NOVPUBChapter 825 -824 The Best Point (4000+)
Chapter 825 -824 The Best Point (4000+)
Jiang Feng was thus dragged directly away by Sun Jikai from the kitchen, and he didn’t even have the chance to turn off the sea cucumber braising fire. It was only after getting into the car that he remembered to call Jiang Weisheng to ask him to help turn off the stove.
“Are we starting the semi-finals tonight? Why are we rushing over there so urgently?” Jiang Feng asked, puzzled, after getting into the car.
“The venue is in the suburbs, and it’ll take over an hour by taxi. If we hit traffic, it could be three hours to go there and back. It’s already three-thirty, we need to go shopping for ingredients first, then check the venue. If we don’t hurry, we might waste a lot of time queuing before the top-floor restaurant to get our ingredients,” Sun Jikai explained.
Jiang Feng suddenly understood; he hadn’t received any calls and was unaware of many details. He could only take the opportunity to ask Sun Jikai while they were in the car.
“Did we change venues? Didn’t they say last time during the final test that the venue was for the semi-finals and finals? I thought that place was pretty good, with nice cooking stations and a spacious area.”
“I also thought that place was good, but it seems like there was some issue, not sure if it was firefighting regulations or something else that wasn’t up to standard. In any case, they were just dragging their feet, and that’s why we switched to a new location,” Sun Jikai said, sighing, “I heard the semi-finals were delayed for over twenty days before we were notified, not only because of problems with the venue but also because there were visa issues with a participant from the U.S., who then had to be replaced, which caused the delay.”
Jiang Feng immediately became interested, as gossip was always intriguing: “Visa issues? What kind of problems? Did he engage in some illegal activities?”
“Seems like he was caught for drunk driving.”
Jiang Feng: ?
And you call this a visa problem? That’s a personal problem, okay!
Jiang Feng asked a few more questions, and Sun Jikai answered everything he knew. These days, Jiang Feng hadn’t been paying much attention to the competition, so much so that he was even less informed about the related matters than some of the contestants who had already been eliminated.
Since there had been no news about the semi-finals for a while, various rumors and gossip were flying around, and there were all kinds of versions. Some said that the American backer had pulled the funding, others mentioned that Xu Cheng and Han Guishan had offended someone, resulting in the venue being unusable, and there were even people saying it was actually due to Han Guishan’s failed investments which led to a break in the capital chain and the withdrawal of the investment. Considering that Han Guishan’s most disastrous investment to date was the porridge shop in the snack street, Jiang Feng felt the last rumor was definitely just hearsay.
The two exchanged information throughout the ride until they nearly reached the venue, and that’s when Jiang Feng finally remembered the question he had wanted to ask Sun Jikai since noon but had forgotten.
“Oh right, Sun, I wanted to ask you something. Do you think the thickening technique used for Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon could be applied to other dishes?”
“Ah?” Sun Jikai was bewildered, not sure why the topic had suddenly shifted from casual gossip to such a serious culinary discussion.
And it was a culinary discussion he was not prepared to answer.
“This…,” Sun Jikai thought for a moment, “should be possible, I guess.”
“Then, do you think applying the thickening technique of Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon to Jiang’s Sea Cucumber Soup could bring a qualitative change to it?” Over these days, Jiang Feng had asked all sorts of strange questions to countless people. The more he asked and practiced, naturally, the more he learned.
He had managed to come up with the thickening technique for Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon because he had seen Cao Guixiang making the Braised Big Black Sea Cucumber. Accordingly, Jiang Feng thought the technique of thickening for Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon was very ingenious. This technique depended on subtle changes in temperature and feel to determine the final quality of the dish. Theoretically, it should be suitable for Jiang’s Sea Cucumber Soup.
Of course, it had to be modified.
Sun Jikai: ?
You’re really putting me on the spot here.
“Well, maybe it could,” Sun Jikai, although not yet fully proficient in the thickening technique for Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon, suddenly felt quite optimistic about its feasibility after hearing Jiang Feng say so.
He might not know how to make Jiang’s Sea Cucumber Soup, but he had seen Jiang Feng do it.
“I think that’s possible, too. How about this, don’t leave tomorrow afternoon, and we can discuss it in the kitchen.” Jiang Feng slapped his thigh.
Sun Jikai desperately looked out the window.
Damn it, he couldn’t make a slurry nor Jiang’s Sea Cucumber Soup, what was there to discuss!
Sun Jikai hadn’t even been looking out the window in despair for two minutes before they arrived. n𝚘𝚟pub.𝚌o𝚖
Although the new competition venue was decided on short notice and was in an even more remote suburban area than the last one, it was huge.
Really huge.
So huge that Jiang Feng felt if each of the four restaurants were to form a cheerleading squad, they could perform cheerleading routines behind their respective contestants during the competition without it feeling crowded.
Even though the venue was set up at the last minute, the stage, lighting, and all sorts of equipment looked pretty good, very professional—Jiang Feng felt like he was in a TV studio.
The cooking stations were also bigger compared to those during the trial, with four stoves alone, two sinks, and two ovens—one might say they were extravagantly luxurious and could be directly moved into a hotel kitchen.
Jiang Feng even wanted to pack up the ovens and bring them home; the ovens prepared by the production team looked more high-tech and much more expensive than those at Taifeng Building.
Sun Jikai and the others’ worries were reasonable; although the venue was large, there were only two prep rooms. Wu Minqi and Sun Maochai, who had arrived earlier, were already prepping, so Jiang Feng and Sun Jikai went to inspect the facilities at the cooking stations first.
The two of them were like kids who had never seen the world before, oohing and aahing over the array of kitchen tools that the production team had prepared.
“Wow, Old Sun, this oven must be the latest model, right? I feel like I might not even know how to use it. Is there a manual? Do you have a manual over there?” Jiang Feng asked, admiringly caressing the oven.
Taifeng Building didn’t use ovens very often—it was mainly Zhang Guanghang who used them, and Ji Xia used them when making pastries. The ovens they had were very simple, cheap, and cost-effective, unlike the expensive, smart-looking ones prepared by the production team.
Sun Jikai searched around his oven for a long time: “No.”
Jiang Feng beckoned a staff member: “Could you please find the manual for the oven for me? I don’t quite know how to use it.”
The staff member: ?
After examining the ovens, Jiang Feng and Sun Jikai also checked out the stove, the sinks, the chopping boards, and anything else you could think of. Perhaps to highlight the high-end nature of this program, the cooking stations in the new venue appeared to embrace the principle of choosing only the expensive and the best—even the sinks were different from what Jiang Feng and Sun Jikai were used to.
These were designer sinks.
How to put it—the first impression these cooking stations gave was that the people who should be cooking there weren’t chefs.
They should be robots.
And what they should serve shouldn’t be food but nutrient solutions.
Of course, the equipment was fine; Jiang Feng and Sun Jikai spent almost an hour familiarizing themselves with everything inside and out at the cooking station, not sparing the pots and pans and even trying out the pressure cooker, which was very easy to use.
They even thought about buying a set to take back to Taifeng, if the kitchen had space for it.
Wu Minqi and Sun Maochai had set off half an hour earlier than Jiang Feng, so theoretically, they should have arrived half an hour earlier as well. After Jiang Feng had been studying the cooking station for over an hour and Wu Minqi’s competition still hadn’t finished, they waited for almost twenty more minutes after their make-up was done before a staff member came to notify him and Sun Jikai to go to the prep room.
With a rough estimate, the preparation for each person would take about two hours.
The length of time is a bit terrifying.
Upon entering the preparation room, Jiang Feng discovered that there were many more staff members than in the previous sessions. It wasn’t like before when the room only had simple props like tables and chairs, and the cameraman filmed straight in the face.
This time the room was decorated exquisitely, with a small round table and a sofa chair prepared for Jiang Feng, and a row of cabinets in the distance that the camera probably wouldn’t capture, topped with various drinks and juices. In addition, there were many unnoticeable but refreshing decorations, such as wallpaper, potted plants, and artificial flowers on the windowsill, that made one feel relaxed upon entering.
“Mr. Jiang Feng, right? Sorry to keep you waiting, please take a seat. Would you like something to drink? This preparation might take quite a long time, so you can treat it like a mini-interview. We will edit the interviews of the sixteen contestants into a short program that will be broadcast separately, lasting about an hour. Think of it as a warm-up before the semi-finals,” greeted Jiang Feng warmly as he entered, and the staff member responsible for asking questions invited him to sit down.
Jiang Feng shook his head, indicating he didn’t need a drink.
“Then let’s start now. I have many questions here. If you think some are inappropriate or difficult to answer, you can skip them. Just treat it like a normal conversation,” the staff lady said with a smile, and began.
“Due to some special reasons, the start of the semi-finals has been delayed for a long time. Since the last test ended, there has been a gap of more than twenty days, and during this time, we understand that many contestants have made a lot of preparations for the semi-finals. However, among the sixteen contestants, your preparation is the most unique. We’ve learned that you spent half a month locked at home without going out, apparently practicing cooking. Can you tell us why?”
Jiang Feng was startled; he hadn’t expected the production team to be so well-informed about the contestants’ recent activities, their intelligence gathering was very efficient, and they started with such a targeted question, clearly well-prepared.
Jiang Feng couldn’t help but sit up straight, smiled, and modified and embellished the words he had used to brush off Sir and Granduncle Weiming before, and spoke smoothly.
It was logical and convincing.
“That sounds like a fine pre-match preparation strategy. May I boldly ask, did these fifteen days bring a significant improvement to your culinary skills? Did you notice a clear progression in your mindset?” asked the staff member.
“No,” said Jiang Feng.
Staff member: ?
“No?” The staff member thought she had misheard.
Jiang Feng nodded, “That’s right, not at all. I wasted fifteen days exploring a completely wrong path.”
The staff member experienced a very brief moment of confusion, but her professionalism quickly kicked in and she launched the next question: “So you’re saying you actually wasted precious fifteen days of pre-competition preparation. Do you think that while other contestants have had very effective training, this waste of fifteen days might lead directly to your defeat in the semi-finals?”
Jiang Feng shook his head, “I think I still have no problem making it to the finals.”
The staff member smiled and moved on to the next question.
Each of her questions was connected, linked together in a chain. Even if Jiang Feng skipped a few, choosing not to answer, the next question would still tie into the previous one. Clearly, it was a very sincere mini-interview.
The two hours passed quickly, and as the staff member asked the last question, the interview that lasted over two hours came to an end.
Just as Jiang Feng was about to get up and leave, he finally remembered what he had been most eager to ask at the beginning.
After answering questions for two hours, his head was a bit dizzy.
“By the way, you never mentioned when exactly is the semi-final scheduled for? Now that the venue has been decided, isn’t the time for the semi-finals set yet?” asked Jiang Feng.
“The specific time has not been decided yet, but it will definitely be in the near future. The eight contestants from the US will arrive in Beiping tomorrow, and they will certainly face some acclimatization issues and jet lag. Once they adjust, we can set the date for the semi-finals,” explained the staff member.
Jiang Feng nodded in understanding, left the room, and before leaving, he didn’t forget to take a bottle of water with him.
Two hours of talking left him thirsty.
No wonder the staff member offered him a drink the moment he walked in.
As Jiang Feng walked out while gulping down water, Chef Arno was heading towards him, seemingly on his way to the preparation room.
After more than twenty days, Chef Arno looked even more robust.
The two got closer and closer.
Chef Arno slowed his pace, his gaze began to change.
Jiang Feng also slowed down, finishing the water in the bottle and squeezing it in his hand.
They passed by each other.
Suddenly, Jiang Feng stopped.
Chef Arno stopped too, a touch of smugness on his face that screamed, I knew he had something to say to me.
“Chef Arno, I have a question for you,” Jiang Feng turned his head.
Chef Arno lifted his head in pride, looking down on Jiang Feng with a mixture of smugness and scorn.
“Although I didn’t get to taste your beef tartare last time, I do have a few questions for you. How do you control the thickness when slicing the beef? Is thinner always better, or is there a limit? Does the optimal thickness vary with the doneness of the beef? I’ve been pondering this question these past few days. If the texture can directly affect the layers of flavor, then knifework could play a decisive role. But the chefs around me don’t have much experience with this, and I think there must be a connection because I remember that the way you cut each piece of beef for your beef tartare was actually different.”
Last time, since Jiang Feng had nothing much to do, he spent most of his time watching other people cook.
Chef Arno: ?
Sun Jikai, who had come out a few minutes earlier and had been waiting at the door for Jiang Feng: …
Sun Jikai was already contemplating whether, if Chef Arno and Jiang Feng started fighting the next second, he should rush to break it up or call Wu Minqi and Sun Maochai for help before stepping in.
Chef Arno’s expression clearly went blank for a few seconds, and then turned to confusion.
He stared at Jiang Feng.
He stared at Jiang Feng for half a minute.
“Of course, the ideal thickness varies with the doneness of the meat, and with different cuts of meat as well. In fact, every piece is different; it’s impossible to find that optimal point. How could thinner meat always be better? Knifework is one of the most important skills. Hasn’t Peng Changping taught you this?” He spoke fluent Chinese.
Sun Jikai: ???
