From selling box lunches to becoming a famous Chinese chef

The final round of the challenge took place as scheduled.

Because there were only ten challenging chefs left, more and more spectators came to watch the competition.

What everyone is most looking forward to is Feng Zhengming's performance in the final game.

What we are especially looking forward to is whether Feng Zhengming will bring some new dishes and surprises to everyone in this round of competition?
Of course, the old masters who have seen Feng Zhengming’s menu know.

Feng Zhengming restrained himself intentionally in this fight. He obviously wanted to retain some strength.

After all, even if we only look at the results of the first two rounds, Feng Zhengming is already qualified to enter the qualifiers.

In fact, this final round of competition is not just about watching the chefs continue to show off their skills.

As for showing off their skills, the ten chefs can be said to have already done so in the first two rounds of competition.

Whether it is the first round of knife skills, fire skills, or spoon skills.

In the second round or so, the overall handling of a chicken showed the ability of each chef.

But it was also because Feng Zhengming showed too strong abilities in the previous two rounds.

This also led to the fact that in the final game, many people came to the scene just to see him.

Everyone hopes to see Feng Zhengming show off his cooking skills even better again.

However, what we hope to see in the third round of the competition is the comprehensive ability of each challenging chef.

That is, the division of labor among chefs in the kitchen and the ability to direct and coordinate each staff member in the kitchen.

These are actually some of the requirements for technician assessment during the technician examination.

After Feng Zhengming and ten other chefs came on stage, the audience burst into applause.

The TV station also gave close-ups of each chef on the spot and gave special introductions to them.

When Xia Mingye was introduced, the host who introduced him on the spot was somewhat surprised.

“We thought Chef Feng Zhengming was the youngest chef in this competition, but we didn’t expect that there was a chef who was even younger than Chef Feng among the top ten.

Xia Mingye is a chef from the hometown of Confucius. He is said to be the inheritor of Confucian cuisine. He also won the second place in the previous provincial youth chef competition.

Our Qilu is indeed the hometown of Shandong cuisine. Now that the young chefs have matured, what kind of culinary performance will they bring us today?
Let us all wait and see.”

After the host finished his introduction, applause broke out again.

The veteran masters were all filled with envy when they saw such a lively scene.

Master Yan spoke first: "When we competed back then, it wasn't as big as it is now."

Master Wang said: "Yes, when we competed, the conditions were much worse than they are now."

Master Cui said seriously: "Although the conditions were not so good at that time, when we competed, everyone showed their real abilities, unlike some competitions nowadays, which are a bit perfunctory."

After hearing what Master Cui said, several masters fell silent.

The old masters naturally understood what Master Cui meant.

Nowadays, conditions are getting better and better, and competitions can be recorded live or even broadcast live.

But many times, the game itself becomes less pure.

If a competition requires sponsorship, some places will be given to the sponsors.

In the end, the person designated by the sponsor may win the prize.

That is why Master Cui said that the conditions of the competition were indeed poor, but the master chefs who participated in the competition all showed their true skills.

Although conditions are good now, not everyone with real ability can get a good ranking.

Master Su suddenly said: "Our competition this time is to let the whole country see that our Shandong cuisine does not involve those things. We speak with our skills and abilities.

Each of our Shandong cuisine chefs is a good chef who has been selected and tempered through thousands of trials and tribulations.”

Master Su is always like this, always able to say something to encourage everyone when everyone is feeling a little down.

Moreover, he is full of energy and can inspire the high morale in everyone's heart.

So after Master Su finished speaking, all the masters immediately became full of energy and vigor again.

Master Sun said: "That's right. Now we want to be serious about Shandong cuisine. We don't want to do those fancy things. We want to give chefs who are really talented a chance to show themselves."

Master Yan said: "In the future, we will have experience, so we can combine the young chef competition and the Shandong cuisine chef competition together."

Master Cui agreed with this: "Yes, we should hold the young chef competition and our own Shandong cuisine competition."

Through these competitions, the veteran masters have truly realized the importance of competition.

Holding these competitions provides Shandong cuisine chefs with more opportunities to communicate with each other.

It can also allow chefs to learn and improve.

Only when the chefs’ skills are improved can the entire Shandong cuisine keep pace with the times.

Master Xia also came specially to the scene of today's game.

He came in to watch with Grandpa Feng, accompanied by his granddaughter Xia Hui.

Seeing his grandson, Master Xia couldn't help but say, "This kid came to participate in the competition without saying anything."

After hearing what her grandfather said, Xia Hui smiled and said, "Xiao Ye probably wants to give you a surprise."

Grandpa immediately responded bluntly: "Surprise? It looks more like a shock to me."

Grandpa Feng said with a smile: "Old Xia, don't say that about Xiaoye. I think Xiaoye is a very good kid. He is younger than Zhengming, but his skills are catching up with Zhengming."

Master Xia immediately waved his hand: "He still has a long way to go to catch up with Zhengming."

Grandpa Feng continued, "Old Xia can't always look down on children like this. Children's efforts should be recognized."

Xia Hui was standing by and speaking for her brother.

"That's right, Grandpa, you are not like Grandpa Feng. Grandpa Feng never says bad things about Uncle Feng to others. Grandpa Feng always encourages Uncle Feng and lets him do what he wants to do."

When Master Xia heard this, he couldn't hold it in any longer.

"You also said that your Grandpa Feng's grandson is your Uncle Feng. Does your Uncle Feng's craftsmanship need anyone to supervise him?"

These words left Xia Hui speechless, and she realized that she had chosen the wrong person.

Grandpa Feng said seriously: "Old Xia, the children are all very good. Look at Xiaohui. She is now in charge of the kitchen in the dry rice shop. She can cook many dishes.

And Xiaoye, he dared to sign up for the competition alone, and he should be encouraged for his courage. "

With Grandpa Feng's words, Master Xia accepted the reality calmly.

"Okay, I hope he doesn't embarrass himself in today's game."

Master Xia understood that his grandson's cooking skills were impeccable, but he had never been involved in kitchen management. So the old man was worried about whether he could prepare the dishes well with his two kitchen helpers today.

After the competition started, the ten chefs on site and their two assistants got busy.

Some of them work separately from the kitchen helpers, while others work together with the kitchen helpers.

When it came to Feng Zhengming, he was actually directing the two kitchen helpers to work on the spot.

The experienced masters and some expert judges watching on the scene were all a little surprised.

Master Xia praised Grandpa Feng again: "Zhengming is still amazing." Grandpa Feng asked curiously: "Why did Master Xia suddenly say that Zhengming is amazing?"

Master Xia said: "Look, the other chefs on the scene obviously don't have a good understanding with the kitchen helpers, and most of the time they have to help the kitchen helpers with the work themselves.

But looking at Zhengming, he was almost directing the two kitchen helpers to work, and it was the two kitchen helpers who were really helping him cook."

Several veteran masters at the scene shared the same view, they could see it too.

Although it’s only one day to get to know the kitchen helper.

But Feng Zhengming has already figured out everything about being a kitchen helper.

The most important thing is that Feng Zhengming has the courage to let the kitchen helper do it.

He would give the tasks in great detail and then ask the two kitchen helpers to complete the tasks.

Perhaps some other audience members at the scene could not intuitively feel Feng Zhengming's abilities.

But the old chefs and the master chefs who have been in the kitchen for many years are still very clear about Feng Zhengming's strong abilities.

In a short period of time, the kitchen helpers had adapted to his rhythm and were able to follow his command.

Master Su looked at it and said, "It seems that Zhengming chose to make a few simple dishes for a reason. Although the dishes are relatively simple and homely, without so many showy techniques, they can make it easier for the kitchen helpers to get started."

The old chefs could all see that Feng Zhengming chose more common dishes so that the kitchen helpers could get started.

It's like hiring two new chefs in the kitchen.

The chef will definitely test their abilities.

After understanding their abilities, assign some work to the new chef.

It is impossible to assign all kinds of troublesome tasks to new employees right from the start. They must start with things that are within their capabilities.

Gradually integrate the newcomers into the kitchen team and let them slowly adapt to the rhythm of the kitchen.

However, during the competition, Feng Zhengming and his team had limited time to learn about the role of kitchen helpers.

In this case, Feng Zhengming used a more clever method.

He didn't prepare any big dishes for the banquet, but just some relatively simple dishes that are usually taught in cooking schools.

In this way, the two kitchen helpers can clearly know what they need to do?
After another day of adjustment, the two kitchen helpers could easily understand Feng Zhengming's orders.

Under Feng Zhengming's command, the kitchen helpers basically helped him to complete the cutting and preparation work.

Feng Zhengming himself was concentrating on the cooking process.

So the dishes at Feng Zhengming's banquet were served very quickly.

First, two plates of cold dishes were served, one was a vegetable platter and the other was a braised food platter.

None of them are particularly complicated cold dishes.

Perhaps the only manifestation of this is in Feng Zhengming's knife skills and plating.

Then Feng Zhengming, with the help of two kitchen helpers, prepared several dishes almost at the same time.

Dry-fried pomfret is cooked in a pan.

We have already cut the osmanthus meat for him.

Feng Zhengming asked the person who had done the cutting and preparation to help watch over the braised pomfret.

He quickly started to fry in the wok.

First, fry the eggs.

Osmanthus meat may seem homely, but the process of cutting and preparing it actually shows that this dish is not so homely.

Ensuring that each side dish is of uniform thickness, length and texture is a significant test of the chef's knife skills.

There is another important point, the osmanthus meat needs to be fried with eggs first.

The eggs need to be fried until they become fluffy like osmanthus flowers.

When many people make it at home, they may just scramble the eggs randomly.

But since Feng Zhengming wanted to do it, he naturally had to do it seriously, even when frying eggs.

Fry the eggs until they look like osmanthus flowers, with each egg appearing floc-like.

When the eggs are ready, Feng Zhengming first sautés the chopped green onion and ginger, then adds the shredded pork and stir-frys the oil, then stir-fries the sauce and sweet noodle sauce in the pan.

While Feng Zhengming was frying, the kitchen helper had already blanched the black fungus, day lily and shredded lettuce of matching colors.

At Feng Zhengming's place, the shredded pork has been stir-fried and the sweet noodle sauce has also been cooked through.

The kitchen helper also put the drained side dishes into the pot for him.

Feng Zhengming then continued to stir-fry over high heat, and finally added the eggs, and the kitchen helper poured the sauce from the bowl into the dish.

After stir-frying, Feng Zhengming directly served it on a plate.

Even the plates were handed to him by the kitchen helper, so the whole process was very smooth.

After taking it out of the pot, Feng Zhengming can throw this side away and immediately go to see the dry-fried pomfret over there.

At the same time, you can directly cook the next dish.

Feng Zhengming's fluency was in stark contrast to the stumbling of the other chefs.

He can even prepare the next dish immediately after the osmanthus pork is out of the pot.

For some other chefs, after finishing one dish, they may need to prepare the next dish with their assistants.

There was no need to stay for long, and soon Feng Zhengming's next dish of stir-fried liver tips was out of the pot.

After two consecutive stir-fried dishes were served, the braised pomfret was almost ready to be served.

The plating process was naturally also completed by the kitchen helpers according to Feng Zhengming's requirements.

Feng Zhengming started cooking stir-fried cabbage and prawns.

Looking at the scene, Feng Zhengming and his two kitchen helpers were really taking turns to cook one dish after another without stopping.

After watching for a while, Xia Hui suddenly couldn't help but say, "Master Feng, he, he looks like he's working in the kitchen of a restaurant."

After listening to this, Master Xia nodded and said, "Girl Hui, you finally figured it out."

Hearing grandpa say this, Xia Hui was even more surprised.

Master Xia said: "Zhengming is really amazing. He is not competing at all. He is more like serving food to customers in a restaurant. He is so familiar with this process."

The veterans on the scene quickly came to the same conclusion.

Feng Zhengming really wasn't competing. He just treated it as cooking in the kitchen. A table of customers in the dry rice restaurant ordered these dishes.

So he can be said to be doing this entire process almost every day.

Master Cui smiled bitterly and said, "It seems that we were careless in arranging the competition process. We forgot that Zhengming does this every day, so this set of procedures is too easy for him."

As a result, chefs from other competitions were still discussing with their assistants about what dishes to prepare next, and most chefs only put out five or six dishes out of ten, including cold dishes.

Feng Zhengming and two kitchen helpers have already placed all the dishes on their table. (End of this chapter)