Universe Infinite Canteen-Chapter 597: Stratification

With the experience from the last time, the four of them stopped in unison, held their breath, and focused intently on the beverage before them.

But this time, there were no changes in the cup.

Ma Lu then took out the timer that had originally been placed on the table.

"This dish, I haven't actually completed it because part of it needs to be cooked on the spot, I consulted the staff.

"They told me that this part can be done when I go onstage, as long as it's included in the cooking time."

Indeed, now some dishes can't be eaten directly after being served; they need the waiters or even the chefs themselves to do a secondary processing on the spot.

This also serves to ensure flavor or visual appeal.

After getting a signal from the staff, Ma Lu pressed the timer again and approached the judges' table.

Then he took a dropper from his chest and dropped its contents into the glass cups in front of the four judges.

The next moment, a miracle appeared.

The brown liquid that fell into the cup actually turned into a coconut grove, and those coconut trees kept growing downwards until they took root at the bottom of the cup.

After that, large coconut leaves grew on the trees, eventually bearing coconuts.

The scene, resembling the magic from the world of Harry Potter, stunned all the Muggles.

The four judges were all speechless as well.

They had been wondering how Ma Lu would express the "meaning" in his fifth course.

Most people thought he might use liquid nitrogen or dry ice to create a smoky scene or find a way to replicate the Roasted Steamed Bun he had made in the first competition.

That dish also had a certain artistic atmosphere.

No one expected that Ma Lu had pulled off something big this time, making a coconut grove grow in front of everyone's eyes in the drink.

Was this scene really real and not an illusion?

Violet Yupil, the editor-in-chief of the "Food & Wine" magazine, had a glint in her eye as she realized something and blurted out,

"Did you employ cocktail layering techniques?"

Layering is a basic skill for every bartender.

The famous Rainbow Wine, for example, is made using this technique. It's about adding base spirits or liqueurs of different densities into a glass in order of density.

The densest one on the bottom and the lighter ones on top, making layering effortless. Once you add colorants, the final cocktail presented in the glass has layers each with a different color, as splendid as a rainbow.

However, Ma Lu took it a step further.

After layering the spirits or liqueurs of different densities, he did not add colorants to make the layering visible.

That made the drinkers mistakenly believe he did not use layering techniques.

And what he just added to the cup with the dropper must have contained a large amount of coconut milk and milk.

By leveraging the different spreading rates of coconut milk and cow's milk among the layers of spirits with varying densities, he created the illusion of coconut trees growing and bearing fruit.

To confirm his theory, Violet Yupil then took a sip of the beverage in front of him.

Sure enough, he tasted coconut milk, alcohol, and syrup.

Even after seeing through the secret behind the magic, Violet Yupil's appreciation for this dish did not diminish but increased again.

Because knowing the principle is one thing, being able to do it is quite another.

With just one small sip, he tasted six or seven different flavors, and that was just the top layer.

He guessed that to achieve the final effect, Ma Lu must have divided the drink into at least a dozen layers, and the difficulty of doing so was immense. Moreover, replicating the diffusion of coconut milk into the shape of a coconut tree would be unattainable without thousands, if not tens of thousands, of trials.

Even if someone managed to achieve it, replicating it successfully would be very challenging.

In the end, Violet Yupil could only exclaim, "This is ingeniously crafted; most head chefs I've encountered, although knowledgeable about wine, can hardly double as professional bartenders.

"Because that too is a profession that requires talent and a lot of practice, and the difficulty of being top-notch is no less than that of becoming a great chef. How many more techniques do you have that we don't know about?

"Or perhaps I should ask, is there any technique you don't know?"

"There isn't."

Ma Lu's answer was as arrogantly confident as ever.

The last to present was Luo Junkang.

Luo Junkang didn't have endless novel ideas like Sun Mei and Ma Lu.

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He just honestly stir-fried a dish because the time for this round was really too tight, to the extent that he hardly had time to focus on presentation.

But it smelled pretty good when served.

Gaggan Anand picked up a butterfly-shaped fried item from the plate with a fork, curious, "What is this?"

"Tea crackers," Luo Junkang said, "a traditional snack from Huai'an. I made loofah tea crackers from it. Well, but I've changed the recipe a bit, replacing chicken soup with truffle soup and adding crab meat. It's like a deluxe version for the competition, I suppose."

Rocky Chen did not hurry to taste the dish, tempting as it looked, but asked again.

"I noticed that your time was almost up. Even if you get through this round, you won't be able to continue in the competition, will you? Unless you have some unknown contingency plan, why didn't you choose a dish that's easier to prepare?"

"I don't have any contingency plans left," Luo Junkang shook his head, "As for why I didn't choose something easier to prepare, it's not that I don't want to, it's because my opponents are too strong."

"If I didn't put in all my effort, there wouldn't be any hope to get through this round. As for the next competition, I simply didn't have the luxury to think about it."

"I understand."

After having the loofah tea crackers, the four judges had tasted the creations of the three contestants for this round and then completed their scoring.

For once, Sun Mei felt a flicker of nervousness, although Sun He and Luo Junkang's grandfather were old friends and had even collaborated before, she and Luo Junkang weren't that close.

But Sun Mei had tasted Luo Junkang's cooking before and acknowledged his ability, always considering him a potential contender for the title.

To save time for the final round, she actually hadn't given her all in these two rounds.

On the contrary, it appeared that Luo Junkang had given up on the championship, using up all his time on this round.

As a result, Luo Junkang, who had unleashed his final strength, posed an even greater threat to Sun Mei.

Sun Mei regretted a bit that she hadn't spent more time polishing her Night in a Strange Land this round, but when her gaze shifted back to Ma Lu, she became determined once again.

To her, there was no difference between second and third.

Only by defeating the man before her could she fulfill her agreement with Sun He.

As there were only three contestants left, the staff calculated the scores much more quickly.

Finally, the scores were released, and Ma Lu once again led the field with a score of 5, while Sun Mei and Luo Junkang both received 4.25 points.

A tie.

This was the first time since the competition began that there was a tie for the last place.

The judges' panel would now need to discuss and come to a result.