From selling box lunches to becoming a famous Chinese chef

The next day, at the challenge competition site, the numbers of the chefs who advanced to the first round were announced.

Because it is quite difficult to come up with names for more than 1000 chefs overnight, so they simply announced numbers instead.

And this number will continue with each chef who advances to the next round of challenges.

It is not until the end of the challenge, when competing for the top three, that the chefs’ names will be used instead of numbers.

Of course, although the list of qualifiers was announced on site using numbers, there was still a special list attached.

The names of all chefs participating in this challenge and their corresponding numbers will be posted.

This can also be regarded as a recognition for the chefs who dared to challenge the master chefs this time.

The release of such a list will give the chefs participating in the challenge a better opportunity.

Some chefs who are able to participate in this challenge may use this qualification as confidence to fight for better treatment after returning.

Feng Zhengming's advancement was naturally no surprise. He and other qualified challenge chefs went to see the questions for the next round of competition together.

When seeing the second round of questions, many chefs participating in the challenge were a little confused.

The first round of questions was a cold dish test that tested knife skills, and a stir-fry test that tested fire and spoon skills.

There were many questions in the second round to challenge the chefs. I thought, maybe they would be asked to show off their special skills.

As a result, the second round of exam questions required each chef to start by killing a chicken.

The chefs have to kill the chicken themselves, gut it, remove the feathers, clean it, and then debone the whole chicken.

Finally, you need to use the deboned chicken to make several dishes.

This is a complete process that tests the chef's basic skills.

Because you have to start with killing the chicken, this step alone is a huge challenge not only for young chefs but also for some middle-aged chefs.

This is no longer the 1970s and 1980s, when apprentices might have had to go through all this.

Because the chickens you buy from the market are live chickens, restaurants and hotels can only buy them and kill and process them themselves.

When you buy chickens in the market now, there will be professionals to help you kill them.

There are even quite a few stalls that specialize in selling chickens, and they will help slaughter and clean the chickens on site.

Therefore, many young chefs who graduate from vocational schools have never learned this step in school.

Some middle-aged chefs may not have killed or cleaned the chickens themselves for many years.

However, the second round of the competition required the chefs to kill the chicken themselves, debone the chicken after cleaning it, and then make several classic chicken dishes.

At this moment, the chefs who advanced to the second round finally realized that this was truly a challenge for them.

Even Feng Zhengming was a little surprised that the examiner could give such a question.

But on second thought, we might really face such a situation at the National Cooking Skills Competition.

The chickens may not necessarily be killed live on site, but fish may be killed live on site.

It also requires the chef to have comprehensive abilities to complete them.

Because in the past, these tasks were something that every chef had to learn from scratch.

Of course, there is also a key assessment point in this challenge, which is the time requirement for deboning a whole chicken.

The timer starts when you are ready and start removing the bones.

The bone removal must be completed within one and a half minutes.

Seeing this, many of the chefs who were challenging themselves smiled bitterly again.

Deboning a whole chicken in one and a half minutes? Is this a bit too difficult?
But Feng Zhengming had worked as a handyman in the kitchen of Yan Xilou and had also gone out to communicate with his master.

He knew very well that one and a half points of bone removal was already a relaxation of the requirements.

Under normal circumstances, when Feng Zhengming and his master go out to exchange ideas in competitions, they are required to debone a whole chicken within one minute.

Perhaps the person who set the questions for this challenge also took into account that most of the participating chefs may not have deboned a whole chicken for a long time, so they relaxed the requirements.

However, although the requirements are relaxed for Feng Zhengming, this may not be the case for other chefs.

Many chefs at the scene had sad faces, and several older chefs also had frowns on their faces.

Perhaps older chefs may still be able to kill, pluck and clean chickens.

But the whole chicken needs to be deboned, and it still needs to be done within one and a half minutes.

This seems to be somewhat difficult for older chefs.

Then when everyone was looking at the test questions, they all felt a little stressed.

Master Cui came out and said with a smile: "Seeing this kind of test questions, does it make us challenged chefs feel a little embarrassed? I see that everyone looks unhappy."

When they saw Master Cui come out, everyone was instantly in awe.

Speaking of the challenging chefs present, it can be said that most of them have a certain connection with Master Cui.

Maybe many of them have taken classes in Master Cui’s training class.

Therefore, Master Cui has always had the highest prestige among chefs.

When Master Cui came forward, everyone naturally became serious.

Someone said: "Teacher, it's not difficult, we just haven't done this for a long time."

When Master Cui heard this, he immediately said, "Yes, that's right. You haven't done this for a long time, but these are the first things you learn as a chef, and they are the most basic things.

With the development of the times, the division of labor has become more refined. Maybe in your kitchen, there are people who specialize in killing chickens, plucking chickens, and cleaning chickens. Then there are also people who help you debone the chickens and cut various things for you.

But as a chef, these are things you cannot fail to know and cannot forget.

Especially since you are able to participate in the challenge, you should all be the head chefs in your respective restaurants and hotels.

As a chef, you don’t need to do these things, but you can’t not know how to do them.”

Master Cui's words can be said to be very powerful.

He has made it clear that he wants to use such challenges to test the basic skills of every young and middle-aged chef.

We need to see whether the chefs who come to participate in the challenge and want to represent Shandong cuisine in the national competition have the necessary abilities and qualifications?

Master Cui said frankly: "A chef must not forget his roots and must not lose his foundation, especially a Shandong cuisine chef."

These words were very important, and made the challenge chefs present feel the pressure.

Finally, Master Cui said, "Okay, we still have one night left. Go back and think about your past skills and see if you have forgotten them. Don't embarrass yourself in the competition tomorrow."

After hearing this, the challenge chefs present said goodbye to Master Cui and went back to prepare.

Feng Zhengming wanted to leave with everyone, but was stopped by Master Cui. Being stopped made Feng Zhengming feel a little helpless.

After the other challenge chefs left, Feng Zhengming followed Master Cui to the organizer's office inside the competition venue.

Master Cui led Feng Zhengming here and then said, "Zhengming, I know that the challenge is not challenging for you, so you should not rush back to prepare."

When Feng Zhengming heard this, he said with a smile: "Uncle, I am also the head chef now. I haven't killed a chicken for a long time. I haven't boned a chicken for a long time. I also need to go back and prepare."

As a result, Master Cui said after hearing this: "Oh, then we can't let you go back. You are better than others. We can't give you more time to prepare."

Feng Zhengming was stunned by these words and didn't know how to respond.

Master Cui continued with a smile: "Your master didn't come to see you to avoid suspicion, so I had to come by myself."

Feng Zhengming said: "During the competition, I really shouldn't have met with my master alone."

Master Cui laughed and said, "You are indeed Lao Yan's apprentice. Your tone of voice is becoming more and more like his."

After a brief pause, Master Cui finally got to the point.

"The cold dish you prepared this time really shocked us all. I didn't expect you to come up with such a design in such a short time. It really showed your knife skills, composition and the artistry of a chef to the fullest."

Feng Zhengming immediately responded: "I just want to make good use of the competition to show myself."

Master Cui smiled and said, "You are right. You young chefs should show off yourselves more and be bold in showing off your abilities. If you don't show off your skills at this time, when will you show off your skills?"

Then Master Cui stared at Feng Zhengming and said, "Then in the next game, will you also go all out?"

Feng Zhengming nodded: "Of course we have to go all out."

Master Cui was very satisfied with what he said: "Okay, you must go all out. I hope to see more outstanding performances from you in the next competition. You must show all your abilities."

After listening to what Master Cui said, Feng Zhengming was a little confused.

"Uncle Master, is this what you are looking for me to talk about?"

Master Cui nodded: "That's it. I hope you can show what you have learned and what you have thought of in the competition."

Feng Zhengming and Master Cui looked at each other, trying to figure out if this uncle had any other intentions.
Then Master Cui said with a smile: "Only if you perform well enough and let more people see your performance, your future path will be smoother."

After hearing this, Feng Zhengming seemed to understand what his uncle meant.

Master Cui wanted Feng Zhengming to send a signal to people throughout the province and even the whole country.

Shandong cuisine has not declined, and Shandong cuisine chefs still have very solid basic skills and can make more innovative dishes.

Because the chef selection for this national competition has already been publicized.

Many people across the country are watching.

There will always be more outstanding chefs showing themselves under the watchful eyes of the public.

Master Cui obviously has high hopes for Feng Zhengming.

We hope Feng Zhengming can demonstrate his extraordinary skills and give a crushing performance that surpasses all others.

Master Cui finally said: "Only if you are good enough can someone recognize that you are the excellent chef who is qualified to participate in the national competition."

Feng Zhengming probably understood the meaning of the last sentence.

It seems that there are still some negative comments about Feng Zhengming representing Shandong cuisine in the national competition.

Therefore, the old masters, including Master Cui, should be under some pressure.

Feng Zhengming could see that this pressure did not come from within the Shandong cuisine chefs.

Because of Master Cui's status in Shandong cuisine, no one should be able to put pressure on him.

It is even less likely to be Cheng Guosheng, as he does not have that kind of courage.

Then the pressure can only come from outside.

Feng Zhengming did not ask, but he had a guess in his mind: was there some pressure from the national competition?
Master Cui saw Feng Zhengming's confusion, but he didn't explain it.

"Okay, don't think too much and prepare for the game."

Feng Zhengming naturally said goodbye to Master Cui, turned around and left the stadium to go back and prepare.

After leaving the competition venue, I saw that many of the chefs who failed to advance to the second round were discussing whether to go back or have some fun in Quancheng.
Some people will also find newspaper photographers on the scene and ask them to help take photos, leaving their address, hoping to get a photo as a souvenir later.

Most of the photographers at newspapers are actually satisfied and don’t even charge the challenging chefs for the money.

Looking at what was happening before his eyes, Feng Zhengming felt quite emotional.

Many of these chefs in front of us are not bad.

Many of them are good at cooking.

It’s just that competition and selection are so cruel.

Maybe many chefs have been looking forward to such an opportunity for a long time.

For many chefs, this open challenge may be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

But they only participated for a short while and then had to go back.

For most chefs, being a chef will become just a job again when they go back.

Like many working people, they are also buried in the kitchen and no one pays attention to them.

But if there were no chefs, who would bring so many delicious foods to everyone?

It’s a pity that this is no longer an era when labor is the most glorious.

Many people no longer respect labor, nor do they respect skilled chefs.

For example, several old chefs and head cooks in big restaurants are always seen and talked about by people.

A young and promising chef like Feng Zhengming, who is able to manage Huiquanlou and become the head chef at such a young age, will naturally appear glamorous in front of everyone.

At this moment, we saw those people saying goodbye to the stadium and taking a photo outside the stadium.

Feng Zhengming knows that unknown chefs like them are the ones who truly promote the development and inheritance of cuisine.

When I contacted Master Cui again, I felt that I had something to say but was hesitant, unable to speak directly.

Feng Zhengming seemed to suddenly understand why Master Cui wanted him to show off his skills as much as possible.

It is not just to satisfy those who may doubt whether Feng Zhengming is qualified to participate in the national competition.

More importantly, we should use this opportunity to showcase the chef’s real skills in front of many people across the country, so that more people can pay attention to the chef.

This can also help promote chefs and make them receive more attention.

Feng Zhengming felt in his heart that he must take the lead in this matter and go all out. (End of this chapter)