However, Hoshino Sora had no clue at the moment.
"Remember the name of the person who defeated you, I am Kui Dou."
As soon as he entered the kitchen, the burly man looked at the extraordinarily handsome Hoshino Sora and spoke.
His eyes were filled with confidence; ever since he heard that someone in Baiwei City had issued a challenge to heroes across the land, with cooking utensils as the stakes, he had rushed there without stopping.
He had originally arrived last night, but because it was too late, the shop had already closed for business. Helpless, he could only make do for a night at a nearby inn and rushed over early the next morning.
"My name is Hoshino Sora, and I am the one who will win. That area over there is for you. Feel free to use any ingredients in the kitchen. If you have your own ingredients, you can use them, or even have someone buy them for you."
Hoshino Sora also spoke confidently, then occupied the left side of the kitchen, arranging various ingredients on the cutting board. Looking at the ingredients before him, his entire aura changed in an instant.
"No need, the ingredients here are already enough!"
He shook his head. Since Hoshino Sora wasn't going to use outside ingredients, he wasn't going to take advantage of him either. He decided to compete under equal conditions, as only such a victory could prove his strength!
"Then let's use the ingredients here."
Hoshino Sora stopped speaking after that, turning to look at the ingredients before him and began to ponder. Set meal, what kind of set meal could make the dishes within it complement each other?
Wait, perhaps there's no need to make a complex set meal.
Suddenly, a thought flashed through Hoshino Sora's mind. He then quickly went to the ingredient area and picked up two large pork knuckles. These were mutated black pig knuckles, considered a third-level ingredient on the Gourmet Continent.
It was at this moment that he had an idea: he would make Honey Glazed Pork Knuckle!
No sooner said than done!
He singed the pig hair off the knuckles with fire. At this point, the knuckles looked black, until they were thoroughly cleaned, revealing the slightly yellowish pig skin after roasting.
After rinsing them clean again, he used a small knife to scrape the surface clean, then tied the pig knuckles with cotton string, making sure the pig skin wrapped around the meat, bound in a tortoise shell knot, tightly secured!
He placed the pig trotters in cold water, added green onions, ginger, and cooking wine, brought it to a boil, cooked for ten minutes, turned off the heat, and let it soak in the pot for twenty minutes. Then, he took out the trotters, rinsed them clean, and completely dried them with kitchen paper.
He heated a wok with plenty of oil. Once the oil temperature rose, he pricked the completely dried pig trotter skin with small holes, brushed it with lemon water, and put it into the oil. He fried it until both sides were golden brown and resembled tiger skin, then removed and set aside.
For a moment, there was a continuous crackling sound in the pot. The color of the pig trotters was transforming, becoming incredibly golden, emitting enticing aromas.
Even if he didn't cook further, it was already delicious enough!
But Hoshino Sora couldn't use such a semi-finished dish for the competition. He left some oil in the pot, then added rock sugar and slowly stir-fried it over medium-low heat until melted.
When the sugar was completely melted and began to slightly smoke, he quickly poured in two bowls of boiling water, then switched from medium-low to medium heat, stirred with a ladle until fully incorporated, and set aside.
He placed the crispy golden pork knuckle into another pot, added enough water to cover the knuckle, and put in the special broth, rock sugar, Sichuan peppercorns, caoguo, cardamom, cinnamon, bay leaves, dried tangerine peel, star anise, green onions, ginger, and garlic. He brought it to a boil over high heat and continued to boil for 5 minutes.
After that, he opened the lid, poured in the stir-fried sugar color, added the honey sauce, then closed the lid. He poured a circle of Huadiao wine on top of the lid and simmered for about forty minutes.
After forty minutes, he opened the lid, added salt, white pepper, sugar, light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, and the special seasoning brought from the "Roasting" Tribe to enhance the meat aroma. He added boiling water again to cover the knuckle, then continued to cook over medium heat for thirty minutes before serving.
While the Honey Glazed Pork Knuckle was simmering, Hoshino Sora was not idle. He quickly prepared a Yiner Red Date Pear Compote. The main dish of the set meal was ready; he needed a dessert to make the guests even more satisfied.
Although this set meal was somewhat different from what he initially envisioned, strictly speaking, it only consisted of one dish.
However, this was harmless. The taste of this large meat with rice would definitely not disappoint, comparable to a set meal made by stacking countless dishes.
Thinking of this, Hoshino Sora fried a few more tiger-skin quail eggs, then added them to the pot where the Honey Glazed Pork Knuckle was simmering, cooking them in the honey sauce to infuse them with the meat's aroma.
Time passed, and a rich aroma wafted from the stew pot. The Yiner Red Date Pear Compote also gurgled beside it. Hoshino Sora lifted the lid, inverted the rice onto a silver plate beside it, then placed the tender, fall-off-the-bone Honey Glazed Pork Knuckle on top of the rice.
Wearing gloves, with a slight effort, the trotters were easily deboned. The skin was reddish, the meat was tender, completely boneless, with no trace of meat fibers remaining. The appearance was truly exquisite!
Of course, this step was not the complete form. Looking at the sauce in the pot, Hoshino Sora used a slotted spoon to remove all the residue inside, then quickly stirred it with a ladle, then thickened it with a bowl of cornstarch slurry, quickly reducing this collagen-rich sauce. After that, he added a spoonful of hot oil.
This was the so-called "bright oil and glossy starch"!
"This looks really good. It reminds me of the first time I went to your shop, and the competition we had.
At that time, your pig trotter rice was so bad, yet your crispy pork knuckle was on par with mine, making me your maid for so many days."
Unbeknownst to him, Erina Nakiri had already arrived in the kitchen. Looking at the Honey Glazed Pork Knuckle rice on the countertop and smelling its rich aroma, her mouth watered uncontrollably.
Even the God Tongue was salivating, and the waiting guests outside were craning their necks, eager to know what kind of dish the people inside were cooking.
"It seems I finished my dish first, so I'll go first."
Looking at Hoshino Sora, who was still making final preparations, Kui Dou spoke, holding a large plate. Battle intent surged in his eyes; while making his own dish, he was also constantly paying attention to his opponent's movements.
"Rainbow Seafood Rice Bowl, please enjoy."
As the dish was placed on the table, a rich aroma permeated the air, so strong that even the silver serving cover couldn't contain it. This made the restaurant's customers salivate, their eyes fixated on the plate.
"This is a Rainbow Seafood Rice Bowl that I made using shrimp, scallops, crab meat, fish fillets, clams, squid, and octopus as main ingredients, supplemented with ingredients like green peas. It gathers most of the ocean's essence, and I hope everyone will enjoy it."
Seeing everyone's eager expressions, Kui Dou smiled proudly, then proactively lifted the cover in front of him. As he had said, the Rainbow Seafood Rice Bowl used a total of seven main ingredients and countless seasonings.
"It looks so luxurious! To use seven fresh and flavorful ingredients to cook a single dish, what a grand gesture! I never thought I'd get to eat such a dish in my lifetime."
A local resident, looking at the luxurious seafood rice bowl in front of him, exclaimed. If it weren't for these two people needing judges for their competition, he estimated he would never get to eat such a good dish in his life.
A dish of this caliber would sell for at least dozens of silver coins in a restaurant, which is several months' income for an ordinary family. A truly remarkable chef has come to this competition.
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