Xu Le exchanged 20 Gourmet points for the spicy and sour potato recipe from the System Shop.
There was still about half an hour before the competition officially began.
Under a 365-times slower time flow, he would spend seven days in the system space.
Xu Le wanted to perfect the dish 'sour and spicy shredded potatoes' in these seven days.
Why was this dish called a dish of skills?
It was because it did not have any special tricks or secret recipes. The only way to make this dish was to put in more effort.
Bad cutting skills causing the thickness of the potato shreds to be uneven?
Practice then!
After continuous practice and day after day of training, there would be an obvious improvement in one's cutting skills.
Bad control of the fire? The food was either too raw or too soft?
Practice then!
If ten times didn't work, then one hundred times, ten thousand times! So that when he closed his eyes, he would know when the potato shreds were sufficiently stir-fried and ready to be served.
In the chaotic system space.
Xu Le concentrated on chopping the potatoes in front of him into shreds.
All of this took four days.
In these four days, if Xu Le were to pile the shredded potatoes together, they would probably be as tall as a small mountain.
In the final three days, Xu Le had to practice the fire control of the shredded potatoes.
Only by combining his cutting skills and fire control could he make a plate of perfect stir-fried potato shreds.
…
At the same time.
In the exhibition hall of the Shanghai Eastern Sports Center, the host was introducing the judges and contestants.
"Contestant number 4 is the Silver Award winner of the Hong Kong International Delicacy Competition, HOFEX. He is a senior chef from the Heavenly Restaurant, Mr. Zhang Tong!"
There was a round of enthusiastic applause.
Zhang Tong stood up slowly and nodded at the judges and audience.
It was obvious that Zhang Tong had a good reputation in the culinary industry.
"Contestant number 5 is chef from Nanjing's Eastern Suburban State Guesthouse, Wang Tao. He once won fifth place in the Young Talent Escoffier competition!"
The audience erupted into applause again.
The chefs participating in the cooking contest this time were obviously not nameless people.
Soon, the host introduced Xu Le.
"Contestant number six is Xu Le, the chef who sold food at Hongxing Food Street and has recently become famous online. He is known by netizens as the Little Master Chef!"
After introducing Xu Le, the applause was even more enthusiastic than before.
However, most of the applause was from the audience.
The chefs and gourmets sitting at the judges' table all frowned slightly. It was obvious that they were doubting Xu Le's culinary skills.
This was inevitable.
After all, Xu Le was only a street food vendor. Unlike other chefs, he did not have a rich working experience nor frequently obtained rankings in various international competitions.
But what was even more surprising was that after the host introduced Xu Le,
He was still sitting there with his head lowered, as if he had fallen asleep.
The emcee also looked a little awkward, but the other party was only an eight-year-old child after all, so he couldn't have too much of a request.
Therefore, the host quickly introduced the next contestant.
…
"My control over the fire is indeed better than before."
Xu Le was still cooking in the system space.
After more than a thousand practice sessions, his control over the heat of the dish, the sour and spicy shredded potatoes, was indeed much better than before.
"It should be about time."
Xu Le estimated the time and exited the system space.
On stage, the host had just introduced all the contestants. When everyone stood up, Xu Le also opened his eyes and stood up.
"Little Master Chef, were you asleep just now?" Zhang Tong asked in a low voice.
Xu Le glanced at him and stuck out his tongue.
"What do you mean asleep? This is called resting with your eyes closed!"
Zhang Tong nodded and muttered, "As expected, you fell asleep."
Xu Le could not be bothered with him.
At this moment, all the contestants had finished their preparations and were standing in front of their respective stoves.
Only Xu Le's stove had been specially customised. It was 40 centimeters shorter than the rest, which took into account his height.
"There's a time limit of 20 minutes. Please complete the stir-fried potato shreds dish!"
There was a small basket in front of each chef.
There were about ten potatoes in the basket. These were the ingredients for this dish, and they had to be used up completely.
"I guess I can only use the big pot."
Xu Le turned around and saw an 80-centimeter wide pot beside him.
If he wanted to fry 15 potatoes in one pot, he would have to use this kind of pot.
After the 15 potatoes had all been peeled.
Xu Le picked up the kitchen knife.
Tap tap tap…
The sound of a kitchen knife hitting the chopping board could be heard.
If one listened carefully, Xu Le was cutting at a specific frequency.
Although it was not fast, it was not messy at all.
Soon, the potato was sliced into 1.5 millimeters thick potato slices.
If one took a closer look, they would realize that Xu Le's potato slices were not cut vertically, but slightly tilted at 20 degrees.
Similarly, when he cut the potato slices into potato shreds, Xu Le was tilting at 20 degrees in the opposite direction.
The sliced potato looked square, but it was actually diamond-shaped.
This was Xu Le's intention.
When the potatoes were growing, they were naturally vertical. Now, they were cut at a slanted angle to cut off all the fibers in the potatoes. Only then could the taste of the potatoes be improved and become more crispy.
Among all the chefs present, only Xu Le was able to use such a technique.
One potato, two potatoes, three potatoes…
In a minute, all 15 potatoes were cut.
They were neatly arranged on the chopping board.
Xu Le squinted his eyes and a gratified smile appeared on his face.
Although it did not reach his best standard, it was a decent performance.
The thickness of each potato shred was about the same as a matchstick.
He removed the short ones and cut off the long ones.
At this moment, all the potato shreds appeared to be of the same thickness and length. It was as if a ruler was being used as measurement in the cutting process.
However, Xu Le only took a minute to do all of this.
"Look, Xu Le has already finished cutting the potato shreds!"
Someone exclaimed.
Every contestant had a small camera placed in front of them, which could project their movements directly onto the screen beside them. Therefore, everyone present could see it very clearly.
No one expected Xu Le to be the first to finish cutting the potato shreds!