From selling box lunches to becoming a famous Chinese chef

When Feng Zhengming prepared this dish, the crowd watching on the scene exclaimed in surprise.

Several old masters looked at each other and smiled with satisfaction.

The dish that Feng Zhengming is preparing in front of us not only ensures that he will become the representative chef of Shandong cuisine to participate in the national competition.

Even if a dish like this is taken to a national competition, it will definitely receive corresponding recognition.

The overall creativity of this dish truly perfectly embodies the four words "upholding the truth and making innovations".

Feng Zhengming combines two very classic traditional Shandong dishes.

Combined together in such a way.

And successfully created a perfect new dish in his own way.

Whether from the perspective of color, aroma, taste, and shape, or from the perspective of displaying Shandong cuisine techniques.

This dish is truly a perfect dish.

Especially the way Feng Zhengming thickens the dish with shrimp oil and broth at the end, and pairs it with the sauce from the braised sea cucumber with scallions, which really makes this dish a perfect combination of classic and innovation.

At the same time, Feng Zhengming completed the dish.

Master Cui's apprentice next to him also finished his dish.

The method is very similar to Feng Zhengming's, but the other party uses a larger black ginseng.

So the dishes he made were also oolong dishes.

The name is Wulong Dengyun.

The method is to put the filling into the flesh of the black sea cucumber, use egg white to extract the egg white paste, steam it, and then place it on a plate to form a cloud shape.

Then carve hollow balls of carrots and lettuce and place them around.

Even Master Cui's apprentice specially carved a dragon head and a dragon tail to embellish it.

Many people at the scene were also amazed by the Oolong Dengyun dish made by Master Cui's apprentice.

Of course, what makes his dish even more stunning actually comes from the dragon head and tail that he carved himself on the plate, as well as the hollow balls of carrots and lettuce used as garnish.

Judging from the presentation alone, this dish prepared by Master Cui’s apprentice can be considered the best on the scene.

But in the eyes of the old masters, they would appreciate Feng Zhengming's Oolong Xizhu more.

Because Feng Zhengming was not simply thinking about showing off his skills in plating.

He created this dish by combining two classic Shandong dishes very well.

More importantly, it is because he did not pursue the ultimate gorgeousness in plating.

On the contrary, Feng Zhengming's dish is one that can be easily replicated in a large restaurant.

In comparison, if Master Cui's apprentice's Wulong Dengyun were to be replicated in a big restaurant, the result would probably not be as good as Feng Zhengming's dish.

This is not to say that Master Cui's apprentice's Wu Long Deng Yun would be more difficult to replicate.

In terms of cooking method, if the carved dragon head and tail were not added, the dish made by Master Cui’s apprentice would be simpler.

However, the simple method does not mean that the effect will be good when replicated in a big restaurant.

Because Master Cui’s apprentice used large black ginseng.

When reproducing it, if the large black cucumber is still used, serving a whole black cucumber on the table may make the guests feel at a loss as to where to start.

Moreover, the clouds made of egg white paste and the hollow balls carved out of carrots and lettuce are just for show, but they don’t add much to the taste experience of the dish when you eat it.

So it is possible that the same two dishes are replicated in the restaurant.

Customers also prefer to order Feng Zhengming's Oolong Xizhu.

When the old masters thought about this, they suddenly realized that Feng Zhengming's innovation was not created just for the competition.

It turns out that he created these dishes just to be able to cook them in restaurants.

Perhaps it is not as gorgeous as the Wulong Dengyun carved with a dragon head and a dragon tail.

But if Feng Zhengming's "Oolong Xizhu" is reproduced in a big restaurant, it will definitely be liked by many customers.

However, now is not the time to consider the reactions of the customers in the restaurant.

After all, this is still a game.

So when the other chefs finished one after another.

When judging the two dishes of Feng Zhengming and Master Cui's apprentice.

The judges on site still gave Master Cui's apprentice a higher score.

The apprentice of Master Cui is named "Lin Bosheng".

This time, he made a special trip back to Quancheng from other places to participate in the selection in order to represent Shandong cuisine in the national competition.

In the first game, his performance was quite satisfactory.

There were no issues whatsoever and each dish was cooked to perfection.

Before this second game, Lin Bosheng had already secretly decided in his heart that he must perform well.

After returning to Quancheng this time, Lin Bosheng discovered that what people talked about most in Quancheng were not the big restaurants such as Jufengde, Taifenglou and Jubinyuan, nor the master chefs in the big restaurants.

On the contrary, it is a young chef like Feng Zhengming who was not very famous before.

Lin Bosheng had also eaten at Fengjia Ganfanpu and Huiquanlou.

After trying the food in the two restaurants, Lin Bosheng once said to Master Cui.

He felt that Feng Zhengming's craftsmanship was not that outstanding.

He indeed has solid basic skills and also knows how to use some foreign seasonings.

But Lin Bosheng felt that Feng Zhengming was too young and did not master many things very well.

Especially in Lin Bosheng's opinion, Feng's dry rice shop is at most a second-rate snack shop and is not worthy of the praise from so many people in Quancheng.

He did praise Feng Zhengming's decoration of Huiquanlou and the presentation of Huiquanlou dishes.

Lin Bosheng thought the decoration was very fashionable and the presentation of the dishes was also very exquisite.

But Lin Bosheng still feels that Feng Zhengming has not given up some of the traditional Shandong cuisine.

In Lin Bosheng's opinion, if he were to run Huiquanlou, he would make the plating more gorgeous, put more embellishments on the plates, and the portion of the dishes should be appropriately reduced.

Because Lin Bosheng felt that since Huiquanlou was positioned at the high-end level, it should have the proper airs of a high-end restaurant.

The owners of the private rooms cannot eat the same food as random customers in the hall.

So Lin Bosheng directly told Master Cui his thoughts.

"Huiquanlou should not serve home-cooked dishes. All those home-cooked dishes on the menu should be removed. The more high-end dishes should be made more exquisite and gorgeous, with less quantity on each dish and more embellishments. It can definitely become a top-notch restaurant in Quancheng."

Obviously, Lin Bosheng's mistake of climbing the cloud today was a good demonstration of some of his ideas.

In the competition, the dishes should be made more gorgeous.

So Lin Bosheng was not surprised at all that his dish received the highest score.

He felt that since he had put so much thought into it, his dish should get the highest score.

However, although Lin Bosheng's own goal was the highest score in the second game.

But it was only one point higher than Feng Zhengming's Oolong Xizhu.

So after adding up the scores of the two games, he was still three points lower than Feng Zhengming's total score. Seeing that his total score was still behind, Lin Bosheng took the initiative to find Feng Zhengming and chat for a few words.

"Hello, Xiao Feng. Nice to meet you. I'm Lin Bosheng, the apprentice of Master Cui."

Feng Zhengming also saw the Oolong Dengyun dish he made, and he had a certain amount of respect for the more gorgeous carvings he added to the dish.

Now that someone took the initiative to greet him and get to know him, Feng Zhengming naturally responded very politely.

"Hello, Senior Brother Lin. The Wulong Dengyun you made is really beautiful."

Lin Bosheng smiled and said, "It's OK. Your Wulong Xizhu is also very beautiful."

Then Lin Bosheng said, "I didn't expect that we both thought of similar dishes."

Feng Zhengming said modestly: "I just tried to combine dried scallops with scallion-fried sea cucumber to make a dish."

Lin Bosheng smiled and said, "Your idea is indeed great and thoughtful, but you can actually make it more gorgeous."

Then, Lin Bosheng directly taught Feng Zhengming.

“If you participate in a national competition in the future, you must remember that you still need to do some carving. You can’t just prepare the dish and serve it to the judges. Carving is also a basic skill for us chefs.

You can’t not carve patterns on the dish just because your carvings might not be as good as they should be.”

Feng Zhengming didn't expect that Lin Bosheng found him to teach him these things.

He was stunned for a moment, then agreed politely.

"Thank you, Senior Brother Lin, for reminding me. If I go to the national competition, I will definitely pay attention to this."

Lin Bosheng said with a smile: "No need to say if, your Oolong Xizhu today was actually very well done, you will definitely be able to enter the national competition."

Feng Zhengming remained modest: "According to what Senior Brother Lin said just now, there is still room for improvement in my dish. I still need to work hard."

Lin Bosheng was very pleased with this and he quickly said, "That's right, if your dish is in a national competition, you can pair each sea cucumber with a dragon head and a dragon tail.

Also, in order to increase the flavor, I heard that you can also fry shrimp oil from shrimp heads and add it to the broth. In fact, it is not necessary to be so troublesome.

Although that does enhance the flavor of the dish, the dishes served in national competitions should be fancy, and as long as the taste is decent, it’s fine.”

Feng Zhengming was really surprised when the other party said this.

"Don't you consider the taste of the food in the national competition?"

Lin Bosheng said with a smile: "It seems that you, Junior Brother Xiao Feng, have not been to other places very often.

In fact, what kind of delicacies have the judges not tasted in the national competition? It is not easy to win in terms of taste.

So we have to make sure the taste is as standard as possible so that the judges can find no fault with it.”

From Lin Bosheng's words, Feng Zhengming could sense a sense of greasiness that comes from being well-informed.

Obviously, Lin Bosheng has participated in many competitions abroad.

Maybe I have participated in many competitions.

So he has his own judgment on some of the judging criteria in the competition.

Naturally, according to his judgment, he was confident that he could easily grasp the judges' minds.

Therefore, he felt that instead of focusing on the taste, Feng Zhengming should focus on the gorgeous presentation of the dishes.

After hearing what the other party said, Feng Zhengming understood that the two of them were not the same kind of people.

In Feng Zhengming's opinion, delicious food should be enjoyed by people.

Then on top of the delicious taste, add some visual beauty.

So even when Feng Zhengming participated in competitions, he still paid great attention to seasoning.

Including the dish Oolong Xizhu that he made today.

If you just assemble two classic Shandong dishes on one plate.

Feng Zhengming would never cook this dish.

Finally, he thickened the dish with shrimp oil and broth, and poured the sauce from the scallion-fried sea cucumber over it. This was a fusion of flavors, blending the hydrangea and sea cucumber on the plate into one, becoming a complete dish.

But if we follow Lin Bosheng's words, we won't do this final wave.

Just put the scallion-fried sea cucumber and white wine on the plate.

Then spend time carving the dragon head and tail for decoration.

In Feng Zhengming's opinion, this is totally unnecessary.

Because the carved dragon head and tail simply make the dish look more gorgeous, but do not add much taste to the dish itself.

Therefore, Feng Zhengming doesn't think it is necessary to spend more time on such flashy decorations.

Although Feng Zhengming felt that the two had different ideas, he was still polite and listened to what Lin Bosheng had to say.

After Lin Bosheng finished speaking, Feng Zhengming smiled and said, "Thank you for your teachings, Brother Lin. These are really great experiences for me. I will definitely learn from them and make adjustments during the competition."

When Lin Bosheng heard Feng Zhengming say this, he thought that the other party had listened to his teachings.

He was very happy: "Hahaha, Xiao Feng, you are so young. Being young is good. It is easy to accept other people's opinions."

Feng Zhengming nodded and said, "I don't have much experience, so I need to listen to the advice of my predecessors."

Lin Bosheng said: "If you can listen to advice, you will definitely have a bright future."

While Lin Bosheng and Feng Zhengming were chatting, Master Cui called Lin Bosheng over from a distance.

Lin Bosheng said goodbye to Feng Zhengming, then quickly walked to Master Cui.

Master Cui glanced at Feng Zhengming, a smile also appeared on his face, and he shouted to Feng Zhengming: "Zhengming, you did a great job in the Wulong Xizhu today. Stick to your own ideas and don't be easily influenced by others."

After hearing what Master Cui said, Feng Zhengming responded with a smile: "I know, Master Cui, don't worry."

After watching Master Cui lead Lin Bosheng away, Feng Zhengming went to find his master and fellow brothers.

When Master Yan saw Feng Zhengming coming, he also gave his apprentices a summary of the second game of the day.

On the other side, Master Cui called Lin Bosheng over and led him along while reminding him.

"Bai Sheng, you did a really good job in carving the dragon today. You also showed off your carving skills on the spot. The dragon head and tail were both carved very well."

After the compliment, Master Cui said bluntly: "You should also know that you can score first place because your carving adds points."

Lin Bosheng was naturally very proud when he was praised by his master.

"Master, Xiao Feng also performed well in the Wulong Xizhu, but he was too honest and treated the competition as if he was cooking in the kitchen.

Like his dish of Oolong Xizhu, he didn't even need the sauce at the end.

He simply carved a few dragon heads and tails to decorate it, or he could use egg white paste to decorate the clouds like I did.

I think he will definitely get the highest score today."

Master Cui nodded and said, "You are right. He did what you said, and he can indeed get the highest score today."

"Then do you know why he didn't do that?" Master Cui then asked his apprentice.

Lin Bosheng was stunned by the question.

Master Cui said directly: "He doesn't do that because he thinks it's unnecessary. Dishes are made to be eaten. The beauty of the presentation is important, but the taste of the dish is more important."

After saying this, Master Cui said to his apprentice: "The black ginseng you cooked today didn't have any flavor at all." (End of this chapter)