From selling box lunches to becoming a famous Chinese chef

The judges of the event discussed the issue throughout the day.

Finally, one day after the cooking session of the National Cooking Competition ended, all participating chefs were officially called together, and the results of this National Cooking Competition were announced through live TV broadcast.

All the chefs on the scene were dressed uniformly, wearing white chef uniforms and chef hats and standing in line.

But today, in the grand banquet hall, there are no longer stoves, but chairs.

All participating chefs were allowed to sit down and listen to the rankings being announced today.

Before the rankings were announced, the leaders of the Culinary Association and Shanghai City gave speeches respectively.

In his speech, he affirmed the efforts of every participating chef.

We would also like to express our gratitude to every participating chef for the skills they demonstrated in the competition and for everyone’s efforts to make every dish well.

He encouraged every participating chef and hoped that they would continue to work hard in the future, cook better dishes, and better pass on the traditional cooking techniques.

After the speech, the rankings of this year's national cooking competition were announced, and certificates and trophies were presented on the spot.

The first awards were for individual dishes.

Among them, there were more than 30 excellent dishes, which meant that chefs from every province won awards.

The bronze award is for ten dishes.

The silver medal dish is five courses.

There are three dishes that win the gold award.

Feng Zhengming's Oolong Xizhu naturally won the gold medal.

At the same time, he got the best of both worlds and won the silver medal.

Jiang Chengzhe's golden soup abalone, fish maw, chicken and shark's fin also won the gold medal.

The last dish that won the gold medal was the Peony Bird's Nest dish by Henan cuisine chef Hao Zongcheng.

When the three gold award-winning dishes were announced.

The judges’ comments on the three gold medal dishes were also read on site.

"Oolong Xizhu is a dish that combines traditional techniques with individual creativity. In one dish, we can taste both the classic northern dish of sea cucumber with scallions and the classic southern dish of baked lobster in broth. It is truly a rare top-notch dish.

So with unanimous approval from all judges, it won the gold medal in this national cooking competition."

This evaluation of Feng Zhengming's "Oolong Xizhu" won the heartfelt applause of everyone present.

Whether they are participating chefs, the master chefs who lead the teams, or ordinary guests who are invited to the scene.

It can be said that everyone was quite satisfied with Feng Zhengming's dish.

Therefore, the judges’ evaluation of Feng Zhengming’s dish was read out first on the spot.

The people at the scene also highly recognized the judges' evaluation.

Feng Zhengming was able to combine different cooking techniques from the north and south in one dish, and also blended some ingredients and seasonings from the north and south very well. This dish truly deserves the gold medal.

"Golden soup abalone, fish maw, chicken and shark's fin is a very luxurious dish that uses many precious ingredients, but it also reflects the superb cooking skills of a top chef. It allows us to taste the top mountain and sea delicacies together, a very amazing taste experience.

After the judges’ decision, it won the gold medal in this national cooking competition.”

The award words given by the judges made many people at the scene couldn't help laughing.

In fact, everyone could hear that the judges were implicitly saying in their award speeches that this dish was too expensive.

However, the participating chefs had to admit that it was indeed a test of Jiang Chengzhe's skills to make such a dish.

He not only processed various top-quality ingredients, but also prepared the golden soup in advance.

It can be said that the ingredients used are indeed a bit scary to say.

In fact, the cooking process of the whole dish is not much easier than Feng Zhengming's Oolong Xizhu.

So to be honest, Jiang Chengzhe's golden soup abalone, fish maw, chicken and shark's fin won the gold medal, and the participating chefs had no objection.

After all, being able to think of bringing together so many delicacies from land and sea and making such a dish really requires a lot of skill.

"Peony bird's nest is a very traditional classic dish. It uses a very common ingredient, white radish, to create a texture and taste that goes beyond its shape and taste. Chef Hao Zongcheng has made some improvements based on tradition, making the whole dish more gorgeous.

After the judges’ decision, it won the gold medal in this national cooking competition.”

The winning words for the three gold medal dishes were read out.

Then, three chefs including Feng Zhengming were invited to come on stage to receive their awards.

Feng Zhengming stood up and saw that Jiang Chengzhe and Hao Zongcheng had also stood up.

The three of them smiled at each other, then walked up to the podium together.

After going up to the podium, the three people received their certificates and trophies from the award presenters.

Then the three of them turned around, holding the trophy and certificate in their hands, and let the video cameras on the scene take a photo of them.

At this moment, applause broke out again.

The chefs were very impressed that the three people’s dishes won the gold medal.

After awarding prizes for dishes, the next step was to award prizes to twenty outstanding chefs.

These twenty chefs are the ones who performed quite well in this cooking competition.

Although their points did not rank in the top ten, they still performed very well in the national competition.

And among these twenty chefs, it can be said that there are chefs from all over the country.

He is indeed one of the most outstanding chefs among the chef teams from all over the country.

Of course, judging from their age, all twenty chefs are already middle-aged and have been working in the culinary industry for at least ten or twenty years.

They won awards in national competitions, which was well-deserved and the result of many years of hard work.

After the awards were presented to twenty outstanding chefs.

Next comes the real highlight of the national cooking competition.

The top ten chefs in this cooking competition.

“Now announcing the top ten chefs of this national competition.

They are: Feng Zhengming, Hao Zongcheng, Jiang Chengzhe, Zhang Quande, Qiang Zhentao, Dai Long, Zong Desheng, Zeng Zhichang, Dong Jian, and Li Yong.

After reading out the names of the top ten chefs in order.

Everyone naturally knows who the champion of this national cooking competition is.

Feng Zhengming really deserves the title.

After all, each of his dishes can be said to showcase very few traditional techniques while incorporating many innovative elements.

The most important thing is learning. During the few days of competition, Feng Zhengming quickly learned a lot from other chefs.

This is also the key to allowing him to get higher scores.

Music was played on the spot, and Feng Zhengming and nine other chefs took the stage one by one.

This time, after they lined up, guests invited by the organizers presented them with awards.

The award was presented to Feng Zhengming by the leader of the Shanghai city which hosted the event.

Take your top prize trophy from the other party.

Feng Zhengming was really excited.

The other party also patted Feng Zhengming on the shoulder and encouraged him: "Chef Feng is really young and promising. I hope you can go further in the future and make our Chinese cuisine better, pass it on well, and promote it well."

Feng Zhengming nodded and agreed: "I will do my best." After the award ceremony, the scene burst into warm applause again.

Afterwards, all the cameras at the scene started taking pictures.

At the same time, at Quancheng Huiquanlou and Fengjiafanpu.

The people who were watching TV cheered excitedly when they saw the result, especially when they saw Feng Zhengming won the first place and became the real top scorer.

Yang Bin even led people to set off firecrackers in front of Huiquan Tower to celebrate for his junior fellow apprentice.

In Yan's Restaurant, Master Yan was very happy when he saw Feng Zhengming go up on stage to receive the award through TV.

Yan Jianxing said beside him: "Dad, Zhengming is really great."

Master Yan nodded: "Yes, he is great."

Xia Mingye was also quite excited in the kitchen of Fengjia Restaurant.

"That's great. Uncle Master is really the top scholar in the country. Uncle Master is so amazing."

Xia Hui smiled and said, "Master Uncle has always been very good, but he usually doesn't show off too much of his skills."

Xia Mingye exclaimed in disbelief: "Before, I participated in the provincial young chef cooking competition with my uncle, and we were both young chefs. Now my uncle has become the national champion."

Hearing her brother's words, Xia Hui raised her hand and tapped his head gently.

"You, you better study hard. You are still far from being as good as your uncle."

Xia Mingye also nodded in acknowledgment.

“Indeed, the gap between me and my uncle is too big. The dishes that my uncle prepared in the national competition were all beyond my imagination.

I have learned Confucius cuisine and imitation bear paws at home for so many years, but I never thought that I could carve a bear paw out of winter melon and make a bear paw like that. "

Xia Hui had to admit after hearing her brother's words that Feng Zhengming's cooking creativity was something she could not imagine.

Xia Hui thought for a moment and said, "Perhaps this is vision, because Master Uncle's knowledge and vision are higher and broader than ours, so he can come up with those creative ideas."

Xia Mingye was a little surprised: "But didn't Master Uncle rarely leave Quancheng before?"

“No, Master Uncle has gone out with Grandpa Yan to exchange ideas before, and he also likes to buy some magazines introducing foreign countries, some of which introduce foreign food.

And my uncle is famous for communicating with many food lovers all over the country. It is said that some people have sent him many old recipes. "

After hearing what his sister said, Xia Mingye couldn't help but feel convinced.

"Master's vision is indeed higher than ours."

Xia Hui added: "This time, Master Uncle went to the national competition and saw the skills of so many chefs from all over the country.

We can’t see many details of cooking on TV, especially the process of preparing ingredients, which we can hardly see.

Uncle Master can see everything over there."

"Yes, the Oolong Xizhu dish that Master Uncle made at the end obviously incorporated cooking methods learned from many other local dishes."

Xia Mingye also realized this and recognised the huge benefits that Feng Zhengming would gain from participating in the national competition.

Winning a prize in a national competition is certainly important.

But the most important thing is to learn a lot from other chefs by communicating with them.

Obviously, Feng Zhengming has gained a lot in this regard.

He also put some of what he learned into practice in his final dish.

Xia Mingye thought about going, but could only sigh and say, "Master Uncle is really capable of getting the top prize. Even if I go to the national competition, I'm afraid I can only be at the bottom."

In fact, by watching the broadcast of this national competition on TV, Xia Hui also realized that she had a big gap.

On a stage like a national cooking competition.

It brings together top chefs from all over the country.

Those top chefs who are able to participate in national competitions all possess superb skills.

In comparison, Xia Hui can only cook some home-cooked dishes now.

Xia Hui is not sure whether she can prepare the main dish for the banquet.

At this moment, Xia Hui felt that being arranged by Feng Zhengming to work at Fengjia Canteen was indeed a good training for her.

If it weren’t for the experience of running Feng’s restaurant for the past six months.

Xia Hui may not be able to hone her basic skills more solidly.

The most important thing is to let Xia Hui settle down in the kitchen of Fengjia Restaurant.

She had previously participated in the provincial youth chef competition with Feng Zhengming, so she was somewhat proud of herself.

But in fact, compared with other chefs in the Youth Chef Competition, Xia Hui has obvious shortcomings.

To be precise, Xia Hui's cooking skills are only slightly better than those of an apprentice who just graduated from a vocational school.

Not to mention comparing with Feng Zhengming.

That is, compared with the young chefs who were recruited by Feng Zhengming and are now able to cook in the kitchens of Huiquanlou and Fengjia Rice Shop.

Xia Hui may also have a big gap.

After all, even without Feng Zhengming, the young chefs could almost complete one or two main dishes for the banquet.

In this respect, Xia Hui is far behind them.

The young chefs who were a little higher up were some of Feng Zhengming’s senior brothers.

There is no need to say much about the eldest brother Li Huidong. It can be said that during the time when Feng Zhengming was away to participate in the national competition, the quality of the dishes in Huiquanlou's kitchen was able to remain at the same level, and most of it was due to Li Huidong's leadership.

Under Li Huidong are the third senior brother Yang Bin and the fifth senior brother Cao Zhiguo.

They are also able to stand on their own.

During the time when Feng Zhengming was away, Yang Bin and Cao Zhiguo were the main chefs at Huiquanlou.

Xia Hui had heard young chefs talk about this in private conversations.

After seeing Yang Bin and Cao Zhiguo take action, they finally realized how big the gap was between them.

Before, it should be said that it was because Feng Zhengming was in control of everything in the kitchen.

He would break down each dish into its own steps and let the young chefs work together.

It can be said that Feng Zhengming gave the young chefs an illusion in the kitchen.

That means "I can still do it."

After Feng Zhengming left Huiquanlou, the young chefs quickly understood.

It's not me who is successful, it's Feng Zhengming who is too strong.

Without Feng Zhengming in charge and controlling the details of each dish, the young chefs in the kitchen would have obvious deviations even if they followed the previous steps.

So on the third day after Feng Zhengming left, the young chefs of Huiquanlou began to help Yang Bin and Cao Zhiguo.

Of course, this does not mean that the young chefs’ skills are not good.

On the contrary, the young chefs in Huiquanlou’s kitchen can still be regarded as the best among the young Shandong cuisine chefs.

Xia Hui thought about it carefully and came up with her own goal.

First of all, you need to become a qualified young chef. (End of this chapter)