Chapter Sixteen: A Contest

  The first update is online, seeking recommendations and collections. It's been a week since the upload, and the word count seems to be around 50,000 words now, applying for review by Sanjiang, hoping it will pass, hehe!

  This remark almost killed the few chefs, and there are not many such culinary competitions in this circle, but most of them are one-on-one, and a small number of people have come to several, also one by one. Choose one person from among you, everyone makes a dish together, compare, if you can't do it, go down, change another one, the meaning of this is that you all make at the same time, how many dishes you make, I will make as many, this comparison is also limited in time, it's impossible to wait for several people to finish making at the same time. The preparation time is given in advance, and any amount of time is fine. Once ready, start. This barbecue and cooking are different, the competition time for barbecue is extremely short, of course, it also depends on the choice of ingredients, generally not exceeding one hour, except for roasting a whole sheep. Those who dare to use roasted whole sheep for comparison are all great gods. As mentioned earlier, meat and meat are different, ordinary chefs can't guarantee that every piece of meat from a whole sheep has a different flavor. If Chen Da Guan Ren is roasting lamb, then he is the greatest god among the great gods, and no one on this planet can match his combat value. Those few cooks who have tasted that roasted lamb, don't even mention comparison, I estimate they wouldn't dare to look at Chen Da Guan Ren, this lamb is too heavenly!

  Let's get back to the story. Chen Da Guan said, "Alright, let's do it together." This means he has to compete with these five chefs at the same time. The fat chef is preparing chicken feet, the chef who kept staring at Xiao Huzi is preparing carp, the shortest one is preparing chicken wings, and the other two are preparing scallions and lamb legs respectively.

  Su Lao Ye Zi and several old men walked over at this time, took a look, and Wang Lao Tou smiled at Chen Zhi Yuan: "The young friend's courage is commendable! At the same time, competing with the five masters, this is a grand occasion that has not been seen in the food world for decades. We old brothers are not talented and want to be judges, do you have any opinions?"

  Fat chef knew that these old men came with Chen Zhiyuan, and was afraid that they would favor them, so he didn't want to go: "You guys are together, how can you be judges!"

  "Ha ha! My name is Wang Dali, I suppose you've heard of me, Master?"

  "Is that Wang Dalu? But isn't he the master of this restaurant, Old Man Wang?" The fat chef's mouth was wide open, and he had also been in this circle for over a decade. How could those famous people not know that this restaurant is very famous in Beijing? This restaurant is run by Old Man Wang, and it's so famous that even big shots in Beijing have to make reservations to eat here, but just making a reservation isn't enough - they also have to wait for the old man to have time and be in the mood. Just because of this, the business of this restaurant can explode, and people all over the country would be proud to have eaten here once. If Chen Daquan knew about this, he would probably kneel down again. This old man is too powerful! He wouldn't even sell you a recipe unless you hugged his leg and cried, asking him to take billions of dollars. What a shameless person, always thinking about getting something for nothing!"

  "Who are these people?" The fat chef's heart sank, and the old men who came with Wang Dali must also be from this circle. Earlier, those old men ate that kid's roasted lamb like dogs fighting for food. Let alone others, just talking about Wang Dali himself, he is a top-notch master chef in the country, and he eats it like that, how delicious must the lamb be?

  "They are all my old friends, don't be afraid to laugh at the master. In our circle, we gave ourselves nicknames: Dong Qian Xi Li Nan Chen Bei Wang, Zhong won't work, and now all of us old guys have arrived!" Old Man Wang said with a loud laugh.

  Magistrate Chen listened to them with a scornful expression, "You old guys are really something! What's with the weird nicknames you've come up with? Have you read Jin Yong's novels? You know, the ones that talk about Dongxie Xidu Nan Di Bei Gai, Zhong Shentong, and all that grandeur. But your circle is just so uncultured, and in the end, you even came up with something as ridiculous as 'Zhong won't do'. What a mess!"

  Fat chef heard this, the complexion of several people immediately changed. These old men in the food world are all well-known figures, and today they all came to eat this kid's roasted lamb. One by one, they ate like dogs fighting for food. What can compare to this? How can it be compared? They themselves made that dish and begged these few old men to eat it on their knees. Others probably wouldn't even look at them!

  Old Su walked over and said, "I'm not good at cooking, my friends in the circle just joke with me, calling me 'not skilled', but I should be qualified to be a judge. Just now, I saw several masters have already prepared their ingredients, let's get started!"

  Fat chef and others at this time are pale, some are disheartened. Fat chef sighed: "What's the point of this? You guys all come to eat this little brother's roasted lamb, our few brothers' hidden skills can't compare with little brother's, we brothers will put down our knives and leave the industry, from now on we won't mix in this circle anymore!"

  "I'm telling you, Master, this is still comparable. My little friend said to compete with all of you together. I've also seen those ingredients of yours, and that lamb leg isn't even a whole one, it can't be considered too time-consuming. This time can be set at half an hour. If he can't make five dishes within half an hour, then you win...". Just as he said this, Old Man Su suddenly lowered his voice and whispered a few words to the fat chef.

  The fat chef immediately became excited: "Really?"

  "Don't cheat, you guys just let go and try!" Old Master Su said with a pat on his shoulder.

  Chen Da Guan Ren didn't know what kind of riddle the old man was talking about, and he couldn't be bothered to think about it. He had his mind set on how to make a profit from winning later, after all, making money is the key.

  The people around them couldn't bear to watch this group of people dawdling and hesitating, having lost patience long ago. As soon as they heard that it was about to start, they all cheered and shouted "good".

  The fat chef turned around and conferred with several brothers for a few words. These chefs immediately regained their youth and got busy.

  Old Su walked over and said: "Young fellow, which dishes are you planning to order?"

  Chen Zhiyuan thought for a moment and pointed to the chicken that had already been put away: "That's one, I won't make the mutton, whatever they do with the rest, I'll do too!"

  "Alright, I'll get someone to bring you the ingredients. Do you need anything else?" asked Old Man Su.

  "Never mind!" Chen Da Guan Ren was full of confidence, this guy didn't have much to prepare anyway. If he followed the method recorded in "Shi Dao Shang", he would need to prepare several days' worth of medicinal materials, but he was just a lazy and sloppy guy who relied on his secret oil to win against these few people easily!

  Old Su gave the order, and many of the service staff on the farm were present. The ingredients Chen Zhiyuan wanted were all readily available, so it didn't take much time to prepare everything.

  Old Su shouted to start, and the six people began to move. The fat chef's chicken claws were particularly special, with a fiery red color. When placed on the charcoal fire, the color deepened a few shades. As soon as it was heated, the chicken claws emitted a strong spicy aroma. This fragrance made everyone drool, and their appetites were greatly stimulated.

  The small mustache prepared roasted fish is also very special. The fish was roasted on the charcoal fire for a minute, then taken down and brushed with a layer of sauce like water. It was wrapped in orange peel and put back on the charcoal frame to roast. Soon, a very special aroma wafted out, the mellow flavor of the roasted fish mixed with the refreshing scent of the orange.

  The shortest one prepared the chicken wings, which were ordinary at first glance, but as soon as they met fire, they burst into flames. The little guy quickly turned the chicken wings in his hands, and with his rotation, a strong aroma of wine rushed out, temporarily suppressing the spicy flavor of the fat chef's chicken claws and the fragrance of the small beard's roasted fish.

  The person making the leek dish first placed a thin iron plate over the charcoal fire, and only after three minutes did he put the leeks on top. As he brushed the seasoning onto them, the leeks instantly turned blue, which was quite magical, causing the surrounding people to exclaim in amazement. The leeks didn't produce even a hint of fragrance, but as they heated up, the blue color became increasingly intense. What's most peculiar is that the leeks didn't shrink at all despite the rising temperature, remaining just like when they were first placed on top, as if the charcoal fire had no heat at all!

  The person roasting the lamb leg first put a handful of green powder into the charcoal fire, and as soon as the powder met the flames, it emitted a strong aroma similar to wormwood. After smelling the aroma, he felt that it was about right, then he put the lamb leg on, and from then on, he kept sprinkling the green powder onto the charcoal fire, while the lamb leg, except for being constantly turned over, had no seasonings added to it at all.

  Five people were busy as can be, but only Mr. Chen was relaxed. Everyone thought he would do the same as them, but instead, he got a long charcoal stove and divided the charcoal into five portions of varying strengths. He put the chicken legs in the strongest fire, fish in the slightly weaker spot, followed by chicken wings and feet, and finally scallions in the weakest flame. Under the scallions, he also placed an iron plate, but didn't preheat it, just putting the scallions on top of it, which was very convenient.