From selling box lunches to becoming a famous Chinese chef

Not long after, some chefs from other provinces who had arrived earlier made a special trip to visit Masters Su and Sun.

While visiting the two master chefs, everyone unconsciously mentioned the Shandong cuisine representative chef selection competition.

Then the topic naturally turned to Feng Zhengming.

The chefs from other provinces soon revealed their true intentions of coming to visit Feng Zhengming specially and wanting to see him.

When they met Feng Zhengming, almost all the old masters praised him highly.

"Xiao Feng's craftsmanship is really amazing."

"After watching the program on TV, Xiao Feng's knife skills, spoon skills, and fire skills are all very solid."

"The key is the creativity of some dishes, which are really thoughtful."

"That's right, your dish, Oolong Xizhu, is definitely a dish that can win a prize in a national competition."

"We all thought the same thing, that dish was really good."

"Hahaha, we want to taste Xiao Feng's dish at the national competition this time."

"Lao Su, Lao Sun, can you two tell us what it tastes like?"

Su and Sun looked at each other and both laughed.

Master Su made a joke: "Looking at it this way, we were exposed in advance."

These words made all the old masters who came to visit laugh.

One of the masters from Liao Province said: "Old Su, you have indeed been exposed. Xiao Feng's dish, Oolong Xizhu, has attracted our special attention this time. We have to prepare dishes similar to that dish."

The Su cuisine master said with a smile: "Hahaha, that's right, we are ready to stop you severely."

After the Su cuisine master started talking, the Huaiyang cuisine master next to him smiled and said, "We really need to deal with it well."

The Zhejiang cuisine master said: "We have made some preparations. When the competition comes, we will also make a sea cucumber dish to compete with Xiao Feng."

Hearing what the masters said, Su and Sun smiled at each other again.

Su and Sun can see it because their auditions were broadcast on TV this year.

Naturally, it attracted the attention of chefs from all over the world.

Especially the chefs of different cuisines who were present.

They usually have the habit of paying attention to some creative dishes.

When Feng Zhengming presented a creative dish like Oolong Xizhu at the selection competition, it naturally attracted the attention of these old chefs.

Especially during live broadcasts on TV stations, most of the cooking methods of the dish are also broadcast live.

Maybe in the eyes of some laymen, they would think that Lin Bosheng's Oolong Cloud Ascending was more beautiful.

After all, there are carved dragon heads and tails as decoration.

But the old masters still have a more unique vision.

They could see that Feng Zhengming's Oolong and the Pearl was more creative.

Although the plating and decoration are not as good as Lin Bosheng's Wulong Dengyun.

But Feng Zhengming combined two classic Shandong dishes, and stuffed the sea cucumber with shrimp and scallop paste.

The old masters can probably imagine that Oolong Xizhu must taste better.

It was because I saw the dish "Oolong Xizhu" on TV.

So chefs in each province have taken some measures to deal with it.

Masters Su and Sun saw that everyone was targeting Feng Zhengming.

Master Sun decisively changed the subject.

"In fact, we are not everyone's main opponent in this competition. Our main opponents are still the chefs from Hong Kong City."

Master Su took over and said, "Yes, I heard that this time, Hong Kong City will have a young chef who has won the Asian Master Chef Award and will join the team to participate in the competition."

These words of Su and Sun immediately aroused the vigilance of the masters from other provinces present.

"I've heard about it, too. It seems that the young chef from Gangcheng is even younger than Xiao Feng, but he shined in the Asian Cooking Competition, winning the competition and earning the title of Asian Master Chef."

"It's really amazing. The young chef's cooking skills are really extraordinary."

"And he seems to have blended Chinese and Western cuisine very well, and has created some original fusion dishes."

The chef from Liaoning Province said: "In fact, it is still based on Cantonese cuisine, but it has incorporated more Western seasonings and combinations. Also, Hong Kong is close to Southeast Asia, so some of his dishes are also influenced by that."

Hearing this, everyone looked at the master from Liao Province.

"So you've tasted his cooking?"

The Liao province chef nodded and said: "I met him once when I went south for exchanges. He is indeed a young chef with a lot of ideas. He has quite a few dishes, and his taste even tends to be Southeast Asian style.

For example, some fruits are added to some salty dishes to make the taste of the whole dish more colorful. "

After hearing this, the chefs all understood the importance of incorporating fruits into the dishes.

This method is indeed common in Cantonese cuisine, and is also the style of some Southeast Asian countries.

The master chef from Liaoning province went on to say: "They are also good at cooking dishes such as lobster, abalone, and various seafood dishes. This is also related to their proximity to the sea and the ease with which they can obtain these."

Speaking of this, the master craftsman from Liao Province felt a little disappointed.

"It's a pity that many wild delicacies are not allowed to be used nowadays. Otherwise, we in the three northeastern provinces could use some wild delicacies to compete with their seafood."

The words of the master craftsman from Liaoning Province were also recognized by several other master craftsmen from the Northeast.

The other masters all smiled helplessly after hearing this.

Everyone knows that many of the wild delicacies mentioned by the Liao province master chefs are now nationally protected animals and they certainly can no longer be used in cooking.

In fact, the fact that chefs in Northeast China cannot use those wild delicacies to cook is really like cutting off an arm for them.

After all, many Northeastern chefs were once famous for their mountain delicacies.

Of course, it is not allowed nowadays, but the old masters can actually understand it.

After all, some things have indeed become extinct due to large-scale hunting, and have also caused considerable damage to the ecology of the pristine forests in the Northeast.

At the same time, the Huaiyang cuisine master also spoke.

"If that's the case, then some of our Huaiyang dishes can't be made now. Don't we have to change to other dishes?"

When the old chefs communicated like this, they all listed the dishes in each cuisine that cannot be made nowadays.

Feng Zhengming and some of the participating chefs were listening, and none of them dared to interrupt.

The old masters can just talk about it, but if they really use those things to cook, I'm afraid that after this competition, half of the chefs will be arrested.

Master Su said: "We just want to be as creative as possible with the ingredients allowed to make the dishes better."

The old masters present also agreed with this point.

"Yes, in fact, it is not easy to make the dishes that can be cooked as well as possible."

"Yes, nowadays many ingredients have changed a lot, and it is indeed much more difficult to make them well than before."

"As the economy improves and people's lives get better, the demand for some good ingredients is growing, which has led to many ingredients not being as natural as before."

When talking about some changes in ingredients, the chefs are more or less regretful.

This is the reality. The taste of many ingredients will change greatly when produced on a large scale.

However, the old masters understand this aspect and it is inevitable.

Take pork alone.

In the past, pigs had to be raised for a sufficient period of time before they could be slaughtered.

But now that foreign pigs have been introduced, and in order to meet the domestic demand for pork, the time it takes to market many pigs has been greatly shortened. As a result, the flavor of pork is gradually disappearing, and even some of the pig's internal organs are becoming less plump than before.

Under such circumstances, the taste of many dishes is not as good as before.

But for diners, many of them don't care about this.

They will just give simple comments like "delicious" or "not delicious".

This also increases the difficulty of cooking for chefs.

Talking about this, the masters also talked about a theme of this national competition.

Now that we have arrived at the national competition.

At this point, the masters were no longer shy about it and spoke directly in front of the participating chefs.

The focus of this national competition is to allow chefs to showcase signature dishes from various local cuisines.

To demonstrate some of the most authentic traditional preparations of classic dishes.

Another thing is to let the chefs demonstrate the most standard practical operation of various techniques.

In other words, the focus of this national competition is not only the creativity of the chefs, but more importantly, the basic skills of each participating chef.

In particular, whether the participating chefs can cook the classic dishes of each cuisine according to standards.

Therefore, there are no veteran players participating in this national competition.

The purpose is also to test whether the master chefs from all over the country can really take on the responsibility of inheriting the tradition.

Feng Zhengming and other participating chefs listened to the stories of the masters.

Everyone was really nervous.

Speaking of classic dishes from all over the world, since they are classics, they are the result of the summaries of generations of chefs.

And basically all the dishes have to be on the recipe list.

It is naturally a dish that many people are very familiar with.

If this kind of dish is to be cooked to a high standard, the chef's skills are extremely high.

Especially when cooking some dishes, the recipe will describe the various ingredients, knife skills, heat and seasonings very accurately.

If there is a national competition, a chef is required to prepare a dish like this with precision.

I'm afraid most ordinary chefs would find it quite difficult.

But this is also a test for a chef.

In other words, it is a test for the master chefs participating in the national competition this time.

Because the masters are getting older.

Many of them may gradually become physically unable to support cooking.

But Chinese cuisine still needs someone to pass it on.

So who will pass it on?
This heavy responsibility must fall on the shoulders of the chefs who are in charge of the cuisine today.

Therefore, this national competition is also a test for the masters to see whether the apprentices of the master chefs are qualified to take on this important responsibility.
The veteran chefs present looked at the chefs who had just come to participate in the competition.

“You are the future of Chinese cuisine, and I hope you understand this.”

"You need to show your skills, and don't just think about winning by surprise in the competition."

"Yes, this time we are not going to let you just surprise others, but also want you to have solid basic skills."

"I hope you won't disappoint us old guys. You can really prove yourselves."

Inspired by the masters, the participating chefs, including Feng Zhengming, all expressed their willingness to prepare well and cook the classic dishes carefully.

Of course, since it is a competition, there are standard assessments of classic dishes.

There will still be some competitions for innovative and creative dishes.

Or rather, the standard presentation of classic dishes should be considered more of a form of communication.

Feng Zhengming now understood why there were so many chefs from various provinces this time.

Because to demonstrate the classic dishes of each province, one chef may not be enough.

The many chefs brought from various provinces can make better preparations and make the classic dishes more standard.

Everyone chatted until quite late.

Until the reception staff came to find them.

Notify everyone that they can go to the restaurant for dinner.

Then, everyone went out together and prepared to have dinner at the restaurant downstairs.

When Feng Zhengming and others accompanied the master chefs to the restaurant.

The restaurant already had some chefs waiting.

In addition to the chefs from Shanghai, there were also chefs from other provinces present.

It can be said that this dinner party really gathered together famous chefs of the middle-aged and young generation from all over the country.

Perhaps in another ten or twenty years, many of the chefs here will become the country's top chefs.

The masters communicated with each other. Since they didn't have to compete this time, they seemed more at ease and chatted happily.

The chefs participating in the competition, including Feng Zhengming, were polite to each other.

They introduced each other to each other, so they know where each other is from?

Feng Zhengming's introduction also attracted a lot of attention.

It can be seen that many of the participating chefs have watched TV.

They were also impressed by the fact that Feng Zhengming had such skills at such a young age.

Through this dinner, Feng Zhengming got to know quite a few chefs with extraordinary skills from all over the country.

Compared with most chefs, Feng Zhengming is really young.

Even his age is about the same as most chefs' apprentices.

But no one will underestimate Feng Zhengming.

Everyone is looking forward to seeing Feng Zhengming in action and seeing with their own eyes whether a young chef like him can really cook as well as he does on TV.
Many Shanghai specialties were prepared for the first dinner in Shanghai.

Especially some Western-style snacks, which are very interesting to everyone.

The dinner was in the form of a Western-style buffet.

Dishes are placed on the table one by one and everyone can take them freely.

This is somewhat novel to some chefs.

After this dinner, they thought that maybe they could try it in their restaurant after returning home.

When Feng Zhengming was looking for delicious food, a chef suddenly came to him.

"Hello, are you Feng Zhengming?"

Feng Zhengming looked at the other party and nodded.

The other party smiled friendly and said, "I am the Shanghai local cuisine chef, Zong Desheng."

Feng Zhengming immediately said politely: "Hello."

Zong Desheng then asked, "Do you think the dishes tonight are to your liking, Chef Feng? If there is anything wrong, please let us know and we will improve it."

Feng Zhengming immediately realized that the other party was the chef for tonight's banquet. (End of this chapter)