From selling box lunches to becoming a famous Chinese chef

Before the official performance, Feng Zhengming personally led the chefs from all over the country who participated in the state banquet to make a collective appearance.

All the chefs from Hong Kong, Macau and Formosa also lined up behind Feng Zhengming.

This moment was captured by reporters from Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, the Mainland, and many overseas journalists.

Feng Zhengming led many chefs who returned to the state banquet to make an appearance, which was truly a majestic scene.

“We would like to thank the SAR for preparing such a grand performance venue for us, and also thank all the media friends from both sides of the Taiwan Strait, Hong Kong, Macao and overseas. Several overseas chefs have also been invited to join us today.

Thank you all for your respect for our group of Chinese chefs. Today, my colleagues and I will show you our truly top-notch Chinese cooking techniques.

Please take a good look and experience the beauty and diversity of our Chinese cuisine and cooking techniques."

Feng Zhengming first spoke to the media in a neither humble nor arrogant manner, but with great force.

His words made the people from the Special Zone present, as well as some people from Beijing who came specially for the event, quite satisfied.

Feng Zhengming, the national top scorer, did not lose face in front of the overseas media.

Then, Feng Zhengming turned around and bowed to all the chefs participating in the return state banquet.

"My dear colleagues, today I hope you can all show your true abilities, showcase your unique cooking skills, and show everyone the power of our Chinese cooking techniques."

Many chefs were stunned at first, and then almost all of them responded subconsciously: "Okay."

Afterwards, Feng Zhengming asked everyone to return to their respective stoves.

In the following time, Feng Zhengming and his team officially began the on-site cooking process.

Everyone present was staring at Feng Zhengming and his team who were busy.

Especially the overseas media, almost all of them were keeping an eye on Feng Zhengming.

Obviously, overseas media hope to find some flaws in Feng Zhengming.

Unfortunately, the result is bound to disappoint the overseas media.

Feng Zhengming had made sufficient preparations in advance, and with his skilled craftsmanship, it was almost impossible to find any flaws in him.

Before Hong Kong's return, the overseas chefs invited by Hong Kong tycoons who had immigrated abroad, under the guidance of some Hong Kong chefs, also gathered around Feng Zhengming's stove.

There are several chefs from overseas, all of whom are quite famous chefs overseas.

Maybe the worst one among them is also the chef of a three-star restaurant.

In front of them, Feng Zhengming was not nervous at all and cooked the dishes he had prepared at his own pace.

Overseas chefs were observing and discussing the situation.

Feng Zhengming listened to their comments on his craft from their conversations.

Several French chefs were surprised by Feng Zhengming's cooking methods for some of his dishes.

They felt that Feng Zhengming's method of using a lot of spices was somewhat similar to Italian cuisine.

Italian chefs feel that Feng Zhengming may use more spices than they usually do.

Among them was a chef from England, who stood there and was respected by the other chefs.

He also observed Feng Zhengming's skills more carefully.

Feng Zhengming was seen taking out a sea cucumber from a ceramic jar.

The famous chef from England couldn't help but cautiously ask the translator for help.

"Can I ask what's in this pottery jar of his?"

Without the help of an interpreter, Feng Zhengming had already responded to the other party in standard foreign language.

"In the pottery jar are some ingredients used to flavor the sea cucumber, mainly green onions and ginger, as well as some things like pork elbows and old chicken. If I have to use a specific analogy, it might be similar to the abalone sauce in some Cantonese dishes."

Feng Zhengming could tell that the chef from England was someone who was truly devoted to cooking.

So Feng Zhengming simply sliced ​​a sea cucumber quickly, put it on a small plate and handed it to the other party to try.

Including this British chef, an overseas chef tasted a slice.

After eating it, several overseas chefs realized that the sea cucumber Feng Zhengming took out of the ceramic jar was special.

Sea cucumbers are actually very difficult to taste.

So most of the time, the cooked sea cucumber is just eaten for its texture, paired with the soup with a rich flavor on the surface.

But the sea cucumber that Feng Zhengming took out of the pottery jar already had a faint bottom.

It has the freshness of pork elbow and old chicken, as well as a light salty taste, but more importantly, it has the unique aroma after being fried with scallions and ginger, which completely removes the fishy smell of the sea cucumber itself.

Although the sea cucumber has not yet been cooked with scallion sauce, it has already been considered delicious by several overseas chefs.

After tasting the food, the British chef took the initiative to express his goodwill to Feng Zhengming.

"Hello, the champion of Chinese food, my name is Kofman."

Feng Zhengming smiled and nodded: "I know you. Some of my experiences should be very similar to yours. You are a chef who came from the countryside. I also started out by selling boxed lunches outside the train station and worked my way up to where I am today."

Coffman laughed and said, "Oh, we do have a lot in common."

Then Kofman pointed to Feng Zhengming's pottery jar and said, "We also have many similarities in some of our cooking techniques."

Feng Zhengming smiled: "Yes, I know you have a famous dish made with deboned pig's trotters. We also have a similar dish in Shandong cuisine, which is also made by deboning the pig's trotters, stuffing them with stuffing, making them into the shape of bear paws, and then braising them."

Many people at the scene may not have thought that Feng Zhengming and Kofman could get along so well.

Jiang Chengzhe, who was standing nearby, didn't think it was strange that Feng Zhengming and Kofman were able to chat so well.

In fact, in Jiang Chengzhe's opinion, Feng Zhengming and Kofman are indeed very similar.

They are not the kind of chefs who like to do anything fancy.

Feng Zhengming's dish seems to have very colorful color combinations.

But no matter what dish Feng Zhengming cooks, no matter how colorfully he arranges it on the plate.

Whatever he puts on the plate is edible.

Even if it is just a small leaf for decoration, Feng Zhengming will give it some flavor.

He really achieved the goal of making a dish delicious first and then looking good.

Similarly, Kofman is a chef whose philosophy is almost the same as Feng Zhengming's.

It can be said that Kaufman is respected by quite a number of overseas chefs.

The dishes he cooks still have a certain rural flavor.

And everything on his plate for each dish is edible.

Kofman's approach has also had a profound impact on many overseas chefs.

Like another very famous British chef, he also follows the same principle when cooking: the portion size must be large and the guests must be full.

Feng Zhengming cooked the seasoned sea cucumber in the scallion sauce that he had prepared in advance.

During this process, a rich aroma was emitted, which once again attracted the overseas chefs present.

While cooking the sea cucumbers, Feng Zhengming also prepared some other dishes.

He used a stir-fry method to stir-fry the shrimps that had almost just been blanched to make them flavorful.

The technique used is to finally make the nine-turn large intestine into a thick juice.

There is also the method of cooking Dezhou Braised Chicken, which makes the braised chicken yellowish brown, tender and juicy.

The braised shark fin dish has even shown off its big flipping spoon in front of overseas chefs.

Finally, all the dishes were ready, and Feng Zhengming arranged them on the plate according to the Qilu map. After careful arrangement, Feng Zhengming combined these most representative Shandong dishes.

Finally, a map of the entire province of Qilu appeared on the plate.

Compared with the previous state banquet, this one is obviously more gorgeous.

After Feng Zhengming finished cooking, he asked Jiang Chengzhe to send the dishes to keep warm.

He himself began to prepare his own map of the Red Sea Bream continent.

In front of everyone, Feng Zhengming deboned the red sea bream that had already been slaughtered and cleaned.

After the two large pieces of meat were cut out, Feng Zhengming made some further cuts.

The meat was differentiated according to its fatness and tenderness.

The fatty belly of the fish is cut into small pieces, rolled with fish fillets, coated with crispy batter and deep-fried.

The firm back fish meat with less fat was cut into thick slices by Feng Zhengming.

This time he used the batter of Northeastern sweet and sour pork, and deep-fried it into fish fillets with a golden crust and crispy texture.

Chives are also blended into juice and mixed into the batter, which is then wrapped around the fish fillets to create emerald green fish fillets.

Feng Zhengming divided the fish head into two halves, one half was chopped into pieces and braised, while the other half was simmered in broth.

These two parts are placed in the northwestern part and in Su Province respectively.

In the southeast of the motherland, Feng Zhengming cuts the fish into fish strips.

Then, centering around the area where people usually eat raw food, slowly pour different soups outwards.

A unique soup explosion is formed.

The final structure is that the fresh part is retained, and the surrounding area gradually progresses from raw to cooked.

The parts in Zhejiang Province and Shanghai City are also decorated with things with local characteristics.

For example, in Shanghai, crab roe and shrimp roe are used, while in Zhejiang Province, the vinegar sauce of West Lake vinegar fish and some Chinese mustard are used as garnish.

Shandong cuisine is also served in the capital and several places surrounding it.

Feng Zhengming cuts the lotus leaf pancakes used for roast duck and wraps them with roasted red sea bream meat.

Then coat them with batter and fry them to get beautiful triangular fish boxes.

In this way, several different methods are prepared.

In the end, Feng Zhengming used several different spicy flavors to make soups with different flavors.

Wait until everything is done and then re-plate them at the end.

After arranging the various parts of the red sea bream neatly, Feng Zhengming finally made a map of the motherland on the plate.

Feng Zhengming also displayed two islands in the South China Sea.

Everyone present was amazed by the map of the true sea bream continent made by Feng Zhengming alone.

What surprised everyone even more next was that Feng Zhengming poured the sauce on it.

Beijing cuisine is garnished with Beijing sauce, and other local special sauces are used to garnish the food. Shandong cuisine uses two kinds of sauces, one part sweet and sour and the other part scallion-fried.

In Jiangsu Province, there are different distinctive sauces from north to south. In Shanghai, the sauce is made with crab roe and shrimp.

Further south, you’ll find the vinegar sauce of West Lake vinegar fish, and fried Chinese mustard greens as a garnish. Continuing south, sashimi begins to appear. When you enter Guangdong, you’ll find the fruity sweet and sour taste of sweet and sour pork. As you head towards Guangxi, the sour taste becomes increasingly stronger.

Then it slowly starts to change from sour to spicy, with the spiciness in the middle.

Sichuan, Chongqing, Hunan, Hubei, Jiangxi, and Guizhou are all different.

The Anhui province in the middle is also gradually experiencing changes in taste.

In the end, this dish of sea bream truly encompasses almost all the different flavors from all over the country, from east to west, from north to south, in one dish.

Not to mention the people who were invited to the scene, even the chefs from all over the country who were with Feng Zhengming were amazed by this dish.

Who could have imagined that Feng Zhengming could make so many different things out of a red sea bream?

After chefs from all over the country have completed their dishes from the maps of their provinces.

Under the watchful eyes of the public, Feng Zhengming and his team carefully put together the map of the motherland's mountains and rivers.

The map of the True Sea Bream continent completed by Feng Zhengming alone was placed aside.

The two "roosters" with their wings spread, one big and one small, made all the media on the scene excited and took photos non-stop.

After Feng Zhengming and other media took photos, he smiled and invited the guests, especially the overseas chefs, to taste the food.

"Please try it. Although time is tight and we may have some flaws, we have lived up to your expectations. We chefs only hope that our motherland can prosper."

All the participating chefs shouted in unison: "We wish our motherland unity and prosperity."

This scene was captured by all the media present.

After this group photo, the next step was the food tasting session.

Everyone at the scene was even more curious about Feng Zhengming's map of the True Sea Bream continent.

Even chefs from all over the world are very curious.

Feng Zhengming also smiled and asked everyone to taste it together.

After tasting it, everyone can feel the different taste.

Especially the chefs from all over the country, they really tasted the flavors of their respective regions from Feng Zhengming's dish.

This is a dish that truly brings together the unique flavors of the east, west, south, and north.

Feng Zhengming's craftsmanship really shocked everyone.

There isn't much technique involved in this dish.

But the seasoning of this dish really shows the level of a top chef.

After tasting it, Kofman was also quite surprised.

"Feng, this dish of yours is really amazing. It can actually bring together so many flavors. How did you come up with the idea of ​​making a real sea bream in this way?"

Feng Zhengming answered honestly: "I got the inspiration from a comic book."

"Comics?" Coffman and others were surprised again.

Feng Zhengming looked at Jiang Chengzhe, who took out the comics he had prepared in advance.

The people present were surprised to find that Feng Zhengming was really inspired by the comics.

Although the picture of the True Tai Continent in the comics is more of a guessing game.

But Feng Zhengming made some of his own designs based on this dish in the comics.

The original four flavors have been transformed into a complete presentation of flavors from all over the country.

The Northeastern part, which was originally just decorated with lettuce leaves, was cooked by Feng Zhengming in the style of Northeastern sweet and sour pork.

And on the back of the big rooster, Feng Zhengming used green leek juice to make paste.

The resulting effect really feels like an endless grassland.

There are also different regional flavors, such as the different spicy tastes of Sichuan, Chongqing, Hunan, Hubei, Jiangxi, and Guizhou. Feng Zhengming also made different designs using their local spicy tastes.

Especially for Sichuan cuisine, Feng Zhengming used the fish-flavored sauce that is representative of Sichuan cuisine.

Everyone really had to praise Feng Zhengming's bold and creative ideas. (End of this chapter)