Chapter 399 - “See? It takes two to tango." (3)
“We can end the competition now. Certainly Red Star Restaurant had already won!”
“I feel the same. Red Star Restaurant had been around for so long. I’ve heard that they have been around since the 1800s. That is going waaay back.”
“I’ve heard that they have a lot of recipes in their repertoire. All of them passed down from the Yang ancestors.”
All sorts of flattery could be heard and someone would look over at Tong Xuelu from time to time. Nobody thought that she stood a chance of winning today.
Tong Xuelu acted as thought she heard none of it. She continued to look nonchalant.
Guo Weiping was so nervous that he was about to pass out.
Looking up, he saw how calm Tong Xuelu looked and he found that very comforting. He took a few deep breathes and slowly calmed himself.
It was almost time for Group 3.
Tong Xuelu brought Guo Weiping with her and headed over to their station.
She had Guo Weiping accompanied her in checking out their ingredients, side dishes, and kitchenware. If they had any problems with anything, now was the time to speak up.
Otherwise, her score might be affected.
Luckily, nobody was stupid enough to anything stupid in a competition like this. She started cooking after she had checked that everything was in good orders.
The dishes that she had picked were Eight Treasures Glutinous Rice Duck and a steak.
The Eight Treasure Glutinous Rice Duck was chosen for the sake of the judges’ Chinese palette. The steak was to make sure she would stand out.
She had put a lot of thought into this.
Steak was a must have if they wanted to serve foreign guest.
Many foreigners were drawn to Chinese food in modern times but not at the era that she was in right now. The world was not familiar with Chinese nor their food.
They were not used to Chinese food when they visited China and, eventually, they would still prefer their own food.
As such, whether a restaurant was able to serve steak or not would become critical.
She cheated a little but that was alright. All is fair in love and game. She didn’t feel that she had done anything wrong.
Everybody knew what a Eight Treasure Glutinous Rice Duck was but steak?
What was that?
Meat? Was that really edible?
Sitting in the judges’ area and had not spoken a word thus far, Mr. Gao’s eyes beamed.
Tong Xuelu did not pay attention to other people’s look or voices. She only focused on her cooking.
The Eight Treasure Glutinous Rice Duck called for duck, glutinous rice, lean meat, button and shitake mushrooms, and also raw duck kidney.
The duck was already cleaned and the glutinous rice soaked. She could get started right away.
An hour later, a dish of Eight Treasure Glutinous Rice Duck baked to crisp was ready.
The duck was crispy on the outside and, once it was cut into, juice leaked out from it and the aroma spread instantly.
The duck was carefully transferred onto a plate and, with another careful cut, the duck opened up and the ingredients were exposed and the aroma thickened.
Everybody gulped when they smelled the aroma and their seemed to have heard their stomachs growl.
“That smells so delicious! It could rival Red Star’s fermented tofu dish!”
“No, I think this is better. Fermented tofu with meat is too plain. All it had was pork belly and fermented tofu!”
“I agree. Look at that duck that was cooked to perfection. What I won’t give to have a bite!”
The chef and disciple of Red Star Restaurant overheard the conversation and their face dropped.
The judges each picked up a piece of the duck and tried it. The duck skin was crispy, the meat tender and, eating with the stuffing, it added to the textures.
It made one want to have more!
Tong Xuelu made a few pieces of steaks. They were medium, medium well, and well done.
Everybody were stunned again when she was done.
“What was that Manager Tong doing? Did you see that? There was still blood on that piece of beef. Is that really edible?”
“She’s trying too hard too fast.”
“Right? I think the traditional food is better.”
The judges looked at the beef that still had blood on them and none of them wanted to try