Chapter 148: Untitled

I tripped you. If you have the guts, you should fall down by yourself. Don’t implicate Madam Du.

Yan Ruyu could indeed not implicate Madam Du, but that would cause her to fall very badly. Her instinctive reaction at the critical moment made Yan Ruyu choose to protect herself to the greatest extent. In the end, the two of them fell and even cost Madam Du for the jar of the best rose brine that she had carefully prepared.

Yu Wan’s movements were really hidden, so if she said that she didn’t knock it over, then she really didn’t. If Yan Ruyu insisted on pinning the blame on Yu Wan, then that was no different from the “unreasonable” everyone said.

Yan Ruyu suffered a loss in silence. The rose brine was gone, and her clothes were dirty. However, she had nowhere to seek justice, so she could only hold back her anger and pull Madam Du back to the room to change.

“Madam Du, is there any more of the rose brine you made in the manor? I’ll get someone to bring it over immediately,” Yan Ruyu said to Madam Du after suppressing her anger and changing her clothes.

Madam Du shook her head. “This is the only jar that has been brewed.”

It was not so easy to make rose brine. One needed newly picked rose petals. However, roses bloomed in summer. She had spent a lot of effort to get a basket of petals from someone’s greenhouse, but she had only made a small jar.

“Then what should we do?” Yan Ruyu frowned. Although their rose brine was gone and the Yu family’s ingredients were gone, it was better to be safe than sorry. It was not a good thing to lose a sharp weapon in battle, not to mention that there was also a chef from the Wei Yuan Inn.

The Wei Yuan Inn did not have the Second Prince’s connections. They had relied on their strength to enter the top three. If she did not want to lose to the Yu family, could she lose to other families?

Yan Ruyu said in frustration, “When the sandpiper and clam fight, the fisherman benefits. In that case, wouldn’t it benefit the Wei Yuan Inn?”

“Actually.” Madam Du paused, as if she had made up her mind. “I still have one more ingredient that I plan to use when I fight Master.”

Yan Ruyu’s eyes lit up. “What is it? Is it more likely to win than rose brine?”

Madam Du nodded. “My master personally made the brine.”

In this round, the chefs were allowed to use their own ingredients. There was no rule that they had to make the ingredients themselves. For example, the stinky tofu that Uncle chose was made by Yu Wan. Therefore, there was nothing wrong with Madam Du taking out Master Bao’s brine.

The worry and depression in Yan Ruyu’s heart were all washed away. She said with a smile, “How can the things made by Chef Bao be compared to two ordinary chefs? Madam Du, we will definitely win this round!”

In the simple room in the back, the Yu family was at their wits’ end. When Bai Tang and Shopkeeper Cui heard the commotion, they quickly rushed over.

Everyone sat around the table and looked at each other.

“What should I do? Say something. Do you need me to buy something?” Miss Bai said generously.

“We’re allowed to use it, but it’s not necessary,” Yu Feng muttered. “I saw them add a few more ingredients. The chicken, duck, and fish are all there.”

Bai Tang said excitedly, “It’s better than not using it! Eh? Although Qingfeng Hall has been eliminated, their spices are top-notch. Why don’t I buy some?”

Yu Feng added, “There’s no need. We can also make the spices at the venue.”

Bai Tang’s face darkened. Was it really good to reject a woman again and again?

“Don’t let the Wei Yuan Inn take advantage of the internal strife between the two of you,” Shopkeeper Cui said. “It’s definitely not a coincidence that you were able to overcome all the difficulties to reach this point.”

Everyone understood this logic, but since the fermented bean curd was gone, it was too late to go back to the village to get it.

Master Qin wrung his hands. It wasn’t easy for him to reach this step. He was about to have a chance to break out of the encirclement, but he accidentally let someone take away the ingredients. His heart ached!

“Actually…” Yu Wan said weakly,” I brought an ingredient.”

“Bean curd?” Master Qin perked up.

Yu Wan shook her head.

“Stinky tofu?” Bai Tang asked with wide eyes.

Yu Wan continued to shake her head.

“I got it, your family’s brine!”

The old brine was a good thing. It was made from dozens of spices and had been stored for many days. The older the marinade, the more fragrant it became. Even the bones of the marinade were fragrant.

Of course, there was old brine in the Yu family. It was even made by Uncle himself. There was nothing to say about the taste. However, what Yu Wan brought over was not the braised food made by her uncle.

Yu Wan took out a jar.

Bai Tang couldn’t wait to open the jar lid. A smell that was even more terrifying than stinky tofu wafted out. The entire room was dizzy from the stench!

… .

Today’s last round of competition was destined to be the center of attention. The founder of the five signature dishes faced off against Madam Du. The two of them were both from Tianxiang Restaurant, and it was another ethical drama of “former colleagues” fighting. The unknown black horse Chef of the Wei Yuan Inn was even more bizarre than the two of them. However, the plagiarism storm had yet to pass, and everyone still paid more attention to Chef Yu and Madam Du.

“Madam Du will definitely win.” In the hall, someone decided.

“How do you know she’ll definitely win? Didn’t she even drop the rose brine?” It was Bai Tang who spoke. She was not polite when she choked.

A middle-aged man who knew the situation said, “Little girl, you don’t know this, do you? Madam Du used her trump card. That thing is thousands of times better than her rose brine!”

Bai Tang scoffed in disdain. “Thousands of times better? Even a bull can’t brag like that!”

The middle-aged man was not angry. He sighed with emotion and said, “It’s brine personally brewed by Chef Bao. It’s said to be decades old. Even if Madam Du closed her eyes, it’s impossible for her to lose.”

“…” Bai Tang couldn’t say anything else because even she thought that the Yu family had no chance of winning.

… .

This round was the same as previous rounds. But during the cooking process, they could use their own ingredients. The ingredients were not limited to condiments, so they could even bring a pair of bear paws over.

The three chefs left the open-air stove and were arranged to go to a separate kitchen. The customers could not see them cooking, so they became even more anxious and guessed what they had cooked.

“Do you smell it? It smells so good!” A guest on the second floor said.

The old man beside him sniffed. “My old nose, which has been malfunctioning for many years, can smell it too.”

“It’s the aroma of old braised meat,” said an eliminated chef.

The old man was surprised. “Could it be that Madam Du is cooking? She really used Master Bao’s old brine?”

Just the smell of this brine fragrance was enough to make one drool. He really didn’t know how delicious the dishes made from it were.

Gulp ~

Everyone’s stomach growled.

The entire Tianxiang Restaurant was invaded by this braised fragrance. The imperial chefs were actually a little impatient. There was also a fragrance coming from the kitchen of the Wei Yuan Inn, but before it could disperse, it was covered by this old braised fragrance.

The kitchen door of the Drunken Immortal Pavilion was closed. No one knew what they were cooking that needed to hide it.

Soon, the first dish was served. It was an exquisite crispy duck with a sauce-colored skin that was shiny and emitted a crispy fragrance that made one’s fingers itch. The duck had been fried in oil, frying the skin until it was crispy. It locked the juice in the duck meat well. The skin was crispy, and the oil under the skin was juicy. However, the meat inside was so tender that it could burst with juice.

Even an immortal would be mesmerized by this rich taste.

The time and temperature of the frying were very important. If there was even a little more, the juice in the meat would dry up, and the meat would become old and dry. The key to this dish was to preserve the juice of the duck meat to the greatest extent.

Brine was also very important. Once the brine was ready, the aftertaste would last.

Other than that, this crispy duck was different from other crispy ducks. Its surface was smeared with a layer of honey. The slightly sweet texture, coupled with the crispy duck skin, and coupled with the fresh and juicy duck meat, the braised fragrance and the fragrance of the honey intertwined between the teeth and teeth. It really made the savory braised meat sweet.

“It’s rare.”

The four imperial chefs gave extremely high praise.

The second dish was a traditional braised pork knuckle with sauce. It was glossy and fragrant.

It was another dish that had been braised, but it was different from the slightly sweet taste of the crispy duck. The texture of the braised pork knuckle was standard, but strangely, every detail was done to the extreme. The skin of the meat was stewed until it was soft and mushy. When the plate moved, it trembled like crystal clear gelatin. The meat was especially tender, and the bones fell off when the chopsticks picked it up.

It was neither dry nor greasy. It was fragrant at first and spicy later, but it was spicy and not dry.

“Looks like they use old braised marinade,” said one of the imperial chefs.

His companion said, “I heard that it’s the legendary old braised marinade.”

“Is that so?” The imperial chef looked puzzled.

To be able to compete all the way until now, their culinary skills were indeed extraordinary. The imperial chefs began to look forward to the third dish.

The third dish was tightly covered. The waiter who served it used a cloth to cover his mouth and nose. The imperial chefs looked at the waiter strangely and thought to themselves, Are we sick, or are you sick?

The waiter placed the earthen jar on the table. He took a deep breath and calmly lifted the lid.

The imperial chefs… The imperial chefs were immediately blown off their chairs!