The soft-boiled egg dishes Photo:Sina Weibo

A soft-boiled egg topped with gravy made from slow cooked beef mince and local organic mushrooms has become a much-loved dish during recent test competitions held at Chongli, Zhangjiakou in North China's Hebei Province.

Representing his team, which is going to be responsible for cooking 14 types of dishes for guests when the Beijing Games begin in no less than a month, Chef Bai Xiaojun did not expect that his soft-boiled egg would top all the other "fancier dishes" that he had spent a long time preparing.  

"I remember that we prepared dishes with, for example, braised pork belly, shrimp, and steak, and thought such heavy meals would cater to eaters' appetite. But it turned out the manager told us there were four to five dishes returned to the kitchen among the total of 10 that we provided," Bai said in an interview with media. 

Such rather surprising results later became Bai's driving force to come up with the egg dish.

"Egg is an excellent choice as it is not only contains the good proteins that athletes need the most, but also it is a worldly food ingredient that caters to the tastes of many people. What shows the Chinese culinary essence is the dish's sauce, which is natural and savoury, like what we say in Chinese, to bring a painting of a dragon to life by drawing in its eyes at the end," Zhu Shuming, a senior chef, told the Global Times.     

Behind the seemingly simple dish was the Olympic chef team's goal to meet the Games' catering standards by choosing fresh local organic ingredients as well as following rigorous cooking procedures - slow cooking the egg at specific 63 C heat for 75 minutes - to provide earnest Chinese cuisine to guests from all over the world.

Bai's team is not the only group of chefs dedicated to serving the Olympic dining table with pride. His studio is just one of the 30 studios that qualified to cook a total of 300 dishes, plus the special egg one, for the Games. 

The 300 dishes have been complied in a "Chongli Menu," which shows off Hebei Province's unique culinary culture to the world. Such dishes touch on the Winter Olympic Games theme in one section, the 'Chongli Ice-snow' section features 20 creative courses such as "oat fish noodles" that exhibit China's unique culinary culture.    

Besides, the menu for Olympic athletes has also been released in November 2021 and includes 678 dishes related to the Chinese New Year in various sections such as "Asian counter," and a section for halal and kosher meals, to show Beijing's hospitality. 

"In China, We have the tradition that to use the best food to welcome friends, this is our way to show love and respects," added Zhu.

Photo taken on Dec. 19, 2020 shows the National Ski Jumping Center in Chongli District of Zhangjiakou City, north China's Hebei Province.(Photo: Xinhua)