There are no specific rules for chef competitions, but because the country advocates the era of gourmet food, there are still some agreed rules to be followed.
Gourmets must be fair and just, and preferably have the gourmet qualification approved by the Gourmet Association.
The two sides of the competition will cook their dishes in turn, and after they are finished, they will be tasted and judged by gourmets.
Generally speaking, after both sides have finished making a dish, they will compare and then move on to the next game. Since Ye Chui has not arrived at Manhanlou yet, this is the natural mode of the competition.
In the kitchen of Manhan Building.
Miao Shengsong took a look and nodded with satisfaction. Although he did not take Manhanlou seriously, this kitchen still satisfied him. At this time, the huge kitchen was divided into two parts, one for the chefs of Shenghuayuan and the other for Manhanlou.
The chefs of Shenghuayuan soon became busy with various preparations. They brought their own ingredients, seasonings, and even woks. This is a requirement of large hotels. There were five chefs helping Miao Shengsong prepare the ingredients.
On the other side, the Manhan Building looked much more shabby: only Qin Yiyue and An Xiaoxiao were busy.
An Xiaoxiao prepared her beggar's meal carefully. Although she seemed confident in the way she developed to feed the beggars, she was still a little nervous when she saw the situation on the other side. She couldn't help but say to Qin Yiyue beside her: "Hey, can we make it? We don't know if the master can get back in time..."
"Just prepare it carefully." Qin Yiyue was much calmer. He had experienced similar situations many times. He smiled and comforted An Xiaoxiao, "The essence of deliciousness is not how luxurious it is, but whether it can impress others. Although your dish was developed for beggars, as long as you put your heart into it and show the beauty of this delicious food, I believe you will win the favor of the judges."
After a pause, Qin Yiyue said to An Xiaoxiao with a bit of a smile: "Also... can you not call me hello when you call me?"
An Xiaoxiao smiled embarrassedly: "I'm used to it, then I'll teach you Brother Qin, okay?"
"Okay." Qin Yiyue nodded.
An Xiaoxiao asked again: "Brother Qin, you will be playing in the first game, so I wonder what you are going to do?"
"This dish is my original creation. The topic I drew in the last round of the Hainan Chef Competition was Braised Round Fish with Golden Leg. I was inspired by your master to make that dish. Although I lost to your senior brother's Braised Fish Belly Roll in the end, I later studied the ham used in that dish and created a dish with ham. This time I plan to serve this dish."
Qin Yiyue said in a deep voice.
"Brother Qin, what is this dish?"
"The name of this dish is: Three-diced Ham!"
…
The time has reached half past twelve.
In the hotel lobby, Han Yuyan made another phone call to Ye Chui.
"I'm almost there..." Ye Chui on the other side of the phone said breathlessly, "I'm riding my bike back now, I should be able to get back in 30 minutes..."
Since his rebirth, Ye Chu had rarely been in such an embarrassing situation. He encountered a rare traffic jam. He had no choice but to find a bicycle and ride to the hotel. However, even so, it would probably take more than 20 minutes to get back.
"Then Master, please be careful." Han Yuyan said anxiously, taking a look at the situation in the hall: Master Han was pestering the three gourmets to talk about gourmet food. It has been almost an hour since Gao Yuesheng brought people here, which has made Gao Yuesheng's patience less and less...
Han Yuyan continued to say to Ye Chui, "Grandpa probably can't delay any longer, please show up soon... You haven't appeared in several chapters."
"... I'll hurry back." Ye Chui said with some sweat, "Let's not talk about it for now, hang up the phone... After this is over, it seems that I will have to run with you every day to exercise my body."
After ending the call, Han Yuyan just put away his phone.
Gao Yuesheng finally reached the limit of his patience. He walked to the table where Mr. Han and the three gourmets were sitting with a sullen face, trying hard to maintain a polite expression on his face: "Mr. Han, can we start? I brought people from Shenghuayuan to participate in the competition. Without Brother Miao in the restaurant, I don't know how much business will be delayed. Mr. Han, aren't you being disrespectful to Shenghuayuan by wasting time like this?"
The three gourmets felt a little embarrassed at this moment.
They were invited by Gao Yuesheng to be judges, but they ended up just chatting with Mr. Han, and they felt quite guilty about it.
"Mr. Han, how about we talk about this later? After all, I came here today for important matters." The oldest of the three judges asked softly.
Old Han looked reluctant, but he also knew that this matter could not be delayed any longer. If it continued like this, it would be too much. He had no choice but to nod and said, "Well, I came here to watch the fun today. You guys should start the game quickly."
Gao Yuesheng was relieved when he heard what Mr. Han said. He was afraid that Mr. Han was here to cause trouble on purpose. Now that the competition could go on, he was no longer afraid. He immediately called out, "Then please ask Mr. Han, Mr. Zhou, Mr. Yin, and Mr. Wang to go to the kitchen first."
In the kitchen of Manhan Building.
"The chef competition has finally begun!"
The chef of Shenghuayuan, who had prepared all kinds of ingredients, was getting impatient waiting, and Miao Shengsong was even more angry. He was a seven-star chef, and he was made to wait for such a long time. This was simply an insult to his status!
Watching Old Han and the three gourmets walk into the kitchen and sit down on the seats that had been arranged for them, Miao Shengsong snorted coldly, asked someone to help him tie a scarf, and prepared to start cooking.
On the other side, Qin Yiyue had also tied on an apron, and An Xiaoxiao was helping her.
In fact, it is not necessary for the chef to help. In the chef competition, you only need to cook one dish, and the ingredients are already prepared, so it can be done quickly. But Miao Shengsong pays attention to the pomp and circumstance, and the soy sauce has to be handed over by the kitchen assistant personally.
Gao Yuesheng already knew what dish Miao Shengsong was going to cook. He smiled and said, "The dish that Brother Miao is going to cook in the first match is his specialty, called Braised Winter Melon. Braised Winter Melon is Brother Miao's signature dish. Ten years ago, he won the third prize in an international cooking competition with this dish. Over the past ten years, he has studied this dish carefully and it has become even more exquisite. It is now an even more rare delicacy. I wonder what dish Manhanlou is going to cook in the first match?"
Pan Qingguo walked over to Qin Yiyue and asked in a low voice, then came back and said, "The dish that our Manhanlou chef Qin is going to make is called three-diced ham. This dish is a new creation of chef Qin."
"A newly created dish?" Gao Yuesheng snorted. "To compete with Brother Miao's famous dish, Master Qin actually used a newly created dish. This dish is really confident. And the name of this dish is 'Three diced ham'? What is ham?"
"You don't know what ham is?" Old Han said with disdain as he sat next to him. "In this year's Hainan competition, the dish Qin Yiyue made was called Golden Leg Braised Turtle. The golden leg means ham. This ham is a lost delicacy. If you don't know, then don't embarrass yourself here."
"..." Gao Yuesheng looked annoyed, but he couldn't confront Han directly, so he endured it and said with a sneer, "It turns out that ham has such a long history. Then I'll see if Master Qin's three-diced ham can compare to Brother Miao's signature dish."
While they were talking, Qin Yiyue and Miao Shengsong had already started cooking.
Miao Shengsong asked someone to heat a pot of oil, cut the winter melon into dices of the same size, put them into the hot oil and fry them. The oil he used for frying the winter melon was the best sunflower oil. The winter melon had a lot of water, so not much oil splashed when it was put into the pan.
Miao Shengsong held a funnel in his hand and kept turning it over.
A top-notch chef will strive for perfection in every step. Even though Miao Shengsong has an annoying personality, he is very serious in cooking and deserves the title of seven-star chef.
Qin Yiyue had already put the ham cut into small pieces into the wok.
This ham was made by Ye Chui himself. After the renovation of Manhan Building began, Ye Chui specially made a few hams and hung them in the kitchen. This was mainly because Lin Wei, An Jing, and Wang Shiyu all liked the taste of ham very much. After Qin Yiyue joined Manhan Building, he could use the ham to experiment with his own dishes.
But today was the first time that he officially made this dish of three-diced ham.
Needless to say, the ham in the three-diced ham is made up of three ingredients, namely shiitake mushrooms, edamame, and dried tofu.
The mushrooms have been soaked in water. When the ham is cooked, Qin Yiyue puts the diced mushrooms into the pot. As the ham is stir-fried, a layer of fragrant fat comes out. When the mushrooms are half-cooked and covered with a layer of ham fat, add the edamame.
Edamame is fresh soybeans with pods. They are green in color and look tender and cute.
When the emerald green color of the edamame deepened during stir-frying, Qin Yiyue continued to add the third ingredient, dried tofu.
Stir-fry over high heat, and add various seasonings such as sugar and soy sauce in turn.
Qin Yiyue did not throw away the remaining water from the soaked mushrooms. She poured it into the pot and began to simmer over low heat.
On one side of the kitchen, Han Yuyan nervously watched the two teams competing. He quietly slipped to Old Han's side and said, "Grandpa, Master won't be back in a short time. Can Qin Yiyue's three-diced ham beat Miao Shengsong's braised winter melon?"
"Miao Shengsong's braised winter melon is his specialty, and it tastes great. Although I don't like this kid very much, I have to admit that this dish is indeed delicious..." Old Han glanced at Qin Yiyue again, "This little guy's three-diced ham is a new dish. I can't say how it tastes, but since it uses ham as an ingredient, it shouldn't be too bad. This kid is very insightful, and with the ham made by Ye Chui himself, he still has a good chance of winning. However... what the final result will be depends on whether his dish can fully reflect the deliciousness of the ham." (~^~)