Peach Blossom Mandarin Fish! Secret Culinary Technique: "Dissolving Salt in Three Fl

Gao Wenjie's words sparked a discussion among the audience.

"So it turns out that high-quality ingredients alone aren't enough to get approval from the food critics... I thought that as long as the taste was good enough, that was enough."

"Are you stupid? If that were the case, wouldn't anyone with money be able to pass the test easily? What kind of fairness would that be?"

"So, even those high-grade ingredients used by the second young master of the Jiang family might not guarantee he'll pass the test?"

"How can that be the same? He's a member of the Jiang family, and Jiang Mingyue's own younger brother! He dared to bring out those ingredients, so he must be confident..."

Scattered whispers reached Jiang Yuqiao's ears, and his fists clenched involuntarily.

But soon, he loosened his clenched fist and turned his attention back to the stove in front of him.

His cooking was nearing its end.

……

In the tense atmosphere, time gradually passed.

In the square, fewer and fewer candidates were not submitting their own dishes.

Just when only a few candidates remained in the room, Jiang Yuqiao suddenly yanked open the pot lid!

"laugh--"

Steaming hot white vapor rose up, and a rich, fresh aroma wafted around.

With a flick of his wrist, Jiang Yuqiao sent the entire mandarin fish steadily falling from the pot into the prepared white porcelain plate.

Then, he picked up the mysterious sealed jar from beside the stove, opened the lid, and poured out its contents.

"Swish—"

As if a spring breeze had blown the petals off the branches, pink peach petals drifted down and gently landed on the fish's body.

Upon seeing this, the surrounding audience members couldn't help but widen their eyes in astonishment.

"Those are... peach petals?"

"Could it be a decorative piece for plating?"

"Impossible! He values ​​what's in that jar so much; it must be his trump card to win!"

In the queue for Baiweilou, Xiao Zou couldn't help but peek out.

Upon closer inspection, one can see that the petals are covered with a layer of fine white crystals, which shimmer with a crystalline light under the sunlight.

Jiang Yuqiao ignored the surrounding discussions, resealed the small jar, picked up the tray, and walked calmly towards the platform.

He placed the tray steadily on the table in front of the three examiners and bowed.

"Peach blossom mandarin fish, please enjoy."

Ding Baozhen nodded slightly and looked at the plate.

The carefully cooked mandarin fish looks exceptionally tempting; the cuts on both sides of the fish bloom beautifully after cooking, revealing the snow-white, garlic-clove-like flesh.

The thick but not viscous sauce evenly coats the fish, and a dozen or so salted peach petals are scattered in the broth, complementing the red sauce beautifully.

Gao Wenjie picked up his chopsticks, gently poked the fish on its back, and then revealed a satisfied expression.

With a flick of the chopsticks, the garlic cloves separated easily from the meat, demonstrating that the dish was cooked to perfection.

He picked up a piece of meat and put it in his mouth.

The next moment, his eyes widened suddenly: "This smell..."

Seeing this, Ding Baozhen raised his eyebrows curiously, picked up a piece of fish belly meat covered in soup, and put it in his mouth along with a peach petal.

The moment he entered the mouth, his movements involuntarily paused.

The fish has a smooth and tender texture; it melts instantly in your mouth with a gentle touch of your tongue, releasing a burst of intense umami flavor.

To his surprise, in addition to the natural freshness of the mandarin fish, the fish meat also exuded a special umami flavor that only comes from pickling, which was very similar to the unique pickled flavor of stinky mandarin fish.

However, he could not taste any fishy or strange smell from the stinky mandarin fish; instead, he could taste a faint fragrance of peach blossoms.

The delicate floral fragrance permeates all the flavors, greatly alleviating the saltiness of the mandarin fish and the greasiness of the sauce.

As he chewed, the delicate fragrance of peach blossoms, the tender texture of fish, and the rich, salty flavor from the marinating intertwined, achieving a perfect balance that unconsciously immersed him in this ultimate taste experience.

Compared to this dish, the previous submissions from the candidates were nothing but low-grade swill!

Ding Baozhen swallowed the fish, a look of surprise on his face.

He remained silent for a long time, then suddenly sighed deeply and exclaimed from the bottom of his heart:

"This dish... is far beyond the level of an eighth-grade dish."

On the other side, Prefect Zhao put down his chopsticks, his face full of shock: "It clearly doesn't have the pungent smell of rotten mandarin fish, yet I can taste the rich, savory flavor from the pickling process... How did you manage that?"

Jiang Yuqiao had anticipated the examiner's reaction and calmly replied:

"This dish is indeed pickled. However, unlike ordinary stinky mandarin fish which is pickled for at least seven days, this peach blossom mandarin fish uses my Jiang family's secret culinary technique, 'Three Flavors of Salt Dissolving'."

"With the help of this cooking technique, the marinating effect can be achieved perfectly in a very short time, and the fish will not spoil as a result."

"Three Flavors of Salt Dissolving?" Gao Wenjie put down his chopsticks, a curious expression on his face. "I've heard that the Jiang family does indeed have such a secret culinary technique, but I don't really know much about its specific effects."

Jiang Yuqiao nodded: "The Three Flavors of Salt is a culinary technique that can blend and transform the flavors of three different types of salt, perfectly utilizing their individual characteristics to complement each other's strengths. Moreover, it helps improve the pickling effect and can even act as a catalyst."

"That's why I use this cooking technique when pickling mandarin fish. Plus, I use three kinds of high-quality salt—"

He held up one finger.

"First, there's Zigong well salt. This salt has a pure salty taste and strong penetrating power, which helps the flavor of the marinade penetrate into the fish meat in a short time."

Then, he extended his second finger.

"Then there is Yeh County rock salt, which is rich in minerals and has a unique flavor that can bring out the natural sweetness of fish. When used in combination with well salt, it has a remarkable effect in enhancing the saltiness."

He then unsealed the small jar and took out a peach petal. The petal was covered with a layer of fine, white salt, making it look exceptionally beautiful.

"Finally, there's this salted peach blossom, made with 'Xiangxue Salt' from the salt fields of Danzhou in the South China Sea." Jiang Yuqiao's tone carried a hint of pride.

"Fragrant Snow Salt?" Gao Wenjie raised an eyebrow.

"That's right," Jiang Yuqiao said. "This Fragrant Snow Salt is the finest layer of crystals on the surface of the salt field. Harvesting relies entirely on manual labor, and each layer of salt field only produces a thin handful."

"This salt has a delicate and mellow salty taste, with a unique sweet floral aroma, making it a rare and top-quality salt."

"It is precisely because of its unique aroma that this salt is not easy to use; if not handled carefully, it will ruin the flavor balance of the dish."

"I put fragrant snow salt and peach petals picked in early spring into a jar, sealed it and pickled it for three months to make salted peach blossoms with a peach blossom fragrance. Then I used my culinary skills to transform the salt into three flavors, which perfectly blended the taste of the salt with the ingredients."

He put the peach petals back into the jar. If Nan Xu had looked up at that moment, she would have seen a bright purple light emanating from the item's information:

Fragrant Snow-Soaked Peach Blossoms

[Type: Food/Ingredient]

[Rank: Top Grade 4]

Jiang Yuqiao put away the jar and said calmly:

"These three types of salt are mixed in proportion and marinated with mandarin fish. With the help of the culinary technique of 'Three Flavors of Salt,' it only takes about half an hour to make the fish meat mellow and flavorful, and it will not develop an off-flavor due to spoilage."

"Then, the marinated mandarin fish is cooked using the braising method, and Shaoxing rice wine is added to remove the fishy smell and enhance the aroma."

"At the end, sprinkle in salted peach petals again. This will prevent the temperature from affecting the flavor as much as possible, preserve the original aroma of the peach blossoms, and complement the peach petals used to marinate the mandarin fish, creating two different layers of peach blossom flavor."

After speaking, he bowed with his hands clasped in a gesture of respect and took a step back.

"In this way, this dish of peach blossom mandarin fish, which combines the flavors of Huizhou and embodies the spirit of my Jiang family's salt industry, is complete."