Chapter 403: Tiers of Delight 3
Not wasting more time on chatting, Lu Xinyi and Han Yixin started finishing the last dessert to be presented for this cooking battle.
Han Yixin prepared the ingredients to make her sweet-tart pastry. For the last round, she decided to make Sweet Mandarin Orange Tarts in bite sizes. She sifted the flour and icing sugar into a bowl and added cold butter before rubbing it with her fingertips until the mixture became sandy.
Next, she added in ice water and kneaded the mixture to form the dough, keeping in mind to add a little more ice water once she felt the dough was too dry to her preference. Once satisfied, she shaped it into a ball and wrapped it with foil before storing in the freezer for about ten minutes.
Ten minutes had passed; the dough for her tart was ready. Han Yixin took a small piece of dough into the tart tin and trimmed the edges with a sharp knife. She then pricked the pastry at the bottom of the tart tin with a small fork.
Once the tarts were ready, she baked them at her preheated oven at 180 degrees Celsius for twenty minutes until the color turned pale yellow. She removed it from the oven and set aside while making the filling for her tarts.
In a mixing bowl, she mixed three 65 grams of eggs, a hundred grams of caster sugar, one hundred milliliters of fresh mandarin orange juice she squeezed earlier, some orange zest, and half a tablespoon of green lime juice.
Han Yixin gave it a good stir, making sure the sugar was dissolved before straining the filling through a sieve until it was smooth enough before baking.
In the other kitchen counter within the arena, Lu Xinyi collected the orange peels she removed from her oranges and cut them into strips while the oranges themselves were still soaked in water.
She wasn't planning to throw these peels away. Orange peels could be used as a seasoning when it's dried or could be a delicious snack to be eaten on any occasion.
Because the peel was really bitter, she boiled the strips in a pot of water for five minutes before transferring them in a pot with a sugar syrup to simmer for half an hour or until her mandarin oranges were ready.
While the orange peels were simmering, Lu Xinyi started to work on her mandarin oranges. Taking each one from the container filled with water, she made four cuts across the sides and squeezed out the juice using the blade of her knife. Doing this would help preserve the orange and achieve the foundation of the final texture later.
Once it was done, she steamed the cut oranges for at least twenty minutes, enough to make the flesh and fibers of the oranges tighten. Lu Xinyi flipped it occasionally to make sure it was evenly heated. As the oranges cooked under the hot steam, they started to get shiny and slippery.
"Wow, Lu Xinyi steamed her mandarin oranges. It looks like orange steamed buns to me."
"Dude, what's that?! Are you drooling?"
The young man wiped the corners of his mouth with the back of his hand.
"What drooling? You're seeing things, bro!"
Lu Xinyi removed the oranges from the steamer and cooled it down before chilling it in the fridge. While waiting for the oranges to cool down, she went back to her orange peels and dipped them in melted dark chocolate she prepared ahead. She then aligned them onto a sheet of baking parchment and placed them in the fridge so the chocolate could set faster.
"Ladies, you only have one hour left to finish your last desserts. Please consider your steps to make sure you will finish on time!" Huo Meili reminded Han Yixin and Lu Xinyi.
"Damn, this is one of the longest cooking battles I've watched so far. I should have brought some snacks with me. Now, I have to drool on those desserts and envy those judges who'll eat later." Huang Shenghao cursed his luck. He was feeling hungry now but could not leave as the end of the competition approached.
"Ah, I know what you feel, bro. The number of times I gulped and swallowed air while watching my Big Sis presents her desserts is ridiculous." Shen Xue shared the same sentiments with Huang Shenghao.
With one hour remaining, Han Yixin started piping enough filling in her small tarts and baked them for another twenty minutes. With most of the steps done, she only needed for her tarts to cook, cool down, and be garnished later.
On Lu Xinyi's side, once her steamed oranges cooled down, she transferred them to an empty pot before pouring in three cups of granulated sugar and simmered directly without adding water. This way, simmering the oranges with sugar would release any remaining water content. Sugar and water would react to each other on low fire.
This was the most critical part of Lu Xinyi's dessert. The sugar would quickly turn to syrup. She kept an eye on her oranges, making sure to allow the syrup to bubble but not to turn brown. She turned each fruit several times to ensure it was fully coated had absorbed the syrup. Once it was done cooking, she laid out the fruit to cool on the baking mat.
"Han Yixin made an orange tart while Lu Xinyi made a candied orange cake. This will be tough for the three judges," the old man in the audience commented.
"How do you say so?" The man sitting beside him asked. He was starting to wonder if this old man was also a chef or a baker.
"Because the two took different approaches, ah! Han Yixin took the western route while Lu Xinyi chose the traditional way to present her dessert."
Now both, Han Yixin and Lu Xinyi only need to wait for their desserts to cool down before giving them the last touch before serving them to the judges. Using this free time, Lu Xinyi wiped clean her kitchen counter and prepared the plating for her dessert.
"You have one minute left to present your desserts! Please start plating!" The MC's voice echoed within the arena.
Taking out the chilled chocolate-coated orange peels, Lu Xinyi stacked up some of it beside the mandarin orange cakes on a center of a plate. On the other hand, Han Yixin spread a thin layer of apricot jam on her tarts before dusting it with powdered sugar.