"Sect Leader Gu, there's no need to be surprised. Although I'm not as talented as Song Xiu in cooking, I naturally have something to rely on since I dare to bet with you," Song Likun said.
"Tell me, how do you want to bet?"
Gu Zheng had always been interested in making bets.
"As the saying goes, there are specializations in skills. Although my overall cooking skills aren't as good as Song Xiu's, I still have a few specialty dishes. I want to bet with Sect Leader Gu on my best dish, Sliced Pork with Pickled Vegetables and Orchid. I wonder if Sect Leader Gu dares to bet?" Song Likun said.
Sliced Pork with Pickled Vegetables and Orchid was not an ordinary pork with pickled vegetables. The pickled vegetables in this dish were a specialty of the Kunlun Ruins. As for the pork used, it was still the Immortal Cloud Pig from the Kunlun Ruins. The orchid slices in this dish were also from the Kunlun Ruins. It was the root of an edible orchid. Moreover, the dish Sliced Pork with Pickled Vegetables and Orchid was also on the menu provided by Kunlun today.
"Don't tell me you want the higher-ups of your Kunlun Sect to be the judges?" Gu Zheng asked.
"No, the enmity between Kunlun and Emei has finally been resolved. During this special period, I don't want the supreme elders to worry about this! As for the judges, you can find them! "Song Likun said indifferently.
"Are you so confident in me? Aren't you afraid that I'll find someone to cheat? "Gu Zheng asked curiously.
"In any case, I'll definitely try the dishes you cook. Whether or not I cheat depends on my conscience," Song Likun said.
"Alright, tell me what you want to bet. Do you want to bet on a set of immortal kitchen utensils? "Gu Zheng asked.
Song Likun shook his head, "I believe that immortal kitchen utensils will be more useful in your hands. I'll bet with you. These are my stakes."
As if he was prepared, Song Likun took out a big bag of things.
"These are all my treasures over the years!" Song Likun said.
Gu Zheng's eyes widened when he saw the items Song Likun took out. There were more than 40 items. Among them were the medium-grade sugar that Song Xiu had used in the Gourmet Competition and some other medium-grade ingredients. Ordinary ingredients didn't even make up a third of the profit!
Although Song Likun did not take out any good ingredients, most of the ingredients had reached the middle grade. Even though Gu Zheng now had the treasures of the Kongkong Sect and middle grade ingredients were no longer scarce, who would complain about having too many resources? What's more, it was a high-grade resource!
"You …"
Gu Zheng didn't know what to say. He was obviously different from Song Xiu and Song Bai.
"As the saying goes, a good horse deserves a good saddle. Since you were able to defeat Song Xiu, I believe that you'll be able to bring out the best of these ingredients in your hands. And if you want to get them, you have to defeat me in my specialty dish. You have to make me accept my loss wholeheartedly. You have to make me feel relieved that I have finally entrusted such good ingredients to someone worthy of my trust. "
Song Likun's voice paused, and then he said solemnly, "You must defeat me, or else I will be disappointed!"
"Alright!"
Gu Zheng nodded solemnly. He now had more respect for Song Likun.
"Although you don't want my bet, I still bet this set of Celestial Cooking Utensils. If I lose, I don't want this set of Celestial Cooking Utensils," Gu Zheng said.
"Don't. Winning or losing once doesn't mean anything. I think no one is more suitable than you for this set of Celestial Cooking Utensils. Forget it, I don't want your bet. Let's start! "Song Likun's attitude was firm.
"Accept it, Gu Zheng. You don't want to take advantage of this!" The Artifact Spirit said helplessly.
"Artifact Spirit, he's making me feel strange!" Gu Zheng thought.
"Why do you have so many psychological burdens? He wants to fulfill your wish. Why don't you fulfill his wish? Fulfilling one's wish was a virtue! Later, when you go all out and defeat him without using any Celestial Arts, it will be a reflection of your strength! "
Gu Zheng furrowed his brows slightly. Although there was nothing wrong with the Artifact Spirit's words, he had an indescribable feeling! This feeling had appeared in the Shu Mountain Kitchen before. It seemed that under some special circumstances, the Artifact Spirit really hoped that he could defeat other chefs without using any Celestial Arts.
"Logically speaking, using Celestial Arts to win should be a matter of course in the Artifact Spirit's heart. After all, this is Lord Gokusen's method. However, in some special circumstances, why do I feel that she's trying to induce me not to use any Celestial Arts? It's as if she wants me to show a kind of confidence and an attitude of looking down on my opponent! Moreover, if she's not trying to induce me to win without using any Celestial Arts, it shouldn't be a reflection of my strength. It should be a form of respect for Song Likun! "
Gu Zheng shook his head and stopped thinking about it. In any case, he really couldn't figure out what the Artifact Spirit was thinking.
"Alright. In that case, I'll accept Chef Song's good intentions," Gu Zheng said.
"That's more like it. Let's begin!" Song Likun smiled.
The pickled vegetables were white in color. From its appearance, it looked like the budding of a fern plant.
The roots of the edible orchid were bulbous, and the bigger ones were the size of sweet potatoes. After cutting them into slices of moderate thickness and placing them in the Celestial Cloud Pork, the slices of the orchid would become fragrant, soft, and enchanting while absorbing the excess oil.
The 'Pork with Pickled Vegetables and Orchid Slices' was rather troublesome to make. The pickled vegetables in this dish had to be stir-fried first. Then, it had to be stewed for a while before being set aside.
The processing of the Celestial Cloud Pork slices was relatively simple. They only had to be washed and cut into slices before being placed in the Celestial Cloud Pork slices.
As for the Celestial Cloud Pork, the streaky meat from the Celestial Cloud Pork was selected. After removing the hair and blood stains, it was boiled in cold water for a period of time. Then, it was taken out and pierced into the skin of the pork to make the skin look better.
The pierced Celestial Cloud Pork was evenly smeared with the sauce. After the sauce had dried, it was placed into a wok with oil. Then, the Celestial Cloud Pork was deep-fried until the skin changed color. After that, it was soaked in cold water to make the skin look like a loose skin.
After mixing the fermented bean curd, soy sauce, spices, and other sauces, they were evenly smeared on the Celestial Cloud Pork slices. Then, a slice of orchid was placed between each Celestial Cloud Pork slices and placed in a bowl. Then, a layer of stir-fried pickled vegetables was placed on top of the bowl. After being steamed, the dish was placed upside down on a plate. Just like that, the dish 'Pork with Pickled Vegetables and Orchid Slices' was ready.
Gu Zheng didn't use any immortal techniques. His advantage lay in the quality of the ingredients, his understanding of the ingredients, and his ability to sense the harmful effects of the ingredients.
The Celestial Cloud Pork was a middle-grade ingredient. So were the slices of orchid and the pickled vegetables. As for the supplementary ingredients, they were all low-grade ingredients. As for these supplementary ingredients, unless they were extremely important, Gu Zheng wouldn't use them unless they were extremely important.
After washing the pickled vegetables, they were quickly stir-fried and set aside. The slices of orchid were also cut and the Celestial Cloud Pork was almost done cooking. Gu Zheng fished it out and used a thin bamboo skewer to pierce numerous holes on it.
After mixing the sauce, Gu Zheng smeared it evenly on the Celestial Cloud Pork. At this step, Gu Zheng's cooking method was clearly different from Song Likun's.
Song Likun's sauce used a lot of ingredients. Gu Zheng's sauce was merely a combination of rice vinegar and soy sauce.
"Sect Master Gu, why did you only use rice vinegar and soy sauce?" Song Likun asked.
"There are good and bad ingredients. Chef Song, I'm sure you understand this. Some of the seasonings you used are not compatible with the Celestial Cloud Pork. Using them will bring about some good effects. However, if you don't use them, the flavor of the ingredients will be more prominent."
After hearing Gu Zheng's words, Song Likun furrowed his brows and fell into deep thought.
The sauce on the meat had already dried. Song Likun had already placed the meat into the wok. Due to the small holes on the meat, the fragrance of fried meat wafted out from time to time.
"Sizzle!"
On the other hand, what was placed in Gu Zheng's wok wasn't the Celestial Cloud Pork. Instead, it was the excess oil that Gu Zheng had left behind when he was processing the Celestial Cloud Pork.
When making the Celestial Cloud Pork, the oil used to fry the Celestial Cloud Pork was placed on the chopping board. Although the oil that Gu Zheng was using wasn't the same as the oil on the chopping board, it wasn't against the rules. After all, it came from the leftovers of the pork.
"Sect Master Gu, are you going to use the Celestial Cloud Pork Oil? The meat of the Celestial Cloud Pork is delicious, but the oil is a little greasy! "Song Likun kindly reminded.
Actually, the greasiness of the Celestial Cloud Pork Oil was due to its overly fragrant aroma. Therefore, when cooking the Celestial Cloud Pork, the chefs would do their best to remove the oil, regardless of whether it was the Three Immortals Soy Sauce or the current Celestial Cloud Pork.
"Many thanks for your reminder, Chef Song. However, since I'm doing this, I naturally have my reasons," Gu Zheng said with a faint smile.
The reason why the Celestial Cloud Pork Oil was overly fragrant was because it contained a 'fragrant' substance. Ordinary people naturally wouldn't be able to detect and remove this substance. But to Gu Zheng, this wasn't a problem at all! When he was competing with Song Xiu in the Three Immortals Soy Sauce, Gu Zheng had used the same method to remove the fragrance. This was also one of the reasons why the two judges, the female cultivator and Luo Jin, unanimously agreed that Gu Zheng's Three Immortals Soy Sauce tasted better.
Although Gu Zheng didn't boil a lot of oil, it was enough to fry a piece of Celestial Cloud Pork.
When the Celestial Cloud Pork was placed into the wok, a faint explosion sound was heard. However, all the chefs in the kitchen gently twitched their noses.
"How fragrant!"
"A fragrant but not greasy aroma. Why is it like this?"
"This is clearly the Celestial Cloud Pork Oil, but why doesn't it have that greasy aroma?"
"If I didn't see Sect Master Gu using the Celestial Cloud Pork Oil with my own eyes, I would have doubted whether this is really the Celestial Cloud Pork Oil!"
"How did Sect Master Gu remove the fragrance from the oil? Previously, I saw him scooping out some of the oil. Could the secret be in this? "
Everyone here was a chef. Soon, a chef surnamed Li discovered the problem. Then, he directly went to Gu Zheng's side, squatted down, and took a deep sniff at the trash can.
"Achoo!"
After sniffing the trash can, Chef Li couldn't help but sneeze loudly. However, his expression was very excited. "Yes, yes! It's here! The oil scooped out by Sect Master Gu is actually so fragrant that it's choking me! "
"Sect Master Gu, how did you do it?"
Almost all the chefs asked at the same time. In their opinion, this was simply an impossible task.
"Use your heart to understand and cook every dish with your heart. You will discover things that you couldn't discover before."
Gu Zheng had an unfathomable expression. When he spoke, even his eyes seemed to be drifting. It was as though he could see the clouds in the sky through the roof.
"I see!"
Several chefs said the same thing thoughtfully. They also looked at the place where Gu Zheng was looking. However, other than the dark roof, they couldn't see anything else.
During the process of frying the pork, Gu Zheng used the same stupid method to remove some of the fragrant substances from the meat. Then, he quickly put the meat into cold water. Due to the expansion and contraction of the heat, the fried pork skin changed rapidly. It turned into the shape of loose skin, looking very beautiful.
Traditionally, this process would take a lot of time. However, Song Likun and Gu Zheng weren't ordinary chefs. They used their inner strength to process the Xianyun pork and saved a lot of time.
During the time when the pork was soaking, Gu Zheng and Song Likun started to make the sauce.
The sauce made by Song Likun used sugar, salt, starch powder, oil, soy sauce, and fermented bean curd. As for the sauce made by Gu Zheng, he only used soy sauce, salt, sugar, and fermented bean curd.
Gu Zheng and Song Likun didn't simply apply the selected supplementary ingredients to the meat slices. They used their inner strength to make the meat slices absorb the supplementary ingredients evenly. After finishing this step, the two placed the slices of meat into bowls and placed the slices of orchid in between the slices of meat. Then, they covered the pickled vegetables and placed them on the steamer to steam.
"Sect Master Gu, for this Braised Pork with Pickled Vegetables, other than using less supplementary ingredients and Xianyun pork, the only difference I can see is that you used more gravy to stir-fry the pickled vegetables. You poured the excess gravy on the pork."
Song Likun paused for a moment before he added, "Also, you seem to have used more sugar than me."
"Actually, that's not all. The orchid slices have also been processed," Gu Zheng said with a smile.
"Orchid slices? Orchid slices contain a lot of starch. Excessive washing will reduce the starch content and make the taste crispy. In this Braised Pork with Pickled Vegetables, the taste of the orchid slices must be soft! "
Song Likun frowned. When Gu Zheng was washing the orchid slices, he was busy with something. Thus, he only took a quick glance.
"Chef Song, although Sect Master Gu has been washing the orchid slices for quite some time, strangely enough, the water he used to wash them didn't turn white at all. At first, I thought that it was because the orchid slices used by Sect Leader Gu happened to contain less starch. However, after smelling the trash, I feel that Sect Leader Gu seemed to have put in a lot of effort in processing the orchid slices, "Chef Li said with a solemn expression.
"It seems that there are quite a lot of differences. This makes me look forward to Sect Master Gu's Braised Pork with Pickled Vegetables even more," Song Likun said with a smile.
During the steaming process, Gu Zheng chatted with Song Likun for a while. Soon, it was time for the Braised Pork with Pickled Vegetables to be ready.
"Sect Master Gu, the dish is about to be ready. You should choose a judge," Song Likun reminded.
"You!"
Gu Zheng smiled at Chef Li, who had just smelled the trash can.
"Ah?"
Chef Li was obviously surprised to be chosen as a judge by Gu Zheng. However, his surprise only lasted for a moment.
"Good, good. After smelling the Braised Pork with Pickled Vegetables made by Sect Master Gu and Chef Song, I can't wait to taste it! Sect Master Gu and Chef Song, please don't worry. As a judge, I will definitely not let my conscience down, "Chef Li said solemnly.
"Let's begin!"
Song Likun and Gu Zheng nodded and said the same thing.
Two steaming hot plates of Braised Pork with Pickled Vegetables were placed on the table. Chef Li glanced at them and said, "The Braised Pork with Pickled Vegetables has to be round and smooth. The orchid slices and meat slices must be integrated into one. The pickled vegetables at the bottom must not leak out and the plate must not overflow with juice. In terms of appearance, the Braised Pork with Pickled Vegetables made by Sect Master Gu and Chef Song are on par.
"In terms of aroma, the Braised Pork with Pickled Vegetables made by Sect Master Gu is a notch better. As for the difference, Chef Song will understand after smelling it himself. It's really hard to describe."
After talking about the appearance and aroma, Chef Li impatiently picked up a piece of meat and put it into his mouth.
Usually, when other people ate the food made by Gu Zheng, their first reaction would be to open their eyes wide. However, Chef Li was different. He closed his eyes immediately and chewed with an intoxicated expression.
After finishing the piece of meat, Chef Li swallowed his saliva. The second time he picked up his chopsticks, he picked up the orchid slices.
His eyes were still closed and he was still eating with an intoxicated expression. After eating the orchid slices, Chef Li was still not in a hurry to open his mouth. He picked up another piece of pickled vegetables and put it into his mouth with his eyes closed.
However, this time, Chef Li's expression was no longer intoxicated. Instead, his brows were tightly knitted together. He even slowed down his chewing speed, as though he was savouring the taste carefully.
Finally, Chef Li swallowed the pickled vegetables in his mouth. He gave Gu Zheng a thumbs up and said with emotion, "It's too delicious!"
"Chef Song, the Braised Pork with Sliced Pickled Vegetables and Orchid Slices that you made can be considered as the main dish of our Kunlun Sect's banquets. Even if I haven't tasted this dish 50 times, I have at least tasted it 30 times, right?"
Facing Chef Li's question, Song Likun nodded his head.
"Chef Song's Braised Pork with Sliced Pickled Vegetables and Orchid Slices is the main dish of our Kunlun Sect's banquets.
Chef Li paused for a moment and an apologetic look appeared on his face. "However, if Chef Song's Braised Pork with Sliced Pickled Vegetables and Orchid Slices doesn't have a major breakthrough, the one who will lose will be you."
After saying that, Chef Li picked up his chopsticks and began to taste Song Likun's Braised Pork with Sliced Pickled Vegetables and Orchid Slices.
Although Chef Li was still tasting with his eyes closed, the intoxicated look on his face was no longer there. Especially when he was eating the pickled vegetables, he even looked a little regretful.
"Chef Song, you have lost."
Chef Li shook his head at Song Likun.
"Good!"
Not only was Song Likun not disappointed, he even applauded.
"It's good that you have lost. Sect Leader Gu didn't let me down!"
Song Likun laughed heartily. He picked up his chopsticks and began to taste the Braised Pork with Sliced Pickled Vegetables and Orchid Slices that Gu Zheng had made.
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