As soon as Yuan Zhou stepped into the banquet hall, he found the lights were bright and the layout was reasonable. There was only one empty long table in total. At the edge of the hall, there were beautiful hostesses dressed in black formal attire.
At the front of the long table were three judges. The nameplates on them were respectively the chairman of China Chefs' Alliance, the Doctor of Precious Food Ingredient Research and the Gourmet Critic.
These people all appeared to be famous. Except for the first chairman, the rest appeared to be no more than 40 years old and were in the prime of their lives.
"As expected, there's also an age requirement for chefs." Yuan Zhou suddenly thought of the retired royal chef.
He turned his head and found the most conspicuous ones were the participating chefs. As they were all tied with blue ribbons on their wrists as if they were decorations, those who came in to watch were wearing red ribbons. Therefore, he couldn't make a mistake.
Those who could participate in the competition were all excellent chefs. Therefore, most of them basically knew each other. They stood in twos and threes and chatted with each other in a relaxed atmosphere.
There were only six people who traveled alone.
One of them was Yuan Zhou, who didn't know anyone. Although he wanted to confirm his culinary skills, he wouldn't greet a chef he didn't know rashly. Therefore, he just stood at the side quietly with a cup of plain water in his hand.
The arrogant Chu Xiao stood in the front with a strong aura. He emitted an aura of "you are all ants", which made people not dare to get close to him. He blocked a group of people who wanted to get to know him.
After all, all the senior chefs had their own pride. No one would be willing to go up and greet others coldly.
Naturally, the other two people were Lee Yanyi and Xing Min. The atmosphere between them was always at loggerheads. The students following them comforted each other anxiously.
Xing Min said again, "Old man, if you are so capable, let's have a competition between men."
"Old man, you still think that you are a hot-blooded young man." Lee Yanyi glanced at Xing Min coldly, not even giving him a second glance.
Then, Xing Min exploded again. The two parties started to comfort each other again.
However, only Xing Min's assistant was nervous. Every time Lee Yanyi was rebuked, he would kill him with one sentence, which made Xing Min angrier and angrier.
Just five minutes after 9: 00, the old man, the chairman of China Chefs' Alliance, stood up.
"Masters, I now invite you to have a look at these food ingredients. The competition comes second and the communication comes first." The old man's voice was full of vigor.
As soon as he spoke, the people below immediately stopped their discussions and began to listen carefully.
"That's right. Communication comes first." The chefs echoed one after another.
"That's right. Anyway, the first place is mine. What's there to fight for?" Chu Xiao's words instantly caused an awkward silence.
"Young man, you are always full of youthful vigor. It might have been you in previous years, but not this year," Lee Yanyi snorted and said straightforwardly.
"Oh? Do you mean it might be him? "Chu Xiao looked at Lee Yanyi seriously, but his finger was pointing at Yuan Zhou.
"Grandpa Mao once said that we must look down on our enemies strategically and pay attention to them tactically.
Although Chu Xiao did not look down on Yuan Zhou, he did not attach much importance to him either. He was only slightly interested.
"That's right." Lee Yanyi nodded.
Nevertheless, Chu Xiao just sneered and didn't have any other reaction.
"I'm sorry. I really don't like being pointed at. Please put down your finger. Bluffing will only make you look weaker. Besides, you shouldn't point your finger at something unrelated to cooking." Yuan Zhou knitted his brows and said solemnly.
"Oh?" When Chu Xiao heard Yuan Zhou's words, he looked at Yuan Zhou in surprise.
"I think we can start now. I'm Number 4. What's your number?" Yuan Zhou did not pay attention to the slightly interested look of Chu Xiao, but asked straightforwardly.
"You want to compete with me?" Chu Xiao felt it a little funny.
Ever since he became famous, nobody dared to compete with him because his sense of smell was five times better than that of ordinary people. After constant training, he could distinguish the place of origin, time, degree of maturity and freshness of each ingredient as long as he smelled it. In this aspect, nobody could surpass him.
"You are mistaken. This is a competition." Yuan Zhou said indifferently, without any intention of winning.
"You seem to be very confident. Is it because of the difficult problem at the entrance that gives you such confidence?" Of course, Chu Xiao could tell that Yuan Zhou believed he would definitely win. Thus, he said in a mocking tone.
"I think the competition should start now. After all, we can't waste time." Yuan Zhou no longer answered Chu Xiao. Instead, he checked the time on his phone and said lightly.
"Interesting." Chu Xiao didn't care that Yuan Zhou didn't answer him. He revealed an interesting look and then lowered his head to touch his cuff.
"That's right. This chef is right. We should start the competition now." Seeing the several people in a state of mutual hostility, the chairman of China Chefs' Alliance didn't stop them. Instead, he came out to end the competition after Yuan Zhou reminded him.
It wasn't that he didn't attach importance to the competition, but that he felt young chefs naturally had to have their own pride. Besides, they couldn't compete with each other too badly. After all, there were still old people like them.
If they didn't care about that at all, most of them probably wouldn't make any progress.
After all, only reasonable competitiveness could make people improve constantly.
"The first competition will start from this. The chef who draws No. 1, please come forward and tell us the answer." The chairman signaled the beginning of the competition.
There was a strange rule in this competition, which was different from other competitions.
It had neither judges nor judges, because it was only a competition of who could recognize more ingredients.
500 ingredients would be selected first. From No. 1 to No. 12, they would come forward to identify the place of origin, the degree of ripeness and the suitable time to cook the dish. The first ingredient would be identified by the chef who drew No. 1. If he did, the second chef would identify the next one. If he didn't recognize the second one, he would continue to identify the first one.
If he failed three times in a row, he would be eliminated. When the ingredients were all used up, the remaining people would participate in the competition the next day.
Such a method was actually unfair. However, the chairman of China Chefs' Alliance believed that luck was also a part of strength. Therefore, No. 4 was a good number for Yuan Zhou.
However, Chu Xiao's number was closer to the front and was directly No. 2.
The first one to appear was a few green Sichuan peppercorns, which were fairly easy to guess.
The person who was called No. 1 was a tall and slim young man, who looked quite ordinary and not nervous at all. He went up and observed carefully. Following the rules, he didn't touch the peppercorns or take them close to him to smell them. About one minute later, he started to talk ceaselessly.
"Sichuan peppercorns are also called green pepper, dog pepper, Sichuan pepper, red pepper and red pepper. It's even written in a poem. It's best to be cooked as a fragrant and spicy dish. Both the green and red colors can be used. The ripening time is from July to September."
"As for the place of origin of the pepper, judging from the strong fragrance, it should be the production area in the Land of Abundance. The pepper there has the most authentic taste." After saying that confidently, the man with glasses prepared to return to his original position.
"I'm sorry. I have an objection." Chu Xiao went up one step and said straightforwardly.
Nevertheless, Yuan Zhou just stood there quietly and didn't give any response. On the contrary, he was quite curious about the several people who suddenly entered from the other side.
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