Food Stall: Customers Chase Me across the Country-Chapter 419 - 418: World Guobaorou Championship (Part 4)
There’s no real difference between the professional group showdown and the general group showdown, the only thing is you can serve dishes with all sorts of different flavors.
Anyway, the judges will score based on their favorite flavor in the end. If you’re capable, you could make a hundred different flavors within the given time.
Wang Fan, who ranked first in the preliminaries, naturally drew a lot of attention this round.
For the first time, the cameras moved from the pot to the faces of the contestant chefs.
When Wang’s face appeared in the live stream, many people were wide-eyed.
"What’s going on? Wasn’t this wild BOSS off to the Great Border? When did he come back to Erbin? By the way, sorry Erbin, the ’ha’ character is still on my face."
"Man, he’s really sneaky, as expected from the most unpredictable wild BOSS. Is he going abroad in no time?"
"The one above doesn’t know? Boss Wang has already confirmed joining the group going to Gaul, handling the snacks and desserts for the Olympians. The official announcement has been made." 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢
"Wow! What else can I say besides ’awesome’?"
"You can still say ’damn’!"
"Haha, I knew from the start that dish was made by Boss Wang. Don’t ask why, just know that I was on site, and I even tasted half a piece of the pot-wrapped meat made by Boss Wang!"
After the public judges scenario ended, Lou Xinyu and Ke Peiyao went to take a break in the resting area, couldn’t help but join the lively chat in the livestream: "Let me tell you, the pot-wrapped meat made by Boss Wang is simply extraordinary, standing on a completely different level from others; Boss Wang has definitely reached the stratosphere!"
"Damn, tears of envy uncontrollably slide down my face, why do you get to be a general judge?"
"I’m more curious as to why you only ate half."
"I just saw someone in the frame have their pot-wrapped meat half eaten by a pretty girl, could it be this gentleman?"
Lou Xinyu looked somewhat woefully at his own wife, was this embarrassment being shown to everyone?
"Damn, just thinking about it makes me mad, not only didn’t I get to eat Boss Wang’s pot-wrapped meat, but I was also forced to swallow a handful of dog food!"
"Mad +1."
"Stop the bullet comments, the competition has started, director, keep the camera on Boss Wang’s face, that’s even more appealing than pot-wrapped meat!"
Everyone quickly noticed the match had indeed started, and hurriedly turned off the bullet comments to focus on the competition.
Many professional judges weren’t sitting in their seats waiting, but instead were roaming around the venue observing the chefs’ operations, naturally focusing on Wang Fan, the preliminaries champion.
Several chef judges gathered around and occasionally murmured a few words: "It looks like he’s seasoning the meat as the first step."
"The batter mix is also very well done, very evenly coated."
"This frying... hiss... there’s something special inside!"
Lv Xianchao widened his eyes, carefully watching Wang Fan’s moves.
Wang Fan’s operation was indistinguishable from before; he was still using long chopsticks to pick out the pot-wrapped meat once it was fried to shape, and generally, people seeing such a unique operation might think it was for show, but professional judges like Lv Xianchao naturally wouldn’t think so.
"Hiss... he’s clearly picking out the ones that just set, even some that were later added but had set were picked out first."
"This is impressive, requiring a high level of coordination between hand and eye."
"Mainly, doing this is quite a waste of the chef’s effort; it might only slightly affect the dish’s taste in the end."
"But I have to say, it’s detailed enough to make the finished dish taste better, which is perfectly logical."
"My goodness, even the refrying is done like this?"
"Is there a point to it?"
"Whether it’s pointless or not, we’ll know once we taste it; these extra steps will definitely show when the dish is served."
"Whoa? The sweet and sour ratio feels like it’s 1 to 2.5 now? This is truly old-school, it’s pungent to the nose and throat, I haven’t used this ratio for a long time."
As they talked, the professional judges became unusually eager for Wang Fan’s pot-wrapped meat.
Rather than flavor adjustments, they were more interested in seeing what kind of delightful energy a dish adjusted in details could explode with.
Wang Fan didn’t keep them waiting for long. After evenly coating each piece of pot-wrapped meat with glaze, he directly plated it and sent it to the table.
The professional judges had all returned to their seats, and several cameras turned towards them.
Lv Xianchao picked up a piece and showcased it in front of the camera, the perfect color made viewers swallow involuntarily.
"This color is absolutely beautiful, slightly charred golden brown, this isn’t over-frying, but intentional. First, it gives the color more depth, and second, it enriches the taste."
Their evaluation was all live, directly commenting while eating and displaying; if there was any deception, the audience would basically see right through it.
"The aroma is markedly sweet-sour, I noticed when this contestant was preparing it, the sweet and sour ratio had reached 1 to 2.5, a ratio I wouldn’t recommend for the average person as it’s difficult to master. If not mastered correctly, it could be uncomfortably pungent when cooked. This one, although pungent, hits just the right sour note, sitting right at the brink of being pungent yet appetizing."
Listening to Lv Xianchao’s fluent analysis, Director Liu started to worry: "Did I push too hard? This praise is a bit too much?"
He never intended to kill Wang Fan with compliments, all the hype now would lead to the on-site tasting, and if it’s all a bluff, what then?
"Keep it low-key, keep it low-key..."
Not appropriate to interrupt Master Lv, Director Liu could only pray silently.
Lv Xianchao, of course, couldn’t hear Director Liu’s thoughts, he had already taken a bite of the pot-wrapped meat he picked up.
The crisp "crunch" sound broke through the broadcast equipment, reaching the audience’s ears without reservation.
For those food vloggers, in addition to grabbing attention with volume and curiosity, the irresistible part is actually this chewing sound.
It wasn’t just unbearable for the audience; even Lv Xianchao, a culinary veteran of over twenty years, couldn’t resist!
Generally, after deep-frying and glazing, the food would tend to soften, making it hard to maintain its crispiness. However, the one he tasted was almost unchanged, giving the same fresh-out-of-the-pot texture.
The crispy shell was thin, underneath it a softer layer, with a tender core, paired with sour, sweet, salty flavors, and aromas from garlic slices, ginger strips, and scallion shreds; it just got more addictive as you ate.
No wonder those public judges were fighting over it earlier; this is the epitome of perfect traditional pot-wrapped meat!
