The Heartbeat at the Tip of the Tongue

Word count: 1905

The Most Dazzling Chinese Style

“And?” Winston asked.

“The fresh softness of the butter vanilla crab salad and the flavour from the charcoal grilled lamb chops form a sharp contrast, after the kick from the rich aroma of the lamb chops, the taste buds are comforted by the softness of the salad! It is really a wonderful pairing!”

“Looks like this will be a very difficult choice again. But as a special commentator for this dish, I still need you to tell everyone, which of the charcoal grilled lamb chops is your favourite?”

“Oh…… ” Luke gave a long sigh, and pressed against his head, “being able to taste such delicious lamb chop is obviously the happiest thing to happen to mankind, but you just want me to make a choice!”

With that, Luke lowered his head and continued eating the lamb chops.

And Winston patted his shoulders saying: “friend, don’t be like that, the competition has to continue.”

“Please let me enjoy it for a bit ba! I have already commented, the choice of choosing the more delicious dish is the judges’, not mine!”

“Your words make sense…… ” Winston could only receive the vote summary from the staff, and rubbed his chin, “I can only say that the votes are very close. And Jessica and Iris are both experienced and innovative chefs, but they can’t always have someone else in the lead! With the mother and daughter pair working together, this main dish has received 12 votes! And Jiang Qian Fan and Lin Ke Song have received 10 votes! Chef Jiang Qian Fan, you gotta be careful! You must know, that Jessica and Iris are only 2 votes away from you. With only 2 votes, it may be totally taken over by the next main dish, or the following 3 desserts!”

Jessica furrowed her brows, even though they had won Jiang Qian FAn and Lin Ke Song over this dish, things are still way below her expectations. She had originally thought that she could have a big win with the secret recipe for the charcoal lamb chops that she’d experimented and ruminate about countless times, but the outcome was less than ideal.

“White sesame was indeed a good idea.” Iris said blandly.

“The ‘good idea’ you are talking about may not have been Jiang Qian Fan’s, there’s a huge probability that it was Lin Ke Song’s.” Jessica raised her brows.

“I only acknowledged that it was a good idea, not everything.”

At this time, Lin Ke Song was pursing her lips. She was a little disappointed. Adding white sesame into the charcoal grilled lamb chops was her idea, and even though this idea was acknowledged by luke, it didn’t allow their charcoal grilled lamb chops to receive the majority of the votes.

“There are a thousand Hamlets in the eyes of a thousand readers.” Jiang Qian Fan lowered his body to speak at her ear.

Don’t know when it started, but Jiang Qian FAn especially liked to speak at her ear. Maybe because he could be closer to her this way, or maybe this chap has found out that she had zero defences against his whispers.

“I know. We can’t possibly win forever.” Lin Ke Song lifted her face to smile.

And the pk of the 3 main dishes had finally reached the most difficult and most suspenseful turkey.

“Just as Montgomery had said, the turkey is actually a very difficult meat to tackle. Its difficulty lies in the lack of water content in the meat, if you’re not careful the texture will be like chewing wax. Also, it is not easy to let the flavour seep in. but I believe, these will not be a problem to both parties of competitors, because they are masters of chefs! But for this last dish, I do not plan to invite a professional food critic or a chef to critic, but I wish to hear what the judges think! Without their opinions, this pk competition will be meaningless!”

The guests and media all had a disappointed expression. They had carried the hope that maybe they’d be able to taste the turkey prepared by both parties!

Winston walked to the middle of the group of judges, and found a lady who was wearing a checkered shirt and black-rimmed glasses.

“Hey, what is your name? Where are you from?”

“I’m Martha, a student from NYU.”

“Oh, NYU!” Winston pointed in Lin Ke SOng’s direction, “you guys are schoolmates ah!”

“Don’t worry, I will follow my feelings, and not have any bias because a participant and I are schoolmates.”

“Alright, Martha. Could you describe from your point of view the turkey from both parties?”

“Sure! Even though I’m not as great as the other chef or gourmets, to be able to easily distinguish the different ingredients and even the cooking methods, I think my description abilities are still pretty good! Firstly, let’s talk about the turkey roulade from the 2 Quentin chefs. The centre of the roll is king oyster mushrooms, the meat is more tender than i expected, and after it has absorbed the moisture and flavour from the mushroom, it has become really tasty.”

“Ah…… ” Winston lowered his head to have a better look, “from my observations from before, the 2 Quentin chefs have probably chosen to use breast meat of the turkey, and after pounding, it has made the meat firmer. They chose to put the turkey meat into a special soup to stew, and take it out before it is fully cooked, and mix with ingredients, and rolled with the king oyster mushrooms, and baked on a buttered pan, then seasoned. The side dishes are white asparagus and crab salad, it should be very refreshing. Martha, how do you think this dish tastes?”

“There’s probably a crush of soy sauce and mustard between the turkey meat and mushroom, I can also taste a slight jam flavour. Tastes like oranges and bananas! Very refreshing, much aftertaste! The turkey meat is tender on the inside, but it’s crispy and flavourful on the outside! This tastes awesome!”

“Mm-hmm, then what about chef Jiang Qian Fan and Lin Ke Song’s turkey dish?  What do you think about it?”

“This is a unique cornmeal turkey burrito!” Martha paused, like she didn’t know how else to carry on describing.

Winston laughed: “Martha, I remember you saying before, that your description abilities are pretty good! So for this dish…… the description shouldn’t only be ‘unique cornmeal turkey burrito’ ba? you must know, this description won’t whet people’s’ appetites…… and on the contrary, make people think about the burger and hotdogs that are sold on the streets instead…… ”

“Oh my god ah! This is of a totally different plane of a standard from burgers and hotdogs, alright! This dish was plated very brightly! Even though it is a burrito, it is very intricate, and you can see the pretty layers. Look, here is the turkey cubes, this layer is the avocado, here is the arugula and this layer is the sauce! But they are all placed evenly, and when I bite down, everything is in my bite, the more you chew, the tastier it becomes, it’s so good its like…… the big bang!” Martha furrowed her brows in thought, “I only wish to know how this turkey was made! Very tender! Full of flavour, making my tongue keep wanting to have a repeat of that feeling! And that sauce…… I wish to bring a big container home, I can use a little when I stew turkey, brush a little on when I roast turkey, or make myself a turkey burrito!” the more Martha described the more agitated she became.

“So it’s obvious, Martha you prefer Jiang Qian Fan and Lin Ke Song’s turkey dish, right?” Winston asked.

“Yes. I think I will never get sick of it even after eating it a hundred times!”

“Alright, let’s hear what the other judges feel.” Winston walked to a middle-aged man who was in a suit and tie, “Hello, sir, mind sharing your name and occupation?”

“My name is Donald, I am a lawyer.”

“Oh! Donald, I think you probably frequent some high-class restaurants to meet with your clients ba?”

“Yes.”

“Alright, I’m sure you will have some insights if you would comment on these 2 turkey dishes.”

Donald smiled saying: “these 2 turkey dishes are the best I’ve ever had, it’s my pleasure to comment on them. First, let’s start with the turkey roulade with king oyster mushrooms that the 2 Quentin chefs cooked. Even though this dish looks simple, the method of cooking is actually very complicated. Chief editor Winston had also introduced before, so I won’t say much about it. The meat of the turkey isn’t as easy to roast as any roast chicken, I’m guessing that there were 2 motives to stew the turkey at first, the first is to keep the water content of the meat and the second is to let the flavours seep in. and the king oyster mushrooms and turkey pairing together is quite harmonious, and helps eat other to lift the flavours. The orange and banana jam is a highlight of this dish. The sweetness of the fruits allows the thick aromatic flavour of the turkey roulade to have more of a flavour. And it tastes like turmeric, curry powder, black pepper, salt, the combination of cinnamon and celery seeds is also perfect!”

Winston clapped: “Mr Donald, your quality of comments far exceeds that of my friend, Luke’s! Could you also similarly make comments about the turkey dish that chef Jiang Qian Fan and Lin Ke Song cooked?”

“Talking about this cornmeal turkey burrito, I can only say one phrase, which is most dazzling Chinese style! The cornmeal wrap is full of chewy texture, but it won’t make people tired of chewing! I really want to know how this was achieved! And the turkey cubes that are mixed inside! This made me think of this dish that I had in China years ago, the locals called it ‘spicy chicken cubes’! The taste of the turkey cubes inside is similar to that dish, but not as dry, on the contrary, when I bite through the turkey cubes the juice is still in it! How good of a cooking standard must you have to reach this level! A rich Chinese style, this fragrance and spiciness agitates the taste buds, making people want to have another and another bite and never stop eating! There is also the sauce, I tasted dill, sage and bay leaf, with the right amounts of mustard and mayonnaise, oh my god ah, it’s like the ancient east and the passionate west crashed into each other! This is a delicious taste that people won’t even forget in their dreams!”

Winston understood Donald’s choice and walked to an old lady.

The old lady smiled saying to Winston: “I don’t have the flowery fluency of words to praise these 2 dishes, but there is something I’m very sure of, these are flavours that I will never be able to taste again in my lifetime. I hope that the turkey roulade will be able to be on the menu of my granddaughter’s wedding, this will be the food that makes people feel the happiest.”

“So which turkey dish do you prefer?”

“Haha, but as for the cornmeal turkey burrito…… when I’m on my last breath, I think my greatest wish will be to have a bite of this cornmeal turkey burrito again!”