Chapter 56: A Genius Master Chef at a Young Age?
“You’re here too?”
Xu Le turned around. Zhang Tong was dumbfounded. Behind him were chefs dressed in formal attire with the logo “Heavenly Restaurant” printed on it.
The competition in the food and beverage industry was brutal. When the adults saw this child, they did not tease him. Instead, they asked nervously, “Are you going to participate in the Beijing Food Expo?”
“Yeah.”
They did not dare to treat Xu Le as a child. After all, his majestic performance during the previous competition was still deeply etched in their minds.
Zhang Tong calmed down and asked, “What organization are you representing?”
“My Eight-year-old Canteen.”
Zhang Tong widened his eyes again. He did not know what to say and he ultimately shook his head and reminded, “You must not sell the rights to your signature dishes, otherwise you might be cheated by some businessmen.”
“I know that.”
Xu Le had gone to university before in his past life. Besides, he wanted to make the restaurant big. Of course, he had to cherish his wings and would not sell his dishes easily.
The two chatted for a while more. Zhang Tong admired him very much and said, “There will be a ranking after the Food Expo. It will be recognized by everyone in the industry. By then, it will have a great influence on the restaurant.”
“The Heavenly Restaurant has a title of a chainstore and all the branches have gradually been opened in first-tier cities. Therefore, the ranking from this competition is very important to us. This time, we’ve sent a group from Shanghai to battle… The judges are all from all over the world and each one of them is more picky than the other. If the evaluation is not good, don’t cry.”
Xu Le frowned and said, “I won’t cry.”
“Yes yes yes, you are already eight-year-old!”
Zhang Tong teased him on purpose.
After reaching the hotel that the organizer had arranged, he placed his luggage down, then there were arranged transport to send him to the expo. There was a sea of people outside, all sorts of local food stalls and even the local delights.
When Xu Le was still studying in university and had travelled to Beijing, he was lucky to have the chance to try the fatal mung bean soup, so he would avoid it whenever he came across it.
In his heart, he muttered, “Indeed, the type of people is dependent on the land they were raised in. When I drink that thing, it tastes like water that was used for washing dishes, but they are drinking it tastily.”
He continued to follow the organizer into the room. The tiles on the floor were shiny, and the decoration was mainly black and gold. It was noble and grand, and the place was spacious. From the view at the judges’ seats, one could see that the transparent kitchen was specially built for the competition. It was made of stainless steel, and there were steamer, oven and frying pot… In any case, everything that should be in the kitchen was present.
The host held the microphone and said excitedly, “Everyone, finish registering today and then go through the rehearsal process. Tomorrow will be the official competition. We will have a very important visiting guest tomorrow. Please wait in anticipation!”
Usually, a guest described as ‘important’ should be a famous gorumet in the field, and his/her age should not be too young.
The first thought that came to Xu Le’s mind was Cai Lan. However, he was busy with the post-production of the program, so he shouldn’t be able to make time for this.
Therefore, he did not think much and walked to his position alone.
The main director was adjusting the cameras. Others came in a team of 10 over people, or at least seven to eight chefs. Some even brought their assistants along. But when the camera turned to him. all that could be seen was an empty space.
Oh, no, Xu Le was tiptoeing to reveal half of his face.
He asked the staff members for a stool for him to step on. Then, he informed them of the ingredients he needed. Following that, he checked the condiments in front of him and started the fire to test out the pan.
He concentrated on heating the pot with the lard. Before he knew it, the camera was on his face. Soon, everyone’s attention was on the child.
A few judges who had returned from overseas and were unaware of the situation frowned and asked, “How did a child sneak in? The kitchen is a dangerous place. Bring him out quickly.”
“No, you are mistaken.” A judge at the side smiled and said. “That child has been popular on the internet recently. You will be able to see him once you turn on your phone. He seems to be called, uhh, Xu, Xu Le.”
“What?”
“He’s so young, yet he already has the reputation of a genius Master Chef. He really is very capable.”
“It can’t be. He can’t even reach the counter top. Those titles are probably because of marketing gimmicks, right?”
The judges gathered together to discuss.
Xu Le reported to the production team that he needed barbel fish and fresh crabs. He looked through the ingredients in the fridge and had an idea.
When the preparation time ended, everyone followed the procedures under the instructions of the host and staff before dispersing.
The lights in the large venue were all extinguished, leaving only a few small lights to illuminate the area.
Xu Le walked to the door and realized that he had left his phone at the venue, so he returned. The security guard at the door did not notice a small figure brushing past him and yawned as he locked the door.
After all, there were cameras everywhere in the venue, so there was nothing worth paying attention to.
Xu Le found his phone and was about to leave when he suddenly kicked something. He looked down and saw a white-haired old man curled up on the ground. His clothes were “ragged”.
“Grandpa, what’s wrong?”
Xu Le squatted down to help him up. The white-haired old man didn’t seem to be in a good state of mind. The fabric of his clothes had been ground into tattered tassels.
Under the dim light, Xu Le could not see his expression clearly. “Should I help you out first?”
“I’m hungry.”
“Who are you?”
“I’m hungry.”
No matter what he asked, the old man kept repeating the same words. Xu Le said helplessly, “I’ll take you out to buy food.”
“I’m hungry.”
Xu Le looked at the stove behind him and thought that he was a mentally unstable person who had come in by accident. He said, “Grandpa, pick a place to sit. I’ll make something for you to fill your stomach.”
The white-haired old man nodded excitedly.
Xu Le’s hand, which was handling the ingredients, paused. “So you can understand what I’m saying.”
The white-haired elder said, “I’m hungry.”
He finally understood that the person in front of him only chose to listen to what he wanted to hear.
On the table were onions, garlic, and various spices. Xu Le took out a piece of pork trotter from the fridge and added some sauce and aniseed. He blanched it in the pot and washed the pork trotter clean after removing the froth. Then, he burned the pig’s hair with the flames and chopped it into evenly sized pieces of meat.
He blanched it again to remove the blood and stench.
The oil in the pot was heated up to 40% hot, and sugar blocks were added into the pot. He continuously stirred it with a spoon in one direction, and then used a small fire to heat until it started bubbling and had turned light brown.
He then drained the water from the processed pork trotter and poured it into the pot to stir-fry until it had changed color. During the process, he added ginger, garlic, fragrant leaves, aniseed and dried chili peppers. Finally, he poured beer and clear water into the pot to submerge the pork trotters.
At this moment, the fragrance of meat spread out. Braised pork trotters could be considered a simple home-cooked dish. Xu Le looked at the old grandpa and felt that he must have bad teeth due to his age. He would stew the pork trotters softer later..