Chapter 571: Chapter 570: The Match of “Bursting Flame” (Part 2)

Fat?

People watched the raging flames and whispered to one another.

“It’s animal fat!”

Dojima Yin sniffed the faint burnt smell emanating from the flames, his expression changing slightly as he said, “Special animal fat specifically for creating flames?”

But Zhu Qing was smiling.

“Bursting Flame, how could it lack fuel.”

“Without fuel, ‘Bursting Flame’ wouldn’t have any room to maneuver!”

Seeing this, Li Quan sat up a bit more straight, finally showing a serious demeanor after originally lounging lazily against the back of his chair.

“The battle of strength will be decided by the ‘Bursting Flame’ competition!” Li Quan said.

“Is that so?”

Other special chefs on the team had different opinions.

“The visual talent of the genius with the surname Xia could glimpse the supreme recipes, but to say he could replicate them would be an exaggeration. Actually, I’m more curious about to what extent this genius can restore that recipe…”

Li Quan believed the key lay in ‘Bursting Flame,’ while the other special chefs thought the recipe was the decisive factor.

Lan Chuhai considered the discussion and thought to himself, “It’s just a matter of perspective.”

From the Li Family’s perspective, if they were to lose the direct confrontation with ‘Bursting Flame,’ it would mean defeat, a far more painful experience than losing in a dish. After all, the foundation of the Li Family was established on ‘Bursting Flame’!

If someone not from their family were to win the direct confrontation with ‘Bursting Flame’ against their pure-blooded prodigy, the pillar of the next generation…

Lan Chuhai could hardly imagine the reaction of the entire Li Family.

“Look quickly—”

A sudden shout came from the contest venue.

In the flaming inferno that covered the ‘man-made pond,’ a silhouette gradually became clear.

Li Han squatted by the fiery pond, holding a smaller earthen jar in his arms.

“Zi la.”

A spoon scooped out black sauce and sprinkled it all around.

A delicious aroma instantly spread from the midst of the flames.

Many people sniffed and looked puzzled.

“Why does smell like fish!”

“I get it!”

“It must be the fish in the metal buckets, suffocated by the lack of oxygen in the fire, floating to the surface and getting scorched by the flames…”

Among the audience, there were thinkers who quickly surmised Li Han’s cooking steps just by pondering it.

But was it just that?

Professional chefs kept a close watch on the fire, eager to see the outcome.

“Boom—”

Then, another blaze roared up from a ‘man-made pond’ near the cooking station.

The camera switched immediately but only caught a glimpse of a youth being swallowed by the sea of fire.

Hmm?

Li Han stopped, turned his head, and looked towards the other blaze on the stage.

From that fire, a strange howling sound could be heard that wasn’t present here.

This sound was peculiar; it entered the ears like the roar of a malevolent dragon, resonating to the rhythm of the fire—huff, roar, huff. The heart seemed to beat in time with the fire’s flickering light, blood uncontrollably flowing backward…

Thump!

Thump-thump!

His eardrums ached as if someone was drumming right beside his ear. Li Han’s expression darkened, and he couldn’t help but gaze intently at the other fire.

“What’s going on!”

“I—I heard a strange noise—”

It wasn’t just Li Han.

Exclamations spread from the center of the stage, starting with the two female hosts who were unsettled, followed by the anomaly triggering a loud discussion among the judges, Far Moon, and the chefs of the White Jade Building Team.

Li Quan looked on in alarm.

From his ‘Bursting Flame’ point of view, in that sea of flames sparked by the Xia surname genius, there appeared a long, dragon-like streak of light, darting agilely back and forth.

“Roar—”

The flames burst suddenly, and bits of fire fell like fireworks.

Beneath the fireworks stood the young man; in front of him, a circular arrangement of square metal buckets—the stage’s ‘man-made pond’—from which already came the fragrant scent of fish, bubbling up to the surface.

“All set!”

Xia Yu whispered, picking up a few thoroughly roasted sea bream, and without regard for the external gazes or voices, he calmly returned to his cooking station.

This time, Li Han was one step behind.

With no continuous pouring of the fat, the blazing fires covering the ponds at both stations eventually died out.

But the excitement of the audience had already been stirred, their eager gazes sweeping back and forth between the two cooking stations.

“Fish and beef?”

The judging panel, too, was not without its presence.

Research authority Luther frowned and said, “With such ingredient pairing, what will the flavor of the fried noodles be like?”

“It will definitely be a boldly flavored beef and sea bream sauce fried noodles!”

Adelaide chimed in.

“That doesn’t seem right…”

‘Burning Purple Rose’ Andrea watched the two contestants as they both began to work with the dough. “Didn’t they just mix minced beef tenderloin into the dough?”

Reminded by this, the judges were astonished.

Yes!

If there was beef puree in the dough, then surely there wouldn’t be any beef left outside of the noodles.

Xia Yu and Li Han were both ‘making noodles’.

Li Han’s method was akin to the Dragon’s Whiskers pulling technique; he grabbed a pair of cleavers and swish swish swish, a large piece of dough was chopped into uniform smaller pieces. Taking a small piece, his fingers appeared to lightly knead it, but in the blink of an eye, the dough stretched into a long strip.

With both hands, he lifted the dough and shook both ends, tossing flour back and forth, crossing the strands, and folding and kneading them.

In the repetitive process of stretching and crossing, Li Han eventually gave a nonchalant shake.

Whoosh—

The strips of dough suddenly burst apart, becoming strands of noodles with consistent thickness.

“So long—”

After passing the noodles through hot water and taking them out, Li Han laid them on the prep table, each strand at least two to three meters long, astonishingly lengthy.

When the last ball of dough was kneaded into fine strands, Li Han finally had a moment to spare and threw a glance over at Xia Yu’s station.

Astounded!

If Li Han’s noodles were round, thin strands of hand-pulled noodles.

Then Xia Yu’s noodles were wide noodles!

A black rolling pin was taken out, and with it, he crushed a large lump of dough into a thin, evenly thick disk.

Thus, it was not hard to imagine the size of the disk when Xia Yu used the black rolling pin to lift it up, and it was as if a giant umbrella had opened over his prep station—

The disk, backlit by the overhead lights, cast a shadow, even engulfing the nearby female host in darkness, stirring an inexplicable sense of oppression in her heart. The two female hosts unconsciously moved together, both of them fixating their gaze on the young chef “holding the umbrella.”

Whoosh!

A twist of the right arm!

The familiar technique of drawing circles and rotating that many friends and relatives knew well.

The disk spun in the air, and any uneven areas were smoothed out in the high-speed, circular motion.

Suddenly, a flat, wide strand of noodle, different from the pulled noodles, danced into view. Everyone held their breath watching as the young man drew circles with one hand, while unbeknownst to them the other hand had a sharp knife in it.

The knife swept across the spinning disk overhead.

Thus, a continuous strand of noodles began to fall in loops onto the prep table in front of the young man, and at the same time, the giant disk of dough above his head visibly shrank.

Ten minutes later,

The white, wide noodles lay on the prep table in looped lines, their length unknown.

Xia Yu turned to the stupefied Li Han and offered a slight smile.

“Let’s begin—”

He mouthed something.

Li Han knew what he was saying, his expression suddenly stern.

The audience was clueless.

Both had prepared their noodles but didn’t immediately start frying; instead, they turned to gather other ingredients.

The sea bream that had been roasted with intense flames.

As well as bamboo shoots, napa cabbage, wood ear mushrooms, and soaked glass noodles.

These ingredients mixed together.

“Thud thud thud thud…”

“Bang bang bang!”

Then, the silent competition venue reverberated with successive chopping sounds.

Ingredients under the rapid and dense knife work turned into a paste as if pressed out by a juicer.

This paste was placed in clean bowls, and then Xia Yu and Li Han both shifted from their previous ‘movement’ to sudden ‘stillness’, silently wrapping the filling with their prepared noodles.

Noodles with stuffing!

Seeing this, the chefs were deeply moved.

“Stuffed noodles, ah!”

Dojima Yin murmured, “As far as I know, in Chinese cuisine, hollow noodles and stuffed noodles both require high culinary skills and dexterity. Otherwise, it’s absolutely impossible to make such noodles!”

“In Mainland China, stuffed noodles have always been served at high-end banquets, so you understand,” Zhu Qing said with a peculiar smile curling at the corner of her mouth, “But notice how those two lads’ noodles, while borrowing the concept of ‘stuffing’, are far from the traditional preparation method…”

“Round noodles, wide noodles!”

Li Quan from the White Jade Tower Team, however, was confused.

“Round noodles are the style for that supreme fried noodle recipe!”

Unable to understand, a terrifying thought suddenly popped into Li Quan’s mind—

Could it be, that Xia genius, from the beginning, wasn’t using his visual talent to imitate or copy but was making his own…

At that thought, Li Quan felt a shiver run down his spine.

It couldn’t be!