From selling box lunches to becoming a famous Chinese chef

In this banquet cooking exchange, the chefs cooking on site will not only show every detail of each dish.

At the same time, the amount of seasoning added to each dish will be displayed.

All the chefs on site will use a small scale with grams when adding ingredients, and temporarily put the appropriate amount of grams of each ingredient on site.

This is definitely a very frank disclosure, which truly makes it possible to standardize classic dishes at banquets.

Of course, in the case of live broadcast, people in front of the TV cannot see clearly.

However, there will be special recorders on site who are responsible for recording every detail.

Especially the amount of each seasoning in each dish.

While Feng Zhengming and the others were still busy, a burst of exclamations suddenly broke out at the scene.

Then Feng Zhengming and his companions vaguely heard a flurry of discussion among the crowd watching.

"Can tofu be shredded?"

"Oh my god, this is incredible."

"Wow, this is really amazing, isn't it?"

"How do you cut such thin tofu shreds?"

“This is too amazing.”

Hearing those discussions, Feng Zhengming raised his head and accurately found the chef from Su Province.

Sure enough, I saw Zhang Quande cutting tofu shreds in front of the table over there.

When Feng Zhengming looked towards Zhang Quande, Lin Bosheng's voice rang out beside him: "It should be the classic Huaiyang dish, Wensi tofu.

I have heard that there is a chef in Huaiyang cuisine who has improved the tofu shreds of Wensi tofu from the previous firewood shreds to the level of ox hair shreds. It seems that it is not a rumor. "

Hearing Lin Bosheng's words, the other Shandong cuisine chefs also raised their heads and looked over there.

It can be seen that some other chefs don’t know that the Huaiyang cuisine chef has already cut the tofu shreds of Wensi tofu into the thickness of ox hair shreds.

The dish of Wensi Tofu has indeed been around for a long time and has always been a dish that has been passed down.

But in the past, most of the tofu shreds in Wensi Tofu were cut into the thickness of matchsticks.

But even if you cut the tofu into the thickness of matchsticks, it would require a lot of knife skills.

It takes some special practice to be able to cut tofu into such thin strips.

Later, there was a very good Huaiyang cuisine chef who made some improvements on the techniques based on the matcha shreds.

After a period of research, we finally achieved a breakthrough.

Successfully cut the tofu shreds into pieces as thick as cow hair.

Since then, Wensi tofu has completely changed from a tofu dish similar to boiled dried shredded tofu.

It has now become a tofu soup with tofu shreds as thin as cow hair, paired with shredded green vegetable leaves, shredded mushrooms and shredded bamboo shoots.

The chefs from other places at the scene had not expected that Zhang Quande would actually make this famous Wensi tofu in public.

As a result, everyone's attention was drawn to him.

After all, cutting tofu into threads as thick as cow hair is definitely a skill that is worth admiring.

Soon, the chefs of Shanghai local cuisine were not to be outdone and showed off their extraordinary knife skills, serving up an equally famous dish, Braised Three Shredded Vegetables.

This dish also requires the bamboo shoots, chicken and ham shreds to be as thin as hair.

This dish can be said to have originated from Huaiyang cuisine.

The reason why this dish has become a classic of Shanghai cuisine today is because a Shanghai chef made improvements to it.

In the past, Huaiyang cuisine and other regions’ three-shredded vegetables were often cooked in a tea bowl.

The resulting shredded pork will look a bit short and fat when placed on the plate.

A local chef made some improvements to the original three-shredded vegetable dish.

The first step is to cut the silk into thinner pieces, from matchstick silk to cow-hair silk.

The second thing is to replace the original short and fat cup with a tall and thin cup.

After this change, the bamboo shoots, chicken and ham shreds need to be cut longer.

And if you use a tall and thin cup, the finished dish will look more beautiful.

At the same time, the portion of the dish will not appear too large, causing guests to not be able to finish it.

The most important thing is that after changing to a tall and thin cup, the three threads will be easier to be turned upside down.

The local cuisine chef also made some improvements to the cup by leaving a small hole at the bottom of the cup.

This way, even if the cup is filled to the brim.

After steaming, turn it upside down on a plate and use a chopstick to gently poke the small hole at the bottom of the cup.

Then slowly pour the clear soup prepared in advance into the small hole.

In this way, a very neat plate of three threads can be obtained.

There is a shiitake mushroom on the top, and shredded bamboo shoots, chicken and ham are closely connected below.

It is really a dish that is almost as good as Wensi Tofu.

The chefs from Shanghai and Jiangsu Province have demonstrated their superb knife skills and naturally attracted everyone's attention.

Even though the Wensi tofu in Jiangsu Province has not been produced yet, just the cut tofu shreds placed in the water are enough to attract people's attention.

Then Zhang Quande cut the green leaves, mushrooms and bamboo shoots into pieces as thin as hair.

His knife skills alone have really conquered everyone present.

It seemed that Zhang Quande really attracted everyone's attention.

Even the local dish of three kinds of shredded pork is far less shocking than this one.

Chefs in many places on the scene felt the pressure doubled.

On Feng Zhengming's side, some chefs also seemed a little absent-minded.

It was Feng Zhengming who reminded everyone: "Okay, stop staring at others. We still have to cook our own dishes first. There are still many dishes to be cooked."

After being reminded like this, the chefs who were attracted by Zhang Quande came back to their senses.

Everyone hurriedly prepared their own dishes carefully.

Lin Bosheng took the opportunity to ask in a somewhat curious tone, "Zhengming, you don't seem to be under any pressure. People have already brought out their best skills. Are you really not worried at all?"

Feng Zhengming responded seriously: "There is nothing to worry about. Huaiyang cuisine has always been famous for its knife skills. It takes a long time of practice to achieve such skills. It deserves everyone's admiration and applause. We should admire it.

But we have to cook our dishes well, otherwise wouldn’t it be disrespectful to others for using their best skills?”

The two master chefs, Su and Sun, are in charge of checking the products.

After hearing Feng Zhengming's words, the two masters agreed very much.

"Zhengming is right. Let's all get serious and cook our dishes well. Don't worry about whether others have used their best skills. As long as we cook our own dishes well, that's all."

"Yes, we must do it seriously, otherwise it would be disrespectful to our opponents."

Once the two masters spoke, everyone naturally focused their attention and took it seriously.

Feng Zhengming was standing by the water platform, carefully mincing the fresh large prawns one by one.

And when mincing the shrimps, he did not forget to explain carefully to the person who was responsible for recording the details of each dish.

"When mincing shrimp, you must cut off the shrimp head at the root of the shrimp cavity. After cutting off the shrimp head, you must also use scissors to reach into the shrimp head and pick out the black sandbag in the shrimp head.

Then cut off the shrimp whiskers. When opening the shrimp's back, be sure to cut from the second section of the shrimp so that the shrimp comes out more complete.

Cut open the back of the shrimp and remove the shrimp thread. Finally, cut off the spike-like part at the tail of the shrimp. The shrimp tail should also be cut neatly. "

The person in charge of recording was also attracted by Wensi Tofu over there.

But when he saw Feng Zhengming grinding shrimps skillfully and heard his serious explanation, the person recording quickly came to his senses, watched Feng Zhengming grinding shrimps seriously, and recorded everything.

The recorder watched Feng Zhengming mincing the shrimps and found that his hands were quite steady.

Without being affected by anything else on the scene, he minced all the shrimps neatly.

The minced shrimps are then handed over to the chef in charge of cooking.

After the chef took the shrimps, he quickly started the next step of cooking.

At the same time, Feng Zhengming prepared all kinds of ingredients.

First put the scallion and pepper oil into the pan, then put the prawns in one by one and fry until one side is colored.

While turning the shrimp over, Feng Zhengming reminded Kong Xingli, who was cooking the braised shrimp.

"Brother Kong, let's do the Phoenix Spreading Wings move."

Kong Xingli didn't quite understand the purpose of Feng Zhengming's reminder at first?
While he was stunned, Feng Zhengming pointed at the chef from Su Province who was being watched over there.

Kong Xingli immediately understood.

He also tapped the edge of the pot gently with the spatula.

The crisp sound naturally attracted a lot of people's attention.

Just when everyone was looking at Kong Xingli in surprise.

He suddenly held the pot with one hand and flipped the pot with a big move like a phoenix spreading its wings.

In an instant, the neatly arranged prawns in the pot were all turned over intact in the pot.

This immediately attracted the attention of the audience.

"Wow, what was that just now?"

“So Shandong cuisine chefs also have jobs?”

"Really handsome."

"That's amazing, what just happened?"

"How did he do that? How could he flip all those shrimps in the pot at once?"

Lin Moli was also surprised: "How did you do that?"

Mr. Situ smiled and responded: "That is called the big spoon flip, which is one of the basic skills of Chinese chefs. The big spoon flip he demonstrated is called 'Phoenix Spreading One Wing'."

Lin Moli was surprised and said, "How amazing!"

Coming to the scene today really completely overturned Lin Moli's understanding of Chinese food.

In the past, Lin Moli was like most foreigners, who thought Chinese food was what they saw in Chinese restaurants abroad.

So many times, Lin Moli and some foreigners don’t think there is anything special about Chinese food.

The taste is mostly sweet and sour, and then it is stir-fried on the stove.

But today, when they arrived at the national competition, Lin Moli and many invited foreigners truly witnessed how amazing Chinese cuisine is.

The skills of each of these Chinese chefs are so superb.

It is simply incomparable to many foreign chefs.

Can cut tofu into hair-like thin strands.

It can completely turn over everything in the pot without any of the ingredients shifting.

And there was the dish that Feng Zhengming had prepared earlier, the sweet and sour carp that he had fried with almost both hands on the oil.

All these unique skills shocked the domestic visitors who were invited to watch.

Kong Xingli's big flipping spoon really attracted a lot of attention.

This also made the Shandong cuisine chefs excited.

After Kong Xingli flipped the spoon, he gently pressed the shrimp head with the back of the spoon to allow the shrimp oil to seep out of the shrimp head.

Then add the prepared minced ginger into the pot.

Then he added 30 grams of rice wine and almost two bowls of water.

Add according to the standard order: 3 grams of salt, 10 grams of rock sugar.

It’s such a simple seasoning. After boiling over high heat, turn down the heat, then cover with a lid and start simmering.

During this process, the lid of the pot must not be opened halfway.

Kong Xingli would gently shake the pot so that the prawns in the pot could be heated evenly.

But the lid must not be opened during the entire process.

It takes about fifteen minutes.

As soon as you open the lid of the pot, the rich aroma of shrimp oil wafts out.

Kong Xingli quickly served the prawns out first.

Feng Zhengming took over and arranged the prawns on the plate.

Over there, Kong Xingli filtered out the remaining soup in the pot and removed the minced ginger. He then used high heat to thicken the remaining soup in the pot, and finally added some pre-refined scallion and pepper oil.

Then pour the thickened soup evenly on the prawns placed by Feng Zhengming.

This completes the classic Shandong dish of braised prawns.

This seemingly simple dish of braised prawns in oil has also earned some attention back to Shandong cuisine.

At this moment, all those who came to watch the banquet and cooking exchange realized it.

No matter where the chefs came from, they all showed off their best skills.

Every chef in every place has his or her own specialty.

This exchange allowed everyone to see that even the cooking process of Chinese food is so amazing.

Over there, Zhang Quande has already reached the step of making Wensi tofu and cutting tofu shreds, which is as difficult as that.

Pour the prepared clear chicken soup into the pot. After boiling, thicken the soup first.

Thickening is the key to this dish. The sauce must be a slightly thicker glass starch.

It can't be too thin, but it can't be too thick either.

The control of thickening the sauce also tests a chef's ability.

After thickening, add the shredded tofu into the pot and gently push it on the surface of the soup with the back of a spoon.

Slowly push in circles, gradually using centrifugal force to spread the tofu shreds in the soup.

After the tofu shreds are spread out, add the shredded green vegetable leaves, bamboo shoots, and mushrooms into the pot respectively.

Use the back of the spoon to slowly stir and spread the soup in the same way.

It's like drawing an ink painting in the pot.

Gradually spread out, so that the tofu shreds, green vegetable leaves shreds, bamboo shoots shreds, and mushroom shreds in the entire soup are evenly dispersed.

Carefully serve it into a soup bowl, and the Wensi tofu is ready.

After the Wensi tofu came out of the pot, Lin Moli looked at it and couldn't help but say, "I really want to taste it."

Mr. Situ said with a smile: "Wensi tofu is a very light soup, suitable for you to have as an appetizer when you eat Western food abroad, or to drink a bowl after the meal."

Lin Moli asked: "What is that smell?"

Mr. Situ thought for a moment and replied, "It has a very light and delicious chicken soup flavor, and the tofu shreds melt in your mouth."

Lin Moli was even more curious after hearing this. At the same time, she also wanted to try other dishes. At this moment, she was really confused. She didn't know if she could eat so many dishes. (End of this chapter)