The story of a cook

Chapter 227 Going to Xiaonantun to Study
Everything that happens must have its reasons, its reasons, and finally its results.

Only when people stick to what they should stick to can they achieve results and develop.

20 days after I came to Weishili, it was not busy that night. Mr. Guo came over and asked me, Chef Wang, and Manager Feng to go to Xiaonantun on Danan Street for dinner, saying that Xiaonantun was a hot business and went to study.

Arrived at Xiaonantun.

It looks like a farmyard from the outside.

At that time, many restaurants in the provincial capital were selling home-cooked dishes, and there were no very authentic farmhouses, and Xiaonantun was the first.

The business in Xiaonantun is booming.

Once inside, it was almost full.It was already past eight o'clock in the evening when I went there. At this time, other restaurants started to clean up and prepare for proofing, but there are still so many guests in his house, it seems that the business is really good.

The private room was gone, and there were still two empty tables in the hall, so I sat there.

The walls of the entire hall are pasted with old newspapers, which looks just like the countryside in the 70s and [-]s. The tables are also long square tables, and the stools are long benches for two people.The saucers on the table are thick porcelain orchid saucers from the past. There are no cups for drinking and tea. There is a small army green tea mug, the kind with a handle. This tea mug is used for drinking tea and drinking.The chopsticks are made of old jujube wood, which looks just like at home.

To be honest, entering a shop with such an environment is like going back to the big car shop in the past. There is a feeling of retrieving past memories.

The waiter was wearing a floral jacket and a pair of black trousers, like a village girl, holding an old-fashioned white porcelain teapot in his hand, pouring tea for us, the color of the tea was black tea.I am used to seeing the standard and uniform clothing of restaurant waiters, but at first glance, this kind of waiter dressed as a village girl is a bit fresh.

Mr. Guo asked the waiter: "Girl, do you still have a private room at your house?"

The waiter said, "No more."

Mr. Guo asked: "Are you leaving after dinner?"

The waiter shouted at the bar: "Bar, is there a private room to leave now?"

The bar counter also shouted loudly: "Guoshantun pays the bill, and we will leave in ten minutes."

The waiter asked Mr. Guo: "The mountain village will be free later, do you want it?"

Mr. Guo said: "Yes, let's go into the private room."

The waiter said: "Then I'll ask them to keep it. You look at the menu first, and order the dishes first, so that the chef can prepare them first." After finishing speaking, he put the menu on the table, and then shouted at the bar: "Keep the backer. Come on, four guests."

Mr. Guo picked up the menu, which was a simple plastic-covered menu, unlike other restaurants that have a thick menu, they are simple, just a menu.

Mr. Guo looked at it and handed it to Chef Wang, and said, "You are a professional, you come here."

Chef Wang took the menu, looked at it like Mr. Guo, then handed it to me and said, "You cook home cooking, take a look."

I take the menu.

The menu is very simple, with dishes on one side and staple food and drinks on the other.

There are sixteen cold dishes, all of which seem to be home-cooked cold dishes, such as "hand-broken pork liver", "farm house big skin", "big harvest", and "grandfather's appetizers". Food and drink, probably should be the appetizers I researched, and his family added the word "Grandpa" in front of it, which looks like a farmhouse.The hot dishes are all home-cooked dishes, but the names of the dishes are some farmer’s, such as: "New Year's Killing Pig Dishes", "Uncle's Small River Shrimp", "Sister-in-law's Random Stew", "Second Aunt's Old Eggplant", etc. I want to laugh when I look at it, I think the name of the dish is very attractive and tastes like home.

There is a signature dish that attracted me, "Grandma's Kung Fu Fish". I have heard of "Kung Fu Fish" before, but I have never seen it or cooked it. I heard that it is very good, so I ordered one.

The staple food is pure farm staple food, "sorghum rice water rice", "corn flour pancake", "vegetable dumpling", "vegetable dumpling" and "millet water rice". manager.

Manager Feng looked at the menu, laughed after a while, and said, "The name of his dish is too sloppy, it's a bit earthy."

Mr. Guo said: "This is the special feature. Look at his menu, which is simple and practical. In fact, restaurants don't need to prepare those dishes at all. They just make delicious ones that can accommodate guests. There are not many dishes, like his. These are enough at home, and there are too many guests who can’t order, and don’t know what’s delicious.”

"Yes, there is no need to make too many dishes." Chef Wang said.

Mr. Guo said: "Our family is just like that, and we don't plan to adjust it a year ago. Let's see how it will look in the next year. If there is no change in the next year, we will clean it up and set up a farmyard. We will guarantee it in our place. It works."

Manager Feng asked: "Didn't you say we're going to pick it up?"

Mr. Guo said: "It's not sure yet. No one can say what it will be like. It was fine a year ago."

"I guess we'll have to pick it up after the next year." Manager Feng said.

"Just pick it up, and open a restaurant in another place at that time, or where will the equipment be? It's worthless if you sell it." Mr. Guo said: "We will also open such a farmyard at that time. His family is In the Great South, far away from us, we are in the Great North, and it happens that there is no farmyard near us, if we open a guarantee bank."

I said: "Okay, the guests like to eat home-cooked and farm dishes now, and they are tired of eating big fish and meat. It's good to change the taste, especially the farm meals, I'm more happy to eat."

Mr. Guo said: "The main thing is to create this flavor. Don't make a restaurant flavor that is not a restaurant flavor, or a farm flavor that is not a farm flavor. Then it will be fucked. It is better not to be whole."

I said: "Yes, the key is the taste. It must be made authentically, so that people can eat and live with the taste of home when they eat it."

Mr. Guo said: "Xiao Tan, I think you like to study dishes, and your dishes are a bit homely."

I said: "I like to do research, but I'm still a little short. It's not good enough. I can tell the difference by comparing with other people's performance. I've been researching home-cooked dishes like his. This will be a trend in the future, and the customers are from the past. If you are full of food and drink, you will turn to eating delicious and healthy. If you still blindly make the dishes authentic as before, you may not be able to add seasoning. Now people pay more and more attention to the original taste, as people say Gotta go back to basics."

The waiter came over and said that the private room was poured out, so the four of us rode into the private room.

The decoration inside the private room is very characteristic. The walls are painted with loess mud. When you enter, you seem to have entered a rural household. The funniest thing is that there are air conditioners hanging on the walls covered with yellow mud. The air conditioner has a very large contrast, which can be remembered at a glance.A few large nails are casually nailed on the wall, and strings of red peppers, garlic, and corn cobs are hung on the nails, giving people the same feeling as being in a farmer's house.

The table in the private room is the Eight Immortals table, and the stool is not a long stool, but an old-fashioned wooden chair with a high back, which is very comfortable to sit on.

Not long after we sat down, the dishes we ordered began to arrive one after another.Mr. Guo ordered baijiu, and everyone poured a jar of liquor. When pouring it for Chef Wang, Chef Wang said he couldn't drink, half a jar was fine.Manager Feng said that the big man still drank half a tank, and he must have a tank, and then he poured a full tank without explaining it.

The small tea mug of army green looks quite small, but in fact it can hold it quite well. One tank is half a catty of wine.

The first thing to serve is "Hand breaking liver". The pork liver is cooked and directly broken into small pieces by hand, and eaten with garlic sauce. This is how pigs are killed in rural areas during the Chinese New Year. bitterness.Eating liver to nourish the liver and improve eyesight, the best is sheep liver, this is the best way to eat, the original taste, the body absorbs quickly.It is also okay to wait for fried liver, but the effect is not as good as eating it like this.I like to eat it like this, and I like the light bitter taste. My son doesn't like it, so he likes to eat it stir-fried, and it has to be tender.

The second one to come up is "Nongjia Big Lapi".The cooking is really rough and crazy, the cucumber is not shredded, it is directly patted into pieces with a kitchen knife and placed on the plate, peeled and cut into large strips to cover the cucumber pieces, sprinkled with coriander and green onion, it looks like Going back to my hometown in the countryside, my sister-in-law did the same, and I have a strong sense of memory.Bring two bowls of sauce, one is garlic sauce and the other is sesame sauce, you can put whichever you like.

Everyone tasted the two dishes that came up, and the taste was okay, mainly because the feeling was different from eating in other restaurants, and it felt like returning to the countryside here.

Mr. Guo picked up the wine tank and said: "Today we are here mainly to study, and eating is secondary. After the Chinese New Year, we are also planning to open a store like this, so we can learn in advance and have a good idea." Then he looked at me. He glanced at Chef Wang and Manager Feng, and said, "We will have to rely on the three of you when the time comes, come, have a drink first."

After taking a sip of the wine, the wine felt hot as soon as it entered the mouth. It was high alcohol at first glance, at least 52 degrees.When Manager Feng was pouring the wine just now, he didn't look at what wine it was, and asked her, "Sister Feng, what wine is it? The alcohol is so high?"

Manager Feng said: "Shao Dao Zi, you drink Shao Dao Zi when you come to his house, the degree is high."

I said: "High, but good wine, pure grain."

Hot dishes are also served.

The last one was "Kung Fu Fish".It is made of grass carp. The whole grass carp has not been modified. It is paired with wide noodles and peppers. It looks red and bright, and it is very appetizing.From the appearance, the fish has been stewed for at least two hours, and all the flavor should have gone in.The red peppers on the top are the ones that are dried at home in the northeastern countryside, not the red peppers from Sichuan.When cooking fish at home, I also put some red pepper, which tastes very good.I picked up a piece of fish with chopsticks and ate it into my mouth, um, it tasted good, it was delicious, and it smelled like fish stewed in a big pot, which would never come out of a stewed fish.There is also farmhouse miso added to the stew, and the tempting sauce aroma that lingers in the mouth cannot be achieved by buying ready-made miso, nor can it evaporate.

The deliciousness of this fish lies in the addition of Northeastern red pepper. The spicy degree of Northeastern red pepper is not too high, but it has a fragrance that other peppers do not have. Stewing this fragrance into the fish not only removes the earthy smell of grass carp The taste also increases the aroma of fish, with a lingering aftertaste lingering in the mouth.

It can be said that this kung fu fish is authentic.

Mr. Guo, Manager Feng, and Chef Wang all said that Kung Fu Fish is delicious, and they are full of praise.

Mr. Guo said to Chef Wang: "Old Wang, do you see that the fish is so authentic, if you study it, our family will also serve this fish."

Chef Wang said, "Okay, I'll do some research when I go back."

"Don't just talk but don't practice. You have come out to study several times, and you said you would go back to study, and you didn't even watch you study one. It's all fucking for nothing." Mr. Guo was born as a soldier, and he spoke very bluntly.

Chef Wang was a little embarrassed and said, "I studied it when I went back. You're not always at home, and you didn't eat it when you cooked it."

Mr. Guo said: "When I'm not at home, you can study on your own. If you think you can do it, don't wait for me. I have too many things to do, so I just forget about it."

Manager Feng said: "No one dares to serve new dishes casually when you are not at home. Aren't you a big leader? No one dares if you don't speak up."

"You always have a reason. If you listen to me, I'll tell you what to do. I don't know what you are thinking, but I don't like to talk about you." Mr. Guo continued: "I have to study this time when I go back. In two days, someone from above will come to check, and it will be the end of the year soon. After all, we have to see how we are, and we have to move. We can’t be the same as the old three. It’s unreasonable. Also, I heard that the above will change, so it’s not easy to check. If it fails, the hotel will have to be taken back.”

Manager Feng asked: "What's wrong, the big leader has changed?"

Mr. Guo said: "It has been changed, even the finance has been changed. Now all departments have begun to review and evaluate, liquidate the old foundation, and those who can be responsible for their own profits and losses start to carry out individual contracting outside. If the losses are serious, they will be reorganized. The original employees will return to their original positions directly. , do what you should do." As he spoke, he looked at Manager Feng and said directly: "If you don't want to go back and continue to manage the warehouse, you have to clean up the restaurant. Also, the people who come to check may not come when, and you don't know. Who's coming."

Manager Feng asked: "Didn't you say that we will move out after the Chinese New Year? Why are you here to check?"

Mr. Guo said: "You still don't understand that relocation is a matter of relocation, and audit and inspection is a matter of audit and inspection. How can we say that our restaurant is also a department, and this department must not be absent. If the restaurant is now well-organized and the business is good, Wouldn’t it be a matter of re-selecting a place to open a store? If it’s not done well, it’s nothing, and then we’ll have to reassign and replace people.”

This time Manager Feng understood, and there was a somewhat nervous look on his face.

Mr. Guo and I drank the wine that day very happily. We each drank two tanks and a catty of liquor.Manager Feng drank a bottle, and was a little absent-minded.Chef Wang was there to accompany him, and he was a bit confused when he ran out of a tank.

(End of this chapter)