The contestants retreated, and hundreds of carriages began dismantling their stalls.
The meeting was adjourned at five in the afternoon. These items had to be cleared within four hours to avoid delaying the next day's contestants.
As soon as Zhang Wei withdrew, Mo Du, transformed into a giant moth, descended from the sky and embraced Zhang Wei.
"Brother, you're amazing!"
"I originally thought it would be good enough to lose without embarrassment, but I never expected you to get first place!"
"It's just the qualifiers. Once you enter the next stage, the points will be meaningless."
Mo Du laughed, "That's not true. The points you earn can be exchanged for money from the organizers. Sixty-five thousand points can be exchanged for 65 million Bailey!"
Sixty-five million Bailey was equivalent to the price of 15-18 kilograms of salt essence, a considerable fortune.
After all, the contestants provided their own ingredients, so they couldn't be expected to lose money for fame.
Zhang Wei's chosen ingredients were mostly level 1-3, costing only 20 Bailey per kilogram. This wave was a massive profit.
"Brother, you could get first place with those low-level ingredients. You're too incredible! With this score, the taste must have been overwhelmingly superior."
"No, it was just a little trick. I didn't really focus on the taste; it was only average."
"Six hundred and fifty thousand votes, and you still say average? Brother, you're so humble-bragging (feigning modesty)!"
Zhang Wei explained, "The taste of the dish was truly ordinary. Do you remember my poem?"
"Mmm-hmm, I didn't quite understand it."
"The meaning of this poem is that after eating my dish, other dishes will be hard to swallow!"
"Domineering!"
Mo Du gave a thumbs-up.
Looking at the chefs in the Northern Territory, how many dared to say such a thing!
And this was not blind confidence; based on the results, this poem was well-deserved!
"However, the reason for this wasn't purely the taste."
"Not the taste?"
Mo Du asked in confusion, "If not the taste, then what? Did you cheat? Did you add addictive ingredients?"
"Have you ever eaten a ripe watermelon and cream ice cream?"
The question was abrupt. Despite his confusion, Mo Du replied truthfully, "Of course, I have. Watermelon and ice cream aren't rare things."
"A ripe watermelon is very sweet and delicious. But if you eat sweeter cream ice cream first, and then eat watermelon, it will taste like chewing wax."
"The cream's flavor will linger in your mouth, affecting the taste of the watermelon. When the watermelon's sweetness isn't prominent, it tastes worse than pig feed."
"The principle of this dish is the same. It uses the richness of the meat and broth to create a huge impact, along with a special ingredient that makes the meat aroma linger..."
After Zhang Wei's explanation, Mo Du suddenly understood.
"This... so this is the meaning of 'After my bloom, all flowers wither'!"
"It's not about the taste, but about using a strong flavor to influence the diner, making them uninterested in other foods."
"But isn't it very difficult to achieve this? And won't such a strong flavor be very greasy to eat?"
Zhang Wei smiled, "Of course, it will be greasy, so I used a lot of vegetables and fruits as side dishes. And I specifically prepared a large bowl of broth..."
"Broth?"
"That's right. Due to the large customer traffic, the portion sizes of everyone's dishes were very small, generally around 100 grams."
"But my meat slices alone were 200 grams, plus an even larger portion of broth, enough to make the rich flavor linger for a long time!"
Achieving this was not easy, as the customer traffic was immense.
Not including the soup, each portion was over 300 grams.
Making over 200,000 portions in one day meant 20 tons of food!
And this was all done by Zhang Wei alone, something no other chef could imitate!
If one were not a awakened cell person, Zhang Wei's portion alone would be enough to feel seven-tenths full.
Mo Du was so shocked by the ingenious calculation that he was speechless.
"Brother, you're so smart."
"But with just these things, you couldn't have gotten so many points."
"Is there another explanation?"
Zhang Wei asked, "What do you think attracts diners when they're strolling through a food street?"
"The storefront? Customer traffic?"
"Both are correct, but you're not getting to the point, or rather, they don't apply to this situation. In this environment, I focused on color, shape, and aroma."
"Color... shape... aroma..."
"Exactly. A dish needs to have color, aroma, taste, and intention, and among them, taste is the most important. But a dish is far more than just taste."
"Using fresh fruits and tender meat to create a strong visual impact, that's color!"
Zhang Wei continued his explanation, "And I took on all the work in the kitchen not to show off, but to let the assistants focus all their energy on exquisite plating, highlighting the shape!"
"What about the aroma?"
"Steam."
"Huh?"
Zhang Wei pointed at the stones in the stove, "You don't really think pouring soup water on stones is a necessary cooking step, do you?"
"Could it be... a means to deceive the eyes?"
Mo Du had watched the entire competition, and Zhang Wei's cooking methods were extremely visually appealing.
Every time new meat was steamed, soup was poured onto the hot stones, creating magnificent steam.
Zhang Wei simmered soup in over a dozen large pots, of which only one-tenth was used for diners to drink; the other nine-tenths were used to pour onto the stones.
Mo Du exclaimed in shock, "It's the steam!"
"Using hot stones to vaporize the broth, its rich aroma would spread throughout the entire venue!"
How much aroma could naturally evaporate?
With fifty stalls in the entire arena, the aromas had already mixed together, becoming indistinguishable.
To gain an advantage in aroma, an incredible quantity was needed! And every customer who had eaten at Zhang Wei's stall would feel a sense of unfamiliar familiarity...
Nine-tenths of the broth was vaporized, meaning all the spectators and contestants in the arena had smelled it!
Even!
They had smelled it for the entire day!
As long as the aroma could be dispersed, customers would naturally be attracted.
The visual impact of the ingredients' colors, the most pervasive aroma, the trap-like flavor, the meticulous plating, plus that poem...
Color, aroma, taste, shape, intention...
All complete!
"Brother..."
"Yes?"
"Nothing..."
Mo Du was at a loss for words.
He wanted to express his admiration, but the words felt too shallow.
Although he had met many chefs, none had ever calculated their dishes so clearly.
Even without relying on taste, he achieved such a terrifying result.
Zhang Wei's words kept echoing in his mind.
'Color, aroma, taste, shape, and intention; a dish is more than just taste.'
Many chefs knew this saying, but few had truly achieved it!
"I think the Deer God chose you for a reason. I feel it might not be due to bloodline. Brother... you really don't have a chef's star rating?"
"Chef star ratings, those things are so boring."