From selling box lunches to becoming a famous Chinese chef

Entering the third game, all the chefs became more serious, as if it was because of Lin Bosheng’s example in the second game.

So at the beginning of this third round, all the chefs first chose the appropriate plates.

A lot of basins were prepared on site, including white porcelain plates, as well as porcelain plates of other colors, and some utensils of various shapes.

All participating chefs, including Feng Zhengming, carefully selected their containers first.

This step shows that you are really well prepared when you go out today and have already thought about what dishes you want to cook?

Everyone must first choose a container on the spot that will match the dish they want to make.

Some chefs chose a very large plate, while others specifically chose a plate with a different shape.

For example, Kong Xingli from Jufengde chose a plate in the shape and color of a lotus leaf.

Lin Bosheng also chose a Tai Chi-shaped plate with a Tai Chi centerline space in the middle.

Feng Zhengming was different from everyone else. He chose two pieces.

One is a regular white porcelain plate, just slightly larger, and the other is a more unique lacquerware tray.

After selecting a suitable container, Feng Zhengming returned to his kitchen to begin preparations.

Because it was a live TV broadcast, a lot of cameras were arranged to film different chefs on site.

The provincial television station would also like to thank the national television station for its support during this live broadcast.

Only in this way can multiple cameras shoot and live broadcast at the same time.

So there is also a stack of television screens on site so that everyone can see the images in the kitchen room.

Everyone who came to support Feng Zhengming felt a little strange when they saw that Feng Zhengming chose two containers.

Fifth Senior Brother Cao Zhiguo asked: "Zhengming, are you going to make two dishes?"

The third brother Yang Bin next to him thought about the rules and said, "It seems that there is no rule that you can't make two dishes."

Sixth Senior Brother Zhang Minghai was a little worried: "If he makes two dishes, will he have enough time?"

Second Senior Brother Chen Zezong said: "It should be possible, as long as he arranges the time well."

In order to allow the chefs to better showcase themselves in the final competition, they were given ample time on site.

The competition starts at 9:00 a.m. and lasts until 12:00 noon.

A full three hours is enough time for the chefs.

After the chefs have chosen suitable containers and returned to their respective kitchens, the first step is to start gesturing. They have to gesture how to arrange the dishes they have cooked on the selected plates.
Some people will take the ingredients first, fiddle with them and gesture to determine how to arrange them on the plate.

At this moment, the chefs on the scene no longer looked like chefs, but rather like sculptors creating works of art.

Feng Zhengming also went to get what he needed, including fish and shrimp, as well as various auxiliary ingredients.

He specifically picked out a long pumpkin.

I saw Feng Zhengming took a long time to choose and finally selected a long pumpkin with a more regular shape.

The brothers all laughed at once.

Zhang Hongwei, who came with his parents today to cheer for his brother, saw that his brother and seniors were all smiling.

He immediately couldn't help asking, "What are you all laughing at? Isn't it right for my brother to cook with pumpkin?"

Today Li Huidong also brought his wife and son, and even Li Huidong's sister and her family came.

So a few children gathered together, and when one child asked, the other children also shouted and asked.

Li Huidong could only explain to the children: "We didn't choose the pumpkin for cooking, but for carving. The pumpkin is hard, and after peeling the skin, it turns a beautiful yellow color, so it is more suitable for carving."

Fifth Senior Brother Cao Zhiguo echoed, "We have learned from the second game, so we need to make the carving first."

Feng Zhengming had indeed learned from his previous lessons and was ready to show off his carving skills.

So he chose pumpkin and also picked out carrots.

These are for carving.

He also wanted to let the judges, especially some viewers watching on TV, know that he could also carve.

After selecting the items, Feng Zhengming returned to the kitchen and started carving first.

He peeled the pumpkin and then carefully wiped the water off the surface.

Then Feng Zhengming took out a set of carving knives that his master had given him.

At this time, the other chefs on the scene also took out their carving knives.

Many people who don’t understand the situation may find it strange.

"Why do chefs use carving knives when cooking?"

Some knowledgeable people nearby gave explanations.

"Carving knives are used for carving. Everyone doesn't know that chefs have many knives. Haven't you seen the movie where the chef carries a wooden box with rows of carving knives in it?"

After being reminded, everyone suddenly thought of a Hong Kong movie at the beginning of the year.

That movie is also a cooking movie, and the two chefs in it do use a box of various knives, including carving knives.

The chefs on site took out their carving knives and started carving in the following time.

Carving is quite time-consuming, so the scene seemed a bit boring at the beginning.

Many people even couldn't sit still and walked out of the scene to take a walk.

Fortunately, the organizers listened to the advice of the masters and prepared some interesting small markets on site.

In the small market, you can see some snacks from Quancheng and various parts of Qilu.

There were even people who specialized in making sugar figures and blowing sugar flowers.

This naturally gave people watching the game something to distract themselves.

So that everyone won't keep staring at you.

Watching the chefs carving is indeed rather boring.

Especially in the initial shaping process, carving is very slow and the carved appearance will not appear all at once.

The TV station also uses this time to insert some introductions to Shandong cuisine and the different customs of various parts of Shandong during the live broadcast.

Promoting some of Qi and Lu's specialty snacks is also an opportunity to introduce Qi and Lu's customs and culture.

This idea was given to the TV station privately by Feng Zhengming through his master.

The TV station quickly adopted Feng Zhengming's idea.

During the live broadcast, Feng Zhengming's idea indeed worked very well.

Some people choose to wander around the small market on site.

Some people still like to stare at the chefs.

Especially the children who came to support Feng Zhengming’s relatives and friends.

Several children even secretly came to the outside of Feng Zhengming's kitchen and cheered for Feng Zhengming through the isolation belt.

When Feng Zhengming heard the cheers of several children, he looked up at the children and a smile appeared on his face.

But not long after, my second aunt Feng Suying and the other children's mothers came over.

Soon all the children were taken away.

Don't let the children influence Feng Zhengming.

Of course, before the children reluctantly left, Feng Zhengming showed them the shrimps he had carved out of carrots.

When the children saw the little shrimps carved out of carrots by Feng Zhengming, they immediately thought they were very beautiful and they clapped their hands in applause.

After the children left, Feng Zhengming continued his carving. Meanwhile, other chefs were also busy carving.

Although this process is time-consuming, the chefs are very serious about it.

After watching the chefs one by one, the veteran chefs on site were all very satisfied with the performance of today’s chefs.

Master Su said to Master Cui: "It is really thanks to Brother Cui's apprentice that he came back. It sounded a wake-up call for all of us apprentices in Quancheng, making them realize that carving must be picked up again."

Master Sun also agreed with this: "Yes, we all ignored it before."

Master Wang said: "It's still a matter of vision. Our local chefs still have few opportunities to go abroad. We need to go out more often in the future."

Master Yan said: "It's good that they can realize this before the national competition."

Master Cui laughed and said, “You guys, don’t praise Bai Sheng too much. He just learned some things while he was away, so he used them when he came back to compete.

He has received a lot of praise these days, and I think he is a little proud, so please stop praising him."

This remark also amused the other masters.

In today's competition, we saw that all the apprentices, including those chefs from other places, were getting better and better.

It really made the masters very satisfied, as this was the competition scene they wanted to see.

Every chef who participated in the competition showed his or her true skills.

Only through such a competition can the best chefs be selected to represent Shandong cuisine in the national competition.

At this time, someone had already completed the carving.

The finished carving is of two small fish.

When someone finishes carving, it naturally attracts a lot of people to come and watch.

As they couldn't get close, everyone looked outside the kitchen, then hurried back to the scene to watch the live broadcast on the TV.

"Wow, so beautiful."

“Like a real fish.”

“It’s a work of art.”

“I didn’t expect the chef’s carvings to be so beautiful.”

There was amazement at the scene, and everyone was shocked by the two little fish.

Next, other chefs also finished carving.

Then, in order to let everyone see clearly, the chefs who had completed their work were asked to give a demonstration.

So in the following time, there were really endless displays of various carvings.

The materials used for carving are almost always radish, winter melon, pumpkin, and lettuce.

These ingredients, which were supposed to be made into dishes, were transformed into very beautiful carvings in the hands of the chefs.

It really amazed everyone at the scene.

Feng Zhengming's carvings were gradually completed.

He used the pumpkin by shaved off a portion of the solid side of the long pumpkin, and then used the remaining part to carve something that looked like a shrimp basket.

The shrimps he carved out of scraped pumpkin and carrots really come alive.

Many people were amazed when it was displayed.

Seeing Feng Zhengming's carving, many people at the scene were amazed and talked about it.

"It turns out that Chef Feng can really carve flowers?"

"Yes, his carving skills are amazing."

"We all said before that Chef Feng's cooking skills were good, but his carving skills might be a little worse. Now it seems that we underestimated him."

“This shrimp basket is so realistic, it looks like the real thing.”

"You are worthy of being a great chef. Your cooking skills are amazing."

After Feng Zhengming’s carving demonstration, the happiest people were naturally the children who came to support him.

A group of children ran outside the kitchen and applauded and cheered for Feng Zhengming.

Feng Zhengming also smiled and responded to the children: "Thank you for cheering me on."

With this group of children taking the lead, other people at the scene soon came over to cheer for Feng Zhengming and other chefs.

At the same time, people who were watching the live broadcast in front of the TV were also stunned by the on-site carving display.

"Wow, isn't this too exaggerated?"

“Is this really cooking?”

“These carvings are like works of art.”

“No wonder people say that top chefs are artists.”

Perhaps no one had expected that through this live broadcast, many children would want to learn cooking after seeing the carving techniques.

Of course, the most important thing is that this live broadcast allowed many foreigners who were not familiar with domestic cooking to have a subversive understanding of Chinese food for the first time.

And soon, some foreigners in the country saw the live broadcast and took some photos of the carvings.

Soon, these photos were circulated abroad, sparking quite a stir in discussion there.

Instead, it has paved a smoother road for Chinese food to go abroad.

Even Feng Zhengming and many other chefs who participated in national competitions later received invitations many times to perform the art of Chinese cooking abroad.

Of course, these are all things that happened later, and the competition on site is still going on.

After the carving demonstration, the chefs still need to cook.

Although the carvings are beautiful, the real competition is still the cooking skills.

Next, the chefs took out their own things and started to prepare their own dishes.

Among them, Kong Xingli made the traditional classic dish sweet and sour carp.

However, what is different from the traditional method is that Kong Xingli added some shrimps to the sweet and sour carp. He peeled the shrimps and made them into shrimp balls, and then reassembled them with the shrimp heads and tails and put them on a plate.

It can be said that it really creates a scene like a carp leaping over the dragon gate.

Lin Bosheng made a soup with fish and shrimp, demonstrating his soup-making skills on the spot.

The other chefs also showed off their skills and made various dishes using fish and shrimp.

Among them, Feng Zhengming uses fish and shrimp to make two dishes respectively.

Because the competition rules say that fish and shrimp should be used to cook the dish, but it does not require fish and shrimp to make one dish.

So Feng Zhengming designed some ideas and simply made two dishes.

Two dishes that embody the fall season.

He also prepared two servings of plating and two servings of carvings.

So his speed is a little slower than other chefs.

But fortunately, Feng Zhengming is more efficient in cooking, and he has already figured out how to do it?

Before long, Feng Zhengming slowly caught up with the progress of other chefs.

After three full hours of cooking, the chefs were all sweating profusely.

Some lunch was also prepared for the judges and the audience on site.

As time approaches, the chefs finally start to finish their dishes one by one. (End of this chapter)