Free Web NovelChapter 668: Chapter 602: Thousand-Layer Pastry? Your Opponent Is 200,000 Threads!
"Is this fake?"
"This... really doesn’t look like the real thing. If it is, it’s too surreal."
"Didn’t someone just say this is Dragon’s Beard Candy?"
"No candy could be that fine, right?"
Zhang Tao asked, "Mr. Chen, I think the audience must be very curious about this Dragon’s Beard Candy right now. Could you explain it?"
Chen Guomin laughed and said, "Why ask me when the creator is right here? Let’s have contestant Wang Fan introduce it himself."
Zhang Tao turned and aimed the microphone at Wang Fan, "Then let’s have contestant Wang Fan introduce your dessert. The audience must be scratching their heads about it."
Wang Fan was a bit reluctant to introduce it himself. Touting your own work too much can sound like bragging, but with so many curious eyes fixed on him, he had no choice but to speak up: "Dragon Beard Sugar is a traditional Chinese dessert with over two thousand years of history. It was initially called Silver Thread Candy."
As he spoke, he picked up a candy the size of a grape and asked, "Can you guess how many strands of sugar are in this candy?"
The camera zoomed in, and the whole screen was filled with that small candy in Wang Fan’s hand. From a distance, the white candy looked smooth, but up close, you could see the tightly wound fine strands.
"These sugar strands look really thin. I estimate there must be at least a thousand strands."
"No way. I think a few hundred should be about right; a few thousand is too far-fetched."
"With something this fine, a few hundred is normal. I estimate a thousand is reasonable. It’s called a thousand-layer pastry; ours should have more than a thousand too."
Zhang Tao was also quite curious. He smiled and said, "I’ll take a bold guess too. I guess this candy has 10,000 strands!"
Upon hearing this, many people in the audience burst out laughing: "Brother, your guess is way too bold. How could there be that many?"
"Exactly, if 10,000 strands fit into such a small piece, how fine would those strands have to be?"
Listening to everyone’s guesses, Wang Fan smiled and shook his head. Once the guesses quieted down, he directly revealed, "This one candy has 200,000 strands."
?
How many? 20 strands?
What? Did I mishear? Not 20 strands, but 200... thousand?
The audience was stunned upon hearing the number.
This small grape-sized candy is really made up of 200,000 sugar strands?
No way!
That’s impossible!
Wang Fan figured the audience wouldn’t believe it: "Now, the candy I’m holding has hardened and cannot be pulled. Interested viewers can count carefully once the show’s video is edited. The candy is made by folding and stretching heated sugar repeatedly, similar to Lanzhou Beef Noodles. For the wind-blown effect, these sugar strands are estimated to be 50 times thinner than hair."
50? Just that?
Do you even hear what you’re saying?
The audience felt like their minds weren’t able to comprehend this today.
Oh, we thought French mille-feuille with 1,000 layers was impressive, needing a ’wow’, ’oh my’, ’wow,’ and you’ve gone straight to 200,000? Chinese desserts are so amazing, how come I didn’t know this?
In a moment of disbelief, realizing that it’s actually us who are the great power, right?
This made Chen Guomin chuckle as he said, "I reckon even 200,000 strands isn’t the limit. It’s just what was needed for this piece. I bet Wang Fan could double it to 400,000 strands."
???
What on earth are you talking about?!
Huh?!
If you keep fooling me like this, don’t think I won’t report you to the authorities tomorrow!
Chen Guomin closed his eyes, soaking in the ’wow’s, thrilled and amazed. Yes, this is the charm of traditional Chinese desserts passed down by our ancestors!
Wasn’t the original intent of this show to achieve just this?
But this small ambition has finally truly achieved its intended effect in the third season.
Although there’s a long way to go in making Chinese desserts widely known, at least now there’s a path, better than having no path at all in the past.
Cumbersome, troublesome, time-consuming, expensive—at some point, these tags got attached to Chinese desserts. Admittedly, some desserts do have these issues, but many are heritage from the folk, neither time-consuming nor troublesome and deliciously clean in ingredients.
These desserts originally sold quite well, but as foreign fast-food desserts flooded in, they suddenly became neglected, as if eating our own dessert would make one inferior!
The older generation of craftsmen helplessly switched careers; the younger generation, seeing no money in this, are unwilling to learn, making this thousand-year-old dessert’s legacy close to breaking.
Now, thanks to this young man Wang Fan, this Chinese treasure has finally become widely known. How could he not be happy and excited?
Chen Guomin now looks at Wang Fan more and more favorably, feeling that he is the hope for the revival of Chinese desserts, determined to recruit him into their Chinese Dessert Association after the competition, even if it’s for a high-ranking position!
Wang Fan had finished introducing his dessert, but now it was the judges’ turn to have a dilemma.
Allen really felt like grabbing Wang Fan by the collar, lifting him off the ground, and questioning him: "Damn it, you’ve made these desserts like artworks. How on earth are we judges supposed to eat them? Hmm?!"
The three judges exchanged helpless glances, all reluctant to ruin the dessert.
Seeing them in such distress, the audience nearly laughed themselves into stitches.
