechlessly and said, “It’s a knee jump reaction. Just wash it with cold water.”
Li Qing changed to cold water and muttered, “Should I say it or not? This eel is a little disgusting…”
Xu Le sprinkled a spoonful of salt on the processed eel. As it was freshly killed, the cells inside were still alive. As soon as there was salt, they immediately twisted violently.
Li Qing saw it from the corner of his eye and immediately turned his head away. It was not a pleasant scene.
He poured a circle of yellow wine and marinated it at the side. If only the eel meat was eaten, the taste would obviously be a little bland. Xu Le took a piece of pork belly and cut it into thin slices.
The combination of animal fat and protein would make the dish taste even better.
He prepared side ingredients, like onion, ginger, aniseed, fragrant leaves, and a large amount of garlic.
“After the eel is cut through, the blood on it must be washed clean. Otherwise, when it is fried in the pot, it will all become black dregs.”
After Xu Le gave his instructions, the oil in the pot was almost ready. The eel was placed in a ladle and put the pot to fry.
As soon as he put it in, the hot oil crackled and rolled. The people beside him subconsciously took a few steps back.
Lu Yuxi, who was used to seeing him cook, was carefully peeling garlic. She looked up and said, “The oil won’t splash out.”
Li Qing said, “There’s still water on the eel. Don’t sound so confident. What if it really burns someone later?”
Lu Yuxi curled her lips and smiled. She looked up with her bright eyes and said mockingly, “You’ve been learning culinary skills from Master Xu for so long. Don’t you believe him?”
The two of them bickered a little more. Xu Le quickly fried the eel and scooped it out to drain the oil. Soon, after seven or eight rounds, he finally finished frying all the eel.
There was no need to crush the peeled garlic. There was a little oil left in the pot. He poured all the garlic in and fried them until both sides were golden. He scooped out half of it and used it later.
Then, he stir-fried the chopped green onion and ginger, the pork belly, and force the oil out of the meat before adding the spices. Finally, he lay out the eel. Fresh soy sauce, huadiao wine, dark soya sauce, rock sugar, pepper powder, and two large bowls of water were added to submerge the eel. After 20 minutes, it would be ready.
Taking advantage of this time, Xu Le asked Li Qing to squeeze out all the juice from the seedless watermelon. After it was fine enough, he passed it through another sieve again. “You can’t cook the watermelon flesh. It can’t be heated, or its taste will change. Let’s soak it in the agar. It’ll be useful later.” On Zhang Tong’s side, he was preparing the ingredients for the bamboo pith roll. After the rest of the shrimp meat was removed, he used the back of the knife to flatten it. He didn’t crush it directly, but used a more restrained method. This way, the shrimp meat would be firm and similar to prawn paste.
After the chestnuts were cut into pieces, the water inside was squeezed out. The garlic chives added fragrance, and the water was also squeezed out after it was cut into pieces. The pork belly was cut into small pieces. After the side dishes were all placed in a bowl, salt, MSG, pepper, and seasoning were added. Finally, some raw powder was added to absorb the water, and he wore gloves to mix it evenly.
The material that was slapped out would be very tight and the sound of it falling to the bottom of the bowl would be very loud. At this moment, he could use the method of making beef balls to squeeze out a meatball-sized meat paste from the space between his thumb and forefinger. He would scoop it out with a spoon and place it on the plate.
After Xu Zhexian was done processing the bamboo pith, Xu Le only needed to cut it into an inch long and cut it vertically with scissors. Finally, he stuffed the prawn paste in and wrapped it up. Finally, he used the fiber in the celery to form a thin string and tied it up.
After the processing, he directly put it into the steamer. At this moment, 20 minutes had already passed and the braised pork belly was 80% cooked. The fragrance was already everywhere, making people drool.
Xu Le picked up the piece of braised pork belly and placed it in a bowl. The bright red pork belly was laid flat at the top. After the soup was poured on it, it was appetizing just by looking at it.
Then, he put it inside the pot and steamed it for 20 minutes to let the braised meat be cooked thoroughly.
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