In the 1970s, it started with contracting out communal dining.

"Wow! This musty smell...looks like we've prepared quite thoroughly today!"

Recalling the sarcastic remark Sun Ergou made at the very last moment before he entered the arena, Ma Dayong felt a surge of anger.

What's the use of being fully prepared!

This Chen Wei is just an apprentice who has only been here for a short time! If it weren't for his uncle Chen Jianguo being the head of the administration department and deliberately reminding Chen Wei to participate in this kind of professional competition, a little grasshopper like him wouldn't even know about the competition.

With this in mind, Ma Dayong regained his confidence.

He reached into the basket he had brought and pulled out a live chicken. Today, he was going to prepare poached chicken!

He bought these chickens from the local people at a high price; they were killed and prepared on the spot to ensure freshness.

And there is...

Ma Dayong had naturally found out beforehand that Yang Limin, one of the judges, was a native of Guangdong, so the poached chicken he made was naturally intended to please Yang Limin.

His movements were skillful and fluid; he killed the chicken, scalded its feathers, and gutted it all in one go, clearly demonstrating the genuine skill he had honed in a restaurant.

After processing the chicken, Ma Dayong's hands, as if made of copper hooks and iron arms, directly lifted the chicken by the neck, immersed it in boiling water, lifted it three times and released it three times, and the chicken skin suddenly tightened.

This is the key to the poached chicken dish – if the chicken skin is not properly prepared beforehand, it will break during cooking, preventing the juicy meat from being locked in, resulting in a tough texture.

Clearly, Ma Dayong has great confidence in his dish.

After all, he had worked under a Cantonese chef for two years. To put it bluntly, it was a waste of his talents for Ma Dayong to be relegated to the canteen of Tianjin No. 1 Steel Company!

If he hadn't been kicked out of the kitchen...

Forget about the past, let's not dwell on it. Right now, we should focus on the game at hand.

Ma Dayong shook his head, submerged the chicken completely in the boiling water, covered the pot, and simmered it over low heat, keeping the water temperature at around 90 degrees Celsius.

While the chicken was cooking, he started preparing the dipping sauce.

The other half of what makes this poached chicken so delicious is the dipping sauce.

Place minced garlic, shredded ginger, salt, and peanut oil in a bowl in that order, then pour in soy sauce and fish sauce, and mix well.

Although this sauce looks ordinary, it is actually quite sophisticated.

The ginger was minced extremely finely, as if filtered through cheesecloth, without a single fiber. The peanut oil had been boiled and cooled beforehand to remove the astringent taste of raw peanut oil, and now it smelled wonderful, making it the perfect time to use.

In addition, specially blended fish sauce and special soy sauce sourced from Guangzhou are added to ensure the authentic taste of Yang Limin's hometown.

Chen Wei watched Ma Dayong's actions silently, and couldn't help but nod in approval.

In the preparation of the poached chicken, it is evident that Ma Dayong has a solid foundation and authentic techniques. Although his control over the ingredients is not as good as that of a veteran chef like Wang Defa who has been cooking for decades, it is still quite remarkable that he, as an inland Chinese, can achieve this level of Cantonese cuisine.

This kid does have some real skills.

However, Chen Wei wasn't afraid. The two dishes he prepared today were just the right amount to rival Ma Dayong's poached chicken.

Thinking of this, the aroma wafted from the clay pot on the stove beside him. Chen Wei stood up, opened the lid, stirred the pig's trotters inside with a large iron ladle, and nodded in satisfaction.

A rich, gelatinous aroma wafted from the clay pot.

That's the mixed aroma released after the pig's trotters have been stewed for a long time. The soup also has white kidney beans and angelica root added to suit the taste of the Cantonese.

This soup is a recipe he specially prepared to match the cooking time of the steamed pork with preserved mustard greens: Mom's Pig Trotter Soup!

It's worth noting that this thing caused quite a stir in the Sichuan and Chongqing regions in later generations.

After all, in the Sichuan and Chongqing region where spicy food is ubiquitous, the fact that this rare, mild flavor has managed to stand out speaks volumes about its appeal.

He casually scooped a piece of pig's trotter out of the pot and poked it with his chopsticks.

It's still a little short of being cooked properly.

Putting the pig's trotters back into the casserole, and watching the soaked white kidney beans slowly rise and fall in the soup, Chen Wei felt that today's match should be a sure thing.

He slightly adjusted the damper, making the flames on the small clay stove as docile as a cat's.

A ring of pale blue flames gently licks the bottom of the pot, simmering slowly over low heat—this is the key to Mom's Pig Trotter Soup.

This cooking time allows the collagen in the pig's trotters to be fully released, resulting in a soup that's so thick and creamy it'll leave a sticky residue in your mouth, as rich and creamy as a glass of milk.

Once it cools down slightly, its aroma will win over 95% of the people present.

Time passed by, and Chen Wei didn't rest either, starting to prepare the second dish.

It's the well-known steamed pork with preserved mustard greens.

Blanching the pork belly, brushing it with dark soy sauce, slicing it – a series of actions performed smoothly and effortlessly.

He scooped the meat onto the cutting board and finally picked up the cleaver.

"Knock knock knock knock—"

The familiar rhythm of the blade lightly tapped the ebony cutting board, turning chunks of meat into even, thin slices under its blade.

Just like the previous steps, after slicing the pork, he arranged it neatly with the skin side down in a coarse porcelain bowl lined with dried plum vegetables, and then poured in the pre-prepared sauce.

"Perfect!"

A system notification sound indicated that Chenwei's seasoning was a great success.

Turn the rough porcelain bowl over and put it in the steamer to steam. Then leave the rest to time.

Meanwhile, Ma Dayong had already completed the first step of the poached chicken's slow cooking process at low temperatures.

He scooped the chicken out and turned to step into the icy well water.

This step is to make the chicken skin tighten suddenly and become crisp.

Then, with a flourish of his knife, he chopped the chicken into pieces and arranged them on a plate. The blade moved across the entire poached chicken, separating the skin, meat, and bone into distinct layers in one smooth motion, arranging it into the shape of a phoenix spreading its wings.

Finally, set the condiment bowl aside, and the dish is complete.

"Perfect!"

After finishing the dishes, Ma Dayong couldn't help but praise himself first, and then smugly looked towards Chen Wei, who was far away on the other side of the field.

The other person was sitting by a small clay stove, idly fanning himself.

Looking at Chen Wei's leisurely demeanor, Ma Dayong couldn't help but feel a sense of disdain in his heart.

"This kid's out of ideas, huh! He gave up so quickly! He sees everyone in the competition is better than him now, huh! Hahahaha—"

Before the mocking words had even finished, Ma Dayong suddenly heard a surprised exclamation from another contestant who was sitting two stalls away from him.

"Huh? What's that smell? It smells so good!"

The taste? Could it be the taste of the poached chicken I made myself?

Ma Dayong looked down at his work, a smug look on his face. Just as he was about to "humbly" show off, he heard the guy at the stall exclaim again.

"Look! It's stall number 17! That person's taking the food out of the pot! This smell... I've never smelled it before, it smells so good!"