Chapter 646: 646

Chapter 646: A Scent Beyond One’s Comprehension

Translator: Xiong_Guoqi Editor: Cat Who Cooks

Yuan Zhou had no idea of what Tengyuan was thinking . He was just cooking the dish earnestly .

“Hua La” . Yuan Zhou first washed the entire fish bone in the water used for washing rice and then got rid of the smaller fish bones, leaving only the main bone there . In the end, the main bone was pinned on a wood barrel .

That’s right . It was a wooden barrel . Yuan Zhou poured the washed rice inside and then laid a layer of sparse wooden strips over the rice . After that, he put the two fish on them .

The way Yuan Zhou steamed the rice was a little different .

There was water in the wooden barrel and it was only a knuckle’s length above the rice . Then, the barrel was put into a big pot and steamed .

During the process, Yuan Zhou cut away the fins of the anchovies first and then immersed them in some sweet wine before putting them in the wooden barrel .

“Wait a moment,” said Yuan Zhou lightly to Tengyuan after he turned on the gas furnace .

After that, Yuan Zhou stood by the kitchen range and began to wait .

When the rice was done, this Steamed Rice With Japanese Grenadier Anchovies would also be done .

However, Yuan Zhou did remove the lid once during the process when the water in the rice was boiling and then picked the wooden strips out quickly .

There wasn’t any slightest fish meat on the wooden strips . It seemed that the fish meat had all been left in the rice .

“Japanese grenadier anchovies are one type of freshwater fish . It will definitely taste fishy and foul if it’s used to steam the rice . But if it’s pickled, the fragrance of the rice will vanish . ” Even before eating, Tengyuan started to find faults .

“Besides, the water in the rice is more than necessary,” Tengyuan continued saying that .

“That’s right . The fish has just been soaked in sweet wine, so there will be the taste of alcohol in the rice later . Then, the fragrance of the rice will be gone . ” Dashi Xiujie nodded his head approvingly .

“Chef Yuan, how are you going to solve this problem?” Tengyuan looked at Yuan Zhou solemnly and asked .

“Eat it and you’ll know the answer,” Standing at the kitchen range, Yuan Zhou looked at the flame earnestly and then said .

When he found the two of them were still looking at himself, Yuan Zhou thought a while and then said again, “You can eat it five minutes later . ”

Yuan Zhou didn’t have the habit of explaining to others . After all, the taste could explain everything after they ate it shortly .

“Chef Yuan is really confident . ” Dashi Xiujie always gave people an awkward feeling when he spoke Chinese .

“Thank you . Really appreciate it . ” Yuan Zhou nodded his head .

Because of the awkwardness, the ironic remarks sounded almost the same as compliments . And therefore, Yuan Zhou took it as a compliment to him . Dashi Xiujie was a little speechless .

“Leave me a serving of the dish, please . ” Suddenly, Chu Xiao’s voice came from the side .

“Um . ” Yuan Zhou just nodded his head and didn’t anything else .

“I also want one serving if there’s more . ” Zhou Shijie also came over along with Chairman Masheng .

“No more,” said Yuan Zhou neatly .

“No way . There’s one barrel of rice here, why isn’t there one serving for me?” Zhou Shijie pointed at the wood barrel in the pot and said in disbelief .

“There are only two live Japanese grenadier anchovies,” Yuan Zhou said lightly .

“It’s hard to get the live Japanese grenadier anchovies in this season . Even these two fish were divided and shared equally . ” Chairman Zhou shrugged and didn’t conceal this matter .

By saying that, Chairman Zhou wanted to tell others that the ingredients prepared were very fresh and precious, not to mention that the Japanese grenadier anchovies couldn’t live without water .

So, it could definitely show how much importance he attached to the exchange meeting to have the two large Japanese grenadier anchovies .

“Chairman Masheng, it seems that we are out of luck, not being able to eat it,” Zhou Shijie said to Chairman Sheng beside him helplessly .

“Never mind . We have Professor Tengyuan here . After all, nothing can escape from Tengyuan Jiayuan’s tongue,” said Chairman Masheng confidently .

“Haha . Yeah, you are right . So shall we stay and have a look?” Zhou Shijie cursed him inwardly, but on the surface, he proposed smilingly .

“Sure . I haven’t heard Professor Tengyuan’s comments for a long time, either . That is invaluable advice and people can learn a lot from that . ” Obviously, Chairman Masheng meant that Yuan Zhou could learn real things from Tengyuan by saying that .

“Thank you for your high praise, Chairman . ” Tengyuan nodded his head and appeared fairly calm . Apparently, he was very confident .

“Wow, you reminded me of the necessity of listening to Professor Tengyuan’s opinions,” Zhou Shijie nodded his head and said that solemnly .

Of course, he was actually thinking of the fun when Tengyuan found a tough opponent shortly .

After all, he had tasted the dishes cooked by Yuan Zhou more than once or twice .

While Zhou Shijie was crossing swords with Masheng secretly, the reporters who surrounded them to watch were also discussing ceaselessly in a low voice .

“So, are you convinced now?” Old Lee gestured with his lips as a signal to let others look towards Yuan Zhou .

“Well, the marvelous knife skills directly made these Japanese chefs dizzy . I’ve never expected that Chef Yuan would be so awesome,” Old Xu nodded his head and praised happily at the side .

“Hopefully, the taste can make that arrogant professor close his mouth . His title really makes me uncomfortable . ” The full-beard reporter nodded his head .

“Exactly . Let’s wait for Chef Yuan to defeat him and win honor for us . That old guy always reveals a manner that he is No . 3, coming only after heaven and the earth . ” All the reporters basically had the same idea .

However, the reporters from other countries naturally had different opinions . Many Japanese reporters waited for Tengyuan to give comments with his sharp tongue .

After all, the taste was the ultimate goal of cooking . The excellent knife skills also existed in Japan as raw fish always required knife skills .

Five minutes were very short . The time came very soon .

“Zi” . Yuan Zhou removed the big lid of the iron pot outside . He wasn’t in his restaurant now . Therefore, a little bit of fragrance was emitted from inside as soon as the big lid was removed . When the lid of the wood barrel was removed later, the scent rushed straight towards the nose .

The way Yuan Zhou removed the lid was very special . He first lifted the lid at his side and then only the whole lid quickly .

Therefore, the taste suddenly burst out .

“Um?” Chu Xiao knitted his brows immediately .

Yuan Zhou turned around and looked at Chu Xiao without saying anything . At that time, the steam dispersed and then, the rice showed up . The steam came out little by little and the scent also became lighter .

“The fragrance has all dispersed . I’m afraid there’s nothing left in the rice now . ” Tengyuan looked at the steamed rice that had a good appearance, yet started to look for faults .

“Chef Yuan, the fragrance has all dispersed . What else would you like us to eat?” Dashi Xiujie said quickly as if he had found some problems .

Instead of answering him, Yuan Zhou nevertheless began to scoop the rice .

Of course, the kitchenware was also provided by the organizer of the exchange meeting . It was a small, egg-shell shaped, white and blue porcelain bowl, which was pure white inside and painted with some patterns outside .

Yuan Zhou scooped the rice into the three bowls very quickly . The amount of rice in each bowl looked the same . To be exact, the bowls were barely filled . Then, they were served up in two trays .

One was naturally for Chu Xiao while the other two for Tengyuan and Dashi Xiujie .

“Please take your time and enjoy your meal . ” Yuan Zhou took up the trays and handed the bowls to them .

“Humph . ” Dashi Xiujie was dissatisfied with Yuan Zhou not answering him just now, thus he couldn’t help humphing coldly when he received the rice .

Different from him, Tengyuan contrarily had a sense of decency . When he received the rice, he slightly nodded to Yuan Zhou and appeared like a great master .

“Hmm? There’s surprisingly some fragrance?” Dashi Xiujie muttered to himself in surprise .

That’s right . The rice was still giving out the elegant fragrance when it was served to him . The fragrance wasn’t strong, but no one could neglect it .

That was totally unscientific .

Tengyuan straightforwardly knitted his brows and picked up the spoon to eat .

The rice grains of the steamed rice in the blue and white small bowl looked white and plump . They were piled up loosely with some white-crimson fish meat occasionally mingling inside .

It seemed to have enough water and suitable for eating .

Tengyuan took up the spoon and stuffed a mouthful of the rice into his mouth . He only scooped half a spoonful of the rice so that he could point out the problems the first time .

As soon as the rice entered his mouth, however, he was stupefied .

Why was it so delicious?