Food: Random stalls, customers chase me all over the country

Chapter 594 - A millennium-long replica, Su Xinghang Bing
The scene of the game.

Wang Fan felt that efficiency was indeed the most important thing in the 21st century. It seemed like he was still studying how to make desserts yesterday, and today was already the qualifying round.

However, he found that this competition was much more harmonious than other competitive games. Perhaps people who like to eat sweets and make desserts have gentler personalities?
Everyone who knows each other gets together to exchange their recent food experiences and recommend some brands of raw materials to each other. It is far different from the intrigue in other industries.

And looking around, most of the people are young people, many of them are of his age, very young.

"Boss Wang?"

"You're actually here?"

Wang Fan was looking at others, and others were naturally looking at him. As they were all young people in the catering industry, they naturally paid attention to him, who was particularly outstanding.

“Boss Wang doesn’t make a lot of desserts, but judging by the pictures others have shared, it’s clear he’s quite skilled.”

"We lost miserably. If it was just one person, it would be fine, but this competition is between China and France. Losing so badly would be a disgrace to our country. I hope Boss Wang can perform amazingly and bring us some honor."

"But it's impossible to get a spot easily. I must give my all in the competition. If I get knocked off my horse, you can't blame me."

They are all young people, and they are all leaders in the industry. Although they don’t care much about awards, they also want to compete with others. Especially Wang Fan, who is not a member of the circle. How can they not be looked down upon, right?

This is an internal selection competition, so the French pastry masters don’t need to come, but Alan, the judge, has come to the competition like a star-studded cast.

When he saw Wang Fan, his eyes lit up and he walked towards him quickly with a smile on his face.

"Oh my dear friend, it's so good to see you here."

Allen spoke Chinese more and more fluently, and after he finished speaking, he stretched out his arms and gave Wang Fan a big hug.

"I know your Chinese etiquette. Old friends should hug when they meet. How about that? Are you touched?"

Wang Fan hugged Allen with a helpless smile, thinking to himself that he was not moved at all. As a judge, you are so enthusiastic about me, a contestant. What do you think these colleagues will think?
But he was a little too worried. The news that he was the head chef in Allen's restaurant was widely circulated. How could those who made Western desserts not pay attention to it?
If it was a previous competition, they might still be worried that they would suffer a loss because of this relationship, but now they just hope that Allen can just tilt his butt when Wang Fan participates in the competition.

Allen happily put his arm around Wang Fan's shoulders and said, "Ever since you left, those old friends have often asked me about you. If you're still interested in continuing to be a chef, they're willing to pay a lot of money to taste the Chinese cuisine you make."

Wang Fan shook his head and said, "I have no plans to go abroad for the time being."

"Oh my dear friend, you actually rejected my sincere invitation. I will definitely make things difficult for you in tomorrow's game."

Wang Fan was amused by the old man's words. "I didn't expect you would even use the phrase 'making things difficult for me'. It seems you've put a lot of effort into it."

After reminiscing about the past, Allen did not stay long as he had other plans. Tomorrow would be his official debut, and today was just to reminisce about the past with Wang Fan. Although there was a big age gap between the two of them, Allen really appreciated Wang Fan's serious attitude when making food, and they felt like they were friends regardless of age.

After the interlude, the registered contestants entered the venue one after another. After the host introduced the judges, competition rules and evaluation criteria, the competition officially began.

To put it simply, the rules are to make a dessert of any theme within two hours. The judges will score based on appearance, taste, and texture. The ten contestants with the highest scores will participate in tomorrow's China-France Dessert Championship.

The competition system is similar, but there are some changes this time. Those who make Chinese-style appearance or Chinese-style desserts will get some extra points. After all, what is national is also global. We cannot always allow foreign things to be imported. Encouraging our own culture and achieving cultural output is the original intention of holding this competition.

As soon as the contestants started moving, the entire competition venue was filled with a sweet aroma.

Wang Fan took a look around and found that almost all of the more than 100 people present were Western pastry chefs. This could be seen from the things they placed on the table, but it was not clear whether there were any Western-style pastry chefs.

Two hours is not a long time. Many desserts take longer to make, so Wang Fan did not waste any more time and started to make them.

Although he is confident in his abilities, he will not underestimate everyone in the world. He is going to compete with France. If he fails in the preliminaries, Wang Fan will feel sorry for his girlfriend who has worked hard to look up information.

Go all out!

According to the information we have read so far, the Tang and Song dynasties were the most popular ancient desserts. There were all kinds of desserts at the Burning Tail Banquet in the Tang Dynasty.

There were also many desserts in the Song Dynasty. There were even stalls selling desserts and the earliest delivery boys in the "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" painting.

What Wang Fan is going to make today is a dessert from the Song Dynasty - vegetarian hangover ice.

This dessert comes from "Shan Jia Qing Gong" by Lin Hong of the Song Dynasty. The sobering ice refers to crystal sashimi, which is similar to jelly. The now popular Sakura Country Yokan and Mizu Shingen Cake are actually leftovers from our ancestors.

It's a bit hot today, especially at the competition venue where there are many people, so the temperature is even higher. Making this icy cool dessert is very suitable for the occasion.

Others took out typical Western ingredients such as eggs, sugar, and gelatin sheets, but Wang Fan took out things like polished rice, agar-agar, and ginger flowers, which seemed to have nothing to do with desserts. He was obviously out of tune with the people around him.

When these things were placed next to the stove, Wang Fan inevitably became the focus.

Fortunately, I have become accustomed to this situation over the years. Otherwise, if so many people were staring at me from time to time, it would be unknown whether I could finish the work properly.

Agar-agar is the main raw material for making agar, which also indicates that our ancestors had used agar-agar a thousand years ago or even earlier.

While Wang Fan was busy here, the three judges' eyes were often focused on him.

"This person should be the most famous among the contestants, right?"

"Yeah, but most of his fame is due to his cooking. He also has desserts, but not many."

"Ah, there are so few outstanding people here. I only saw about ten new faces. I hope they can give us some surprises."

The three judges had serious expressions on their faces. They had lost so badly since the competition was organized that they all felt ashamed to face the people of Jiangdong.

The exact opposite of them is naturally the French team.

It's more like a trip than a competition. After all, compared to those Chinese players, they are much stronger.

Among them, the team leader Durand is a dessert chef of a three-star Michelin restaurant. It is no exaggeration to say that he is using a dimensionality reduction attack against the Chinese players.

But when he faced Allen, he could only put on a flattering smile. Allen was not just a chef, he was the owner of several Michelin restaurants and an absolute leader in the French restaurant industry. If you offended him, you would basically have no chance of getting a job in the French restaurant industry.

Allen said to Durand very seriously, "Durand, you must take this competition seriously. The Chinese team has an amazing chef participating this time. If you don't take it seriously, you will easily lose to him."

Durand said confidently, "Don't worry, Chef Allen. The Chinese team's level is only comparable to ours. We will definitely not lose."

Although Allen is the boss, what he likes most is still being called chef. This is no secret in the circle.

Alan shook his head. "Don't underestimate that guy. Our restaurant's website still has photos of the desserts he made."

Durand was shocked. A photo of delicious food that could be posted on a homepage? Was there really such a powerful person in China?

However, thinking about the traditional format of this competition, he felt relieved again: "Don't worry, no matter how powerful he is, can he really beat 10 of us by himself?"

Allen nodded. Although Durand was a bit arrogant, he was right. No matter how powerful Wang Fan was, he couldn't beat ten people alone, right? This wasn't a movie.

"Anyway, you better be careful. If you accidentally lose the game, I'll kick you all into the Seine."

……

At this time, the competition has entered the middle stage, and some desserts with relatively simple processes have gradually taken shape.

Classic desserts such as cakes, tiramisu, exquisite large donuts, etc. have appeared on many cutting boards.

Wang Fan should be the slowest one among all the people here. Not to mention taking shape, he hasn't even started working on it.

Agar-agar is currently being cooked in his pot, and he is holding a small knife and food-grade silicone in his hands, making a mold one cut at a time.

For the fairness of the competition, this competition does not allow the preparation of special molds in advance. If used, they must be made on site.

By the time Wang Fan had almost finished carving the mold, the agar-agar was finally cooked.

According to the records in "Shan Jia Qing Gong", this dessert requires winter plums, but winter plums are definitely not available at this time of year. After listening to Wang Fan's request, Zhuo Qianqian recommended another flower to him - ginger flower.

"Our ancestors in the Song Dynasty loved to use flowers in their cuisine. The Southern Song poet Yang Wanli even wrote, 'Crystalline snow water in a jar brews the spring chill, honey dotted with plum blossoms and dewy dishes.' The reason I think ginger flowers can be used as a substitute is mainly because this ancestor also said, 'Autumn water chills fish white brocade scales, ginger flowers and jujube fruit offer fragrant and spicy flavors.' Given this ancestor's words, I believe these two flowers can definitely complement each other."

At that time, Wang Fan really felt that he regretted not having read enough books when he needed them.

Ginger flowers are easy to find. After finding them, I felt that the fragrance of the flowers was rich and refreshing. I thought they would be good for cooking.

The cooked agar-agar water was filtered with gauze, and then Wang Fan carefully poured it into the mold he had just made.

When two-thirds of the filling is poured, put the ginger flowers, chopped orange peel, orange flesh, and minced ginger into the mold, and finally fill the remaining space in the mold with juice.

After the temperature of the mold dropped, Wang Fan put the mold in the refrigerator.

"Boss Wang's production process feels so strange, completely different from others."

"It's really hard to understand. It feels like they cooked something weird, carved something weird, put some weird things in it, and then it ended weirdly."

"Boss Wang, haven't you given up?"

There were spectators at the competition, and although no one knew how to make desserts, everyone knew how to eat them!
Besides, there's fun to be had, so why not join in?

"According to the rule that the weirder the moves, the higher the damage, what Boss Wang creates will definitely surprise everyone."

The process of others making it is basically the process of a delicious dessert slowly taking shape. The audience can clearly see every node, from the base to the cake to the icing, from the biscuit crumbs to the tiramisu, and every person and every step can be seen clearly.

It just so happens that Wang Fan only cooked, carved and added things. No one knows what he made, whether it looks good or not, and no one knows whether it tastes good or not. It is a three-no product. Naturally, the discussion about it will be much higher, and everyone is more and more curious about what Wang Fan is up to.

Fortunately, the time for production completion is getting closer and closer, just like the grand prize is about to be announced, and everyone is looking forward to what Wang Fan puts in the refrigerator.

Wang Fan estimated the time, took out three small bowls, and then took the mold out of the refrigerator.

Not to mention the audience, even the judges and other contestants have focused their attention on Wang Fan's hands.

Wang Fan gently opened the mold, placed it on the bowl, and shook his wrist slightly. An ice crystal flower gently fell into the bowl.

"???"

"What the hell?"

"With this round of weird operations, they made something that looks like I can't afford to eat it at first glance?"

"He can do magic, right?"

After what Wang Fan made fell into the bowl and the others saw its true appearance, exclamations of surprise rang out one after another.

In the brown-red bowl is a crystal clear flower. Not only are the petals’ outlines extremely clear, but there are also beautiful golden stamens in the middle of the flower!

Its perfect appearance instantly captured the attention of everyone present.

The three judges looked at each other and saw the excitement in each other's expressions. Putting aside the taste and texture, just looking at the appearance, the dessert in front of them was definitely not inferior to those made by French masters!
"If I'm not mistaken, this should be a vegetarian hangover shaved ice from the Song Dynasty. I didn't expect this young man to actually replicate this dessert."

"It's probably not the original plain hangover ice. It looks like it's been modified, but the modification looks very successful."

"If this vegetarian hangover shaver tastes good, I think we'll have a pretty good result in this competition, huh? Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Who are you looking down on? Our ancestors were much more particular about food than we are. This must be delicious."

(End of this chapter)