Daddy! Come Home for Dinner!-Chapter 547: As Expected of Changping Academy

Chapter 547: Chapter 547: As Expected of Changping Academy

"Moreover, there are some unidentified small leaves mixed in, which look very much like weeds," An Haiyin said.

"Indeed, if one doesn’t have a detailed understanding of these ingredients and plants, it’s easy to miss out," Luo Jialin said. "This competition tests the contestants’ adaptability and mastery of various ingredients."

"Actually, the competition wasn’t meant to make things difficult for the contestants," Guo Wenbo explained. "After all, this jungle is artificially created by the organizers; it’s not a real jungle."

"In the wild, you wouldn’t be able to find vegetables easily, let alone chickens, ducks, and spices. But here, the organizers placed all these in inconspicuous places."

"Like the spices the contestants discovered earlier, and these seemingly inconspicuous yet useful leaves, each has different growing conditions. They were temporarily transplanted here for the contestants’ convenience."

"In such an environment, these plants can’t last beyond a few days," Guo Wenbo explained.

"Simply put, this competition provides the contestants with limited ingredients to test their observational skills and their understanding of various ingredients and their properties. These are the most basic skills a qualified chef should possess."

"If they’re not thorough in their observations or can’t recognize all these ingredients, they won’t have any competitive edge in this competition."

"In restaurants, where there are established supply channels, everything is ready-made. But if no one delivers ready-made ingredients, you have to recognize them in their rawest form. If you can’t recognize these, then you shouldn’t be a chef."

"The organizers haven’t skimped on any provisions. As long as you can find them, you can make a decent dish," Ye Huasong said.

"In that respect, I think Ye Fei did quite well," An Haiyin said with a smile.

"She first discovered that the environment wasn’t truly wild, and deduced that it was specially prepared by the organizers. With this premise in mind, she could carefully observe and find many of the ingredients and spices needed by the contestants."

"Without this premise, they might not have carefully observed the unassuming plants underfoot, which were the materials they needed," An Haiyin said.

"That’s right," Lowell nodded and pointed at the big screen.

At this moment, the big screen switched to Fu Jiaxu’s side.

"Look at Fu Jiaxu. He lacked patience at the beginning of the competition and held a bias against Ye Fei, thinking she was deliberately delaying to hinder them. So Fu Jiaxu went ahead, not listening to Ye Fei’s later analysis," Lowell said.

His words were clearly biased in favor of Ye Fei.

But Lowell couldn’t care what the audience thought.

After all, what he said was the truth.

"So far, Fu Jiaxu has only caught one duck, found no spices whatsoever, with only a small bottle of salt in his bag," Lowell said.

"If he can’t find anything else, I fear he might only be able to make roasted duck or saltwater duck today," Ye Huasong speculated.

Meanwhile, Ye Fei went to pick some bamboo leaves.

"What are bamboo leaves usually used for?" An Haiyin asked again.

Luo Jialin replied, "Bamboo leaves grow mostly in the south and are usually used for wrapping dumplings. Southern people like to eat meat dumplings, and wrapping them in bamboo leaves adds a faint bamboo fragrance and helps alleviate greasiness."

"I reckon Ye Fei is planning to use bamboo leaves to wrap the chicken," Gu Changfeng said. "She’s probably aiming to make beggar’s chicken."

"Given the limited conditions, the organizers didn’t prepare cookware for the contestants. Besides matches and knives in their bags, they can only use local materials and choose more primitive methods," Guo Wenbo explained.

Sure enough, as analyzed by the judges, Ye Fei returned to the artificial stream.

First, she used her multifunctional knife to clean the chicken’s innards thoroughly.

Cut off the chicken’s bottom.

Ground the basil and oregano into a paste, albeit not very finely due to limited conditions.

Mixed it with crushed garlic to make a sauce.

Using the cut opening at the chicken’s bottom, she stuffed in fresh pepper, thyme, and a very small amount of rosemary.

"Hey, what is Ye Fei holding now?" An Haiyin asked.

She’s not a host of food shows, leaning more towards entertainment programs, regularly hosting variety shows and large evening events.

She also doesn’t cook often and only recognizes some common supermarket produce.

As for spices, she knows only those that are packaged and labeled in supermarkets.

If the labels are removed, An Haiyin couldn’t tell them apart.

Much less these fresh, unprocessed spices.

"This leaf looks ordinary, just like the oval, pointed leaves seen on roadsides. Can you eat this?" An Haiyin asked curiously.

"This is a bay leaf, also called laurel leaf, which we often hear of. Usually, you buy processed dry bay leaves, used in making braised dishes or the popular spicy duck neck, for flavor," Ye Huasong explained.

"Oh my, it just looks like a regular leaf to me. How did Ye Fei recognize it?" An Haiyin sighed.

"This is the basic skill of a chef. Recognizing all these spices is very fundamental," Guo Wenbo said.

"Can Changping Academy students recognize them too?" An Haiyin asked Guo Wenbo.

"Of course, since it’s foundational, they must recognize all these in their first semester, regardless of form, even when ground into powder not resembling their original shape. They should identify them by taste alone," Guo Wenbo said with a hint of pride.

Otherwise, how could Changping Academy students find themselves revered in the culinary world? 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

"No wonder it’s Changping Academy," An Haiyin praised in due time.

Then they saw Ye Fei stuffing bay leaves into the chicken.

"That’s..." An Haiyin saw Ye Fei took out a plant resembling a flower.

The petals looked tiny, just like delicate wildflowers.

The cameraman zoomed in for a clear shot.

"This is cumin," Gu Changfeng said.

"Is this what cumin originally looks like?" An Haiyin was surprised.

"Yes, look, she’s peeling it apart, revealing the cumin seeds inside," Gu Changfeng explained.

Ye Fei peeled a small handful of cumin and put it inside the chicken.

Luo Jialin said, "In this simulated wild environment, with so many restrictions and insufficient means to marinate the chicken and remove the smell, I think Ye Fei uses various spices to mask the chicken’s inherent odor with their flavors."