From selling box lunches to becoming a famous Chinese chef

"No. 666, please go to stove No. 16. No. 666, please go to stove No. 16. No. 666, please go to stove No. 16."

There will also be a special number call-out at the challenge site, and the contestants holding the numbers will go to the designated stove to prepare for the competition.

Because there are more than 1000 people in the challenge, the live competitions are conducted alternately.

As long as there is a vacant stove on site, the announcement will be made immediately, allowing the next contestant to prepare for the competition.

At the same time, the judges on site will also be arranged to assess the designated numbers.

The entire process can be said to be completely random, which makes it almost impossible to manipulate the competition process, and all challengers must rely on their own abilities.

Feng Zhengming heard his number and hurried to the designated stove No. 16.

When Feng Zhengming appeared in front of stove No. 16.

Naturally, it caused quite a stir among the crowd watching.

"Wow, it's Feng Zhengming. He's finally going to appear on stage."

"Hehe, I'm looking forward to his appearance."

“Many people said that this challenge was added specifically for him.”

"That's because they have the ability. Who wouldn't say Huiquanlou is good if they've been there?"

"It's true. Huiquan Restaurant can really be regarded as a benchmark for restaurants in Quancheng."

"That's right. Huiquan Restaurant not only serves good food, but also has excellent service."

"I went to Huiquanlou for a banquet last month, and the food there was absolutely amazing."

Everyone gathered around stove No. 16 was full of expectations for Feng Zhengming.

At the same time, when someone spread the news that Feng Zhengming was at stove No. 16, many onlookers quickly gathered around stove No. 16.

Many challenge chefs who had already finished the competition also came over specifically wanting to meet Feng Zhengming.

Among them, the middle-aged chef who had made the lotus pond dish for cold dishes also came to stove No. 16.

When his painting of the lotus pond appeared at the scene, it naturally caused quite a stir.

Television stations and newspapers also interviewed him.

His name is "Qiu Zhonghui".

He is a chef who comes from the same island city as Gu Zhicheng.

The difference is that Qiu Zhonghui is more than ten years older than Gu Zhicheng and can be considered Gu Zhicheng's uncle.

However, Qiu Zhonghui did not get the same opportunity as Gu Zhicheng.

He has been working in a restaurant in the island city until now.

And he is not the head chef of any restaurant.

This time I came to participate in the challenge specifically to prove myself in cooking skills. I am ambitious to enter the trials and become a representative chef of Shandong cuisine to participate in the national competition.

In previous competitions, Qiu Zhonghui had already discovered that he had an absolute advantage.

At least most of the young and middle-aged chefs in front of him could not pose a threat to him.

Now that he saw Feng Zhengming, Qiu Zhonghui wanted to take a look at this young chef who was very famous in Quancheng.

Someone who can become the head chef of Huiquanlou at such a young age.

Does he really have the skills to match his fame?
Under the watchful eyes of the public, Feng Zhengming was making preparations at a leisurely pace.

Prepare the ingredients needed for the first cold dish.

Then Feng Zhengming picked out a long oval plate and painted some patterns on the white porcelain plate.

The patterns are drawn with vegetable juice, which makes it easier to remove when arranging the dish.

After carefully drawing on the plate, Feng Zhengming began to show off his knife skills.

In his hand was just an ordinary kitchen knife.

He started by peeling the ingredients, shaping them, and then slicing and shredding them.

There was also various dicing, and some carving was done on site.

He completed the whole process with the kitchen knife in his hand.

This alone has impressed many chefs who were watching the competition.

In the eyes of many chefs, it is not an easy task to complete carving with a kitchen knife.

In particular, Feng Zhengming's carvings look very complicated.

Many young chefs here simply can’t do this.

Middle-aged chefs, including Qiu Zhonghui, also feel the pressure.

Qiu Zhonghui was quite shocked by Feng Zhengming's performance, and at the same time he admired Feng Zhengming's craftsmanship.

Finally, under everyone's observation, the food in Feng Zhengming's hand turned into the shape of a bird.

The bird looks lifelike in Feng Zhengming's hands.

He gestured at the plate and modified the bird a few times.

Finally, the shape of the bird was decided, and other vegetables were cut into strips or slices for decoration.

After determining the position of the bird, Feng Zhengming stayed under the bird and piled up branches with food.

Sheets and silks are still stacked together to outline a very graphic pattern.

After the vegetables were roughly arranged, Feng Zhengming took out the various marinades he had brought with him.

Use the brine to decorate the dish.

Finally, a very beautiful picture appeared on the plate.

Feng Zhengming even blanched the live shrimps on the spot, peeled them and added them to the cold dish.

The dish presented was named "Bright Future" by Feng Zhengming.

When the dish was finished, the crowd watching burst into exclamations.

Even former contestants such as Qiu Zhonghui who were standing in the crowd were amazed by this cold dish.

If we say that Qiu Zhonghui’s cold dish allowed many people at the scene to witness the beauty of the chef’s knife skills and composition.

A dish like this one made by Feng Zhengming has directly risen to the level of a work of art.

The key is that if you look carefully, you will find that almost every part of this dish on the plate is edible.

Especially the added brine and shrimp make the overall nutrition of this dish quite balanced.

"You are indeed worthy of being called Chef Feng."

"Chef Feng is Chef Feng. He is always different when he cooks."

"A bright future, this dish is really beautiful."

"How can this be called a dish? It's simply a work of art."

"This is indeed a dish. Didn't you see it? Isn't this cold dish by Chef Feng different from the cold dishes by other chefs?"

Some people in the crowd still noticed the difference between Feng Zhengming's cold dish and that of other chefs who were challenging him.

The other participating chefs standing in the crowd have also noticed it.

Qiu Zhonghui couldn't help but mutter: "What a master, he can make everything on the plate edible while taking into account the appearance, and can match the meat and vegetables so perfectly."

Muttering this, Qiu Zhonghui was completely convinced by Feng Zhengming.

Some people in the crowd also pointed out what makes Feng Zhengming different from other challenge chefs. "Every ingredient on Chef Feng's plate is actually edible, which is really different from everyone else."

After someone reminded them of this, the crowd burst into applause, starting with someone else.

This was the first time that applause broke out during a live competition.

The thunderous applause naturally attracted the attention of many people who were not there to watch.

Master Cui smiled and said to Master Yan: "Old Yan, it seems that Zhengming has won the applause from the audience."

Master Yan was still modest: "That's not necessarily the case, maybe it's another chef."

Master Su laughed and said, "Such loud applause must be from Zhengming."

People from the TV station also quickly rushed to Feng Zhengming's competition stove after hearing the applause.

The TV station host responsible for the on-site coverage was also surprised when he saw the cold dish prepared by Feng Zhengming.

"Oh my god, this is so beautiful."

After the female host exclaimed, she moved closer to take a closer look.

The photographer even gave a close-up shot, carefully capturing the entire dish.

The female host looked closely for a while and really couldn't help but want to reach out, but she was too embarrassed to do so.

The female host could only ask Feng Zhengming: "Chef Feng, on this plate, there are shrimps here, and sausages under the shrimps, what are these other parts?"

Feng Zhengming introduced with a smile: "The bird's head is a carrot, the bird's body is made of yellow bell peppers cut into strips, and the bird's feet and wings are also made of carrots.

The wings are decorated with marinated duck liver, and the tail is cucumber skin, which is of course washed and edible. "

After listening to Feng Zhengming's introduction, the audience burst into laughter.

Qiu Zhonghui couldn't help but laugh in the crowd.

Then Feng Zhengming used beef slices, yellow bell peppers, cucumbers, pork elbows, carrots, and red radishes to replace the rocks under the bird's feet.

Either sliced ​​or shredded, and finally assembled together.

He also carved words with cucumber peels and used carrots and green winter melon shreds to make sun and cloud decorations.

Such a cold dish is really like a work of art.

After listening to Feng Zhengming's introduction, the female host exclaimed: "It's so beautiful, it's simply a dish that is so ingenious, and it seems that everything on this plate can be eaten?"

Feng Zhengming nodded: "Yes, you can eat everything. If you like, you can eat the bird's head too."

The crowd watching the scene burst into laughter again, and everyone was completely impressed by the dish.

Anyone who looks at this dish really can't find any problems with it.

Perhaps there will be a chef who will do a better job than Feng Zhengming in dish presentation in the future.

But if you want the dish to be beautiful, every ingredient on the dish should be edible.

This is really not an easy thing to do.

At this point, Qiu Zhonghui and other chefs who participated in the challenge felt.

Compared with them, there is a huge gap in level between Feng Zhengming and them, which makes it difficult for them to challenge and catch up.

After this cold dish, Feng Zhengming then demonstrated a textbook version of deep-fried double crispy dishes.

Whether it was his knife skills, fire skills, or spoon skills, they truly amazed everyone present.

Qiu Zhonghui and other chefs were also stunned.

Smooth knife skills, the use and control of the stove fire, and solid spoon skills during the stir-fry process.

With all of this combined, the fried crispy food is so delicious that even the judges don’t need to taste it.

The judges laughed and said, "Xiao Feng, with your skills, it's really a waste of your talent to let you participate in the challenge."

Feng Zhengming responded seriously: "You can't say that. Rules are rules. We are the Shandong cuisine that is most particular about rules, so we can't break the rules."

Everyone at the scene really had nothing to say about Feng Zhengming.

Both the judges and the onlookers were impressed by Feng Zhengming's craftsmanship and demeanor.

When Cheng Guosheng saw this result, he found it a little difficult to understand.

"He is already the head chef and is responsible for so many things in the kitchen. How can he still maintain such good skills? How on earth does he keep it up?"

This doubt is not just Cheng Guosheng's.

Many chefs working in the restaurant's kitchen had the same doubts.

Because human energy is limited, the chef's job is actually very tedious.

Therefore, many chefs’ cooking skills may decline due to not cooking often.

Of course, being able to become a chef is the result of years of experience.

So even if I don’t cook often, I can still cook well based on my years of experience.

But it is really puzzling that someone as young as Feng Zhengming can be the head chef and at the same time maintain his skills.

When Master Yan was asked by several other masters, he smiled and said: "Actually it's very simple. Although he is the head chef, he has never slacked off.

He would practice knife, fire and spoon skills at a fixed time every day in the kitchen, and he always kept himself in the best condition.

Especially his cooking skills, he always maintains a peak state.

This is something he honed during his time working in rice shops and food stalls.”

When it comes to dry rice shops and food stalls, the old masters suddenly understand.

Master Su said: "Yes, Zhengming has worked in rice shops and food stalls for a long time, and he really honed his cooking skills in those places."

Several other masters also agreed that Feng Zhengming accumulated experience by running rice shops and food stalls.

Because whether it is a dry rice shop or a food stall, the chef needs to finish a dish very quickly.

To ensure that the food is delicious and to complete it quickly is a great test of the chef's cooking skills.

Many chefs in restaurants may look down on chefs in dry rice shops and food stalls.

However, chefs at dry rice shops and food stalls may often be better at cooking than chefs at big restaurants.

Of course, just having dry rice shops and food stalls is not enough.

Feng Zhengming still needs to try more and improve himself in the kitchen of Huiquanlou.

So today he was able to design that bright future cold dish on the spot.

Combine the basics and advanced stuff together.

Only then can a qualitative leap in cooking skills be achieved.

After Feng Zhengming finished today's game and left the stove, he was surrounded by many people at the scene.

Many of them are diners who admire him, and there are also many challenge chefs who want to communicate with him.

Feng Zhengming was not in a hurry to leave, but instead had some exchanges with everyone.

For ordinary people who have no cooking foundation, Feng Zhengming advises them not to try to learn some of his methods right away, but to return to the essence of cooking first.

“The essence of cooking is to make it delicious, so you don’t need to arrange the dishes beautifully like me. You just need to remember some key points of cooking, know how to do each step, and then make dishes that you think are delicious.

If you make something that you and your family think is delicious, then you are the chef of your family. Don’t worry about what others say.”

Feng Zhengming's words immediately won the favor of many audience members who didn't know much about cooking.

Feng Zhengming will answer some professional questions from other chef contestants from a professional perspective. (End of this chapter)