The story of a cook

Chapter 331 A Plate of Hibiscus Fish Maw

My job at Linjiangxuan was stabilized after a month. Lin Yan quit her job and started raising her baby at home.

The first few days were fine, but after a few days she felt that staying at home was boring.People who always go to work suddenly stop working, as if they don’t know what to do, and their hearts are always at a loss.

So she decided to go back to her mother's house.

It's good to go back to my natal home, but I can't take care of him well here. I go to work every day, and sometimes I can't come back when it's too late. Her mother-in-law takes better care of him than me when she goes back to her natal home.After Lin Yan left, I rarely went home, sometimes I just went home to change clothes.Master asked me if Lin Yan was not angry if I didn't go home, I said Lin Yan went back to her mother's house.Master told me that Lin Yan is very good, and told me to live a good life with Lin Yan, don't talk about other things, after the child is born, there are many places to spend money, and told me not to spend money recklessly, save more.I said yes, it was time to save money.

The master said: "The various relationships in Linjiangxuan are complicated. Now no one says anything to us, but there are also many people who look at us covetously. No one hurts a tiger's heart, but a tiger does. Work more and talk less, I don’t know which sentence to say wrong to offend people.”

I say yes."

The master said: "Didn't you watch it? Now the third boss is arranging things, and we are the only ones who follow. The others don't do anything. If we don't move and neither of us moves, is this still a company? Their family is sick. It’s deeply rooted, and it’s not a day’s cold, and it’s not going to be resolved in a short while.”

"Take the front desk manager as an example. What is that? She doesn't understand hotel management at all. She's just a good-looking housewife, but she's the chairman of the board. No one can leave. She had three conflicts with me. The boss told her not to do it, but she still came to work, and the third boss couldn't do anything about it, how could this be done in a formal enterprise?"

I said, "Master, we are here to help with the cooking. Other things have nothing to do with us. Don't go to any future meetings. We will not participate in politics or discuss politics."

Master said: "It's not good if you don't go. As long as the third boss is here, I have to go. When I get there, I don't say anything and it's over."

"Master, in fact, working here is not very smooth, I always feel awkward." I told the truth.

"Yes, I can see it too." The master said, "But I promised him. The third boss is still here, so I'm too embarrassed to say go. He treats us very well. Let's do it first. I heard that the chairman wants to leave." I'm back, wait for the chairman to come back and see what's going on, if it doesn't work, we will leave and not serve them."

"Master, I heard that the chairman is very pungent, like a strong woman, and she does things vigorously and resolutely."

"I've also heard that I'm not familiar with the four brothers of their family, but I'm not familiar with the old Si Muna, and the other three brothers knew each other when they were young."

"Oh."

The master said: "I don't think we've been here for long. They're too chaotic. The four brothers all hide their own minds and don't work together if they have the energy. They all have money. If you don't have money, don't take it with you." of."

When people have no money, the idea is simple, just to make money.When you have money, you will have more ideas, and it is normal for each to have his own confidantes.

Every Monday at [-]:[-] p.m., a weekly management meeting is held, and Master has to attend every time.

Master went to the meeting again on Monday, and Master came back within half an hour.

I asked, "What's the matter, Master, you won't open it?"

"What are you going to do? Just as the meeting was about to start, the third boss and the second boss got up." Master said.

"Brothers are serious, it's not good to go out alone to chat about something, and it's not good to be angry at the meeting." I said.

"The second boss said that the big boss has retired and has nothing to do at home. He wanted the big boss to come over to be the general manager. The third boss firmly opposed it. The two of them immediately got up at the meeting. Everyone was pulled away, and the meeting was not held."

I said, "That's what troubles rich people—"

Master said: "If a person has money, even his brothers can turn against him."

I said, "Fortunately, I have no brothers, and besides, I have no money."

The poor live the life of the poor, and the rich have the troubles of the rich.Think about it all day and night, why bother.

Maybe it's because we don't have money, so we can't experience the life of rich people. We always feel that people are alive no matter whether they have money or not. There is only one purpose in life, and happiness is good.At that time, the idea was very simple, that is, I felt happy doing what I liked every day and doing it well.Don’t need too much money, just enough to spend.Maybe it's because I'm used to living in poverty, and I feel that money is the same thing, spend as much as you have, spend as little as you have, and spend nothing, as long as people are still alive, it is better than anything else.

This is the understanding of money, and it is the same now. I have no concept of money, and I don’t care about money. I feel good if I have 100 yuan every day. 100 yuan is enough, just enough to buy a pack of cigarettes and a small drink.It's useless to ask for that money, and it's not to find a lady.There is food and drink at home, so you can't be content.

People often say that contentment is always happy, but how many people can really do it?

People are not without desires. When people's desires start to open up, money becomes worthless.

When money becomes worthless, people will become slaves to their desires and enjoy it forever.At this time, people start to become worthless.

But money is still money, and people don’t know whether they are people or not.

This is the emotion of the poor, and the rich may not be like this.

If you look at it from the perspective of catering nutrition, the delicacies of mountains and seas eaten by the rich, such as abalone and shark’s fin, are no different from the simple rice and millet porridge eaten by the poor. healthy.

Sitting on the plane is just fast, but sitting on the train can also enjoy the scenery.There is not so much speed of life and death in life. People who race against time don't care about the means of transportation, but the value of their own lives.

It has nothing to do with me whether we can hold the meeting or not, so I didn't think too much about it. I chatted with Master and fell asleep slowly.

At dinner time, the waiter came over and said that there is a private room for more distinguished guests, and they should cook the dishes well.

At that time, the master was on the second floor, so he didn't trouble the master, because he would always receive notices from the waiter, saying which private room guests are more distinguished, and to cook the dishes well.When I received the private room menu that the waiter said, I saw that there were no big dishes on the menu, and they were all relatively ordinary home-cooked dishes, so I didn't pay much attention to it and made it directly.

I remember that there was a chef taking a break that day, and I went to the stove to cook, and I cooked all the four hot dishes ordered in the private room.There are "meat slices", "burnt tofu", "squirrel fish" and "hibiscus fish maw". It took only 10 minutes after the dishes were served, the waiter came and called me, saying that the guest in the private room called me over.

"The guest asked me to come over? What's wrong with the food?" I asked.

Thinking about it, is there something wrong with one of the dishes?

"The customer didn't say the food was not good, but just asked you to come over." The waiter said.

I was a little puzzled and asked, "The guest knows what's wrong with me and asked me to come over?"

The waiter said: "I think the guests don't know you, so I asked me to call the master who cooks."

I said, "Okay, you go back to serve first, and I'll be there in a while."

After the waiter left, there were still a few dishes that hadn't been fried, so he went to the stove to finish the dishes, then cleaned up briefly, and left the kitchen to go to the private room where the guests at that table had dinner.

Knock on the door, someone inside said to come in, then pushed the door and went in.There were four people inside, three men and one woman.The three men are all quite old, in their [-]s, and they all have a lot of style, and the women are in their fifties, with a lot of temperament.

Seeing me coming in, the four of them were a little surprised, as if they were going to see someone else instead of me.

I said: "Excuse me, I heard from my waiter that you want to see me—"

A man said, "Are you—"

"I'm the chef here, my surname is Tan, what can you do with me?" I asked.

The man asked, "Did you cook these dishes?"

I said, "Yes, I fired it, what's wrong?"

The man looked me up and down and asked, "Who is your master?"

I said, "My master is Master Huang."

"Is it the Yellow Sea?"

"Yes."

The man is a little excited.

"Then you know who I am?"

I smiled and said: "It's the first time we met, I really don't know who you are, but you know my master's name, I think you and my master must be old friends, you are my elder, the younger generation here to give You are always welcome."

After speaking, he bowed to the man.

The man laughed, and the other two men and the woman also laughed.

"There's nothing wrong with that. It's indeed the first time we've met. You can be forgiven for not knowing me. Is your master here?" he asked.

"Yes, my master is in the kitchen, I'll go and call you."

"Go and call, just say that an old friend is here."

I went to the kitchen on the second floor to find Master, and said to him, "Master, there is a guest in a private room on the third floor who wants to see you, saying that he is your old friend."

Master asked, "Old friend? Who is it?"

I said, "I don't know, it's the first time I've seen him, and I should be familiar with you from what he's talking about."

Master asked: "You know me well? What do you look like?"

"Age is about the same as you, looks older than you, has a long face, back hair, small eyes, there are three other people besides him, two boys and one girl, all in the same grade as you." I said.

The master asked, "What does that girl look like?"

I said, "It's okay, I don't look as good as my teacher's wife."

Master glared at me.

"Just kidding, who is it, go, go and have a look."

I said, "Master, I won't go."

The master said: "Isn't it all over? If you have nothing to do, come with me to see who it is. It is probably from the chef world. Let me introduce you."

I went up to the third floor with my master and walked into the private room. As soon as I entered the private room, the master was a little surprised and his expression was very excited.

"Brother—when did you come back?"

Master's voice trembled a little.

That man turned out to be Master's brother. I heard from Master that I have a master who is the champion of the second national cooking competition. He cooks very well. It's just that he went abroad and didn't have the chance to meet him. I didn't expect to see him here today. .

The Master's Master is none other than the Master's father.

My master is a veteran craftsman from the period of the Republic of China, and he cooked for the young marshal.I heard from the master that the master was one of the four shopkeepers in Fengtian City at that time. At that time, the famous chefs who were in charge of cooking were called "shopkeepers".The master cooks good dishes. In the Republic of China, he was the big shopkeeper of "Sanchun Restaurant" Fengtian City "Lumingchun" in the Northeast. He has good craftsmanship, high seniority, good morals, and kind people. At that time, it was very important to be the big shopkeeper in Lumingchun. Famous, even the current chairman of the Provincial Catering Association was brought out by the master.

There is also a story among them, which is known to the older generation in the catering industry in the provincial capital, but very little is known to young chefs nowadays.

Back then, the master was young and Fengtian City hadn’t been liberated yet. Some of the big shopkeepers in Lumingchun came to Fengtian from Hebei to flee from famine. Among them was a little boy who squatted outside Lumingchun’s kitchen all day long, looking at the very hungry look.The master had a good heart, so he took out the food from the kitchen and gave it to the child. The child was also hungry and devoured it hungrily.The master saw that the child was very clever, so he asked if he wanted to learn to cook as a cook, and the child nodded in agreement.So the master left the child in the kitchen as an apprentice.After being liberated a few years ago, the child learned about the same skills, and when he was able to cook on the stove, the master asked him to cook on the stove.After liberation, Shi Ye was the first director of the restaurant association in Fengtian, which is equivalent to the current chairman of the restaurant association.After the child cooks in the stove, he must worship the master as his teacher. The master confiscates it and takes the child as a younger brother.Later, after the master retired, he asked this younger brother to take his place, so this younger brother became the chairman of the Catering Association.

After this younger brother became the chairman, the first youth chef cooking competition was held in the whole country. At that time, the master had already accepted the master as an apprentice, and was going to ask the master to represent the provincial capital to participate in the competition.As a result, the younger brother who is the chairman of the Food and Beverage Association did not ask the master to participate, but asked his own apprentice to participate. The first competition champion was the younger brother's apprentice.Because of this, the master is very angry.But the master is no longer the chairman, and the county magistrate is not as good as the current one, so he can only be angry.

From then on, the younger brother brought out by the master himself no longer had any contact with the master, and this incident became a story in the chef circle of the provincial capital.

Waiting for the second chef competition, this time the master didn't say anything, the master took the lead and won the national championship on behalf of the provincial capital, which can be regarded as a sigh of relief for the master.After Master Shi won the championship, he directly became the kitchen director of the State Guesthouse of the Provincial Reception Office, which is equivalent to the current executive chef. That is a provincial State Guesthouse, which is equivalent to BJ's Diaoyutai State Guesthouse.

Master Shi worked there for several years, and then went abroad directly.

Unexpectedly, Master and Uncle Master met here today.

Seeing Master, Master Shi left his seat and walked in front of Master excitedly. The two elder brothers held hands together and did not separate for a long time.

Master Shi was very excited, shaking Master's hand.

"Just came back, Lao Li said he wanted to treat me to dumplings, so he came here."

"Brother, you can see that you are old." Master said.

"Can you not be old? It's been almost 20 years." Master Shi said.

"It's not that bad, it's been almost 20 years, in a flash."

"You're getting old too."

"Almost sixty, old—"

The eye sockets of the two old men, Master and Uncle Master, were a little moist.

At this time, one of the slightly fat men said: "The two old brothers haven't seen each other for 20 years. I'm excited. Don't patronize the excitement. Sit down and chat slowly."

Master and Uncle Master released the hands they had just grasped, and sat down.

Master said to the fat man, "Lao Li is here too."

Lao Li said: "Can you not come? Big brother must clean up the dust when he returns to China." Then he said: "By the way, why did you come here? Doesn't it mean that you don't have a big spoon?"

The master said: "Mu Lao San looked for me several times, and then went home to look for me, so I came here."

After the master finished speaking, he shook hands with another one and said, "Old Liu, you are still in good health."

Old Liu said: "It's okay, nothing to worry about, I'm not as physically fit as you."

At this time, Master Shi introduced the lady to Master.

"Junior brother, this is your sister-in-law, named Xiuchun, we met in America."

Master stood up and said, "Hi, sister-in-law!"

Madam Master also stood up and nodded to Master with a smile.

After they all met and introduced, Master saw that I was still standing there and said, "Xiao Tanzi, come, Master will introduce you."

"This is what I told you about my brother, your master."

I hurried over, stood in front of Master Shi and knelt on my knees and kowtowed.

"Master, hello!"

The master was very happy, he helped me up with a smile, and said, "Good! Good!"

Without Master's introduction, I turned around and knelt down in front of Mrs. Teacher to say hello, and Mrs. Teacher helped me up.

The master watched me kowtow to the master and the aunt, and said, "Brother, sister-in-law, this is my youngest apprentice named Xiao Tanzi, who is now working as a cook here."

Master Shi said: "The stir-fry is very good, and it has a bit of your taste."

"It's okay." The master said, "Senior brother, my apprentice has already kowtowed, and you, an uncle, have nothing to say?"

Master Shi laughed and said, "Why didn't you say it, you have to say it."

Mr. Li next to him said: "Old Huang, if you talk about you, you will know how to protect the calf. You have not changed a bit in these years, and you have broken your horns like a deer and a goose has plucked your hair."

After speaking, everyone laughed.

"You think that head was knocked for nothing, but my apprentice Huang is worthless." Master said.

Master Shi took off the watch he was wearing and handed it to me.

"Martial nephew, the uncle didn't prepare it either, so I'll give you this watch as a greeting gift."

I hurriedly said: "Master, no need, really no need."

Master took the watch over.

"If you want to give it, give me a new one. You brought it to my apprentice. It's too picky!" After looking at it, he handed it to me and said, "If I give it to you, take it. Your master's thought, express It's okay, not too old."

"No, Master, I have a watch."

"Take it, I won't be happy if I don't take your master. You don't know, he is an iron cock with a tenacious hand. When he was young, he brought a watch. I asked for it for a year and he didn't give it to me. In the end, it was your master and me." He was the one who snatched him over. Take it quickly, if you don’t take it, you should go back.”

The master said to me: "Don't listen to your master's nonsense, take the child, if I didn't eat your cooking today, I wouldn't be able to meet your master today, take it quickly."

I took the watch and said to Master Shi, "Thank you, Master Master."

The master pointed to Mr. Li and said, "Tan Zi, you have to call this uncle Master, whose surname is Li."

I bowed to Mr. Li and said, "Master Uncle."

The master pointed to Mr. Liu and said, "You have to call this uncle Master, and his surname is Liu."

I bowed to Mr. Liu and said, "Master Uncle!"

After all the introductions, the master said, "Tanzi, please sit down too."

I sit down.

The master said: "Junior brother, you have taken in a good apprentice. You have already passed on some of your true cooking skills, and your skills are good."

Master said: "You mean the plate of 'Furong Fish Maw'."

Master Shi said: "Yes, it's Furong fish maw. At first I thought it was you who made it, so I asked the waiter to call the chef over. I didn't realize it was your apprentice. Today, we are able to meet each other, thanks to this dish of Furong fish maw." fish maw."

(End of this chapter)