Chapter 375

Chapter 375: Conflict

Those who had just entered the banquet hall were, naturally, the six people including Wu Hai and Ling Hong. Seeing Yuan Zhou turn his head and look at them, Tang Xi even waved her hand, greeting him excitedly.

“Hi, Boss Yuan.” Tang Xi moved her lips without making any sound out.

When he saw Chu Xiao’s manner of “I’m going to act cool now”, Yuan Zhou stepped toward the door decidedly.

Yuan Zhou was right.Chu Xiao really intended to act cool.

“More precisely, this thing should be called Zanthoxylum schinifolium. And there are truly differences between the two of them.” Even before others agreed with him, Chu Xiao straightforwardly started to say.

“Master Chu, I just mentioned that. It indeed has a name of Zanthoxylum schinifolium.” The chef wearing glasses said with a frown. He wasn’t a person easy to deal with, either.

“I’m going to talk about the differences between the two of them. If you know that, you can also say it by yourself.” Chu Xiao reached out his hand and made a gesture of “Go ahead”.

The chef in glasses didn’t look good. He turned his head and looked at the three judges.

“Let him speak. Let’s see what he can tell. But Master Liu, what you said is also right.” The middle-aged man with his nameplate Great Gourmet on the table took a look at Chu Xiao with a funny gaze and then said to the chef in glasses softly.

“Fine. Let’s listen to the enlightening remarks of Master Chu.” The chef in glasses gnashed his teeth while speaking.

“Thank you.” Chu Xiao first nodded his head to express his gratitude and then uttered.

“Zanthoxylum schinifolium is the dry peel of the green pepper of Rutaceae. It’s mostly used for medicine. They are 2 or 3 fruit pods that are schizogenous at the upper part. The diameter is 3-4mm with the top having a small and short proboscis.”

“The surface of the outer peel takes on a greyish green, yellowish green, or brownish green color. It has a reticulate pattern and small oil glands, most of which are sagged; the endocarp is smooth, greyish white or light yellow. It is separated from the outer peel or just curls up. The oval-shaped seeds remain a glossy black color. The smell is fragrant while the taste is slightly sweet with a spicy aftertaste. This is just the basic knowledge of the Zanthoxylum schinifolium.”

Chu Xiao said that without ceasing.

“As for the red wilder pepper, it’s the dry peel of the wild pepper of Rutaceae, used for both food and medicine. It is a kind of spherical fruit pod which splits from the top along the abdominal dorsal slit which takes on the shape of a double disc with one same base. The diameter is 4 or 5mm. At the base of the fruit, there is a small fruit stem and 1-2 undeveloped petal-shaped cores.”

“The outer peel is reddish brown or magenta and will shrink. It has dotted bulges and sagging oil glands while the endocarp is smooth, light yellow and thinly leathery. Usually, it’s separated from the outer peel at the base and curls up. However the remaining seeds are black in color and contain a special fragrance. The taste is spicy and hot, lasting for a long while.”

“So the two kinds of wild pepper have great differences on the aspects of both appearance and texture,” Chu Xiao concluded affirmatively.

“Even so, I’m not wrong.” the chef in glasses felt his own explanation was only simple rather than wrong.

“Your greatest mistake now is to say you are not wrong.” Chu Xiao turned his head and looked at the chef in glasses and then he continued, “Due to the different texture, the two kinds of wilder pepper are suitable for cooking different dishes.”

“The red peppercorns have a strong taste and thus is suitable for cooking dishes with a heavy peppery taste and spicy flavor. For example, the Spicy Chicken. In contrast, the Zanthoxylum schinifolium is suitable for cooking not only numb-tasting dishes but also dishes with a refreshing fragrance. For example, the Wok-Fried Pork with Chili.” Chu Xiao said unhurriedly word by word.

“Master Chu, you really have a unique hobby,” the man in glasses said, gnashing his teeth.

The hobby mentioned by the man in glasses was naturally about the matter of counteracting his words. Right after that, he turned around, opened the door and then left.

“Sir, the rest area is right ahead.” The serving girl at the door said smilingly.

“No need. I’m getting my car and leaving.” The man in glasses himself felt ashamed to stay here longer.

He was wrong at the very first one and was furthermore ridiculed for no reason. Naturally, he was reluctant to stay here longer.

“Anything that’s too stiff is easy to break.” Lee Yanyi said thoughtfully after the chef in glasses left. No one knew if he was talking about Chu Xiao that failed to show restraint or the chef in glasses that had left.

“Show me the second one. It’s my turn.” Chu Xiao didn’t care about the deeds of the man in glasses, but instead started to urge the serving girl.

The second ingredient was ordinary bean sprouts that contained some uncommon points. Coincidentally, the opening topic for Yuan Zhou was the tofu while the first one for Chu Xiao was bean sprouts.

“Boss Yuan, that person is so arrogant!” Tang Xi that had watched the contest all along said to Yuan Zhou with a low voice.

“Um. He’s very confident.” Yuan Zhou nodded his head.

“This guy must be Chu Xiao. When did he come back from abroad?” Ling Hong suddenly broke in.

“Do you know him?” Yuan Zhou didn’t actually know Chu Xiao, therefore he just felt indifferent to this person. Of course, even if Yuan Zhou knew him, he wouldn’t feel he was special.

What a joke! However awesome Chu Xiao was, had he ever seen the Xiang pig from Wuzhi Mountain, the Mangalica, and the extinct beef with fragrance? And also top-notch mountain spring water free from any pollution used just for cleaning vegetables?

Besides that, Yuan Zhou’s culinary skills were also very good. Life or death is of no importance, if one is challenged, one should take it on.

Therefore, Yuan Zhou wasn’t afraid of him at all, even if this person had great fame. After all, with the opportunity offered by the system plus his own efforts, Yuan Zhou believed that he was even more awesome.

“Of course. This guy is the best painter among his peers.” Ling Hong pointed to Wu Hai and then continued, “As for cooking, it must be this Master Chu, Chu Xiao. He’s way too famous.”

“Have you ever tasted it?” Wu Hai was fairly curious about this question.

“Only once. I waited for 8 months only before I got my turn.” Ling Hong nodded his head without doubt.

“How’s the taste?” Wu Hai said to the point.

Yuan Zhou just looked at Chu Xiao lightly, not revealing any nervousness on his face. Nonetheless, it contrarily made Ling Hong who intended to tell the story bit by bit a little speechless.

“Say something about it.” Man Man asked curiously at the side.

“I think it is definitely not as good as Boss Yuan’s dishes.” Tang Xi pouted her lips and revealed a manner of “Yuan Zhou is the most awesome”

“You are right. It is indeed not as good as Boss Yuan’s. However, he is absolutely not inferior to Boss Yuan on the aspect of craftsmanship,” Ling Hong sighed and said that.

“If his dishes aren’t as good as Boss Yuan’s, his craftsmanship is naturally inferior to that of Boss Yuan.” Tang Xi said angrily.

“No. I just feel the good taste of Boss Yuan’s dishes is not only displayed in craftsmanship.” Ling Hong brought out his thought.

“Thank you for your compliment.” Yuan Zhou added timely.

“Anyway, I feel Boss Yuan’s dishes are the best. Wait, that guy is to going to start now. Boss Yuan, please hurry up and see if he’s really that awesome.” Tang Xiao shouted with a low voice.

“Go ahead. Know the enemy and know yourself, and then you can fight a hundred battles without defeat.” Man Man made a gesture of “Come on”.

“Go.” Then, the customers that came to watch said with one accord.

“This scene is really like ‘Go, Pikachu’.” Yuan Zhou suddenly thought of that in his heart.

As if he would really become the cute animal that was able to discharge electricity after he went there.

Yuan Zhou concentrated to get rid of the terrible thought and then walked forward steadily to see how Chu Xiao judged the ingredient.

Just now, the chef in glasses had used the most ordinary way, that was, to judge it carefully by looking, smelling, asking, and feeling the pulse like in traditional Chinese medical science.

Nevertheless, Chu Xiao walked up to the designated place and straightforwardly uttered after staying there for about 20 second.

“The bean sprouts are made from spring soybean as the raw material. It takes six days to sprout. When it sprouts, the casement cloth is used to cover it. However, the odor is too strong. I suggest you should use the tasteless cambric.” Chu Xiao said only these sentences.

Just by that, however, he was already way too cool. The bean sprouts itself would emit strong fragrance of soybean and also the taste of fermentation. The casement cloth was even used to cover these bean sprouts used for the contest. Normally, there wouldn’t be any taste at all.

Under such circumstances, Chu Xiao could tell it used spring soybean and casement cloth. One could imagine how awesome he was just by that.

However, Yuan Zhou sometimes had some devilish interests. Now that it was his turn to say something, he decided to act cool.

Yuan Zhou, “…”