Chapter 1258: Why Are People from Hua Country So Cunning?

Chapter 1258: Chapter 1258: Why Are People from Hua Country So Cunning?

The contestants from the Triple-India team also figured it out.

And just now, they were indeed trying to secretly convey a message to the judges.

"Alright, if you have any objections, you can choose another team for the challenge and not compete against us," Ye Huasong said.

Triple-India Contestant: "..."

Isn’t this being unreasonable?

How can they possibly change teams now!

Ye Huasong smiled and pointed to the large screen in front: "The supervisors from the association are watching, and if it’s not up to standards, they will object."

Ye Huasong directly asked the association supervisors whether the rules proposed by Changping violated any regulations.

"It doesn’t violate any," the association supervisor said, "You can choose not to compete, and this match will be treated as a loss."

Triple-India Contestant: "..."

They were furious, this was so suppressing!

"You have three minutes to consider. If there are no objections in three minutes, the match will officially begin." The supervisor was getting displeased with the repeated doubts from the Triple-India contestants.

With their mentor absent, the Triple-India contestants had to discuss among themselves.

After their discussion, the captain said begrudgingly, "We have no objections."

"Alright, then let me explain today’s match rules and theme," Ye Huasong added.

After explaining the rules and theme, Ye Huasong glanced at the time: "The cooking time is one hour. Before that, you have 15 minutes to pick out ingredients in the room next door."

"I’m counting down," Ye Huasong began the countdown, "10... 3, 2, 1!"

The people from Triple-India were the first to rush out.

Ye Fei and the other two had no intention of giving way to the Triple-India people; they were simply familiar with the layout, knowing what they needed, and didn’t need to rush out noisily.

Once the Triple-India contestants exited, the captain began to plot again.

Hoping to find a chance to pass a message to their mentor.

But unexpectedly, Changping was well-prepared, placing a row of Changping staff at the door, forming a human wall.

This not only supervised them but also directed the contestants towards the other room with the ingredients.

Changping’s staff left only that direction open.

As the Triple-India captain peered towards the other side, Changping’s staff pretended not to notice his intention, saying, "The ingredients room is over there."

Captain: "..."

He dared not delay; after all, the competition was more important.

If they lost this time and performed poorly, whether he would get another chance to compete was uncertain.

The captain pulled himself together and hurried to the ingredients room to pick supplies.

Changping’s students had already reached the ingredients room, directly heading to the section where their needed items were, quickly making their selections.

Seeing this, the Triple-India contestants felt even more unfairness.

They already knew the theme.

This was an unfair competition!

But there’s no choice; the rules were set like this.

Changping didn’t break any rules.

Actually, this was the purpose of being the defenders.

Both sides have certain advantages.

They fully utilized their resources to guard their badge or compete for the badge.

The Triple-India contestants only saw Changping’s advantage in this match, forgetting that their team was also defending in Triple-India, creating even more excessive advantages for themselves.

Being a defender naturally means exerting all efforts to guard the badge.

Ye Fei and the others gathered their materials and returned.

The people from Triple-India seized every opportunity, unwilling even a minute early to return.

Finally, they returned to the cooking table right on time.

Ye Huasong started timing again: "Start the competition!"

Ye Fei first deboned the chicken legs, using the bones along with fish bones, wrapped in cloth, placed into water for simmering.

She only added a bit of salt to the soup for seasoning.

The rest of the umami flavor came sufficiently from the ingredients themselves.

Japanese cuisine emphasizes returning to the natural taste of the ingredients.

The soup was simmering slowly on the side.

Ye Fei minced the deboned chicken meat, stirring it constantly to make it sticky and adhesive.

Then she blanched the chicken skin to remove excess fat, followed by multiple rinses in cool water.

The chicken skin became completely de-greased and extremely elastic.

Afterwards, she minced the chicken skin into fine particles and mixed them into the chicken paste.

She then added chopped scallions, starch, miso, eggs, and mirin to the meat mixture.

After mixing evenly, she formed the mixture into meatballs.

Afterwards, she set aside the meatballs and peeled a white radish, cutting it into three pieces of about seven to eight centimeters thick.

She placed the three pieces of white radish into the simmering soup.

She also added matsutake and shimeji mushrooms to the soup.

The unique umami of the matsutake and shimeji mushrooms slowly infused into the simmering soup.

The umami flavors from the simmering chicken bones and fish bones blended together and infused back into the mushrooms.

Gradually, they seeped into the white radish.

The white radish cooked quickly until soft, absorbing the soup’s flavor like a sponge.

Finally, Ye Fei took out the wrapped package of chicken and fish bones and added the chicken meatballs into the pot.

As it simmered, she skimmed the froth meticulously.

The white radish absorbed the soup, turning into a light tan color.

An advantage of soup is that it can be continuously simmered, enhancing the flavor over time.

No need to worry about prolonged cooking time affecting texture.

Preparing it too early might lose the optimal serving time.

Ye Fei let the soup continue to simmer, timing the final three minutes to ladle the soup into bowls.

Three judges, three bowls of soup.

Each bowl held two chicken meatballs, a piece of radish, two slices of matsutake, and a cluster of shimeji mushrooms.

"Time’s up!" With Ye Huasong’s words, all contestants ceased their actions.

Ye Fei had just finished arranging the soup’s ingredients perfectly in the bowl.

Meanwhile, the large screen on the wall transitioned into a picture-in-picture mode.

The supervisor’s feed minimized to the upper right corner.

The main screen switched to the judges’ room next door.

Changping’s staff brought all the contestants’ dishes to the judges’ table.

In front of each judge, two bowls were initially placed: one white and one black.

"The judging involves pairs, with no scores, just voting for the black bowl or the white bowl," Guo Wenbo said.

Sharuk first picked up the white bowl in front of him, discreetly touching the bottom with his fingers.

Guo Wenbo laughed: "The reason we use colors for distinction this time is because there are no tags on the bottom of the bowls, avoiding any accidental touching of tags that reveal the contestants’ names."

Sharuk: "..."

Hua Country people, so cunning!

The smooth bottom of the bowl had no tag, so he could only give up.

Three rounds of tasting, with each round being immediately followed by results.

Ultimately, the three judges each voted with six votes for the white bowl and three votes for the black bowl; the white bowl prevailed.

Sharuk and the others anxiously looked at Guo Wenbo.

So, which side did they choose?

"Don’t look at me; I don’t know either. I’m here with you in this room," Guo Wenbo shrugged.