150 – Saucy

"Welcome back again everyone!" Long Suah greeted the camera with a bright smile. "I am sure everyone is anxious about today's episode. If you see the unusual backdrop behind me, it's because I'm at Pao Restaurant located on Caoben Street, one of the ancient streets from the Qing Dynasty in Yide City."

The filming crew had traveled by bus to Yide City and arrived in the evening. Pao Lie had spent the week before setting up everything for the filming.

The camera panned around the restaurant decorated with ornate wood trims and accented with red banners and lanterns. The restaurant layout had been reorganized to accommodate the eight different cooking stations. 

"Today, we will be focusing on sauces!" Nicholas announced. "As you know, it is the sauces that create the flavors and elevate a regular egg sandwich into a fine dining experience. Whether it is the bechamel, veloute, bbq, or chili sauce, you're not a chef until you have perfected at least one of the sauces."

The contestants nodded as scripted, mimicking the director's head movement.

"There are eight of you and one judge remaining," Nicholas continued. "Today, we want to focus on sauce, but everyone has a secret sauce they aren't willing to share! So in the spirit of keeping the secret sauce a secret, we had instructed the contestants to spend their evening making the sauce off screen and in their own private kitchen."

When the contestants were told about the next theme, they were genuinely surprised. It was the first time they had heard of this challenge.

"You may combine the sauce into a hamburger, ramen, or noodles, that will be up for you to decide," Long Suah interjected. "Since there are only eight of you remaining, it is becoming obvious who the judge is. So, instead of naming the judge, you will only get immunity if the third judge cannot guess all the ingredients used in the sauce!"

The contestants genuinely grasped for the first time. They were aware that the third guest had absolute taste, but everyone assumed it was mainly hyped up or scripted ability. Anyone could have absolute taste on TV, it was a matter of editing and providing the information to the judge beforehand.

However, the sauce they made was not shown to the producers.

"I would like to officially introduce the third judge for the Great Chef competition, Dr. Li!" Long Suah announced.

The contestants clapped as the cue cards instructed. Most were already aware of Li Yun's status, so it did not come as a complete surprise. 

"It's Dr. Li?" Mingya was genuinely surprised. She had believed Ang, and didn't think it was Li Yun. Every time she wrote down a name, that person was sent home by the judge.

As the competition began, the eight remaining contestants spent 45 minutes completing their dishes.

Everyone waited with bated breath as Li Yun approached the first table. The contestant chose to make a steak with potatoes and gai lan (Chinese broccoli.)

The classical steak sauce by the first contestant was simple, there was ketchup, honey, mustard, peppers, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, horseradish and pepper. 

As Li Yun named the ingredient, the contestant nodded, she but she wasn't too impressed.

"I can taste some sweetness, but it's not the same as honey," Long Suah remarked. "Dr. Li, can you sense what's special about this recipe?"

Li Yun stopped to analyze the information collected by his bloodstream.

"When it comes to making sauces, there are three things to keep in mind, the ingredients and the correct amount," Nicolas liked to make commentaries to fill in the silence.  "The correct amount isn't a simple science like baking. The correct amount is based on the recipes, but the final taste test is the deciding factor between a decent chef and a great chef. The basic recipes are a guideline, but not a strict and unbending rule to be followed. The reason is simple. No ingredients were exactly alike."

"The salt you have used, is it a locally produced salt from your area?" asked Li Yun after waiting for Nicolas to finish. "I haven't seen a profile of it before. It has a bit of zinc."

The first contestant was shocked. Anyone could tell him the ingredient used in the steak sauce, but no one was able to recreate it because of the higher amount of zinc content in the salt made from her hometown.

Salt seemed like a simple ingredient, made almost entirely of the element sodium and chloride. However, salt from the mountains continued traces of iron oxide that gave it a pinkish hue and slightly lower sodium content. Traces of iron oxide could give the salt a slight hint of sweetness, but too much iron oxide gave it a bitter and sour note. 

Whereas, salt from the ocean contained an assortment of minerals, but also heavy metals from pollution. Zinc in sea salt changed the perception of how people perceive the saltiness of salt. People with zinc deficiency tended to consume more sodium to experience the same level of saltiness as people with average levels of zinc in their blood.

There were many variations depending on where it was sourced, the taste could be described as earthy, smokey, and herbal. People with very sharp tongues could differentiate the differences between sea salt and regular table salt due to the unique taste.

Li Yun wasn't experienced enough to discern the amount used in the recipes, but he could pinpoint the type of salt that was used and how it was processed. Aside from detecting traces of minerals, he could sense the yin and yang properties of the salt. Naturally evaporated salt had naturally more yang and salt from the bottom of the ocean had more yin. Processed salt had very little of either.

"Doctor Li! How did you know? Have you been to the north?" The contestant was shocked.

"No, it was a guess, I only know that it's not a typical store bought salt," Li Yun replied.

The other contestants could still not believe it. Then the second, third, and fourth dish were also named. It was too precise. 

Even a special dried herb Mingya got from her hometown was identified. 

"I don't think I have encountered this variety before…" Li Yun found the ingredient to be rather odd after tasting the pesto sauce.

Although it was different, Li Yun knew the species. Li Yun had studied the allium family for its medicinal profile, so he had shipped in many different varieties from all over the world.

Allium family included plants like onion, garlic, leeks, and shallots. All have combinations of compounds that promote healing. The particular variety that Li Yun was eating had high vitamin D and C content, so it was chives. 

Garlic chives, or allium tuberosum, have flat blade leaves. Regular chives, allium schoenoprasum, have hollow stems, and more of an onion flavor. This variety was a hollow stem variety with an equal amount of onion and garlic scent. 

"Is this a grafted variety of chives, allium tuberosum?" asked Li Yun. "Probably not with a chive, but with an onion species."

Mingya was surprised, she had used the dried form of a plant grown by her grandfather. She did not think it was possible for outsiders to know of the secret.

She nodded. "Dr. Li can even determine that?"

"The contestants may not be aware, but Dr. Li is a certified surgeon who is currently working as a researcher for Shennong Pharmaceutical that produces TCM and medical pills," Nicholas presented to the camera. That portion was somewhat scripted as Nicholas had already agreed to advertise the company. "I also want to mention that some of the fresh ingredients you are using today are provided directly from the farm grown locally without any genetic modifications or pesticides."

Some of the contestants nodded. They could already taste the unique flavors and freshness of the herbs and plants as they were cooking. They had no idea that it was grown organically. Typically, organic fruits and vegetables were typically marred by pits.

After the round, the contestants bid goodbye to the latest competitor who were sent home. The highlight of the episode was sure to be Li Yun. 

As the filming crew prepared for the next episode of the day, Rouxi appeared near the entrance. She was in between classes and stopped by to say hello. Long Suah was the first to notice her appearance and casually greeted her.

"Little Meimei, I don't know if you remember me?" Long Suah loved social gatherings, but Rouxi was considered a newcomer in their circle and hadn't been around much.

"Sister Suah? I heard you were here," Rouxi returned a pleasant hug. 

"You're here to see Dr. Li?"

Rouxi nodded.

At that moment, it was Mingya and Ang also recognized Rouxi.

"Is that Meimei?" asked Mingya.

"Looks like it, is she going to be a guest judge for the next episode?" Ang asked.

"Who is she?" Xinda asked. 

"She's an influencer and streamer known for her critiques of cuisines and her tours of cultural heritage sites," Ang explained. "It started small at the beginning of the year, but her channel had grown to half a million already. She also has a cookbook with her friend Lingling, which has gone on to become a bestseller..." At that moment, Ang quickly remembered something in the back of his mind and quickly scrolled through his phone to confirm his hazy memory. "Oh! The third author on the list is Li Yun! That must be doctor Li!"

Everyone huddled around to look at the description of the cookbook online.

"Ah, no wonder!" Mingya had purchased the book as well, but did not make the correlation.

Unfortunately, they were all wrong about Rouxi's guest appearance for the show. Despite being famous in the steaming circle, being a streamer was still frowned upon in some entertainment circles. She only stopped by to see Li Yun before they returned back to Panda City and finished the filming.

The crew returned to Panda City for the last remaining few episodes.

"As for the winner, please wait until the final episodes are aired!" Long Suah teased.

They all signed a non-disclosure agreement regarding the episodes, and no one was allowed to reveal anything until the episodes were aired.