Who gave this heretical practitioner permission to cook?

Is the clean and efficient technique in Chapter 19 purely a matter of personal talent?
"Welcome everyone to continue watching our 1v1 duel!"

"After the chefs had a commanding 6-0 lead, unexpectedly, 'Michaels' suffered a shocking defeat in the seventh round against our 'Sichuan-Chongqing Ice and Fire Chef'! Truly, the younger generation is remarkable!"

"I hope the other contestants will also do their best, stay calm, and give full play to their abilities!"

"Of course, we would also like to give special thanks to 'Kangaroo Delivery' for their support of our program."

Listening to the host energetically reciting the advertising slogans, Xia Ming, after packing up his things and returning to the second floor, stretched.

After him, there are still 9 groups of contestants who have not finished their matches. Judging from the current score of 6:1, the situation on both sides is extremely unbalanced.

Xia Ming raised an eyebrow and took another bite of the lemon.

He didn't believe the production team would allow this round of the competition to become a one-sided affair.

"Variety shows, in essence, are performances on a stage in the mortal world. If you want the competition to be intense and exciting, both sides must be evenly matched."

"So, the later contestants should be stronger than the earlier ones, right? Or are some of them already guaranteed to advance?"

Xia Ming recalled the scene from his time at the Blood Blade Sect.

As a major demonic sect, the Blood Blade Sect's disciples are constantly traveling and active throughout the Nine Provinces. He often hears disciples who have returned alive talking about their experiences in secret realms.

Within the secret realm, righteous disciples and demonic disciples are fundamentally irreconcilable enemies; when they meet, it's a matter of determining superiority and deciding life or death.

That's the real competition, a competition where you gamble with your life.

As for this variety show, in his view, it's like a "disciple competition" organized by the Blood Blade Demon Ancestor.

Invite some demonic sects of the same or lower level to come and exchange ideas, and bring some prizes along. This is a way to show off our outstanding disciples while also securing some benefits for our own disciples.

Often, in these kinds of competitions, the key is to stop before the final stage.

Basically, all the major sects that came here had some disciples who made it into the top 16. What is this called?
That's called giving face!
But from the round of 16 onwards, you have to fight your way through the rest of the journey. After all, there are only a few grand prizes to be won, and you can't expect the Blood Blade Demon Ancestor to bleed you dry!
Therefore, based on Xia Ming's understanding of the show's format, there should be a series of winning streaks among the contestants later on.

Thinking of this, Xia Ming silently turned his gaze to the competition field.

"The preliminary rounds and 1v1 matches are already over. Theoretically, the next round might be one of the following formats: 'Challenge,' 'Team Match,' 'Team Group Match,' or 'Free-for-All.'"

Regardless of the outcome, whether the production team provides a topic or not, Xia Ming needs to quickly gather information on the other contestants who have qualified.

According to his memory, chefs are generally quite well-rounded, but contestants are different.

For example, the "Fish Master" in the eleventh group on the field right now, according to the snippets of the comments, can exert 200% of his strength when cooking seafood, but as soon as he changes to other ingredients, his strength will instantly drop to 80% of the original level. He is definitely a student who specializes in one thing but does another.

There were several other contestants present who had the same problem as him.

For example, the last group on the list, "One-Stop Home-Style Dishes," is named after the fact that it specializes in home-style cooking.

Then there's "I'm Not a Queen," who has already been eliminated. She was a complete one-trick pony, a self-taught chicken cook who cooked chicken according to her own understanding, emphasizing the preservation of the original flavor of the ingredients.

This caused her to lose the balance of flavors in the competition, resulting in her losing to the more experienced "Level 6" chef, "Dong Jiaqi".

Of course, most of the players who came on after Xia Ming were very well-rounded.

For example, "Xiao Hua," who appeared in the eighth group right next to Xia Ming, was introduced by the host at the beginning of the competition when it was 86 to 16. She was the head chef of "Xiu Hong Hua French Cuisine" and her chef's rank was "Western Level 4".

As the head chef of a Michelin-starred restaurant, her management and creative abilities are certainly remarkable among the contestants.

In this round, she received "Anhui Black Pork" as her ingredient, and her opponent was "Wang Bing," who was also a "Michelin One-Star Restaurant" chef. "Wang Bing's" chef rank was "Western Level 5," only one level higher than "Xiao Hua."

From a skill perspective, this is already one of the groups with the smallest skill gap among the players.

At this moment, "Little Flower" has already begun to be plated.

She made "black pork rolls," which are not difficult to prepare, but mainly highlight the flavor of the black pork itself.

The dish consisted of "meat rolls" and "grilled skewers." Xia Ming closed his eyes and rubbed his nose.

"The aroma of the pork is brought out very cleanly. There aren't many added ingredients, making it a simple yet harmonious dish."

Xia Ming was actually a little surprised, because in his memory, "Michelin" was not a particularly praiseworthy word.

Its signature features have always been its elaborate plating, complex cooking methods, and small portions.

But judging from Xiaohua's cooking this time, Xia Ming didn't see these problems, and it's unclear whether she learned from the experiences of the previous contestants.

On the other hand, Wang Bing, the head chef, preferred a more "complex" approach. Judging from the flavor of the sauce he made, Xia Ming could smell at least 19 different ingredients.

Rather than calling this a "black pork dish," it's more accurate to say that this sauce pairs exceptionally well with any type of meat.

If it weren't for the previous 6-0 situation, Xia Ming would have felt that the two sides were evenly matched, had different ideas, and that the outcome was evenly matched.

However, as analyzed earlier, the production team cannot eliminate all the contestants. Therefore, after Xia Ming, all the previously evenly matched situations are very likely to tilt in favor of the contestants.

As he predicted, "Xiao Hua" defeated "Wang Bing" 2:1, which was a boost to the players' morale.

It might be related to gender, or it might be that Xia Ming's winning posture doesn't conform to the preferences of many netizens.

After "Xiaohua" won, the comments were mostly encouraging and congratulatory. If he didn't know that he was the first player to fight back, he would have even thought that "Xiaohua" was the first player to score a point!
"It doesn't matter, let her win, it has little to do with me."

"Although she has complete cooking skills and operates in an orderly manner, I can see from her dishes that this woman is too square and sharp."

"She's definitely the type who has the final say in the kitchen and doesn't allow anyone to disagree with her."

Xia Ming understood that his cooperation with someone like Xiao Hua could only result in one-sided overwhelming power. If either of them refused to submit to the other, they would inevitably hold each other back.

"As an opponent, she's not as good as me, and as a teammate, she's not very good either, so she's not very valuable."

Xia Ming shifted his gaze from "Little Flower" and continued to look at the people behind him.

"Only those who dare to fight will win. They have unconventional thinking and are willing to take risks. If used well, they can be a powerful tool; if used poorly, they can ruin the whole dish. Such people are easy to deal with. Just follow their line of thinking in the opposite direction, and you can create a dish that counters them."

After skipping over "No pain, no gain," his gaze fell upon the "Banquet Graduate Students" behind him.

She is currently processing eels.

Unlike the common practice of freezing and then nailing, her eel was neither stunned by the ice nor fixed at one end.

Instead, it's done very cleanly, cutting the head in half and then pulling it directly from the spine to the tail. The whole movement is done in one smooth motion, an effect that can only be achieved through repeated practice.

Xia Ming raised an eyebrow slightly as he watched her swordsmanship, which was so clean and without a single superfluous movement.

"Interesting! The fish is prepared perfectly. Is this because you often cook for large banquets? Or is it simply a personal talent?"

(End of this chapter)