Chapter 726: 725 Chapter Selection
Apart from the chicken beancurd and Taishi Snake Soup, which were served individually, the rest of the dishes were large single servings. The order of service was chicken beancurd, Ding Lake vegetarian dish, stead green eel, oyster sauce broccoli, Dezhou braised chicken, Taishi Snake Soup, and Hundred-Flavor Soup. After all the dishes were served, fruits were brought to the table, signaling the end of the midsumr banquet.
Starting with the Ding Lake vegetarian dish, the pace of serving dishes beca very fast. In just a few minutes, the Ding Lake vegetarian dish, stead green eel, oyster sauce broccoli, and Dezhou braised chicken were all on the table. Since there were only 7 dishes in total, the portions had to be made very large.
Unlike the previous small plate servings, the dishes this ti were not only large in size but also in quantity—especially the stead green eel, for which they almost brought out the largest plate in Taifeng Building. This caused many diners to mutter to themselves about why the portion for the chicken beancurd was so small, compared to the generous servings of the other dishes.
After the initial buzz about Jiang Feng subsided, everyone started to eat.
Then they were amazed to find that everything was delicious.
Zhenzhen found everything she tasted delicious.
Every mouthful was fragrant!
The Ding Lake vegetarian dish was delicious, the stead green eel was also delicious, and even the common, unremarkable oyster sauce broccoli and the Dezhou braised chicken were delicious, in a way that was indescribably good.
Soon, the bustling diners quieted down, reverting to the state they were in when they had the chicken beancurd, only not as quiet. From ti to ti, soone would still whisper and discuss how delicious the Ding Lake vegetarian dish and stead green eel were and which was tastier.
Aside from the Dezhou braised chicken, the dishes on the table were relatively light and fresh, staying on this culinary path. The Dezhou braised chicken, with its heavy oil, salt, and seasoning, seed like an outlier and even dominant. At least Han Guishan and the art student who recomnded the pure at dumplings were particularly enjoying it.
Seeing that he was the only one at the table eating mostly Dezhou braised chicken, while others were mainly enjoying the extra-large serving of stead green eel or opting for the Ding Lake vegetarian dish, Han Guishan found it odd and took a big bite of the chicken leg in his bowl.
Nothing wrong with it, it’s tasty!
“Why aren’t you all eating the chicken?” Han Guishan asked Xu Cheng with a curious look.
Xu Cheng: …
He really didn’t know how to evaluate his friend’s taste. Saying that his taste was odd, his friend also ate what everyone thought was delicious and could distinguish what was tasty and not. But if you say his taste was normal, he always seed to like eating things that normal people wouldn’t eat.
At least, so far, Xu Cheng had not found out what was so delicious about the dish that Jiang Feng had made.
Xu Cheng thought for a mont: “I’m getting older and can’t eat too greasy.”
Han Guishan suddenly understood and continued to nibble on his chicken leg.
Peng Changping, hearing their conversation, couldn’t help but smile. Xu Cheng, seeing this, explained, “Master Peng, my friend has always been like this.”
“He has a good personality,” Peng Changping said with a smile. “He reminds of my junior brother. He was pretty much like this decades ago.”
Peng Changping had already put down his chopsticks. He was almost seventy percent full and didn’t plan to eat any more, waiting to see what other dishes were to co before deciding whether to continue. He had co to the midsumr banquet on a whim, wanting to join the fun. He had never t Sun Maochai but had long heard of his reputation as the number one Cantonese chef, and he wanted to take this opportunity to taste Sun Maochai’s cooking as well as Jiang Feng’s.
However, he hadn’t expected Jiang Feng to give him such a big surprise.
“Today’s Ding Lake vegetarian dish is very good. The stead green eel is nothing short of astonishing. If I rember correctly, the stead green eel was made by Jiang Weiming, and the Dezhou braised chicken by Jiang Weiguo,” Peng Changping said.
Xu Cheng didn’t know why but nodded: “Right.”
“I’ll think about it and give you the rankings in a couple of days.”
Xu Cheng was a bit stunned, then realized that Peng Changping was going to consider the dishes at this midsumr banquet when making his chef rankings. He was surprised, mainly because this hadn’t crossed his mind at all.
“This… Is this really appropriate?” Xu Cheng felt it was sowhat improper—it felt a bit hasty to be concluding the evaluation without any preparation.
“What’s wrong with that? Aren’t these dishes qualified enough?” Peng Changping asked back.
Xu Cheng nodded in understanding: “Now that I think about it, it does seem quite fitting.”
Peng Changping glanced at the dishes on the table, “I’ll rate Jiang Feng’s in a couple of days as well, as long as you don’t think I’m being biased.”
Xu Cheng did not react at once, saying subconsciously, “Jiang Feng?”
“What? You think his recent Chicken and Tofu Blossoms wasn’t good enough?” Peng Changping said with a smile.
“Good enough… Definitely good enough,” murmured Xu Cheng.
“I’ve found that as you’ve gotten older, your thinking has beco more rigid. The culinary world has always belonged to the younger generation. Those who are ranked at the top now, weren’t they all famous at a young age? If you don’t make it when you’re young, it’s difficult to achieve anything later, and even if you do, you can’t reach the highest places. It’s not right for us old folks to occupy the top spots in the Chef Ranking year after year. It’s ti for so fresh blood to liven things up,” Peng Changping said, quite pleased, “though it might be a little too fresh.”
All Xu Cheng could do was nod, thinking that the Chef Ranking results, once announced, might shock everyone.
He wondered if, by then, the reservation for Taifeng Building’s dishes would still be as easy as it was now, where as long as the assistant was quick enough, there was no dish he couldn’t get.
He already had Jiang Feng’s WeChat, so it shouldn’t be too difficult, right?
“However, isn’t Sun Maochai’s ranking a bit too low?” Peng Changping suddenly said.
“Huh?” Xu Cheng looked dumbfounded, thinking that although everyone considered giving so famous chefs who were very old and in poor health a slightly inflated ranking, due to their limited years left, this shouldn’t result in Sun Maochai being ranked too low.
If nothing unexpected happened this year, even if Jiang Feng managed to squeeze into the top ten after repeated deliberations, plus Jiang Weiming and excluding the several masters who had passed away in these four years, Sun Maochai should still be able to make it into the top ten.
Why then, was his ranking considered low?
“I didn’t an anything else. I hadn’t tasted his dishes before. Just now, having tasted the Ding Lake Supre Vegetarian Dish, I felt that it surely had the strength to be in the top five, so how co it was only ranked eleventh last ti?” Peng Changping was totally unaware that the reason he found Sun Maochai’s Ding Lake Supre Vegetarian Dish so delicious was due to the recovery and improvent of his taste buds, or maybe his body had realized it, but his mind hadn’t considered this at all.
Who would think about such a thing for no reason? Even Jiang Weiming hadn’t realized that his enhanced taste buds were due to the Chicken and Tofu Blossoms.
It was at this mont that Xu Cheng had sothing to say.
“Maybe it’s because Master Sun’s cooking has improved these last few days. At the ti of the last ranking, his position was just a bit controversial with the tenth place. Actually, I just felt the flavors of the dishes had improved quite a bit as well, but I can’t pinpoint where the improvent is. It feels as if everything has gotten much stronger, which is a bit strange.”
As Xu Cheng spoke, he found it even more peculiar. In fact, he didn’t just feel that Sun Maochai’s dishes had improved overall, but Jiang Weiguo’s dishes had improved as well, and there was no need to ntion Jiang Weiming, that wasn’t just an improvent, that was a soaring leap. Xu Cheng had initially thought Jiang Weiming was certainly top ten material, hence he invited Peng Changping to co and judge, but now Xu Cheng believed that Jiang Weiming could easily make the top five with his eyes closed, and might even contend for second place.
There was no need to show face to the very senior contestants.
“Is that so?” Peng Changping began to ponder.
Xu Cheng also started to think.
Han Guishan, who was happily enjoying his chicken, thought: ?
What are you guys doing???
We’re eating!
What a waste it would be not to eat such good food!
Han Guishan glanced at the super-sized chicken breast on the plate, and since no one seed interested in it, he unceremoniously added it to his plate.
Han Guishan shook his head.
Ah, everyone is just too polite, and their fighting power doesn’t cut it.
It seems in the end, it’s up to him to take charge.
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