From selling box lunches to becoming a famous Chinese chef

Chapter 239 Master’s Pickiness

Returning to the dry rice shop, Feng Zhengming listened to various instructions from his master along the way.

"Sometimes you are too anxious when cooking at a food stall. You can't be anxious just because there are too many customers. You must take every dish seriously. You must prepare the ingredients for each dish in advance. Have you prepared the ingredients for the middle dishes? If you do it well, will it disrupt your rhythm?

Don't let your rhythm be disrupted. Maintain the rhythm of your cooking and do it step by step. Even if you serve the food a little slower, you still have to follow the cooking rules. Remember? "

In response to Master's advice, Feng Zhengming naturally accepted Master's teachings with an open mind.

"Master, I have remembered everything. I will pay attention to it in the future."

Of course, Master Yan not only found faults, but also told Feng Zhengming some small details to pay attention to when cooking.

"It's good that you prepared the onion and pepper cooking wine in advance. You have to remember this. When preparing the ingredients, you must chop the onion and pepper paste yourself, then add Nan wine and soak it thoroughly."

Feng Zhengming nodded: "Master, I remember it."

Master Yan continued: "You should prepare more onions and ginger in the future. We use a lot of onions and ginger in cooking, especially green onions. Most people in our province also like to eat them. Look at the best dishes you sell. Is it a vegetable with a few green onions? So you must prepare more green onions, but don’t cut so many in advance.”

Feng Zhengming nodded again: "I understand, Master, you can cut more ginger in advance, but it's better to cut onions freshly."

Master Yan turned to look at Xia Hui, who was following behind on a bicycle with Luo Qing.

"For the work of cutting and matching, you should assign it to others. Although Xiaoxia is a girl, since you brought her to help you cut and match, then you have to use her and let her cut. You can't use her because you're embarrassed, just cut it yourself while you're busy."

After hearing what the master said, Feng Zhengming smiled and responded: "Xia Hui is not a girl."

Master Yan immediately asked: "What's the matter? Do you care about girls? Are you reluctant to use them?"

Then, without waiting for Feng Zhengming to reply, Master Yan continued: "Since I am learning to cook, if I want to become a good chef, can I succeed without hard work and training?

Which of your brothers and sisters has not been trained through her stage? "

Being questioned repeatedly by Master, Feng Zhengming was a bit confused about how to respond?

At this moment, Xia Hui and Luo Qing followed on bicycles.

Because Master Yan always spoke with a loud voice, it was natural that what he just said to Feng Zhengming was heard by both Xia Hui and Luo Qing.

Xia Hui immediately said: "Grandpa Yan, what you said is so right. I just want to complain to you. I am here with my uncle, and he and Uncle Yang don't let me work well. They always want to take care of me.

Although I am a girl, I am also an apprentice who comes to learn a craft. I don’t need to be taken care of. What I need is to be able to watch more, learn more and practice more. By working more, I can learn more and be able to master all kinds of skills. The foundation has been laid solid. Through this solid foundation, I can continue to improve my cooking skills. "

Feng Zhengming was a little dumbfounded after hearing Xia Hui's words: "Why did you file a complaint?"

Xia Hui pouted and said, "I just want to complain to Grandpa Yan, otherwise you and Uncle Yang won't let me work in the future."

Feng Zhengming asked back: "Have we stopped letting you work?"

Xia Hui said: "Of course, you didn't want me to come to the food stall with you before."

Luo Qing listened to Feng Zhengming being denounced by Xia Hui. The more she listened, the more interesting it became, and finally she couldn't help laughing.

"Hahaha, you guys are so interesting. Xiaohui actually complained for not being allowed to work. It seems that Xiaohui really likes cooking."

Xia Hui turned to Luo Qing and said, "Yes, I have loved cooking since I was a child. I think people who can cook such delicious food are really amazing."

Luo Qing asked: "So you want to become a great chef?"

Xia Hui shook her head and said, "No, I wanted to learn cooking from the beginning, but then my family didn't let me learn, and they taught all the skills to my younger brother. I was very unconvinced, so I ran out to learn cooking. I want to be a chef.”

Feng Zhengming laughed after hearing this: "Are you going to compete with your brother?"

Luo Qing naturally thought of some scenes from romantic dramas.

"Are you going back to compete with your brother for the family property? Are you going to defeat him in cooking and then inherit your family's restaurant instead of your brother?"

After listening to Luo Qing's words, Xia Hui turned to look at Luo Qing strangely.

Xia Hui was stunned for a while and said: "I didn't think about that. I just wanted to prove that girls can also be chefs. I can definitely do better than my brother."

Luo Qing could immediately understand Xia Hui's idea.

Xia Hui never thought about defeating her younger brother, or seizing some family property from his younger brother.

She worked so hard to learn cooking just to prove herself to her family.

Luo Qing understood Xia Hui's thoughts. She turned to Feng Zhengming and said, "You have to teach Xiaohui well and teach her your craftsmanship so that her craftsmanship can surpass that of her brother."

Feng Zhengming smiled and said, "How do I know if her craftsmanship can surpass that of her brother?"

Luo Qing said: "Then you teach others well."

Xia Hui immediately said: "Sister Qing, I don't need my uncle to take care of me. I just don't want my uncle to take care of me because I am a girl. I have to do the work that I should do. If I don't do it right, he will You have to correct me, even lecture me or scold me.”

Master Yan nodded: "Yes, it's good that Xiaoxia has such an awareness. If you want to be a good chef, you must start from the most basic work. You must go through everything you should go through. You must be able to endure loneliness, eat... There is no shortcut to suffering."

Xia Hui said to Feng Zhengming: "I am not afraid of hardship. Uncle Master, you are not allowed to take special care of me in the future."

When Feng Zhengming saw Xia Hui being so determined, his master also warned him specifically.

He agreed: "Okay, I will leave everything to you in the future. If you can't do it well or can't keep up with my speed, I won't be polite to you."

Xia Hui nodded seriously: "Uncle, you're welcome. If you need to be punished, you should be punished. If you need to be scolded, you should be scolded."

For the next part of the journey, Master continued to find problems for Feng Zhengming.

Feng Zhengming also listened very carefully and took note of everything carefully.

The group returned to the dry rice shop.

Stepping into the back kitchen of the shop, third senior brother Yang Bin, Sun Hai and Shen Rongsen were busy.

After Feng Zhengming and the others came back, he was no longer polite to Xia Hui. He asked Xia Hui and Chen Anbang to change into the chef uniforms he had left in the shop, and went into the kitchen to continue their work.

The opening hours of Fengjiagan Restaurant are now slightly later. Especially after ten o'clock in the evening, there will be two groups of young people coming for late-night snacks.

So now the dry rice shop will be open until eleven o'clock.

Tonight was the same as usual. It was not open until close to eleven o'clock when there were no customers at all.

Grandpa asked Feng Zhengming to send Luo Qing home first, and they would be responsible for tidying up and cleaning first.

Feng Zhengming did not let Luo Qing ride her bicycle back.

It was almost eleven o'clock, and Luo Qing's uncle's house lived far away, so Feng Zhengming directly took a taxi to send Luo Qing back.

Because he took a taxi back and forth, Feng Zhengming didn't waste much time.

But even so, there are more people in the dry rice shop now, and the cleaning will be almost finished when Feng Zhengming comes back.

Seeing Feng Zhengming coming back, Master Yan, who was sitting with Feng Zonggu, waved him over.

Feng Zhengming walked over and sat down directly in front of his master and grandfather.

Grandpa spoke first: "Did Ronaldinho get home safely?"

Feng Zhengming nodded: "Sent her back, sent her to her uncle's house, and chatted with her second uncle and aunt for a few words."

The master then said: "Little Luo is a very reasonable girl, and I saw Ronaldinho helping at the food stall tonight. She is also a girl who can put her figure down. For such a good girl, you must be nice to others."

Feng Zhengming promised: "Master, don't worry, I will definitely treat her well."

After talking about Feng Zhengming and Luo Qing, Master Yan started to get into the topic of asking him to come over and sit down.

"Your grandpa and I just chatted for a while. Now you mainly cook meat and five-spice bones and chop hooves. You also stewed Sixi meatballs. I heard that the sales are quite good. Those who came late may not be able to buy them?"

After listening to his master's words, Feng Zhengming said with a smile: "It's all what my master and grandpa taught me. The Sixi Meatballs were stewed by me and my senior brothers in the back kitchen of Yanxi House. They are guaranteed to be delicious and soft, so if you have old people and children at home, they like to come here and buy one or two to eat back."

Master Yan was quite satisfied with his young apprentice: "I heard all this from your grandfather. You really adhere to the traditional methods and don't cut corners just because business is good."

Feng Zhengming also became serious: "Master, you and grandpa have been doing this for so many years. Didn't you insist on traditional methods and never think about cutting corners? Since I have inherited your craftsmanship, I certainly can't cut corners. I also It must be cooked with original taste.”

Feng Zongguo said with a smile: "Zhengming did very well in this regard. Even if what he does every day is not enough to sell, he still uses traditional methods to do everything, and everything must be done within the time. There will be no corners cut.”

After a pause, Feng Zonggu added: "So now everyone in Quancheng knows that if you want to eat meat, you have to come to Feng's restaurant to work."

Master Yan also laughed: "Old Feng, this shows that your family's ancestral craftsmanship is better."

Feng Zonggu said: "The handful of pork now made by Zhengming is not only the ancestral craftsmanship of our family, but also some improvements made by you, Lao Yan. I really need to thank you for your improvements."

When Feng Zhengming saw his grandfather and master, both felt that it was the other's contribution.

He smiled and said: "Master, Grandpa, don't give in. The meat tastes so good, it's all thanks to you two."

These words made the two old men stunned for a moment. Then the two old men looked at each other and laughed.

After laughing, Master Yan continued: "When you went to see Xiao Luo off, your grandfather and I were discussing whether we could add some more things? To enrich the things you sell?

Then we discussed it and thought that maybe we could increase the elbow, just enough to use all parts of the pig. "

After Feng Zhengming heard what his master said, he almost immediately said: "Are you going to add a five-spice elbow together with the five-spice bone removal and hoof removal?"

The master nodded: "Yes, we will make some adjustments to the taste."

Feng Zhengming agreed with his master’s idea of ​​allowing him to increase his elbows.

"Master, I actually thought about adding more elbows before, and I also made some adjustments to the taste. My idea is that when the elbows come out, the bones can be removed, and they can be cut into pieces and sold by the pound, so that customers can Pair it with rice just like the meat, or eat it with hand-rolled noodles or steamed buns.”

When Master Yan heard what the young apprentice said, he understood that the young apprentice had his own ideas.

"It seems you have your own ideas? Tell me what you think."

Feng Zhengming simply expressed some of his thoughts.

"Master, Grandpa, my original idea is that after this young chef exchange competition is over, I will expand the store next year, or simply find a larger store to open a new store. Then add an elbow meat, which is the same as pig trotters. Sold by the pound.

Then in the expanded store or new store, we not only provide rice, but also add some other items, such as hand-rolled noodles, as well as our steamed buns and pancakes, so that customers can choose freely, not just rice. , which has more of our local characteristics. "

After listening to Feng Zhengming's ideas, both master and grandfather nodded, agreeing more with his new ideas.

Then the master pointed out: "If you add steamed buns and pancakes, the elbows cannot just be marinated in five-spice sauce. You also need to prepare some white-braised elbows. Combining the two different methods will give customers more choices."

Grandpa said: "Yes, the big steamed buns and pancakes are braised with five-spice sauce. The taste may be too strong. If it is white braised, it may be better to use a dipping saucer."

Feng Zhengming smiled and said: "Listen to Master and Grandpa, in short we will definitely add some varieties so that everyone who comes to our dry rice shop can have more choices."

Grandpa smiled and looked at Master Yan: "Old Yan, I really want to thank you for teaching my grandson so many skills. Otherwise, our Feng family restaurant, even if we start it again, would not be able to have such a variety of things. And it definitely can’t compete with Zhao Chaoxing’s shop.”

Master Yan also smiled: "Brother Feng, are you still so polite to me? In the future, your Feng Family Restaurant will gradually expand its operations and become a serious restaurant, and it will be the same as Chaoxingxing of Zhao Chaoxing's family. A different direction of development.”

Feng Zhengming echoed: "That's right, Grandpa, the future direction of our Feng Family Restaurant is different from Chaoxingxing."

Then Feng Zhengming simply told his grandfather and master some of his ideas.

Master Yan and Grandpa Feng were both stunned after hearing Feng Zhengming's plans and ideas.

After digesting it for a while, the master stared at the young apprentice and asked: "You mean, if you want to open a branch in the future, you will also combine pork with stir-fry? Make a kind of fast food of our own?"

Feng Zhengming nodded seriously: "Yes, Master, don't you think that the model I conceived can better promote our Shandong cuisine?"

The master thought carefully about it for a while, then slowly began to nod, agreeing with the fast food model envisioned by the young apprentice.

(End of this chapter)