Chapter 142 Glowing Shaomai! Advance to the main round (two-in-one)

Author: Beichuan Nanhai

Chapter 142 Glowing Shaomai! Advance to the main round (two-in-one)

The evening breeze is warm.

At night, the pagoda temple square was brightly lit, with more than ten stoves on display, and nearly a thousand tourists watched outside the prompt line.

"This festival aims to promote the culture of the Kitchen Festival in the form of food competition and display."

Xia Su Nian made his opening speech gracefully and politely:

"Now, please allow me to explain to you the rules of this cooking competition and the preliminary test!"

Luo He, led by the staff, had arrived at his own stove and found that all kitchen utensils were available.

Looking towards the center of the venue, I saw a huge food storage cabinet placed there.

The cabinet is divided into squares, and there are a dazzling array of potatoes, cabbages, tomatoes and other vegetables in the grids, as if someone had dragged the central display cabinet of a large supermarket to the scene.

In addition, outside the large vegetable display cabinet, there is a row of cold storage cabinets. Luo He guessed that there should be seafood and meat inside.

It seems that not only the kitchen utensils, but also the ingredients have been prepared by the organizer, but the ingredients need to be picked up on site... Luo He thought.

On the stage, Xia Sunian's explanation of the rules came.

"The initial test lasts for three hours in total and is divided into three links: ingredient selection, food preparation, and food presentation."

"After the competition starts, each player first needs to go to the central display cabinet, select the ingredients they need, and then return to their stove to start cooking."

"It should be noted that each contestant needs to cook at least ten portions of food, so they should also take ten portions of ingredients to avoid insufficient ingredients." Xia Sunian reminded.

Some players at the scene have already questioned:

"How many servings to make?"

"Why don't we just cook it for the judges? Why do we have to cook so much!"

Xia Sunian smiled and said: "Because there are no professional judges here, but a hundred tourists randomly selected on site as public judges."

As soon as these words came out, the whole place fell into an uproar.

"For each tourist who serves as a judge, a staff member will give you one tael of [broken silver], and then you can walk back and forth between the various stoves and taste the delicious food at will."

Xia Xunian said this to the audience, saying: "If you taste the food you like, please give the broken silver to the chef on that stove."

"The first chef to collect ten taels of silver will advance to the next round of competition!"

Following Xia Su Nian's words, the chefs on the stove started talking about the competition system.

"I don't understand. What do you mean?"

"That is to say, it's similar to a food festival. You need to cook delicious food to attract tourists, and let tourists take the initiative to taste the food at your stall. The food should be so delicious that they voluntarily hand over [broken silver] to you."

"As long as ten tourists give you broken silver, you will be promoted!"

Luo He frowned slightly and quickly realized the difficulty of this competition system.

First of all, there are so many chefs on site, and each chef has to make at least ten dishes, so the ingredients must be very tight.

This also means that in the initial "ingredient selection" step, you must join the army competing for ingredients, otherwise you will face the dilemma of a clever woman without rice.

In addition, the cooking process must firmly catch the attention of guests and prevent them from being lost to other stoves, thus reducing their chances of advancement.

The cooking time also needs to be shortened, otherwise the "ticket for promotion" will be gone before the dish is finished.

Because there are only one hundred judges, there are only ten promotion places at most.

And because a chef may be recognized by more than ten judges, it is likely that fewer than ten will make the final cut.

Luo He looked around and found that many chefs had solemn expressions on their faces.

There are more than 20 breeders on site, including many well-known masters in the industry who are bound to be promoted.

Luo He thought… This elimination rate is very high.

Since there are only two rounds of assessment in total, the first test is a hellish difficulty!

"Now, I will announce the questions for the preliminary exam." Xia Sunian said.

Next to Luo He, a tall breeder looked surprised.

"I'll go, are there any required test questions?"

Boom!

Not far away, Master Haiyue placed his heavy bone-cutting knives on the chopping board and said in a deep voice:

"In previous years, the Zao Lord Festival was hosted by the top breeders in Donghuang. It is inevitable that it will be difficult."

This momentum was so shocking that others did not dare to make a sound. Luo He cast his gaze curiously, only to see Master Haiyue looking at him as well.

Eyes meet.

Haiyue looked down from a high position and glanced at Luo He's palm, seeing that the cocoon holding the kitchen knife was fresh and tender.

Turning his head in disinterest, Haiyue turned his attention to the stage, waiting for the announcement of the exam questions.

"Snacks are a type of food with specific taste characteristics. They are often made from local materials and reflect the local life style. Through snacks, the customs and cultures of different places can blend and collide during festivals."

Xia Sunian said: "The question for this exam is, [Snacks]!"

Luo He's eyes flashed slightly.

Snacks, this question is very broad.

The point is, it depends on what ingredients you can grab.

Luo He looked at the food display cabinet in the center of the venue.

"As a reminder in advance, breeders are not allowed to send pet animals as assistants during the food selection process to avoid accidents."

Xia Xunian seemed to anticipate the scene of fighting for food, smiled and said:

"Now, all contestants, please get ready——"

The eyes of all the chefs in the venue were focused on the central display cabinet and the row of refrigerated cabinets.

"I announce that this round of competition has officially begun!"

As soon as the words fell, the breeders in the venue rushed towards the food display cabinets like arrows.

Master Haiyue, who is physically strong and tall, walked to the seafood counter without hesitation and picked up a box of prawns.

Shrimp is naturally a hot ingredient. Seeing Chef Haiyue taking the initiative, everyone was annoyed.

Of course, there are also players who take their time. Master Miao Xi walked slowly to the vegetable area. Because the vegetable reserves were relatively abundant, she looked calm and picked a roll of shepherd's purse and put it into the bamboo basket.

Luo He was just stunned for a moment, and the speed of the pile of ingredients was visibly slowing down. He didn't dare to be distracted anymore, and hurriedly joined the army of people fighting for the ingredients.

After struggling to put the lean pork he grabbed into the bamboo basket, Luo He breathed a sigh of relief as he found a treasure.

At least he got the black spear pork he wanted to use... Luo He felt a little sad... Otherwise, it would be too miserable to be eliminated without raw materials!

"How about trying foreign snacks."

Xia Miao's faint voice came to my ears.

Luo He turned around and saw an old woman shaking the bamboo basket in her hand and saying in a hoarse voice:

"Snails and herbs...these are things no one wants."

In this competition, Xia Miao used the pseudonym ‘Ms. Zhen’ and used the identity of another alliance.

Although the style seems incompatible with many chefs present, because the identity is well documented, the risk of exposure is reduced.

Luo He took a look at the ingredients selected by "Ms. Zhen" and already thought of what snacks Xia Miao would make.

Baked snails.

A French dish in which snail shells are stuffed with herbs, the aroma alone can attract the attention of many public judges at the scene.

"Thank you for reminding me, I'd better choose it myself." Luo He said politely.

"Okay, young man, I won't disturb you, old lady." Xia Miao slowly walked towards the stall.

The food selection process will soon end.

In the end, Luo He just took flour, lean pork and a few pitiful cabbages.

Compared with the luxurious ingredients such as prawns, chicken, dragon fruit, spinach and so on, which are on Chef Haiyue's stove not far away, they really look a bit unsatisfactory.

Luo He looked at the ingredients in front of him, caught a glimpse of the steamer provided by the organizer, and already had the answer in his heart.

*

In front of the stove, the chefs are cooking in full swing.

Outside the cue line, hundreds of judges held broken silver in their hands, preparing to enter the venue and taste delicious food.

Lin Xiaolin and Li Wanqing also had their quotas as judges and were mixed in with the team.

"Hey, I think I saw a girl from the Jiang family." Lin Xiaolin said.
To be continued...