The story of a cook

Chapter 23
The renovation of the hotel is coming to an end, I have nothing to do, I am cleaning up in the kitchen.

The cooktop of Shengmei Hotel is not a stainless steel cooktop, and it is very difficult to clean up. In addition to the long period of closure, many oil stains have dried up, and the detergent does not work, so caustic soda must be used.Caustic soda is very good for removing stubborn oil stains, but you must pay attention to safety when using it, as caustic soda splashing on your body will burn your skin.

Cleaned up the stove, vegetable shelf, operating table, and freezer inside and out, discussed with Feng Ge, bought a few buckets of paint, and painted all the shelves. After painting, the shelves are as good as new ones. All comfortable.

The kitchen still lacks a few shelves for storing raw materials. After measuring the size, I asked Brother Feng to find a welder. He went to the steel market to buy angle iron, welded three shelves, and went to the front to find a carpenter to lay boards on each shelf. Paint and position.At this time, I feel that the kitchen looks a bit better.

The seasoning store and wine store were sorted out, and the size was re-measured according to the size of the warehouse, and five shelves were made.There are more rules in this way, all the seasonings are neatly placed on the shelf, and all the drinks are also placed on the shelf, neat and not messy, and it is easy to find things.

This kind of trivial work looks inconspicuous, and it takes a lot of time and effort to do it. It took five days to do it.

Sun Mei and Feng Ge went to the kitchen and looked very satisfied. They said that this is the kitchen, and they stood at attention when they looked clean.

A week later, the front decoration was almost done, and we started to recruit kitchen and front desk staff.

Sun Mei and Feng Ge asked me if I had a suitable chef.

I said, "I know a few of them, but they are all working now." I thought of Master Chen.

"My friend works in a hotel and introduced one. Come and have a look tomorrow." Brother Feng said, and then asked, "What should we talk about when the chef is here? Tanzi."

"When the chef comes, he has to try the dishes first, and then we can talk about the dishes after trying the dishes." I said.

Sun Mei asked, "Tan Zi, how do you try the dishes?"

"Let the chef here cook a few dishes for you to try, use it if you think it works, and don't use it if you think it doesn't work." I said.

"Tomorrow the chef will come and ask him to fry some dishes, let's try them." Sun Mei said to me, "The most important thing is you, Tan Zi, you and I are both amateurs, Brother Feng, you have to try it out."

"I can't, I'm just a water case, and I can't taste anything." I shook my head and said to Brother Feng: "Brother Feng, doesn't your friend work in a hotel? Ask him to come over. He is a professional. In addition, how many people do you invite?" When a leader from the factory comes over, they are the masters of our family, and our family will be better if they eat well."

Sun Mei patted me on the shoulder and said happily: "Yeah, how come you forgot about this, these leaders are so tricky, you have to let them come over and have a taste, Tanzi, you're still thoughtful."

"What did I say, let's keep Tan Zi right, otherwise we will know about these things, you say yes, Xiaomei." Feng Ge said, a bit like asking for credit for his wife.

Sun Mei gave Brother Feng a thumbs up and said, "Feng Lijun, I will give you a big credit for keeping Tan Zi here. We have found a lucky general."

The next day, Brother Feng's friend brought a chef over. The chef's surname was Guo, in his 30s and overweight.I led him to the kitchen to have a look, and he saw that it was not a stainless steel stove, so he asked me: "Is the stove good?"

"It works." I said.

"Who still uses this stove now, it's all made of stainless steel." He said, and then asked: "Are there any raw materials?"

I said: "Yes, not many," and then asked him: "Master, what do you want to cook? I'll buy if you don't have any."

He said, "I'll make a list for you."

Master Guo made a list, saying that he would come to try the dishes at four o'clock in the afternoon and told me to prepare them in advance.Take the list and go shopping with Brother Feng, and take him to familiarize yourself with the market by the way, because he will be in charge of purchasing in the future.

Master Guo came after three o'clock and brought a water case.Take out the raw materials and give them to him, he and the water case started to prepare, and I will help them.

The work of the water case is okay, but it is a bit wasteful, and there are too many leftover materials, which makes me feel distressed.Put away the leftovers, the water case saw that I put away all the leftovers and told me what to do with them, it was useless.I said it's a pity to throw it away, but it can still be used as a work meal.

He looked at me vigilantly and asked me what my relationship with the boss was. I said it was okay, as he was also a part-time worker.

Saving and waste in the kitchen has a lot to do with the water table. The water table is slit with fingers and a catty of meat comes out, loosen and a catty of meat is gone.

After everything was ready, the factory leader Sun Mei had asked for also came, and Master Guo started cooking.

The first dish to be fried is "slippery pork section".

"Slow meat section" is an old dish, which pays attention to the selection of raw materials and the shape of the knife.For the sliced ​​meat, choose pork back mound meat to form irregular hob pieces with a length of four centimeters, that is, tiger head pieces.Many chefs choose the outer loin of pork, which is fine, but it is not as delicious and tasteful as the pork loin.The outer tenderloin is too tender to be cut.But the outer tenderloin is easy to use and saves trouble. Unlike the pork mound, it has to be divided and the fascia removed.The water table with a good knife is okay, and all the fascia will be picked off, while the water table with a bad knife will only pick out meat.

It is also very particular about making meat paste.It looks simple, it’s just gouache paste. Experienced chefs first “soak the powder” when making meat slices, soak the starch and flour in water according to a certain ratio, and let it rise for [-] hours at room temperature. At this time, the gouache is the best state.

Paste the meat section is to form a protective film on the surface of the meat section, so that the moisture inside the meat will not be lost too much, and at the same time, the meat section will be fried through the heat conduction of this protective film.This layer of film is the gouache paste. The soaked gouache paste will quickly gelatinize during the frying process to protect the meat inside. At the same time, the soaked gouache paste will expand rapidly and become crispy. It tastes like gouache scent.

Obviously, Master Guo's gouache paste is freshly prepared and cannot reach that level.

There are three steps in the frying process of the pork tenderloin. It is said that "the first frying is shaped, the second frying is cooked, and the third frying is crisp".

The first time the meat is put into the pan, the shape is set; the second time it is fried in the pan; the third time it is fried crispy.Master these three steps well, and make each step up to standard, and the meat section will be 70.00% successful.

Remove the fried meat to control the oil, and then start cooking.A powerful chef uses the cooking sauce technique to make the meat. The meat is crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. It is salty and delicious, and it tastes delicious.

Many chefs don't have a good grasp of the cooking sauce, so they choose to make it with thick sauce, and the meat slices they make are delicious, but they can't achieve the effect of being crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, and they can't taste the fragrance of water powder.

It looks like a very common dish, but few of them are really good.If you cook it carefully, you will know that this is a kung fu dish. Through this dish, you can see the chef's understanding of meat and raw materials. At the same time, you can see the chef's knife skills, frying skills, and cooking techniques. level.

Chefs must remember that an old dish that has been handed down must not be underestimated. The reason why it can be handed down and the common people never get tired of eating it must have the reason for its spread and the reasons for the audience.

Master Guo started frying the meat after he had hung the batter. The whole frying process was very smooth, but he only fried it twice. The second time it took a little longer, and the third time he didn't fry it.I guess his meat is not as crispy as it should be.

He used the traditional Shiwo juice technique, which fell into the inferior level in terms of craftsmanship.After the meat section is finished, it is sensual, golden in color, and bright in oil, but the heat and taste are not in place. From my perspective, it is not ideal. It is not as good as Master Chen, nor is it as good as Master Gao.

Master Guo made a total of four dishes: sliced ​​meat, steamed Anhui fish, refreshing stir-fry, and sea cucumber with green onions.

"Steamed Anhui Fish" is remarkable, and the timing is well done. "Sweet and refreshing stir-fry" is a green vegetable, which is okay. "Grilled sea cucumber with green onion" is not good, it doesn't hold the Gorgon well.

After finishing the four dishes, he and the water table he brought left the kitchen. I cleaned up, took out the leftovers from the water table just now, changed the knife, added two eggs and scrambled the dishes, ready to eat .

Brother Feng came in and asked me to taste the dishes.

"No, I'm already cooking, and I'm done with a bite in the kitchen." I said.

I don't want to participate in this dish test, I know my identity.

"Come here and get your opinion," he said.

"What opinion can I have? It's all decided by your boss."

"Let's go." He said, picking up the dish I made, and asked me, "What kind of dish is this?"

I smiled and said, "Stir fry, made from leftovers."

He looked at it, sniffed it, and walked away.

Follow him into the private room.There was Sun Mei in the private room, next to Sun Mei sat two middle-aged men who looked like leaders, and opposite Sun Mei sat a friend of Brother Feng.

Find a place to sit down, glance at the table, there are four dishes made by Master Guo, and they haven't touched much.

Sun Mei introduced two leaders to me. Next to her was Director Wang. Director Wang was in his 40s. He looked like he had been in the top position for a long time. Uncle, the kind that attracts women.The other is Director Zhang, also in his 1.8s, with a fat body and wearing glasses.

Sun Mei asked me, "Tanzi, how do you feel?"

"It's up to you to be the boss," I said.

"Our bosses are not professional. It's the first time we work, so we don't know if it's good or bad," she said.

He looked at Director Wang and Director Zhang, and asked, "How are the two leaders eating?"

Director Wang didn't speak. Director Zhang glanced at Director Wang and said, "It's pretty good. I eat very well."

I didn't say anything, I knew it was not good from the fact that I didn't eat much of the four dishes.

Factory Manager Wang saw the plate of "randomly fried" that Brother Feng brought over, and asked, "What kind of dish is this? It looks quite appetizing."

Brother Feng said: "This is Xiao Tanzi's cooking. He was about to eat, so I called him over."

Factory Manager Wang tasted my "random stir-fry" and said, "It's quite delicious, you should try it too."

Everyone stretched out their chopsticks and tasted it.

"Tan Zi, you can also cook." Sun Mei said after tasting.

"No, it's too far away. It's okay to make a work meal. You are used to eating the dishes made by the chef. You only feel delicious when I cook them differently. My dishes are salty." I said.

Director Wang said: "Well, it's a bit salty, but it's delicious."

Sun Mei immediately said, "The leader likes to eat it. Let Tan Zi cook it when the leader comes."

Director Wang asked Sun Mei: "When are you going to open?"

"We still have to wait for a few days, the stereo hasn't arrived, the lobby floor is going to be repainted, and the private rooms have to be tidied up. No matter what, it will take a week. Lijun and I are going to open on the [-]th." Sun Mei said.

"On the [-]th, there are still more than ten days. If you have time, you can try a few more chefs in the next few days, and then choose the best ones for use." Director Wang said.

The implication is that the dishes made by Master Guo are not good, and they are not good.

Sun Mei recognized it right away, and said with a smile: "I think so, just follow what the leader said, and try a few more chefs, and then I have to ask the leader to come over to taste and check."

"I'll come here when I have time. If I can't make it, call Lao Zhang." Director Wang said.

Over there, Director Zhang said: "I promise to come here, who wouldn't come without spending money on food."

Everyone laughs together.

After sending Director Wang and Director Zhang away, I went back to the private room and started eating.I am not used to being with the leader, I am restrained, and I have to make a draft in my stomach in advance when I speak, which is laborious.It's embarrassing to eat, it's embarrassing to eat and drink, and I still can't get enough after eating for half a day.

After Sun Mei and Feng Ge came back and talked about the chef, Master Guo designated him as unqualified.But Master Guo was found by a friend of Brother Feng. Brother Feng is quite loyal, so I am sorry not to use it.I told him that the kitchen needs two chefs, one chef and one sous chef. If you are embarrassed, you can ask Master Guo to be the sous chef, and find a better one to be the chef.

The couple accepted my suggestion.

Sun Mei said, "Hurry up and look for it. Xiao Tanzi is alone in the kitchen now, and there is no one at the front desk."

"It's time to look for it. It's still the autumn harvest time. It's hard to find someone, so hurry up and look for it." I said.

"It's not a big deal, we have to hurry up." Sun Mei said to Brother Feng: "Lijun, let's divide the work. I'll be in charge of the front, and you'll be in charge of the back, okay?"

Brother Feng said: "Okay, otherwise I don't want to take care of the front, and Tan Zi and I take care of the back." Then he said to me: "Tan Zi, it's up to you to recruit people in the kitchen. If you can't find someone, it's you." thing."

I smile.

(End of this chapter)