Novel Bin Chapter 25 - Four Seasons Feast – Side A
[Miao Miao loves to eat all the dishes of the anchor: I’ve been waiting for so long! The anchor is the best! ]
[Listen to the reverberations around the beam: What is this Four Seasons Feast? It sounds so luxurious!]
[Gu Tiante: Same as above. Although I don’t understand what it means, it sounds very powerful! ]
[Three lives in ten nights: Hehehe, I’ve studied ancient Earth history so let me teach you. A feast is typically a family gathering where they are served with a table full of various dishes. However, I’ve only heard of this in class. I never expected to see it today. I’m so happy! ]
[Purple: I’ve also studied ancient earth history, but I’ve only heard of the Manchu Han Imperial Feast. I’ve never heard of the Four Seasons Feast.]
Since this was a formal assessment, it wasn’t the same as doing a live broadcast on the platform. Although Ruan Tang was wearing live lenses, it only served as a means for the audience to see his every move more clearly. He couldn’t see the comments of the audience in the live broadcast. This was also done so that the candidates wouldn’t be affected by the live chat during the assessment.
Therefore, Ruan Tang was unaware that the audience was having a heated discussion around the name of the Four Seasons Feast, and had simply just started cooking.
The first thing he prepared were two cold dishes. One was a cold cucumber salad and the other was a potato salad. The two cold dishes were very simple and classic appetizers.
It wasn’t difficult to make the cucumber salad. You only needed to smash open with the cleaver and slice the washed cucumbers, then stir them with sugar, vinegar and raw garlic. Considering that some people couldn’t eat spicy food, he only put a little bit of chili pepper. It was a little spicy, but definitely not unacceptable. For the sake of beauty, Ruan Tang also added some very finely sliced carrots. The verdant green was dotted with red, which made the dish look very harmonious and refreshing.
Ruan Tang divided the cold cucumber salad into two portions. One portion he placed in the freshness cabinet. This will be included in the overall feast for the audiences’ evaluation. The other would be sent to the judges and the audiences present for their initial assessment.
The audience kept watch in front of the cooking stage. They hadn’t even had time to get their chopsticks when they saw Ruan Tang place a portion of the cold cucumber salad inside the freshness cabinet. The smart robot walked towards the remaining portion to deliver it to President Gu and the others. The audience immediately raised a ruckus and quickly chased after the cucumber dish.
The judges were facing the direction of the cooking station, which was within the scope of the live broadcast, so the audience could also taste the food placed before the judges as long as they zoomed out a bit.
However, completing a dish in just three minutes caused some viewers to have some doubts.
[The lowly monk: Is it too perfunctory? Just put in some seasoning and it’s already a dish? Why don’t you just give us the cucumber as is and let us eat it ourselves?]
[Moon and Yellow Springs: The plating looks really good, but that doesn’t change the fact that this is just plain cucumbers!]
[Clear and Cold: To the two above, why don’t you taste it first before you speak? Just because it’s simple doesn’t mean it’s not delicious. Does every dish have to take half an hour to make?]
[Zigui: That’s right. You haven’t even tasted it yet and you’re already talking shit. It’s obviously delicious! ]
Several of the elders, upon seeing this seemingly-shabby first dish, grew hesitant as to whether they should start eating. While President Gu had already giddily picked up the spoon and without a trace of politeness took a large spoonful of cucumber from the plate.
The second one to reach out for the spoon was Ge Lao who presided over Ruan Tang’s two-star assessment. He also took a large spoonful and placed it on the small plate in front of him.
Under their influence, the others also hesitantly took a portion. However, they were still unconvinced and each only took a piece.
However, when they had their first taste of the cucumber, everyone couldn’t help but widen their eyes. The cucumber was very fresh, crisp and juicy. After mixing it with the sauce, it became even more delicious — sweet and sour, with a little bit of spiciness. Each chew was accompanied by a crunching sound. It made peoples’ mouths water. The more you ate, the more you want to eat.
The rest finally realized that simplicity didn’t mean that it didn’t taste good. They each quickly ladled out a portion and in the twinkling of an eye, the entire plate of cold cucumber salad was gone.
[Yi Ke Yue:! ! ! ! Why did you eat it so fast! I haven’t eaten enough yet! ]
[Moon Frost: So hateful! My cucumber! ]
The audience in the live broadcast suddenly let out anguished wails. Although they could taste the food simulated by the holographic data, if the food was gone, the data would also be gone. If you wanted to taste it again, you needed to wait until the last dish was finished and the audience was allowed to rate the entire arranged feast.
President Gu wiped his mouth and said solemnly, “It was delicious.”
[Shaliye: (╯‵ □ ‘) ╯ (┻━┻ We can taste it for ourselves, you don’t need to tell us!]
At this point, the potato salad was already finished.
The salad dressing was Ruan Tang’s own invention. The main ingredients were egg yolk, vegetable oil, white vinegar and white sugar. In order to make this salad dressing, he had contacted the Academy of Sciences especially and had asked the Academy President to help make an egg beater.
The Academy of Sciences was very efficient. The efficiency and speed of people in the future was beyond Ruan Tang’s imagination. The simple matter of the eggbeater, after listening to a description given by Ruan Tang, He Yun Yi came out with it in twenty minutes.
Ruan Tang had a very “let’s try it” mentality, and had asked him to help make a few things. He Yun Yi actually made all these one after another and he made them very quickly. Ruan Tang was quite surprised.
In order to get these things before 7:00, He Yun Chen had used his outfitted suspended car to fetch them.
Ruan Tang decided to make a lot of delicious dishes afterwards and send them to Marshal He and Academy President He.
Compared to the cold cucumber salad that appeared a bit shabby, this potato salad looked a lot better. The light yellow potatoes were topped with corn, carrots and peas, and then mixed with milky white salad dressing. It looked beautiful – fresh and rich in color.
[Yan Ting: It’s delicious! ! ! ! ! ]
[Tea Tea Pills: So awesome! (ˉ﹃ˉ) Is this spring? ]
In order to prevent the recurrence of the tragedy of having the food all gone before they could eat enough, the audience began to eat directly while Ruan Tang was still in the middle of plating. They continued to sigh in admiration as they ate.
Ruan Tang had used a steamer to cook the potatoes until it was soft. After mixing in the sweet and sour salad dressing, the taste gave an even sharper contrast.
Because they now had confidence in Ruan Tang’s skills from his initial performance, the judges didn’t hesitate anymore. After the dish was brought up, it was almost instantly divided, causing a lot of complaints from the audience.
Ruan Tang’s third dish was the scallion (oil) chicken. After cleaning the chicken, he drenched it with light soy sauce, and then added in sliced ginger and scallions as usual. He then put the whole chicken including the bowl into the pot. He covered it with the lid and let it cook for thirty minutes, until even the bones were stewed soft, before he fished it out.
While the chicken was cooking, he also heated a small amount of oil. He added chopped green onions and sautéed it until it was fragrant before filtering it out. He then added light soy sauce. This will be used as sauce later.
He carefully smeared the chicken with salt and pepper. After letting it cool down, he took the knife and cut the chicken into two halves. Then he cut each half into small pieces as wide as a thumb and placed them onto two plates. On top of the pale yellow chicken, he sprinkled plenty of chopped scallions, minced ginger and red chili peppers.
Finally, the simmering oil was slowly poured onto the chicken and a rich scent immediately poured out.
[Yu Chen: My God! ! ! This taste! ! This taste! ! ! ]
[Fat cat mom: It’s so delicious! ! ! [Facing the wind while crying.jpg]]
The densely aromatic chicken simply melted in their mouths. The meat was smooth, succulent and tender. Not only was the skin thin, but even the bones were crisp. Although a half pan of oil was poured over it, it didn’t feel greasy at all. On the contrary, because of the fragrance of the scallions and ginger, it seemed tasty and refreshing.
The judges made a mad scramble for this plate of chicken as soon as it landed on their table. Everyone ate with gusto, practically forgetting their duties as judges and only indulging in the delicious food.
[Can’t stop hugging trees: I envy these judges!]
[Joyful Yulin: Damn! I also want to be a judge, aaaahhhh]
At this time, Ruan Tang had begun to make the fourth dish. He never wasted any time. When he had just finished the scallion chicken, he was already processing the shrimp.
According to the number of judges present, he selected eight extra-large shrimps, shelled and deveined them before applying a layer of fine salt. He then washed and allowed them to drip dry. He then cut the vegetables and pineapple separately into small pieces.
Evidently, he was going to make pineapple shrimp balls. However, for the citizens of the future, fruit was something to be eaten raw. They never thought that fruits could also be used for cooking.
[Small Qin Qin: Hey? Isn’t that a pineapple? How come he came out with fruit? ]
[Early summer: It turns out you could actually cook fruit? I’ve eaten pineapple once before. It’s sour and sweet, and the taste is not bad!]
Due to the delightful surprise of the previous three dishes, no one questioned Ruan Tang’s methods, but instead looked forward to this dish.
The dish was also very simple to make. Shrimp is coated with a thin layer of starch, deep fried in hot oil, and then drained of excess oil using kitchen paper. The salad dressing mixed together with the sliced vegetables and pineapple was already prepared in a bowl. He tipped the shrimp in and slowly mixed well. Afterwards, he took out a flat and white porcelain plate and slowly spread the dish onto it.
The audience who followed him closely couldn’t hold back any longer. He hadn’t even mixed it thoroughly yet, when they had already ladled out big spoonfuls.
[Miao Miao loves to eat all the dishes of the anchor: – It’s! So! Good! I’m! Crying!]