Chapter 591 Coconut
(Correction: There should be seven people participating in the last game, it has been modified, sorry)
The four judges were deadlocked for a moment, and finally Chef Gaggan Anand took the plate first.
He stuck out his tongue and licked it.
There is no way. Since I am a judge, I have to fulfill my duties as a judge.
He licked from top to bottom, and the first thing he licked was the fuzzy brown shell of the coconut.
As a result, it felt like something was pricking his tongue, and the rough texture was just like a real coconut shell.
GagganAnand couldn't help but exclaimed in surprise.
When you lick the coconut meat, it immediately switches to a tender and soft texture, with a faint coconut fragrance, and finally the coconut milk inside, which is sweet and refreshing.
Gaggan Anand also tasted coconut leaves and coconut stems, and the tastes were also different.
Unknowingly, he had licked the coconut on the plate clean, but he was still not satisfied, so he also licked the words written with coconut powder under the plate.
With him taking the lead, the other three judges could only start licking.
And soon someone discovered that licking from top to bottom actually tastes different from licking from bottom to top. They are even the same coconut shell, and the taste is slightly different in different places.
The last four judges, without exception, all licked everything off their plates.
It must be known that they only took one or two bites of the other previous dishes, so Sun Mei's modified version of the pulp noodles was relatively new and made them taste a few more bites.
This is certainly related to the fact that there was only sauce on Malu's plate, but it also takes courage to lick the plate clean in public.
Without any words, the four judges have proven their praise for this dish with actions.
"A masterpiece that is indistinguishable from "To the Ends of the World"!" Olet Huppert commented.
"I think this dish is better than "Tianya Haijiao". Even if we don't consider that "Tianya Haijiao" has a longer preparation time, this "Coconut" uses simpler colors to complete a richer taste experience. Just for this reason It’s even more difficult when it comes to cooking.”
Hajime Yoneda said, "Yes, this dish has surpassed "End of the World" in terms of technique."
"Indeed," Gaggan Anand asked Malu, "Is this your improvisation?"
"This is indeed my first time cooking this dish."
"What a terrifying talent."
Following Ma Lu was Kawano Zhengming, who made a caviar and coconut French toast.
The so-called French toast generally refers to toast that is wrapped in egg liquid and milk and then fried and grilled. Kawano Zhengming removed the milk and added coconut milk instead.
Let the toast have a sweet coconut flavor, and top with caviar and watercress sprouts to balance the saltiness of the caviar with the sweetness of the toast.
Qi Shanzhu was the last one to take the stage, and she was very nervous, because Ma Lu and Kawano Zhengming, who were in front of her, were very strong and received praise from the judges.
As a comparison, the shortcomings of her dishes will be magnified.
Sure enough, the four judges asked her only two questions after trying her miso coconut Mont Blanc and sent her back.
At this point, the first round of competition has ended.
The staff opened the ballot box and began to calculate and register the scores of the seven players.
The most relaxed person here is Ma Lu, with his hands in his pockets, while Sun Mei is biting her nails.
She was not worried about the score, but she couldn't figure out how Malu could improvise such a difficult dish in such a short time.
As for the rest of the people, except for Luo Junkang who remained expressionless, everyone else's faces showed a hint of anxiety.
Fortunately, the hosts did not keep their audience waiting too long and announced the scores on the spot. As expected, Ma Lu got a perfect score of 5 points, Sun Mei got 4 points, Kawano Zhengming also got 4 points, tied for second, Luo Junkang and Fan Yixin got 3.25 points, one got 3.5 points, and Qi Shanzhu only got 3.25 points. 3 points.
Just when Qi Shanzhu thought she would be eliminated and was about to accept it calmly, she heard Di Supala's score again - 2.25 points.
Di Supala's expression changed suddenly. Although this round he crashed with Luo Junkang and Fan Yixin, and the three of them made coconut rice together.
But Di Supala doesn't think he will lose to the other two. Not long ago, when he was interviewed by a female host, he said that his score would be around 4 points.
Unexpectedly, I only got 2.25 points.
Oette Huppert explained, "Your mango and coconut sticky rice is indeed very authentic, but you made a fatal mistake."
"In order to save time, you should use a pressure cooker to press the glutinous rice. In this way, you can complete this dish that usually takes an hour and a half in less than half an hour."
"But this will make the glutinous rice taste worse, and it will not be so full and elastic." Rocky Chen added.
"We can understand that this is your strategy, to compress the first round of time as much as possible to prepare for the rest, but unfortunately, the other five chefs performed very well in this round, so..."
Supala looked defeated. He obviously knew that the two judges were telling the truth, so he could only swallow the bitter pill.
There was no time to feel sad about Supala's departure. The second round had already started again, and the timer on the table started running again.
The remaining six contestants also devoted themselves to cooking again.
The second dish Fan Yixin chose was laksa, which is a noodle dish originating from Malay. It is also very popular in Singapore and has since gradually evolved into Singapore’s national delicacy.
Fan Yixin used Hainan small green dragon instead of the common prawns in laksa, and used lobster shells and clams as the soup base.
Then she smashed the tomatoes, chili peppers, lemongrass, shallots, ginger, and the maracas she brought and stir-fried them, then added a lot of coconut milk to make the laksa sauce.
After surviving the first round, Luo Junkang also recovered some energy. This time he moved very quickly and chose a grouper.
Next, show off your knife skills by cutting the fish into peony shapes, soaking it in onion and ginger salt water to remove the fishy smell and increasing its firmness, coating it in starch and frying it in a pan.
…………
Thirty minutes later, Qi Shanzhu was the first to take a picture of the timer. It was not that she did not want to be more precise, but mainly because she took too long in the first round, and there were only 41 minutes left on the timer.
Another 31 minutes were used up in the second round, with only 10 minutes left. Regardless of whether they could pass this round, they would basically be out in the next round.
Shortly after Qi Shanzhu, the other five chefs also completed cooking.
This time Qi Shanzhu came first, and what she made was fried dumplings.
The staff placed the plates in front of the four judges. Qi Shanzhu on the side crossed his fingers and put them in front of his face. He was so nervous that he almost didn't dare to look at the podium.
After eating, Yoneda Hajime was the first to speak, "Interesting, I actually thought of using red snapper to make dumpling wrappers, wrapping tofu inside, and... cumin?"
"Yes, it's just pickled vegetables. They're the pickled vegetables I brought here specially this time." Qi Shanzhu nodded.
"What's the sauce below?" Olet Huppert asked curiously.
“Coconut milk mixed with Korean vinegar and spicy sauce.”
"The taste is a bit complex, but the sourness goes well with red snapper, as well as tofu and cumin. You seem to be particularly good at balancing complex flavors."
GagganAnand also said.
(End of chapter)