Chapter 121

Chapter 121: A Young Bull Isn't Afraid of Tigers...

The six chefs present were all top-tier, and just the process of obtaining ingredients and starting preparations was enough to captivate everyone watching.

There were special camera positions directed at the judges to capture their discussions, to be used for editing later. After all, many professional techniques are not visible to the average audience.

"Master Jiang Ting's technique, wow! Beautiful!"

A beautiful Dongxing grouper was expertly handled by her, cleaned and prepared in just three minutes, including the time spent scoring the fish’s back.

"This technique is indeed top-notch. You can tell she has been immersed in this for many years. Master Jiang is quite young, I’ve tasted her roast goose before, it was also exquisite. Unfortunately, due to time constraints, we won’t have the pleasure of tasting it today."

"Indeed, culinary competitions have their limits. Otherwise, the Cantonese chefs would surely bring out a Buddha Jumps Over the Wall dish to compete."

Not just Jiang Ting, every chef in the room had exceptional skills. Each one had successfully emerged from the preliminary rounds.

It was preparation time, and not just Jiang Ting—everyone's knife skills were so impressive that they made the judges’ scalps tingle.

Master Lu, from the Shandong culinary tradition, was known for his strong foundation in basic skills. His knife skills were flawless, and he sliced the lotus root into almost transparent pieces.

Some showed off their bone-splitting skills, while others demonstrated intricate knife work. Of course, the most eye-catching was the Wensi tofu.

"To present Wensi tofu in the finals, this chef is very confident in her skills."

"Indeed…"

As the judges were commenting, they lightly scored Master Ma’s dish.

As professional judges, they couldn’t just give random scores. They had to assess the dishes based on knife skills, seasoning, flipping the spoon, and other criteria, then give an overall score.

The chefs in the room understood these rules well, so their choices of dishes were carefully made to earn points.

The judges, while taking notes, laughed and said, "These chefs are really clever…"

The only semi-outsider judge, food writer Zhao Yu, didn’t quite understand and asked, "What do you mean by 'clever'?"

With the camera focused on them, the judges quickly explained, "When we say 'clever,' there’s nothing bad about it. We mean that these chefs are sharp and skillful, it's a compliment."

Another judge added, "You probably haven't been through chef qualification exams, so you may not know, but many of these dishes are standard exam dishes, haha."

Indeed, what could be more appropriate when facing professional judges than to present classic exam dishes?

"Haha, I’m not criticizing. There’s nothing wrong with doing it this way…"

"Indeed, these special-grade chefs advance with these dishes! I’m sure these chefs have thoroughly mastered them by now."

Zhao Yu nodded and looked at the youngest contestant, Chen Ran: "If that’s the case, this young chef must be very skilled, passing the special-grade exam at such a young age…"

Bai Jing, who had already memorized the contestants' profiles for hosting, interjected, "Chef Chen has only been an entry-level chef so far."

Everyone’s gaze turned to Chen Ran.

"Given Chef Chen’s age, she should indeed only be an entry-level chef. She probably hasn’t even worked long enough to qualify as intermediate, right?"

"Probably not… Chef Chen is only 25 years old, so young!"

"Moreover, judging by her ingredients, none of Chef Chen’s dishes are considered traditional competitive dishes."

While other contestants were showcasing their knife skills, Chen Ran had already put the fish head and large intestines into the pot to cook, while she herself was busy tearing the cabbage.The contrast in the competition was clear: while others’ knives were flying in every direction, Chen Ran was quietly tearing the cabbage leaves.

"Is she making hand-torn cabbage? I’ve made this at home too! If she makes this dish in the culinary competition, won’t it be a bit underwhelming?"

When this was said, the judges all paused to think for a moment.

Hand-torn cabbage is indeed a home-style dish that rarely appears in competitions, but it couldn’t be said that the dish had no highlights.

"No, quite the opposite. This dish is actually not that easy to make."

Zheng Xu nodded: "Mr. Zhao, have you heard of Master Su Zhai Chang Nian? She’s done several state banquets, and her signature dish is hand-torn cabbage."

"The difficulty of this dish lies not in the process, but in the chef’s control. The ingredients are simple, the method is simple, and even the seasoning is simple. The difficulty is all in the chef’s hands."

"Indeed… Dishes that rely entirely on the chef’s control are truly difficult."

A young bull isn’t afraid of tigers!

It was clear that this contestant, who hadn’t yet competed, would choose such a dish. Even Chang Nian, when she competed in the culinary skills competition, didn’t present something so simple.

The scoring for such a dish would depend entirely on the chef’s skills.

The expressions of the judges were somewhat complicated, but Zhao Yu, without any of these concerns, was eagerly watching Chen Ran cook.

Although she had written many food essays, her cooking experience was limited. The only dish she could speak about with some confidence was this hand-torn cabbage.

Seeing Bai Jing come over, the two even started exchanging cooking tips.

"I make this dish at home and it’s quite popular! But I often end up with too much broth, so I sneakily pour it off before serving…"

Zhao Yu laughed, "Alright, Mr. Bai, I’ve learned your trick. I’ll try pouring off the broth next time I cook."

Hearing their "exchange of cooking tips," Zheng Xu couldn’t help but chuckle. He then saw Chen Ran starting to stir-fry and used the moment to explain.

"This dish is all about control over the heat. Many people are afraid to use high heat when cooking at home, but you can’t cook this dish properly unless you use high heat. You have to be bold and not worry about it burning. If you do, this dish will reach a whole new level."

With his explanation, Chen Ran’s plate of hand-torn cabbage was ready!

Of the six chefs present, this was the first dish to be completed and served. From the moment the ingredients went into the pan to the moment it came out, not even a minute had passed.

The cabbage, a bright green with a slight golden edge on the outer leaves, had barely any broth left in the plate.

Zhao Yu picked up a chopstick of cabbage and took a bite. Her eyes lit up!

"The heat control is perfect! It’s crispy yet tender. If it were cooked for even one more second, it would be mushy, and if it were less, it wouldn’t have been fully cooked."

"Just now, Judge Zheng said this dish was all about heat control, and I think the heat control here is indeed excellent!"

According to the usual flow, Zhao Yu’s comment should have been followed by Zheng Xu’s response. But as the camera zoomed in, he remained silent, slightly furrowing his brows.

Bai Jing noticed Zheng Xu’s silence and quickly made a light-hearted comment to fill the gap: "Judge Zheng, why don’t you give some guidance to our young chefs? Tell us where this dish could possibly be improved?"

Zheng Xu snapped out of his thoughts, glancing at Bai Jing, silently thinking, "Oh no, I’m stuck!"

He had been frowning in silence not because he thought the dish needed improvement, but because he didn’t know how to score it.

As the first dish, the score for this dish would set the tone for the entire competition. If it was scored too high, it would be difficult to grade the following dishes; but if it was scored too low…

On the side, Zhao Yu couldn’t help herself and grabbed two more bites: "It’s so delicious! I never imagined that such a simple hand-torn cabbage could taste this good! Not only is the heat perfect, but the spicy, fresh, and fragrant flavors are also spot on. By the third bite, I could taste the hint of sourness…"Zheng Xu also detected the balance in the seasoning, making it even harder to score. If this dish scored too low, how could he score the other dishes?

At first, he thought Chen Ran was giving herself a difficult challenge with the hand-torn cabbage, but it turned out she had created a problem for the judges instead.

Most of the competition dishes had many steps, each step giving points… but this hand-torn cabbage was almost effortless!

This dish was all about the heat control, seasoning, and flipping of the spatula, but there was nothing wrong with any of these aspects...

This wasn’t just any competition. Even if he wanted to deduct points, he would have to have a valid reason.

Zheng Xu bit his lip. "This dish… I think both the heat and seasoning are perfect. The only flaw might be... hmm, the plating needs some improvement."

Indeed, Chen Ran's hand-torn cabbage was so simple that it didn’t have any plating at all. This dish, learned from Chang Nian, focused on Zen aesthetics, and for her, the dark yet slightly rough earthenware plate was the plating itself.

Finally, Zheng Xu finished speaking and felt a lot more relieved: "I’ll deduct 0.5 for the plating. The heat control, seasoning, and flipping are perfect. I’ll give it a 9.5!"

Having pointed out the flaw, the other judges felt uneasy.

In such a professional competition, a comment like "there’s room for improvement" wouldn’t cut it. After all, this was a dish learned from Chang Nian! If one were to give a rash comment, how would they explain the "room for improvement" when Chang Nian herself came to ask about it?

The atmosphere became awkward, but Zhao Yu kept eating, picking up another bite of cabbage: "I’m giving it a 10! I love this! If Chef Chen opens a restaurant, I’d eat this dish every day even if it costs 88!"

The other judges hesitated for a moment. The only critique, the plating issue, had already been mentioned by Zheng Xu, so they just gave their scores without further commentary.

"I’ll give it a 9.6."

"I’ll also give it a 9.6."

Perhaps the last judge had enough time to think and suddenly had an epiphany: "Chef Chen is very bold. In such a competition, she dared to bring a home-style dish, and she executed it very well. I’ll give it a 9.6 too!"

This way, even if someone later criticized the other judges for not daring to give a lower score, it could be explained as encouraging the newcomers!

Zheng Xu looked at the usually unassuming Judge Wang and couldn’t help but inwardly think, "No wonder they managed to get a position in the system. That’s some smooth talk!"

In the end, the score for Chen Ran’s dish was 9.6. Once the score was revealed, the other contestants paused for a moment.

This was the final round, so it was impossible to be overly lenient with the scores. If the first dish scored 9.6, the second dish would surely face a tougher score.

Among the competitors, apart from Chen Ran, most of them had rich competition experience. Even Jiang Ting, who seemed younger, had participated in five or six culinary competitions.

Everyone silently slowed down their movements.

— Except for Chen Ran.

Her second dish, Nine-Turned Intestines, was also not a time-consuming dish. While the others slowed down, they watched as Chen Ran casually gestured and presented her Nine-Turned Intestines.