Chapter 629: Chapter 629: Picking a Fight
Natalie Campbell nodded, still a bit tense as she explained, “I tried to recreate the taste of eating crab as much as possible. For example, crab roe has a fine granular texture, which goes well with minced ginger and vinegar.”
“So, I ground ginger into fine particles to mimic the texture of crab roe,” Natalie said. “The coarse minced ginger recreates the sensation of eating crab with ginger and vinegar as condiments.”
Hunter Clarke nodded and said, “I can see that you’ve put a lot of thought into this dish.”
“If it were made using traditional methods, it could have some fish or broth to enhance the taste. Unfortunately, today’s theme limits the potential of this dish,” Rosaline Parker said regretfully. “Otherwise, this dish could be outstanding.”
Today’s cuisine requirement is vegetarian.
Whether eggs can be considered vegetarian has always been a debatable topic.
There’s disagreement among vegetarians too.
However, a considerable number of vegetarians do accept eggs as part of their diet.
Otherwise, Natalie’s entire dish would be at risk.
Even so, it’s clear from the judges’ comments that Natalie’s dish is not successful.
Natalie’s expression darkened.
Although she was mentally prepared for the high probability of being eliminated in this competition.
She felt that even if she had a higher chance of being eliminated, she should at least perform well in this competition and be defeated with honor.
She never thought she would perform so poorly.
Being eliminated didn’t upset her.
What upset her was that her elimination was not graceful.
As the five judges continued their evaluation, they came to Parker Honi’s cooking station.
They saw a plate of braised “pork” on Parker’s station, which looked enticing with its caramelized red color.
The “pork” was glistening with oil on the surface.
There was no need to get too close to smell the aroma of the “pork.”
Wesley Gordon’s face lit up with surprise.
Parker Honi, of course, wouldn’t be foolish enough to use real meat.
This was definitely a vegetarian imitation.
And that’s what made it all the more impressive.
“You’re the only one who made sashimi today,” Rosaline said, astonished.
The other contestants made cooked imitation meat dishes.
Only Cindy took a different approach.
Sashimi is typically made with seafood.
Is seafood considered meat?
Of course, it is.
It’s not only the meat found on land that counts as meat.
Everybody knows this common sense, but when it comes to meat-eating, people instinctively choose land-based sources.
Natalie did make imitation crab, but as a traditional specialty dish, it has a long history.
Unlike Cindy and Parker, who came up with their dishes on their own.
“Yes,” Cindy pointed to the plates and introduced each one. “This is octopus sashimi, this is salmon sashimi, and this is sea urchin sashimi.”
Just by looking, they truly resembled the real thing.
It was almost impossible to tell the difference.
Of course, professional chefs wouldn’t be fooled.
But for ordinary customers, these three dishes would have surely passed without raising suspicion.
That’s because they looked so similar.
Rosaline stared for a moment, then asked, “Did you make this octopus sashimi using the king oyster mushrooms you were working on earlier?”
Cindy nodded and explained, “I carved the surface of the king oyster mushrooms to resemble octopus tentacles. After cooking, I soaked them in red wine and sliced them before refrigerating them to make their texture more similar to octopus.”
“For the salmon, I mixed in carrot juice for the red color. Then I used soy milk, tofu, gelatin sheets, and konjac to create a texture similar to salmon. The sea urchin is made with egg yolk, orange zest, and light cream,” Cindy explained.
Next to the three sashimi plates was a small saucer of soy sauce.
Beside the soy sauce dish, there was another small condiment dish containing freshly grated wasabi prepared by Cindy.
At first, the judges tasted the dish without any condiments.
Charles frowned slightly, saying, “If you just eat it like this, you can still taste the original flavor of the ingredients, which doesn’t resemble the taste of sashimi.”
Then, Charles picked up a piece of “salmon” with his chopsticks.
He first put a tiny bit of wasabi on the salmon, then dipped the side without wasabi into the soy sauce.
Since the spiciness of freshly grated wasabi was relatively mild, it had a unique aroma that was different from the tube wasabi sold in supermarkets.