Chapter 835 - Dish Decoration Competition?

Before mixing the beef and pork, Dean first cleaned his hands before seriously kneading the minced beef and pork step by step, turning them into meatballs.

In the process, eggs and black pepper were mixed in as well.

Clang! Clang! Dean took out some silver-colored round tools and inserted each of them into another round tool after inserting a piece of cheese into each of the meatballs.

One could see that each meatball fitted nicely into the round tool. With this, all meatballs would have similar size, looking like they were a product of mass manufacturing from a factory.

“Making same-sized meatballs manually? He’s good,” Jiang Meisi exclaimed in admiration.

“He is worthy of being a famous chef indeed,” Bai Guo exclaimed in admiration as well.

“Although this seems easy, it still shows how good he is,” Li He nodded.

“More importantly, he is very handsome,” Jiang Meisi said as she clasped her face with her hands, obviously smitten by his looks.

“You are already smitten this fast? I thought you said that your favorite was Boss Li the other day,” Bai Guo teased with a “you are unfaithful” expression on his face.

“I can’t help it. Women are fickle,” Jiang Meisi nodded and admitted with no hesitation.

“I’m quite good looking as well, right?” Bai Guo promptly said, seeming dissatisfied with this.

“But you can’t cook,” Jiang Meisi gave Bai Guo a look of derision and said.

“But I can eat,” Bai Guo declared with a straight face.

“Look, Dean is starting on the tomato stew. The stew will most like be mixed with the meatballs,” Li He interrupted them and pointed at Dean.

“Wow, he even has a different knife for the tomatoes,” Jiang Meisi lamented as she looked at the new knife.

That’s right. In the process of cooking this dish, Dean had already used six different knives. This was his seventh knife, a knife for tomatoes.

Everyone noticed something odd. For Chinese cuisine, if the chef couldn’t handle the ingredients with a single knife, that chef would be mocked due to his lack of skills. But for Western cuisine, the chef would look extremely professional if he kept switching knives.

The difference in perspective was extremely large. There was no problem with this, though. This was merely a result of the difference between food cultures.

The tomato knife’s edge flowed like a wave that allowed the tomato’s skin to be smoothly sliced off before slicing the tomato into thin slices. And to avoid excessive drainage of the tomato’s juice, the tip of the knife was forked, allowing the chef to pick the tomato slices with it.

That’s right. The tomatoes used for the stew had all been cut into slices. This would shorten the time required for the tomatoes to be cooked.

Next, the onions and sweet basil leaves were cut into thin slices before they were sautéed. Then, they were mixed with the tomato slices to be stir-fried. Finally, chicken stock was added.

Naturally, the chicken stock was provided by Li Li as well. After he found out that Dean had decided to make meatballs, Li Li became even more enthusiastic.

While the stew was boiling, Dean started pan-frying the meatballs. His every motion was relaxed and he even had the time to occasionally raise his head and look at Yuan Zhou.

Naturally, Yuan Zhou would never split his attention from cooking. After all, even if someone had ordered the Swedish Meatball, there were also other dishes he needed to be completed.

And thus, Yuan Zhou had merely made a slight revision on the sequence of meatball preparation so others could better see the process. Apart from that, he did not act any differently.

Due to the distance, Dean could not see Yuan Zhou’s cooking clearly. However, the customers seated nearby had a good look.

When preparing Swedish Meatball, apart from when he was removing the skin from the ingredients, all other steps of the preparation process including cutting and mincing were done without his hands touching the ingredients.

After all, this was an open kitchen. If the customers saw the chef grabbing the mincemeat in his hands, it wouldn’t be as appetizing anymore.

And thus, when kneading the mincemeat, Yuan Zhou was using a stick. He would stir at a rapid speed and while stirring, he would scoop on the mincemeat with a spoon every now and then. In this manner, meatballs of similar size were produced.

The entire process was both fast and pleasing to the eyes. When looking at this, the customers started salivating.

And due to Yuan Zhou’s revision on the sequence of the preparation process, the two of them had finished their meatballs at nearly the same time.

By the time Yuan Zhou started sculpting peacock tails, Dean was finishing up his stew.

At the same time, the aroma of the meatballs started spreading everywhere. A combination of the aroma of meat, cheese, and tomatoes filled the air outside the restaurant.

“New Italian Meatballs, done,” Dean said with a nod at his assistant.

“Ok,” the assistant understood what he meant and quickly placed a plate beside Dean.

“I’m looking forward to this. It smells so good,” Jiang Meisi felt like sticking her face on the plate.

“I’m waiting to eat,” Bai Guo stepped forward and started waiting.

Even Li He was also staring at Dean longingly.

In French Cuisine, the food decorations would always be gorgeous. As a famous chef, Dean had his pride. Even if he was only using a temporary kitchen, even if this was a simple lunch, he insisted on decorating the food.

The meatballs were placed on a square plate, with the meatballs arranged in a semicircle shape. All around the meatballs were some parsleys, leaves, and slender rosemaries. With the inclusion of the stew, the entire dish looked like a starry sky.

This was a boundless and mysterious cosmos, with the meatballs serving as the celestial bodies of the cosmos.

It was worth noting that Dean’s father was a renowned painter. Previously, Dean had crushed Li Li in terms of food decoration.

“Wow, so beautiful,” Jiang Meisi cried out when the assistant handed her the plate. “I can’t bear to eat it anymore.”

“It really looks good. You are really deserving of your fame from how you can prepare something that smells and looks this good in such a short time,” Bai Guo was not stingy with his praise as well.

“Yeah, this looks so appetizing. Let’s go in and eat,” Li He said while holding his plate of meatballs. After all, the mission required them to eat in the restaurant.

Holding their plates of meatballs, Bai Guo, Jiang Meisi and Li He happily headed into the restaurant. Dean was following behind them. Around them, the customers were gazing at their plates curiously.

“You call this beautiful? Have you never seen Boss Yuan’s craftsmanship?” said a certain customer with contempt.

“Yeah, I still think Boss Yuan’s food is prettier,” agreed a different customer.

“Come on, be fair. It really looks good, even better than many Michelin rated restaurants I have visited abroad. Unfortunately, he has selected the wrong opponent today,” Ling Hong gave a fair evaluation while showing off his wealth. After all, he was feeling extremely unhappy since he couldn’t eat anything with the discount being offered today.

“Taste wise, it definitely can’t compare with Boss Yuan’s. Or should I say there’s totally no comparing the two,” Jiang Changxi said.

All four of them heard these words clearly. Dean did not seem to have a reaction. But the other three seemed indignant. But since they were celebrities, it wouldn’t be proper for them to argue with these people. The only thing they could do was increase their voice when speaking of how nice their meatballs are, doing their duty of defending Dean.

Right as they entered through the door, Mouse’s Swedish Meatball was served.

Yuan Zhou’s Swedish Meatball was no joke in terms of look. Based on the votes online, apart from the Phoenix-Prawn Tail dish, the Swedish Meatball was the prettiest dish in Yuan Zhou’s restaurant.