From selling box lunches to becoming a famous Chinese chef

At the national competition, most of the chefs participating in the competition are still willing to communicate and learn from each other.

After all, the chefs who can participate in the national competition are real masters from all over the place.

In their respective localities, they are the ones who have always been guiding and evaluating others.

Participating in the national competition is, on the one hand, to increase my own visibility.

On the other hand, I want to communicate with more chefs from other places through the national competition, learn some techniques and experiences from different regions, and accumulate experience to improve my cooking skills.

Of course, improving cooking skills is often not easy.

It is especially difficult for master chefs participating in national competitions.

This is because they have already reached the top in their respective fields of expertise.

Secondly, it is because of their long-standing habits that cannot be easily changed overnight.

However, everyone still hopes that they can gain some new inspiration through exchanges and learning in national competitions in their familiar fields, so as to further improve their cooking skills.

It has to be said that most chefs of this era still aim to improve their skills and cook better dishes.

Although everyone hopes to make more money, they want to make more money by improving their skills.

And in the future, various uses of technology and hard work will be made.

Even the so-called chefs who try their best to commercialize are still very different.

Wait until all the chefs on site have finished the dishes of shredded silver sprout chicken and diced chicken within the specified time.

Everyone was in the rest area, communicating with each other.

The on-site judges came in and began to taste and score the dishes carefully.

This time the score will be calculated comprehensively with the previous knife skills score.

People watching the live broadcast of the national competition in front of the TV.

Many people still feel that it is not satisfying to make two dishes with just one chicken.

"Is this the end of the competition? It seems like these chefs aren't that great."

"Yeah, I thought there would be more exciting dishes."

“It seems that the level of these chefs is about the same as that of some small restaurants.”

Of course, there were also some people watching the live broadcast on TV. Those who were knowledgeable knew very well how difficult it was to make two dishes from one chicken.

Not only do you need to debone the whole chicken at the beginning, you also need to shred the chicken breast and debone the chicken thighs and cut them into cubes.

This step of the competition may seem very basic, but those who know the subject know that it is very difficult.

It can be said to be a comprehensive assessment of swordsmanship.

Deboning a whole chicken is done in less than a minute.

This alone may not be something that all chefs can do easily.

There is also chicken breast shredded, and it is required to be matchstick shreds.

If you haven't carefully studied the theoretical knowledge in some cooking textbooks, you may not even know how thick the matchsticks should be cut.

Not to mention that within the specified time, the fascia on the chicken breast must be removed cleanly and cut into matchstick strips of uniform thickness of 0.2 cm.

Dicing chicken thighs also requires a lot of knife skills.

The first step is to debone the chicken legs, which is not an easy job.

The bones must be removed cleanly and the chicken thigh meat must be trimmed smooth.

Finally, cut it into medium-sized pieces with a size of 1.2 cm square.

After going through this entire process, the judges will finally place the pieces on a clear white porcelain plate to check whether they are uniform in size and thickness.

You can even use calipers to measure on-site to see if it meets the requirements.

This might be the chef graduation exam in a vocational school, and it wouldn't be this strict.

After the knife skills competition, the next two dishes, shredded chicken with silver sprouts and diced chicken, will be a test of the chefs’ skills with fire and spoons.

Whether it is shredded chicken or diced chicken, in order to make it tender enough, it is necessary to maintain the delicious taste.

The first thing is to test the chef's ability in marinating and starching.

This step is very basic.

However, the chicken shreds must not break during the marinating and starching process, which is a test of the chefs' skills and experience.

This completes the marinating and battering process, followed by the process of shredded and diced chicken.

It is also a test of the heat and the skills of the spoon.

So these two seemingly simple dishes are a comprehensive test of the basic skills of all participating chefs.

Don’t be fooled by the fact that the participating chefs are all master chefs from big restaurants from all over the country.

But if you are not careful, the car may also roll over.

The judges on site looked, ate and compared the food.

Finally, each chef was given a comprehensive score.

In addition to professional judges, the judging panel also includes invited gourmets and some relatively simple diners.

Professional masters will give a score based on the technical level.

Foodies give their ratings based on the appearance, aroma and taste of the dishes.

The simple ratings from diners are even simpler, as they are given based on what they see and eat, and are quite subjective.

After some statistics, the ranking of this round of chicken cooking scores was finally announced on the spot.

In the ranking, Feng Zhengming entered the top ten, but only ranked seventh.

However, judging from the scores, the gap between Feng Zhengming and the chef in front is not that big.

After the score rankings were announced, a representative of the judges on site gave an explanation for the scores.

“This round of chicken competition is a fairly basic one. You are all already capable chefs from all over the country, so we will be more stringent with you.

The scoring is based on the time it takes to debone the whole chicken, whether the chicken shreds and cubes are even, and whether they meet the required thickness and size.

Also, whether the shredded silver sprout chicken and the diced chicken you made are standard, and whether some decorative elements are added when serving the dishes.

Finally, a comprehensive score is given based on the chicken processing, color, aroma and taste of the two dishes. "

After hearing the detailed explanation of the scoring, the chefs on site were more or less convinced.

We all have the level of a master chef, so we all know very well what score we should get.

An explanation of the scoring criteria was given, and then the Vice President of the Culinary Association presented the next competition item.

"Okay, next is the second dish competition. Chefs, your second dish is fish."

This time the intensity was obviously increased.

"I require all chefs to remove the bones from the whole fish, and make two dishes from the two pieces of fish meat. One side must be filleted, and there are no specific requirements for the other side. You can choose the flavor of the dish yourself. The fish head and fish bones must also be used. The time limit is 40 minutes."

After the requirements for the second dish were announced on site, the participating chefs immediately began to conceive the dishes.

This dish of fish made Feng Zhengming feel that things suddenly became easier.

You should know that he also won the first prize in the provincial young chef cooking exchange competition by using one dish, one fish, two ways of cooking.

If we were to name the dish that Feng Zhengming is best at cooking, besides shrimp, fish would probably be one of them.

The traditional dish he made, vinegar and pepper fish, is still one of the most popular dishes in Huiquanlou.

Everyone likes the innovations he made based on traditional dishes.

In front of the TV at Feng's house, everyone breathed a sigh of relief for Feng Zhengming when they heard that the second dish was going to be fish.

Feng Jiandong was very confident: "This time it's a sure thing. Cooking fish is not difficult for Zhengming at all."

My second uncle Zhang Zhigang also said: "Yes, the fish cooked by Zhengming is indeed delicious."

Luo Qing also agreed: "Yes, he is really good at cooking fish. This is not difficult for him."

The whole family was happy that Feng Zhengming's second dish was fish.

Grandpa Feng was still relatively cautious: "Zhengming is indeed good at cooking fish, but didn't you notice? We gave him a full 40 minutes to prepare the second dish, but he didn't give any specific requirements for the dish."

When Feng Shengnan heard what her grandfather said, she immediately asked curiously, "Grandpa, what does this mean?"

Without waiting for the old man to speak, Feng Suying understood what her father meant.

“There are no specific requirements for what dishes to cook, which actually tests the chefs’ skills and their ability to improvise on the spot.”

Feng Suying looked at the TV seriously and continued, "They have to come up with two dishes using one fish in 40 minutes. They also have to satisfy the judges and be better than the other chefs on the stage."

After hearing what Feng Suying said, everyone in the family felt that this fish dish was not so easy to cook.

The difference from Feng Zhengming’s previous young chef competition.

The thing is that this time the other chefs also have to cook fish.

And now his opponents in the competition are all master chefs from all over the place.

Not to mention that chefs in coastal provinces such as Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian and Guangdong are also good at cooking fish.

Even the chefs in the three northeastern provinces have their own specialties in cooking fish.

Even Sichuan chefs are good at cooking fish.

After Grandpa Feng explained in such detail, the family members immediately realized that it might not be as easy as they thought for Feng Zhengming to make a breakthrough in fish cooking.

Grandpa Feng said: "Zhengming's vinegar and pepper fish is indeed a great dish, but in a competition like this, just vinegar and pepper fish is not enough, he must bring out something more.

It seemed like a simple fish dish, and the judges did not give any specific details.

But the more this happens, the more it tests the chef’s experience and whether he can bring out more on the spot.”

At the same time as his grandfather made the judgment, Feng Zhengming actually realized this on the spot.

By observing the expressions of other chefs on the scene, it can be seen that everyone has a certain degree of confidence in cooking fish.

Feng Zhengming thought for a moment and felt that he might want to take a risk.

He still decided to kill two birds with one stone.

One of the sides is the vinegar and pepper fish fillet with conch slices that was featured in the Young Chef Competition.

But on the other hand, he decided to make some changes.

Last time, on the other side, Feng Zhengming used a relatively simple approach.

This time he decided to add some other elements to the other side as well.

Make the fish on both sides symmetrical.

So he quickly thought about what to do with the other half of the fish?
How to season and make a different dish.

Like Feng Zhengming, other chefs at the scene were also thinking hard.

Jiang Chengzhe made a decision quickly. He decided to use a surprise approach for this fish dish.

As the chefs have each thought about what dishes to cook?

Next, the chefs went to the material area to choose the ingredients for their dishes.

Among them, some chefs choose freshwater fish, while others choose marine fish.

At the national competition, a wide range of fish is prepared for the chefs.

There are not only various freshwater fish in the rivers, but also various marine fish in the sea.

There are even some marine fish in the open sea and deep sea.

Feng Zhengming quickly decided what dish to cook, so he also walked towards the material area.

He first selected a huge sea bass.

The reason for choosing sea bass is that it has fewer bones and is easier to shape.

The most important thing is that sea bass has a relatively light taste and is easy to season.

While choosing fish, Feng Zhengming saw Jiang Chengzhe next to him chose a fairly large grouper.

Feng Zhengming didn’t know what dish he was going to cook?

But when I saw that he chose grouper, I was still a little wary.

After all, the taste of grouper itself is definitely more delicious than that of sea bass.

Jiang Chengzhe soon noticed the look Feng Zhengming was giving him.

He turned and smiled at Feng Zhengming.

"Chef Feng, you have to be careful with this dish. You use sea bass. If you can't make it taste unique, you'll lose to me just in terms of fish."

Feng Zhengming was stunned for a moment and realized that Jiang Chengzhe's move was a provocation.

He smiled and responded: "Then let's see what happens with our hands."

In addition to the chef who chose grouper, there was also a chef who chose yellow croaker.

Generally speaking, most chefs choose to cook marine fish.

Of course, the Huaiyang cuisine chef Zhang Quande uses freshwater mandarin fish.

Some Zhejiang cuisine chefs also choose grass carp.

When Feng Zhengming saw the Zhejiang cuisine chef choose grass carp, the famous Zhejiang dish, West Lake Vinegar Fish, instantly came to his mind.

From the fact that the Zhejiang cuisine chefs chose grass carp, it can be seen that they might be preparing to make West Lake vinegar fish.

Wait until the chefs have chosen the fish they want to cook.

Then everyone chose the ingredients and seasonings they needed.

When it comes to the choice of ingredients and seasonings, chefs from different regions have even more diverse choices.

Of course, there are also very simple ones, such as onions, ginger, garlic, and some cooking wine.

Feng Zhengming also made a careful selection. Since he decided to continue making vinegar and pepper fish fillets with conch slices, he had to choose a better conch.

Seeing Feng Zhengming selecting conches, both Masters Su and Sun smiled with satisfaction.

The two masters are quite confident in the vinegar and pepper fish with conch slices made by Feng Zhengming.

The chefs from other places might not know that Feng Zhengming had made that dish.

But the chefs in Quancheng are still well aware of the uniqueness of that dish.

The milky white fish soup is seasoned with Feng Zhengming’s unique vinegar and pepper flavor.

Paired with smooth fish fillets and crispy conch slices, it is delicious to everyone who has tried it.

So some of the chefs on the scene were quite curious when they saw Feng Zhengming selecting conchs.

Jiang Chengzhe also muttered when he saw it: "You have to use conch to cook fish? What kind of dish is that?"

Grandpa Feng, who was watching TV at home, quickly made a judgment based on the live broadcast.

“It seems that chefs from other places don’t know about Zhengming’s fried snail slices in vinegar and pepper fish soup.”

After making this judgment, Grandpa Feng smiled and said, "From this point of view, this dish will be a unique trick of Zhengming, and it may help him win high scores." (End of this chapter)