Mr. Zhuang Daozhong has a very high opinion of Feng Yifan and has directly compared him to the rising sun, which means that in the eyes of the old man, Feng Yifan will eventually illuminate the entire culinary world.
Li Feier was also a little surprised after hearing this evaluation. She did not expect the old man to give such a high evaluation.
After a brief moment of daze, Li Feier smiled and said, "Okay, thank you Master Zhuang for accepting my interview and thank you Master Zhuang for your evaluation. We will have to wait and see."
Zhuang Daozhong smiled and nodded: "Well, let's wait and see."
The phrase "wait and see" is a double entendre. On the one hand, it refers to Feng Yifan, and on the other hand, it also refers to the cooking competition at Fujinglou.
After the on-site coordination was completed, the final competition of the auditions officially began.
It can be said that Fujinglou has invested a lot of money in this competition.
The entire restaurant in Fujing Building was rearranged into a venue that can accommodate twenty people cooking at the same time.
Each stove is also equipped with various corresponding kitchen utensils, even including the stoves necessary for the kitchen, to ensure that the stove has sufficient firepower when cooking.
As for the judges, they were arranged at tables on the scene, divided into five professional judges and forty randomly selected ordinary audience judges.
It can be said that it was really a huge event, and this cooking competition, which was first held in Huaicheng, set a good example for other cities.
There are about a hundred contestants participating in this final round of auditions.
Among them are some local chefs and folk masters.
There are also some cooking masters who have come from other cities and want to show off their skills here, which is considered to be a considerable number.
In the end, the competition was divided into seven groups.
Each group of 20 people not only has to complete one of the two required dishes, but on-site professional judges will also evaluate comprehensive cooking skills such as knife skills and fire skills.
I really have to say that this cooking competition is not just a hobby.
The professional nature of this cooking competition was confirmed from the announcement of a preliminary qualification for Chinese cuisine chefs.
Coupled with the cooking process recorded by Feng Yifan on "Fei Chang Zheng", the level of the entire competition has really been raised a lot.
This is why, when there were nearly a thousand applicants, only a hundred or so people participated in the final audition. Many people had already been eliminated in some of the previous basic tests. The remaining hundred or so people were considered to have certain strength.
After this audition, more than half of them will be eliminated, and only 16 people will advance to the semi-finals.
It can really be called one in a hundred.
The auditions officially began, and groups came onto the stage one by one and began cooking on the spot.
And just as Zhuang Daozhong said before, at the beginning, many chefs were deliberately imitating Feng Yifan's standards, even imitating his every step and every movement.
Perhaps these imitators had undergone serious self-training before participating in the competition, in order to make their imitations realistic enough and standard enough.
But in such an environment, especially during a competition, there are other contestants around to disturb you.
It is obviously very difficult to maintain a cooking method that you are not most familiar with.
Soon, one after another, imitators encountered various accidents.
Although it is not a big mistake, once the imitation rhythm is disrupted, the whole cooking process will become chaotic, and it may even be more chaotic than if they cooked in their own way.
Seeing some stoves and tables in a mess, some contestants even had a mental breakdown and couldn't even continue cooking. Some professional judges on the scene couldn't help but shake their heads and sigh.
Under such circumstances, Mr. Zhuang Daozhong had no choice but to stand up and stand on the podium.
“I must say that I am very disappointed with the performance of the first group of 20 people. I did not expect that you would be so influenced by Feng Yifan. His cooking is indeed very artistic, and his method is indeed standard, but it does not mean that you will be able to get high scores by imitating him.
The true meaning of cooking lies in a chef’s dedication to making a delicious dish and presenting it to his diners, rather than using cooking methods that you are not used to and imitating the so-called culinary art.
You are chefs, and your job is to prepare delicious food for diners to taste, not just to show them your cooking process.
I hope the chefs behind the table will take note of this.”
Zhuang Daozhong's words awakened most of the contestants present.
In the last minute of the first group, some people gave up imitating Feng Yifan and instead cooked the dish seriously.
Finally, more than a dozen people in the first group finished their dishes.
Li Feier was also a little helpless when she saw the situation of the first group: "It seems that my asking Feng Yifan to record the program has really backfired. So many people are trying to imitate Feng Yifan?"
The assistant standing next to Li Feier couldn't help but mutter, "Because he is really handsome."
Li Feier didn't know whether to laugh or cry, and said to the young female assistant, "Don't think that he is handsome. He is not pretending to be handsome. He really has the ability to do those things. Besides, he is married and has children, so don't have any improper expectations of him."
When the female assistant heard the last part, she blushed and looked at Li Fei'er and said, "Sister Fei'er, what are you talking about? I don't have any improper thoughts."
Li Feier smiled and said, "There is no best."
In fact, it is conceivable that Feng Yifan has appeared on TV shows continuously, and his cooking performance in the second show, which was almost flawless, was indeed very eye-catching, especially the cooking process with almost no unnecessary movements, which also made Li Feier stunned at the time.
If some young girls were not moved when seeing Feng Yifan like that, then there would be something wrong with them.
However, after spending some time together, Li Feier knew Feng Yifan very well. He only had his wife and daughter in his heart and it was impossible for him to have any entanglement with any opposite sex.
So Li Feier reminded some female assistants, asking the young female assistants not to think too much about other things.
The competition in Fujing Building is still going on. After the problems exposed by the first group, the second group is obviously much better.
Although there are still people who try to learn from Feng Yifan, to make their cooking process look simple and clear, and to show Feng Yifan's capable skills.
It’s a pity that most of them fail to achieve the desired result.
Even those who imitated Feng Yifan very closely only scratched the surface and did not truly master Feng Yifan's knife and fire skills.
In fact, almost everyone present did not notice the key point.
Although Feng Yifan did not come to participate in this competition, nor did he appear among the judges on the scene, he did not even come to the scene to watch the competition.
But invisibly, everyone would unconsciously focus on Feng Yifan.
The harder these people competing on the scene try to imitate Feng Yifan, the more they will deepen everyone's impression of Feng Yifan.
Especially when compared with the on-site imitators, the occasional embarrassment and panic mistakes made people even more impressed by Feng Yifan's cooking.
Li Feier seemed to have noticed this and couldn't help but mutter, "I didn't expect that the biggest winner would be Feng Yifan."
The photographer heard this muttering nearby and asked in surprise: "Sister Fei'er, what did you say? Chef Feng is the biggest winner? Why?"
Su Liancheng and Mei Ru also realized this.
Mei Ru arrived late after the game started. She did not go to meet some people at the scene. Instead, she met Su Liancheng first and then watched the game with Su Liancheng.
After watching, Mei Ru expressed the same sigh as Li Fei'er: "This really makes Feng Yifan more famous."
Su Liancheng also saw this and said helplessly, "No wonder my mother gave up in the end. It seems that there is really no way to defeat Feng Yifan. Even if my father goes to the battle himself, it may not have such an effect, right? Feng Yifan's move is really smart."
Mei Ru then said: "This move is not only smart, but the fact that he can use this method also shows Feng Yifan's strength."
Su Liancheng had to admit this, it was indeed because Feng Yifan had enough strength.
However, Su Liancheng still felt unhappy that he spent his own money to invest in hosting an event, but ended up helping others gain fame.
"It's really frustrating. Is there no one who can surpass Feng Yifan?"
Mei Ru glanced around, took a look at the contestants who had not yet entered the stage, and shook her head: "It should not be among these contestants. We may need to find a new chef for Fujinglou. Otherwise, it would be better to give Fujinglou to Feng Yifan."
Hearing Mei Ru's words, Su Liancheng suddenly said, "I think this is a good idea."
Mei Ru rolled her eyes. "What are you thinking? You spent so much money and time to finally take over Fujing Tower, and you're just going to hand it over to Feng Yifan like this?"
Su Liancheng smiled and said, "It's true. After all, our two families are relatives. Besides, this is just a business. Business is not shabby."
Mei Ru then asked, "Are you planning to let Feng Yifan run Fujinglou, and we'll reap the benefits behind the scenes?"
Su Liancheng shook his head: "That won't work. Feng Yifan will definitely not come."
Meiru asked curiously, "What are you going to do?"
Su Liancheng whispered, "Let Feng Yifan be the honorary chef of Fujinglou and be responsible for giving us some instructions. We will just let him hang his name here and give him all the benefits. He doesn't have to actually come to Fujinglou, he just needs to come to Fujinglou and cook once in a while."
After hearing this, Meiru thought this was a good idea.
But then she asked, "What conditions do you plan to offer to convince Feng Yifan to agree to do this?"
Su Liancheng was stunned by the question for a moment. After thinking for a while, he asked in a low voice: "If you say give him 30%, will he be willing?"
Meiru smiled and shook her head: "You should discuss this matter yourself."
The competition was still going on, and in the following groups some contestants began to have more unique cooking methods. They did not simply imitate Feng Yifan, but insisted on their own cooking methods.
Among them, the one who impressed the judges the most was Qi Deqiang, who had previously challenged Feng Yifan at Su Ji.
The dish Qi Deqiang chose to cook was the braised Ma'anqiao.
He did not imitate Feng Yifan's cooking method, but cooked the dish in his own way.
Even during the cooking process, when seasoning, a little bit of collected eel blood is added to the soup, and the eel bones are used to simmer the soup.
The overall cooking process is quite different from Feng Yifan's style.
If you really compare them, you will feel that Qi Deqiang's cooking process is more delicate and rigorous than Feng Yifan's, and he handles it more rigorously and delicately, not as capable as Feng Yifan.
Therefore, this delicate cooking process still attracted the unanimous attention of the professional judges present.
However, some of the judges on the scene could not accept his cooking method of adding eel blood.
So when it came to judging, there was a huge gap and some controversy.
A controversy arose, and when the judges were unable to give a good answer, everyone had no choice but to pass this difficult question to the authority Zhuang Daozhong.
Zhuang Daozhong stood up again and said, "We must admit that this contestant was very bold in cooking this dish. He made his own improvements and added something that he thought was more in line with the characteristics of eels, making this dish more like a whole-roasted eel. He was very courageous."
When hearing this, everyone thought that Qi Deqiang's approach might lead to him being eliminated.
But Zhuang Daozhong finally gave his approval: "There is nothing wrong with the taste. I think we should still give him some approval and give him a chance to advance."
Zhuang Daozhong finally made the decision, and Qi Deqiang got the chance to enter the semi-finals.
This roller coaster-like mood swings really made Qi Deqiang so excited that he cried for joy.
Seeing the first controversial contestant who was ultimately the first to advance directly appear, Li Feier naturally rushed forward to interview him.
"First of all, congratulations on becoming the first contestant to advance to the semi-finals. Do you have anything to say at this moment?"
Qi Deqiang controlled his emotions and said to the camera: "I really want to thank Feng Yifan. It was Chef Feng who made me understand what it means to be 'there are always people better than you'. He also gave me some inspiration. With his example, I made the bold attempt today."
Li Feier couldn't help laughing when she heard this: After all, this person still can't escape Feng Yifan's influence.
Then she asked, "I don't know, how did Chef Feng influence you?"
Qi Deqiang said that he had been to Su Ji before and tasted two dishes made by Feng Yifan with some contestants, and was also inspired by some of Feng Yifan's words at that time.
"After tasting Chef Feng's dishes, especially seeing the certificates he showed me, I realized that I was like a frog in a well. So I decided to take Chef Feng as my goal, study cooking better, and try to catch up with Chef Feng."
After the interview, Li Feier couldn't help but mutter to the photographer: "Sure enough, Feng Yifan is still the one being promoted in the end. It looks like he is the destined winner."