Chapter 364 A Storm

Compared with the preliminary round, the final was more grand and attracted more people.

When the gong sounded, the president of the Beijing Chamber of Commerce, who was presiding over the competition, took out a piece of paper from a wooden box that had been prepared long ago, slowly unfolded it, and said loudly, "Pumpkin!"

Then he drew another slip of paper and still shouted loudly, "Mi!"

Drawing these two ingredients means that the main ingredients for today's dishes need to be pumpkin and white rice. Other side dishes can be selected by oneself, but the proportion of the main ingredients must not be less than 50%.

The last thing to be extracted is the cooking method.

After rummaging around in the box for a while, the president unfolded the piece of paper in his hand, looked at it carefully, and then announced, "Empty!"

In other words, this dish does not specify the cooking method and can be cooked in any way you like.

The competition lasts for one hour, which can be advanced but not postponed. Five out of the eight chefs will advance to the second competition tomorrow.

When the gong sounded again, eight chefs, including Zheng Mingyuan, stood behind their stoves and began to think about the dishes they needed to make.

But after watching it again and again, I feel a little embarrassed.

If pumpkin and rice are put together, the first thing that comes to mind is pumpkin porridge, but this pumpkin porridge can never be called a dish.

Even if it could be served as a dish, it would probably be laughable.

But while the other chefs were struggling, Zheng Mingyuan and Chen Guiming from Baxianlou had already started peeling and seeding the pumpkins they had selected...

But Zheng Mingyuan cut the pumpkin into small pieces, asked for some soaked rice, and ground it into fine rice paste using a small stone mill nearby.

Chen Guiming of Baxianlou hollowed out a round pumpkin, and then selected the best ham, bamboo shoots and other side dishes for later use.

Seeing this, the other chefs also got busy.

Su Yujin took a good look at it from the teahouse, then smiled and nodded.

Seeing Su Yujin like this, Lu Wenjing tilted her head and said, "Sister Su looks very happy. Maybe Chef Zheng will have no problem in this competition?"

"Almost." Su Yujin smiled, "I can also make the sweet soup that Uncle Zheng made today. If you are jealous later, I will make it for you when I get back."

"Okay." Lu Wenjing agreed excitedly.

But then I became very curious.

How did she know that Chef Zheng was going to make a sweet soup today?

Is this the sensitivity that a chef should have? Never mind, the food in the competition is all good, she will be in for a treat if she fills it up! Lu Wenjing was extremely happy. Seeing that she had almost finished the salt and pepper peanuts on the table, she called the waiter to add more.

The waiter came hurriedly and brought a few more items.

Lou Yanlin had explained that this private room was exclusively for Su Yujin. If she didn't use it on weekdays, it would be empty. If someone from Su Yujin came, no matter who they were, they would be provided with excellent tea and snacks, but they didn't have to pay for it.

Seeing this, Lu Wenjing blinked her eyes and asked with a smile, "I didn't see your shopkeeper today."

"The shopkeeper has been out for a few days and I don't know when he will be back." The waiter smiled and said politely, "Miss Lu, is there anything wrong?"

"No, just asking." Lu Wenjing smiled, picked up an orchid bean, and still leaned her head to see the excitement downstairs.

…

As the sun gradually rose higher, someone prepared the dishes and brought them to the judges for tasting.

The first three people made pumpkin glutinous rice cakes, pumpkin steamed cakes and fried pumpkin glutinous rice balls respectively, followed by Zheng Mingyuan and Chen Minggui.

Zheng Mingyuan served a bowl of pumpkin, red bean and milk soup, which was made by crushing steamed pumpkin into a paste and mixing it with glutinous rice flour. The chewy, delicious and sweet pumpkin balls were paired with cooked red beans and cooked in milk. In order to make the milk taste more fragrant, a little rice milk was added to enhance the flavor and avoid the problem that some people are not used to the taste of milk and their personal taste preferences may affect their evaluation of the dish.

Chen Minggui served a whole pumpkin as a container, which was filled with ham and bamboo shoots fried rice. The ham was fragrant, the bamboo shoots were fragrant, and the pumpkin had a sweet taste. Both the color and aroma were enough to attract everyone's attention.

The remaining three chefs had not finished their preparations yet, but when they saw the judges, including the royal chef, nodding their heads repeatedly at the five dishes that had been served, obviously in approval, they became more and more uneasy.

There was even a cook who was so flustered that his forehead was covered in sweat and he could hardly hold the spatula in his hand.

After carelessly shoveling out the pumpkin puree from the pot, the cook accidentally broke the dish containing the pumpkin puree. The broken porcelain pieces and the pumpkin puree became a mess and could no longer be separated...

The cook was stunned for a moment, then angrily threw the spatula in his hand away, and even stretched out his hand to push everything on his table to the ground.

In an instant, the mess in front of the cook was a mess, causing an uproar among the onlookers.

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The scene fell into chaos. The president hurriedly ordered people to take the chef away and clean up the scene. He also said loudly, "Chef Qian of Tianranju is arrogant and openly disrupted the competition. He is never allowed to participate in cooking competitions again. Tianranju cannot participate in cooking competitions for three years!"

As soon as these words were spoken, there was an uproar again and everyone was talking about it.

"You can't participate in cooking competitions for three years. If word gets out, Tianranju's reputation will be ruined, and its business will definitely not be as good as before."

"This Tianranju has been badly damaged by Chef Qian."

"How can you say that? Chef Qian has been very popular from the first round of the cooking competition to now. He has attracted many customers to Tianranju. Tianranju has benefited a lot from Chef Qian. Isn't it reasonable for him to take some responsibility for Chef Qian now?"

"That's right. When one prospers, all prosper. When one suffers, all suffer. That's how it is. But this Chef Qian has such a bad temper for no reason. I'm afraid his life is over. Unless he leaves the capital..."

"This cooking competition is about skills, but also patience and adaptability."

"Yes..."

The small disturbance passed quickly, and everyone's eyes were still on the judges, waiting for the final result to see who would advance.

With the example of Chef Qian, the others did not dare to act rashly and just finished their meals properly.

Although the remaining two chefs were a little late in cooking, they still finished within the specified time.

One is garlic pumpkin braised rice, and the other is pumpkin shredded rice balls.

There were seven kinds of food, each with different styles and excellent taste. After discussion among several judges, the final result was given.

Except for Pumpkin Pie and Fried Pumpkin Glutinous Rice Balls, five people including Zheng Mingyuan and Chen Guiming all advanced.

For a moment, those who were eliminated were dejected, while the restaurant owner and waiters where the chef who was promoted worked were overjoyed.

(End of this chapter)