Chapter 822: Chapter 821: Xia Yu’s Kitchen (Part 2)

Coincidence?

If Xia Yu were here, he would surely smile and tell Fan Jiaorou—

Relax, it’s not a coincidence!

Originally, Fan Jiaorou’s spice blend had already sparked a great research interest in “fermented black beans” for him. Even though he hadn’t fully figured out Fan Jiaorou’s formula, with Xia Yu’s foundation in spices, could he not use “fermented black beans” to create a spice and herbal sauce recipe on the spot?

Totally not, right?

Just then, Granny Tang’s words also pointed Xia Yu’s creative thoughts in the right direction.

Granny Tang said she had a poor appetite and no desire to eat.

Weren’t the three judges on the stage the same, with difficulty in boosting their appetite? The competition was in its third round, and after tasting so many mediocre and bad dishes over these days, their tongues and taste buds were exhausted, though they didn’t show it due to their job requirements.

Actually, food judges are not much different from certain ******* film reviewers; they are all connoisseurs of art, but after several days of high-intensity work, would a veteran viewer still have the leisure to open up cherished films on their hard drive upon returning home?

So Xia Yu thought, yes, it’s necessary to help the judges on stage find their old vigorous selves.

Speaking of boosting the appetite, it’s a coincidence that “fermented black beans”, which can be used for both food and medicine, naturally have the effect of aiding digestion and increasing appetite.

In addition, the abundant aroma of fermented black beans, when applied to food, acts as a catalyst that can greatly enhance the diner’s appetite.

Therefore, surrounding the ingredient “fermented black beans”, Xia Yu easily finalized the recipe for this round—

Fermented Black Bean Sea Bass!

More precisely, Herbal Fermented Black Bean Sea Bass!

Hey, hey, here, Xia Yu really wants to say, don’t fixate your impression of “fermented black beans” on Lao Gan Ma, that’s just a spicy condiment using fermented black beans.

The yellow paper packets were opened one by one.

“Gan Song, Cinnamon, White Cardamom.”

“Star Anise, Clove, Sand Ginger.”

“The last two ingredients are fermented black beans and scallion whites!”

Counting them up, there are a total of 8 ingredients. If Fan Jiaorou heard Xia Yu talking to himself, she would definitely exclaim that her family’s signature blend was copied.

Copied?

In fact, Xia Yu’s original herbal recipe only overlaps with Fan’s on “scallion whites” and “fermented black beans”. Calling it a copy is an exaggeration.

As for why these 8 ingredients were chosen to pair with fermented black beans…

Shh.

The truth will be revealed, but not now.

Since it is a herbal sea bass, then it should be made in a herbal manner.

Xia Yu didn’t rush to catch and butcher the fish but took out all the ingredients, lay them on the kitchen counter, much like an old herbalist carefully measuring each ingredient.

The bulk of the “fermented black beans” was used, with the whole package being added. The key point here was the amount of Gan Song and Clove.

It’s important to know that Gan Song is often used in braised dishes and spicy hot pot bases and is also a traditional Chinese medicinal herb. Its scent is pungent and somewhat reminiscent of pine oil. Due to its strong and distinct aroma, the proportion used in spice blends is usually under 5 grams; otherwise, it would cause an imbalance in the spice formula.

The same applies to Clove, which has a strong aroma that can cause a tingling sensation if overused. Therefore, its quantity should be even smaller, about 1 to 2 grams; even an extra half gram could destabilize the spice formula.

It took about 5 minutes for him to carefully balance the imaginary golden scale of spices in his mind.

The impeccable culinary technique of [Spice Inequality] always works its magic quietly.

“Done!”

Xia Yu let out a light breath, focused his gaze, set a medicine pot on the stove, poured in clear water, and then placed the selected herbs into a plain fabric bag, tightened the opening, and dropped the entire bag into the pot.

Click!

The lid closed, and he turned on the heat.

This step, captured on camera, was undoubtedly the brewing of a herbal soup!

Xia Yu didn’t rush to kill the sea bass but stood with arms crossed before the stove, gently closing his eyes, immersing himself in a free state of imagination.

On the judges’ stand.

Li Han and Wang Gong began discussing.

“Boil the herbal soup first, then stew the fish in it?”

“I don’t think it’s a fish soup!”

Sitting in the main seat, Wei Qinglian felt her emotions surging.

A herbal sea bass centered around fermented black beans?

She also knew, in the Chinese Realm, many spices were used both for food and medicine, with “fermented black beans” being a prime example.

Thus, the boy’s mastery of spices was almost perfectly synonymous with the level of herbal cuisine.

“From the field of spices extending to herbal cuisine, his abilities are simply unmatched!” Wei Qinglian’s eyes showed a trace of trepidation. She herself felt a bit afraid, let alone Ye Feizhou, whom she regarded as a junior.

“If possible, Flying Boat should avoid competing with him. Perhaps retreating temporarily and honing his skills for a few years might hold a chance for comeback!” Wei Qinglian sighed.

Unknowingly, half an hour had passed.

The venue began to be filled with wafts of aroma as the hundred young chefs in the first round of selections, except for Xia Yu, went about their cooking processes intensely.

Since the talented participants were from all over the country, it was predictable that the sea bass delicacies presented later on would encompass the eight major cuisines.

“Whoosh, whoosh…”

Steam kept rising from the mouth of the medicine pot.

With a soft click, Xia Yu slowly opened his eyes and reached out to turn off the stove’s valve, “It’s ready!”

He sniffed the herbal scent filling the kitchen counter area, nodded, “The medicinal properties have been fully extracted, now, onto the second step!”

Swipe.

A gleam of the knife, one, two, three…

A total of 6 palm-sized sea bass were promptly taken out by Xia Yu, laid on the cutting board.

The body structure of Songjiang Sea Bass is somewhat special compared to ordinary sea bass; rumors say it has four gills, hence called Four-gill Sea Bass. In fact, during the short break earlier, Xia Yu practiced butchering over a thousand in the Chef God Space and found it wasn’t really the case.

Thus, the camera captured Xia Yu skillfully removing scales from six sea bass with a swing of his knife, gutting them, taking out the gills and innards in the next instant.

“He’s so adept at frequently butchering Songjiang Sea Bass!” exclaimed a young girl at a neighboring kitchen station.

Xia Yu heard it and was secretly delighted.

If there were an achievement for fish butchering, then after practicing in the space, he should have unlocked a ‘Sea Bass Butcher’ achievement.

In no time, the six sea bass were prepared.

Next, marinating!

He poured a handful of fine salt into his palm, like squeezing facial cleanser, Xia Yu’s hands gently rubbed and kneaded, tenderly applying the rubbed-in salt evenly over both sides of the fish. Perhaps irritated by the salt, the gutted sea bass opened its mouth wide on the cutting board, gasping.

Rice wine and ginger fragments were sprinkled over, then marinated for 10 minutes.

Finally, he took two clay pots, pouring into each the herbal soup brewed for half an hour, mixed with clear water, and placed three of the palm-sized sea bass in each pot.

“All done!”

After about half an hour, Xia Yu glanced up at the timer in the room.

Around half an hour remained until the end of the cooking phase.

However, despite the preliminaries reaching their final stages, the judges’ stand remained empty, with no contestants presenting their creations in advance.

What’s happening?

Xia Yu turned off the stove, looked around, and his expression turned subtle.

Many contestants had stopped cooking, with containers of food before them, yet they weren’t submitting their creations to the judges, instead were focused on Station No. 1, their eyes on him…

“Does this mean you want me to go first? Fine, fine, going first leads to defeat, but since everyone’s waiting, I’ll present my dishes first—”

The clay pots were loaded onto a tray.

Without a pause, Xia Yu strode all the way to the judges’ stand.

“Please enjoy—”

A tray was steadily set on the table, and the broth in the clay pot didn’t ripple, clear and calm.

Surprisingly, Xia Yu didn’t wait for the judges to speak; he swiftly turned and handed another tray toward where Mrs. Tang was seated.