From selling box lunches to becoming a famous Chinese chef

After the tasting of the dishes, the invited audience left the banquet hall one after another.

The TV station's live broadcast also came to a temporary end.

The judges also left the banquet hall and went to a specially arranged meeting room for a closed-door discussion.

Originally, some judges thought that in this competition, by adding up the total scores of all the chefs, they could very intuitively select the top ten chefs.

But before the points were announced, a professional judge from Beijing raised a question.

“In this competition, chefs from Hong Kong City were invited to participate, as well as many chefs who are already well-known from all over the country.

Whether in terms of age or work experience, they are definitely more experienced and capable.

But in this competition, the performance of Shandong cuisine chef Feng Zhengming was too outstanding and he was so young.

Should we make him one of the top ten chefs based on his points? Or even make him the top pick?"

This professional judge from Beijing said this, and at first glance it seemed like you didn't understand what he meant.
However, some of the judges present still understood the meaning of his words.

What this professional judge meant was that Feng Zhengming was relatively young, so shouldn't he be allowed to enter the top ten chefs directly? Or even become the top chef of this year?

Let him give the younger ones some training.

At the same time, should we also make room for the invited chefs from Hong Kong City and some more famous chefs to save some face?
Wait until the judges understand what this judge means.

Mr. Cai from Hong Kong said directly: "I don't think we need to consider the issue of face and seniority. I believe that every chef who comes to participate in the national cooking competition has his or her own pride.

I definitely hope that I can win a place in the competition through a real cooking competition where my dishes are indeed better than others.

The chefs in Hong Kong should be the same, they won’t mind if a chef who is better than them wins the award this time.”

Mr. Cai’s attitude is very clear. He believes that the judgment should be made strictly based on points.

No matter who it is, as long as he gets the highest total score, he should be the champion of this cooking competition.

Mr. Cai said firmly: "Since we have introduced a point system this year, we should still rank the participating chefs according to the scores of their dishes, and the top ten will be the best ten."

Obviously, in Mr. Cai's view, since the points are there, the judgment should be made according to the points.

Of course, Mr. Cai’s statement was also supported by most of the judges present.

This made the judges who had previously proposed different ideas somewhat embarrassed.

Then it was Master Liu, the champion of the first national cooking competition, who spoke up.

“Mr. Cai is right. We have introduced two new things to this national competition. One is the live broadcast on TV.

The other is to give each chef the opportunity to prepare several dishes, use the scores of each dish individually to score the participating chefs, and finally add up the chefs' points.

Now that we have introduced such a mechanism, we should abide by the design of the mechanism.

The top ten chefs and outstanding chefs should be judged based on the points they score.”

Master Liu's statement naturally gained the agreement of everyone present.

The judge from Beijing didn't say anything more.

The judges waited together for a while, and the person responsible for counting the points finally sent the total score.

The printed score sheets were distributed to each judge.

When the judges saw the score list, their faces showed some complexity, some satisfaction, and some surprise.

Professional judge Master Hou said, "Everyone, everyone has received the score sheet, so let's proofread it. If there are no problems, we will announce the scores later."

The judges were in the conference room to confirm the final scores.

The communication between Feng Zhengming and the chefs came to a temporary end. After all, everyone had been busy cooking for the whole day and they all felt very tired at this time.

So they said goodbye to each other and prepared to go back to their rooms to take a shower and change clothes.

Some chefs may take the opportunity to take a nap and have a good rest before having dinner.

Feng Zhengming finished his communication with the chefs and watched the other chefs leave.

He turned around and saw his family waiting for him.

He walked slowly to the front of his family.

Feng Zhengming smiled at his family members: "How was my performance today? Did you guys eat the food I cooked? Did you think it tasted good?"

Third uncle Feng Jiandong praised him without hesitation.

"It's more than just okay. Your dish is simply amazing.

When I was eating it, I thought the dish was so well cooked. You were able to combine sea cucumber, scallops and lobster so well. The dish is not only delicious, but also looks so good.

Third uncle really didn't misjudge you, Third uncle supports you."

After hearing what his uncle said, Feng Zhengming smiled even more happily.

"Hahaha, to be praised like this by Third Uncle, my dish must have been really good."

Grandpa Situ laughed when he heard this: "Why are you still not confident? You should have enough confidence in your craftsmanship."

Feng Zhengming smiled and responded to Grandpa Situ: "Thank you, Grandpa Situ, it's not that I don't have confidence, but I still hope to be more calm and not be so worried about whether I can win the award in the end."

Grandpa suddenly smiled and asked, "Why are you still worried about gains and losses? Haven't you always been indifferent to gains and losses?"

These words stunned Feng Zhengming.

Then everyone in the family started laughing.

Uncle San laughed and said, "Yes, you said before that it doesn't matter whether you can win the first prize or not, as long as you can show your creative dishes."

Feng Zhengming immediately laughed: "That's what I said, but up to now, if I say I have no thoughts about the top pick, I would be lying."

Luo Qing couldn't help but say after hearing this: "Don't worry, you must be at least one of the top ten chefs in the country."

Hearing this, Feng Zhengming smiled and put his arm around Luo Qing's waist.

"What? You have so little confidence in me? I'm just one of the top ten chefs in the country?"

Luo Qing felt very embarrassed when Feng Zhengming held her waist like this, especially in front of her two grandfathers and her third uncle.

She reached out and gently twisted Feng Zhengming, trying to push him away.

"Pay attention, Grandpa and Third Uncle are all here."

After hearing this, Mr. Situ immediately said, "Hahaha, it's okay, it's okay, you young people can continue with your work."

Uncle San naturally followed suit: "That's right, why don't you two go upstairs to your room first, we'll wait for you to finish, and then have dinner together."

Luo Qing felt even more embarrassed after being told this by both Grandpa Situ and Third Uncle.

Although Luo Qing secretly twisted Feng Zhengming, she did not directly break free from Feng Zhengming's arms.

At this moment, Feng Zhengming was really in high spirits.

He felt that the dish he had put so much thought into was appreciated by so many people.

I should have a great chance of becoming the top winner of this national cooking competition.

And at this critical moment, my family members are there to witness it with me.

Especially with the company of the woman he loves, Feng Zhengming really feels that this is probably the best blessing in life.

Thinking of this, he naturally hugged Luo Qing tighter.

Grandpa Feng saw his actions and finally couldn't help but said, "Okay, you two really should be more careful. After all, this is a public place, so you can't do anything too extreme."

This time, grandpa spoke, and Luo Qing quickly broke free from Feng Zhengming's arms.

Feng Zhengming did not embrace Luo Qing in his arms again.

He smiled and said, "Okay, I'm going upstairs to take a shower and change clothes. Grandpa Situ, Grandpa, Third Uncle, why don't you wait for me in the restaurant downstairs?"

Grandpa Situ and Grandpa both nodded in agreement.

"You go first. You really need to take a shower and change clothes."

"Why don't we go to Grandpa Situ's room?"

Feng Zhengming waved his hand and said, "No need, Grandpa Situ. We have a bathroom in our room. I think if I go up there now, Senior Brother Lin should have finished washing. No one should rush to grab the bathroom with me."

Grandpa nodded and said, "Yes, you should not always try to be special. It will make others think that you are already proud even though you haven't even won the first place."

Feng Zhengming smiled and said, "Then I'll go upstairs first."

I watched Feng Zhengming run to the elevator and go upstairs.

Mr. Situ suddenly smiled and said, "Looking at it this way now, Zhengming is still like a child. Not only does he have wild imaginations when cooking, but he also acts weird like a child from time to time."

Feng Zonghe also laughed: "He really is like a child most of the time."

Feng Jiandong said: "He is still a child. In front of you, Uncle Situ, and my dad, he is still a child no matter how old he is."

Luo Qing stood aside and watched the two grandfathers openly showing their love for Feng Zhengming.

And third uncle Feng Jiandong also obviously supports Feng Zhengming very much.

She was still very happy for Feng Zhengming in her heart.

Because he knew that Feng Zhengming had no blood relationship with the Feng family, he was very happy to see that he was accepted by the Feng family and that they truly treated him as one of their own.

Luo Qing really felt that Feng Zhengming would be very happy this way.

Feng Zhengming can enjoy the happiness of having the support of his family, and Luo Qing will also feel happy.

Afterwards, Luo Qing accompanied her two grandfathers and her third uncle to the hotel restaurant first.

Feng Zhengming went upstairs to the room.

When I walked in, I saw Lin Bosheng, who had already taken a shower and changed his clothes, with a smile on his face.

Li Zhifeng was also sitting on the bed with a smile on his face.

Facing the two smiling faces, Feng Zhengming asked curiously, "What's wrong? Is there anything happy?"

Li Zhifeng said: "Of course there are things to be happy about. Zhengming, as our Shandong cuisine chef, may become the champion of this cooking competition. Isn't this worth being happy about?"

Feng Zhengming waved his hand: "Don't say that casually. Although my performance is okay, I can't say for sure whether I can win the top prize."

Lin Bosheng immediately said, "Don't be so modest. With just a few dishes you prepared, you will definitely win the first prize."

Li Zhifeng nodded in agreement: "Yes, yes, the three dishes you prepared in the individual competition are really better than the last one."

Lin Bosheng couldn't help but sigh: "I really didn't expect that you would specifically ask a chef from Hong Kong to learn how to cook lobster and incorporate lobster into the Oolong Xizhu."

Li Zhifeng added: "The key is that the fusion is very good. With the lobster balls, the whole dish is still very complete."

"Yes, the key is that you make it complete, as a dish, rather than just assembling it randomly."

Experience a national cooking competition.

Especially the three courses in the individual competition.

Li Zhifeng and Lin Bosheng were truly convinced by Feng Zhengming.

This young chef is much younger than the two of them.

The skills he demonstrated made Li Zhifeng and Lin Bosheng realize that the gap between them and him was indeed quite large.

Moreover, Feng Zhengming was able to learn through on-site exchanges.

Be able to learn and apply what you have learned flexibly and practice it immediately.

For example, today's dish, Oolong Xizhu, he added some baked lobster balls to the original Oolong Xizhu.

Feng Zhengming also wrapped the vegetable shreds around the scallops.

This will make the color of the whole dish more vivid and eye-catching.

At the same time, it also provides a combination of meat and vegetables, making the dishes less greasy.

The most important thing is Feng Zhengming's use of several kinds of soups.

The scallion sauce is used to cook sea cucumbers.

Pour the white sauce over the scallops.

The broth is poured over the lobster balls.

The sauce that is spread over the entire dish at the end makes the whole dish completely integrated, and the taste also reaches a perfect blend.

It can be said that in the eyes of Lin Bosheng and Li Zhifeng, Feng Zhengming's dish is truly a culinary masterpiece.

He used all kinds of techniques, and even combined different techniques of Shandong cuisine and Cantonese cuisine.

Li Zhifeng and Lin Bosheng are both chefs and have been immersed in the culinary industry for many years.

They know very well how difficult it is to make a dish like this.
Especially such a creative idea to start with a dish like this.

Creativity is not just about being able to think of such a dish.

But while you are thinking about it, you should also be able to think about how to do it?

This is not something that can be created simply by thinking about it in your head.

It must be someone like Feng Zhengming who is familiar with various techniques, can clearly plan out the entire process, and understand every detail of the step.

Only if you can do all these perfectly can you truly make this dish.

Thinking of this, Lin Bosheng sighed, "Zhengming, you are such a genius. I think you were born to cook. I am really convinced."

Li Zhifeng said: "I think Zhengming may have gained the most in this national competition."

Feng Zhengming nodded immediately: "Yes, I did gain a lot from communicating with those chefs from other places. I learned a lot from them and understood the differences in their cooking techniques in different places."

After hearing what Feng Zhengming said, Li Zhifeng and Lin Bosheng looked at each other.

They both said almost in unison: "So you used the best broth to bake the lobster."

Feng Zhengming nodded naturally: "I think they are all shrimps. Lobsters are delicious when cooked, and this way, the taste may be more suitable for people from different parts of the north and south."

Li Zhifeng and Lin Bosheng understood at this point.

Whether Feng Zhengming is cooking or innovating new dishes, he always insists on making sure they taste good. (End of this chapter)