From selling box lunches to becoming a famous Chinese chef

Although the competitions in the three divisions did not receive much attention, the competition was actually quite fierce.

The judges in each competition area also conduct intensive evaluations every day.

This time, the judges who were invited from Beijing, after seeing the intensity of the competition in the three sub-competition areas, finally understood why the individual competition of the previous 4th National Contest became unpopular.

Why after Feng Zhengming withdrew from the judging panel, almost the entire country supported him unanimously?

Master Hou, who was invited to the event, spoke directly to the other judges from Beijing.

"See? This competition he is organizing is the one that truly showcases the chef's personal abilities.

Compared to the fierce competition among chefs in his competition, there is almost no competitiveness in the individual competition of the national competition.

If we bring in the chefs who competed in the national competition, I’m afraid they would not be able to compete with these young chefs.”

Master Hou's words left all the judges invited from Beijing speechless.

Indeed, seeing the competition among the young Shandong cuisine chefs at the competition site made the Beijing judges realize that they were indeed wrong in the individual competition of the 4th National Competition.

Feng Zhengming organized a Shandong cuisine competition in his own province, and these young Shandong cuisine chefs participated in various sub-competition areas.

It can really be said that each of them has unique skills.

Whether it's knife skills, fire skills, or spoon skills, the participating chefs are all very good.

Even watching these chef competitions live can feel like watching a promotional advertisement for a cooking school.

Many times, the judges need to consider again and again before selecting the winner.

This situation is actually not a test for the competing chefs, but rather a test for the judges.

The judges need to have sufficient professional knowledge and a certain level of skill. They cannot just look at them and think they are similar, but must judge the differences from the details.

It did make the judges from Beijing feel a bit pressured.

This time, Master Hou’s professionalism was demonstrated.

He always points out the little details.

Providing very professional advice, the chefs in the competition felt very benefited.

Almost all the young chefs who received comments from Chef Hou felt that the competition was worthwhile, even if they did not advance.

Also in the Yancheng sub-competition area, the person who gave various suggestions and instructions was Feng Zhengming.

The commentator in the Boshan sub-competition area was Master Cui.

Other Shandong cuisine chefs will also give professional advice.

The old masters still agree on this point.

We should give these young Shandong cuisine chefs more opportunities, point out their problems, and allow them to make great progress through competitions.

After five days of fierce competition, 20 chefs from three sub-competition areas advanced.

Most of them are young Shandong cuisine chefs.

Master Hou couldn't help but express his feelings to his colleagues from Beijing who came with him.

"This is the foundation of Shandong cuisine. It has so many outstanding young chefs. I'm afraid that other cuisines may not be able to have so many outstanding young chefs."

Master Hou's words were recognized by other judges in Beijing.

These days can be said to be high-intensity competitions.

The young chefs who finally advance from the three sub-competition areas can be said to be the best.

They all tried their best in this game.

Even the few people who were with Feng Zhengming in Shanghai, although they all successfully advanced in the sub-competition areas, it was not easy for them to win.

After the regional competition was over, everyone rushed to Qufu together.

This is another arrangement made by Feng Zhengming. In Qufu, 60 chefs who advance from the sub-competition areas will compete with 40 invited Shandong cuisine chefs.

At the same time, in order to promote Qufu Confucius Mansion cuisine, Feng Zhengming also arranged a Confucius Mansion cuisine performance by the Xia family.

Feng Zhengming’s various competition arrangements are very exciting for both participants and spectators.

Twenty winning chefs will be selected from three sub-competition areas over five days.

We will be arranged to rush to Qufu and have a day of rest.

The invited judges and people from all walks of life can visit Qufu.

Only then will the official competition between 60 winning chefs and 40 famous Shandong cuisine chefs begin.

There is no distinction between master chefs and young chefs in this competition.

100 chefs compete in a very straightforward three-course competition.

Each person completed three courses individually.

The three dishes will then be judged and scored by the judges.

The ten chefs with the highest scores are the top ten Shandong cuisine chefs in this competition.

Of course, gold, silver and bronze medals will also be selected for individual dishes in this competition from among the dishes prepared by all participating chefs.

Afterwards, the top ten Shandong cuisine chefs will go to Quancheng to officially challenge Feng Zhengming and the master chefs.

Such a schedule makes everyone full of expectations.

Everyone is especially looking forward to the final top ten Shandong cuisine chefs challenging Feng Zhengming and the old masters.

That will be a match that truly challenges the masters.

Master Lian Hou and the judges from Beijing felt that both the challenger and the challenged would be under tremendous pressure.

But under tremendous pressure, everyone will also expect these best Shandong cuisine chefs to present unexpected surprises.

Feng Zhengming went to Qufu with the masters.

His wife Luo Qing brought their daughter and accompanied the two grandfathers. They arrived in Qufu later under the arrangement of their third uncle.

The locals in Qufu are naturally very warm and welcoming to everyone.

Feng Zhengming and the masters, accompanied by Master Xia, met with the local leaders of Qufu.

After meeting Feng Zhengming, the local leaders of Qufu were very grateful to him.

"Thank you, Mr. Feng. You arranged such an important competition in our Qufu. It really makes our Qufu very proud."

"Yes, Mr. Feng, thank you for taking such good care of us in Qufu and promoting Confucius cuisine."

"Feng Zhuangyuan is truly worthy of the title of No. 1. He has been working hard to promote Shandong cuisine and is our role model."

Feng Zhengming was very humble in response to the thanks: "You are so polite, leaders. Qufu has been a famous historical city since ancient times. Confucius Mansion cuisine is one of the four major official cuisines and is the epitome of Shandong cuisine.

Therefore, we hold such an international Shandong cuisine competition in Qufu, which is also a kind of pilgrimage for every Shandong cuisine chef. "

Feng Zhengming's words further raised the status of Confucius cuisine.

This also made the Qufu leaders present very happy.

Master Xia said with a smile: "Zhengming, you are too modest. The new development of Confucius cuisine is all thanks to you. This time you held such a grand competition in Qufu, we really want to thank you."

Feng Zhengming smiled: "Master Xia, you really don't have to be polite. As the national champion of Shandong cuisine, this is what I should do."

This sentence made Master Xia and the local leaders of Qufu even more grateful.

The provincial television station also went to Qufu specifically to report on the event.

Feng Zhengming asked Xia Hui and Xia Mingye, brother and sister, and Sun Hai to come along and help Master Xia prepare a Confucius Mansion banquet in front of the TV camera.

From the use of various utensils, to which ones are used for sacrifices and which dishes are eaten at banquets.

Master Xia also gave a detailed introduction on the spot, which amazed the TV station staff, the judges watching on the spot, and the participating chefs.

"So the Confucius Mansion cuisine of Shandong cuisine is so delicate?"

"Of course, Confucius said that one should never tire of fine food or delicate meat."

"Master Xia is so old, but he still has such good skills. It's amazing."

"See those boneless dishes? That's the technique of Confucius cuisine."

"They are all really beautiful. It is hard to imagine how luxurious the Confucius Mansion cuisine was back then."

When Kofman saw the banquet at Confucius Mansion, he and his wife praised it highly.

"Feng, these dishes are beautifully cooked, and these plates are also very beautiful and exquisite. These are real works of art."

Feng Zhengming smiled and responded, "Thank you for your praise, Mr. Kofman. This banquet is considered to be the best culinary craftsmanship of our Shandong cuisine, the Confucius Mansion Banquet."

Coffman gave a thumbs up: "It's really good, just like the royal court dishes of the past."

Feng Zhengming: "Yes, it is considered a royal dish."

Kofman also mentioned the Confucius family cuisine of deboning pig's trotters and shaping them into the shape of bear paws. He felt that this dish was very similar to the method of stuffing pig's trotters.

Feng Zhengming laughed: "Hahaha, yes, it does look a lot like your stuffed pig's trotter."

Then the two of them shared some new ideas about the dish of stuffed pig's trotters.

Kofman praised Feng Zhengming for improving the dish by combining Shandong cuisine methods.

"We went to your restaurant in Shanghai and ate the stuffed pig's trotters you designed. It tasted great. You didn't use the ingredients I designed for this dish, but you added new ingredients, which was also delicious."

Feng Zhengming responded with a smile: "Thank you for allowing me to improve your dish."

Kofman laughed: "Hahaha, that's not my dish. Don't you have similar dishes? It shows that we all have something in common when it comes to food."

Feng Zhengming nodded: "Yes, food can also have no borders."

Master Xia took Xia Hui, Sun Hai and Xia Mingye to complete the Confucius Mansion Banquet.

Although most of the work was done by Xia Hui, Sun Hai and Xia Mingye, the old man still felt it was a bit hard and tiring due to his age.

Fortunately, the last table of Confucius Mansion banquet was presented perfectly.

It also shows the beautiful side of Confucius cuisine.

Master Hou and the judges from Beijing couldn't help but feel that it was their mistake not to invite the Xia family to attend the Confucius Mansion Banquet at the public banquet competition in the previous national competition.

If Master Xia brought his younger generations to attend the banquet, perhaps the Xia family’s Confucius Mansion Banquet would indeed win an award.

Master Hou sighed: "Mr. Feng has taught us another lesson."

Several judges from Beijing no longer dared to speak freely.

Feng Zhengming was more and more successful in this "International Shandong Cuisine Master Chef Challenge".

The more it highlights the failure of the 4th National Cooking Skills Competition.

They are too eager to expand their influence.

But the preliminary preparations were clearly not enough.

A lot of things weren’t really taken into account.

Even the point that the cooking skills competition focuses on the chef's personal cooking skills has been lost.

Let’s look at the competition organized by Feng Zhengming this time.

It started with a competition among young chefs in three sub-divisions.

Until now, Master Xia from the Xia family prepares the Confucius Mansion Banquet with his granddaughter and grandson.

From beginning to end, the importance of a chef's cooking skills is demonstrated.

A chef can have many artistic plating designs.

But you don’t even have the basics of knife skills, fire skills, and spoon skills. Are the dishes you cook just to show off to others?

Why cook? Sculpture and paint.

What's more, if you really want to talk about watching the market.

At the state banquet commemorating the return of Hong Kong to China, Feng Zhengming organized chefs from all over the country to work together to create a picture of the mountains and rivers of the motherland, which can be said to be the pinnacle of Chinese culinary arts.

He also made a miniature version of the landscape of his motherland using red sea bream in Gangcheng.

So no matter from which aspect, is there any chef in the country who is better than Feng Zhengming?
He requires chefs to have basic skills, so what right do young chefs have to disobey him?

Chef Hou thought about this and said to several judges from Beijing: "It seems that we need to make some changes. In recent years, we have been too lenient in assessing the skills of young chefs.

We must be strict in future skill assessments and not let these cooking skills be overlooked.”

Master Hou's words were also recognized by several judges in Beijing.

After the Confucius Mansion cuisine performance, Master Xia, Xia Hui, Sun Hai and Xia Mingye were also interviewed.

It’s great to see that Xia Hui and Xia Mingye both have such a good opportunity to show themselves.

Some people in the Xia family felt very uncomfortable.

I feel that Master Xia's arrangement is clearly biased.

Xia Hui's father, Xia Zhennan, spoke for his daughter for the first time.

"You think dad is partial to you, so who among you can pass the test and go to Feng Zhuangyuan's shop? Or be the chef in his shop in Shanghai?"

When this question was asked, everyone in the family naturally shut up.

Xia Zhennan went on to say: "In this regional competition, Xiaohui and her boyfriend Sun Hai both successfully advanced with extremely high scores, and Xiaoye also successfully proved himself.

It’s no use just saying these things behind your back. If you really want the old man to take you out in public, you must first improve your skills.”

After being scolded by Xia Zhennan, the Xia family's main members and some disciples were speechless.

In fact, in Xia Zhennan's mind, he has already started to think about how to get Xia Hui and Sun Hai back?

Because Xia Hui, Sun Hai and Xia Mingye are all outside now.

They are all under Feng Zhengming's command, so the current people in the Xia family cannot be said to be bad.

But compared with them, we are obviously lagging behind.

Xia Zhennan doesn't want his craft to be inherited by someone who is not as skilled as he used to be.

But Xia Zhennan also knew that neither his daughter nor his son would be willing to come back.

At least for the time being, they are definitely not willing to come back.

Xia Hui and Sun Hai followed Feng Zhengming to a big city like Shanghai.

They are all the chefs in Feng Zhengming's restaurant.

If they were asked to come back and take over the Xia family's restaurant, they might not be able to adapt in all aspects.

As the direct descendant of the family, Xia Mingye seems a little unruly to Xia Zhennan.

If his son could be more calm, Xia Zhennan would be able to let his son come back and take over without any worries.

After comparing Sun Hai with his son, Xia Zhennan likes him more and more.

Sun Hai's calmness and solid craftsmanship really made Xia Zhennan want him to marry his daughter as soon as possible and become his son-in-law.

While Xia Zhennan was daydreaming about this, the interview with Master Xia had already ended.

Master Xia called him twice, and he finally came to his senses and hurried over. (End of this chapter)