Chapter 1237: Don’t Be Unconvinced

Chapter 1237: Chapter 1237: Don’t Be Unconvinced

The other students are used to it, but Ye Fei is completely unconcerned.

She is Zhao Guoxian’s sister-in-law.

So whatever Zhao Guoxian says, it’s not directed at Ye Fei; she feels no pressure at all.

Even now, as Ye Fei confronts Zhao Guoxian in front of so many people, Zhao Guoxian has to take it quietly.

Otherwise, Zhao Gushen will take care of him later.

As for the off-campus contestants, they really haven’t experienced this kind of thing.

It really has affected their mindset quite a bit.

Zhao Guoxian cleared his throat and finally stopped talking.

Guo Wenbo and Ye Huasong watched everyone’s cooking process.

Ye Fei handled the ox tongue, removed the skin, sliced it into a long piece, and then fixed it into a cylindrical shape with a rope.

She rubbed salt and black pepper on the surface of the ox tongue, placed it in a frying pan, and seared the surface to a deep brown.

In the electric pressure cooker, she added water, black peppercorns, onions, bay leaves, and placed the seared ox tongue inside for high-pressure braising.

If time permits, one can slow-cook it in a pot for better flavor infusion.

But now, time doesn’t allow, so Ye Fei opted for this slightly shortcut method.

Honestly, one hour is far too little.

For a decent entree, one hour isn’t enough.

One must find a substitute method from this.

But Ye Fei actually prefers slow-cooking, which is more meticulous.

Yet the pressure cooker is indeed a quick and effective method; in no time, the ox tongue is braised very tender.

Due to the rope fixing it, even though tender, the ox tongue maintains its cylindrical shape without deformation.

Ye Fei set the ox tongue aside to cool, heated oil in a pot, added fatty beef shank and beef tendon, and stir-fried them in the pot.

The fatty portion of the beef was fried to release fat oil, emitting beef grease aroma, and the beef tendon gradually softened, with the fatty part stir-fried out.

Then she added onions, garlic slices, celery segments, carrot blocks, bacon bits, and tomato chunks.

She fried these garnishes until soft and golden brown, pressing them with a wooden spatula until the onions, carrots, and tomatoes broke down into pulp.

Thick as if mixed with starch cooked into slurry, resembling thick cream or melted ice cream.

After sieving, all vegetable debris was filtered out, leaving only thick sauce.

Finally, she added red wine.

Souring another pot, she heated butter to melt, added flour, and fried till golden brown, then added the just-prepared sauce, cooked till thick enough almost to shape.

When ladling the sauce, if the middle remains thick without breaking, it is done.

Not that much sauce is needed, Ye Fei only ladled out a portion.

She added the leftover portion to slightly stir-fried carrot, brussels sprouts, broccoli, asparagus, sprinkling some salt and pepper for slight seasoning.

Before the vegetables changed color, still in their original hues, she hurriedly plated them.

She sliced the nearby cooled and shaped ox tongue in half, adjusted it into a neat rectangle, pan-seared it, meanwhile adding red wine to glaze and infusing ox tongue with red wine aroma.

Finally, she placed the ox tongue on the plate.

He garnished the sides with vegetables.

She drizzled the prepared sauce evenly over the ox tongue.

The sauce had turned deep brown, resembling thick chocolate sauce.

Finally, she wiped the sauce around clean with a cloth, ensuring neat plating.

Ye Fei completed right on time.

At the moment Guo Wenbo called time up, Ye Fei paused.

Led by Zhao Guoxian, followed by Guo Wenbo and Ye Huasong.

They started from the foremost cooking stations, sampling each dish one by one.

Being unable to cook Chinese cuisine.

Among the contestants, some chose French cuisine, others Italian.

There were also those who made Tacco, etc.

"Your Italian style incorporated a Chinese flavor. If placed in our domestic Western restaurants, it might resonate with local taste. But now in competition, authenticity is essential," Zhao Guoxian remarked.

"Judges from worldwide have their individual tastes, but one constant is they’ll evaluate based on the cuisine’s origin country’s authentic flavor."

Zhao Guoxian kept an eye on Wu Qingling.

Finally standing before Wu Qingling.

Wu Qingling made tacco.

"Chosen dish is good, interesting, and quite clever," Zhao Guoxian affirmed.

Wu Qingling straightened his back slightly, a proud expression appearing.

He even slightly victoriously scanned around.

He previously spoke his mind due to his competence.

Zhao Guoxian picked up a tacco, observed briefly, "Your control of cooking time wasn’t quite right, the edges of the tortilla are still brittle, but the centre due to filling already softened, and oil seeped through the tortilla."

Zhao Guoxian extended his fingers, "My hand’s oily now. Perhaps you felt the one-hour window too short, fearing insufficient time, chose this dish, which ended too early, causing the filling’s oil to separate. Yet the tortilla lacks crunch."

Zhao Guoxian tasted a bite, "Missing some spiciness, perhaps due to excessive standing, impacting texture."

Zhao Guoxian pointed to the top, "Look, visible oil film has emerged."

Zhao Guoxian set down the tortilla, took paper napkins, and wiped oil off fingers.

"For critique purpose, I must taste now. In official tournaments, if judges get strict, they may outright choose not to eat your dish. This is a failed dish; judges can deem such subpar food an insult to their expertise."

Wu Qingling flushed, internally suspecting Zhao Guoxian intentionally suppressing him.

His dish wasn’t that bad as Zhao Guoxian claimed, was it!

"Don’t be resistant to this; I previously said, your work experience doesn’t quite apply in competitions," Zhao Guoxian commented, "Ideal state in competition is completing cuisine just as time ends, maximally preserving dish freshness."

"Like dining at a restaurant, chefs immediately serve the finished dish to diners, not waiting a while before serving, losing optimal taste time."

"Having completed cooking beforehand, you surely had freedom to observe other contestants’ completion states. Consider whether Changping’s students all finished right on time."

"They aren’t panicked nor rushed, but efficiently allocated cooking time."

"Many contestants but few judges, all queued awaiting judges’ critiques, some waiting shorter, some longer."