Chapter 120

Chapter 120: The Finals

For the customers, the six-hour business day passed in the blink of an eye.

This Chinese-style burger shop is really great!

If the other two Chinese-style burger shops just swapped Western burgers with Chinese food, this one has completely overturned the concept of a burger from the inside out.

Bai Jing interviewed the six chefs: "Chef Lu, what are your thoughts on this competition?"

Although six hours of operating time is not very long, frying dishes continuously is still tiring work. Lu Jingrong and Chen Ran took two shifts during the day, and they both showed slight signs of fatigue.

"To be honest, since I became a chef, I have never cooked at such a small stand," Lu Jingrong said.

Back when he worked at a state-owned hotel, he apprenticed under Wu Chaomei. After the market economy was introduced, he went on to be the head chef at many large hotels and restaurants. He had never worked at a small food stand, let alone a small restaurant.

But today, this kind of scenario gave him a different feeling.

"Facing customers directly and hearing about their preferences has really given me a lot of inspiration. Not only did I get to interact with more customers, but the flexible way of combining dishes also gave me plenty of new ideas. After the competition, I plan to try adding more dishes to my menu."

At the beginning of the competition, Lu Jingrong hadn’t expected to gain much from it.

It's a cooking competition, after all. Everyone meets, exchanges pleasantries, then makes some fancy-looking dishes to impress others. A little show of skill, then back home to open an account.

Many of the old judges from back then now livestream cooking and sell pots and pans in their shopping carts, making a lot of money every day.

He's older now, and doesn't feel embarrassed about making money this way.

Lu Jingrong recalled Chen Ran's comment about his "double-crisp fried dish" from the last competition:

"Chef Lu's double-crisp fried dish has very solid fundamentals, both in terms of ingredients, fire control, and seasoning."

"But one thing—maybe it's because you've made it so many times—the process has become too familiar and mechanical. You didn’t adjust according to the changing ingredients."

He didn’t pay much attention to this comment at the time, but today, watching Chen Ran cook creatively based on customers' preferences, it made him feel a ripple inside.

During the times when he and Chen Ran alternated cooking, Lu Jingrong started making dishes according to the customers' tastes and preferences.

For a chef at his level of Shandong cuisine, this wasn’t too difficult, but it was something he had never done before. Even when he cooked for family during the holidays, he stuck to traditional, fortune-themed dishes, never thinking of being inventive.

Lu Jingrong glanced at Chen Ran, suddenly recalling the industry's assessment of Shandong cuisine, which has been on the decline.

"Shandong cuisine is all about rules. When it was the official cuisine, everything from knife work to seasoning had to follow strict rules. That was its strength."

"But once it hit the market, such rule-bound dishes were easily defeated by other cuisines. That’s not surprising."

Bai Jing’s interruption pulled Lu Jingrong out of his thoughts: "Chef Lu, do you think you would try this approach in the future? Engage more with customers and learn from them?"

"I will! I heard that my mentor learned her skills by working all over the place, and today's competition has made me think a lot. I plan to learn more from my mentor and try to get closer to customers. I might also visit other shops to see how they do things."

When this interview aired, many people watching on TV were stunned.

"Did he just call her 'mentor'? Is Chef Chen that senior? Did she just take on a new disciple? A formal apprenticeship?"

"This Chef Lu seems to have great skills. Could there be another chef for hire now?"

Wu Chaomei nearly choked on her wine, and Chang Nian hurried to pat her on the back: "I remember you had many apprentices in the past, right? Now, little Ranran's seniority is getting higher and higher…"

While most of the audience enjoyed this little anecdote, those in the restaurant industry paid attention to other things.This Chef Chen is still a free agent!

From the past few competitions, it’s clear that Chef Chen’s culinary skills cannot just be described as superb anymore.

At such a young age, she has already impressed many senior chefs on the show with her skills. If anyone can get this chef into their restaurant…

Think about it—she’s only 25, and even if she retires at 55, she’ll have a solid thirty-year career!

Her cooking skills, her massive online following...

There were even observations about the line-up in front of her Chinese-style burger shop: Chef Chen already has a very loyal fan base!

If a chef like this can be recruited, isn’t that like finding a cash cow?

Chen Ran’s family background was once a hindrance when she was looking for work at small restaurants in the city. People were cautious, fearing that the Chen family might cause some trouble.

But at this point, that no longer stood in her way.

Even the once-ridiculed third young master, who was mocked by the Hong Kong media, has seen his reputation improve somewhat.

However, no matter how noisy the outside world gets, there are still very few people who can actually get in touch with Chen Ran. Thanks to her previous work experiences, her ability to avoid being tracked is as sharp as her culinary skills.

After the second Chinese-style burger competition, Chen Ran scored 19 points, with her teammate Lu Jingrong trailing closely behind with 18.1.

The champion of this two-capital culinary competition will most likely be one of these two chefs.

The 0.9-point gap could be surpassed at any moment. If the final round has a higher weight, chefs like Jiang Ting and Master Ma, both with 15.5 points, could still catch up.

But even with the competition so close, the atmosphere among the contestants was quite good.

Chen Ran’s protest against the program team’s question selection became an icebreaker during this competition. After that, everyone flew to their next destination together and shared accommodations. Occasionally, they also exchanged culinary tips, and everyone learned something from it.

It’s not often that top chefs from different culinary traditions gather like this.

But now, only the final competition remains.

“This one, the program team is probably planning something big.”

“It’s okay, we’ll show some real skills in the final and wish the whole country a happy New Year, right? If we have some free time, we’ll contact each other privately. I’ve got some great wine!”

“I’ll toast Chef Chen with a drink; you can just have some cola, that’s fine.”

Master Ma raised his glass, stood up, and looked at Chen Ran. He poured half a glass of beer and chuckled.

“Chef Chen, I haven’t had much contact with you, but I’ve had plenty of dealings with your old man. I can only advise you—don’t go back!”

The others quickly chimed in.

“Chef Chen, with your skills, you can go anywhere!”

“Yeah, head to a big city!”

Jiang Ting was more direct: “If you face off against Chen Yuncong in the final, don’t be sentimental…”

The camera was still rolling!

Lu Jingrong coughed twice, diverting the topic: “Let’s just enjoy ourselves today. When the finals come tomorrow, we’ll each rely on our own skills.”

The third competition is the final of this two-capital culinary competition. The first two rounds were more entertainment-oriented, but the third round is much more competitive."The third round of the competition is the main event of our two-capital culinary competition, and it’s also the final."

The next morning, the six chefs were taken to the competition venue, which was the same broadcasting hall where the draw had taken place initially.

The hall had already been set up. Unlike the first chef competition, this time the judges' seats were occupied by several judges.

Bai Jing had already begun introducing the competition in the center of the stage.

"For this round, there is no specific theme, only a restriction on the range of ingredients. Each chef must choose three dishes: one vegan, one meat dish, and one fish dish. The final score will be the combined total of all three dishes."

Compared to the more fun and casual nature of the first two rounds, the third round was a more traditional, formal culinary competition.

Chen Ran thought for a moment. For the vegan dish, she chose hand-torn cabbage, for the meat dish, she picked Nine-Turned Large Intestines.

Based on the training she had received before coming here, these two dishes were considered competitive dishes.

Regular diners might enjoy these dishes, but they may not give too much feedback. However, the more professional the judges or chefs are, the more they can understand the difficulty of these two dishes.

At this moment, Bai Jing was introducing the five judges seated on the panel.

"This is the renowned writer Zhao Yu. Most of you in the audience have probably read her collection of essays, and her writing on food is particularly memorable."

Aside from the first judge being a writer, the other four were chefs by profession.

The competition required three dishes, and time was tight. By the time the judges were introduced, the contestants had already chosen their ingredients and started cooking.

With these professional judges, the critiques immediately sounded more expert.

"I’ve tried Master Ma’s dishes before. He started with Sichuan cuisine and later switched to Huaiyang cuisine. His cooking shows a lot of creativity. He picked tofu, so it looks like he’s definitely preparing a Wensi tofu dish."

"Wensi tofu, a great dish for performance, and it’s suitable for competitions. I’m just curious if he can cut it finely enough, but since he chose it, he must be confident in his ability."

"Oh, Master Jiang has picked a lot of ingredients, including a Dongxing grouper. I have to say, Cantonese chefs are still very skilled with seafood..."

"Master Lu has chosen braised sea cucumber with scallions... That’s also a famous braised dish. The vegan dish should be a milk soup with lotus root."

Among all the chefs, Chen Ran had picked relatively fewer ingredients.

A head of cabbage, a bunch of large intestine, and a fish head.

"This Chef Chen is very confident. The ingredients provided by the show are quite good, and she’s only picked a few things."

The oldest judge, Zheng Xu, clicked his tongue and couldn’t help but tap the table lightly.

The other judges may not have personally experienced the star-studded era, but he had. Combined with the information they had seen about the contestants, he couldn't help but feel a strange sense of anticipation for these three dishes.

"Unbelievable! The hand-torn cabbage that Chang Nian taught, the Nine-Turned Large Intestines that Wu Chaomei taught… and the Huaiyang Three-Head Feast's stewed fish head. That’s from Xu Lao Guai, right?"

Chen Ran was already washing the large intestines, and Zheng Xu squinted, watching her under the focused lights.

The star-studded era had passed, but a new star was slowly rising.