Chapter 596 Honest Man
"These shapes you made...do they have any profound meaning?" Rocky Chen then asked.
"No," Ma Lu lied, "I just remembered the cartoon "Pokemon" I watched when I was a child, and I made it casually."
"Oh oh oh, I said the man with many hands in front of me looks familiar. It turns out to be a wrist tycoon," Gaggan Anand said suddenly, but soon fell into deep thought again.
"But I have no impression of the other reasons. That lead apple tree. Is there such an elf in "Pokemon"?"
"That's not the point. Maybe I remembered it wrong." Ma Lu said, "Eat quickly, the vegetables will melt if you don't eat them."
After hearing this, the four judges quickly took out their mobile phones and took pictures first, and even took pictures of others before picking up their spoons and eating.
At first they thought it was just ordinary ice cream, but everyone was shocked after eating it.
"Hey, why does this ice cream still taste like coconut chicken?"
"Speaking of which, Fat Duck Restaurant seems to have a similar dish, with bacon and scrambled eggs made into ice cream."
Violet Huppert, the editor-in-chief of "Food & Wine" magazine, thought of something and pushed up her glasses.
"In addition to the excellent shape, the taste is also outstanding, and it once again sticks to the theme." Chef Rocky Chen once again lamented, "It's so strong, I can't find any reason not to give it full marks."
"Besides, this dish definitely cannot be made in two minutes. It seems that Chef Hajime Yoneda guessed right before. You had already planned to adopt a dual theme in the first round of the competition, and you were well prepared.
"But even so, your product is a bit scary. There is no trace of improvisation. You can put it in any restaurant and sell it directly."
Hajime Yoneda nodded and said, "Immaculate."
The next person to take the stage was Sun Mei. She had performed brilliantly in the previous three rounds, but she was second only to Ma Lu, but her form declined in this round.
But it is understandable. After all, she is different from Lao Wang. She is still a human being, so she will naturally have ups and downs.
And Sun Mei probably realized that it was not easy to defeat Malu, so she stopped rushing in and adopted some strategies.
It seems that they plan to switch from offense to defense, prioritize survival, and then save as much time as possible until the final round of duel, at which time they will have a showdown with Malu.
So this time she served a cold dish - aspic.
Even though it was a cold dish, Sun Mei put a lot of thought into it. The aspic is specially made from wild large yellow croaker, with perilla, dangshen and saffron added to it, giving the finished product a faint herbal flavor.
Although the theme of this competition is coconut, considering that the judges have eaten more than a dozen coconut-flavored dishes in a row, their taste buds are probably almost numb.
More different flavors can also add color to this dish. Sun Mei finally put coconut crispy sticks underneath and paired it with aspic.
The third person to play was Luo Junkang.
He still looked expressionless, but both Sun Mei and Kawano Zhengming noticed the Huaiyang Cuisine heir's actions before washing his face and dazing.
Knowing that Luo Junkang was almost at his limit, this was why Sun Mei and Kawano Zhengming chose to speed up at the same time.
Since there are already eliminations in this round, they can also release their water appropriately and grab some time.
Even though they had seen the power and overwhelming strength of Malu, they were both arrogant and talented chefs and did not want to give in so quickly and hand over the championship to others.
Luo Junkang walked onto the podium with heavy steps as if he was going to the execution ground. As if they felt the despair emanating from him, the four judges also knew that this should be the last round for this contestant.
However, when they looked at the dishes handed over by Luo Junkang, they couldn't help but sigh.
"This is..."
"Peony." Luo Junkang said in a dull voice.
A peony carved from tofu stood gracefully at the bottom of the bowl. As the judges turned the soup bowl, the tofu petals swayed gently with the water flow.
"Excellent knife skills." Hajime Yoneda praised, "He is worthy of being the heir to Huaiyang cuisine, and his ability to carve patterns on tofu is truly amazing."
"But this dish is a bit too simple." Gaggan Anand then added, "Although your tofu is beautifully carved, it is served with only a bowl of water and no sauce, which is a bit too plain. Is there no time? ”
Oette Huppert put his nose to the soup bowl and sniffed, but suddenly exclaimed, "Wait, this, this is not water, this is broth, but the color is indeed very light."
Rocky Chen's heart moved when he heard this, "Could it be...that dish?"
"It's not boiled cabbage," Luo Junkang quickly clarified, "boiled cabbage is needed. Chicken, duck, elbow and ham are cooked together. It will take a long time and there is no time.
"I only had the chicken soup that was discarded in the previous experiment. I added some ham and velvet antler, and then swept the soup with minced meat to make the soup clear. I made a simplified version.
"As for this piece of tofu, I scrapped it in the last round. I added coconut milk to it, but later I found that I didn't have enough time and didn't use it. However, I ordered the tofu."
“I really had no choice this time, so I thought of a way to combine these two things.”
Luo Junkang is an honest man and does not shy away from using scraps.
The judges didn't care either. As long as the food itself was not bad, they were not opposed to the reuse of food waste.
In fact, many top restaurant chefs have been working hard to tackle waste over the years and create a more environmentally friendly and sustainable menu.
Gaggan Anand also changed his attitude and praised this "Peony" after tasting it.
"In addition to its good-looking appearance, this dish also tastes good. Chef Luo Junkang, I feel like everyone has underestimated your adaptability."
Luo Junkang didn't say anything, just wiped his sweat.
Behind him, Kawano Zhengming frowned slightly, but soon relaxed again.
He served the coconut straw cake he made.
Grass cake is a specialty of Kansai, and its preparation is a bit like the Hakka snack Qingtuan. It is made of mugwort leaves mixed with stem rice or glutinous rice to make rice cakes, and stuffing is wrapped in the middle.
Kawano Zhengming wrapped the crab legs of the king crab inside, and then used coconut milk to brush the straw cake with a sugar shell.
Gaggan Anand was a little surprised when he was eating, "You actually have progressive sweetness, how do you do it?"
"I used coconut milk and king crab legs to provide sweetness to this dish," Kawano Zhengming said. "In addition, I also drizzled some sea water before serving."
"The saltiness of the sea water can balance the sweetness of the upper layer of the shell, distinguishing it from the lower layer, and finally the crab legs of the king crab inside the straw cake, forming a progressive relationship."
(End of chapter)