Chapter 146: Chapter 146: Exchange Recipes
Tong Ya truly adored the wedding dress in her hands, holding it continuously from the moment she saw it until she went to sleep.
Chen Yu didn't say much; he just stretched lazily and fell into a deep sleep.
The competition entered its second day, with the venue still swarming with people.
Chen Yu felt a bit depressed. Today was Thursday and, logically, most people should be at work. Why were there so many spectators present?
Today's rules were a bit different from yesterday's, not as freeform but rather directed competition.
The morning's content was pastry, which did not have any specific restrictions. Both sides could create according to their own culinary strengths.
But the afternoon's content was a bit more demanding.
The two sides had to exchange recipes!
This meant that in the afternoon's competition, the Chinese chefs had to prepare Western cuisine according to the requirements of the Zeus Alliance.
And the Alliance had to do the same, preparing Chinese cuisine according to their demands.
This seemingly simple exchange actually concealed a deeper challenge.
It tested whether a chef had expanded their expertise beyond their specialty dishes.
In other words, it was a test of the chefs' versatility, or rather, their learning ability.
As soon as the morning competition began, the atmosphere became intensely competitive.
Both sides chose to work on Fondant Craftsmanship!
This was no longer just a culinary competition, but rather a contest of artistic expression on some level.
Many regard Fondant Craftsmanship as edible figurines.
Some masters of Fondant Craftsmanship with superior skills have created works so lifelike that they have been featured in world-class art exhibitions.
Fondant Craftsmanship was an integral part of Chen Yu's pastry and staple food series, so he was particularly skilled in this area.
In the midst of everyone's astonished gazes, he quickly fashioned more than a dozen lifelike fondant figures.
In the end, he created a massive platform for these fondant figures and set them upon it, presenting a stunning depiction of the flying apsaras of Dunhuang before everyone's eyes.
When the judges and the audience saw this fondant scroll, they rose to their feet.
Thunderous applause erupted at the venue.
Such a fondant creation, rich in regional flavor and cultural heritage, was top-notch wherever it was placed.
It seemed the Zeus Alliance had aimed to create Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, but their fondant work was only half completed, and in terms of difficulty and technique, it fell far short of Chen Yu's.
Even most of the judges believed there was no need to continue the competition and declared the Chinese chef the winner outright.
Perhaps even the people of the Zeus Alliance hadn't anticipated such an unequivocal match, where Chen Yu secured victory with an overwhelming advantage.
Their fondant work had been practiced countless times in private, and today's execution was their fastest yet, but even so, they were soundly defeated.
When Chen Yu returned to the resting room, he was met with absolute respect from the other six chefs, and two of them even asked to take him as their master.
Chen Yu dismissively attributed it to practice makes perfect and then changed the subject to chat idly with the other masters.
In the afternoon, they had to prepare Western cuisine, and these Chinese chefs, who had handled cleavers and large spoons all their lives, knew very little about Western cuisine.
Take Master Wang Hai, for example, he was definitely top-notch in Chinese cuisine, yet he didn't even know the basic steps of cooking a steak.
Chen Yu didn't know much about these things.
After discussing with each other for a while, they suddenly panicked, realizing they might lose the afternoon competition.
However, what comforted them was that since yesterday, they had already won three matches in a row, and losing one wouldn't be too damaging.
[Congratulations to the host for completing one day's business. Today's net profit is 1,935,600 Yuan, which earns you 1,935,600 points. The current total accumulated points are 11,658,180.]
The system's notification sounded, which excited Chen Yu for a moment; his points finally surpassed ten million.
"System, can you give me Western culinary skills in this draw?" Chen Yu unconsciously asked in his mind.
[System Notice: All draws are random and the results cannot be known in advance.]
[If the host confirms the draw, the next draw's points will accumulate to one hundred million before you can continue the draw.]
Chen Yu couldn't help but widen his eyes. Wasn't this a rip-off? When could he ever accumulate enough points to reach one hundred million?
But now was not the time to worry about that; regardless of the outcome, he had to go through with the draw.
After all, with luck on his side, maybe he could win the Western cooking skills this time.
After clicking confirm, a wealth of information appeared in Chen Yu's mind.
[Congratulations to the host for acquiring the skills of all the world's cuisines and mastering all the world's languages.]
The system fell silent after a brief sentence.
Chen Yu couldn't help but widen his eyes. Was that it?
He suddenly felt that the ten million points were a terrible loss, hearing as if he had gained only two skills.
But when all the information emerged in his mind, Chen Yu was momentarily stunned.
Now, he could prepare any dish from any cuisine in the world, even those signature dishes from some very small tribal nations appeared in his memory.
The amount of information these represented was nearly a hundred times larger than that of a single cuisine!
Moreover, Chen Yu's mind was filled with information on various languages, including complete systems for even those obscure ones that remained largely unheard of.
Chen Yu's breathing became rushed; now he was truly prepared to travel anywhere in the world without fear.
[System Notice: The current point balance of the host is 1,658,180.]
"Xiao Yu, are you okay? Why are you standing here, daydreaming?" Wang Hai noticed something off about Chen Yu and quickly approached, asking with concern.
Chen Yu snapped back to reality, "I'm fine, I just remembered some special Western recipes. They might come in handy in this afternoon's competition."
Wang Hai was surprised, "Really? That's great! We don't know much about Western cuisine, so we're counting on you for the afternoon's match."
At three o'clock in the afternoon, the competition resumed. The representatives from the Zeus Alliance handed over an envelope which had "Beef Wellington Set" written on it.
The set included a Beef Wellington, salt-baked snails, foie gras mousse, and a fruit salad.
Although these items seemed simple, preparing them properly required a lot of attention to detail; a slight mistake could mean a completely different taste.
The menu sent from the Chinese chefs was even simpler, just four words: Kung Pao Chicken!
While this dish appeared simple, it was a trump card at the Zeus Alliance.
What the Western chefs least excelled at was knife skills, yet this dish placed great emphasis on that.
All the ingredients had to be diced in precise proportions!