Chapter 72:
With Bing Bing's announcement that the competition had begun, the chefs immediately got to work.
For them, egg fried rice was ridiculously simple.
If a chef couldn't even make egg fried rice, that would be laughable.
Among them, two chefs moved particularly fast.
They cracked eggs and beat them thoroughly.
They took out sausages, diced them, and set them aside.
They heated oil in the wok, added overnight rice, and used their spatulas like magic wands to easily break up the clumps.
Once the rice grains were separated, they set the rice aside.
They added more oil and stir-fried the eggs.
In less than thirty seconds, the eggs were done.
They added the rice back in and stir-fried everything together.
After mixing evenly, they added a bit more oil, gave the wok a skilled toss, and plated the dish.
Finally, they sprinkled chopped green onions on top. One bowl of egg fried rice was complete.
The entire process took less than five minutes.
"I'm done." "I'm done too." "Me too."
Five minutes later, nearly ten chefs raised their hands to signal they had finished.
Bing Bing quickly called over the etiquette ladies to mark each dish and bring them to the judges.
The judges could smell the rich aroma from far away.
They subconsciously licked their lips.
"Can we start tasting now?" one judge asked.
Bing Bing smiled and said: "Please wait a moment. We'll taste them all together once everyone is finished."
Hearing this, the judges looked disappointed. "Alright…"
Then, Bing Bing turned to the remaining chefs and said: "The time limit for egg fried rice is ten minutes. I'll remind you — five minutes have already passed."
As Bing Bing spoke, her eyes were fixed on Lao Hei and Xiangling with a puzzled expression.
Because the two of them still hadn't started cooking.
She had no idea what they were planning!
The netizens were equally confused!
{Why aren't they moving yet?} {So strange. Half the time is already gone.} {Egg fried rice is so basic — who can't make it?} {They're probably thinking about how to make the best use of limited ingredients.} {Possible, but unlikely! Hahaha! What kind of surprise can you even pull off with egg fried rice?} {....}
Seeing that Lao Hei and Xiangling still hadn't started, the netizens discussed animatedly.
The next moment, Xiangling and Lao Hei moved at the same time.
They first scooped out the rice and set it aside in a bowl.
Then, both of them cracked eggs and carefully separated the yolks from the whites.
This step was different from what the other chefs had done.
Most of the other chefs had simply ignored this detail.
They thought keeping some egg white would make it better.
But Xiangling and Lao Hei separated the yolks and whites completely.
The other chefs frowned, feeling that this move was completely unnecessary.
Whether you mixed the yolk and white or just used the yolk, the result would be almost the same.
Normal people definitely wouldn't be able to taste the difference anyway.
Heat the wok! Add oil!
Xiangling silently calculated every step in her heart.
She was waiting for the perfect moment to add the ingredients.
Lao Hei was doing the exact same thing.
Their movements were shockingly identical.
"Ready!"
Both spoke at the same time.
In front of them sat a bowl of golden egg fried rice that emitted an incredibly rich aroma.
Seeing this, the netizens were stunned.
Even though they weren't at the venue, they could feel that Xiangling and Lao Hei's egg fried rice looked far more delicious than the others.
Just the color alone told them everything — that beautiful golden hue paired with the bright green chopped onions looked incredibly appetizing!
"Alright, the judges may now begin tasting," Bing Bing announced.
By now, all the chefs' egg fried rice dishes had been placed on one long table.
Hearing this, the judges wiped the drool from the corners of their mouths and started tasting.
"Wow!" One judge took a bite of a random bowl and his eyes immediately lit up.
He couldn't stop praising it.
The other judges had almost identical reactions.
"I'll give it 8 points." "8.5." "I think it deserves 9."
Bing Bing sat nearby, recording the scores.
At that moment, one judge suddenly jumped up from his seat. His face was full of shock.
"Holy shit! Is… is this really egg fried rice?" He stared at the golden bowl in front of him, completely incredulous.
Just now, he had taken a bite of this particularly golden-looking egg fried rice.
The moment it touched his tongue, he jumped straight up.
It was simply too delicious.
The instant he ate it, he even had the illusion that he was standing in the middle of a golden rice field.
The feeling wrapped around him like warm sunlight.
It made him feel refreshed and euphoric.
The other judges frowned when they saw his reaction.
"No way! Is it really that good?" one judge laughed.
As he spoke, he scooped a spoonful from that same golden bowl and put it in his mouth.
The next second!
"Holy crap!" He also jumped up from his seat.
The judges' exaggerated reactions caught the netizens' attention.
No way!
It's just egg fried rice — is it really that serious?
{No way! Is it actually that delicious? That bowl seems to be the Chef God's dish.} {Yeah, it's Lao Hei's. Looks like the judges are completely conquered!} {Hahaha! The presentation does look amazing. I can almost smell it through the screen.} {.......}
"I'll give it 10 points." "Me too, 10." "10!" "10."
"Uh… I wanted to give 10 as well, but I'll give 9.5 because it feels a tiny bit salty."
The judges gave Lao Hei's egg fried rice a total of 99.9 points.
This score instantly crushed all the previously scored dishes.
Before this, the highest score had only been 95 points.
The chefs looked at each other in disbelief.
They never imagined there could be such a huge gap even in something as simple as egg fried rice.
Just when they thought the first-place winner of this round would undoubtedly be Lao Hei,
the judges cried out in shock again!
This time, they didn't jump up.
Instead, they started crying.
"Wuwuwu...…" "Wuwuwu...…"
??????
Everyone at the scene was dumbfounded.
What was going on?
They were eating egg fried rice — why were they crying?
Online, the netizens also looked at each other in confusion.
They had no idea what was happening!
Bing Bing carefully walked over to the judge who was crying the hardest and asked with a puzzled expression: "Judge Zhou, what's wrong?"
She glanced at the bowl they had just tasted.
Number 50.
It was the 2D girl's egg fried rice.
"Could it be that this egg fried rice only looks good but actually tastes terrible?"
Bing Bing thought to herself.
Xiangling's bowl of egg fried rice looked just as beautiful as Lao Hei's from the outside.
But as everyone knew, whether a dish tasted good or not didn't depend on how pretty it looked.
It ultimately came down to the balance of oil and salt.
It was just like a woman who looked beautiful on the outside, but had a certain dark area…
If you encountered something like that, you'd probably cry too, right?
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