Chapter 96: Going to the national competition is a bit like a talent show
There are 9 judges in the final. The scoring rule is to remove the lowest and highest scores and calculate the average score. Then the scores of the two rounds are added together, which is relatively fair.
As Ye Tian entered the arena, she noticed the elderly head judge looked familiar. It was Mr. Lu, whom she had met while working at Chen Chi's restaurant. Mr. Lu's family had come for New Year's Eve dinner and loved her preserved pork with preserved vegetables (鱻肉鮮) and had even requested to meet her as the chef.
As expected, Mr. Lu recognized Ye Tian, even though he hadn't noticed her at first. But after eating the Yangzhou fried rice she made, he felt a sense of familiarity. This was the taste he had been looking for for three years!
In fact, he went to the restaurant many times later, but he never tasted the flavor he was looking for. When he heard that the girl no longer came to work in the restaurant, he felt regretful for a long time.
Seeing Ye Tian again this time, her cooking skills were even better, yet still carried the same flavor from before. Old Lu looked at her with admiration, as if he were looking at his most promising granddaughter.
When he ate the crab meat lion head, he was so excited that tears welled up in his eyes: This is so delicious that it is unbelievable!
So he gave dish number 1 a perfect score of 10 in both rounds. Of course, both were eliminated as the highest score.
However, even if the other judges did not give an exaggerated score of 10, most of them gave it 9.9 or 9.8.
"I don't even know what to say about this crab meat and lion's head. It's just absolutely amazing!"
“Absolutely the best lion's head I've ever had.”
In the end, all four lion heads made by Ye Tian were eaten up by the judges. They were all eaten up!
The audience’s eyes almost popped out of their heads. How delicious could it be?
When the results were finally announced, third place went to Wang Xin, a plain-looking but mature-looking chef. Second place went to Ling Yun, a handsome chef who made Yangchun noodles. First place, undeniably, went to Ye Tian.
Daxiong and Li Bing also made it into the top 10. Daxiong ranked 9th and Li Bing ranked 10th. Although they couldn't participate in the national finals, they were in the top 10 and received certificates, which was also very good.
But Daxiong was still a little disappointed. Of course he wanted to participate in the finals, but he still stepped forward and sincerely wished Ye Tian well. He knew Ye Tian's strength and knew that she deserved the first place.
Li Bing was overjoyed. He hadn't expected to achieve such a high score. This could only be attributed to the high level of his master. Ye Tian simply provided him with daily guidance and encouragement, yet even a school cafeteria worker with no professional training could place him in the top 10 of the provincial youth chef competition.
There was a small incident during the competition afterwards. Some people felt that the third place winner Wang Xin's age did not match the standard and raised objections.
The Young Chef Competition does have an age requirement. While the typical Chinese youth category is under 35, the competition requires a minimum age of 28. Upon identity verification, third-place finisher Wang Xin was only 25, but he looked like he was in his 30s, leading his country to label him as precocious.
Next was the award ceremony. The top ten winners received certificates, and the top three received certificates as well as prizes of 30,000 yuan, 20,000 yuan, and 10,000 yuan respectively.
The person who presented the awards to the top three was Mr. Lu. He gave Ye Tian a poem: There will be a time when we will ride on the wind and waves, and set sail to cross the vast ocean.
After the award ceremony, Chen Chi went to greet Grandpa Lu, and then wanted to have dinner with Ye Tian and the other two, but Chef Yu and the others were waiting in the restaurant to celebrate for Daxiong, and Mr. Chen asked him to attend, so he had to leave with Daxiong first.
Ye Tian and the others had nothing else to do, so they ate outside before returning to school. On the way back, Li Bing and Xiao Juan looked at their award certificates over and over again, still unsure whether they had truly won tenth place.
Although it was winter vacation, Ye Tian was in no rush to go to the capital. The provincial government would send someone to take the top three to the competition, arranging transportation and accommodations. This was a trip at public expense.
In the following days, Ye Tian also studied the relevant rules of previous National Youth Chef Cooking Skills Competitions through the Internet to see what cuisine the previous champions cooked and what dishes they won with. These can also reveal the judges' preferences.
Moreover, starting from the last session, the competition has added a public selection and voting session. They also give scores after tasting, and finally combine the scores with the judges to calculate the overall score.
Well, Ye Tian feels that these chef competitions are now more like talent shows, with similar procedures. Having participated in numerous variety shows, she's not afraid of camera fright, which is probably her advantage.
She didn't realize that not only was she not stage-frightened, but she also looked very good on camera and was very popular with the audience.
Chef Luo had long anticipated that Ye Tian would represent the province in the national competition, so he was quite calm when he received the call that she had won first place. However, as soon as he hung up the phone, he immediately started bragging to Yu Hai.
Xiaozheng also signed up for this competition. The final of the Imperial Capital Division will be held the next day, but Yu Hai believes that his apprentice will have no problem getting into the top three.
Yu Hai thought: Why are you so conceited? You have a good apprentice, but don’t I have one?
Xiao Zheng lived up to everyone's expectations and took second place in the Imperial Capital Division, which was a very good result. This meant that he would be a strong opponent for Ye Tian in the finals.
Unexpectedly, two contestants from their Jinghua Hotel suddenly came out to participate in the National Youth Chef Competition. The boss was very happy when he heard it: This is really awesome!
He seemed to have forgotten that Ye Tian was not a full-time chef in their restaurant.
…
The national competition of the Young Chefs Cooking Skills Competition is also divided into two rounds, with nearly 100 contestants participating in the first round.
The competition process was also quite fast. In the first round, nearly 80 people were eliminated, leaving only 20 to enter the finals. After that, the top 20 also competed in one round. It was not like a talent show with 10 to 8, 8 to 5, and 5 to 3 rounds. It was still very neat and tidy.
Because of traveling together, Ye Tian also became familiar with Wang Xin and Ling Yun.
Wang Xin is an ordinary chef at a local restaurant. After graduating from high school, he didn't get into university, so he went to culinary school. A year later, he started working at a local restaurant, where he stayed for five or six years, diligently learning and cooking from a master chef.
Just like the dishes he cooks, he always follows the methods taught by his master and strictly follows the steps. But there is also an advantage to this, that is, the dishes he cooks always have a standard taste, which is also a kind of ability.
Ling Yun is a young man who loves food and cooking. After graduating from university, he did not work in a job related to his major, but opened his own private restaurant.
His remarkable skill lies in his complete lack of culinary training, relying solely on his own creativity and the courage to try new things. Sometimes he creates stunning dishes, sometimes he creates unconventional ones. In short, he has talent, but his output is inconsistent.
Although they had never tasted each other's cooking, neither of them was dissatisfied with the other. Moreover, Ling Yun sat next to Ye Tian during the preliminary round and had seen Ye Tian's knife skills in cutting tofu shreds, which impressed him greatly.
He was a bit of a nouveau chef, good at innovation, but not very good with knives. A week after the competition, he went back for some intensive practice, but there was no noticeable improvement. After all, no one can achieve everything in one go.
Although Wang Xin and Ling Yun came to the national competition, they didn't dare to think about reaching the second round of the finals. They felt that just participating was enough to see the world.
The night before the competition, the master's family hosted a welcome party for Ye Tian, and Chef Luo specifically explained to her many things to keep in mind during the competition. He had also participated in a cooking competition that year and won third place in the country.
“You must first check whether the knife is good to use and whether the stove can light properly.
Also, when choosing ingredients, always prioritize freshness. If you've already decided on a dish, but the ingredients provided by the organizer aren't up to par, make a quick decision to change it. "We all know that the quality of the ingredients determines half of the success or failure of the meal," Chef Luo advised.
"Okay, Lao Luo, Tiantian must know what you said. Do you know who the judges are and what dishes they like to eat? This is the key." The master's wife interrupted the master.
Chef Luo thought for a moment. "Well, I don't know about the others, but Mr. Tao might be a judge. Tiantian knows him. He likes dishes with rich, fresh flavors. But he can't influence everything by himself. Besides, the dish numbers in the finals are hidden, so the judges don't know which dish belongs to which contestant."
"Master, Master's Wife, I have also watched the videos of previous competitions. The judges are from all over the country, and the overall situation is balanced. So, I think nothing else matters. I will just do my best and make the dishes I want to cook." Ye Tian knew that Master's Wife cared about her, but she had confidence in herself and believed in her own abilities.
Chef Luo also said, "The kid is right. There's no need to consider so many objective factors. Just focus on making your own dishes! Her talent is there, and we're all just waiting to celebrate her."
He then added, "I'll get a good rest tonight, and I'll also take tomorrow's preliminary round seriously. To get into the top 20, everyone will definitely be using their best skills, and the competition is sure to be fierce. Then I'll just follow the two dishes I've planned, and decide which one to make based on the time of the competition."
Ye Tian nodded seriously.
Seeing Ye Tian’s confident smile, the master’s wife sighed with relief that her child had grown up.
The next day, Ye Tian, Wang Xin and Ling Yun took a taxi to the competition venue early.
Inside the venue, faces of all kinds have already filled the competition hall, making people feel nervous.
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