As her voice fell, the off-camera staff members all nodded and took notes.
Ye Shu and Xiaozhen simultaneously revealed looks of admiration, sighing, "As expected, it has to be our Xiaxia!"
Inside the venue, Dr. Feng thanked her and continued to critique Brother Xiaoxie, saying, "In addition to that, you also used quite a bit of Sodium Carboxymethyl Cellulose and Non-dairy Creamer in this strawberry milkshake."
Xu Yanxia once again provided a timely translation, "That is, thickeners and non-dairy creamer."
Dr. Feng thanked her again, and then said to Brother Xiaoxie, "The amount of these additives used absolutely exceeds the standard, so it does not pass in my book."
With that, he gave the first zero score of the entire competition.
"Damn, that was cool!"
Off-camera, Ye Shu, who had completely turned into a fangirl of Dr. Feng, couldn't help but exclaim.
However, Brother Xiaoxie still tried to argue, "You can't just base this on your word alone, right? We all used the ingredients provided on-site, genuine materials. The cameras have been rolling the whole time!"
The host was a bit dumbfounded and had to ask the off-camera director, "What should we do? Should we send it to a professional institution for testing?"
Xu Yanxia wanted to say that there was actually no need to send it to a professional institution; these additives could be tested right there on the spot.
Moreover, due to the reform of the competition format and the introduction of the designated ingredients rule, in order for everyone to be prepared, the production team had actually informed the guest teams two days in advance about the main and auxiliary ingredients for this round.
In addition, because Jincheng had a vast array of local seasonings and Sichuan cuisine was famous for its complex flavor profiles, the production team, to lighten the burden of ingredient preparation, had also allowed them to bring their own seasonings such as doubanjiang and chili peppers.
Under these circumstances, smuggling in unauthorized goods was as easy as flipping one's hand.
However, she was currently a fellow competitor in the same arena, so it wasn't appropriate for her to say these things directly.
Fortunately, Dr. Feng, who shared the same professional background, immediately spoke to the stubborn arguer in Mandarin with a Hong Kong and Taiwan accent, "If you don't admit it, that's fine. We can do an on-site test right now."
Saying so, he asked the staff for a few kitchen paper towels and dripped a little of the broth from the "Diving Rabbit" dish onto a paper towel.
After letting it sit for five seconds, he directly held up the paper towel for everyone to see.
"The spiciness of natural chili peppers comes from capsaicin and chili oils, so there will be a faint trace of oil seeping into the paper towel, and it smells like a natural aroma with a hint of spice."
"But everyone can look at this paper towel. There are only dry red spots, without any oil seeping around them. It feels dry to the touch, and if you smell it, there is a very pungent, choking spicy odor. If you get closer, it will even sting your eyes. This is the typical manifestation of artificial capsaicin."
"Let me try."
Teacher Qiao, who was standing to the side, immediately took the paper towel and gave it a sniff.
He immediately nodded and said, "Yes, yes, yes, it's this choking smell! I told you it didn't seem like normal chili."
As he spoke, he handed the paper towel to the other judges and the host to smell as well.
Only Chef Chang didn't even take it, directly waving his hand and saying, "I don't even need to smell it. The moment I tasted it, I knew he didn't use proper ingredients."
However, the slap in the face didn't end there.
Dr. Feng then scooped a bit of the "broth" that Brother Xiaoxie hadn't finished using from his workstation, dripped it onto a paper towel in the same way, and educated everyone again, "If it's a broth boiled from natural meat, the paper towel will have a thin, sticky feel and a slight slickness. This is caused by natural collagen."
"But after adding flavor enhancers, it feels dry to the touch, and might even be a bit tacky."
This English word for "tacky" was not a specialized term, so everyone could understand it without Xu Yanxia needing to translate.
Dr. Feng then said to Brother Xiaoxie, who was still trying to argue, "As for other issues, if you need me to, I can continue to demonstrate."
The other party was left completely speechless.
The judges all proceeded to give zero scores, resulting in the iconic scene of the first-ever zero score in the recording studio's history.
...
As for how the other party coordinated with the production team afterward, Xu Yanxia had no way of knowing.
Thanks to the tight schedule of the Jincheng stop, she needed to immediately change her makeup and outfit to record the second amateur match.
After the jam-packed first day of recording ended, early the next morning, she set off for the local wet market with the new teammate she had gained from the amateur match to select ingredients for the Jincheng stop finals.
Because of the explosive popularity after the first episode aired, the production team specially started a synchronized online live stream for this outdoor recording.
The new teammate Xu Yanxia gained this time was named Suisui.
She was a girl about the same age as her, whose family ran a small, hole-in-the-wall restaurant.
Suisui had an adorable baby face, fair skin, and was enthusiastic and talkative.
"This market here is the most representative old market in our local area. Usually, it's just the neighbors from around here who come to stroll. It's not like those internet-famous markets that sell similar tourist products. Everything sold here is the food us locals eat every day."
Like most Jincheng locals, Suisui spoke quickly and frankly, and was accustomed to speaking in her local dialect.
After speaking, she realized this and specially smiled and apologized in Mandarin to Xu Yanxia and their teammates Xiaoxian and Xiaoman, "I'm sorry, I'm used to speaking our local dialect normally, and suddenly recording a show, I still can't quite change it. If you don't understand, just remind me."
"It's okay,"
Xu Yanxia also smiled and said to this cute teammate, "The Jincheng dialect is still very easy to understand. You just stick to your habits, and if there's anything we don't understand, we'll ask you."
You see, yesterday she had been captivated by this very teammate confidently introducing her spicy chicken dish in her bright local dialect.
Xiaoxian and Xiaoman also nodded and said, "It's fine, we can understand most of it. Just speak as you usually do."
As Suisui said, the market they visited today was an old local market located amidst residential areas. It was surrounded by various snack shops, such as Mao Roast Duck, fatty intestine noodles, stinky tofu, spring rolls, and more, exuding a strong atmosphere of everyday life.
The items sold in the market were also everyday foods eaten by locals, highly distinctive ingredients like rabbit meat, numb sheep, pressed salted duck, bamboo shoots, and fish mint.
Of course, the most distinctive things were the various kinds of chili peppers and Sichuan peppercorns, as well as local specialty seasonings. There were many types of doubanjiang alone. Among them, there were some that even Xu Yanxia, who had been a chef for two lifetimes, couldn't name.
Fortunately, they had Suisui, an authentic local teammate, leading the way and explaining to them as they walked:
"This kind is aged doubanjiang that's over three years old. It's suitable for slow-cooked dishes like Mapo Tofu and braised beef. You have to stir-fry it over low heat to release its fragrance before using it."
"This one is doubanjiang aged for one to two years. It can be used for anything, twice-cooked pork, fish-flavored shredded pork, or water-boiled sliced meat."
"And this kind is doubanjiang under a year old. The aroma isn't as rich yet, but it's cheap and can be used for stir-frying. It releases red oil relatively quickly."
...
As Suisui explained, both Xu Yanxia's teammates at the scene and the viewers in the live stream exclaimed that it was an eye-opening experience.
Due to the explosive popularity of last week's show, as well as the trending topic of CEO Lu's public proposal at his concert a few days ago, the audience in Xu Yanxia's live stream had already reached over half a million and was still growing rapidly.
It is worth mentioning that since Jincheng is a popular tourist city, there was also a considerable crowd of onlookers gathered at the scene.
Many among them recognized Xu Yanxia and eagerly greeted her.
Throughout the grocery shopping process, Xu Yanxia would occasionally wave and greet everyone in return.
After a while, they had finished purchasing all their ingredients and seasonings, and it was time to head back.
Just as they were about to leave the vegetable market, she suddenly heard someone in the crowd shouting at her:
"Yaomei'er, Yaomei'er..."
"Xiaxia..."
For safety reasons, the production team had arranged for security personnel to keep a safe distance between them and the onlookers.
Therefore, the person had to put in quite a bit of effort to shout loud enough for her to hear.
After all, whether it was the fans they met along the way today or the tourists who recognized her, everyone had been calling her name in standard Mandarin.
But these shouts were distinctly in the local dialect.
Xu Yanxia froze for a moment, then cast her gaze around to search for the source.
Her teammate Suisui, who had also heard it, specifically chimed in to translate for her, "In our local area, Yaomei'er is usually what elders call the younger girls in the family..."
Xu Yanxia nodded and said, "I know. My mother's hometown isn't far from here."
In her few sparse memories of her mother, the woman had called her using that exact same intonation.
It was just that the voice calling out to her right now belonged to a man.
