Chapter 97. The Abnormal Schedule of the Finals

There were too many contestants in the preliminary round, and the organizers did not have a venue for 100 people to cook at the same time, so they divided them into four groups, with two groups competing in the morning and afternoon.

Ye Tian drew the third group, also in the afternoon. So, instead of waiting outside, she went back to the hotel to rest. Wang Xin and Ling Yun, who had come with her, were in groups one and two, respectively. As for Xiao Zheng, he was assigned to group four and also went back to rest.

Ye Tian figured that by the afternoon, the judges would have already eaten all morning and wouldn't have much of an appetite. She could choose something spicy, fresh, and appetizing. The contestants were given 40 minutes to cook, plenty of time for simple stews or stir-fries, but not enough for Dongpo pork or boiled cabbage.

So, as long as she could find decent pork belly, she'd make it. The dish, with its attractive color scheme and fresh, fragrant flavor, made it a great afternoon dish.

At 2 p.m., Ye Tian and about 20 other contestants stood at the competition venue. As soon as the competition rules were announced, everyone began to grab ingredients and seasonings.

Ye Tian didn't rush to get the dishes first, as her master had instructed. She was actually observing the others' choices. She saw that half of them had picked dried chilies and Sichuan peppercorns, a few had chosen fermented black bean paste, and the two chefs who had prepared fermented black bean paste also picked pork belly. Could it be that they all had the same idea?

After thinking for a moment, she no longer insisted on making twice-cooked pork. Although she believed that her twice-cooked pork could surpass other contestants, she wanted to do the opposite.

Finally, she decided to make a simple, refreshing stir-fried shrimp and seasonal vegetables. She chose wood ear mushrooms, snow peas, yams, and carrots. She chose not to use shrimp directly, but instead took the shrimp provided by the organizers and peeled them herself. Anyone who has eaten store-bought shrimp knows that most shrimp lacks freshness and tastes like chewed wax.

After receiving the ingredients, Ye Tian soaked the black fungus first, then began to devein and peel the shrimp. She peeled about ten in total, which was enough; any more would have overshadowed the shrimp. Then she began chopping the vegetables, cutting the carrots into beautiful diamond-shaped slices and the yams into long, oblique slices. She cut the soaked black fungus into roughly the same size, and only removed the ends of the snow peas.

These vegetables should be blanched in water before stir-frying. When blanching, add a little oil to the water. The blanched vegetables will be more colorful and beautiful.

After the preparations are done, Ye Tian heats the oil in a pan, adds chopped green onion, ginger and garlic and stir-fry until fragrant, then pours in the shrimps and stir-fry until they change color, then pours in all the vegetables, stir-fry for a while, adds a little oyster sauce and salt, and a little water starch before serving.

Compared with the other dishes for more than 20 people, Ye Tian's dish was too simple and too homely. However, when paired with a large white plate and decorated with flowers carved by Ye Tian from carrots, it did not look inferior to the other dishes, but instead had a natural and pure beauty.

After the judges had eaten twice-cooked pork, boiled fish, boiled pork, spicy shrimp, stir-fried pork, chopped pepper fish head, and Beile mutton, and then took a bite of fresh and refreshing vegetables, they suddenly felt alive.

In particular, there are two judges who can’t eat spicy food very well. They are very depressed today. Do they have to make spicy dishes to show their cooking skills?

Isn't this refreshing stir-fried shrimp and vegetables delicious? While this dish may seem simple, the careful cooking of each ingredient and the knife skills reveal something truly extraordinary. And then there's the exquisite carving of the two magnolia flowers, one large and one small. It's truly a work of art.

Therefore, Ye Tian's final score was very high. On the contrary, the group that cooked big fish, meat and spicy dishes all became the foil for her vegetable dish.

The result was as Ye Tian expected, and she entered the second round with a high score.

When she was leaving, she met Xiaozheng. He studied Cantonese cuisine and was particular about light and fresh dishes. So Ye Tian felt that the dishes he cooked would definitely suit the tastes of today's judges. She just clenched her fists in encouragement and didn't say much.

Xiaozheng appeared calm on the surface, but he was actually a little nervous inside. Fortunately, he and his master had already worked out a plan, so he should have no problem entering the finals.

The dish he cooked was also a vegetable dish, a vegetable sprout soup, which also achieved good results.

Sadly, neither Wang Xin nor Ling Yun made the top 20, but their spirits weren't dampened too much. After all, having been there and participating was worth it. They planned to spend a few days in the imperial capital, taking the opportunity to explore the Forbidden City and the Great Wall before returning home.

…

After this preliminary round, the final will be held in just two days.

The 20 young chefs who made it to the finals came from all corners of the country, specializing in all eight major cuisines. Fifteen of them were men, but only five were women.

The national finals were a completely different scene. The venue was set up like a professional studio, with the contestants' consoles in the center, forming a circle. Each contestant had a camera in front of them, and a large screen displayed the contestants' every move in full HD. Seven judges sat on the stage, allowing them to see every contestant's movements.

Moreover, the host on the scene was also a famous commentator invited by the Capital TV Station, which made the competition more high-end.

Ye Tian's master, his wife, and chef Yu Hai all came to the scene to watch the competition. They can also be called relatives and friends. When there are some emotional segments, they may also have to appear.

Ye Tian and Xiao Zheng both wore the uniform chef uniforms provided by the production team, both for aesthetic reasons and to prevent them from making any mistakes. For example, the owner of the Jinghua Hotel wanted them to wear their hotel uniforms, but only gave up when he learned that the uniforms had to be standardized for the competition.

The schedule of this final was surprisingly different from the previous ones. After listening to the host read out the rules, the contestants cursed in their hearts.

The rule is that each person makes one cold dish, one hot dish, and one soup. Although there is no specific requirement for what dishes to make, there are restrictions on the choice of ingredients.

The program team has prepared 20 sets of ingredients, each with different types. Some are very rich, while some contain only two or three ingredients. How to make two dishes and one soup depends entirely on the contestants themselves.

The contestants first draw lots, and then choose dishes according to the order of the draw, which is where luck comes in. The person who chooses first can choose the dish they are good at, and the ones who come after can only choose the ones left by everyone else.

Ye Tian didn't expect that her luck in the lottery was really bad, she actually drew number 19. As you can imagine, there would be no good numbers left by then.

She watched as the contestants in front of her took away beautiful pork belly, well-textured beef, a whole free-range chicken, and fresh black tiger prawns. Xiaozheng, who was in fourth place, actually got abalone and cod. His luck was really good.

Until only two were left.

There were not many things in the two baskets. One contained eggs, tomatoes, green peppers and pork tenderloin; the other was even simpler, with only a head of cabbage, a box of tofu and two eggs.

The 20th contestant looked at the remaining two ingredients and felt despair in his heart!

He knew that number 19 ahead of him would definitely take the basket with four vegetables, leaving him with cabbage, eggs, and tofu. He really couldn't make a good dish with just those. Cabbage with vinegar? Pan-fried tofu? What about soup? Cabbage and tofu soup, egg soup? Nothing meaty at all. So hopeless!

Ye Tian looked at the last two ingredients for a while, and finally reached out her hand...