Who gave this heretical practitioner permission to cook?

Chapter 80 The Great Way is Simple: Drunken Tofu - This frozen tofu is in a rather strange state.
According to the order, the tasting started with Chef Li. Luo Shurong was pushed in front of the stove and glanced at the dishes on the table.

From the outside, the square bowl simply contains a square piece of tofu, with brownish-yellow sauce dripping down from it, taking up about one-third of the small bowl.

Pick up the bowl and bring it to your nose; you can smell a faint aroma of wine. Apart from that, there are no other decorations on the plate.

Luo Shurong shook the square bowl with his hand, a slight smile playing on his lips, before taking a spoon and scooping some out.

As expected, the tofu was not cut into pieces immediately after touching the spoon. Instead, it seemed as if a switch had been turned on, and it instantly shattered into many small pieces.

Upon seeing this, Nicholas Tse's eyes widened in astonishment.

"Not a piece of tofu?"

Sui Wubai smiled.

"Of course it's not a piece of tofu, otherwise how could it separate so easily?"

After saying that, he scooped up the tofu and put it in his mouth.

As the tofu enters your mouth, the sauce melts in your mouth first, with a hint of wine's gentle aroma followed by the subtle sourness of the vinegar.

With a slight chew, the tofu crumbled in his mouth, and Sui Wubai raised an eyebrow.

Tofu that looks exactly the same can have completely different textures when you put them in your mouth.
"Three kinds, no, there should be four kinds of tofu!"

As he spoke, he didn't rush to taste it. He swallowed the part in his mouth and then used a spoon to scoop up a small piece of tofu and taste it.

"Untreated soft tofu."

Then I tried two more, and then chuckled.

"This is tender tofu that has been blanched in salt water."

He ate a few more bites and nodded.

"Below are firm tofu that has been blanched in sugar water, and regular firm tofu."

"I understand. Chef Li, first cut the tofu, including the skin, into the required thickness slices, then process them separately. After that, remove the skin, stack them together, and trim them."

"After the repair, it looks no different from normal tofu, but inside it has a structure of four layers stacked together."

"Of course, this structure cannot be handled by knife skills alone, because there are no adhesive parts between the layers, so it will fall apart as soon as it is cut."

At this point, he looked around on Chef Li's table and finally found two chopsticks with fishing line wrapped around their tips in the corner.

"But the extremely fine fishing line can avoid this kind of damage to the appearance. Paired with the sauce and a square bowl, it looks just like a whole piece of tofu when viewed from above."

Tan Zhifeng, who was standing to the side, also spoke up.

"It's more like a marinade than a sauce."

"In Chinese cuisine, when serving raw seafood, the aroma of wine is often used to remove any fishy smell."

"The preparation of 'drunkenness' can be divided into 'raw drunkenness' and 'cooked drunkenness,' the essential difference being whether the ingredients are raw or cooked. But Chef Li, yours... combines both!"

Luo Yumin, who was standing to the side, also nodded.

"Although they are all tofu, the way they are processed will result in different textures. By using two types of tofu with different characteristics, we present four different textures, which are then paired with sauces that perfectly enhance the flavor."

"It looks simple, but it is ingenious at its core; it truly embodies the principle that simplicity is the ultimate sophistication!"

Luo Shurong nodded as he ate the tofu.

The three people in front of me have basically analyzed the entire process of making this dish. From the design perspective, the steps of this dish are indeed not complicated.

However, there are difficulties in the actual operation. Soft tofu is easily broken when blanched, requiring a high degree of control, while firm tofu is difficult to flavor quickly. This control is a testament to Chef Li's years of practice. As for the firm tofu, he used a needle-pricking method to create more holes in it, allowing the sugar flavor to penetrate.

In just ten minutes, without relying on any side dishes, he was able to bring out the flavor of the tofu to the fullest extent simply by using his techniques. This is enough to show Lai Chi On's experience and wide range of knowledge.

After everyone had tasted the food, the scoring process began. After much deliberation, Tan Zhifeng and Luo Shurong decided to refuse.

The other five unanimously approved.

Tan Zhifeng's reasoning was that the flavor profile was handled very well, but the firm tofu was still a bit bland, which affected the overall flavor profile.

Luo Shurong's reasoning is that the sauce can be further optimized. In addition to the wine flavor, sweetness, and saltiness, spices such as star anise and Sichuan peppercorns can be used to enhance the aroma, resulting in a more complex flavor profile.

Lai Chi-On himself understood that the aroma was slightly inferior in terms of color, fragrance and taste, but time was too tight, and he himself was at a standard level in the field of spices.

It's better not to use it at all than to use it rashly. Besides, the dish isn't completely devoid of aroma. Although the wine aroma is faint, it can still enhance the flavor of this tofu!

Seeing that his team had finally passed, Chef Li Zhian grabbed a towel, wiped his sweat, and found a chair nearby to sit down.

"Oh, it's finally over. If it hadn't ended soon, my old bones really wouldn't have been able to hold on."

As he spoke, he took another big gulp of beer, let out a long sigh, and then turned his gaze toward Wang Qingrui.

Wang Qingrui's final dish was "wrapped tofu".

The tofu is skillfully cut into tofu skins, then quickly deep-fried and grilled over charcoal, eventually forming a shape similar to "thousand-layer tofu".

Then, the tofu is made into a spicy tofu sauce, and tofu cubes and tofu segments are mixed together to make a filling. Finally, the spicy sauce is added, the filling is coated with flour, and then fried to make "crispy tofu spring rolls".

After the spring rolls were finished, all the judges fell into a brief silence.

Wang Qingrui also understood that his chances of winning this round were slim.
In fact, the so-called choice of culinary path is essentially to avoid repeating what others have done.
For example, Lai Chi On, although all seven of his dishes are cold dishes, the techniques are different for each one. If he wants to compete with others, he must ensure that others choose cold dishes and also use the same techniques, similar flavors or tastes as him.

The combination of these three factors will significantly reduce the probability of plagiarism detection.
The same applies to Xia Ming's side. Since Wang Qingrui chose to showcase his knife skills, he opted for hot dishes, meaning they each relied on their own abilities and neither was hindered.

Lolo's "humming and humming" choice was the most basic among all the chefs; she chose the taste, which meant there was always a possibility of her cooking the same thing as someone else.

But coincidentally, among all the chefs, besides Lai Chi-on, she had the most experience with Western cuisine. After discovering that Lai Chi-on had chosen cold dishes, she tried her best to make her dishes, desserts, and snacks more similar.

This way, at least in terms of presentation, it can differentiate it from others.
Of course, this choice was not only to avoid war, but more so because of the desire to remain undisturbed.

But after more than twenty dishes, how could the judges not be affected at all?

Just like Wang Qingrui now. His cooking methods, namely "slices", "minces", "granules" and "segments", are all things he has done before.

The only bright spot was the tofu chili sauce, which was already very similar to the tofu sour sauce mentioned earlier. As for the way the tofu sheets were prepared, it was highly similar to Xia Ming's fifth dish, "Hundred Flavors Dry Grilled Tofu." Not to mention the crispy crust.

In other words, at this point in the competition, there isn't a single element in Wang Qingrui's dishes that hasn't appeared before.

He was well aware of this, but time was of the essence, and this was the best solution he could think of.
Several invited judges glanced at Wang Qingrui and understood that he had indeed done his best. Sui Wubai praised the taste of the dish, and Li Shanghu also went through the motions.

Afterwards, the judges exchanged glances and ultimately gave a score of 4:3.

Four rejections and three approvals were considered a final act of decency for Wang Qingrui, the hardworking chef.

After Wang Qingrui finished his tasting, the judges turned to Luo Luo's side, and Xie Tingfeng's eyes lit up when he saw the frozen tofu in the bowl.

Compared to soft tofu and firm tofu, frozen tofu has a different texture from the former two, and consequently, the final flavor has a greater range of possibilities.

Unlike Xie Tingfeng's excitement, Sui Wubai frowned slightly as he looked at the frozen tofu in the bowl.

"This hole, this color, this condition... something doesn't look right."

(End of this chapter)