Chapter 52 - 52: Scoring Competition Theme
“”The voting begins.”
Upon hearing these four words, Tang Xie’s waist stiffened in an instant.
A look of anticipation surfaced on his face.
The countless scenes of him and his Food Spirit practicing the Dragon and Phoenix Carving over the past two days, at this moment, kept flashing in his mind.
The high winning rate Tang Xie managed to maintain in dozens of Food Fights in the past owed to the tricks and strategies he came up with, but it was mainly due to the fact that he prioritized every Food Fight and carried out extensive preparation before each one.
Not to mention, the opponent of this Food Fight was a novice Spiritual chef who beat him at Zhen Niu Pavilion, even though they were not well-known.
To recoup a victory, Tang Xie strived harder than ever before.
This Dragon and Phoenix Carving was his answer!
He, Tang Xie, was still the perennial winner of Food Fights!
This Food Fight was bound to be his victory!
“I vote for Qin Lang.”
A voice rang out at this moment, like a bucket of cold water pouring over Tang Xie’s head.
Tang Xie’s expression froze, he couldn’t help but look at the judge who had just spoken.
He vaguely recalled. This judge’s surname was Zhang, who had previously participated in a few of his Food Fight evaluations.
Judge Zhang…voted for Qin Lang?
Why?
Judge Zhang noticed Tang Xie’s puzzled expression but didn’t reply.
The Dragon and Phoenix Carving was not to his taste, he was unsatisfied with it, there needn’t be so many reasons why.
Without getting an answer, Tang Xie quickly composed himself, and looked at Judge Li, who was sitting next to Judge Zhang, expectantly.
Out of all five judges present, he was most familiar with this one.
During a private encounter, Judge Li even said with a smile that he had high hopes for him.
His vote should…
“I also vote for Qin Lang.”
The familiar voice of Judge Li sounded, like another bucket of cold water pouring on Tang Xie’s head.
Tang Xie was somewhat stunned.
Qin Lang got the second vote…
Even Judge Li, who was most familiar with him and had high hopes for him, cast his vote for Qin Lang?!
“I also vote for Qin Lang.”
Bypassing Huang Shu, who was the main judge, the serene voice of Judge Qi sounded from the other side.
Three votes…
The result of this Food Fight was already apparent.
“I…”
Judge Zhou, on the other side, showed a moment of hesitation.
The sophistication of the Dragon and Phoenix Carving was in no way inferior to the Crab-Stuffed Orange and was even superior in some ways.
The vivid dragon and phoenix gave him a sense of enlightenment.
Although the taste of Qin Lang’s dish was better, in Judge Zhou’s mind, it only made them evenly matched.
Looking at the three judges who had already voted, Judge Zhou knew his vote was unimportant.
After a moment of contemplation, he made his decision.
It can be seen as a consolation vote.
“I vote for Tang Xie.”
However, Tang Xie was not consoled.
There was only one thought in his mind at this moment.
What kind of dish did Qin Lang create?!
“The last vote goes to Qin Lang.” Huang Shu calmly said, “The voting has concluded. The participants may now exchange dishes for tasting. If there are objections after tasting, they may be put forward.”
Unconcerned about the final vote, upon hearing these words, Tang Xie quickly turned his gaze to Qin Lang.
Or rather, to the dish in Qin Lang’s hand.
“Crab-Stuffed Orange, please enjoy.” Qin Lang calmly said, handing the plate in his hand to Tang Xie.
“Dragon and Phoenix Carving, please enjoy.” Tang Xie took a deep breath, took out the plate prepared for Qin Lang from his kitchen cabinet car, and exchanged it.
The mutual tasting between the Food Fight participants began at that moment.
Qin Lang took the dish known as Dragon and Phoenix Carving from Tang Xie’s hand, his eyes expressing a touch of surprise.
From afar, he had noticed the exceptional presentation of Tang Xie’s dish.
Now, up close, even he felt astounded.
Dragon and Phoenix Carving is a soup dish.
Within the clear and unpolluted soup, there is a cucumbert that had been intricately carved into a green dragon. The fine carvings even include the textures on every scale, making it look lifelike, as if it were a dragon swimming beneath the water.
On the surface of the soup, a phoenix is drawn. The phoenix has a strong sense of layering as if it’s a vivid ink painting. The phoenix spreads its wings to interact with the green dragon in the soup, as if they are greeting each other.
On Earth, in the art of coffee making, there is a skill called Latte Art that creates patterns on the surface of coffee.
As early as the Tang and Song dynasties, the east already had a more sophisticated tea technique, called Tea Play.
In contrast to Latte Art, Tea Play is better suited to presenting traditional patterns such as landscapes and birds.
What Qin Lang is witnessing now is a technique originating from the Food Spirit World that is similar to Tea Play.
Such an interesting technique.
Curiously, Qin Lang picked up a spoon, scooped up a spoonful of soup and tasted it.
The next moment, his expression became a bit strange.
This dish…
Perhaps due to the technique used, the soup in Dragon and Phoenix Carving was quite thick.
But this thick soup, there did not seem to be much highlight in terms of taste.
So, this dish has a high aesthetic quality, but taste-wise, it was pretty average.
It was not even comparable to the Beef Fruit Package that Tang Xie had cooked before.
Qin Lang quietly put down the dish dubbed Dragon and Phoenix Carving.
This dish is nice to look at, but that’s all.
On the other hand, Tang Xie had also tasted Qin Lang’s Crab-Stuffed Orange.
As he ate, the ambiguity in his heart gradually faded.
This dish also fits the theme of “exquisite”, but it’s much better than his own.
Losing to such a dish was not a disgrace.
Before the cooking competition began, discovering such a formidable opponent was indeed…
Tang Xie felt a bit helpless, but his desire to fight grew stronger.
He had lost twice now, but there should be more opportunities in the cooking competition.
Next time, he will not lose again!
“Do either of you contest the result of the Food Fight?” Huang Shu asked once again.
“No.” Tang Xie shook his head without hesitation.
On the other side, Qin Lang also indicated that he had no objections.
“Both sides of the Food Fight have no objections to the vote. So, I declare the winner of this Food Fight as Qin Lang!”
Accompanied by Huang Shu’s declaration, a shining light gathered in the sky, splitting into two and flying towards Qin Lang and Tang Xie.
Dan Bao cheered as it rushed to receive the Star Power that belonged to it.
At this moment, both Qin Lang and Tang Xie’s phones rang simultaneously.
Qin Lang picked up his phone and saw that it was a new email.
The sender of this email was the organizer of the Spirit Chef Association’s Cooking Contest.
The content of the email was to inform the Spirit Chefs participating in the competition about the theme of the first round of the Scoring Competition two days later.
The theme for the first round of the Scoring Competition is Vegetables.
“You and I probably received the same email.” Tang Xie took the initiative to speak, his eyes looking at Qin Lang filled with a challenging spirit, “Would you like to compete again in the scoring competition two days later?”
“Vegetables, I am very good at that.”
Qin Lang looked at the email again and smiled subtly.
Vegetables, huh…
Very coincidentally, 1 am also quite good at it.
“Sure.”
End of chapter bonus content:
[Latte Art]
[Tea Play]