From selling box lunches to becoming a famous Chinese chef

When the judges really looked at Feng Zhengming's dish up close, they immediately noticed the difference between it and other imitation bear paw dishes.

In terms of shape, Feng Zhengming and other chefs make imitation bear paws, just like they do other chefs, trying their best to make them look like bear paws.

The only difference is that other chefs mostly use the red-braised method to make imitation bear paws.

Feng Zhengming’s dish is a white steak, paired with abalone carved with white radish, and finally drizzled with clear golden broth.

This will make the whole dish look more refreshing.

Moreover, when the imitation bear paw and imitation abalone are placed together, they both present a crystal clear feeling.

It feels like crystal bear paws and crystal abalone.

Even the final soup is thickened by Feng Zhengming with only a thin layer of starch, so it doesn't look sticky.

This dish doesn't look like Shandong cuisine at all.

However, Feng Zhengming used Shandong cuisine techniques throughout the entire process.

Imitation bear paw is the way Confucius Mansion imitates bear paw.

After the imitation bear paw is steamed, it is simmered in a white-broiled way to make it tasty.

The golden soup that is poured in at the end is also very light and has a bright consistency.

Even the abalone filling carved from white radish is a technique from Shandong cuisine.

This dish as a whole doesn't look like Shandong cuisine.

But from the perspective of cooking techniques, Shandong cuisine techniques are everywhere.

In the lobby of Huiquanlou, Master Yan exclaimed: "It seems that he has become a true master chef. He can apply the techniques he has learned to the innovative dishes he has come up with."

Feng Zhengming and his two fellow brothers listened to their master and agreed with his judgment in their hearts.

The three senior brothers all knew very well that the youngest brother was indeed the one with the most solid basic skills among them.

Maybe now many people only see Feng Zhengming's brilliant craftsmanship.

But the fellow students knew very well that Feng Zhengming's solid basic skills were acquired through his hard work alone.

Whether it is hot summer or cold winter.

At that time, Feng Zhengming would always practice basic skills alone in the backyard after finishing his busy work in the kitchen of Yan Xilou every day.

He developed his knife skills step by step after his hands were almost covered with cuts.

His skills as a spoon were honed through hard work, with his hands full of blisters from being burned by hot oil and hot soup.

And his skill of flipping rice was acquired through countless late nights and early mornings when he was alone in the backyard, flipping rice grains in an iron pan.

If you have not witnessed Feng Zhengming's efforts with your own eyes, you may not be able to imagine the hardships he has endured.

What impressed the fellow students the most was that Feng Zhengming always remained optimistic no matter what the circumstances.

Whether it's hands full of cuts from a knife, or blisters from being scalded by hot oil or hot soup.

Or maybe he almost broke his fingers from practicing flipping the wok.

Feng Zhengming always manages to face these painful processes with a smile on his face and cheerfully.

To this day, every fellow student is filled with admiration when they recall his optimistic and positive spirit.

So Feng Zhengming shined in the national competition this time.

It is also what he deserves after years of hard training.

The judges on site carefully examined Feng Zhengming's dish.

The professional judges spoke first.

"This dish is really different from many imitation bear paws."

The first champion, Master Liu, said: "It has some characteristics of our Liao cuisine imitation bear paw, and also incorporates the characteristics of Confucius Mansion imitation bear paw. Moreover, you did not use the common red steak, but actually used white steak, which is really creative."

After receiving the praise from Master Liu, Feng Zhengming responded with a smile: "Thank you for your affirmation, Master Liu."

Master Hou from Beijing said: "Chef Feng's cooking skills are really amazing."

Feng Zhengming quickly said: "Master Hou is exaggerating. In fact, some of my ideas for this dish are not comprehensive enough. This dish is more of some ideas that emerged after these days of communication and learning.

This is a bold attempt of mine. If there is anything wrong, please give me some suggestions. "

Feng Zhengming's words made the professional judges present look at each other in surprise.

Chef Lu is also the youngest chef among the first top ten chefs.

He couldn't help but smile and said, "Xiao Feng, you are giving us a difficult problem. Through these few days of communication and learning, you can make such a creative dish.

How can we give you advice? If the advice is not good, won't we be embarrassed? "

Feng Zhengming quickly said, "Master Lu, I didn't mean that. I just hope to learn more from you seniors."

Master Liu laughed: "Hahaha, Xiao Feng's humble attitude is also worth learning from."

Mr. Cai from Gangcheng spoke up at this time: "Chef Feng, is this dish really just something you learned from the exchanges over the past few days that made you think of making such a dish?"

In response to Mr. Cai's question, Feng Zhengming answered frankly: "It's not just the exchange and learning these days. I also learned how to make bear paw from the inheritor of Confucius Mansion cuisine.

For this dish, I also incorporated what I learned from previous studies and what I learned from the exchanges in the past few days.

For example, for the abalone sauce with white radish, I also consulted Cantonese and Hong Kong chefs for advice.”

An invited foreign chef asked: "Why do you add stuffing to the abalone carved from white radish?"

Feng Zhengming smiled and replied, "I saw this in an ancient cookbook, a very famous cookbook in our country called Tiao Ding Ji. It contains a dish called fake Yuan Xiao, which is made by carving white radish into a Yuan Xiao, hollowing it out and stuffing it with stuffing."

The foreign chefs were a little surprised when they heard this: "Wow, what a bold idea."

After watching it for a while, the judges tasted the dish.

When everyone ate them, they found that there was a clear difference in taste between the imitation bear paw and the imitation abalone.

What is most incredible is that both the imitation bear paw and the imitation abalone are quite tasty.

It looks like a very refreshing and elegant dish, but it tastes rich in flavor.

The outer layer of the winter melon shell of the imitation bear paw is already quite soft and rotten, and paired with the meat filling inside, it creates a very complex taste.

The abalone carved with white radish did not become completely soft after stewing, but instead had a slightly crunchy texture.

Then when you bite it open, you will taste the salty and fragrant filling inside.

It really gives people the feeling of eating a uniquely shaped Yuanxiao.

The golden soup covering the outside has the aroma of chicken fat, the richness of stock, and the sweetness of pumpkin puree.

It adds a blended flavor to the dish.

After actually eating this dish, the judges felt they had to admit defeat.

Feng Zhengming still practices the philosophy he talked about. Even if he makes gorgeous dishes in competitions, he still has to make sure the dishes taste good first.

Is this dish that has the best of both worlds delicious?

The judges had to admit that it was indeed delicious.

For this dish, Feng Zhengming also took into full consideration that as the judges tasted each dish one by one, the dish might have been cold by the time he got it.

Therefore, whether this dish is eaten hot or cold, it will have a unique taste.

This alone made him leave a better impression on the judges.

Feng Zhengming handles the white radish very well, and there is almost no bad taste of the radish itself.

After a long period of stewing, the white radish tastes very rich in meat flavor.

With the filling of white radish, it can really be called a delicious dish. Even though this dish has been cold while waiting for the review.

But even if you eat it cold, you will still feel that this dish tastes great.

Mr. Cai sighed: "Chef Feng's cooking skills are extraordinary. If I hadn't tasted it myself, I would have found it hard to imagine that someone could make winter melon and white radish so delicious."

The judges present also agreed with Mr. Cai’s words.

If we really talk about the dishes in today’s competition, Feng Zhengming’s dish is definitely not the most beautiful in appearance.

For example, Jiang Chengzhe’s lobster dish was more colorful in presentation than Feng Zhengming’s.

The green pearl fish flowers made by Huaiyang cuisine chef Zhang Quande are also quite beautiful.

In comparison, Feng Zhengming's dish is a bit simpler.

However, the unique creativity of Feng Zhengming's dish and the taste enjoyment it brought to the judges when they tasted it.

It was something I hadn't tasted in any other dish at the competition.

Perhaps it can be said that the dishes cooked by Feng Zhengming are not as colorful as those cooked by others.

But no one can say that Feng Zhengming’s dishes are not delicious.

Moreover, the deliciousness of his dish is suitable for the taste of most people present.

This is something that some other chefs may not be able to do.

Or it should be said that the flavor blended by Feng Zhengming is the most authentic flavor of Shandong cuisine.

Didn't stand out in any one flavor.

There seems to be every flavor.

Each flavor blends with each other to compose a very harmonious piece of music on the tip of the tongue.

Moreover, Feng Zhengming combined traditional techniques with his own creativity very well when making this dish. It can be said that he used an imaginative way to make a dish that seems very traditional.

After tasting Feng Zhengming's dish, the judges continued to taste the next dish.

The next few questions did not impress the judges much.

Until a chef specializing in Henan cuisine made a very traditional peony bird's nest, which once again amazed the judges.

The Henan cuisine chef's name is Hao Zongcheng.

He made some innovations based on the traditional peony bird's nest.

Peony bird's nest is made by cutting white radish into thin strips and cooking it until the shredded white radish has a texture similar to that of bird's nest.

Hao Zongcheng made the original peony bird's nest based on it, not only adding shredded ham, pork, bamboo shoots, etc., but also pouring clear soup over it and using eggs to make a peony flower and placing it on the top.

Such a dish demonstrates a momentum that outshines all others.

Compared with Feng Zhengming's dish, which is clearly imitation bear paw and abalone, it looks elegant and contrasts well.

This dish obviously uses some light ingredients such as shredded white radish, but the resulting dish is full of elegance and richness.

Mr. Cai sighed: "Today I have finally seen that there are so many talented cooks in China."

Obviously, this peony bird's nest dish can be said to have shared the limelight with Feng Zhengming's dish.

The live broadcast also focused on this dish.

Master Yan, who was sitting in front of the TV, couldn't help but sigh when he saw this dish.

"Zhengming still has a lot of competitors. We shouldn't underestimate any chef who participates in the national competition."

Feng Zhengming's three senior brothers all nodded in agreement after hearing this.

Hao Zongcheng, the Henan cuisine chef who makes Peony Bird's Nest, has never been very prominent before.

Like most chefs who participated in the competition, almost no one paid attention to him.

But the peony bird's nest dish he prepared today really amazed everyone.

It is no wonder that Mr. Cai sighed that there are many talented people in Chinese cooking.

Maybe everyone originally thought that Feng Zhengming was the most popular one today.

The overall creativity of his dish is indeed impressive enough.

It can be said that there is no other chef who can compare to him.

But other chefs also use some traditional skills and some traditional dishes that have been accumulated over the years to make some dishes that amaze the audience.

Coming to the stage of the national cooking competition, no chef will give up easily.

The judges tasted the peony bird's nest dish.

The taste is also quite unique.

The taste of the soup is very characteristic of Henan cuisine.

It tastes similar to hot and sour soup.

But there was clear soup in the bowl again.

The shredded white radish does have a unique taste, similar to that of bird's nest, and tastes quite special.

After tasting it, Master Liu smiled and said, "It is indeed a representative dish of Henan cuisine and Shuixi, it is really delicious."

Mr. Cai compared it with the white radish and abalone from Feng Zhengming.

"Both dishes are made with white radish. Chef Hao's dish and Chef Feng's dish both give white radish different textures and flavors. You guys are really amazing."

Mr. Cai pointed this out, and the judges suddenly realized that there were dishes that should get high scores in today's competition.

It should obviously be Feng Zhengming and Hao Zongcheng.

Because both of them make the dishes taste different.

Feng Zhengming cooked the winter melon and white radish until they had no taste at all.

Hao Zongcheng’s Peony Bird’s Nest is made from shredded white radish with a texture similar to bird’s nest.

The dishes of other chefs also have their own characteristics.

However, in terms of surpassing the original flavor of the ingredients, it is slightly weaker than the two dishes by Feng Zhengming and Hao Zongcheng.

After the judges finished their evaluation, all the dishes were put on display.

Then it was time for the audience to taste the food.

The second course of the individual competition was indeed quite competitive.

When it came to the first dish, everyone was still quite reserved.

Although there are quite a few dishes that look beautiful, it is obvious that none of them brings a greater visual impact than the second dish.

The two dishes that attracted the most attention from the audience were Feng Zhengming's fish and bear's paw, and Hao Zongcheng's peony bird's nest.

Many people can't help but mutter while tasting the food.

“This is actually made of white radish?”

"I can't believe that white radish and winter melon can taste like this?"

“This is the first time I’ve tasted white radish, winter melon, and shredded radish that tasted like this.”

"It's amazing. If you don't tell me what these two dishes are made of, I really can't tell what they are made of."

The second dish allowed the audience and judges to truly appreciate the elegance and magnificence of Chinese cuisine. (End of this chapter)