Chapter 22: Kicking off the cooking competition with State Banquet Sichuan cuisine?

Chef Huang has always held a high status in the entertainment industry, marketing himself as an executive chef and university lecturer to gain fame beyond the industry.

From birth, everything went smoothly for him. With just his good looks, he was chosen by the prominent director Chen Kaige to play the leading man who sings and walks at the same time. After graduation, he was so inundated with awards that his hands grew tired from accepting them all.

From the nation's heartthrob to the nation's husband, his variety show appearances were explosively popular, and he grew accustomed to being praised.

In the words of netizens, this is a winner in life, succeeding in everything and wandering within his comfort zone. As long as he doesn't show off his cooking skills, everyone loves watching.

In the live broadcast room for the observers, the moment Chen Ming's sentence ended, the online audience immediately exploded into a frenzy.

"Damn it, Executive Chef Bai Jinze is at it again!"

"I seriously suspect the show's director has signed some contract with Chef Huang, specifically setting up a cooking segment on the first day of the broadcast!"

"It's real, we're done for, he's not going to actually set up a stove and start cooking in the studio, is he? Alright, my little stool is ready, looking forward to Chen Ming's tactful comments."

"Be careful, Teacher Huang might force you to eat the dish, and if you dare to say it's not delicious, you'll be executed on the spot and sentenced to a purple sand pot."

"Don't get too ridiculous, okay? Can't someone manage these filthy bullet comments? I've been learning to cook from Teacher Huang for twenty years, and I'm eight years old now."

"That hawk: Damn, I hate posers the most."

The next second, the personal attack comments were urgently censored, but the mocking commentary was not turned off. However, the observation room can't see the bullet comments unless someone pulls out a phone.

In the observation room, Huang Miu glanced up at the big screen and had already started commenting.

"Bai Jinze seems to be cooking Western food, pan-frying steak and bacon... Oh, these are bacon wraps, with bell peppers and enoki mushrooms wrapped in the middle."

"He seems quite skilled, it looks like Bai Jinze can indeed cook," Liu Yuzhou added.

"Right, he has a solid foundation," Huang Miu nodded. "With the way he's going, he'll probably make a bowl of borscht or a cream of potato soup."

"Indeed, Teacher Huang knows his stuff," Chen Ming said appreciatively. "The other male guests, they also seem to be preparing Western-style meals."

"Right, now let's look at Liu Renzhi, that's his name, right?" Teacher Huang asked.

"Yes."

"This young man has very broad shoulders, I have a strong impression of him," Huang Miu said while pinching his belly in self-deprecation. "I'm curious about what dishes he might make. I guess they should be low-calorie vegetarian ones."

"It seems to be a light meal; the camera is following him now," Chen Ming looked up. "We can see it now, he's already made a vegetable salad, a fruit platter, and he's working on salmon."

"To pan-fry this salmon, ah, as long as the ingredient is fresh, it doesn't need any marinating," Chef Huang came online to share knowledge, stretching out his hand and gesturing seriously.

"You just need to dry the surface moisture, and the key to pan-frying fish is a hot pan with hot oil, and keeping the fish dry, flipping it after a while. The advantage of this method is that it quickly creates a flavorful crust."

"Learned something new," Liu Yuzhou also chimed in with praise.

Subsequently, the three of them discussed the meals prepared by Chen Feiyu and You Zijun. Chen Feiyu made a Korean-style hot pot – a haphazard mix of spicy cabbage and boiling water.

He also made an extra soup dish, kelp soup, which was... hard to comment on. We can only say that he can indeed cook, but it's limited to quick meals for the working class.

You Zijun made a plate of pasta, a French creamed chicken stew, and an Italian vegetable thick soup.

But when the camera moved to Xu Qingyan, the style of painting suddenly did a two-level flip.

Xu Qingyan's fish preparation was smooth and fluid; as soon as the camera panned to him, he had already scraped the scales, snipped the belly, and cut the backbone. Before the netizens could react, the fish was already strung up on a rack.

"What is he doing....?" Chen Ming looked at the big screen and instinctively turned to ask Chef Huang.

Huang Lei was also a bit stunned, as he hadn't quite seen clearly what was happening. In just a few seconds, Xu Qingyan had strung up the whole fish on bamboo sticks in a cross shape.

"This presentation is quite interesting, with the fish fillets turned over and held up by bamboo sticks. Probably to shape it for frying later."

"Teacher Huang, what dish is Xu Qingyan preparing?" Liu Yuzhou asked curiously.

"This... might be braised fish," Huang Miu said uncertainly, turning his head to see Xu Qingyan peeling green Sichuan peppercorns on the screen, "Why use fresh Sichuan peppercorns? Dried ones are more convenient, aren't they?"

"He's not going to make water-boiled fish, is he?" Liu Yuzhou said.

"It doesn't look like it. It should be something like braised fish," Huang Miu denied, "The other four male guests are making Western or Korean dishes, so it's quite rare that Xu Qingyan is the only one making Chinese cuisine."

"Yes, and I noticed he seems to have very strong knife skills, dealing with the live fish smoothly," Chen Ming added. "He now seems to be preparing another dish."

"These ingredients... diced chicken thigh meat, oh, Kung Pao chicken!" Huang Miu clapped his hands and laughed, "Xu Qingyan's skills are all Sichuan cuisine, quite interesting."

"Is he only making two dishes?" Chen Ming asked.

"He probably doesn't have enough time. I see he's cutting meat again, two cuts per slice," Huang Miu was just about to comment when he suddenly saw Xu Qingyan rapidly mincing meat with two knives.

"He must be making meatballs or something, maybe a meatball soup."

"Does Sichuan cuisine have meatball soup?" Liu Yuzhou couldn't help asking, but didn't receive a confirming answer from Chef Huang.

In front of the camera, Xu Qingyan moved swiftly, almost like he was dividing himself into three. One moment he was mincing the meat filling, and the next he was marinating the chicken thigh meat.

The only strange thing was... it seemed like he had no intention to deep-fry the fish.

Taking advantage of the free time while blanching the bell peppers and cilantro, he kept peeling green Sichuan peppercorns rapidly and even took out a blender to turn the green onions into a puree to make scallion oil, which he then pressed together with the deseeded green Sichuan peppercorns.

At last, he made a bowl of green mush, then finally turn to pan-fry the fish.

In the live broadcast room, when the camera shifted to Xu Qingyan, the comments continuously scrolled with "magic potion recipe." It wasn't until a comment floated by, "Holy shit, he's making bamboo fish, right?"

"What's bamboo fish?"

"Bamboo fish is a type of fish without small bones and has a delicious texture. The way Xu Dog is preparing it, the more it looks like he's making a Sichuan peppercorn sauce! He couldn't be doing that fish, could he!!"

"Holy shit, now I remember, this fish was served at a national banquet, something like green pepper flower juice bamboo fish!"

"For real? Is there an expert who can step up and explain?"

"It's true! I'm a shill, so you can just hang me up. Our teacher has told us about this, a modified national banquet Sichuan dish! Xu Dog skipped some steps, but it's definitely Green Pepper Flower Juice Crispy Skin Bamboo Fish!"

"That's so awesome?"

"I had it once at Yangcheng Haiqing Building, it was incredibly delicious! The kind where you bite through the crispy skin and the juice just bursts out!"

"No way! Xu Dog starts with a national banquet dish?"