From selling box lunches to becoming a famous Chinese chef

Through observation, many people at the scene could easily find that Feng Zhengming was very patient and quite organized when cooking.

Will he think about what to do first and what to do later?
For example, after he has finished removing the bones and passed the on-site inspection, he will directly put the chicken bones into the pot to cook.

I added onions, ginger, cooking wine, and a few peppercorns into the pot.

Then he began to prepare the different parts of the deboned chicken separately.

One piece of chicken breast is shredded, and the other piece is chopped directly into chicken puree.

Moreover, Feng Zhengming did the entire process alone, doing it step by step patiently.

For example, when chopping the chicken breast into paste, he used the back of the knife to slowly chop and smash it the whole time.

Finally, use the blade of a knife to spread the chicken paste on the chopping board and pick out some of the meat tendons bit by bit.

This process really requires a lot of patience, and he seemed to have a time calculator in his mind.

When the veteran chefs and master chefs at the scene saw Feng Zhengming's actions, they basically knew what he was going to do?
The part about shredding the chicken breast is definitely for making a test-taking dish, shredded chicken with silver sprouts.

Then chop the chicken breast into fine chicken puree, and prepare to make fried chicken fillets.

He also cut the chicken legs into small pieces. You can probably guess that it was stir-fried chicken with soy sauce, or maybe Kung Pao chicken like the Shandong cuisine.

The only thing that is a little hard to guess is that Feng Zhengming soaks and marinates his boneless chicken wings and chicken feet in advance.

The old masters and chefs didn’t quite understand. What dishes was he going to make with those two ingredients?

Feng Zhengming had prepared everything, including all the auxiliary ingredients.

It just so happened that the chicken soup he had cooked with chicken bones was ready.

It was not until he filtered out the chicken soup and started cooking that everyone understood.

It turns out that even when Feng Zhengming cooks in competitions, he always uses chicken broth.

The cooking process was actually relatively simple for Feng Zhengming.

Since all the ingredients are ready, it will be easier to cook them.

The first dish to come out of the pot is shredded chicken with silver sprouts.

After rinsing the shredded chicken, wipe off the water on the surface, then put it into the bottom and coat it with starch, and then put it into the pan to fry the shredded chicken.

After taking it out of the pot, add a little bit of oil to the pot, stir-fry the silver sprouts, add the shredded chicken, and add the prepared chicken broth.

After the sauce is reduced over high heat, remove from the pan and serve on a plate.

In order to make the color look better, Feng Zhengming also added a few coriander stalks.

After the shredded silver sprout chicken, Feng Zhengming then made a dish of stir-fried diced chicken with chicken thighs.

A very traditional Shandong dish of stir-fried diced chicken with soy sauce.

The oil and sauce wrapped around the diced chicken look very pretty when paired with walnut kernels.

After stir-frying the diced chicken with soy sauce, Feng Zhengming then took out the chicken wings and boneless chicken feet that had been marinated in advance.

When Feng Zhengming removed the bones, he did not separate the chicken wings, so now the chicken wings are still whole large wings.

When marinating, he cut the chicken wings completely open, opening the entire wing from the bone to form two large pieces of chicken wing meat.

At this time, Feng Zhengming finished marinating and wiped the water inside and outside.

Then he coated it with flour, egg liquid and stir-fried steamed bun crumbs and fried them in a pan.

The chicken feet are fried directly in the pan.

After being taken out of the pan, Feng Zhengming carefully trimmed the golden fried chicken wings and cut them into small pieces.

He even ate some of the leftovers on the plate.

This part caused a burst of laughter at the scene.

Master Yan even laughed and said: "This kid always likes to do these little tricks."

But Feng Zhengming's action of eating blatantly on the spot made the people watching him find him very interesting.

The other chefs were very serious and prepared each dish with great caution.

Feng Zhengming actually had time to secretly eat the food he cooked.

This shows that he is not nervous at all and has very strong self-confidence.

So it was natural that he won the favor of almost all the viewers at the scene.

"Chef Feng is really amazing. He dares to eat openly during a competition like this."

"Hahaha, if the cook doesn't steal the crops, there won't be a good harvest."

"Is that stealing? I was just trying to taste it."

"That's right. Besides, when it comes to plating, those are just the scraps that were cut off and not needed. What's wrong with people trying them?"

"Actually, I want to say, if you don't want the leftovers, you can give them to me. I think they must be delicious."

Feng Zhengming was eating the leftovers while also frying some tomato sauce in the pan.

Next, use the method of using hairtail in tomato sauce, cut the fried chicken wings and place them on one side of the plate, and place two boneless and fried golden chicken feet on both sides of the plate.

After separating it with cucumber flowers, put the fried tomato sauce on the other side of the plate.

In just a short while, Feng Zhengming had completed three dishes, including the first dish of cold chicken skin.

The only thing left is the last piece of greasy chicken slices.

Feng Zhengming beat the egg white paste on the spot, then mixed it with the chicken puree diluted with scallion and ginger water, and finally added a little wet starch.

After stirring evenly, start frying the chicken slices one by one in the frying pan.

Feng Zhengming's approach this time is different from that of the master chef in the previous Young Chef Competition.

The way he made it, the chicken slices are round.

Use a spoon to shape it little by little on the surface of 20% to 30% hot oil.

Then take them all out, heat the oil in the pan again, add the bamboo shoots and green beans and stir-fry the chicken slices after they are shaped.

This dish is fried chicken slices with fat.

The fried chicken slices were taken out of the pan and served on a plate, and Feng Zhengming's four dishes were all ready.

It's a soup made with chicken bones, and he really used the whole chicken.

A total of four dishes are made using different parts of the whole chicken.

When everyone saw Feng Zhengming’s dishes, they couldn’t help but applaud.

In comparison, everyone had prepared overnight.

Some of the other creative ideas and cooking challenges that challenge the chefs are still much weaker than Feng Zhengming's.

Most chefs, after deboning the whole chicken, cut the chicken into pieces or dices and then stir-fry them into chicken nuggets or diced chicken.

A better one would be to stir-fry two portions of chicken breast and chicken thigh respectively.

Some chefs even discard chicken legs and wings.

Few chefs would even think of using chicken bones to make makeshift chicken broth on the spot.

So when Feng Zhengming's four dishes were completed, the other challenge chefs had almost finished.

It can be said that everyone at the scene was looking at Feng Zhengming alone.

There, he treated the competition venue as if it were his own kitchen.

Feng Zhengming was as elegant as if he was making lunch for himself at home.

Take your time and make four dishes using every part of the chicken to perfection.

In the end, he even used the chicken's neck and head as decoration.

After watching the whole thing, there was almost no need to rate it on the spot.

Feng Zhengming has once again surpassed the competition by making these four dishes. Master Cui said helplessly: "It seems that I really think it was a wrong decision to let Zhengming continue the competition."

This made the other masters laugh as well.

People from cooking associations from all over the place at the scene just laughed dryly and didn't dare to respond.

From killing the chicken, deboning, cleaning, to the whole process of deboning the chicken, and then to cooking.

Feng Zhengming really takes every step very easy.

It seemed as if he had already thought it through and knew what he should do.

So he is always so calm.

It can be said that the ingredients are utilized to the extreme.

Whether it was the chef who competed with Feng Zhengming in the second round.

Those chefs who still failed to advance to the second round still chose to stay and watch the next challenge.

I am really impressed by Feng Zhengming's cooking skills.

Liu Dewei exclaimed in the crowd: "I can't help but admit it. They spent one night figuring out how to use the specified ingredients to make as many variations as possible."

Qiu Zhonghui also said something similar in the crowd: "We spent the whole night just thinking about how to deal with the second round of the game today."

Many chefs participating in the competition also realized this.

Most of the chefs who come to the competition are constantly thinking about how to cope with the competition.

After knowing the competition topic in advance, they just thought about how to solve it based on the topic.

Including Xia Mingye, who came secretly to participate in the competition this time and entered the second round.

When he was preparing the whole night, he was just thinking about how to kill the chicken more neatly, how to remove the hair more cleanly, and how to make the whole chicken more beautiful when deboning it.
As for the dishes to be made after removing the bones, Xia Mingye made one more dish than others.

He stir-fried two dishes with chicken breast and chicken thigh respectively, and finally cooked soup with chicken bones. He used chicken tenderloin and part of the chicken breast cut into shreds to make a shredded chicken soup.

Compared with other chefs, Xia Mingye’s preparation is already very sufficient.

But compared with Feng Zhengming's preparation, Xia Mingye still seemed too ordinary.

Xia Mingye said to his sister beside him: "I really don't know how Master Feng came up with the idea of ​​making these. His dishes all show his skills and also demonstrate his techniques.

I didn’t expect these, and when the judges see his performance at the competition, they will definitely give him a high score.”

Xia Hui heard what her brother said and said with a smile: "This is the difference between you and your uncle."

After hearing what his sister said, Xia Mingye was still a little bit unconvinced.

"I will work hard. I will follow Uncle Feng's example and catch up with him."

Xia Hui shook her head: "It will be difficult for you to catch up with him."

After being hit mercilessly by his sister again, Xia Mingye pretended to be discouraged.

"Sister, can you please not hit me?"

Xia Hui analyzed seriously: "Think about it, why is it that Master Uncle is able to think of the design of each dish in such a competition? How can he think of how to use the ingredients on hand?"

Xia Mingye was stunned by the question and asked curiously: "Yes, why?"

Xia Hui said: "This is a chef's instinct. Think about it, if he is in the kitchen of Huiquanlou, does he need to design different menus? Does he need to constantly update the menu to keep customers feeling fresh?"

After hearing what his sister said, Xia Mingye thought about it carefully for a while.

After thinking for a while, Xia Mingye gradually figured out the situation.

"Is it because he is the chef and has to constantly conceive the menu, so he has a kind of mental idea that when he gets a certain ingredient, he always thinks about how to cook it?"

After her brother said this, Xia Hui nodded: "That's it."

At this moment, Xia Hui stared at Feng Zhengming.

She admired this uncle-master from the bottom of her heart.

Feng Zhengming is so young, not only is he very good at cooking, he also has so many ideas and thoughts of his own.

He always gives everyone some unique surprises at times.

And he is always so confident and well-prepared.

Xia Hui felt that Feng Zhengming was truly charming.

Luo Qing was also someone who was attracted by Feng Zhengming at the scene and whose eyes were fixed on him.

When Luo Qing heard other people praising Feng Zhengming, she felt very happy.

Most people at the scene had never seen Feng Zhengming selling boxed lunches in front of the train station.

Luo Qing had seen Feng Zhengming like that, and knew that Feng Zhengming at that time already had the confidence he has now.

He never changed from beginning to end.

Just like when he was selling lunch boxes at the train station, he always remains confident.

He has absolute confidence in his craft and ability.

So in Luo Qing's opinion, Feng Zhengming should be praised by everyone present.

The second round of the competition ended with everyone’s admiration and discussion.

Even after the show was over, many people were still discussing Feng Zhengming.

Talk about how he can make four dishes out of one chicken.

Many people are also curious about what the cold chicken skin made by Feng Zhengming tastes like?
After the game, Feng Zhengming reunited with Luo Qing, Xia Hui and Xia Mingye.

He looked at Xia Mingye curiously and asked, "You didn't go to Huiquanlou yesterday? You don't have to follow the instructions. I will arrange for you to practice if you go to Huiquanlou."

Xia Mingye said embarrassedly: "How can I have the nerve to trouble Uncle Feng all the time."

Then Xia Mingye asked curiously: "Uncle Feng, what does your cold-mixed chicken skin taste like? I'm really curious."

Feng Zhengming laughed and said, "How about we go back to Huiquanlou and see if I can find some suitable chicken skin and make some for you to try?"

Upon hearing this proposal, Xia Mingye, Xia Hui and Luo Qing all agreed and couldn't wait to try it.

When they were about to leave and walked out of the stadium, they ran into Qiu Zhonghui who was obviously waiting for Feng Zhengming.

Qiu Zhonghui said to Feng Zhengming very sincerely: "Chef Feng, do you need anyone in your kitchen? I would like to ask if I can apply for a job in your kitchen. I would like to learn from you."

Hearing Qiu Zhonghui's question, Feng Zhengming said with some embarrassment: "There are enough people in the kitchen of Huiquanlou, and I have a rule here."

Qiu Zhonghui quickly asked, "What are the rules? Chef Feng, I really want to learn from you. I will abide by any rules."

Feng Zhengming said frankly: "My rule is that no matter who wants to work in the kitchen of Huiquanlou, they must first work in the kitchen of Fengjia Ganfanpu for a year, and then win the internal cooking competition after a year before they can work in the kitchen of Huiquanlou."

After hearing this rule, Qiu Zhonghui hesitated.

Obviously, he went to see Feng Zhengming because he wanted to go directly into the kitchen of Huiquanlou and hope to learn from Feng Zhengming.

Now he is asked to work in the kitchen of Fengjia Restaurant for a year.

The key is to enter Huiquan Building and compete one year later.

This rule was hard for Qiu Zhonghui to accept.

Feng Zhengming said: "Chef Qiu, I think your skills are not bad, you just lack some experience, so you don't need to learn from me, you should go out and visit more places, that's how you can really accumulate experience."

This sentence suddenly woke Qiu Zhonghui up.

He seemed to understand and thanked Feng Zhengming respectfully.

"Thank you, Chef Feng, for your reminder. I know what I should do next."

Looking at Qiu Zhonghui's back, Feng Zhengming felt respect for this middle-aged chef who was willing to humble himself and take the initiative to seek advice from a young chef like himself.

I still have some hope that Qiu Zhonghui will have better development in the future. (End of this chapter)