Ch94 – Pre-selection and the 1st Round

Countless culinary enthusiasts and professional chefs who had passed the star-ranking assessment participated in the pre-selection. Thousands upon thousands of entries were uploaded to the official website of this new and novel cooking competition. During the 15-day pre-selection period, viewers could search for the dishes they were interested in using the site’s simple classification, they could enter the holographic video to taste the dishes, and then they would vote for their favorite contestant.

It can be seen that many of the cooking enthusiasts were Ruan Tang’s fans or it could be said that Ruan Tang’s dishes had become the benchmark for imperial cuisine. Many of the contestants made dishes that Ruan Tang had made during his live broadcasts, but it was precisely because they now had a point of comparison that the audiences’ criteria for these dishes were more stringent.

The three judges, including Ruan Tang, were also paying close attention to the progress of the competition. They also had the right to vote, but in the pre-selection stage, their votes were no different from those of ordinary viewers.

Compared to those who imitated his own dishes, Ruan Tang preferred the innovative dishes. For example, someone had wrapped boiled duck meat in cucumber slices, makes cucumber rolls, and they then served it with doubanjiang. Although the method was very simple, in terms of appearance, it was very beautiful, and it had a unique and novel taste. This contestant got Ruan Tang’s vote. There was also someone who used the Yuxiang method to stir-fry octopus and vegetables. This was a relatively rare combination, but the taste was surprisingly good.

In short order, two hundred contestants rose above the others and were selected by the audience to go on to the next round. In order to ensure the fairness of the voting, several of the major live broadcast platforms sent specialized personnel to inspect the data. These contestants truly relied solely upon their own strength to wrest their opportunity to qualify for the competition.

Before the official start of the 1st round, two hundred players gathered at Capital Star. The competition venue was set in a branch office of the Chefs’ Association. The different chapters of the Chefs’ Association regularly held chef assessments, so the venue and facilities were all readily available. Several of the major live broadcast platforms also jointly paid for the contestants’ board and lodging at a hotel near the competition venue.

The generous and comfortable living conditions made the players very happy, but their happiness also contained a bit of apprehension. After all, they knew that half of them would be eliminated directly after the 1st match. The 50% rate of elimination was quite high and couldn’t be called lenient or merciful.

In a competition, it wasn’t only your own individual strength that was important, but also the strength of your opponents.

Two hundred players all looked at each other and entered their rooms silently. They opened the official website to watch the promotion video, to suss out the strength of their opponents.

Those whose skills weren’t so good, prayed silently in their hearts, hoping that their opponents were all big pigtrotters; either they weren’t as good as themselves, or that they wouldn’t perform up to their normal standard under the heavy pressure.

The five days of preparation time before the competition passed in a flash. Regardless of whether everyone was fully prepared, the 1st round was still held as scheduled. Two hundred players gathered in the branch office of the Chefs’ Association. The live broadcast platform deployed hundreds of cameras to enable omni-directional shooting. At this time, the nuances between the different players could clearly be seen. Some contestants were cowering, continuously muttering to themselves. Some had such imposing manners that they surprised viewers with their abnormally high self-confidence. But the only thing they all had in common was that there as a bright light in their eyes.

They all rose above the tens of thousands of hopefuls to emerge as the 200 best. No one wanted to stop at the 1st round.

The three judges were all heavyweights. As the youngest and most popular of the three, Ruan Tang was selected to open the competition and also to encourage the contestants.

“Thank you all for participating in this competition. The purpose of this competition is to give people who love cooking the opportunity to display their abilities. It is also to choose a young chef with great potential to continue his or her efforts. I hope everyone won’t pay too much attention to rankings or popularity and instead concentrate on their own abilities to fully demonstrate your understanding of food. Good food does not distinguish between status or priority. Everyone’s understanding of food has its own strong points. For each dish, we will give our opinions and I hope you will be able to take what we teach you to further the development of the Empire’s culinary culture.”

After Ruan Tang’s short speech of encouragement, thunderous applause immediately rang out. No one amongst the contestants hadn’t seen Ruan Tang’s videos. Given Ruan Tang’s position in the Blue Star Empire’s culinary sphere, in their hearts, they held even greater respect for him than they did for President Gu.

Moreover, in addition to being a leader in the culinary arts, not long ago, His Majesty the Emperor conferred upon him the rank of colonel in recognition of Ruan Tang’s decisive role in this campaign against the Zergs. The inclusion of the Zergs on their list of resources as well as his development of pesticides not only freed them from the threat of the Zergs, but also brought about a lot of benefits. Prior to this, the Zerg had always been considered to be an invincible death race. As the first country and only country to master the “god of death” technique, the Blue Star Empire was enjoying immense advantages in their diplomatic relations.

Ruan Tang’s contribution in this war had a very long-term and far-reaching impact. The corresponding rewards given to him were also very impressive. Not only was he rewarded with many treasures, but due to He Wei Ye’s appeal, Cheng Ji also elevated him from a powerless consultant to a military colonel. In consideration for Ruan Tang’s special situation, he did not directly allocate troops to him, but Ruan Tang could still mobilize the guards.

Ruan Tang was now a person with both fame, fortune and real power. He was no longer an ordinary civilian who could easily be bullied.

Knowing Ruan Tang’s contributions, the public fully approved of these rewards. Except for a small group of jealous people and keyboard warrior still running about with sinister intentions, most people even felt that these rewards weren’t conscientious enough.

After all, their anchor regarded money like dung. He also didn’t go out very much. These titles, treasures, and military power did not seem to make much sense to him.

After receiving these commendations, Ruan Tang made his first public appearance. Fans from when he was a film emperor, could not help but watch him on the star network, praying that their idol, having recovered from his illness and having appeared on these variety shows, could reawaken his love for acting and spur him on to return to the entertainment industry.

Their prayers, though, were just a futile hope.

Ruan Tang was a hot topic right now and with his participation, the people’s interest towards this program remained high. Less than five minutes into the broadcast and the number of online viewers had surged to eight digits.

[Miao Miao loves all the dishes of the anchor: Woah, my Tang is so handsome! So amazingly incomparably handsome!]

[Can’t stop Hugging trees: I’m looking forward to my Tang displaying his skills! (☆ ▽ ☆)]

[The Yu Family’s Xiao Mi Zhou: My god! I really want to lick the screen, Tang Tang looks so good!]

“Everyone knows that the combination of knife skills, temperature control and pairing of ingredients determines the final taste of a dish. So today, we will be testing everyone on these three basic skills.” President Gu said with a smile. “Forget everything else and go back to the basics of cooking.”

Before the competition, the rules were all kept confidential. Everyone thought that they would be looking for high-grade skills. Almost every contestant had focused on researching dishes with enough gimmicks. Upon hearing this, the contestants were all in an uproar.

Didn’t this mean that all their preparations these past three days were wasted?

President Gu looked at them with a genial smile on his face. He then clapped his hands, signaling for them to be quiet, “Next, we will begin the first test, knife work.”

The staff member next to him pushed a table in front of Ruan Tang. On the table was a peeled potato and a kitchen knife.

“Everyone knows potatoes? It’s a very common and practical basic ingredient that is suitable for various cooking methods. It can also be paired with many different ingredients and is a very forgiving ingredient in terms of taste. It is an ingredient many first time chefs encounter.” Ruan Tang said as he picked up the kitchen knife, “But basic does not mean simple. Julienned potatoes are easy to make, but making them well is challenging. It is very demanding on your knife skills. Now, I will show you what you’ll need to match in order to get a perfect score. ”

He reached for the potato and put it on the chopping board. He picked up the kitchen knife with the other hand. He pressed down firmly on the potato and started slicing. He had finished slicing but it was like nothing had changed with the potato, it still remained whole. Ruan Tang pushed it obliquely with his hand, and the layers of terrace-like shapes were revealed.

Ruan Tang cut with the knife again. He cut very quickly, finely and evenly. Even the sound made by the knife as it struck the chopping board had a sense of rhythm to it. After cutting, he shoveled the potato shreds directly into the water with the side of his knife. After making contact with the water, the potato shreds finally spread out. The thickness of the potatoes was quite uniform. Each one was only as thick as a hair and nearly transparent. In the water, it was hard to make out what color it was.

“The eligibility criteria is much simpler — as long as the thickness is within 0.3 mm.”

Ruan Tang’s gorgeous knife work display not only aroused applause from the contestants on site, but it also shocked the audience watching the live broadcast.

[Little Swallows fly and fly: So handsome, so handsome! !! !! That was just too f-ing cool! ]

[Gold Coins Fall Down: That was just insane! Amazing!! ]

[Can’t stop Hugging Trees: My Tang Tang is exploding with talent! His little demonstration shocked absolutely everyone there!]

“Your potatoes and cooking counters have been prepared in the back room. After you find your post according to your number, you can start today’s first test.” President Gu said.

“Remember, the important thing is not speed, but quality.” Ge Lao urged.

The contestants entered the back room in single file. There dozens of rows of cooking tables were neatly arranged. On each table were two potatoes, a chopping board and a new kitchen knife.

The players immediately moved into action, and soon the sound of vegetable cutting filled the room.

The judges slowly paced behind the players, silently watching their every movement. This caused them to feel some extra pressure.

In high tension situations, accidents occurred easily, and soon someone’s hand was cut by a knife.

President Gu had the staff to bandage their wounds, he reminded again, “Please note that the key is not speed but quality. I hope everyone can adjust their mood and perform stably.”

In the end, this first test wiped out nearly thirty people, leaving only 172.

“Although your advancement in this competition stops here, I hope you will not be discouraged and that you will go back and hone your basic skills. We will wait for you to return in the next competition.” President Gu said kindly to the eliminated players. However, judging from the expressions on their faces, they were still quite frustrated. Obviously, the fact that they weren’t able to reach the standard needed to chop the potatoes troubled them considerably.

Ruan Tang shook hands with them one by one, and then sent them out of the venue.

“The next thing we will be testing is your temperature control.”

The ingredient taken out this time was fresh duck leg meat. The contestants were asked to make a bowl of clear stewed duck soup.

Duck was a very difficult ingredient to cook. If it was not handled well, it will have a very rank smell. It was completely unacceptable for people with high-ranked physique and thus sensitive senses. At the same time, the heat was difficult to master. If the heat was too high, it was easy to overcook the duck until it became too tough. If the heat was too low, not only will it not absorb enough flavor, the duck meat won’t be stewed tender.

In order to increase the interactivity and entertainment value, they found five high-physique soldiers from the military and also five lucky viewers with high physiques from the audience to judge the duck soup made by the contestants. The votes of these ten off-site judges were also important. Contestants must obtain more than half of the votes of the ten off-site judges, otherwise they will be in the danger zone, and the three main judges would decide whether they leave or stay.

72 more people will still be eliminated. If they don’t perform well, they might be sent home in this round.

With this heavy pressure weighing on them, everyone’s expressions turned even graver.