Honestly, the hardest part of cooking is the prep. Cutting everything perfectly, getting the right ingredients, making the right spice mix, making the sauces, and food that takes multiple days of prep. Cooking is the easy part, prep is the hard part

Edit: deboning anything is fucking rough especially fish, butchering anything is also rough and super easy to fuck up, making all the dough and noodles. I personally think a great chef on those cooking contests are just super good at prep and plating the food of course because it’s pretty in the end.