"Four points." "Three points." "Three points." "Four points." "Two points."
Hearing the five gourmets giving their ratings one by one, everyone in the hall was stunned involuntarily, and it took them a long time to react - after smelling Zhang Jiahui's eggplant pot, the five gourmets reacted very enthusiastically, especially the two gourmets Chris and Tony, who directly shouted out in surprise, looking extremely surprised by the dish, and then... they gave Zhang Jiahui an unbearable low score.
The inside story!
At this point, not to mention Lin Li and others, even Chen Tian subconsciously flashed through this year in his mind.
Han Yuyan was even more anxious, and couldn't help muttering in his heart: Are these foreigners crazy? Even if they want to do something shady, they shouldn't make it so obvious...
Zhang Jiahui came back to his senses, his lips trembled, and he shouted in English with anger and doubt: "What you did is too obvious, God, I now have every reason to question your impartiality as a judge!"
"You question us?" Chris was obviously the one with the hottest temper among the five gourmets. He looked at Zhang Jiahui coldly and said, "Excuse me, Mr. Zhang, what do you want to question us about?"
"You are cheating. It's obvious from your reaction just now that you think my talent is better, but you gave me a low score!" Nick Cheung shouted angrily.
Lin Li also stood up hurriedly: "Everyone saw what happened just now. After Mr. Chris smelled Chef Zhang's dish, Gao Sheng exclaimed that it was wonderful, so wonderful, and Tony also praised it for being ingenious. This is obviously a higher evaluation than Mr. Ye's dish, but is there something wrong with the scores of the five judges?"
"I think this game is unfair!" Huang Yiyuan said hurriedly. He looked at Robert again, "Mr. Robert, what do you think?"
Robert looked at Huang Yiyuan with mockery, but did not say anything. Instead, he looked at Ye Chui.
Robert brought these five gourmets here, so he knew best whether they would cheat or not. Their exclamation just now... must have had some special reason, and Robert believed that Ye Chu would understand why.
Of course Ye Chui knew what was going on.
So Ye Chui smiled and spoke... Then he suddenly remembered that his English was not good, so he turned to Han Yuyan and said, "Dayu, help me translate first..." Then he smiled and said to the gourmets, "Wonderful, and exquisite, the compliments are for my dishes, not Chef Zhang's dishes, is that right?"
Zhang Jiahui and others were stunned.
Han Yuyan translated these words.
Michelle smiled and nodded.
Chris glared at Henry Zhang and continued to say to Ye Chui, "That's right. When I smelled your dish before, I just felt that the aroma of fish and eggplant blended together, but I didn't know how you did it, Mr. Ye. It wasn't until I smelled Mr. Zhang's dish again that I suddenly understood the subtlety of this dish, so I shouted "wonderful."
"I was wondering before. Eggplant is an Asian ingredient. However, there have been many dishes developed in the United States using eggplant in recent years, but I never thought that eggplant has such characteristics. That's why it is said to be ingenious." Tony also said, his face full of admiration. He gave a thumbs up vigorously, "It seems that my view of Chinese cuisine has changed!"
Now it was clear that the reason why Chris and Tony gave Zhang a low score right after praising him loudly was not because of any shady plot, but because their praise was originally for Ye Chui...
Previously, after smelling Ye Chui's dishes, Chris, Tony, and Sid simply gave them scores indifferently without saying much, with puzzled looks on their faces, because they didn't know where the fragrance of Ye Chui's dishes came from. However, Zhang Jiahui's dishes perfectly contrasted and made them instantly understand the exquisiteness of Ye Chui's dishes, and they couldn't help but praise them highly.
Of course... I also gave Nick Cheung a horribly low score.
Ye Chui smiled and looked at the stunned Lin Li: "Boss Lin, should I say thank you to you?"
Lin Li: “…”
It was he who suggested that the five gourmets taste two dishes together. If the two dishes were tasted at different times, perhaps Christonishead would not have had this sudden realization, and there would not have been a strong contrast between Zhang Jiahui's dish and Ye Chui's dish. This comparison would have immediately lowered the score, which might have been good originally...
At this time, Lin Li had an idiom in his mind: "overdoing something"!
At this time, Michelle smiled and asked Ye Chui, "I feel that your dish not only has a strange but very delicious fish aroma, but more importantly, it can make the taste of eggplant and the aroma of fish blend together. I really want to know how you do this?"
"Eggplant has a soft texture, like a sponge. This is the characteristic of this ingredient. It can accommodate other flavors." Ye Chui explained with a smile.
Han Yuyan hurriedly translated Ye Chui's words into English. At the same time, she thought of the imperial eggplant dish that Ye Chui once made for Lin Wei's mother Wu Haimei. It was this characteristic of eggplant that was utilized to give the dish a variety of flavors. This salted fish and eggplant casserole also used the same characteristic of eggplant.
But Chris still didn't understand. He pointed at Zhang Jiahui's dish and said, "If that's the case, then why doesn't Mr. Zhang's dish seem to have this characteristic of blending all kinds of flavors?"
"Haha." Ye Chui glanced at Zhang Jiahui and said with a smile, "This is because the cooking method of Master Zhang's dish is wrong."
As soon as these words were spoken, not to mention Chris and other gourmets, Lin Li and Zhang Jiahui were the first to be unhappy, with extremely angry expressions on their faces. The Lin Family Eggplant Pot in the Lin Family Pot Restaurant is a time-honored brand with at least 40 years of history, and the cooking method has been passed down from generation to generation. Ye Chui actually said that the cooking method they have been using for 400,000 years is actually wrong
"Mr. Ye, I would like to ask you, what's wrong with the way our Lin family makes the eggplant stew!" Lin Liqing couldn't help but ask.
Ye Chui did not answer, but looked at the five gourmets: "Let's ask the five judges to proceed to the second procedure and taste the taste of these two dishes."
Han Yuyan translated Ye Chui's words.
The five gourmets looked at each other, then picked up their chopsticks and began to taste the two dishes on the table. After what happened before, they now had great interest in the two eggplant stews.
But a small detail at this time made the expressions of Zhang Jiahui, Lin Li and others become even uglier - the five gourmets actually rushed to pick up the eggplant stew made by Ye Chui.
Obviously, they are more interested in Ye Chui's dishes...
Michelle was very skilled in using chopsticks, but the other four were a little unfamiliar with it. Even the gourmet named Sid couldn't hold two chopsticks firmly in his hands, but in the end he successfully put a mouthful of eggplant into his mouth.
The eggplant is cut into strips, which are soft yet tough. It can be easily put into the mouth while maintaining a melt-in-the-mouth texture. This shows that the mastery of the heat has obviously reached the pinnacle.
"Is this the fish flavor in the taste? What kind of fish is this? I don't think I have ever seen this kind of fish?" At this time, Hannah picked up a piece of fish from the casserole. The fish meat was brown and slightly hard, but the hardness was of the crispy type. When you put it in your mouth, in addition to the rich fish flavor, there is another strange taste full of texture.
The taste is not unpleasant and it seems to complement this dish perfectly.
"This fish tastes very unique, a bit like cod, but I've never eaten cod that tastes like this." Michelle also asked at this time.
"This is cod. After my processing, it becomes dried salted fish." Ye Chui said with a smile.
Dried salted fish is a technology for preserving fish. Any fish can be salted, but generally the best salted fish are carp, flounder, etc., and these fish cannot be found in Chinatown, so Ye Chui chose cod.
"It's actually cod?" When Han Yuyan translated Ye Chui's words to the five gourmets, they were all a little surprised. You know, high-level gourmets should be very familiar with the taste of various ingredients, but they didn't recognize that the taste of this fish was actually cod. This made them very interested in Ye Chui's processing method of salted fish.
But I think this must be the other party's secret, and they can't ask directly...
Seeing that the gourmets were so interested in Ye Chui's dish, the expressions of Lin Li, Zhang Jiahui and others became more subtle.
"Then I wonder what scores you five would give to the taste of this dish?" Ye Chui continued to ask with a smile.
Han Yuyan translated Ye Chui's words.
The five judges laughed. Michelle was about to speak when Nick Cheung suddenly spoke in English: "Please give your score after you have tasted my dish."
He still maintained some confidence. The taste might not be as good as Ye Chui's... but the taste would definitely not be bad. After all, his restaurant has been around for more than 40 years. After letting them taste his dishes and make a comparison, and then give Ye Chui a score, he would definitely be able to regain the face he had just lost!
The five gourmets looked at each other, and then tasted Zhang Jiahui's dishes one by one.
After tasting it, Michelle thought for a moment and nodded: "Five points."
"Five points," Hannah continued.
"Five points."
"Five points."
"I'm five points too."
The remaining three people followed suit.
Zhang Guy, Lin Li and others could not hide the surprise on their faces.
Then…
They heard Michelle say: "This is the score for Mr. Ye, and the following is the score for Mr. Zhang..." (~^~)