I Am A Gourmet: Just Eight And You Want Me To Start A Roadside Stall Novel! - Chapter 26

Chapter 26: Participating in the Culinary Competition!
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

After some discussion.
Xu Le finally decided to sign up for the culinary competition.
It was not that he wanted to compete for fame, but the 300,000 prize money for the first place was too tempting.
Coincidentally, Xu Le was in need of money.
300,000 yuan was enough for him to rent a 100-square-meter shop on this street.
After registering, Xu Le heard the system’s voice.
“Detected that the host has signed up for the culinary competition. Reward: 200 Gourmet points.”
“Congratulations to the host for unlocking the new mission—[Coming In First].”
“Mission Details: Win first place in the culinary competition.”
“Mission Reward: Exquisite renovation of the shop!”
When Xu Le heard the system’s voice, his eyes shone with surprise.
He had actually unlocked a mission by participating in the competition.
The reward for the mission was even the renovation of the shop.
In other words, as long as he got first place in this competition, he would be able to use this 300,000 yuan to rent a big shop. Furthermore, he wouldn’t even need to pay for the renovations himself. The system would cover everything.
What was there to hesitate about?
After asking Zhang Tong the time and location of the competition, Xu Le realized that the competition would be held the next day.
Normally speaking, the registration period for the culinary competition had long passed.
However, with Zhang Tong’s request and Xu Le’s high popularity recently, he successfully added his name to the contestant list.
Xu Le sent a notice of absence on his social media account.
‘As I am participating in a culinary competition, the food stall will be closed for a day.’
It was only after browsing the Internet that he realized how valuable and popular this competition was.
The Shanghai Food Exhibition had been held for the 12th year. It had a huge influence in the entire East China region, and even in the whole of China.
This was especially true for the culinary competition that was held before the food exhibition. Chefs from all over the world would be invited to participate in the competition, and there would be live broadcasts on three platforms: Douyu, Huya, and Bilibili.
Last year’s culinary competition had attracted more than five million viewers, and it was frighteningly popular.
Therefore, when the netizens found out that Xu Le was going to participate in the culinary competition, they all cheered for him.
“Little Master Chef, I believe in you! You’ll definitely win!”
“I went to eat a bowl of Oil Doused Noodles yesterday. It was really delicious.”
“This is the most authentic Sichuan cuisine I’ve ever eaten in Shanghai. It’s definitely the best. I hope the little Master Chef can win.”
“Little Master Chef, you can do it! You’re no worse than those chefs! We’ll support you!”
Other than those netizens who were cheering Xu Le.
There were also reviewers who had a certain level of attainment in the food industry who wrote an article and conducted a rational analysis.
“Up until now, Xu Le has only cooked a few dishes like Oil Doused Noodles and Kung Pao Chicken. Furthermore, they are all Sichuan dishes. I think Xu Le might be from an aristocratic family known for Sichuan cuisine.”
“However, this culinary competition is about cooking based on requested dishes. Moreover, the requests are likely to be difficult dishes. Judging from Xu Le’s age, it won’t be easy for him to master so many high-level dishes…”
Xu Le smiled after reading the article.
He didn’t know many dishes.
But these dishes… he had them in the system space!
Even if the production team only announced the name of the dishes an hour before the competition.
Xu Le could also enter the system space to train for half a month under the 365-times slower time flow.
Hence, Xu Le had absolute confidence in this culinary competition.
No one could stop him from getting the 300,000 yuan prize money and the renovation of the shop that was rewarded by the system!
…
The next afternoon.
Xu Le arrived at the Shanghai Eastern Sports Center in a private car.
The 12th Shanghai Gourmet Exhibition would be held that night.
The special segment before the opening ceremony was this culinary competition that attracted the attention of countless people.
Because of Xu Le’s participation, the popularity of this competition on the Internet was much higher than the previous years.
Even before the competition started, the number of live viewers had already exceeded four million.
3 p.m. in the afternoon.
The Shanghai Eastern Sports Center was already fully seated. Everyone was waiting for the competition to begin.
Soon, the host went on stage to announce the start of the culinary competition.
The culinary competition was divided into several segments.
The first segment tested one’s skills.
The dish that was picked was stir-fried shredded potatoes.
Don’t look down on this simple dish.
Although stir-fried shredded potatoes was simple, but the simpler the dish, the greater the knowledge it required, and the more it could be used to judge whether the chef’s skills were up to standard.
Many people said that the stir-fried potatoes was a dish about skills.
One could immediately tell if a chef was skilled enough when they cooked a plate of shredded potatoes.
The dish stir-fried shredded potatoes mainly depended on two aspects.
The first aspect was cutting skills. The potato shreds had to be of equal thickness, and each strand should be the same size as a matchstick.
If it was too thick, it would turn into potato strips and eating them would affect the texture.
If it was too thin, the shreds would break easily and would not be in complete pieces when stir-fried.
The second aspect was the fire control. The shredded potatoes that were stir-fried had to be white and tender, crispy and refreshing.
If the fire wasn’t hot enough, the potatoes would thicken and taste like wax.
If the heat was too strong, the potatoes would be too soft and easily broken. Furthermore, the texture would be like mashed potatoes, losing its flavor.
Therefore, in this cooking contest, the first segment tested the chef’s cuttings skills and control over the fire.
There was still half an hour before the competition officially began.
The contestants were invited onto the stage one by one. They sat in a row and listened to the host’s introduction and announcements.
Xu Le took this opportunity to enter the system space.
Let’s start practicing!