Chapter 1503: First! I Will Never Let Emotions Affect My Decisions!“I have a golden finger, and I shall enlighten you!” Mag deliberately mumbled a rather embarra.s.sing chant before tapping in between Chapman"s eyebrows lightly.
The finger only touched the forehead for less than a second.
Mag took a step back.
Meanwhile, Chapman closed his eyes.
Chapman felt a mysterious power suddenly surge into his mind. Every step that Mag demonstrated earlier and every sentence that he said kept repeating in his mind. Some things that he couldn"t understand previously suddenly became resolved and easy to understand. He only opened his eyes slowly after a while as if he had already grasped everything.
“Can you remember all the steps?” Mag asked smilingly.
“Yes, I can.” Chapman nodded, and he looked at Mag with an amazed and respectful gaze. He really couldn"t understand how he could completely grasp the dish"s recipe as if he had been practicing making it dozens of times after Mag simply tapped in between his eyebrows gently.
“Did you really get all the steps?” Harris was also looking at Chapman doubtfully. This disciple of his was good in every aspect except for being a slow learner. Not only did he start slow, he also proceeded very slowly. The only good thing about him was stability.
“Yes, Master.” Chapman nodded again.
Harris knew that Chapman never lied, so he couldn"t help staring at Mag"s finger with suspicion. Could this really be some gold finger? Just a tap from it, and one could master the recipe? However, as his master, he couldn"t show his weakness now, so he chuckled. “Alright, since this is the case, let"s have a master-and-disciple culinary duel today, with "husband and wife lung slice" as the duel"s subject. My master will be the judge to see whose dish is nicer.”
“Yes.” Chapman nodded respectfully, and no longer rejected.
“Since this is the case, I will be the arbiter in this internal strife of master and disciple!
“First! I will never let emotions affect my decisions! Second! I will never miss a fault! Third! I will definitely be fair and just! Judge Mag, take your position! I will be the judge of this duel!” Mag lifted his hand, but n.o.body moved. Hence, he could only retrieve his hand awkwardly, and took two steps to give Harris and Chapman s.p.a.ce. “The duel. Start right now!”
“Master is indeed professional!” Harris and Chapman were slightly taken aback, but after hearing the duel had begun, they immediately entered into the cooking mode formally.
The first step started with the ingredients. They had to select the spices needed for the braising marinate from the spice box that contained hundreds of spices. This would test whether they had listened to his lecture attentively earlier, and how much they understood about these spices.
Harris looked at the spice box, and descended deep into thought. He saw them earlier, but he couldn"t remember which box Mag took the spices out from. After seriously pondering for a while, he chose a few spices with obvious features like star anise. As for the rest, he depended on his nose to differentiate them.
However, on the other side, Chapman was already casually picking out all kinds of spices from the box, and tossing them into the pot with a smooth action as if he knew what he was doing very well.
Is he for real? When Harris turned around, Chapman had already finished selecting his ingredients, and started to prepare the beef and beef offal.
After hesitating for a while, Harris popped his head over to steal a peep.
“Warning for peeping!” Mag"s serious voice was heard.
“Hehe. I"m just trying to see if this kid is fooling around.” Harris shrugged and smiled embarra.s.sedly.
Mag was expressionless, but his gaze was focused on Chapman. He also wanted to know what was the effect of this gold finger. Was it really applicable to anybody?
Harris picked out the spices with his sense of smell. Although he was slightly slow, he did get every spice that was needed. However, by the time he picked out all the spices, Chapman had already put the meat in the marinade for braising.
Hey. He isn"t slow at the start this time. Instead, he is terrifyingly fast. Harris was a little taken by surprise, and was increasingly curious about what Mag did to Chapman earlier. It actually had such an amazing effect.
Or maybe Master has given his disciple"s disciple extra lessons behind my back? Another idea popped up in Harris" mind, but was swiftly rejected by him. They didn"t have the time to do that.
I didn"t expect that one day I would need to be serious when I faced off against Manman. Harris sighed. He began to put on a serious expression. After recalling the procedures that Mag had executed earlier, he started to cook following the steps.
Mag was simply watching at the side quietly as he observed the details of their cooking. He didn"t remind or correct them.
It was obvious that Chapman executed the details very well after he gave him a tap. His understanding of the "husband and wife lung slice" was already very deep and thorough.
Meanwhile, Harris also displayed a very powerful understanding and execution by depending on his exquisite cutting skills and dozens of years of experience as a chef. His details were also impeccable, but he would still pause at certain steps as he had only watched Mag demonstrate and explain once.
“Manman, lend me your notes for a while,” Harris said to Chapman, and then calmly explained, “I didn"t forget. I simply want to confirm it. This is the most basic serious att.i.tude that a chef should have. Watch and learn from me.”
“Yes, Master.” Chapman pa.s.sed the notebook to Harris with a grave expression.
Mag pursed his lips. Who is going to believe you, old man. You"re so naughty.
“For this red oil, add this… and then add this…” Harris was flipping through Chapman"s notebook seriously while Chapman was already pouring the completed red oil into a big bowl, and set it aside for later use.
30 minutes later, Harris drizzled the simmered red oil over the plated beef and beef offals, and a plate of red “husband and wife lung slice” was done.
On the other side, Chapman had already finished his dish a few minutes ago.
Harris threw a glance at Chapman"s “husband and wife lung slice”. It basically looked the same as his. After all, he"d brought him up as a disciple. He had a stubborn determination like a bull and cutting skills that he had been practicing for 20 over years. He was just slightly better than him.
Why am I feeling a little nervous? I shouldn"t be feeling that? Harris c.o.c.ked his eyebrow as he felt his heart begin to race.
It was fine losing to Mag. After all, there was always someone who was better than him out there. However, if he lost to the disciple he"d brought up, that feeling would be really awkward.
“The cooking is complete. Now, we will enter into the judging round.” Mag snapped his fingers to indicate to both contestants to bring up their completed “husband and wife lung slice”.
Regarding their appearance, both dishes almost looked the same. The cooks" exquisite cutting skills made sure every slice of meat had the same thickness. The dishes were spread out on the respective plates like an open flower.
Chapman"s cutting skills had given Mag a pleasant surprise. He might look dull and boring, but he possessed marvelous cutting skills which were only second to Harris". His overall performance should be above his.
“Let me taste them.” Mag picked a pair of chopsticks, and started with a piece of beef from Harris" plate.