The story of a cook

Chapter 176 Failed Interviews
Life is a song, and different lives have different songs.

Migrant workers have their lives, and the songs of migrant workers are always full of bitterness and helplessness, and stubbornness and strength are hidden in the bitterness and helplessness.

Every migrant worker walking on the road of part-time work is using his hands to create the future he feels.

The days went by day by day, and soon it was the end of June.

National Day came and said that he had contacted the hotel that was being renovated, and the boss wanted to talk to me, so he went to meet the boss during the two o'clock break at noon.

The hotel is quite big, with [-] square meters. Looking at the renovation site, it is estimated that it will take a month to complete.

I met the boss in a room immediately inside on the second floor.The boss is in his 30s and very dignified. He sits at the desk and stands up to shake hands with me when he sees me come in.

The boss asked: "Master Tan, right?"

I said "yes"

The boss asked: "How old is this year?"

I said, "26."

The boss said: "26? It doesn't look like it. I thought we were about the same age."

I said: "It looks a little anxious, it looks old."

The boss asked: "Where did Master Tan work?"

I said, "I worked at the Rose Hotel on Taishan Road before, and then I went to the golf club."

The boss said, "Have you ever worked in a golf club?"

I said, "I did it, not for a long time, less than half a year."

The boss asked, "Is that place still open now?"

I said, "I'm not very clear about this, and I haven't been in touch."

The boss asked: "I heard from Xiaowan, what are you doing at the Blue House now?"

I said, "Yes, cooking at Cheong Wa Dae."

Hearing that I was cooking at Cheong Wa Dae, the boss started to look down on me a bit. It seemed that the hotel I was decorating was so big that you, a young Chef from Cheong Wa Dae, dared to apply for a job here. Are you okay?Although he didn't say it directly, it could be seen from his expression.

The boss asked, "Does Cheong Wa Dae serve stir-fried vegetables?"

I said: "Yes, not many, mainly barbecue"

The boss said: "This is a hotel. We don't serve barbecue. We are going to serve some high-end dishes. Can you do it?"

He didn't look me in the eye when he spoke, and I felt his tone was contemptuous.

I smiled and said, "How should I say this? Restaurants are divided into different sizes, and the dishes are not high or low. You won't believe me if I say I can do it. You can try the dishes and see if I can do it."

The boss said: "I have to try the dishes, that is, I want to find a chef with better skills, and I have to cook for more than ten years, and I have to be a chef who works in a place similar to my hotel, otherwise I will This big hotel is not pretending for nothing.” Then he said proudly: “When my hotel opens, it will be a hit in Sandaizi, not to mention number one.”

I laughed and said, "Then we may not be able to cooperate. I have only been cooking for a little over a year." Then I stood up and said, "Sorry to bother you."

After speaking, I came out with National Day.

He came outside and took a breath, and said, "I hope his hotel will have a prosperous business."

National Day was a little angry and said: "This boss is too good. He didn't say that when he talked to me. I said you are cooking at the Blue House. He said that we can talk. If I knew it, we wouldn't come. I When he sees it, what kind of chef will he find?"

I said: "There is no need to be angry. It is normal for people to look down on us. We are indeed unknown. They have invested a lot of money to install such a large restaurant. No matter how you say it, you have to find a famous chef to operate it, and find an unknown chef like me. If it’s not good, you can’t throw it in, it’s real money, no one’s money is blown by the wind.”

Guo Qing said: "That's too arrogant to talk, and it means to look down on people."

I said: "If you want people to look up to you, you have to be famous. You are amazing and others look up to you. If you are not good, no one will look down on you."

After returning from the hotel, I was silent for two days. I was thinking about a problem, that is, chefs are really only called chefs when they cook in Chinese restaurants. In other restaurants, such as Korean cuisine, Japanese cuisine, hot pot restaurants, and barbecue restaurants—— Wait, isn't working in these restaurants a chef?
Chefs can only practice cooking skills in Chinese restaurants, but they can't practice cooking skills in other restaurants?
The chef makes delicious dishes for the guests. Guests can eat Chinese food, hot pot, barbecue, skewers, and Japanese cuisine.Can one not be called a "chef" if he doesn't cook, cook barbecue, skewer, mix vegetables, or cook Japanese cuisine?
If so, then the whole world has chefs in China, and no other countries, because only China has Chinese food.

Obviously, my thinking was wrong.

I also know that my thoughts are wrong, but I am a little unwilling, unwilling to be looked down upon by others, and unwilling to be like this, honestly cooking in a barbecue restaurant for a lifetime.

Tell yourself that there is no chance now, and if you have the opportunity to cook in a big restaurant, you can cook well, and I can cook what other chefs can do.

One day I will go to a big restaurant to cook, and I will be the head chef in a big restaurant, and I will have a seat in the chef circle in the provincial capital.

People tend to make mistakes when their thoughts slip away.

At the end of the evening, Zhang Li came to the kitchen with a plate of "dried tofu with sharp peppers" and said to me, "Master Tan, did you beat the salt seller to death?"

As soon as I heard it, I knew that the vegetables were salty. I took the dried tofu with sharp peppers and took a bite of the dried tofu with chopsticks. It was salty, very salty.

At that time, I was a little nervous. After I came to Cheong Wa Dae, I never had any problems with the dishes. I didn’t expect to make dried tofu salty today. I made a super invincible and low-level mistake. It’s embarrassing.

I said, "It's salty, I'll make another plate and serve it right away."

Zhang Li said: "Then you hurry up. The guests at this table are regular customers. When they come, they order dried pepper tofu. They say that our house's dried pepper tofu is delicious. Today's is too salty. I thought our chef changed." .”

I said, "Wait a minute, it will be fine soon."

Sister Li took out a portion of the prepared dried tofu, and I went to the stove to start frying.

The moment I stood on the stove, I woke up, and I remembered, I really remembered what the master said - we are cooks, remember, when will this three-foot stove be our base.

Standing there, I took a deep breath, and asked myself what the past two days have been like, I just think about useless things, I want to have a fart, I have to do it, I can’t do it anytime, I should look down on you Still look down on you, nothing.

He slapped himself hard with his hand, then turned on the fire and started to make dried tofu with sharp peppers.

The dried tofu is made of pure brine that I personally selected in the market, and I specifically asked for it to be thicker. This kind of dried tofu is delicious when fried.Boil the water in the pot, first add a little flour soda, dry tofu is acidic, adding flour soda can neutralize the acidity, and also play a soft role.Then put in the cut dried tofu and blanch.Dried tofu is boiled in water until the water boils again, and after ten seconds, remove and control the water.Then heat the oil in a pan, slide the pan, drop the oil again, put in the sliced ​​pork belly and stir-fry, stir-fry until the pork belly spits out oil and rolls, and the aroma comes out, and then add chopped green onion, ginger rice, and garlic slices to fry until fragrant. Remove from the fire, add cooking wine, soy sauce, thirteen spices, and stir-fry the pot. At this time, you can see that the soy sauce and cooking wine are fused with heat, and the aroma floats out with small bubbles. Tofu, turn the heat to low, make basic seasoning, and simmer. Watch the dried tofu slices in the pot rise and fall with the bubbles. While stirring, the aroma of dried tofu and pepper wafts out.

This is my own summary. If the dried tofu is selected well, then the hot pepper must not be put into the pot at the same time as the dried tofu. At the same time, the dry tofu will be cooked before the hot pepper is cooked. Wait until the dried tofu is ready. That's when the peppers are overheated.Also, when the peppers are put into the pot, they can no longer be simmered, and start to stir-fry, which has the best effect.

Seeing that the dried tofu and hot pepper in the pot have reached the heat, at this time, the unique aroma of dried tofu with sharp pepper wafts out in the pot, and the oil and water start to be thickened, and the wok is slowly shaken to let the oil and water thicken slowly Put it in, the same as when cooking sea cucumbers, don't worry, gather the gravy twice, and as the gravy pours in, shake the spoon while turning it, so that the gravy is evenly poured on the surface of the dried tofu.Seeing that there are no air bubbles in the pot, immediately grab half a handful of minced garlic and sprinkle it in, quickly stir fry evenly, then pour a little cooking oil, and prepare to be out of the pot.

Turn off the heat, put the dried tofu on a plate, the slices of dried tofu on the plate are thickened and full of luster, and the few pieces that fall on the top feel trembling.Served the fried dried tofu with sharp peppers to Zhang Li, and said to her: "Bring it up to the guests, just say that this plate of dried tofu is a gift from our chef."

Zhang Li looked at the dried chili tofu in her hand and said, "Master Tan, this is the best dish of dried chili tofu I have seen you cook. I just want to eat it just looking at it."

I said, "Hurry up, it will get cold in a while."

Seeing Zhang Li leaving with dried tofu with sharp peppers, I also returned to normal, and shouted at Sister Li: "Sister Li, give me the detergent and clean up the stove."

Sister Li handed me the detergent and asked carefully, "Is Master Tan okay?"

One sentence stunned me, and I asked back: "It's okay, what's wrong, Sister Li?"

Sister Li said: "It's good that it's okay, I was shocked when I saw you slap yourself just now, I thought—"

I smiled and said, "It's okay, it's just that the fried vegetables are too salty and I feel ashamed, so I slapped myself for a long time to remember, nothing happened."

Sister Li said: "It's fine." Then she said: "When the vegetables are fried and salty, no one will lose it. Everyone has fried vegetables, and the previous chefs always fried the vegetables."

I said: "It's a fault that the vegetables are salty, and it's all caused by slipping away."

Sister Li said: "You can't slap yourself in the mouth, it hurts too much."

I said, "If you don't feel pain, you won't have a long memory. Only when it hurts will you have a memory, and you won't slip away in the future."

(End of this chapter)