Chapter 646 - A Scent Beyond One’s Comprehension

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?