From selling box lunches to becoming a famous Chinese chef

The two dishes other than Feng Zhengming's Oolong Xizhu also surprised the two chefs present.

One of the other two dishes prepared by Feng Zhengming was the same dish he used to showcase his knife skills in the provincial challenge.

This is also a cold dish that demonstrates knife skills, carving and plating.

The two masters didn't say much, thinking that Feng Zhengming could do it on his own.

After all, the preparation of cold dishes is more about the chef's knife skills and carving techniques.

Feng Zhengming chose to make a cold dish among the three dishes, obviously because he was attracted by the high-quality ingredients provided at the competition.

You can provide him with ingredients for a cold dish platter, which will be more abundant.

In addition to the cold dishes, there is another dish that the two chefs feel is a little bit special.

Feng Zhengming’s answer was that the third dish he was going to make was Confucius Mansion imitation bear paw.

The two masters were a little surprised to hear that Feng Zhengming wanted to make imitation bear paws.

In addition to being surprised, the two masters looked at Feng Zhengming's expression and felt that the imitation bear paw he was going to make might be a little different.

Master Su asked directly: "Zhengming, the imitation bear paw you want to make should not be a copy of the Confucius Mansion imitation bear paw, right?"

Seeing Master Su ask this, Feng Zhengming nodded calmly and answered.

"Yes, my imitation bear paw dish was inspired by the imitation bear paw of Confucius Mansion, and also inspired by what I saw chefs from other places cooking these days. I want to make an imitation bear paw dish in a different way."

Feng Zhengming's words made the two masters, Su and Sun, look at each other in surprise.

The two masters could see that Feng Zhengming was already confident and should have made some preparations.

Master Sun asked curiously, "What are you going to use with your imitation bear paw? If you use ordinary imitation bear paw ingredients, your dish may not be outstanding. Don't forget that Liaoning Province is also very good at imitation bear paw."

Feng Zhengming smiled confidently, "Uncle Sun, don't worry. I plan to use abalone as a side dish."

When the two masters heard Feng Zhengming say that abalone should be used as a pairing, they immediately felt relieved.

"Hahaha, if you use abalone, that's indeed a good combination."

"That's right, abalone with bear paw can instantly elevate the quality of your dish."

I saw that both masters agreed with my combination.

Feng Zhengming did not tell them that the abalone he was talking about was not real abalone.

Feng Zhengming was thinking that since he was going to make an imitation bear paw, he should also imitate the side dishes that go with the bear paw.

He was planning to make a complete imitation of bear paw.

Feng Zhengming’s plan was to use fake ingredients to create something more delicious than real ingredients.

Seeing that the two masters already thought they could make it with abalone, he did not explain it in detail to them.

Then the two masters gave Feng Zhengming some more instructions.

“Since you are going to make imitation bear paws, and you are going to use abalone, you must prepare it well when you prepare the ingredients tomorrow.”

"Yes, yes, the organizers have prepared fresh and dried abalone in advance. The dried abalone is also pre-made. You must pay attention when choosing."

"Prepare well. We are all looking forward to your dishes."

"That's right, don't let us down."

Feng Zhengming smiled and nodded: "Master uncle, master uncle, rest assured, I won't let you down."

After the chat, Feng Zhengming said goodbye to the two masters and returned to his room.

In the room, Li Zhifeng and Lin Bosheng were also waiting for him to come back.

Seeing him coming back, Lin Bosheng asked, "Did Master Su and Master Sun pass on any experience to you?"

Feng Zhengming nodded and replied: "Let me do my best. When I prepare the ingredients tomorrow, I must be careful in selecting them and make the dish well."

Lin Bosheng also asked curiously: "Among your three dishes, apart from the Oolong Xizhu, what are you going to make for the other two dishes?"

Feng Zhengming did not hide anything and told Lin Bosheng and Li Zhifeng about the other two dishes.

Li Zhifeng nodded after hearing this: "Cold salad is a very good dish. It can show your knife skills, carving skills, and plating skills. In addition, the national competition provides a lot of ingredients, and you can make a lot of combinations."

Lin Bosheng also agreed with this, and he actually prepared a cold dish platter.

"You have another dish to make that imitates bear paw? We have already made an imitation bear paw at the banquet today, and the Liao cuisine also made an imitation bear paw. Wouldn't that be a bit repetitive?"

Feng Zhengming smiled and said: "It's not repetitive. We do it differently and use different materials."

Lin Bosheng was a little curious: "What are you going to use to make the imitation bear paw?"

Feng Zhengming repeated to Lin Bosheng and Li Zhifeng what he had said to the two masters.

I heard that Feng Zhengming wanted to use abalone with imitation bear paw.

Li Zhifeng and Lin Bosheng also thought it was a good match.

"That's right. You can have one dish of sea cucumber and one dish of abalone, and pair them with some imitation bear paw tendons and minced meat. You can also use lobster on the cold dish platter. This way, at least you won't lose to Hong Kong chefs in terms of the ingredients they use."

Li Zhifeng shook his head and said, "If that's the case, isn't it suspected of imitating Hong Kong City?"

Lin Bosheng was immediately dissatisfied: "What do you mean by imitating Hong Kong? Didn't they learn to make sashimi from abroad? Besides, ours is a cold dish platter, not theirs that is just randomly placed. Ours has shapes and carvings."

Since the national competition began, many chefs, like Lin Bosheng, have been somewhat dissatisfied with Hong Kong chefs.

The main reason is that Hong Kong chefs always act superior.

Perhaps apart from Feng Zhengming, even Zhang Quande did not receive much courtesy from the chefs in Hong Kong.

Secondly, some of the dishes presented by Hong Kong chefs are not considered to be very outstanding in the eyes of chefs from other places.

If you really get serious, Hong Kong chefs are still somewhat weaker in knife skills than chefs from other places.

Although his cooking skills are not that great, he always puts on an arrogant face towards chefs from other places.

Naturally, this made chefs from other places feel somewhat dissatisfied.

However, chefs from all over the country who participated in the competition also received some private instructions.

Everyone must be polite to the chefs in Hong Kong.

So on the surface, everyone was reluctant to show their dissatisfaction with the arrogant attitude of Hong Kong chefs.

In private, there are many people like Lin Bosheng who express their dissatisfaction with Hong Kong chefs outspokenly.

Feng Zhengming couldn't help but smile bitterly: "Brother Lin, in fact, some chefs in Hong Kong have good attitudes, such as Long Kunbao and Jiang Chengzhe, and Chef Dai Long is also quite friendly."

Li Zhifeng interjected: "Long Kunbao and Jiang Chengzhe did have good attitudes, especially Long Kunbao. He also seemed to be from the mainland. He doesn't speak Cantonese very well, but he communicated with us quite a lot."

Lin Bosheng said: "Yes, I am not saying that Hong Kong chefs are arrogant. For example, Long Kunbao and Jiang Chengzhe have very good attitudes and are willing to communicate with us.

Dai Long would also communicate with us and was always smiling and polite to us.

But the other chefs in Hong Kong always have cold faces and almost always communicate with each other in Cantonese.

We actively tried to communicate with them, but they just ignored us. They clearly understood us, but they always pretended not to understand. "

After hearing what Lin Bosheng said, Feng Zhengming thought of several other chefs in Hong Kong.

The attitudes of those chefs from Hong Kong City were indeed more indifferent.

They only ever speak Cantonese.

Unlike Long Kunbao, Jiang Chengzhe and Dai Long, they can still speak Mandarin to some extent when talking to everyone.

For example, Jiang Chengzhe's Mandarin is not very good, but he still tries to use it as much as possible.

Although sometimes when he is in a hurry and can't express himself well, Jiang Chengzhe will directly speak in foreign languages.

However, Jiang Chengzhe's willingness to communicate is still very obvious.

There is no need to talk about Long Kunbao. He came to Hong Kong from the mainland. His Cantonese is not very good, so he almost always communicates with everyone in Mandarin.

Moreover, it is obvious from Long Kunbao’s cooking skills that he has no background in Hong Kong Cantonese cuisine.

He must have learned cooking skills in other places in the mainland and later brought his cooking skills to Hong Kong.

Although Dai Long doesn't speak Mandarin well, he always communicates with others with a smile.

It can be seen that he is a person who can at least get along with others in public.

Including Li Guansheng, who led the team from Gangcheng. This master craftsman, known as the Abalone King, is a master in craftsmanship, but he is also very polite to others.

Many times, some mainland chefs would ask him for advice, and he would explain some cooking techniques in detail.

As for the remaining four chefs in Gangcheng, it really gives people the feeling that their eyes are on top of their heads.

They rarely take the initiative to communicate with chefs from different places.

Most of the time, when they meet, they may not even respond when others greet them.

However, they all showed respect in front of Li Guansheng, Dai Long, and Long Kunbao.

In Feng Zhengming's opinion, the behavior of these few people can only be said to be that they are intentionally keeping a distance from mainland chefs.

Thinking of this, Feng Zhengming calmed Lin Bosheng's excitement.

"Brother Lin, you don't have to worry about them. In my opinion, those chefs are not the most capable chefs in Hong Kong. We don't need to care about their attitudes. You should just communicate more with Jiang Chengzhe, Long Kunbao, Chef Dai Long, and Master Li."

Li Zhifeng also agreed: "Yes, Bai Sheng, don't bother with those people. They don't want to pay attention to us, and we don't want to communicate with them either. They were not among the top ten in the first round."

After being persuaded by Feng Zhengming and Li Zhifeng, Lin Bosheng nodded and calmed down.

"Don't bother with them, they are just a bunch of clowns, ignore them."

Then Feng Zhengming and Li Zhifeng talked to Lin Bosheng about the three dishes he was going to cook.

The dish that Lin Bosheng was going to prepare was the Oolong Dengyun, which he had made in the selection competition, but this time he decided to cook it more carefully and make it more beautiful and exquisite.

Another dish is a platter of cold dishes that also requires great knife skills, carving and presentation.

There is another dish that Lin Bosheng is preparing to make, a lotus crab.

After hearing this, Feng Zhengming immediately thought that Lin Bosheng’s lotus crab might not be a simple lotus crab.

"Brother Lin shouldn't just be making a simple lotus crab dish, right?"

Lin Bosheng smiled and replied: "Of course not, just like your imitation bear paw is not the Confucius Mansion imitation bear paw, the lotus crab I want to make is not an ordinary lotus crab, I will use some new techniques to make it."

Feng Zhengming naturally wouldn't ask in detail.

After all, in the next game, he and Lin Bosheng are rivals.

At this time, it is somewhat unkind to try to gather intelligence on the opponent.

"Then we'll see."

Lin Bosheng is obviously very confident in his design.

"Hahaha, when my lotus crab comes out, it might overshadow you, Zhengming. If I win the first prize, Zhengming, don't cry."

Feng Zhengming smiled and said, "If Senior Brother Lin can win the first prize, it will also bring honor to our Shandong cuisine."

Lin Bosheng said: "You too, let's work together to bring glory to our Shandong cuisine."

When Li Zhifeng heard the two people say this, he felt that although the two chefs in front of him were more than ten years apart in age, they were indeed both talented chefs of Shandong cuisine.

As the vice president of the Cooking Association, Li Zhifeng is still looking forward to the performance of Feng Zhengming and Lin Bosheng in the national competition.

“I really hope that you can achieve better results in the national competition.”

Lin Bosheng was also full of energy: "Of course, we will definitely get good results this time. At least our Shandong cuisine must win a few gold medals."

Li Zhifeng said with a smile: "Even though I can't be one of the top ten chefs, being one of the best chefs in the country is also a good result."

Lin Bosheng also agreed; "Yes, we work hard to recruit more outstanding chefs from all over the country."

Feng Zhengming was still determined to become one of the top ten chefs.

Not only does he want to become one of the top ten chefs, he also wants to strive to become the number one in the national cooking competition.

This is also the expectation of his family, including his master, senior brothers, and the master chefs of Shandong cuisine.

Feng Zhengming also felt in his heart that he should have that opportunity.

So how can we let everyone’s expectations be dashed?

That night, all the chefs were eager to get started.

Because the next step is the individual competition.

These three dishes will determine the top ten and outstanding chefs in this national competition.

Finally, the scores of the first two dishes will be taken into account to determine the top three winners of this national competition.

This is something that every chef who comes to participate in the national competition must strive for.

Everyone has honed their cooking skills for many years to participate in this national competition.

Of course, it is to prove myself.

Of course, the chefs who have already ranked in the top ten in the first two dishes will definitely strive to maintain their positions in the top ten, and then compete for the top three.

Chefs who are not in the top ten in points must work hard to become excellent chefs.

Or maybe your dish could win an award.

Likewise, in addition to the chefs, audiences across the country are also looking forward to it.

I look forward to each chef’s performance in the upcoming individual competition.

I look forward to seeing more amazing dishes in the individual competition. (End of this chapter)