From selling box lunches to becoming a famous Chinese chef

Chapter 521: Having the Best of Both Worlds

On the second day of the individual competition in the national tournament, Feng Zhengming still spent the morning with his family.

He seemed quite relaxed and didn't take the game seriously.

Unlike many chefs, they have already started making various preparations in the morning.

Feng Zhengming's ease made many people feel a little confused about him, wondering if he was well prepared and what tricks he was going to show today?

Even during lunch, several Shandong cuisine chefs specifically went to Feng Zhengming to ask about it.

Lin Bosheng asked directly: "Zhengming, are you ready?"

"I'm ready. There's no problem with the game this afternoon."

Kong Xingli asked, "Are you going to make that imitation bear paw with abalone this afternoon?"

Feng Zhengming nodded: "Yes, that's the dish. I'm going to leave the Oolong Xizhu as the last dish."

Sun Fenggui said: "Your dish, Oolong Xizhu, should be the dish with the least problems."

Lin Guofu asked curiously, "Is there anything special about the imitation bear paw with abalone you are going to make today?"

Feng Zhengming smiled and responded: "What's special about it? Everyone will see it when I make it."

Seeing Feng Zhengming so confident, the Shandong cuisine chefs felt relieved.

At this time, Jiang Chengzhe also came over.

"Brother Ming, why didn't I see you this morning? Are you ready?"

Feng Zhengming nodded: "Yes, I'm ready. I'll just cook during the afternoon competition."

Jiang Chengzhe looked curious: "So what dish are you going to make today?"

Feng Zhengming answered very straightforwardly this time: "Imitation bear paw with abalone, I would like to call it having the best of both worlds."

"Have the best of both worlds?" Feng Zhengming had just finished speaking when he heard Mr. Cai repeat it.

Mr. Cai then smiled and said, "Chef Feng, the name of this dish is quite interesting. It really has a bit of the literati temperament of Huaiyang cuisine. Chef Feng, is there anything special about this dish?"

Obviously, everyone is really curious about Feng Zhengming's dish.

Feng Zhengming smiled and replied: "I will make this dish this afternoon and I hope everyone can see it."

Seeing that Feng Zhengming was keeping his mouth shut, everyone stopped asking questions.

Mr. Cai was looking forward to it: "Okay, then we'll wait and see."

After lunch, all the chefs took a short break and prepared everything they needed.

The game started on time at 1:30 in the afternoon.

Luo Qing entered the venue accompanied by her two grandfathers and her third uncle.

As soon as she sat down in the audience, Lin Moli came up to her.

"Sister Luo, I saw you and Chef Feng hanging out yesterday."

Luo Qing nodded in response to Lin Moli's words: "Yes, we took a yacht last night."

Lin Moli was a little envious: "I'm so envious of you guys. You and Chef Feng are such a good match."

These words made Luo Qing very happy: "Thank you."

Lin Moli then asked: "What dish will Chef Feng cook today? Will he make his Oolong Xizhu? I heard from many people that his Oolong Xizhu is a dish that can directly win the gold medal."

Luo Qing smiled and whispered, "Today he is not going to make the Oolong Playing with Pearls. Today he is going to make a bear paw with abalone, also known as having both fish and bear paw."

Lin Moli was stunned at first, then asked curiously: "Isn't it said that you can't have your cake and eat it too? I've learned this."

Luo Qing nodded: "Yes, you can't have your cake and eat it too, but the dish he made today is imitation bear paw with abalone. Abalone is also fish, so it's called having your cake and eating it too."

Lin Moli suddenly realized: "Oh, is that so? It's quite interesting."

Lin Moli was really intrigued by Luo Qing, so she was looking forward to seeing the dishes Feng Zhengming would cook?

The competition officially began and all the chefs got busy.

Feng Zhengming took out the winter melon and white radish that he had selected in advance.

Wash and peel them separately.

The first thing to do is to take out a square piece of winter melon.

Then Feng Zhengming began to carve the winter melon carefully.

After a few cuts, the winter melon was carved into the rough shape of a bear's paw.

After some careful retouching, the winter melon looks almost exactly like a bear paw.

The carving alone surprised many people at the scene.

Then he hollowed out the bear paw of the winter melon carving.

Then season the prepared fillings separately.

Add a little bit of salt, sugar and pepper to the beef filling, and add some onion and ginger water in batches.

Of course, the beef filling cannot be mixed with an equal amount of water as the steamed bun filling.

Just add some water, on the one hand to remove the odor with the onion and ginger water, on the other hand to make the beef filling more tender.

Beat the beef to allow it to absorb the onion and ginger water, then add an egg white and a little dry starch.

After blending evenly, set aside, then season and blend the chicken puree in the same way.

After finishing the two kinds of meat fillings, put the soaked tendons into the bottom.

After everything is prepared, hollow out the winter melon and bear paw, wipe the water off the inside, and then sprinkle some dry starch inside.

First fill in the beef filling, then place the tendons in it, and finally cover with the chicken paste and smooth it out.

After it is completely ground, place it in a steaming bowl and start steaming it in a steamer.

While the winter melon and bear paw were steaming, Feng Zhengming quickly cut the white radish into sections and began carving it with a carving knife.

Many people at the scene were paying attention to Feng Zhengming. They saw him carving a bear paw out of a winter melon, hollowing it out, filling it with stuffing and then steaming it. Then he started carving a white radish.

Some people couldn't help but wonder what Feng Zhengming was going to carve out of the white radish?
It wasn't long before Feng Zheng understood the shape of the thing carved out of the radish.

Mr. Cai, who was on the judging panel, stared at it and said with a smile, "So the abalone was carved out of white radish."

After hearing what Mr. Cai said, everyone else realized that Feng Zhengming had carved the white radish into an abalone.

After carving about ten abalones, Feng Zhengming hollowed out the insides.

Stir the prepared fillings into the abalone carved with white radish.

Then put the white radish and abalone into the prepared abalone sauce and stew them until they are tasty.

The judges were a little surprised to see Feng Zhengming's series of operations.

Mr. Cai was a little surprised: "It's really a different way of cooking. It's stuffed with white radish pulp, and then cooked with abalone sauce to make the white radish and stuffing taste good."

In the following time, Feng Zhengming was relatively leisurely, waiting for the two things to be steamed and cooked.

After the winter melon and bear paws were steamed, Feng Zhengming took them out of the steamer.

Then he used white soup to stew winter melon and bear paw.

After simmering it upside down for a while, Feng Zhengming suddenly flipped the spoon over.

The winter melon and bear paws in the pot flipped over and over under Feng Zhengming's strong stir-frying spoon.

This scene appeared at the competition site and really shocked everyone.

Lin Moli exclaimed excitedly: "Wow, great, that's amazing."

Mr. Situ also sighed: "It is true that the more skilled, the more courageous one is."

The judges were also quite surprised.

Feng Zhengming dared to do a big flip at the competition site, which was really beyond everyone's expectation. But Feng Zhengming's dish, winter melon and bear paw, was steamed and then braising to make it taste good, which really needed a big flip.

After flipping the spoon, Feng Zhengming continued to simmer over medium-low heat until the winter melon on the outside of the winter melon bear paw was soft and rotten, and the filling inside was almost clearly visible.

At this time, Feng Zhengming first poured out the simmered soup, and then carefully pushed the winter melon and bear paw into the plate and placed them there.

At this time, the winter melon and bear paw are really soft after being steamed and stewed.

It almost looks like it will break if touched slightly.

The judges on the scene were also discussing the matter privately.

"This Feng Zhengming is really a man of great skill and courage."

"Yeah, he was a little too bold to do that. If the winter melon gets rotten, the dish will be ruined."

"But he was able to keep the dish from going bad, which was really amazing."

"So his spoon skills are really amazing."

Place the winter melon and bear paw on the plate, and then Feng Zhengming takes out the white radish and abalone that have been simmered in abalone sauce for quite a long time.

White radish and abalone surround the winter melon and bear paw.

Finally, add some of the prepared pumpkin puree to the previously simmered winter melon and bear paw soup, adjust the taste and thicken it, then pour in some of the prepared chicken oil, and pour the soup on the winter melon, bear paw, white radish and abalone on the plate.

At this point, Feng Zhengming's imitation bear paw with abalone is what he calls the perfect combination of fish and bear paw.

After this dish was completed, many judges stood up and looked at his dish.

In the auditorium, many audience members also stood up and looked around.

Lin Moli couldn't help but exclaimed as she looked around: "Isn't this dish too beautiful?"

Many people at the scene also thought that this dish was very beautiful. Whether it was the bear paw with winter melon or the abalone carved with white radish, it looked really beautiful when placed on the plate with the golden soup.

Even some of the chefs participating in the competition were amazed by Feng Zhengming's dish.

Everyone had heard that Feng Zhengming was going to make such a dish before.

But before seeing this dish with their own eyes, no one had imagined that it would turn out like this.

Such exquisiteness required Feng Zhengming to put a lot of thought and craftsmanship into it.

This dish is like a unique work of art.

The TV station's camera quickly moved in front of Feng Zhengming and carefully filmed the dish.

Feng Zhengming actually spent several hours preparing this dish.

Other chefs had already completed the second dish of their individual competition.

Among the dishes that had been prepared previously, there were some that amazed many people at the scene.

But when Feng Zhengming's dish came out, it really had the momentum to overwhelm the whole place.

In front of the TV, everyone in Huiquan Building was also surprised.

Today, senior brother Li Huidong also came to Huiquan Building in the afternoon to watch the live broadcast of the game with his junior brothers.

When the TV station saw Feng Zhengming’s dish come out, they gave him a special close-up.

Li Huidong sighed: "Junior brother is really getting better and better."

Yang Bin was very curious: "How did he come up with this dish?"

Cao Zhiguo said: "He must have come up with this idea after he went there to compete. He hadn't thought of such a dish when he was at home."

Just as Feng Zhengming and his three brothers finished speaking, a voice suddenly came from the door.

"Zhengming was in the competition there, and he referred to some dishes from other places, so he conceived this dish. Didn't you see that he added flavor to the abalone carved with white radish and made the abalone sauce? Obviously, he asked a Cantonese chef for advice, right?
He also learned from other chefs how to add chicken fat to his golden soup and some other seasonings.

Carving bear paws out of winter melon should be learned from the Liao cuisine chef’s imitation bear paws. "

Hearing the sound, the three brothers looked over together.

I saw the master walking in from the door.

Everyone in Huiquan Tower quickly stood up to greet them.

Li Huidong took the initiative to invite his master in and sit down.

"Master, you just said that Zhengming's dish was something he learned and summarized during the national competition?"

Master Yan sat down, stared at the screen on TV and nodded: "Yes, this dish is what he learned and is now selling."

At this point, Master Yan shook his head and said, "It's still a bit risky for him to make this dish."

Li Huidong and his three fellow disciples also understood what their master meant.

This dish was an idea that Feng Zhengming came up with on the spur of the moment.

In fact, some of the designs are a bit lacking.

Under normal circumstances, he should do more research and make the whole dish better before making it public.

However, Feng Zhengming did not study it in more detail, but instead learned and practiced it at the national competition.

Although Master Yan was somewhat dissatisfied with Feng Zhengming's risky approach.

But he still approved of this dish.

"Zhengming's cooking skills are acceptable. Although he took some risks in making this dish, the degree of completion is still very good. He can make some more careful modifications in the future to make this dish even better."

After hearing what the master said, Feng Zhengming and his fellow brothers knew that the master was praising their junior brothers.

After all, Feng Zhengming's approach was indeed somewhat risky.

But his adventurous spirit is still admired by his master.

Because of this dish, I'm afraid there is no one else but Feng Zhengming.

The other brothers would never think of such creativity.

Not to mention that in such an important competition as the national competition, they just made it and took part in the competition without any verification.

The reason why Feng Zhengming has the courage to try it.

It is also because he is confident in his craftsmanship.

At the same time, he does have the corresponding skills.

His solid basic skills and mastery of various techniques allow him to make more attempts.

How can other chefs not feel inferior when seeing this?

At the scene, some judges were already a little impatient and wanted to take a closer look at Feng Zhengming's dish and wanted to taste it.

However, the competition is still going on, and there are still chefs who have not finished their dishes.

So the judges held back and went forward.

Finally, after all the chefs had finished, the judges walked down from their seats.

The following period of time seemed to be a torment for the judges as well.

Everyone wants to be the first to see Feng Zhengming’s dishes.

But because there are other chefs' dishes to review.

Therefore, the judges could only suppress their excitement and carefully evaluate each chef’s dish.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that other chefs’ dishes are not good.

Among them, the lobster roll made by Jiang Chengzhe was also considered quite good by the judges.

After tasting each dish one by one, we finally came to Feng Zhengming's counter and saw his dish up close.

The judges immediately felt that his dish was more amazing.

(End of this chapter)