Chapter 629: 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.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

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.

It was almost indistinguishable from the real thing!

Michael Greene cut a small piece of the “pork” to examine the cross-section.

“Parker, well done,” Michael said with a smile. “It doesn’t just look like the real thing, the inside does too.”

“The lean part has clearly defined striations, and the fatty part is translucent,” Hunter praised. “And the cutting texture is similar too.”

Charles Dean tasted a bite and exclaimed, “It’s very close to the texture of braised pork.”

“Is the lean part made of vegetarian chicken?” Rosaline asked.

Parker nodded, “However, the texture of vegetarian chicken is still a bit too delicate compared to meat. So I rapidly froze and thawed it to create more air pockets, giving it a chewier texture. The sauce is also more easily trapped in the air pockets, creating a burst of flavor when bitten.”

“And the fatty part on top?” Charles asked, cutting a separate piece of the “fat” to study closely.

“It’s pear,” Parker answered. “The pear is cooked until soft, and when you eat it, it melts in your mouth.”

“Because you can prepare braised pork heavily seasoned, it can make up for the lack of meat flavor. It smells almost the same; it’s just the taste that’s different,” Parker said, somewhat regretfully.

“What’s with the regret in your voice?” Wesley chuckled. “After all, it’s not meat; you can’t just create the flavor of meat out of thin air.”

“You can only get as close as possible. Otherwise, if it was that easy to create, customers would have already tasted it by now.”

Especially for people trying to lose weight, it would offer a satisfying taste of meat without eating any, making it easier to control their diet.

“So far, you’re my top choice for tonight,” Hunter said.

Only Cindy Clarke remained after Parker.

It could be said that Hunter’s assessment was already very high.

If Cindy doesn’t surpass Parker, then at least in Hunter’s opinion, Parker would be the best in the competition.

“Hahaha!” Charles, who always had high expectations for Cindy, laughed.

He was probably the one among the five judges who had the highest hopes for Cindy.

“It’s up to Cindy now,” Charles laughed.

Michael grinned, “Oh, Charles, you’re stirring things up.”

“How is it stirring?” Charles laughed. “I’m just curious.”

“Fine, you can have the first taste,” Wesley said.

So, the judges arrived at Cindy Clarke’s cooking station.

“Huh?” Rosaline was surprised to see Cindy’s dish.

Cindy made sashimi.

“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.