[Red Mansion] A little chef came to the Grand View Garden

"It seems that you are not as curious as you were just now?"

Xie Xiaochuan passed by Liu Mei with his hands behind his back, and Shi Shiran said something.

Liu Mei was startled, only to realize that in the flower hall, others had already gathered around the childhood cold dishes on the rosewood table.She was alone, alone, standing behind the others.

Hearing the word "curious", Liu Mei was inexplicably depressed.

In the past, her system didn't know what "curiosity" was, she reminded her once.I didn't know it at the time, but thinking about it afterwards, Liu Mei felt that everything had gone off track since then—to the point where her system left her, and the system's avatar, loyal Prince Shiqing himself, was condescending at this moment Sit and be ready to judge her.

Liu Mei took a deep breath, collected her mind, and then, together with Xie Xiaochuan, went to Zhengzheng's huge table in the flower hall to observe other's cold dishes.

She made a good judgment - this first round, "Nine Big Bowls", is the most important one.

But it is undeniable that the cold dishes made by "Nine Big Bowls" are also quite good, exceeding Liu Mei's expectations.

The "Nine Big Bowls" are made of Sichuan-flavored duck tongue, white meat with garlic paste, arhat belly, and Ruyi winter bamboo shoots.What Liu Mei is most concerned about is, of course, whether there is any trace of chili in the Sichuan-flavored duck tongue and garlic-paste white meat.

To her a little disappointment, there seemed to be none of these two items.Sichuan cuisine without chili seems to lack soul.She leaned closer and smelled the dipping sauce of the garlic and white meat. The sesame oil and strong garlic smell surged, but once the hot and explosive smell was missing, the garlic smell seemed too stable to be tasted. dance.

Looking at other restaurants, Simeiju and Yangquan Restaurant serve well-regarded cold dishes. It seems that both of them are deliberately saving their strength and want to wait and see for a while-this battle, as long as they can not fall Finally get eliminated.

The four cold dishes in Sanhe Pavilion are decorated with flowers, and the melon carvings on the plates are lifelike and dazzling.

In addition to the meticulously crafted melon carvings, the cold dishes in Sanheguan are also amazing dishes.The first one is "Crystal Dried Meat". The sliced ​​Dried Meat is served on a plate. The meat is bright red and bright, and the jelly is crystal clear. It is served with ginger vinegar on the side.When Liu Mei saw it, she felt that this cold dish didn't need any knives and melon carving at all, and the appearance of the meat itself was better than anything else.

In addition, the other three dishes of Sanheguan, cinnabar duck rolls, pine nuts and bergamot jellyfish, are also excellent.

Liu Mei watched from the side, admiring in her heart.

Judging from her perspective, Sanhe Pavilion must be the first in this round, and the official dishes they represent can be ranked second by luck, and the last dangerous one should be the "Nine Big Bowls".

For a while, the steward of Mingyuan invited everyone out of the flower hall and waited in the front hall outside.

"Brother Wei," Liu Mei whispered to Wei Laosan of "Nine Big Bowls".

"Excuse me, does your restaurant usually use a condiment called 'pepper'?"

Panjiao is chili pepper. The second chef of Hongshun Building inquired about this name and told Liu Mei.

When Wei Lao San heard about it, he nodded quickly, and looked at Liu Mei with surprise, "I can't see it, you are young, you have a lot of knowledge—"

Liu Mei was anxious immediately, and asked in a low voice: "Why don't you use such a good thing?"

The youngest Wei scratched his head and said, "We Sichuanese eat it. The weather is so humid that we can't eat it. It's not good to take it outside. People here get angry and don't like it."

After hearing this, Liu Mei quickly said to Wei Laosan: "The taste of pepper is indeed a bit strong, but if the amount is halved, and then mixed with other flavors, such as sweet, sour, and numbing, you can create a lot of different flavors." The compound flavor..."

She frowned, because she couldn't explain to Wei Laosan how she knew the smell of fish, pepper, lychee, and tangerine peel.

In a hurry, she said, "You can try the dipping sauce for the garlic and white meat just now. Add some vinegar and a little pepper, maybe it will improve the taste even more, I don't know?"

Hearing what she said, Wei Lao San seemed to have opened his eyes, contemplated for a while, nodded and said: "What you said sounds good!"

"Brother Liu, thank you!" He stretched out his hand and patted Liu Mei's shoulder heavily, "I can't tell, you little brother, you are very smart, you can eat it at first glance..."

Just as Wei Lao San said this, the manager of the tea garden suddenly came out of the flower hall, nodded and said to the people in the front hall: "Everyone, the results of the first round have been won!"

"Everyone from the 'Nine Big Bowls', please follow me in!"

When the manager of Mingyuan said this, everyone had a hunch that whoever was called in at this time would be eliminated and out of the game.

Wei Laosan was standing next to Liu Mei, and Liu Mei could clearly see that his face had darkened—Liu Mei thought, no matter how calm Wei Laosan put his mind on before and how low his position was, he still won the victory. In the end, there is a heart.

Wei Laosan immediately took the two cooks who came with him, and the three of them entered the flower hall.I don't know what was said to them inside, but when Wei Lao San came out, he was already in high spirits, as if he had unloaded his burden.

He cupped his hands at the people in the front hall, and said: "Now I, Wei Laosan, can relax. I am not talented. I am here to wait for you and show my skills."

The implication is that Wei Lao San does not need to participate in the next few rounds of the competition, but can sit in the flower hall with ease and taste the dishes presented by each family with several judges.

"However, I, Wei Laosan, can be here at the right time to observe the dishes prepared by the masters. I am lucky for my life, and there is nothing to regret." Wei Laosan looked at Liu Mei, "I believe that good people have Good rewards! May all wishes come true for good people.”

Everyone went out together, Xie Xiaochuan poked Liu Mei, lowered his voice and said: "I can't tell, you are quite popular!"

Liu Mei had other things on her mind and ignored him.

The two of them returned to the kitchen with Chef Shao, and Xie Xiaochuan suddenly asked, "What is 'Pianjiao'?"

Liu Mei was still thinking, and still ignored him.

Xie Xiaochuan didn't get angry, just waited quietly beside her, and when she woke up, he asked with a slight smile, "What did you think of?"

Liu Mei stared at him: "I don't believe you didn't expect that!"

Xie Xiaochuan continued to smile: "Let's hear it?"

"In this round, the 'Sanhe Pavilion' must be squeezed out first, otherwise it will be more difficult to prevent his family from winning." Liu Mei said firmly.

She originally learned Huaiyang cuisine through the Red House cuisine.Huaiyang cuisine not only pays attention to exquisite knife skills, but also is better at stewing, braising, simmering, warming, and roasting. It pursues the light and original taste of the dishes, and the taste is delicious in peace.

Therefore, if the remaining three companies fail to squeeze out Sanheguan in the stage of hype, it will be even more difficult to win against each other in the next two stages.

"I don't know if the other two can also come with us." Liu Mei lowered her head and said.

After all, this round is only four to three, if not for the joint efforts of the three, Sanhe Restaurant should not be easily defeated, not to mention that Shandong cuisine and Cantonese cuisine have clearly retained their strength. If everyone continues to have reservations, no one can stop the "Sanhe Pavilion".

Hearing what she said, Xie Xiaochuan actually laughed out loud.

Seeing the sunny face of the person next to him, Liu Mei almost wanted to rub his eyes—what's wrong with this person?Where did the previous face that was always neither salty nor cold nor hot? When did you change this fake face and you could actually smile?

Xie Xiaochuan didn't know what she was thinking about, but continued to smile and said: "Just now, didn't you see that the two families in Jinan and Guangzhou have been flirting with each other?"

In fact, there was Xie Xiaochuan winking, but at that time Liu Mei was so busy talking with Wei Laosan that she really didn't notice that.

"That's a good relationship, let's just go all out!" Liu Mei nodded.

Xie Xiaochuan also suppressed his smile, and said solemnly: "Yes, it's right to regard it as the last match, just try your best!"

In this round of stir-frying, according to Lin Xiaohong's explanation, what is being tested is for short-term rapid heating and quick cooking of hot dishes. The cooking method is not limited to "stir-frying". Skills, as long as you can catch up, you can.

Therefore, once this round of competition started, the people in the kitchen seemed to be preparing the dishes in an orderly manner, but not cooking them in the pot. But suddenly, he became extremely busy.

"It's done!" Liu Mei finished the last plate arrangement, and Xie Xiaochuan, who was beside her, had already stopped.Behind him, Chef Shao was still a little nervous, his hands were shaking a little before putting on the plate, and he seemed to be thinking about whether to try the flavor one last time.

"Old Shao, let me go!"

Liu Mei stepped forward, picked up a porcelain spoon, scooped a mouthful of Chef Shao's dish, tasted it in his mouth, immediately put down the porcelain spoon, raised his hand and poured the dish into the prepared porcelain oatmeal.

She had just filled the porcelain oatmeal when the waiter from Mingyuan came up and was about to take away the dish.

"Wait a minute!" With steady hands, Liu Mei took out a clean tea towel and wiped off the splashed soup on the edge of the porcelain pottery before handing it to the waiter in the tea garden.

Chef Shao's face looked ashen from behind - if he was still hesitant, wouldn't it mean that they couldn't even deliver this dish?

"Old Shao, you can do it!" Liu Mei raised the porcelain spoon she used to try dishes, and said, "It's much better than last time, and it really deserves the name of your dish!"

What Chef Shao made is the "Six-In-One Magical Tofu", but this dish has been improved a lot by Chef Shao himself, the more changes he made, the better it was, and it was well received by diners, so he changed the name, It's called "Yipin Tofu".Chef Shao also thought that the Zhongshun Prince Shiqing has always had a soft spot for tofu as an ingredient, so he chose this.

"Let's go!" Xie Xiaochuan had already taken off the buffalo leather apron on his body, tidied up his whole body, and called Liu Mei and others to go out.

Liu Mei only cared about wiping the sweat from her forehead with her sleeves. Even she knew that after such a busy schedule, her appearance must be very down-to-earth, like a working people.

Everyone rushed to the front hall, and everyone glanced at each other tacitly.After a while, the steward of the tea garden came out to invite everyone to come in, and the dishes presented by each family earlier were already presented on the long table in the middle of the flower hall.

However, what Liu Meitou noticed was not the number of dishes on the long table at all, but the number of people sitting in the flower hall, directly multiplied by two.

The judges sitting in the hall, each of them had a beautiful woman beside him, even the old man with a beard sat beside the bearded old man, who was soft and boneless.

Wei Laosan of the "Nine Big Bowls" was already sitting at the last table, eating wine happily while embracing the young girl beside him.

Shiqing's side is naturally no exception.It's just that Shiqing has always had a cold face, sitting upright, causing the pretty woman next to him to look soft, with her head lowered, showing the perfect curve of the back of her neck, playing with the corners of her clothes, as if she didn't dare to come to Shiqing's side just like this past.

Liu Mei felt that the style of painting was so beautiful that she was a little afraid to look at it—or rather, she didn't want to look at it!

So she collected her mind and carefully looked at the dishes served by each family on the long table.

This time, the "nine bowls" were missing, and there were only sixteen dishes on the long table.

However, these sixteen paths are more colorful. From Liu Mei's point of view, his side, "Simeiju" and "Yangquan Restaurant" are all trying their best to win.

For Liu Mei's side, besides Chef Shao's first-class tofu and her own fried venison, Xie Xiaochuan made a dish of dried shrimp and a dish of crab legs and melon. With the assistance, these few dishes are all selected from the most matching utensils, and with a little carving and embellishment, they are already full of flowers.

Simeiju, who is used to cooking Shandong cuisine, is good at stir-frying. What he makes are fried double crispy, sweet-scented osmanthus meat, warm soy fish slices and fried scorpion. The last dish is especially bold and unrestrained, and the presentation is also unique. It is the posture of the general mobilization of the Scorpion King, full of domineering.Liu Mei was taken aback when she saw it, thinking that Cantonese cuisine was served on Shandong cuisine by mistake.

Yangquan restaurant is full of well-known home dishes, such as sweet and sour spinach pork, chrysanthemum fish, crispy chicken, boiled shrimp, and Liu Mei seem to be ordinary, but she knows in her heart: she looks familiar because she is the descendant of the transmigration The people, and all of these are classics that have been honed over time, I believe that none of them will be easily compared.

In contrast, the dishes offered by the "Sanhe Restaurant" seem to be somewhat reserved.The four dishes presented by his family are fried soft pockets, jade chicken slices, snow bamboo shoots and mandarin fish slices, and pine nut tripe shreds.

Liu Mei was thinking on the sidelines, a little confused. I don’t know if this Sanhe restaurant is really not good at quick-fired and quick-fried dishes that focus on short-term cooking, or if they have reservations after the first round of big wins, so this time Under the full efforts of the other three families, "Sanhe Pavilion" showed a slight decline.

And what's interesting is that the melon carvings in Sanheguan were so exquisite before, but in this round of dishes, Sanheguan has almost no other decorations at all. able to win the hearts of the judges.

When Liu Mei drooped her eyes in thought, a gaze came from afar unexpectedly.Liu Mei raised her head slightly, and saw that it was Prince Zhongshun Shiqing.

Shiqing still had the iceberg face that would never change for thousands of years, expressionless, and his eyes were quite cold.

However, Liu Mei felt that her back molars were grinding, because the delicate and elegant woman beside Shiqing was looking up at him with admiration, her arms were wrapped around Shiqing's shoulders tightly. , leaning over to pour wine for him.Looking at the interaction between the two——Liu Mei made a judgment, those two... at least they won't hate each other.

"I haven't seen you for so long, and I don't even want to say hello!" Liu Mei muttered aggrievedly to herself, it couldn't really be that the system couldn't come back, and the Shiqing in front of her...had long since ceased to recognize her.

"Let's go!" At this time, Xie Xiaochuan also came over to look at all the dishes, turned around, came to Liu Mei, looked down at her, "I can guess the result of this round!"

Liu Mei's line of sight was immediately blocked, and when she looked at Shiqing again, she saw Shiqing raised his hand to take the wine poured by the woman, bowed his head and smelled the lingering aroma of the wine, then raised his neck, I poured it down.The woman next to her was overjoyed immediately, smiled sweetly, and then poured another cup for Shiqing.

For some reason, Liu Mei's heart sank.

She retracted her gaze, and was about to follow Xie Xiaochuan to the outside.

At this moment, Shiqing suddenly spoke: "Sanheguan!"

Master Zhou of the Sanhe Hall knew Shiqing's identity, so he didn't dare to be negligent, took a step forward, and said, "Zhou of the Sanhe Hall is here, what does His Royal Highness want to teach you?"

"I heard that there is a famous dish in your restaurant called 'Squirrel Mandarin Fish', which is well-known all over the world. Why didn't you choose that one, but this dish of mandarin fish with snow bamboo shoots?"

The squirrel mandarin fish is a whole mandarin fish that has been deep-fried and topped with a sweet and sour sauce, while the snow bamboo shoot mandarin fish is a fish fillet that has been fried and then thickened. language.

When Master Zhou saw the question, he quickly bowed and replied: "There is such a dish, but after all, the name of this dish contains the word 'rat'. Second-rate."

Shiqing didn't answer, but turned his eyes away, looking at the dish, chrysanthemum fish, produced by Yangquan Restaurant next to him.

Liu Mei couldn't help but find it funny, because the chrysanthemum fish and the squirrel mandarin fish come from almost the same source, but in the Cantonese cuisine, the flower knife of the squirrel mandarin fish was changed to a chrysanthemum knife, and the knife skill is the same as the name. If it is changed, there will be no such taboos in the Sanhe Pavilion, but it is also a chicken thief.

Seeing Master Zhou, he couldn't help frowning, as if he felt something was wrong.It's just that this person always seemed to be proud and arrogant. When he walked out of the flower hall and came to wait in the front hall, this old Zhou was still arrogant, with his chest and belly protruding, and he looked like he was no one to me. .It wasn't until the steward of Mingyuan came out to greet him and invite him in that he was full of surprise, pointed to his nose, and asked, "What, call me?"

"How could it be me?"

Until entering the Flower Hall, Master Zhou of the Sanhe Pavilion couldn't believe or accept this result.

Liu Mei and the others were outside, and they kept hearing Master Zhou's uncontrollable loud questioning, "Why me?"

Wei Laosan could be heard laughingly taunting him with his cadenced Chuan accent, "Skills are not as good as others, so don't make excuses for yourself! Just like me, there is wine to drink, and a girl to pour wine, what's wrong? "

"You Sichuan fool who has never seen the world..." Lao Zhou snapped back, but before he finished speaking, the flower hall fell silent for some reason.

Liu Mei, Xie Xiaochuan and the others were waiting outside at the moment, not knowing what was going on inside, until Shiqing's deep and melodious voice sounded...

"This king is here to tell you the reason why you lost..."

Listening outside, Liu Mei's complexion became even uglier.Seeing Xie Xiaochuan, he looked away thoughtfully.

"In the first round, the cold cuts were done well, the taste was right, and everything was balanced, and the decoration was beautifully decorated, which can be called top-grade." There was an indescribable indifference and indifference in Shiqing's voice.

"In the second round, the selection of ingredients and cooking techniques are all mediocre, and the seasoning may be on par with others... But who told you that this stir-fry doesn't need any decoration?"

This sentence is to the point, the three families waiting outside looked at each other, they all knew what they knew - in this round of competition, these three families are all striving to win, dare not slack off, and strive to be perfect in every aspect, naturally not Dare to let go of utensils, presentation and decoration.

And "Sanhe Restaurant", after all, was blinded by the huge advantages shown in the first round of competition, but chose to seek stability when it was the most time to go all out, and even gave up because of overconfidence in the original taste of its own dishes Gained advantages in knife skills and carving...

Right now, even if Shiqing criticizes him for being "defiant", or even "contemptuous of His Majesty", Master Zhou has no words to refute him this week.

After a lesson, Shiqing suddenly raised his voice and shouted softly: "As a person in charge of cooking, this king has never seen such a frivolous, arrogant fool who doesn't know how to advance or retreat—as for why? You are the one who lost, and now I can only tell you one thing: This time, how come you have everything in color, smell, and taste?"

For some reason, Liu Mei heard this sentence in the front hall outside, turned around and left.

Her chest seemed to be blocked by something, and she really let out a breath.Every word of Shiqing's words seemed to hit her heart—why was she the one who lost, because she hadn't yet achieved color, smell, taste...everything is perfect!

Xie Xiaochuan greeted Chef Shao behind her, "Let's go, we can go back and prepare."

Unexpectedly, when Liu Mei went back, she went straight to find Xiaohong, pulled her and said, "I'm afraid I have hair on my temples, please help me brush them up."

Lin Xiaohong didn't know what happened, she just followed her words, took out a comb from her sleeve, and gathered Liu Mei's temple hair.

Liu Mei grabbed the jade pendant tied at the end of the braid in her hand, played with it for a while, and suddenly said: "Hong'er, I dare to ask you, do you have a headband with brighter colors?"

Lin Xiaohong had nothing else to say to Liu Mei, so she immediately pulled her down, and in a secluded corner outside the kitchen, set up a small stick for Liu Mei to sit down, and then unraveled her braids, and put them on the original stone blue hair rope. On the side, another peach red hair rope was braided into it.

In this way, the azure is pressed against the pink, and it is calm and charming.Liu Mei turned her head to look at Xiaohong's newly tied long braid and jade pendant feet, concentrated for a moment, then immediately got up, gritted her teeth, and seemed to have regained her initial confidence and courage, and said to Xiaohong: "I'm done! Thank you! "

In the distance, Chef Shao didn't understand why Liu Mei suddenly ran to fix her hair, stood in a daze at the door of the kitchen, and murmured: "This... shouldn't we be busy preparing for the next round? "

Xie Xiaochuan happened to pass by him, reached out and patted Chef Shao on the shoulder, and said, "Sharpening a knife is not a mistake for a woodcutter, let her do it, don't you think it will be all right?"