The story of a cook

Chapter 137
The club is the first large-scale restaurant I came into contact with after I embarked on the road of a chef. It is as big as the villa that Master Chen worked in his master.At that time, I was very envious of Master Chen, and told myself that if I could work in such a large place one day, it would be fine, not for anything else, but for gaining insight.Now I finally got my wish and went to work in the club.

I have been working in the club for half a month, and I have always been in the kitchen, staff canteen, and dormitory. I have never been to other places.In fact, the kitchen is like this. No matter how big or high-end the place of work is, it has nothing to do with the kitchen staff.

After half a month, I got to know everyone in the kitchen.There are two woks for Cantonese cuisine, one is Ah Fa, the other is Ah Hua, and the other is a miscellaneous chef named Ah Fu.Ah Fu has worked with the master before, and he is very polite when he sees the master.There are three masters on the side of cold dishes, one is a vegetable mix master, one is a roast meat master, and the other is a brine master.The roast meat chef is from Cantonese. He is in charge of roasting suckling pig and roast goose, and his colleagues are in charge of preparing the brine.Waiting for the brine master is a local, and he is the apprentice of the roast meat master.The pastry chef here is also from Cantonese, with a female apprentice.The pastry chef is called A Sheng. He is in his 30s. At first glance, he is a kind of sexist. The female apprentice he brought went three days earlier than us. She is a little girl who looks good and is tall. Standing together, they appear to be taller than Ah Sheng.

The place I like to go is Shangza, because Ah Fu has worked with the master before, and he is closer. In addition, Ah Fu is in his 40s, chubby, very simple and honest, unlike other Cantonese chefs who have airs.The only place I love to go is the roasted meat. The roasted meat master is not very talkative, but he is also more approachable. Every time he goes there, he always smiles. Sometimes he will show me something new to taste. To be honest, the taste good.Waiting for the noodles here, you don’t need to go there, you can see everything through a glass, and the stoves are still connected, which is no different from working in an operating room.

But I don't like Ah Sheng, especially the perverted look, and I want to go up and slap him when I see it.

Zhang Hao told me: "Tan Zi, you know, Lao Guang is the most horny, just look at it, the little girl who fucked with A Sheng will be able to sleep with A Sheng within ten days."

I didn't believe it, so I said: "What you said is too vague, ten days, what, he is a lover."

Zhang Hao said: "Look, you still don't believe it, you know Tanzi, what do women love the most?"

I said, "I haven't studied it."

Zhang Hao said: "Women love money the most, and Lao Guang is willing to spend money on women. Have you seen Ah Sheng? The family estimates that the child will be four or five years old. That little girl will follow him, don't you believe it?"

I said, "Don't believe me, she is cheap."

Zhang Hao said: "Don't believe me, let me leave the words here, and you will know when the time comes."

To be honest, I really don't believe it, even if Ah Sheng is willing to spend money on that little girl, it is impossible for that little girl to be with Ah Sheng. In my opinion, that is simply impossible.

There are two situations when a man spends money on a woman. The first is that a man has money, and he has a lot of money before he dares to spend money on a woman.The second is that the man has no money, but the man likes this woman, even if he has no money, he is willing to spend money on the woman.The first is no different from looking for a lady, the second is love.

I don't deny that Zhang Hao said that women love money, because everyone loves money, and men love money too.I admit that I love money very much, and I have always wanted to earn a lot of money, because I can change my life with money, buy a house, get married, and bring my mother to live in the city.These are all things that need money to solve, and it's impossible without money.

It is said that a gentleman loves money and gets it in a proper way. In front of money, no matter whether a gentleman or a villain, he likes it.

It is said that when men have money, they learn to be bad, and when women learn to be bad, they have money. I have never experienced this because I have no money.If you have money, you are just a passing God of Wealth, and you hand it over to Lin Yan. Besides, it is not money, it is just a salary, which is pitifully small.

No money is good, no money can not learn bad.

Be a good person.

One of the fish maw dishes prepared by the master is "Furong fish maw", which is a traditional old dish. The master said that he made it when the national leaders came to the provincial capital when he was young.

I asked, "Master, where do the country's leaders live?"

Master said, "Where do we live? We live in the State Guest House, which hosts state leaders, but under normal circumstances state leaders rarely live there, and we don't know if we can live there."

I asked, "Master, how do you know that the dishes are for the leaders?"

Master said: "I didn't know at the beginning. Seven days before the state leaders came, I was called to the state guesthouse, where I ate and lived there. I was not allowed to go home, and I was not allowed to contact outsiders. There was even a guard at the door of the kitchen. Then you The master told me to make "Furong fish maw" and choose the best yellow fish maw for hair, and the yellow fish maw is the real thing, and I can't see it now."

I asked: "How about the yellow croaker belly?"

The master said: "That's not true. Those are all top-grade yellow croaker belly. In the past, they were eaten by the emperor. At that time, your master was in charge of receiving this. Don't think he is my father, and he doesn't know who he is receiving. He is also with me." Don't say a word, just tell me to finish the "Furong Fish Maw", tell me to talk less, it is best not to say anything."

I asked Master, "Did my master still cook vegetables at that time?"

The master said: "No more firing. At that time, he was managing us. He was the director at that time, just like the chairman of the Catering Association. The name is different. Your master is a lifelong veteran of the Communist Party and works hard. In fact, I was able to Your teacher won’t allow you to be a petty official, and tell me, son, let’s just stir fry vegetables with a large spoon. Don’t be an official, frying vegetables is better than anything else. At that time, I refused to accept it, so he suppressed it. I didn’t let me get up, and that’s how it turned out, and I’ve been cooking vegetables with a large spoon for a lifetime.”

I said, "Actually, my master is also doing it for your own good, that is to protect you."

The master said: "You are right to listen to your master. When the Guobin Group began to transform, I directly bought out my seniority and came out to cook in the society. Those who had sharpened their heads and climbed up at the beginning will stay in the group. They’ve all come out, it’s too late for them to come out now, and they don’t make much money.”

I said, "Master, when did you come out?"

The master said: "I came out early, in the [-]s. At that time, money was easy to earn, and the wages paid by the restaurant owner were high. The first one I took over was the Zhongshan Building on Taiyuan Street. At that time, there was no Cantonese cuisine in the provincial capital. Well, the boss and I personally went to Guangzhou to hire Cantonese chefs, and we served Cantonese dishes when we came back. At that time, those big bosses in the provincial capital who wanted to eat Cantonese dishes had to make an appointment in advance at the Zhongshan Building, and they couldn’t eat it even if the appointment was late.”

I asked, "Did Zhang Hao learn Cantonese cuisine in Zhongshan Building?"

The master said: "No, he was just a little old at that time, and he was still in school. He learned Cantonese cuisine in the Jindu Building of the Communications Department. At that time, I was working as a manager in the Jindu Building. It’s all top notch, the stewed abalone and shark’s fin are very good, and the Buddha’s Jump over the Wall is also authentic.”

I asked Master: "Master, what do you mainly do when doing miscellaneous work?"

The master said: "The miscellaneous is the most important thing. In a Cantonese kitchen, a good miscellaneous is more important than a good first pot. The miscellaneous is mainly used for stewing abalone and shark's fin, making sea cucumber, hanging soup, steaming seafood, making Buddha jumping over the wall, etc. The stock is all made with miscellaneous ingredients, and you can’t make abalone rice or shark’s fin rice without stock, and you can’t make abalone sauce without stock, and how can you make rice without abalone juice.”

I said, "The grocery store is the most profitable stall in the kitchen."

The master said: "Even if it's not, it's about the same. The side dishes are all high-end dishes, and the most expensive ones. If you have nothing to do, go to Afuna to have a look. Ah Fu's cooking in the provincial city is considered good. He is also here. He is different from other old Guang, he is very affordable, a bit like us from the Northeast, he will not kick you out when you go, learn from him."

I said, "Well, I'll go over when I have time and help him with some work."

The master said: "Yes, in the past, I used to help others with some work. If you have a little insight, work hard, and they will be willing to teach you."

Zhang Hao was a little unconvinced and said: "What can I learn from him, isn't it just to hang a soup, cook abalone and shark's fin, and I will teach you when the time comes, Tanzi."

The master said: "You just put it simple, as for the soup you hang, I don't need it for nothing."

Zhang Hao said, "I'm doing nothing wrong."

Many of my broth, abalone, and shark's fin are learned from Ah Fu. As soon as I pass by, Ah Fu will teach me.In his words: "Your master told you to come here. He told me that I have nothing to teach you." Hearing what he said, I was very grateful to Master. If Master didn't tell A Fu, A Fu would probably call I didn't let it go in the past, let alone study.At that time, the chefs of Cantonese cuisine were very conservative, and they didn’t let outsiders watch what they did, especially the core techniques such as hanging broth, cooking abalone, and shark’s fin.

I helped Afuna, and most of them were operated by Afu. I helped him, and when I didn’t understand something, I asked him, and he explained it to me.After learning from him, I will talk to Master again, and Master will explain it to me again. When Master explains it to me, it will be more detailed, focusing on some key points, and pointing out the shortcomings of Ah Fu at the same time.After Master finished speaking, I went back to sort it out and took good notes. When I went to Afuna to help again, I found that the effect of getting twice the result with half the effort was achieved.

Chef Ah Fu is quite nice, and he has a good relationship with him in the entire Cantonese kitchen.

A Fu Bao's abalone is very authentic. He told me that he learned it from the apprentice of the abalone prince Yang Guanyi.At that time, I remembered that Yang Guanyi was introduced in the Oriental Gourmet Magazine. He was called the "Prince of Abalone" and his abalone was famous all over the world.Later I learned that Yang Guanyi's status is very high. There are a total of 51 top imperial chefs recognized by various countries in the world. There are three Chinese chefs, namely Yang Guanyi, Lei Xianjie, and Ouyang Jinhe.

Yang Guanyi's apprentice is Liang Zhicheng, who is also a famous chef. The abalone he cooks is also very authentic. Ah Fu can't go wrong with the abalone he learned from him.I learned abalone from Ah Fu. Ah Fu taught me very meticulously and explained every step in detail, which benefited me a lot.

Every day, Ah Fu will make a soup sample and ask me to send it to the master. The sample soups he cooks include "soybeans with pig's feet", "lotus root with pork ribs", "lily with raw belly", "lotus seeds with goose feet" and so on. It's nothing, it's almost the same as a stew, just a little longer than a stew.Later, after I tasted the example soup made by others, I realized that it was not the case. The soup is made with skill and attention.

I asked Master why Ah Fu respected Master so much. Master said that Ah Fu was very fond of gambling when he first came to the provincial capital, and he gambled quite a lot. So Ah Fu has always been very grateful to Master, so he is very kind to Master.

The master said: "Tanzi, remember that you must never gamble in this life. People who gamble will lose in the end. How much money they lose, no one makes a fortune from gambling. What do you do if you have no money? Just borrow, If you can’t borrow it, you can cheat, if you don’t, you can steal it, and when you break the law and you are caught, you will be dragged.”

I nodded in agreement.

Master said: "Except for gambling, you can't go out whoring. Whoring is not good for your wife. You don't have to go out and spend money to go whoring with someone who lives with you sincerely. Isn't it stupid? Such people are the most despised, even if they are arrested. People look down on that guy in the house. Remember, you can't go out whoring, you can't go out to gamble."

Brother Zhang Hao said: "Master, if you don't gamble or whore, then you can be cruel."

The master glared at Zhang Hao, and said, "If you really have the young marshal who would drop by you, I'm afraid you don't have the ability."

Zhang Hao asked: "Master, didn't my master cook for the young marshal back then? Didn't the young marshal reward my master with something?"

The master glared at him again and said, "I appreciate it."

Zhang Hao asked: "What?"

The master said: "I don't know, I'll ask your master to tell you in person."

Zhang Hao quickly said: "Forget it, it's too scary."

The master had been dead for five years at that time.

(End of this chapter)