The promotion contest of the North China Division of “Pursuing Freshness · WEI DA MEI Young Chef Contest” was ended successfully

On November 18, the promotion contest of the North China Division of "Pursing Freshness · WEI DA MEI Young Chef Contest" was ended successfully in Beijing Union University. After a series of fierce competitions in Shandong Division and Sichuan-Chongqing Division, this is the third offline promotion contest in the five major divisions of China. 20 of the more than 600 chefs nationwide from the preliminary contest participated in the promotion contest, where they tried their best to exert their talents and skills based on the designated ingredients. In the end, 3 contestants stood out thanks to their precise and sensitive control over freshness and outstanding cooking skills, and were included in the national final, where they would compete with other contestants for the honor of “Shinho Star Chef”.

This contest is not only a high-level platform for showing the high cooking skills, but also deeply realizes WEI DA MEI’s commitment of empowering the new generation of chefs and helping the future development of the industry through its diversified interactive experience, authoritative evaluation mechanism and all-round communication layout.

The promotion contest of the North China Division was jointly sponsored by the WFCCI and WEI DA MEI Catering Service Brand and reported by [MINGCHU] and Beijing TV. In particular, Beijing Union University provided authoritative academic support. “Such a strong cooperation can create a fair, just and professional competitive platform for young chefs.” Just as Jia Xiaojin, the general manager of WEI DA MEI Catering Service Business Unit of Shinho Group, said in her speech, “WEI DA MEI always shoulders the holy mission of empowering restaurants to improve their operational efficiency and food value, and chefs to exert their creativity and realize their dreams. Our cooperation with the association ensures the contest follows the latest industry trend and future development direction. Furthermore, under the strong support from Beijing Union University, we have realized the in-depth integration of ‘industry - university - research’ of the F&B industry in real sense and the contest could exert a more important role.” She emphasized that WEI DA MEI would as always help the young chefs achieve career breakthroughs with the full link design of “selection - training - empowerment - output”.

Wang Zhaohui, the China’s Cooking Master and the Secretary General of WFCCI China Service Committee, served as the supervisor in the contest and delivered a speech. In her view, "freshness" is the soul of the Chinese cuisine and also the eternal pursuit of food culture. From the persistence of the ingredients’ original flavor to the improvement of seasoning, and from the inheritance of traditional techniques to the exploration of innovation, "freshness" not only implies the ingenuity of the senior masters but also carries the younger generation’s courage of making breakthroughs. Young chefs, as the future of the Chinese cuisines and the key role in cultural inheritance, should not only inherit and digest the traditional techniques, but also cultivate the courage and wisdom to make breakthroughs. They bear the holy missions of “creating fancy flavor” and “transmitting culture” as the chefs in the new era.

Sun Lixin, the chief referee of the North China Division, read out the rules of the contest for contestants and delivered a speech: “We will comprehensively evaluate the contestants from many aspects, such as professionalism, expression and operation, to ensure that the contest is fair, just and open. Young chefs should have not only solid basic skills, but also stage expression and innovative thinking. I hope that every contestant can seize the opportunity to demonstrate your talents and skills.”

Pork fillet plays a “pivotal” role in the Beijing-styled cuisines. Its characteristics, including "lean meat, tenderness and no fascia", comply with the cooking tradition (rigorous requirements for the skills of cutting up vegetables and meat, heat and sauce fragrance) of Beijing cuisines. The pork fillet is used extensively in the Beijing cuisines thanks to its tenderness. The three cooking methods, stir-frying with sauce, soft frying and stir-frying with thick gravy, make the classic and popular Beijing cuisine full of sauce fragrance and tender.

To enable more audience to watch the contest in real time, the promotion contest was live simultaneously through the WeChat Video Channel of “WEI DA MEI Catering Service”, attracting tens of thousands of netizens. Meanwhile, the contest was reported by the convergence media such as the This Moment of Life of Beijing BRTV Life Channel, Beijing Food Map special column, Dalian Evening News as well as the celebrity chef APP, Jingchen Evening News Network, Netease, Phoenix Network Jilin, Inner Mongolia Business Daily, Northeast Business Daily Network, thus realizing integration of online and offline integrated exposure, and the total exposure exceeded 10 million, which greatly enhanced the influence and brand volume of the event.

The contestants need to finish a creative “pork fillet”-themed dish and a self-selected dish within 90min. After a series of rigorous tests from the operation standard supervision of ingredients preparation in kitchen and food safety to the professional and logical expression on dish concept on the stage, the top 3 contestants were selected in the Shandong Division, who would participate in the national final.

-TOP1 (special gold award): Jiang Ning From: Tianjin Restaurant: Ruixiang · Shanghai Official Cuisine Post: Cold Dish Chef Score of the entry: 90.98 Awards: Qualification for the final + RMB 5,000 in cash + individual award certificate & medal jointly issued by the WFCCI and WEI DA MEI Catering Service + WEI DA MEI Xianfeng Zhenwei Restaurant Plaque + Qualification of Michelin Kitchen Training Camp worth RMB 10,000 Themed dish: Linglong Fruit Vinegar Fillet The chef tries to upgrade the classic sweet and sour fillet by using fruits, in order to pursue the original taste of ingredients, which coincides with the characteristics of WEI DA MEI products. Furthermore, the dish is healthier and more novel. Method: Soak the pork fillet in salt water with thyme, pepper, fennel, star anise, etc. to nourish the fillet with base flavor and make it tender, then wrap it with corn starch, fry it at 180℃ until the shape is fixed, and fry it again until it is crispy outside and tender inside. Smash the fresh hawthorn and cherries and then filter them to get the jam, which can improve the sour and bring agreeable natural sweet and fragrant flavor. When cooking the sauce, add WEI DA MEI Premium Soy Sauce and WEI DA MEI light rice vinegar, and stew the jam at 80℃. The salty taste goes with the sweet and sour taste, echoing with the fruit fragrance. Finally, sprinkle some freeze-dried hawthorn powders on the dish to make it more attractive in appearance and better bring out the festive atmosphere.

Self-selected dish: Crispy Scale-shaped Pomfret with Red Soup Apply the scale-shaped spring rolls onto the marinated fish slices, then stir-fry them at 130℃ until they become crispy externally, and tender internally with a slight golden color and a proper and novel shape. Add WEI DA MEI rocky candy dark soy sauce, WEI DA MEI Premium Soy Sauce, WEI DA MEI Delicate Golden Mark Oyster Sauce and golden slab sugar to prepare the sauce and stew the sauce at low heat for about 6min. With a proper sweetness, mellow taste and bright color, the dish is full of the sauce fragrance and appetizing.

TOP 2 (gold award): Zhang Keqian From: Beijing Restaurant: Zhongguan Xinyuan Yiyuan Chinese Food Restaurant at Peking University Post: Sous Chef Score of the entry: 89.76 Awards: Qualification for the final + RMB 3,000 in cash + individual award certificate & medal jointly issued by the WFCCI and WEI DA MEI Catering Service + WEI DA MEI Xianfeng Zhenwei Restaurant Plaque + Qualification of Michelin Kitchen Training Camp worth RMB 10,000.格 Themed dish: Chrysanthemum-shaped Crispy Pork Fillets Smash the pork fillets into paste, sieve the paste and add some dough. Add custard powder to enhance the fragrance and color, and roll the paste until it becomes slightly hard in order to facilitate shaping. Roll the cut paste into chrysanthemum shape. Don't make the pedals too wide in order to avoid collapse. Stir-fry them after their shapes are finalized to bring crispy taste. Add WEI DA MEI light rice vinegar, white sugar and a little bit salt to make the sweet and sour sauce, stew the sauce at low heat for 10min. With a sweet and sour taste, the dish is in bright color.

Self-selected dish: Special-flavored Lime Veal Inspired by the Jiangnan simmered veal, the chef innovatively changed the flavor of sauce and sprinkled a handful of lime zest on the dish to enrich the flavor and make it fresher. The raw material of the dish is beef rib, which is marinated with a little bit salt and then steamed for 1 hr. Remove the bones, cut them into dices and stir-fry them at 200℃ for 3-4min. As for the crispy beef sauce, add WEI DA MEI rocky candy dark soy sauce, WEI DA MEI Premium Soy Sauce, cracked black peppers, Amomum kravanh, and the tomatoes dried in oven and stew them at low heat for 2 min until it becomes thick. When putting the ribs into the plate, add some HUANG FEI HONG Magic Chili to make the taste crispy and more delicious. Furthermore, the tower and koi made of white chocolate and the logos of WEI DA MEI and the WFCCI made of fondant add brilliance to this dish.

TOP 3 (gold award): Guo Guohe From: Beijing Restaurant: Zhiguan Restaurant Post: Head chef Score of the entry: 89.36 Awards: Qualification for the final + RMB 3,000 in cash + individual award certificate & medal jointly issued by the WFCCI and WEI DA MEI Catering Service + WEI DA MEI Xianfeng Zhenwei Restaurant Plaque + Qualification of Michelin Kitchen Training Camp worth RMB 10,000. Theme dish: Fried Pork in Scoop Cut the pork fillets into thick slices, then clean them in water; marinate them with WEI DA MEI SHANGPIN cooking wine to remove the odor and enhance the fragrance. Put the slices and mix them in the sauce and then stir-fry them at 130℃ until they have a fixed shape and in golden color with a crispy taste. As for the sauce, add tomato paste, white sugar, WEI DA MEI SHANGPIN cooking wine first and then WEI DA MEI light rice vinegar for stewing at a low heat for 2-3min until the sauce becomes thick. Then put the prepared slices into the sauce, toss the wok and sprinkle some white sesame. Guo Guohe said that the WEI DA MEI light rice vinegar was tenderer than white vinegar, didn't produce any discomfort taste and could make the paste crispy, besides retaining the flavor of vinegar. The chef also add some red raspberry, Hami melons and the jam made of red raspberry to make the flavor agreeable, improve the fragrance and enrich the color of the dish.

Self-selected dish: Private Mint Ribs By blending the unique fresh aroma of mint with the aroma of ribs, the whole dish becomes different and refreshing. The mint can not only remove the greasy taste but also add a special flavor for the dish, contributing to the lasting aftertaste. Cooking method: Cut the ribs into certain lengths (about 3.3cm), add WEI DA MEI Delicate Golden Mark Oyster Sauce, WEI DA MEI SHANGPIN cooking wine, scallions, gingers, star anises as well as WEI DA MEI rocky candy dark soy sauce (used for improving the color), stew them in the high-pressure pot for 15min, then take them out and apply a little bit starch on the ribs, stir-dry them at 150℃ until the color turns golden. As for the sauce, it cannot be too thick or salty and is proper when the sauce can attach on the ribs. Add some HUANG FEI HONG Crispy Chili on the top to remove the greasy flavor and improve the fragrance. The served ribs are salty, fresh and a little bit sweet with the fragrance of peppers. Add some fried mints after placing the ribs in the plate to enrich the color of the dish.

Jia Xiaojin, the general manager of WEI DA MEI Catering Service Business Unit, Wang Zhaohui, the representative of the WFCCI, and Sun Lixin, the chief referee of North China Division, presented the awards to winners.

Along with the successful ending of the promotion contests in Shandong Division, Sichuan-Chongqing Division and North China Division, 6 positions are left for the national final of the 2025 WEI DA MEI Young Chef Contest only and will be selected from the contestants in the Central Plains Division (Zhengzhou) and East China Division (Nanjing) that will kick off in succession. The top 3 contestants from each of the five divisions (15 contestants in total) will enter the national final, and participate in the “Shinho Chef Trainee Program” where they will receive professional training from CieCAS and face-to-face exchange with Michelin-starred restaurant chefs. In the future, WEI DA MEI will promote the inheritance and innovation of the Chinese food culture continuously, and help more young chefs break through the professional bottleneck and play a “dominant” role in the Chinese food industry by taking the events as a very platform.