Fix fixed point

Chef's Table was originally a noun, not an event, literally.It refers to being in the kitchen, or the table closest to the kitchen.Generally, only VIP guests can sit there, enjoy the treatment of the chef, and enjoy the dishes cooked by the chef himself.These guests at the chef's table are more friends of the chef than regular guests.

Yet when the Top Chef pro competition turns the word into an event, it's also literally Chef's Table.The people sitting at the table are all well-known chefs, and the people cooking will be the chefs of some future restaurants.

The event didn't start until six in the afternoon, and Adam, Steve, and Scott were here at eight in the morning.They decided everyone's order by drawing lots in advance.They have already thought about the dishes to make.

But Simon and Tinno told them that there was no chef that night, and there were only three of them in the kitchen.Both Tino and Simon would sit at that table, all by themselves.

The three young men looked blank: "What?"

The three of them are competitors, and the chef should be the one who has the right to coordinate the actions of the three.When necessary, the chef can order a person to put down the work in hand to prepare for his opponent so that the dishes can be served on time.And now they are told there is no head chef and they have to communicate with the head waiter themselves.

None of the three are stupid, and it quickly comes to the thrilling conclusion that the three of them must work together to get through the night.

"Well. This is also part of the competition." Simon nodded: "Tonight's menu is designed by you. Even if the service is on the heads of the three of you tonight, your goal is to not be late for one dish."

Ting Nuo pointed to the cameras placed in different positions in the kitchen and the mirrors on the entire ceiling and said: "Every move you make here will be recorded, and you will be found if you cheat your teammates, but I advise you not to Do that, because if a teammate can't serve the food, other people will be jointly and severally liable, and the person who cheated on his teammate will be directly disqualified from the competition."

Adam nodded and felt something was wrong, and immediately shook his head again.Steve and Scott haven't fully reacted yet.

"It's not that difficult. It's like this every year. At present, there is no situation where you cheat your teammates. Don't let me and Ting Nuo down this year."

Scott raised his hand. "Why have we never heard of this rule?"

"Because this rule is only known to those who participated, and you can't spread it out even after it's over. This is part of the contract. Didn't you read it carefully?"

Such a long contract, even if you have seen it, you may not be able to remember it clearly now.All three complained in their hearts.

Ting Nuo comforted the three of them with grief and indignation: "It's not that difficult, I suggest that you must be familiar with the steps of your teammates. You can ask your teammates to chop vegetables, you can ask your teammates to prepare, or even ask your teammates to arrange the dishes. Yes. But cooking and seasoning must be done by yourself, so that it is not easy to cause misunderstandings. If I were you, I should go to work now, I think you must have a lot to discuss."

The three of them glanced at each other, took a notebook each, and rushed to a room for a meeting.

It's a real sea change, and it means they can't be alone, they have to assess each other's speed and reschedule.They can no longer just think about doing their own stuff.The three recipes have to be combined into a complete menu, and everyone's time has to be relocated, which disrupts everyone's plans.

The three of them reluctantly took out their own recipes, biting the barrel of their pens to see how they could ensure that the dishes were served on time.

Steve has won the main course, and Adam looks at his step-by-step diagram and almost worries about him.There are so many things Steve has to prepare, so many that even Adam may not be able to finish them.He used two different fish in three sauces, and several vegetables that required different cooking methods and were time consuming to prepare and cook.Adam was deeply skeptical that Steve would be able to plate the food before it cooled.

He tried to change it, only to get suspicious looks from Steve, and finally Adam could only say, "You're cooking fish, and the smell is too messy and distracting. Steve, if you don't believe me, we can try it." Let’s go through the menu before and after improvement, and then let Simon and Tinno taste it. Isn’t this a foul?”

When trying to make it, Adam adjusted his starter appropriately according to Steve's menu. He added some mustard to make his soup more refreshing, so as to match Steve's next fish.

Seeing this, Scott also adjusted his dessert. He decided to make a lemon tart, a very artistic lemon tart.Because the main dish is fish, he increased the sweetness to make it easier for everyone to feel full.

All three of them were very satisfied with the results, and finally reached a consensus on today's operation process.

At [-]:[-] in the afternoon, Ting Nuo and Simon secretly opened the door of the back kitchen. The kitchen still looked orderly, and the three of them did not fight because of grabbing resources.

Scott put down the brush in his hand and said, "Adam, when am I going to wash these mussels?"

"03:30." Adam, who was slicing cucumbers into two-millimeter slices with a slicer, answered Scott without looking up.

Scott became happy when he heard that: "Great, I'm done, I'm going to smoke a cigarette."

Adam took it without thinking: "Wait, Scott, you help me put these cucumbers in a bag to vacuum, one bag contains three slices. After we are done, we will help Steve deal with the radishes, that way We can all have a 10-minute break to go smoke a cigarette together."

Scott sighed, he didn't know how Adam figured it out so quickly.But now under Adam's leadership, everything is moving forward in an orderly manner, and they are never behind schedule.It's not easy.

"Do you smoke?" Steve asked suddenly, his head buried in his work, the knife in his hand never stopped.This skill of cutting vegetables while talking makes Ting Nuo very envious, as long as Ting Nuo is distracted, he will cut his hand.Steve didn't even look at the two of them, "Adam, you don't smoke, why join in the fun?"

"I want to rest too. How do you know I don't smoke?"

"You have clean fingers, Mrs Conway said."

"Mrs. Conway? Wait, I know you work in her restaurant, but how did Mrs. Conway see Adam?"

"It's a long story," Steve sighed, the knife paused on the cutting board, and then continued to ring: "Don't you wonder how Adam rests? I haven't seen a few chefs who don't smoke."

"You don't know how tired I am standing hunched over like this. I lie down somewhere and when I smoke, the ash falls on my face."

Those two were obviously shorter than Adam, and Steve was only over 1.7 meters, and this sentence aroused hatred.

"So we stand and smoke while you lie on the ground? So you don't have to worry about the ash floating on your face?" Steve has been quiet throughout the game, and he seems to be a relatively shy person. Ting Nuo didn't expect that he could complain about Adam so sharply.

"Does that really look like shit to Mrs Conway?"

"Is the color really bad?"

"What the hell are you talking about? I'm really curious. If you don't tell me, Steve, I'll go out and rest."

Tino closed the door silently, feeling that he didn't really want to know what Mrs. Conway was thinking.What he and Simon didn't say before was that they could still ask Simon and Tinno for help before 6 o'clock.But now it seems that these three people do not need help.

At six o'clock, Hong Rui walked to the seat with his name tag written on it, and pulled the chair away.

Maxine entered the gate almost at the same time as him.She wore a silver-gray silk gown with an open back, and a long silver ribbon wrapped around her neck and dropped at the back, over the heels of her high-heeled shoes.As she strode, the ribbon swam behind her like a spirit snake.Among a group of men in black and white evening dresses, she is like a meandering river under the snow-capped mountains and starry sky in the dark night.

When she came over, the black crowd automatically parted to make way for her.Hong Rui sighed, stood at the door and opened the door for her, and said, "Please first, madam."

Maxine walked into the door without looking sideways, and Hong Rui didn't mind, and walked in behind her.

Hong Rui sat down in his seat, Maxine was at the next table, and no one spoke to each other.

Hong Rui doesn't like socializing.In fact, if he can write an email, he will definitely not make a phone call, and if he can make a phone call, he will definitely not go for an interview.He attended interviews and programs because of his work needs.That doesn't require him to communicate more with people.But sitting in a room with a group of colleagues and having a meal is a different story.

When he was sitting here eating, he could design several different presentations, and he was thinking about how to make the mushroom soup that day more beautiful.Color, a single color is a dead end, even if gold leaf is added, it is still very monotonous.Brown, he thought about this color and thought about the ingredients that could be matched.

Hong Rui held the phone and dragged his fingers on it boredly.He randomly drew thick brown lines, and then changed to lighter browns, and finally they were layered on top of each other to form blocks of different shades of brown.He zoomed in on the part and rubbed out the details with white lines on it.A silhouette can be vaguely seen, which looks like an eye.

"Good evening, Hong Rui." Someone stood beside him and pulled out a chair.Hong Rui could feel the gaze projected on his mobile phone by the other party.

Hong Rui frowned slightly, turned off the screen and put it back into the inner pocket of the dress.He looked up and saw a man in a black dress with a lapel collar.It's not surprising, most people are wearing black dresses, but this man has long silver hair tied neatly at the back of his head, and his half-white beard is trimmed short and thick, like a lion's. mane.

"Piero!" Hong Rui immediately stood up and hugged him with open arms: "What a surprise!"

The right cheeks of the two were close together, Hong Rui quickly kissed each other's right cheek and then kissed each other's left cheek again.

After they parted, Piero looked Hong Rui up and down and said with a smile, "Please, just twice?"

Hong Rui laughed, he hugged Piero, and kissed his left and right cheeks again, which made Piero sit down beside him with satisfaction.

"Hongrui, you look so radiant, I saw you sitting here from afar, and thought, um, who is that? No one dares to sit here with such a radiance. Then I'll be the first one .”

Hong Rui laughed loudly: "You look refreshed, and your retirement life is good?"

"I'm a little disappointed that you didn't come to see me. I thought you would."

"I don't want to spend two days in traffic, go to your house for lunch and two days back. I do think about visiting you in Scotland for Christmas though, if it doesn't snow."

"Christmas is too cold, you won't like it." Seeing that he didn't intend to take out his phone again, Piero asked, "What were you drawing just now?"

"Drawing to pass the time. I thought you wouldn't be participating in these events because you announced your retirement?"

Piero raised his hand to a waiter, and he stuffed some banknotes into the waiter's hand and said sincerely: "Honey, can I get some sparkling wine for us two old men? No champagne, prosecco (*Note [-])." Piero blinked at the young waitress.His cheeks are masculine and his eyes are firm. It can be seen that he was a very charming man when he was young, and the wrinkles on his face made him more attractive than diminished, like a glass of old whiskey with a thick background.The waitress blushed slightly, nodded, and walked away quickly.Soon she took another bottle of Prosecco, pressed the banknotes he had given earlier on the table and said: "Mr. Tucci, this is our best Prosecco, the organizer said you can come to us It's an honor, we can't charge you money."

"Then, thank you for your sweet smile." Piero stuffed the returned banknotes into the waitress' hands, and blinked again, "Don't let me down, okay?" Realizing that, Piero's fingers took the opportunity to touch the back of her hand.

The waitress' face was really red this time, and she quickly opened the Prosecco, poured champagne glasses for them and left.

Piero picked up the glass and sniffed it, and said: "I heard about your recent affairs, it's not going well, huh?"

Hong Rui was a little surprised, but he didn't try to hide it, and nodded, "Investors don't like the menu of the restaurant that will open next year, and I'm still trying to figure it out."

"Hong Rui, you didn't tell me the whole story. There are some problems with the food in your supermarket. I heard that some people are allergic to it, but I can't find the source of the allergen." Piero reached out and pushed another glass of wine towards Hong Rui. , his arm was resting on the back of Hong Rui's seat, and when he leaned forward, his forehead was almost touching Hong Rui's side face, "I heard the news that someone moved something behind his back. Have you offended someone recently?"

Hong Rui took the wine, glanced at Maxine who was sitting at the next table, took a sip of the wine and did not speak.Piero followed his gaze and turned to see Maxine looking at them too.Piero was stunned for a second, and forced a toast to Maxine with a smile.Hong Rui heard him talking to himself: "Oh, damn it, no one told me she would come too."

Hong Rui suddenly felt that tonight would be more difficult than he imagined.

What Adam decided to make was a cold soup (gazpacho) (*Note [-]).The question of whether or not to put butter has entangled him for a long time, and he almost made a decision not to put butter.Later, when Adam thought about it, Hong Rui could eat all the ingredients.Hongrui would not be happy if he finds out that Adam gave up cream in order to take care of his diet.

This soup looks simple, but it actually requires a lot of work.The soup was actually inspired by the Flame of Adonis, and Adam wanted to take the flowers home to Kara, but it didn't seem right.Girls should not like flowers that have been pulled down, so Adam put tulips on his bedside.Carla saw that he really liked the flower, and helped him hang the flower upside down to dry to make dried flowers.

Adam stared at the flower every day with his eyes open and closed. He liked the purple color until one day he wanted to make a dish in that color.

Adam first made a mayonnaise sauce with red wine, French Dijon mustard.Purple kale has its white, bitter stalks removed, leaving only the purple leaves to juice in a vegetable blender.White bread soaked in kale juice and chilled in the refrigerator.Finally pour the kale and bread mixture into the gauze, trying to squeeze the kale juice out of the bread.Scott Steve saw Adam doing this and felt that Adam was unnecessary.But Adam insisted that it would release some of the starch from the bread, which would not thicken the soup.Because this soup only uses fruits and vegetables, it is easy to become too thin, so the color is not thick enough and the taste is too light.

Fifteen minutes before serving, puree the other portion of the kale and strain.And use a hand blender to blend the mayonnaise and two different purple kale fruit and vegetable juices evenly.The fruit and vegetable juice squeezed out in front is reddish in color, which is bright purple, while the color of fresh juice is eggplant purple.When the three are combined, the cold soup takes on a rich purple color and has a smooth, velvety texture.

Adam tore open the grocery bag that Scott had vacuumed for him, took out the diced cucumbers, and placed them on the bottom of the plate.He scoops out pre-made balls of wasabi ice cream and stacks them on cucumbers.Finally he pours the seasoned cold kale soup into black ceramic vessels.

All the waiters were standing in the kitchen, and Adam explained to the head waiter and all the waiters, "Can you pour this soup over the side in front of the guests after putting down the plates? Just make sure you avoid the ice cream."

As Adam said, he demonstrated the process of pouring soup.

The foreman nodded: "No problem."

"It's really a simple arrangement." Steve and Scott, who were watching from the side, also said, "You can't go wrong."

Adam put the demo soup aside and smiled at Scott and Steve: "Let's get started, there are 30 chefs waiting outside to see our show."

Adam cuts the cucumbers, and Steve scoops out the ice cream, taking great care to make sure the ice cream is a complete circle.Scott carefully poured the cold soup into the black crockery, making sure that the edges of the plates Steve had finished serving were clean.Their actions were quick, and an afternoon had already given them a tacit understanding and trust with each other.

Because this is a cold dish, the infrared light at the dish outlet has been turned off.Waiters lined up and filed out with plates and soup.Until the last dish was taken away——Adam finally delivered all the starters smoothly and on time.

Adam had been preparing for this moment for a long time.He's been wondering for days how he'll feel when this moment is done.Relieved or filled with anticipation?But he hadn't expected this to be the case.After he finished this dish, he had to prepare the next dish without stopping for a moment, and he didn't even have much time to breathe.

"Okay." Adam watched as the last waiter disappeared into the porch.Now, the deal is done, will Hongrui like it?How would he evaluate it?Will he find it too simple or will he see the logic?Adam felt that he couldn't think about it any longer. If he thought about it any longer, he couldn't go all out.Adam took a deep breath, shook his head fiercely, trying to dispel the many questions gradually rising in his mind.The time is up, he said to himself, this is the time he allowed himself to be grateful, he turned to look at Steve and smiled: "Steve, now it's your turn."

"Hey Adam, relax, you're done." Steve looked at Adam and smiled: "You can scream for 30 seconds, or go out and find a place to lie down for a while. I know I'm going to go to the roots when I'm done. cigarette."

"I really want to, but it's too much trouble for you to arrange the dishes." Adam frowned and smiled, his tone half complaining and half joking, "Have you ever counted it? This is a 5X6 queue, there are enough 30 points, assuming you can order a column in 3 seconds, it will take at least 18 seconds to order a plate, and you will need at least 9-10 minutes to order all the plates, not including the time you spend frying fish .So I have to get to work."

Steve and Scott's anxieties that Adam would leave once the food was served vanished. "You're so organized," Scott said. "I'm still panicking, but I've never felt so confident."

Adam pursed his lips and grinned. This is all he learned from Alimentum's kitchen.High efficiency and high quality all rely on a lot of early planning, communication and preparation.And his practice of serving [-] dishes at one go at Alimentum made Adam understand the importance of cooperation.

"Let's get started," Adam said.

*Note [-]: Prosecco: Like champagne, it is sparkling wine. Champagne is produced in France, and Prosecco is produced in Italy.Piero is Italian.

*Note [-]: This cold soup is still from the recipe of my male god Heston Blumenthal.Recipes appear in both HestonBlumenthalAthome and Thebigfatduckcookbook.Because the former is a home version, the step of vacuuming the cucumber is omitted.This dish also appeared on the table of the three-star Michelin restaurant Fat Duck.