The story of a cook

Chapter 136 Apprenticeship
We don't know which one will come first tomorrow, accident or surprise, and we have to exercise our ability to bear it today, so that we can bear the accident, and we can also bear the surprise.

Not pleased, not to have compassion.

The road of part-time job will not be smooth sailing, just like this God, it cannot always be sunny and sunny, there will be wind, frost, rain and snow, and the seasons will change.

Master Huang adjusted the Northeast cuisine and added two dishes of sea cucumber and fish maw.

It's the first time I've come into contact with dried sea cucumber and dried fish maw, they won't swell, Zhang Hao knows how, he taught me.

Cantonese cuisine has abalone rice and sea cucumber rice. They use Liao ginseng, which is relatively high-end. Master Huang serves topaz ginseng and Philippine sea cucumber, which are mid-range sea cucumbers.At that time, Liao ginseng cost more than 2000 yuan per catty, topaz ginseng cost 600 yuan per catty, and Philippine sea cucumbers were cheaper at 300 yuan per catty.

When distributing sea cucumbers, it is necessary to pay attention to the fact that there must be no oil in the container of sea cucumbers, and the water for distributing sea cucumbers must also be clean without any oil.When handling sea cucumbers, there should be no oil on your hands. Sea cucumbers are afraid of oil and will rot if they encounter oil.

The first step in making sea cucumbers is soaking.

While soaking sea cucumbers, Zhang Hao said: "Tan Zi, do you know that Master Huang is very famous for making sea cucumbers. There are two master sea cucumbers in the country. The south is built by the sea cucumber master at high speed. In the north, it is the master who is good at making sea cucumbers. He is nicknamed "Huang "Old evil"."

I said, "Keep your voice down, Master Huang will scold you after hearing that."

Zhang Hao said: "It's okay, otherwise he would always scold me."

Zhang Hao reached into the sea cucumber bucket, tested the water temperature, and said to me, "Tan Zi, you can try it too."

I put my hand into the sea cucumber bucket and felt that the water temperature was around [-] degrees.

Zhang Hao said: "This is the temperature. Sea cucumbers are first soaked. Aren't these sea cucumbers dry? First, soak them in water at this temperature for a day, and then change the water again when you get off work in the evening. It is still at this temperature. "

I asked, "Then it will be delivered tomorrow?"

Zhang Hao said: "How can it be so fast? The sea cucumbers will take three to four days to finish. By tomorrow morning, the sea cucumbers will be soft enough to speak."

I asked, "What do you use to speak?"

Zhang Hao said: "You can use scissors or a knife. You will know when you tell the sea cucumber tomorrow."

After soaking the sea cucumbers, Master Huang came to the kitchen with a convenience bag in his hand, handed the convenience bag to Zhang Hao, and said, "Fish maw, send it away."

Zhang Hao picked it up, looked at it, and said, "Master, this fish maw is not very good."

Master Huang said: "It's not very good. I went to the warehouse just now. The ones I got in the warehouse are much older. They are all advanced goods. No one cares about them when they come in. The warehouse manager said it's been almost three years. I think After looking at the purchase order, the fish maw is only 200 yuan per catty, and the fish maw is worth [-] yuan per catty at most.”

Zhang Hao said: "The purchases are all made by the family, and they are guaranteed to get kickbacks. If you don't eat for nothing, you can eat more than 20 yuan a year with kickbacks in such a big place."

Master Huang said: "Are you watching? Don't talk nonsense, I can do your job."

Then he said to me: "After a while, he will send out fish maws, you can follow suit. The fish maws he sends out are very good and in place."

You need to use oil or water to hair fish maw, it depends on what kind of fish maw it is.

When making fish maw, the oil temperature should be low. Put the dried fish maw into the oil and let it rise slowly.At the beginning, the fish maw gradually softened and retracted, and then began to expand a little bit. When it is fully swollen, do not remove it immediately. Use a watering can to spray less vinegar into the oil pan, and stimulate the fish maw again, so that the inside of the fish maw The muscles of the body will expand and get better.After the fish maw is fully swollen in the oil pan, take it out, put it in a large clean basin, add [-] degrees of warm water to soak it, and let the fish maw soften and reach a normal state.Afterwards, wash it several times to remove the oil from the fish maw. When washing, you must handle it with care, and don't rub it like washing clothes.The cooked fish maw has become a fluffy sponge, very soft and tender.

After washing off the oil on the fish maw, carry out acid discharge and storage, and take it directly when it is used.

When Zhang Hao was distributing the fish maw, he explained it to me in great detail.

He asked: "Do you know Tan Zi, why did Master Huang ask me to teach you this?"

I said: "I don't know."

He said: "This is what the master asked me to teach you. When he came here, he told me that he likes you and wants to take you with him. Actually, I know that he wants to accept you as his apprentice."

I couldn't believe what he said, and at the same time I was pleasantly surprised.I asked: "Really?"

He said: "That's still fake. I've seen it for a long time. He said you in front of me when he had nothing to do. He said that if I was half as capable as you, I would be great. I haven't seen him praise anyone in these years. .”

I asked: "Didn't Master Huang not accept apprentices?"

Zhang Hao said: "It's because I don't accept apprentices anymore. I haven't met the right ones. The master is not like those people. He starts to recruit apprentices as soon as he has a name. Do you know why he is called "Huang Laoxie"?"

I said, "I don't know, why?"

Zhang Hao said: "It's just different from others. Up to now, he has accepted three apprentices, and others asked him to accept them. If he didn't know my dad, he would not even accept me."

I asked, "Where are your two senior brothers?"

Zhang Hao said: "I am the boss, and the second child is Su Xiaoping. I am a neighbor of the master's family. The master has no choice but to accept him. Now he is the executive chef of the Ailin Hotel. Waiting for the third child is your Beipiao Sanbao. Older than me, I was laid off and wanted to open a small restaurant. I went to the chef class to learn from the master. The master confiscated it, and then I found the principal of the chef school. It was the master's senior brother who was the introducer. The master only accepted it. In fact, he is not considered an apprentice. , is a named disciple."

I said, "I heard that apprenticeship costs a lot of money, at least 5000 yuan."

Zhang Hao said: "Bullshit, it's all done by those who make money by accepting apprentices, Master Huang is not like this, he accepts apprentices for free, as long as he is a match, he will accept it, if he is not a match, he will not take money. "

I said, "Really? Then Master Huang is very good."

Zhang Hao said: "Otherwise, why would you be called Huang Laoxie? He has fallen in love with you. I think you will worship him as your teacher. Then we two will become brothers."

I was a little uncertain, and asked, "Can Master Huang accept me?"

Zhang Hao said: "I promise to accept it. I don't know him yet. I guess he thinks you have a master. I'm not ashamed to say it. I'll ask you when I have time."

I have always wanted to worship Master Huang as my teacher. Master Huang not only cooks well, but also has a good character. It is hard to find such a master, but I don’t know if he will accept me.I told Lin Yan about my idea of ​​worshiping Master Huang as my teacher, and Lin Yan also agreed with me to worship Master Huang as my teacher.

She said, "You don't have any money. Apart from paying the rent, I will lend some of the rest to my mother. There is not much left."

I said, "It's okay, maybe Master Huang doesn't want money, and I will be filial to him when I earn more money in the future."

Three days later, the first bucket of sea cucumbers was ready for sale.

Master Huang’s sea cucumber dishes have four dishes: braised tendons of sea cucumbers, braised topaz ginseng with scallions, braised sea cucumbers with camel hooves, and hot and sour stew with sea cucumbers and three delicacies.He explained these four dishes to me in detail, and at the same time told me the knife skills and weight of sea cucumbers, and I wrote them down one by one.

At lunch that day, nearly ten sea cucumber dishes were sold, and there were twenty other dishes.

Master Huang and Zhang Hao were frying on the stove, and I was mixing it underneath, and it was easy to take it off.

After finishing the work, Master Huang sat there and asked me: "Tan Zi, have you ever worshiped Master before?"

I said, "No."

Master Huang asked: "Then who have you worked with? A famous master."

I said: "I haven't worked with a famous master, but there is a master Xing, who cooks very well."

Master Huang looked at me and said, "Follow me in the future and be my apprentice."

I was taken aback for a moment, this happiness came too suddenly, and I couldn't slow down for a while.

Seeing me standing there in a daze, Zhang Hao yelled at me and said, "What, you're so stupid, the master said to accept you as an apprentice."

I regained my composure, and immediately came to Master Huang, kowtowed to Master Huang three times on my knees, and called, "Master!"

Master Huang was also very happy, helped me up, and said: "Seeing that you are very good, I will accept you as an apprentice, but I have to tell you a few things about accepting you as an apprentice. You are the youngest one. Your senior brothers Four, one of which has not been formally collected. We have no school, just stir-fry the dishes, and don’t throw away the big spoon at any time, you know.”

I nodded and said, "I know."

Master Huang said: "Also, if you are a chef, you must be upright, righteous, and honest, and you can't do anything sneaky. Remember, to be a chef, you must pay attention to cooking skills. Cooking is virtuous."

I nodded heavily.

The master continued: "Also, don't accept disciples under the age of 45."

I said, "Remember that."

Master asked: "Do you know why you are not allowed to accept apprentices under 45?"

I said, "I don't know, I'm afraid we can't teach our disciples well."

Master said: "There is also a sense of that. The main reason is that if you are less than 45, you can't understand the level of cooking at all, and you can't realize the way of a chef. When a chef doesn't understand the way of a chef, you can't be called a chef. You are just a cook." You can only be a chef if you fully understand what is cooking and what is cooking. Don’t accept apprentices before you feel that you are a chef, so as not to mislead your disciples.”

I said, "I know, no apprentices will be accepted before 45."

The master said: "We don't punish those vain people. We don't charge any money for apprentices. As long as you work hard, cook well, and be a good person, where do you go and ask if you are my old Huang's apprentice? Don't give me money." I'm just ashamed."

I said, "Master, don't worry, I won't embarrass you."

The master said: "Okay, then we can be regarded as masters and apprentices. Let's work hard and ask me if you don't know anything. In addition, you should also study hard with Zhang Hao. He can cook Cantonese dishes well."

At this moment, Zhang Hao patted me and said, "Tan Zi, from now on you will be a junior brother, and I will be a senior brother. You have to listen to me when you work, and you can do whatever you are told. Do you know?"

I smile happily.

The master said to Zhang Hao: "From now on, you will also act like a senior brother, don't let yourself be fooled for a day."

Zhang Hao said with an aggrieved face: "I'm not good enough, why are you talking about me every day?"

The master said, "If you can do it, I can tell you."

In this way, I became Master Huang's apprentice. There was no apprenticeship ceremony, just kowtow three times.

(End of this chapter)