Chapter 304 Chen Jinying wins the title of Chef King

The two dishes were served to the judges almost at the same time. The shredded mandarin fish was soft and shiny, while the scallop hydrangea was like a pompom woven with colorful silk.

"Let's try the dragon whisker mandarin fish first!" Mr. Jin gently picked up a strand of fish with his silver chopsticks. The strands of fish shook on the tip of the chopsticks, "It's springy. Each strand is distinct and unbroken. How do you do that?"

"First, knead and stir the fish shreds with salt to make them tough, then coat them with sweet potato starch. The sweet potato starch is sticky enough, so after wrapping the fish shreds, the fish shreds will be less likely to break. But after coating, the original meaning of the dragon's whiskers being very thin is lost. Add the oil temperature and slowly cook it at low temperature, and it's done," said Chef Zhang.

Mr. Jin took a bite and the moment he ate the shredded fish, he felt the smoothness of the shredded fish combined with the other soft, glutinous or crispy side dishes. He looked at Yang Yuhe and said, "This is a masterpiece."

"Yes!" said Yang Yuhe. "Try Chef Chen's scallop hydrangea."

He picked up a scallop ball and took a bite. He could taste the layers of dense shrimp paste and chewy shrimp meat. The strands of scallops, ham and other ingredients not only gave the visual beauty, but also released their own fresh flavor when chewed, blending perfectly with the rich chicken oil sauce.

Mr. Jin finished eating first: "Chef Chen, this scallop hydrangea is better than the one I had at De Xiang in Taipei, both in terms of cooking and seasoning. Especially the cooking, the shrimp meat is tender and juicy."

"Yes, I studied it with Ade, and Ade gave me suggestions on seasoning and heat." said Chen Jinying.

"In terms of taste, the two are equally good." Yang Yuhe looked up at Chen Jinying, "but in terms of technique, the dragon beard mandarin fish is slightly better. Although I think Chef Chen also has this skill."

Chen Jinying looked at Chef Zhang and said, "Chef Zhang learned his craft from Chef Zhou Zhaokang, a master of Huaiyang cuisine. Chef Zhang came to Hong Kong for exchanges, and I learned a lot from him."

Chef Zhang laughed: "We exchanged ideas with each other. I really learned a lot when I came to Baohualou. You and Peide told me about your family's unique skills."

"This is a collision of old and new concepts. When I was in Taiwan, my family always held the idea that teaching apprentices will starve the master to death, and that family skills should never be passed on to others. What I could learn was limited to my father's skills. When I came to Hong Kong, Ningning gathered chefs from all over the country and talked freely in the kitchen, fearing that the other party would not be able to learn your unique skills. As they discussed, new methods would come out. It is my luck to come to Baohualou, and it is also my luck to meet chefs like Chef Zhang and Chef Zhou." Chen Jinying looked at Yue Ning, "My greatest luck is meeting Ningning."

Yue Ning took the microphone and said: "Sister, you didn't meet me, you chose me. Because we have similar interests, we can come together!"

That night, Chen Dexiang was sitting in front of the TV watching the game quietly and saw this segment.

Scallops and hydrangeas are his specialty, and his daughter has inherited his skills. Mr. Jin was a famous gourmet in the Republic of China and a food critic who has published several food books. His tongue is known as the emperor's tongue. He said that his daughter's cooking and seasoning are better, so it must be better.

"Jinying cooked this dish so well, why did she lose?" The third wife was puzzled. Didn't everyone say it was good?

"There is always someone better than the best. Chef Zhang's dragon beard mandarin fish was cooked very well. Jinying's scallop hydrangea was also perfect, but it was a little easier, so Chef Zhang's dish scored higher."

"So that's how it is." The third wife nodded.

"The knife skills of Huaiyang cuisine are unique."

On TV, the two families served the second hot dish. Shanghai Jinhua's was a lifelike vegetarian braised pork, and Baohualou served a white steak that tasted like bear paw.

The judges said that the vegetarian braised pork had a perfect shape, and the taste was different from braised pork, but the freshness of the mushrooms and the bland winter melon tasted very good. When it came to Chen Jinying, Yang Yuhe said: "I recently went to Japan to eat bear paws. It is said that the boss invited a state banquet chef from China to make the bear paws. The bear paws are indeed smooth and tender, and the bear tendons are also good, but I probably won't go there to eat them."

He kept it a secret, so the host asked, "Why?"

"Why would I go so far to eat bear paws when I can eat bear paws that taste better in Hong Kong?"

Seeing this, Chen Dexiang shook his head: "Bear paw has been praised as one of the eight delicacies since ancient times, and it is the first dish in the Manchu-Han Banquet. If a Shandong chef cannot cook bear paw, he is not a top chef. It is an exaggeration to say that ox trotters are better than bear paws. The rich taste of bear paws without the smell of mutton is incomparable to that of ox trotters."

"Could it be that the Japanese chef's ability to cook bear paws is not as good as Jinying's?" asked the third wife.

"Of course I was the best bear paw maker in Beijing. No one dared to claim to be the best, Jinying..."

Chen Dexiang couldn't say anything more. He didn't want to teach his daughter this skill, but his son couldn't learn it, so he had to teach his daughter. His daughter learned all his skills. He hoped that she would support Dexiang. In the end, his daughter left Taipei and went to Baohualou as soon as the second son left.

The ratings came out on TV. Although Jinhua's vegetarian braised pork had good color, aroma and taste, it was still slightly inferior to Chen Jinying's white stewed bear paw. Chen Jinying was already in the lead overall, with only one soup and one staple dish left. It would be difficult for Chef Zhang to surpass her.

I thought the game would end with this score difference. During the soup stage, Chen Jinying made a Luoyang bird's nest dish that has been passed down for thousands of years.

On the screen, Wu Zhihai took out the frozen shredded winter melon from the refrigerator. Chen Jinying put the frozen shredded winter melon into water to melt it and began to introduce the origin of this dish.

"Legend has it that when Wu Zetian became emperor, three-foot-tall white radishes grew in Luoyang. The imperial chefs cut the radish into shreds and made soup, which looked like bird's nests, hence the name 'bird's nest'." As she spoke, she squeezed the water out of the shredded winter melon and put it into a bowl.

"But I remember that when making Luoyang bird's nest, the shredded radish needs to be steamed and dried nine times before it can be flavorful," said Mr. Jin.

Chen Jinying adds broth to the squeezed-out shredded winter melon to make the shredded winter melon stretch out.

"That's true. Chef Lu thinks that after steaming and drying, the radish flavor is too strong. So Chef Lu uses winter melon, which has a light flavor. He used winter melon shreds to make vegetarian bird's nest in the last competition. He thinks there are still shortcomings. The winter melon has not been steamed and dried, so it has too much water, and the taste of the winter melon dilutes the taste of the broth. Ningning suggested that we put the winter melon shreds in the refrigerator to freeze. After freezing, the water in the winter melon forms ice crystals, and then melts to get porous winter melon shreds. The principle may be a bit similar to the frozen tofu in Northeast China, which can absorb more broth and keep the taste of fresh winter melon."

After the winter melon shreds have absorbed most of the soup, Chen Jinying mixes in starch and puts the winter melon shreds into the steamer to steam.

Ten minutes later, the winter melon shreds were as crystal clear as bird's nest. She took a soup bowl with a lid, spread the winter melon shreds on the bottom, and then placed ham, egg skin, beef, carrots, king crab legs and cucumber shreds on top in order to cover the winter melon shreds.

At the top, Chen Jinying made a peony flower with yellow petals and red stamens using egg skins.

Wu Zhihai had already boiled the soup stock. He came over and slowly poured the stock into the soup bowl. Chen Jinying said, "My second brother told me that this dish was once used to entertain the Prime Minister of Canada."

Chef Zhang's part was not that exciting. He just turned off the fire on the stove. But the moment he opened the lid of the pot, the audience on the screen immediately shouted, "What a nice smell!"

He skimmed the grease from the pot with a spoon and raised his hand: "Nanjing Wenwu duck soup, serve."

The camera is pointed at the soup pot, which contains half a white duck and half a roast duck.

"When it comes to eating duck, Nanjing people are no worse than Beijingers, and they even like it more." Yang Yuhe introduced, "Nanjing's roast duck went north and became Beijing's roast duck, and went south and became Cantonese roast duck. Beijing's duck rack soup is stewed over high heat, with roast duck racks making a milky thick soup, while the civil and military duck soup uses fresh duck and roast duck, symbolizing the white-faced civil servant and the red-faced military officer, and is stewed over low heat for four hours to make a pot of duck soup," the judges introduced on TV.

For this dish, Chen Jinying's Luoyang bird's nest has a complicated preparation process and better seasoning, which further widened the score gap. Chen Jinying has already secured the title of this year's Chef King.

But for the last main course, both families still put their heart into it. Shanghai Jinhua made Changshu mushroom oil noodles, which is known as the king of vegetarian noodles. Chen Jinying made a sea intestine rice. When Chef Zhang ate it, he kept saying, "It's so delicious that it makes my eyebrows fall off."

The final battle ended with the delicious taste of one meat and one vegetable.

When the golden chef champion trophy was handed to Chen Jinying, her fingertips trembled slightly.

She raised the trophy, looked at Yue Ning and said, "Thank you Ning Ning, and thank you to every partner of Baohua Building, colleagues who came to Baohua Building for exchanges. And those far away in Taiwan..."

When she mentioned Taiwan, Chen Dexiang's heart suddenly tightened. Chen Jinying on the screen said: "My mother encouraged me to learn skills well. And my colleagues at De Xiang Hotel who used to work with me, as well as my diners and my brothers who are far away in Beijing."

Chen Dexiang's face darkened: "I taught her, I taught her how to cook little by little, she would rather thank the three guys from the Dong family than mention me?"

On TV, Chen Jinying looked at Wu Zhihai tenderly and extended her hand to him. Wu Zhihai reached out and held her hand.

"The person I want to thank most is my partner, my boyfriend Mr. Wu Zhihai."

Hearing this, Wu Zhihai felt a lump in his throat and he lowered his head and shed tears like a coward.

Yue Ning clapped vigorously in the audience, and Fan Xiuqin shouted: "Brother Wu, propose to me!"

Seeing that Wu Zhihai was about to kneel down, Chen Jinying quickly stopped him and said, "This is the competition site."

Mr. Jin concluded by saying, "Eight delicacies are not as valuable as ingenuity, and all kinds of flavors are combined to create something new and fresh. I hope that the "Chef King Contest" will get better and better through inheritance and innovation."

Chen Dexiang watched the game while holding the armrest of his wheelchair. The official program ended and the program list was being played. The TV station also showed some highlights:

Yang Yuhe said to Mr. Jin: "Now, the three consecutive Chef Kings have been in Baohualou. But Ningning herself has not officially participated in the competition. The new "Chef King Competition" is about to begin. Should we look forward to Ningning's appearance?"

Yue Ning took the microphone and said, "Uncle Yang, you are not a good person. You just want to embarrass me and watch me lose the game."

"If you participate in the competition, there will be no suspense. The title of Chef King will be yours," said Mr. Jin.

"First, I'm still studying. No matter how good my cooking skills are, participating in the competition will definitely take up a lot of energy. I really can't spare the time to train. Second, the original intention of the chef competition is to provide colleagues with an additional platform for communication. The candidates for the next Baohualou have been decided." Yue Ning turned his head and looked, "Chef Fan Xiuqin, the favorite apprentice of Chef Lu Yongding and Chef He Yunbang, and Chef Lu Peide's junior sister, and her partner, the foreign chef Nicholas. Everyone knows that Chef Fan cooks as she pleases. We'll see how she performs then."

"It doesn't matter. Our chef Zhang said that when he participated in the competition, Ningning had only one request, that she just participate." Fan Xiuqin looked indifferent and asked Nicholas, "Xiao Ni, don't you agree?"

Nicholas nodded whenever he didn't understand.

When Chen Jinying and Wu Zhihai were interviewed, Chen Jinying said: "We will register first and invite friends to have a meal together."

"In the second half of the year, Sister Jinying will go to EM Lyon Business School to study for a master's degree in hotel management. In her spare time, she will go to Lucas and Pierre's restaurant for exchange and further study. In addition, Chef Wu will also go to France for further study in the middle of next year, and then the Ningyan Restaurant in Repulse Bay will be renovated." Yue Ning smiled at everyone, "When Sister Jinying returns from France, the Ningyan Restaurant in Repulse Bay will welcome guests with a brand new look."

The show was completely over. The third wife came over to help Chen Dexiang, who sat there and refused to move. He asked, "If I die, will she come and kowtow to me?"

"Master, don't let your imagination run wild." The Third Wife couldn't answer him directly, so she could only say this.

"Yuxiu, can you please help me find Jinying? I don't have any other thoughts. I just want her to be my daughter and my successor. Please kowtow to me when I die." Chen Dexiang looked at the third wife pleadingly.

The third wife looked at him, and nodded awkwardly in the face of his pleading eyes.