Chapter 228 - Multitasking

Feeling like his heart was about to burst out of his c.h.e.s.t, Wang Ming took a few more deep breaths before reading the paper. Many other chefs around him also took deep breaths to calm themselves down, which made him feel more at ease. 

After many breaths he calmed down, but his heart kept racing up fast. He thought it would be a piece of cake to keep himself calm, but the cameras and MC talking and looking at him made him feel antsy. He didn't want to make mistakes live on tv. It was almost like he could feel millions of eyes staring him down at this moment. 

"Everyone just see the pressure all the chefs feel at this moment, most of them are still in deep thought not knowing what to cook. Especially for first timers like Wang Ming, it's hard to know exactly what to do, as their afraid to make mistakes. What one should do in this situation is to not overthink it and just do what you think is right, if the end product is bad then you just have to b.a.r.e with it and try again next time."

The experienced chefs stared at Meng Zhong. Even if he wanted to help Wang Ming, he didn't need to do it so brazenly. Even though there were other chefs struggling on the stage too, they had all seen Meng Zhong talk with Wang Ming earlier and know that they have some sort of connection. So no one dared to say anything, afraid they would offend him.

Meng Zhong's advice knocked some sense into him. He couldn't believe he got so fixated on his fear of making a mistake. To get better at anything you need to accept that you're going to make mistakes, as making mistakes is the best way to learn and get better. He didn't make the pork belly dish the first try. He tried many, many times before he created something great. 

He couldn't disappoint with his loved one's watching, he was sure that Qiao Meng and Lang Lin would also watch the show on the tv. He also couldn't disappoint himself, it's fine if he fails after doing his best, but if he fails because he was too scared to even cook, then he could just quit being a chef now. 

Calming himself down, Wang Ming then did something that shocked everyone there he started with doing all his tasks at the same time except for making the noodles. 

Meng Zhong exclaimed loudly when he saw what Wang Ming was doing and then explained to the audience why this is so insane. 

"You at home might not understand why we are so surprised by what Wang Ming is doing, so let me explain it. Cooking eggs is a very delicate job, as you've seen from the last round over half of the participants failed at the task. Doing it all perfectly in a time crunch proves to be a bigger challenge than you might think. That's why it's crazy that Wang Ming's doing everything at once."

Wang Ming was too focused on what he was doing, so he didn't even hear what Meng Zhong commented. Though he knew what he was doing is pretty insane for normal people, but for him multitasking isn't that bad as long as he stays attentive. He started with heating a pot of water. He only put on medium heat as the water should boil gently so it doesn't destroy the egg. 

He then put a wok on high heat and beat up 5 eggs. He didn't season the eggs at all, as seasoning the eggs early can break the eggs. He didn't beat the eggs up normally either, but he firstly separated the eggs and whisked the egg whites to incorporate air into the egg. This way the egg becomes a lot more fluffy and soft. He then incorporated the yolks back into the egg white. 

He was careful with not using too much strength as the air bubbles can easily burst and that would ruin the eggs. He just gently layered the egg whites back into the yolk. After fully incorporating the yoke into the egg white, Wang Ming put the eggs away and started on the tuna. 

He had never filleted a tuna before, but the tuna looked very similar to the carps he has filleted many times. He was on the clock now as he had to be attentive to the water and the wok as well. Filleting the fish is the task Wang Ming dreaded the most. Luckily the requirements were for the fillet to not have a single bone on it and not that it had to be cut perfectly. As if he wants to fillet the fish and to not waste any meat is almost impossible with the time they have.

But he would still fillet the fish to the best of his ability, as he was sure that if he did a poor job filleting the fish, they would disqualify him for it. Using a thin and sharp knife, Wang Ming cut off the fish's head with one clean chop. He then cut into the top part of the fin as the fin is where the bone is.

Holding the knife steady, Wang Ming slowly guided the knife with the fin from where he cut the fish's head off right down to the tail. With that he had filleted half of the fish already, just in time to cook the eggs. Seeing the fish come off the bone cleanly made Wang Ming sigh in relief. Luckily, he wore a headband to absorb all the sweat on his forehead. Dripping sweat on the fish would have disqualified him on the spot.

The water was gently boiling so Wang Ming put a bit of vinegar then cracked 4 eggs into it. He wanted to ensure his chances to win, so Wang Ming cooked more. The vinegar is a great trick he had learnt from a western chef, if he remembers right, the western chef told him that. That the vinegar helps the egg keep its shape in the water as the egg white has a tendency to disperse in the water.

Wang Ming then pulled the pot of the heat and let it rest. It would roughly take 3-4 minutes, so he had to be fast. He had used 20 minutes already, he would need to do the tasks faster to get enough time for everything.

The wok was piping hot now. The moment he put the scrambled eggs into the wok, the egg set immediately. He put the eggs in little by little, Wang Ming hadn't done this many times but he loves to make a square shaped scrambled eggs, so it looks just like a cake.

He kept folding the eggs together while adding more and more scrambled eggs. Whilst in the middle of cooking the scrambled eggs, Wang Ming almost forgot about the poached eggs, but since he had kept tabs on the clock, he only took the eggs roughly 15 seconds out too late. With the heavy wok in one hand, Wang Ming used the other hand to take out the poached eggs and put them in an ice bath he had prepared from before. It ensured that the eggs wouldn't get overcooked.

With a surprised pikachu face, Angela exclaimed. "Wow, everyone look at Mr. Wang! He's truly a crouching tiger hidden dragon not only is he a talented chef, he's a powerful man as well, look at his bulging muscles! The wok Wang Ming is using is an extra large one it's even reinforced it weighs almost 25 kgs! At this pace, Wang Ming might be the first person to finish! Mr. Hoa and Mrs. Jia are right behind him, let's take a look at them as well."

After putting the poached eggs away in an ice bath, he continued layering the eggs. Soon he had layered the eggs over 20 times, creating a square of scrambled eggs. It looked almost like a cake. Though it wasn't an exact square, as the runny egg was overflowing from the top. But that just added to the beauty of the scrambled egg. The creases on the top almost looked like waves in the sea of runny egg.

Wang Ming felt happy that his decision to multitask had paid off. His eggs looked good, but of course the judges would decide if it's good enough. Grabbing the knife again, Wang Ming flipped the fish around and cut into the fish just like last time.

Gently guiding the knife he used the same level of strength the knife cut through the tuna's skin like butter. The knife cut even smoother this time than last time, that was until Wang Ming cut down close to the tail, when he cut into the tail Wang Ming felt resistance when he cut through the fish meat. But thinking it was nothing major, he used more power and sliced through and cut the fillet off.

When he flipped over the fillet Wang Ming saw the camera pan over to his side, everyone stared intently at Wang Ming's fillet, looking at it himself, Wang Ming felt like cursing but he held in it. But Meng Zhong and Zhang Hou didn't care both said "Shit." loudly when they saw Wang Ming's fillet.