After the laughter subsided, everyone's attention was once again drawn to Xu Yanxia.
She had just scooped the blanched fish head out of the pot, ready to debone it.
For a moment, both the camera lenses and the judges' eyes were fixed on her hands.
She quickly began removing the fish bones, not forgetting to explain the key points to her two teammates. First, remove the main bone. Cut in from the bottom of the fish head. Your fingers must be light, and your wrists must be flexible.
The meat on the fish cheeks is extremely tender, and the fish lips are gelatinous. You must not break them, and the walnut-shaped meat on both sides must also be kept intact. Once they are broken, this dish is basically a failure.
Absolutely correct!
At the judges' table, Chef Li, who was watching her closely, couldn't help but nod with a face full of admiration. This young lady is very experienced! Every word hits the mark.
At the center of attention, Xu Yanxia was still carefully passing on her experience to her teammates. The cartilage next to the fish brain will melt into a gelatinous substance when braised later, increasing the thickness of the broth, so it must be preserved.
Next, pick out the fine bones completely. You must ensure that the diners do not encounter a single bone when eating. Only then is this dish considered a success...
She stared intently at the fish meat the entire time, her fingertips flying rapidly. In just a few minutes, she had placed all the extracted bones into a small bowl on the side, while the chunks of meat from the fish head remained intact and unbroken.
There are eighty-four bones in a fish head, and they are all right here.
Seeing Xu Yanxia smiling as she picked up the small bowl to specifically show it to the tracking camera, the host couldn't help but exclaim, She's practically a surgeon!
Chef Li chuckled and said, As the old saying goes, 'Doctors treat people, chefs treat flavors.' It really is quite similar.
As his voice faded, Xu Yanxia had already deftly heated oil in the pan, moving on to the next step of pan-frying the fish and cooking the broth.
She also took the opportunity to educate the audience using her professional knowledge of food science. Next, to pan-fry the fish and make the broth, we use a mixture of vegetable oil and lard.
This is because lard is rich in saturated fatty acids. When frying the fish, it can form a stable oil film wrapping the surface of the fish to prevent moisture from being lost too quickly. Meanwhile, vegetable oil contains unsaturated fatty acids, which can penetrate into the gaps of the fish muscle fibers, forming a composite oil phase with the lard. This lays the foundation for the upcoming water-oil emulsification, which is the process of simmering the milky white broth.
...
As the rich, savory aroma spread through the studio, accompanied by Xu Yanxia's commentary, a perfectly deboned fish head with thick broth, glossy glaze, and an intact shape was flawlessly served from the pot.
Maintaining its complete outline without a single bone, the fish head lay flat in a celadon soup bowl. The fish skin was intact, and every part was clearly visible.
The surface of the fish head was covered with a translucent, glass-like glaze, resting in the surrounding thick, milky white broth. It was incredibly tempting!
Everyone present couldn't help but secretly start to salivate.
Fortunately, the dishes from the other groups were also quickly finished. Once the staff had portioned out the dishes one by one, the judges began to taste them.
According to the drawn order, the first dish was exactly this braised deboned fish head from Xu Yanxia's group.
The deboned fish meat was tender yet firm, savory and delicious, and indeed without a single bone. Every bite was full of rich, fresh flavor.
Truly worthy of being a famous state banquet dish!
Several judges couldn't help but nod. Every bite is smooth, fresh, and savory!
Due to the excellent taste of this dish, even though their other two dishes, the thousand-layer oil cake and the boiled shredded dry tofu, still had some room for improvement, her group still received a high score of ninety-eight points.
...
Next, Brother Song's group also achieved a good score of eighty-nine points with their internet-famous dishes: stir-fried shredded eel, salted egg yolk crawfish, and crab roe mixed rice.
After the three members of Brother Song's group thanked the judges, it was time for Jin Jiexiang's group's imperial cuisine.
Besides the main dish they had just introduced, the Imperial Flavor Roast Duck, they also used local specialty salted duck eggs and white lotus roots to make Imperial Egg Yolk Pastry and Osmanthus Sticky Rice Lotus Root.
However, apart from the Osmanthus Sticky Rice Lotus Root passing the mark, the other two dishes still had significant problems.
The ingredients for this egg yolk pastry are quite good. The local salted duck egg yolk is very crumbly and fine, but I feel the crust is different from what we usually eat. Why does it taste a bit like a cookie?
Master Jin hurriedly said, That's right, because this is made following the imperial method using butter for the crust. The resulting texture is indeed somewhat like a cookie.
The imperial method again.
Xu Yanxia almost couldn't hold back a scoff.
One should know that this typical Su-style pastry, even in the feudal dynasty of her past life, could not possibly be made with ghee, let alone butter extracted through modern techniques.
Fortunately, she didn't need to speak up. Today, there was the more knowledgeable Chef Li to slap him in the face.
This is incorrect!
Chef Li immediately gave him a complete and utter rejection, saying mercilessly, Our Su-style imperial pastries all use lard, specifically rendered leaf lard. It is absolutely impossible to use butter. This has been passed down from generation to generation.
Furthermore, besides flour, a little Baoying lotus root starch must be added to increase the chewiness of the flaky crust. You added baking powder in here, which is completely wrong.
Uh...
Probably not expecting to be slapped down so harshly by Chef Li, Master Jin was momentarily speechless.
However, before he could come up with a good excuse, Judge Qiao was seen frowning at his main signature dish, the Imperial Flavor Roast Duck.
This duck isn't very tasty. Why does it taste a bit gamey? Is it not very fresh?
How is that possible?
Jin Jiexiang immediately replied, This is a high-quality local lake duck we just went and bought this morning. It was freshly slaughtered, absolutely fresh. Moreover, we used the authentic Jingbei hanging-oven roasting method...
That is incorrect.
Chef Li once again immediately and mercilessly said, Our local lake ducks are different from Jingbei force-fed ducks; they are not as fat. They have more muscle, and the temperature of a hanging oven is high. Just like Little Xu explained earlier, if the heat is too high and it's roasted for too long, the meat will become tough and dry, because there isn't that much fat to protect it.
Another thing is, this kind of duck has a lot of muscle and is prone to a gamey smell, so only force-fed ducks are suitable for this kind of roasting. Our local roast ducks are roasted in a closed oven, with low temperature and a slow fire, letting it cook slowly so its meat will become tender.
I see.
Seeing that Jin Jiexiang's face was already showing signs of embarrassment, the host hurriedly spoke up for him, Sure enough, cooking also requires adapting to local conditions. The division of our country's cuisines didn't come from nothing.
Then let's look at the final score for Master Jin's group!
Because two out of the three dishes had serious mistakes, Jin Jiexiang's group ultimately only received seventy-five points.
They had already come in last among the three groups.
...
Because the show was about to premiere, right after this recording session ended, the production team immediately held a media press conference.
Most of the media present had just watched their recording. Coupled with the carefully crafted pilot episode produced by the team, and especially the presence and support of a segment of Brother Song's fans, the atmosphere at the scene was very enthusiastic.
When it came to the interactive segment, Xu Yanxia, as one of the key creators, also shared her feelings about recording the show.
"As a professional in the food and beverage industry, I am deeply honored to participate in such a meaningful program. Through communicating with the other participants and receiving guidance from the judges, I have gained a lot and benefited immensely. I also hope that everyone will enjoy such a high-quality show."
After her brief speech, she was just about to hand the microphone to Master Jin beside her when a bespectacled man in the press area suddenly stood up and asked her, "I would like to ask Director Xu Yanxia, how do you view the fact that your ex-boyfriend, Lin Hengnan, went to prison for attempted intentional injury against you?"
What?
Her ex-boyfriend went to prison for attempted intentional injury against her?
As soon as these words came out, everyone turned to look at Xu Yanxia.
Offstage, Ye Shu could not help but curse, "Who let this jerk in?!! We clearly just suppressed the trending topics! This guy is purely here to stir up trouble!!!"
Xiaozhen also said anxiously, "What should we do? President Lu has not arrived yet, and we are broadcasting live right now! I just saw that there are no less than five million people in the live stream!"
Indeed, this promotional event was being broadcast live simultaneously on Qiwei's official account.
Due to the buzz surrounding the Mrs. Zhuang incident a few days ago, there were already many netizens following this program. Coupled with the fans of that Brother Song, the live stream currently had over five million viewers.
At a time like this, having such a scandalous accusation thrown at her was no small matter.
