Punch: From third-rate anchor to top chef

Chapter 283

Since the Spring Festival Transport is an important event in the Han Kingdom every year, during the Spring Festival Transport, it is difficult to find a ticket for most means of transportation.

Li Xiao didn't buy a ticket at first, but later one of the first-class passengers on this flight temporarily refunded the ticket, so he picked it up and bought it.

Of course, the first class is indeed much more expensive than the ordinary economy class, but the price difference of one thousand and several hundred is not worth mentioning to Li Xiao now.

Since she was in first class, she could check in in advance, so Li Xiao entered the VIP waiting room early. The environment here is more luxurious than that in the airport.

Snacks, snacks and drinks are all available, and there are two young ladies who enthusiastically provide all kinds of help in the waiting room at any time.

There were quite a few people sitting in the waiting room, most of them were elites in suits, each holding a tablet or a laptop to work in the waiting room.

Although there were a lot of people, no one made a sound. Occasionally, a few people who needed to answer the phone would get up and walk out of the waiting room quickly, so as not to affect other people's work.

Quietness and busyness seem to have long been the established rules for these elites in the waiting room.

Although there were no slogans on the wall, and the two young ladies did not stop everyone from communicating, none of them spoke, and they worked quietly.

Seeing this scene, Li Xiao couldn't help but secretly rejoice. Fortunately, he bought a few books in the bookstore just now. Otherwise, in such a serious working atmosphere, it seems a bit too much to take out his mobile phone and watch short videos.

Soon his attention was all on the books, and what he had in his hand was a monthly magazine called [Gourmet of the Month]. As the name suggests, the monthly magazine would issue one issue every month.

This issue of [Gourmet Food of the Month] just talked about the relevant issues of this Star Chef Competition.

Li Xiao glanced at it. There are a total of 100 judges in this one-star chef competition, which can be said to be quite a large number. Every 10 judges are divided into a group, that is, 10 groups.

The highest score and the lowest score will be removed from the scores of each group of judges, and then the average value will be taken, which is the final score of the chef.

Doing so can avoid situations where acquaintances and enemies deliberately score high and low scores.

Of course, some people may say, what if the 10 judges who happen to meet at random are all your enemies and give yourself a low score on purpose?
If ten random judges out of 100 are your enemies, you probably won't be able to survive in this industry.

Packing up early and going home to find another job may be a better way out.

Li Xiao also saw a lot of information about chefs in the magazine, but none of these lists were low-star.

The lowest one named Wu Haodong is already 4 stars. After all, the level is too low, and others don't even have the willingness to pay attention.

And four-star senior chefs can serve as chefs in some well-known high-end restaurants.

This Mr. Wu Haodong himself is a Michelin one-star chef in the capital. He is quite young, only 32 years old this year.

He graduated from a professional chef academy at the age of 20, and was promoted to a 8-star chef at the age of 28 in only 4 years. This year is his second challenge to a five-star chef.

This journal also specifically marked that this Wu Haodong is the hottest candidate in this year's five-star chef competition, and many judges are quite optimistic about it.

If the level of the contestants in the last competition was not too high, in other years, it is estimated that they would have successfully advanced in the first exam.

Li Xiao even saw an acquaintance in these lists, that is, Cai Rongsheng, the grizzled chef of Jinsha Restaurant.

Of course, this old gentleman did not come to compete, but to be a judge.

Moreover, the evaluation content of star chefs above six stars is even more complicated, so what Secretary Zhang said yesterday was to help him find recommenders below six stars.

Mr. Cai Rongsheng came to serve as the main judge this time, and an old man named Yuan Lidong served as the deputy judge.

The main judges and deputy judges are not included in the 100-member jury, and they are responsible for ensuring the fairness and impartiality of the entire competition.

Anyone who feels any injustice during the game can immediately report to these two.

And two 6-star senior chefs are completely enough to serve as notaries for the previous evaluation.

In addition, Li Xiao also saw just now that this year's six-star senior chef competition had only more than 50 applicants before the deadline.

According to the practice of previous years, the number of people finally selected is only about 5-6. Of course, if the overall results deviate, the number may be smaller, but at least one person will be selected and there will be no zero eggs.

Just as he was engrossed in watching, a greeting came from beside him. Li Xiao raised his head to look for the reputation. A beautiful flight attendant lady pushed a dining car and stood beside Li Xiao.

He quickly came to his senses, he was so engrossed in reading just now that he didn't notice the person next to him, he quickly sat upright, trying to put on an air of proficiency in flying often.

The young lady showed a shy smile and nodded slightly:
"Hello, sir, it's time for the plane cabin. Today, our crew members have prepared 8 kinds of set meals for the VIPs in the first class. The main dishes are vanilla steak, black pepper cowboy ribs, smoked salmon, baked Boston lobster with cheese, and small cumin dishes. Lamb chops, short ribs stewed with potatoes, pastrami and, finally, Roast Chicken Legs from Orleans."

After listening to the flight attendant's introduction, Li Xiao couldn't help but see a bright light, good guy, the first-class airplane meal is so rich?

There are 8 choices for the main course alone, and each one seems to be quite good?
In the past, he saw that the airplane meals posted by others in the circle of friends were horrible. A few messy things were put in a tin foil box, which was considered a meal.

What's more, some airlines will use some bread and stewed noodles as staple food, which is simply chilling and scary.

Moreover, some low-cost airlines have emerged in recent years. Due to the relatively low price of air tickets, customers need to pay for it, not to mention meals on the plane, and even water in the middle of the flight.

Li Xiao hesitated and ordered the most expensive one, and said to the flight attendant in a low voice:

"Then give me a baked lobster with cheese."

The waitress showed a sweet smile, and took out a huge box wrapped in tin foil from the trolley.

The height of this box is similar to that of ordinary rolling paper, and its area is about the size of two palms. It feels very thick in the hand, and the outer layer is wrapped with a layer of plastic sealing film, which is very elegant at first glance.

In addition to a large box of Boston lobster, the flight attendant gently put down the other foods that came with the plane meal. There were three small tin boxes and a small bottle of yogurt. For the drink, Li Xiao ordered ordinary mineral water.

He opened the super-large box of Boston lobster with excitement and anticipation. After all, it was the first time to eat an airplane meal, and it was such a good airplane meal. He still had some expectations.

The Boston lobster in the tin foil box was a bit different from what he had imagined. He thought it was a whole Boston lobster, and no matter how bad it was, it should be a baked lobster with two sides broken.

However, what appeared in front of him were pieces, even the red shell of the lobster had been removed, leaving only the red and white lobster meat wrapped in cheese.

Good guy, this is too much to give up. After all, the lobster shell can occupy a lot of space. If the shell is not removed, the meat that needs to be put down is estimated to be less than half.

The cost has been reduced drastically, but now for the convenience of customers to use on the plane, the shell is removed directly, leaving only big mouthfuls of lobster meat, which is simply too considerate.

Li Xiao couldn't help feeling that the extra 1000 yuan for the first-class cabin was really worth it. Not only did he not need to queue, but the environment and service in the waiting hall were also quite good, and the seats on the plane were particularly spacious.

This airport is remarkable during the Chinese New Year. It seems that if you still need to fly next time, you can still choose first class. After all, you get what you pay for, and you can buy so many services for more than 1000. It's worth it.

Picking up a plastic fork and stuffing a plump piece of lobster meat into his mouth, his eyes lit up, the lobster meat was actually quite good.

The cheese sauce uses two kinds of cheese, mozzarella cheese and cheddar cheese.

The former makes the cheese rich and easy to draw, while the latter offers a rich flavor profile.

Regarded as one of the finest cheeses in the world, cheddar cheese is made from semi-skimmed, pasteurized milk.

Firm texture, full and delicate milk flavor, and strong aroma are the characteristics of this cheese.

Most of the baked rice, baked spaghetti and baked lobster often have a huge amount of cheddar cheese as seasoning.

The semi-fluid cheese was mixed with some green powder. At first, Li Xiao thought it was rosemary powder, but he didn't expect it to be basil powder.

Although the flavors of the two spices are very similar, the basil powder has a stronger taste than the rosemary powder, and the basil powder has a slightly spicy taste.

The super-high-calorie cheese sauce is not so greasy to eat, and you won’t feel full after two bites. This slightly spicy taste can also stimulate the taste buds of the tongue and enrich the taste.

A little sea salt is added to the cheese to make the cheese taste salty.

The taste of the lobster meat is also quite good. The prawn meat is very plump and the meat is very elastic. It is quite fresh at first glance. It is estimated that it was dismembered while it was alive and kicking.

The taste of the lobster meat is mild, but it is easy to taste the sweetness of the prawn meat itself. It is mixed with the rich cheese sauce on the surface, and it is unexpectedly soft between salty and light.

After eating a mouthful of lobster meat, Li Xiao's expression was a little shocked. He didn't expect that an airport could achieve such a level. It was beyond his expectation.

Usually, what he hears most from others is how crude, unpalatable, and perfunctory the plane meals are, but he has never heard anyone say that the plane meals are delicious.

Perhaps it is also because of this subconscious feeling that it is not delicious, so the psychological expectation has been lowered to a very low level.

After lowering the psychological expectations, but encountering a pretty good product, there will be this kind of surprise and amazing feeling.

Maybe this baked lobster with cheese appeared in an ordinary high-end restaurant, and Li Xiao could still find out all kinds of small problems with him.

But with that quality in an airplane meal prepared hours in advance, he really can't ask for much.

You should know that most of the food needs to be cooked and eaten now. After many dishes are ready, they even need to be eaten within ten minutes or a few ten minutes.

For example, the most common specialty sushi in Sakura Country, it is best to eat it now, otherwise the taste and texture of the dishes will drop rapidly.

However, the baked lobster with cheese in front of me was prepared several hours in advance and placed in a sealed tin foil container, but it did not affect its taste and quality much.

This alone is very powerful. The head chef who controls this central kitchen must have a high star rating and a high level of professionalism.

After all, this plane meal needs to be prepared a few hours in advance, and transported to the plane, after which it will undergo continuous heating, multiple times of heating.

After going through this tortuous and bizarre process, the taste of the food taken out must be completely different from the food put in.

However, the chef can make the food still taste good after hours of tossing, which requires quite terrible control ability.

Li Xiao thinks that if it is a few lunch boxes, he can still easily make dishes that are as delicious as possible after several hours.

However, if it is produced in large quantities, it will take a long time to study, and it is still unknown what the final result of the research will be.

The other three tin foil boxes contained assorted nuts, assorted fruits, and a small serving of spaghetti bolognese.

The fruits are not too expensive, two pears, two apples, two grapes, and a few cherry tomatoes.

The apples, pears and pears have been cut and placed neatly together, looking quite appetizing.

Both pears and apples have a slightly salty taste, because if the apples and pears are not soaked in salt water, they will be easily oxidized.

The taste is certainly not as good as freshly cut fruit, but overall it's not too bad, barely acceptable.

But this spaghetti bolognese is a bit unsatisfactory. The beef in the bolognese sauce is too dry, and there is too much tomato sauce in the bolognese sauce.

As a result, the whole noodles became full of tomato flavor. If it wasn't for the black beef cubes inside, Li Xiao would even think it was a box of tomato baked spaghetti.

After eating and drinking, Li Xiao took out the newly bought book and read it again.
After reading all the [Food of the Month], the plane just landed.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the plane is about to arrive at the Capital Nanyuan Airport. Please put away the small table in front of the desk, put on your seat belt, and turn off the mobile signals of electronic devices such as mobile phones and tablets. Please do not wait until the plane stops. Walking in the passage, thank you for your cooperation."

The plane landed safely. As soon as Li Xiao walked out of the terminal with her luggage, she was caught by a breath.

"Mr. Li Xiao, I'm here."

Li Xiao's eyes followed the voice, and the person who spoke was a tall man who was 1 meters close to 9 meters. Although he was tall, he looked a little thin, like a bamboo pole.

Li Xiao hurriedly raised his hand to greet the other party. This should be the person Xie Bing and the others said was coming to pick him up.

In fact, he originally refused to let others come to pick him up, because he felt that this seemed too big a name.

In TV and novels, only the big boss or the protagonist is treated, and a small person like him can just call Didi by himself.

However, Xie Bing and the others said that the management of the national sports team is very strict. If no acquaintances are brought in, even if they have a certificate, it will not work. He has no choice but to agree.

"Hi, you are Zhou Qingfeng, right?"

"Yes, hello, it's my pleasure to meet my compatriots from my hometown in the capital."

The two shook hands and walked towards the parking lot.

Zhou Qingfeng looked at Li Xiao curiously as he walked.

He had heard of Li Xiao's name some time ago, but it was a bad reputation, because there was no such maverick in the national team.

Did you start serving the national team in your 20s?

As a food anchor but want to work as a part-time national team athlete?
A related household through the back door?
A drugged athlete with an overdose of doping?

Test falsification?

It was all hearsay news, which even once made them, the countries from Guangdong, feel ashamed of the athletes.

Because from the professional perspective of a professional athlete, it is almost impossible to achieve such a result as an untrained ordinary person.

Unless this person's physical fitness is different from ordinary people, and this specificity must be quite strong to make up for the gap between amateur and professional.

For example, it is very possible for an amateur basketball player who is 2 meters to defend a professional basketball forward who is 8 meters.

Because amateur athletes with a height of 2 meters have crushing advantages in terms of height and physique, with a little proper training, they can still deal with ordinary professional forwards.

Of course, what I'm talking about here is just a general profession. If a forward encounters some professional players with strong physical fitness, their height advantage will be crushed by their strong professionalism.

However, among the rumors received by the athletes of the national team, they have not heard that this amateur athlete has anything special.

Weight, height, arm length, and leg length are all in the category of ordinary people.

Of course, video materials and electronic data are actually reported together with the results and news.

Basically, there is no way to falsify these materials, but ordinary athletes like them have no way of getting access to such confidential things.

Therefore, under the hearsay, the information spread more and more mysterious.

What even drank nine bottles of stimulants, what bribed 4 referees, what Guangdong sports team was given a gag order.

Later, some people even said sternly that the other party has a background of a certain boss, and he came to the national team just to play and make up for the regrets of the year.

Especially after the incident broke out, Li Xiao, as the second party involved, also appeared in front of the public.

The athletes of the national team immediately recognized this incident, and the person involved was the amateur player that had been widely circulated some time ago.

With the fermentation and development of the incident, Zhao Buhui was quickly arrested, a boss with a market value of over [-] million, who was once all-powerful and committed all kinds of evil.

After meeting Li Xiao, he was sentenced to more than ten years in prison just for letting dogs bite and beat people.

Such a heroic figure was instantly crushed to death as if he had no power to fight back.

Not only was he scolded by the whole network, but Lang Dang was imprisoned in reality, which is even more fantasy than fantasy TV dramas.

Some people who didn't believe in the rumors have also changed their tone. After all, everyone knows that in this money-oriented society, if there is not enough rights and more money, it is impossible for such a thing to happen.

(End of this chapter)