From selling box lunches to becoming a famous Chinese chef

Chapter 279 Taking the opportunity to help eldest brother promote

Xia Mingye stayed with his father, and he needed to do a lot of detailed work.

As the current successor of Confucius cuisine, Xia Zhennan mainly introduces and explains some features of Confucius cuisine, and also personally operates it during the final cooking process.

Many even require the preparation of bowl juices, and the process of adding different dishes to the pot during cooking.

Most of the work was done by Xia Mingye, who was on the sidelines and helped his father according to his requirements.

Of course, Xia Mingye sometimes comes up with some of his own ideas.

For example, Xia Zhennan is now making an entry-level Confucius dish, Shili Ginkgo.

Xia Mingye felt that it would not look good to put the sugar-fried ginkgo nuts directly on the plate.

So he went to find jam, drew a crooked tree on the plate, and then sprinkled dried osmanthus flowers on it for decoration.

When Xia Zhennan saw his son's cooking, he was a little surprised and asked, "What are you doing? Are you cooking after doing all these fancy things?"

Xia Zhennan frowned slightly, feeling that his son had obviously changed a lot after coming here and having contact with his daughter, Feng Zhengming and others in the past few days.

While talking, Xia Zhennan began to fry sugar in the pot.

When the master chefs saw the presentation of this dish, they all felt that it was indeed a commendable attempt.

Without waiting for his son's reply, Xia Zhennan said: "Stop messing around with Feng Zhengming and the others. If you don't cook properly, there is no point in making some fancy things."

Xia Mingye said: "Dad, we should make the arrangement more exquisite and beautiful. I just simply painted some embellishments."

More importantly, Xia Zhennan felt that his son was really influenced too much by Feng Zhengming. Instead of sticking to tradition, he started to have many innovative ideas.

Xia Zhennan was somewhat surprised. He didn't expect that his son's behavior, which he thought was a bit ridiculous, would be recognized by many people.

Xia Mingye received the praise and looked at his father.

Most of the gourmets in Quancheng are already familiar with Feng Zhengming.

This made him start to think to some extent, is there something that should change with the changes of the times?

With Feng Zhengming's platform, introduction and publicity, Yan Jianxing naturally gained the attention of many Quancheng gourmets.

Therefore, when frying sugar, you must prepare a clean pot. You cannot fry sugar with oil, but with water.

The sugar should not be fried to a sugar-colored state, but should be fried until it is about to become stringy.

But it was different now. Xia Mingye began to refute, and even pointed out what was wrong with his father's words.

Taking advantage of his current reputation in Quancheng, he introduced and recommended Yan Jianxing to many people who came to watch. I hope everyone can support Yan Jianxing's restaurant when it is ready to open.

Xia Zhennan didn't stop him this time, because after the honey and sweet-scented osmanthus were put into the pot, the fragrance that came out made him feel very good.

Xia Zhennan still disapproved: "You have already shown the unique skills of our Kongfu cuisine. If you still can't get the highest score, then you will embarrass our Kongfu cuisine."

"It's so beautiful, and it smells so good, the scent of osmanthus."

Then pour the ginkgo into the pot and coat the ginkgo evenly with the syrup in the pot.

Master Yan said: "Learning from each other is exactly the purpose of our exchange."

After stir-frying, Xia Zhennan handed the pot directly to his son to put on the plate.

Chef Su said: "On the basis of tradition, we have made some improvements. This dish is great. It seems that Xiaoxia has learned a lot these days and is getting better and better at setting the dishes."

Xia Mingye disagreed with his father's words: "Dad, you are wrong to say that. I think Uncle Feng also paid attention to the beauty of the dishes while making them well. This is something we should learn from him more. That Kong Mansion I had yesterday The imitation bear paw was also inspired by him, and the presentation was adjusted to achieve a higher rating than his."

Xia Mingye continued: "But if it weren't for the exquisite presentation, I would definitely lose to Uncle Feng in terms of color, shape, and utensils."

Although Feng Zhengming became famous in Quancheng for less than a year.

In the past, Xia Mingye would hardly speak to refute anything Xia Zhennan said, and would be obedient most of the time.

Xia Zhennan said seriously: "Just stick to the tradition honestly, that's what you should do."

Several other master chefs also agreed, and they all felt that this kind of plate design was more aesthetically pleasing to Chinese culture.

As he spoke, Xia Mingye scooped out a spoonful of honey and sweet-scented osmanthus and put it into the pot.

Feng Zhengming helped Yan Jianxing and also promoted Yan Jianxing.

Xia Mingye smiled and replied: "A Confucius dish, Shili Ginkgo."

Xia Mingye scooped out the ginkgo one by one with a small spoon and placed it on the side of the plate, which happened to correspond to the osmanthus tree painted on his plate.

When Xia Zhennan heard what his son said, he immediately whispered: "Did you learn this from Feng Zhengming again?"

As for the Shili Ginkgo dish, since it is considered a sweet dish, it should not have too much of an oily taste.

Xia Mingye on the side reminded his father: "Dad, you can put some honey and osmanthus."

"It looks really good and smells delicious. What kind of dish is this?"

After the presentation was completed, it was praised by the onlookers.

But it can be said that the gourmets in Quancheng all recognize Feng Zhengming’s craftsmanship.

Of course, thinking this way, Xia Zhennan was still unwilling to directly acknowledge the changes made by Feng Zhengming and his son.

Moreover, his dry rice shop has only been open for half a year.

Master Xia smiled and said to Master Yan: "These are all learned from Zhengming."

There are three key points in this.

The first is that Feng Zhengming combined the skills of his grandfather and master and made some improvements himself.

It can be said that Feng Zhengming made the meat into a signature delicacy in Quancheng.

The second is the way Feng Zhengming’s dried rice shop operates, which combines dried pork rice with stir-fried rice.

Before the Feng family opened a restaurant, no other restaurant had done this.

Because some restaurants and restaurants look down on the meat, and shops like Zhao Chaoxing's Chao Xingxing that specialize in the meat can no longer find a master chef to make stir-fries.

At most, it's like the Chaoxingxing restaurant at the train station, which provides some boxed meals in addition to handfuls of meat.

Feng Zhengming’s Fengjiagan Restaurant can be regarded as creating a brand new business method.

It can be regarded as a big improvement in the status of the meat.

The third point that makes Feng Zhengming have a high status in the hearts of Quancheng gourmets is naturally because of the craftsmanship of Feng Zhengming and his third senior brother Yang Bin.

Craftsmanship is the key strength of Feng Zhengming’s Feng Family Restaurant, and it is also his absolute confidence.

This is the key to the current model of the Feng Family Restaurant that cannot be replicated by others.

And what kind of craftsmanship is considered good? Naturally, he wants to gain the approval of the gourmets in Quancheng.

Because of the approval of the gourmets, Feng Zhengming's dry rice shop business was guaranteed, and he succeeded in becoming famous in half a year.

In this morning's exchange, Feng Zhengming helped Yan Jianxing because he wanted to use his reputation to recommend Yan Jianxing.

The provincial young chef cooking exchange competition held for several days has become a huge topic in Quancheng.

The largest number of local gourmets from Quancheng came to the scene today.

When the gourmets saw Feng Zhengming actually doing some matching work, they were naturally full of curiosity.

"Master Xiao Feng, you are actually doing the same work as an apprentice here?"

"Who is Boss Feng trying to attack?"

"This is really the first time I've seen Boss Feng working for someone else."

"Hahaha, when I went to the food stalls before, it was all apprentices who helped Boss Feng. If they didn't do well, they would be scolded by Boss Feng."

"Boss Xiao Feng, is today a day to experience being an apprentice?"

Feng Zhengming saw that all the gourmets were attracted.

He solemnly introduced to everyone: "This is my eldest brother, the eldest son of my master, and a serious heir of the Yan family. Do you think it is worth my while to help him?"

After being introduced like this by Feng Zhengming, the onlookers were all surprised.

Yan Jianxing was also a little embarrassed when he was introduced.

"Zheng Mingyou's craftsmanship is no worse than mine, so asking you to help me is really overkill."

Feng Zhengming smiled and said: "Brother, you are welcome. You are also a master, and with the master here, your skills are naturally better than mine. I am still an apprentice in front of you."

Then Feng Zhengming continued his introduction to the onlookers.

"My eldest brother is coming back to Quancheng soon and is going to open a Yan's private restaurant. If you want to eat some of my master's specialties then, you can go to my eldest brother's restaurant to support him."

When Feng Zhengming said this, the gourmets at the scene immediately understood his intention.

A gourmet who often goes to Feng Zhengming's food stall smiled and spoke first.

"Boss Xiao Feng, are you not afraid of being robbed of your business when you promote others? We went to other people's restaurants. Maybe we won't go to your place in the future."

Other gourmets also joked that they might not patronize Feng Zhengming's restaurant because they recognized Yan Jianxing's restaurant.

After hearing this, Yan Jianxing quickly said: "Everyone, you need to change your taste when eating. I came to Quancheng to open a restaurant, but I have no intention of stealing my younger brother's business. You should go to his place to eat. You should go. My restaurant is positioned It will be different from his place, and it’s not in the same place, so there won’t be much competition between everyone.”

Feng Zhengming continued: "You can go to whoever's house you want to eat at. You're welcome to do that. And no matter how much my dry rice shop expands, it's impossible for one family to accommodate everyone in Quancheng. So what my eldest brother said That’s right, there is no competition between us brothers.”

Speaking of this, Feng Zhengming paused for a moment and then said to the gourmets: "Besides, having my elder brother's restaurant here will somewhat supervise me and make me cook better."

Yan Jianxing then said: "Yes, we brothers promote each other."

When the gourmets saw Feng Zhengming and Yan Jianxing singing and singing, they understood that the two brothers had a good relationship.

Moreover, after tasting Yan Jianxing's dishes, the gourmets also recognized his craftsmanship.

In the end, the gourmets naturally expressed their willingness to support Yan Jianxing.

The morning presentation and exchange ended.

During lunch, Yan Jianxing expressed his gratitude to Feng Zhengming in private.

"Thank you so much Zhengming. You helped me show off my sign this morning and helped me gain some fame. It really helped me a lot with the opening of my restaurant."

Feng Zhengming smiled and said, "Brother, you're welcome. When you open your business, my brothers and I will definitely go to support you."

When Yan Jianxing heard this, he looked towards his father.

Master Yan heard what the brothers said, and the old man also heard that during the morning display and exchange, Feng Zhengming helped Yan Jianxing to promote the food among the gourmets in Quancheng.

Master Yan somewhat disagreed with Feng Zhengming's approach.

Master Yan still hopes that his son can rely on his craftsmanship to gain recognition from the gourmets in Quancheng, so that he can start a restaurant business on his own.

Now through Mr. Yan’s signature and Feng Zhengming’s help in promoting the site.

It is equivalent to saying that Yan Jianxing's restaurant has not yet opened, but it has already gained a certain reputation in Quancheng.

This is actually somewhat contrary to Master Yan’s original intention of training his son.

So after catching his son's gaze, the old man taught his son seriously.

"This time you are lucky enough to have the right time, place and people. Under such circumstances, if you still can't do a good job in the restaurant, then you should just stop being a chef in the future."

What my father said was very direct and merciless.

Yan Jianxing didn't think what his father said was wrong.

"Dad, don't worry. Since I open a restaurant, I must first do my job well. I will never let the customers who come to the door have any dissatisfaction because of the dishes."

Master Yan said: "There are also some aspects of restaurant management, especially the selection of service personnel, that must be taken seriously. You must also do a good job in purchasing the kitchen. If you open a restaurant yourself, you must do many things yourself. , not even the slightest bit of carelessness is allowed.”

Yan Jianxing seriously promised: "I will pay attention and prepare all aspects properly."

Master Yan nodded and said nothing more.

In fact, through the young chef cooking exchange competition these days, Master Yan also understands that the younger generations need more experience.

It was indeed wrong for him to suppress the development of his two sons before. He needed to let his sons show themselves so that they could discover more problems during the show and hone their skills better.

Just like this competition, many young chefs have made significant progress through the competition.

Among them, the ones that Mr. Yan may feel have made the most obvious progress are Xia Hui, Sun Hai, Zhang Lei and Yang Peng.

In the past, although the four of them could cook, they were careless about too many details.

This is actually a problem faced by many young chefs.

Sloppiness in details can lead to inconsistent quality of dishes produced by young chefs.

Through this communication game, they realized some problems.

Xia Hui, Sun Hai, Zhang Lei and Yang Peng are all changing.

Similarly, Master Yan was quite satisfied with some of the details of his son's cooking when he saw them this morning. The old man felt that he should let his son have a try.

After lunch, everyone rested for a while, and Feng Zhengming's last game officially began.

Feng Zhengming's last dish was soup, and he had to start by making soup.

(End of this chapter)