Chapter 996 The Gap Is Here

"This squid tastes, this squid tastes..." Wang Xiang took the time to say while chewing in his mouth.

"Stop being so mean and stop talking when you are talking!" Zhang Yan felt uncomfortable seeing Wang Xiang eating while talking.

"This squid tastes very good." Wang Xiang still wanted to give President Zhang face, so after swallowing a piece of squid tentacles, he finally gave his evaluation.

Nowadays, people who eat the food made by Yuan Zhou have basically learned a skill by themselves, which is to speak in a clear and articulate manner while eating.

For example, Wang Xiang just now knows a skill. The key is to speak without affecting his ability to swallow food and grab food.

Yes, the current four-person panel of judges has entered the food-grabbing mode.

"Of course, squid is delicious, otherwise why would I love to eat squid." Bai Xiaoxiao said with satisfaction after just grabbing a squid tentacle.

"I don't like eating squid tentacles, but Yuanzhou's squid tentacles are still worth eating." Zhou Shijie spoke leisurely, but he was not slow in using his chopsticks.

After all, Zhou Shijie is someone who often goes to Yuanzhou's store, and he has long been familiar with this skill, so he does it more calmly.

Zhang Yan, on the other hand, maintained his consistent style of talking less and eating more. This was something he learned during the selection of demonstration stores.

Therefore, he was picking up vegetables in silence and tasting them while eating.

"That squid seems to be very popular?" Although he couldn't hear what was said at the judges' table, he could still see the situation, so Ao Pi couldn't help but say to Chef Li.

"It's right to have one or two dishes that are popular. After all, although he is young, he is still quite famous. He is so famous." Chef Li glanced at Yuan Zhou and then said calmly.

"But the food is almost finished." Ao Pi said dissatisfied.

"Normally, I've finished eating the shrimps." Chef Li said proudly, but he glanced at Ao Pi, who was still frowning, and added: "The conchs have also been finished."

"Yes." Ao Pi felt relieved and continued to wait for the score.

Speaking of the scoring, each dish is scored on a ten-point scale. Zhou Shijie and Zhang Yan scored three points each, and Bai Xiaoxiao and Wang Xiang scored two points each.

Therefore, the full score of one dish is ten points, and the total score of seven dishes is seventy points. Whoever has more total points at that time will win.

Yuan Zhou's cooking has always been small but refined, and this time it was even smaller. In fact, this was also for the sake of the judges.

After all, this is a competition, not only eating his own dish, but also the other party's dish, so this portion is enough for four people to have a taste.

No, this Eight-clawed Flame Mountain has been eaten, even the onions as a side dish were not spared.

Several people also praised the onions for their high nutritional value and the flavor of the squid. This was also part of the test of cooking skills, and then they rushed to eat them all.

Looking at the dishes that were cleaner than their faces, several judges felt a little embarrassed for a moment, but Zhou Shijie was the more experienced one, and without changing the expression on his face, he spoke directly.

"Next, continue to taste the flame squid from the Seafood Alliance." Zhou Shijie motioned to the etiquette lady.

"Yes, you should definitely try it." Zhang Yan also said sanctimoniously.

Bai Xiaoxiao and Wang Xiang, who were more junior next to them, nodded quickly and waited to continue eating squid.

"Please wait a moment." After the etiquette lady brought it, she took out the lighter.

Yes, the squid made by the Seafood Alliance is also flame squid, but it is different from Yuanzhou’s.

The squid was all threaded onto a bamboo stick of the same length and thickness, with the stick end facing down and wrapped in silver tinfoil. The hostess poured a ring of high-strength liquor around the outside, and then lit it with a lighter.

With a "boom", the flames burned around the tinfoil wrapped in the squid on the white plate. It was transparent with blue flames and filled with a strong aroma of wine.

"It's my turn." Liu Jie from the red side cooking table looked at his work with confidence.

"How do you feel about Chef Liu?" After hearing Liu Jie's words, Chef Li turned around and asked with a smile.

"Full of confidence." Liu Jie smiled.

"Yuan Zhou's dish was finished just now. What does Chef Liu think?" said Chef Li.

"His portion is small, so it's normal for him to finish it. The taste may be good, but it's definitely not as good as mine." Liu Jie said.

"Haha, I'll be relieved if Chef Liu says this." Chef Li laughed and nodded.

The two chatted for a while and then stopped talking because the judges had already started eating.

The flame here burned for about twenty seconds and then extinguished automatically. At this time, steam came out of the hot tinfoil, and the smell of squid wafted out.

"Wow." The etiquette lady opened the tinfoil, then stretched out her hand to make a gesture of invitation, indicating that it was ready to taste.

"Well, whoever invites you first." Zhou Shijie turned his head and said humbly to the three judges who were half a step behind.

"Of course, President Zhou, you should invite me first." Wang Xiang said.

"Please." Zhang Yan said.

"President Zhou, please taste it first." Bai Xiaoxiao also made a gesture of invitation.

"Okay, let me start." Zhou Shijie smiled on his face, but felt confused in his heart.

"These swindlers must want me to be full of this defective product and not be able to eat the delicacies made by Yuan Zhou. It's really insidious." Zhou Shijie thought as he humbly picked up a bunch of squid.

From this point of view, this flame squid is far inferior to Yuanzhou's eight-clawed flame mountain.

Not to mention that Bai Xiaoxiao smelled a very subtle fishy smell when he opened the tin foil.

This smell is not the smell of the sea, but the fishy smell of unprocessed seafood. If he hadn't eaten Yuan Zhou's perfect version of squid first, Bai Xiaoxiao wouldn't have been able to smell the fishy smell sandwiched in the white wine.

But this is what Zhuyu said before.

In fact, the squid cooked by Liu Jie is quite good in terms of the individual dishes. Squid must be eaten hot, and the heat is very important. His flaming squid is not only for the novel way of serving it, but also for the reason of the heat.

Yes, Liu Jie's squid is not fully cooked. Instead, it is wrapped in tin foil when it is about six ripe. When serving, the squid is cooked directly with the heat of white wine.

It was the right time to eat it, and the temperature was just right, but he never thought about the problem that the fishy smell wouldn't evaporate easily when wrapped.

"I've never tasted Boss Yuan's Eight-clawed Flame Mountain before, otherwise I wouldn't have loved it." Bai Xiaoxiao sighed in his heart while eating.

Yes, looking at Liu Jie’s famous dish that I loved to eat in the past, I now dislike it. Bai Xiaoxiao felt that compared to the squid made by Yuan Zhou, this was about the level of an apprentice.

Fortunately, Liu Jie didn't make much squid. After dividing one skewer per person, there were only four skewers left. I think Liu Jie prepared two skewers per person.

But the four of them tacitly ignored this matter and started eating the next dish directly. Liu Jie looked at the remaining four skewers, which was very embarrassing.

Chef Li also patted Liu Jie on the shoulder and comforted him, saying that from his point of view, the success or failure of one or two dishes was not important, as long as the final score was higher than Yuan Zhou's.

Yuan Zhou tasted the next dishes first, so in the eyes of Chef Li and others, this behavior was to leave the delicious food behind. However, Yuan Zhou felt that these judges were just like children. Eat something delicious first.

Therefore, the same thing, viewed from different perspectives, has completely different meanings, and may even be diametrically opposed.

One dish after another, it didn’t take long to get to the last main course, the big crab dumplings. Strictly speaking, this dish was the most difficult in terms of cooking methods and ingredients.

"Let's start with Chef Yuan's." Wang Xiang said with anticipation.

"This crab looks very good." Zhang Yan nodded.

"I flew these Dungeness crabs from California. They are all big and fresh. The key is that the crab leg meat is 60% of the crab meat and is very fat." Bai Xiaoxiao said proudly.

"I heard they are still twins." Wang Xiang said teasingly.

"Then I have to give it a try." Zhou Shijie said.

"Here are the last dishes of this competition. Chef Yuan's big crab balls and Seafood Alliance's rolling crab balls. The first one to be tasted is Chef Yuan's big crab balls." The host said at the right time.

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