The story of a cook

Chapter 293 Prepare Standard Dishes
Mr. Xu, who was cooking stew in the kitchen, came to talk to me about the matter. What he meant was that Mr. Yu and Mr. Wang had left, and it was not good for him to continue working here.I told him it’s okay, the relationship between Mr. Yu and Mr. Wang is a matter between the bosses, and it has nothing to do with the workers. The workers earn money wherever they go, and they do it wherever they go. If I tell him, I can work in the kitchen with confidence. As long as I'm the head chef it's fine.

Master Xu said: "That's right, Master Tan, you are a very nice person. I just came from HLJ, and I can't go back to the headquarters villa. Now the headquarters is on holiday, and I have to wait until the New Year's Day to open. I'm out now, what? You have to earn some money to go back, if you think it’s okay, I’ll do it here.”

I said: "Master Xu, it's okay, let's do it here. You are a good person, and you are willing to get along with you. Let's get along well here, and maybe we can cooperate for a long time in the future."

"Yes, Master Tan, if what I do here is inappropriate, you can tell me so that I can correct it."

"It's good, everything is good, Master Xu, you can work here with peace of mind, if there's nothing wrong, just call me if you need anything." I said.

After talking with Master Xu, Master Hou and Master Wang came over and said they were going to go out for a drink after get off work.

I have no objection to drinking, but when Lin Yan wants to go home and see me drinking again, she must be impatient. In addition, there has not been a day without drinking in the past two days, so it is a bit unreasonable to drink.

The second child also came over and said, "Third child, let's go to the big market to eat barbecue at night, and don't eat stir-fried vegetables."

Seeing that the second child also said to go, it is estimated that they have already discussed to go out together, so they agreed.

When I get off work at [-] o'clock in the evening, I am going to go to Laoba BBQ in the big market together.Zhang Li saw that we were going together, and asked me why I was going, I said to have a barbecue, she said she would go too, Master Hou said let's go together.

I carried Zhang Li on my back, and she said from behind: "You don't want me to go with you."

"Our kitchen masters are grilling skewers together, what are you doing at the front desk?" I said directly.

"What's wrong, the front desk can't do it, the boss of your kitchen."

She was a little unreasonable.

I said, "That's not true, I just don't want to drink with you."

She said: "Cut! I still don't want to drink with you. Did my wife ask you to kneel on the washboard after drinking so much yesterday?"

"Kneel down, kneel down in the middle of the night."

"Don't lie, at most I didn't ask you to go to bed, and you knelt down in the middle of the night, fooling ghosts?"

"Ghosts are smarter than humans now."

She pinched me from behind as a warning.

"Old Tan, do you dare to stay out at night?" She asked me suddenly.

"Don't dare."

"Why? How timid?"

"It's not that I'm timid, it's that I can't." I asked her: "If I dare to stay out at night, will you still have a crush on me?"

She said: "Yes, hehe, I will take you down one day."

I said, "I have to find you a husband's house."

"That's a good relationship. I can't live alone all the time. If there is a suitable one, you can introduce one to me."

"What are you looking for?" I asked.

"Be careful, just be nice to me," she said.

"Can the workers of the aircraft factory do it? Work steadily and ensure income in drought and flood."

"Row."

When we arrived at Lao Ba's in the big market, there weren't too many customers inside, and it wasn't time yet, so it was estimated that people would be there after eight o'clock.There was a table of guests in the room who knew each other. It was Xiaofeng who was hanging out with Cao Jihong. He went to say hello. He saw Zhang Li a little unnaturally, probably thinking of the embarrassing incident that happened at the dumpling restaurant during the Spring Festival.

I ordered a lot of skewers, and the wine was served, and everyone drank white wine.

Master Hou said, "Master Tan, let's have a bite first."

I said, "Take a bite!"

After a sip of wine, I feel very refreshed. I haven't eaten skewers for a long time, and it tastes very delicious.The taste of cumin chili noodles is really attractive, and I really miss it if I don’t eat it for a while.This time, among the dishes of the villa, I served two dishes that focus on the taste of barbecue. One is "Roast Lamb Shank in the Villa" and the other is "Flavoured Beef Small Bone". good.

Master Wang asked: "Master Tan, didn't you use MSG in cooking before?"

"Oh, it's not used recently." I said, "It's not absolute. Sometimes you can add some soup, especially when you make clear soup. You have to add MSG, otherwise it won't taste good."

Master Wang said: "At the beginning, I always felt that this dish would not taste good if I didn't put MSG, and it didn't have much taste. I tried not to add MSG in the past few days, and I tasted every dish myself. It's delicious, I feel very delicious now."

I said: "I didn't get used to it when I didn't let it go at the beginning. It's a habit. It will be fine gradually. We must hang the old soup in the kitchen. Good old soup, the basic taste of the dish is there, stronger than the soy sauce."

Master Hou said: "Yes, the old soup is really important. I tried it in the past few days, and the dishes with the old soup and the dishes without the old soup have different tastes."

"That's right. I used to cook vegetables in other places, and I didn't care whether the soup was old or not. It was too much trouble, so I didn't hang it very much. It didn't work well after hanging it. In the end, it broke. Add some monosodium glutamate, sometimes add some chicken powder, and you have everything." Master Wang said.

I smiled and said, "That's the way it is with dishes. If you use more dim sum and work harder, the taste will come out naturally, and the taste will be there. If it's too much trouble, it's just ordinary."

Zhang Li said: "Master Tan is a good cook and always studies dishes."

I said, "What are you shouting for? There is no way, we have to rely on it for food."

Master Xu said: "To tell the truth, all the tourists are received in the villa, and they don't use any old soup. The stew is directly stewed in water. I have tasted the dishes stewed in old soup in the past two days. It is really delicious, and there is no need to put it There is no need to put chicken powder in the monosodium glutamate, the original taste, especially the big goose stewed sauerkraut, the taste is stronger than before, and it is delicious." Then said: "In this way, I will take care of the old soup in the future, and I will be responsible."

Master Hou said: "You are in charge of the old soup, and I am in charge of the red oil and seasoning oil. Leave these two to me."

"Then I will be in charge of refining big oil." Master Wang said.

"Okay, I'm in charge of stir-frying spicy ingredients and various sauces." I said.

Master Hou asked: "Master Tan can stir-fry spicy ingredients?"

I said, "Yes, it's not very good."

Master Hou said: "Be humble, Master Tan. You must call me when you stir-fry spicy ingredients. I am eager to learn."

"Okay, there is no secret to the spicy ingredients. Let's study together when the time comes, and I may not be good at frying."

Now that I was talking about work, I used the topic to say: "This time, I plan to prepare several dishes as sauces, one sauce for each dish, so as to form a standard. Let's set the quantity in advance, who This dish is fried with the sauce of this dish, firstly, it saves the cooking time and improves the speed of serving, and secondly, it also fixes the taste standard of this dish, so that there will be no deviation.”

"It's so good. Cantonese cuisine is like this. Whatever sauce you cook, it tastes the same whenever you eat it. It's not like us. If you're in a good mood today, the dishes are delicious. If you're in a bad mood, the dishes are delicious. It’s not tasty, either less salt or no salt, it’s not fixed.”

Master Hou said with deep emotion that not only he is like this, but most chefs of Northeast cuisine are like this.

I said: "Yes, our Northeast cuisine is actually quite delicious, full of flavor and rich taste, but it is not as good as Cantonese or Sichuan cuisine. To put it bluntly, our workmanship is not rigorous, and we think it is about the same. The dishes are all made with procedures and standards, no less than Cantonese cuisine.”

"Northeast cuisine pays attention to five flavors and hundreds of flavors. One raw material can make many kinds of dishes, and there are many changes in taste, but many chefs are eager for success. They feel that they can do it when they can cook. They don't have deep research on dishes and innovate. Weak consciousness, I feel that as long as I can make money, I will delay myself." I continued: "Actually, I have always had an idea, I want to standardize Northeast cuisine, and also set a standard, like Cantonese cuisine, so that Our Northeast cuisine is competitive, and the price of our Northeast cooks can also be raised.”

"That's the thing. I will follow you, Master Tan, and study with you." Master Hou said.

"This can't be done in a day or two, nor can it be done in a year or two. If you can't do it for a lifetime, it's good if you can do it in a lifetime—"

"I'm just an idea now. I'm going to start with traditional dishes. At the same time, we have to standardize our operating procedures. This is complementary to the dishes. I just came up with some ideas." I said: "Take the dishes as an example. As an example, let’s say Guobaorou. Guobaorou is our representative dish in Northeast China. It looks simple and anyone can cook it. I think it’s okay. Let me ask now, who dares to say that the Guobaorou made by myself is the best ? Is it the boss who makes the pot and meat?”

I looked at everyone, and everyone looked at each other without speaking.

I said: "No one dares to say that, and no restaurant dares to say that my restaurant's pot-packed meat is the best. It tastes the same when you eat it. Why? Today, the master Working here, the pot-packed meat is delicious, the customers accept it, the click-through rate is high, and it is hot. When the master is no longer here, another master will come. The pot-packed meat made by the new master is not the one made by the original master. Taste, customers can eat it in one bite, and then say that your pot-packed meat is not as delicious as before, and you dare not say that you have changed the chef, so there will be a result, that is, the hot-selling pot-packed meat in the past will gradually click The rate began to drop, and finally changed from a popular dish to an ordinary dish. When a dish gradually changes from a popular dish to an ordinary dish, it is when customers start to slowly lose and business declines. This is the reason why many restaurants die. I said right?"

Master Wang nodded and said, "Yes, that's what happened."

Master Hou and Master Xu also nodded.

I said: "Speaking of which, taking the pot-packed meat as an example, my current thinking is to standardize it. How to standardize it? First of all, we must determine the meat, what kind of meat to use, how many taels to use, how thick and how big to cut into slices, and a total of How many slices come out? If it is 25 slices, it is 25 slices, and the difference cannot be more than one slice. And what kind of flour is the best to use for the paste of pot-packed meat, raw flour or starch, or the ratio of the two flours is good. Standards must be made. Then it is frying. This is a little personal operation, and there will be deviations in the store due to different heat, but there must also be clear standards to minimize the error. The rest is to prepare the sweet and sour sauce for the pot-wrapped meat. Repeated trial production, what kind of vinegar is good, what kind of sugar is good, how much to use, have to make a standard, prepare it in advance, and when it’s time to cook, use as much juice as you want for a pot of meat, put the juice down, it’s just enough for these The sliced ​​meat is just right after it comes out, and the taste standard is uniform. Only in this way can the pot-packed meat have vitality. Even if the chef who operated the pot-packed meat leaves, it will be fine. If a new chef comes in, he only needs to follow this process and meet this standard. Customers Once you eat the original heat and taste, you won’t lose customers, and the business will only get better and better, and it won’t decline. Is this the reason?”

"Yes, that's what happened." Master Hou said.

"Correct." Master Wang.

"That's what happened," said the second child.

Zhang Li said: "Master Tan, I admire you more and more, you are my idol."

"Your idol is not here." I said to Zhang Li.

"Master Tan, when are you going to start doing it?" Master Wang asked.

I said: "Now, let's start the adjustment now. The idea was not perfect before, but now the idea is perfect, and I am ready to start the adjustment. It is estimated that it will be very difficult, but don't worry. If you can understand the pot and meat in time, you will win."

"It takes that long?"

"It's pretty fast." I said, "This is a standard dish, not a cooking dish, and it's not so easy to organize."

"Come on, don't just listen to my vernacular, drink."

The guys started drinking and chatting.

I didn't drink too much wine and listened to my dishes most of the time.

As soon as I started talking, I couldn't stop it. It was already nine o'clock when I was almost drunk, so I warmed up the remaining skewers and everyone ate them to end the battle.

(End of this chapter)