Chef Zhang Hui (center) and two colleagues at Zhongshan Station in Antarctica reaching out to help and feed a stranded penguin in 2011. Zhang spent 17 months as chief chef at the station. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Cookery teacher and veteran chef Zhang Hui attributes his career success to luck, but behind his modesty are hard-trained skills and dedication to details.

Among the hundreds of candidates for the national Antarctic exploration team in 2010, Zhang was the chosen from his home province of Hubei in Central China after many rounds of appraisals. When a local chef from Wuhan, the provincial capital, was required at the Chinese embassy in Thailand in mid-July, he again was the one to go after tense insider deliberations.

"I've been lucky," Zhang said with a genteel smile.

Zhang has been teaching Chinese cooking at Wuhan Business University for 22 years, although he spent 17 months at the Zhongshan Station in Antarctica from 2010 to 2012. His classes mainly teach the fundamentals of traditional Chinese cuisine, especially Hubei style. His combination of practice and theoretical teachings has won the hearts of many at the school and his students are working all over the province.

"I love doing some research on traditional dishes and trying something new," he said.

The veteran chef is known for his solid basic skills and attention to detail.

Wang Huiya, a school leader at the university and a colleague of Zhang since 1987, said, "Zhang Hui makes himself prominent by his professional expertise, solid skills and personal integrity."