"Chef Zhang Yu, you really took in a good disciple," Auxis sighed with heartfelt emotion.
"Mmh, ah," Zhang Yu responded vaguely.
Zhang Yu's heart was extremely complicated. Only he knew that in the week Mo Bai spent studying with him, he had merely learned some methods for handling fish, various flavored sauces, and the use of some spices suitable for fish.
He had originally taught with the intention that 'geniuses don't need to know the framework, they just need to learn the seasoning and handling methods and then perform on their own,' but...
He just let him roam free, and somehow he developed two Culinary Hearts?
This was too damn genius, wasn't it?!
Comparing this to his own defective Culinary Heart, Zhang Yu couldn't smile; he was swallowing his tears into his stomach.
"Let's keep watching. The result is not yet decided."
"Sometimes, having an appetizer that is too outstanding isn't necessarily a good thing," Chapelle said, sighing as he glanced at Auxis, whose expression was equally complicated.
In a French cuisine battle between two sides, winning or losing couldn't be determined by a single dish alone.
Appetizer, Soup, Side Dish, Main Dish, Dessert—a set menu of five courses. The harmony between each dish was also of paramount importance.
A Special-Grade Western Chef could even reinforce the effect of their Culinary Heart by sticking to a theme and using different ingredients and dishes.
But Mo Bai's appetizer was simply too outstanding—so outstanding that even Chapelle, with his wealth of experience, couldn't imagine how the subsequent dishes could be made.
Chapelle looked over. In the pot on Mo Bai's station, something was boiling, while Mo Bai himself was using a knife to deboning a small bird.
The entire process seemed somewhat placid compared to Mark's busy figure nearby.
"Quail? Is it the Side Dish?" Chapelle recognized the ingredient Mo Bai was processing at a glance. "The soup is already being processed so quickly?"
With a few unfathomable doubts, Chapelle turned toward Mark's cooking station, which was in full swing.
Mark's soup pot was full of finely chopped ingredients.
"Onions, leeks, fennel, garlic, saffron, orange peel."
"Aside from these basic materials, he also added chili and thyme."
Chapelle glanced at the mixed mince that was beginning to soften and release its juices, immediately understanding what dish Mark intended to make.
The most representative soup of French cuisine: French Seafood Soup.
"It seems he wants to use the richness of seafood to suppress Mo Bai's pastoral-style cuisine."
"A good idea, but it's a pity. If a Culinary Heart could be suppressed by taste that easily, the status of a Special-Grade Chef wouldn't be so exalted."
"What's more..." Chapelle shook his head silently.
"Done. The slightly charred onion scent is perfect!" Mark quickly added tomato paste and stirred for a moment before adding chopped tomato cubes to braise.
After braising for three minutes, he lifted the lid and threw in the Red sea bream head and fish bones acting as the base, then splashed in brandy.
After it came to a boil, he threw in parsley and bay leaves.
A strong, mixed heavy aroma instantly detonated across the venue.
"Ooh! The completion level of this seafood soup base is very high." Sniffing the fragrance that had become aggressive under the lead of the chili, Chapelle shouted out how good it smelled.
"Such mature use of spices!" Nakiri Erina's surprise far exceeded Chapelle's.
The more traditional a recipe is, the more it has stood the test of time, and likewise, the harder it is to add other materials to make it more outstanding.
However, the two spices Mark added achieved the level of making the seafood soup more brilliant.
The chili made the aroma and taste more aggressive, while the thyme and bay leaves served to fill the defect of monotony that comes after being more aggressive.
"Is this really just a student?" She had never seen such perfect variations even in the high-star restaurants of the Far East.
But Mark's movements weren't finished yet. During the time waiting for the water to boil after adding it, he took out a blender.
Before him, garlic, bread, chili, pepper, saffron, and eggs were lined up.
"This is... handmade Rouille."
Rouille, which is a pepper garlic sauce. It was originally developed to save time in making dishes like seafood soup, but looking at it now, Mark wasn't simplifying it, but using it for a purpose completely opposite to its original intent.
To boost the flavor a second time!
The handmade garlic sauce in the blender was mixed into the soup base. Under the action of the blender, it instantly turned into a bright yellow paste.
Filtering the soup juice out from the paste through a small-hole sieve, Mark's seafood soup base was finally complete.
For the final step, seafood like Red sea bream meat, sea crabs, mussels, and prawns were added in succession, then quickly scooped out and plated once cooked.
"Soup course, complete!" Mark pressed the service bell. To complete his grand seafood meal within the stipulated time was indeed somewhat stressful.
"However—it'll work! After all, the lack of impact in the taste of pastoral-style Side Dishes and Main Dishes is a fatal flaw!" Mark looked toward Mo Bai's cooking station. The latter's leisure and comfort formed a sharp contrast with him, who was sweating profusely from the cooking process.
Mo Bai carried the serving tray and pressed the service bell unhurriedly.
This is a provocation, right! This is absolutely a provocation, right!!!
Mark: "... (Profanity)"
"Boy over there, seeing as I'm a year older than you."
"I want to impart a piece of life experience to you: Never assume your cooking can satisfy everyone's appetite." Mo Bai didn't care about Mark's pitch-black face, speaking with a gaze radiating fatherly love.
"Baffling!" Mark glared fiercely at Mo Bai, turning his head back to his station to begin the Side Dish production.
Leaving Mo Bai with a face full of melancholy. "Young people these days~~~"
"If you don't listen to the old man, you'll suffer right before your eyes."
"Sir, your behavior of deliberately serving slowly behind someone else really asks for a beating," Little Bai pointed out the key reason for Mo Bai receiving the cold shoulder.
"Did I? Onion soup needs to be stewed for enough time, okay?" Mo Bai played dumb.
"...I have never seen such a brazen person!"
On the judges' bench, Nakiri Senzaemon lifted the serving lid and took a deep breath of the strong aroma.
"Not bad!"
The white porcelain soup plate held the thick soup. A sea crab cut in half stood upright on both sides. In the center, pinkish-white Red sea bream meat was nestled tightly against mussels with dark blue-green shells, and two curled prawns were placed to the side.
The orderly plating and the colors of the ingredients themselves, set off by the golden thick soup, created a very strong visual impact.
There was no chaotic plating caused by having too many materials.
"Mark seemed to have put quite a few other shellfish and dried seafood in there just now. I wonder how it tastes."
Nakiri Erina scooped up the thick seafood soup and slightly raised her chin.
An incomparably mellow and savory deliciousness spread from the tip of her tongue to her body like lightning. Nakiri Erina trembled because of it.
"I see! It is precisely because of the second flavor boost from the handmade garlic sauce that it is sufficient to encompass so much seafood!"
Nakiri Erina revealed a look of pleasant surprise.
"Also due to the neutralization by the handmade garlic sauce, the chili, which smelled aggressive, presents a palatable level of spiciness that elevates the overall taste of the dish."
"There's even this kind of technique."
God's Tongue activated. Nakiri Erina silently analyzed the composition of the entire dish and memorized it in her mind.
Mmh, this is learning! This is improvement!
Can a chef's stealing be considered stealing?
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