Chapter 354 A Group of Idiots
Judging from the fact that the main ingredients chosen are tofu and other side dishes, the dish Zheng Mingyuan is going to make is Mapo Tofu.
Wu Jiantong glanced at Su Yujin and sighed, "Chef Zheng is still very grateful to his boss."
Mapo Tofu was a special dish specially created by Huibinlou to attract customers when it first opened for business. Even now, people in Qinghe County will think of Mapo Tofu and praise it highly when they hear people mention Huibinlou.
Su Yujin nodded and said "hmm".
Using this symbolic Mapo Tofu as the dish for the first round of the competition is indeed something Zheng Mingyuan can do.
But it goes far beyond that.
It was the middle of winter, and even though the judges had been using stoves to keep warm and had a shed to block the wind, they had still been staying outdoors from morning till now, and they were freezing cold.
Moreover, after tasting various dishes for a whole day, even those people with great patience still felt tired.
At this time, a serving of steaming hot, spicy and delicious Mapo Tofu will fully stimulate your taste buds and will definitely make everyone's eyes light up.
Even though the first match was not very challenging, Zheng Mingyuan still took it very seriously.
Zheng Mingyuan is so calm and composed, and he is neither arrogant nor impatient. He probably won't make any big mistakes in the next competition...
Under the gaze of Su Yujin and others, Zheng Mingyuan finished his Mapo Tofu, and his servants brought the dish to the tasting judges.
There were many royal chefs among the judges. When they saw this dish of delicious mapo tofu, they all felt their appetites growl and scooped a spoonful of it into their mouths.
Spicy, fresh, fragrant, hot, crispy, tender, and crunchy...
"This Mapo Tofu tastes delicious!" someone exclaimed.
Someone nearby echoed, "Very good."
Others took a second spoonful, a third spoonful, and so on.
In a blink of an eye, most of the Mapo Tofu on the plates in front of the judges had been eaten. Only when other people's dishes were served did the judges put down their spoons and give their evaluations of the Mapo Tofu.
All seven judges voted unanimously in favor.
Although not many people passed the proposal unanimously throughout the day, there were still some people who passed it unanimously. It was not surprising that Zheng Mingyuan's Mapo Tofu received unanimous votes.
But what was strange was that the Mapo Tofu was almost completely eaten up by the judges.
Some judges even ate up all the mapo tofu on their plates after tasting other people's dishes.
This situation is unique among all the dishes today.
Even the braised liver tips made by Chef Chen of the Eight Immortals Restaurant did not achieve this effect.
"As expected, you are Chef Zheng from Juweizhai. Even after not seeing him for a few years, his cooking skills are still extraordinary."
"I think it's not only the same, but it's even better."
"Do you think Chef Zheng will be the first this time?"
"I think that's what's going on..."
When Chen Guiming, the chef of the Eight Immortals House opposite Qingfengju, heard these people's discussions, his face turned gloomy. He slammed his clenched fist on the table in front of him and said angrily, "A self-made chef dares to compete with me?"
"Those people have never seen the world. They are the imperial chefs. It's really shameful. They actually treat a dish of Mapo Tofu as a treasure?"
"Those people below don't have any brains at all. It's not that the Mapo Tofu is good, they are just exhausted and drowsy at the moment, and this spicy dish just perks them up."
Chef Chen lost his temper for a while, and then added, "What a bunch of idiots!"
He actually dared to say that Zheng Mingyuan could get first place.
Do you think Chen Guiming is a vegetarian? He is the chef of the Baxian Restaurant, the number one restaurant in Beijing! How can he be compared with the chef of a restaurant like Juweizhai? Seeing this, the shopkeeper Hao of Baxian Restaurant advised, "Since they are said to be a bunch of idiots, why bother with them? Otherwise, won't you be just like an idiot?"
"Your skills are obvious to all. They are definitely better than Zheng Mingyuan's. You still have to have confidence in this."
After hearing what Manager Hao said, Chen Guiming's expression improved a little and he nodded, "I am still confident about this."
"That's right." Shopkeeper Hao said with a smile, "Instead of getting angry with those irrelevant people, it would be better to think about the dishes to be used in the competition in the next few days."
"In addition, there will be an extremely important banquet tonight. You should also hurry to the kitchen and use all your skills to ensure that the nobles are happy with the meal."
The fact that Manager Hao could call him a distinguished person showed that the other person’s identity was indeed very extraordinary.
Chen Guiming did not dare to delay. After saying "yes", he hurried to the kitchen.
Here, Zheng Mingyuan was congratulated by the waiters at Juweizhai, as well as Su Yujin and Wu Jiantong for passing the competition.
"It's only the first game." Zheng Mingyuan chuckled, "If you really want to congratulate me, you should wait until the end."
Although he is not completely sure about the first place, he must try his best!
Everyone understood Zheng Mingyuan's determination and knew the current situation of the competition, so they stopped talking and seeing that it was getting late, they went back to rest.
Su Yujin and He Yanxiu sent Lu Wenqing back to the Lu family before returning to the He family.
After returning to his own courtyard, He Yanxiu began to paint according to the appearance of Lou Yanlin, whom he had just seen.
He Yanxiu usually paints landscapes, flowers and birds, and rarely paints figures. Especially this kind of realistic portrait was the first time he painted it.
Therefore, even though He Yanxiu had a good foundation in painting, it was still quite difficult for him to paint such a picture. After wasting several paintings, he finally produced a portrait that he thought was pretty good.
He Yanxiu rubbed his sore eyelids and told Xing'an, "Tell someone to deliver this painting to Ping'an County Lord early in the morning."
"Yes." Xing'an agreed, tied up the scroll first, put it aside, and hurriedly made the bed for He Yanxiu, fetched water for washing, "Second Master, wash up and take a rest."
"What time is it?" He Yanxiu asked.
"It's four o'clock in the morning." Xing'an replied.
There is still an hour and a half before it is time to get up and go to court.
He Yanxiu was also very sleepy at this time, and fell into a deep sleep after tidying up.
When He Yanxiu got up early in the morning and washed up, he hadn't dressed yet. A servant came in with a food box in his hand, "Second Master, this is from Miss Ai Cao from Ping'an County Lord. She asked me to give it to you, saying that it was made by Ping'an County Lord himself. Please taste it, Second Master."
Su Yujin made it herself? He Yanxiu opened it and took a look.
It was a bowl of steaming hot glutinous rice dumplings with wine. Because of the sweet osmanthus, it had a strong floral fragrance. The glutinous rice was refreshing, and the dumplings were soft, sticky and sweet. After such a breakfast was fully eaten, I felt my whole body was extremely comfortable.
A war broke out between me and Dabao over studying, and I am exhausted both physically and mentally... Raising a child is not something that can be done with just hard work...
(End of this chapter)
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