From selling box lunches to becoming a famous Chinese chef

The Shicheng branch also has its own unique feature: donkey meat, which is very famous in Hebei Province.

It's quite a coincidence that there are places in Shandong that make donkey-hide gelatin, so Shandong also has a tradition of roasting and eating donkey meat.

This time, with the mutual exchange and integration between Yang Bin and Jing Guanlin, some donkey meat dishes were also designed for the Shicheng branch.

The most common of these is, of course, donkey meat sandwich.

This is considered the most famous snack in the entire Hebei province.

However, within Hebei Province, the most famous donkey meat sandwiches are usually from Baoding and Hejian.

Both of these places are not far from Shicheng.

Yang Bin's donkey meat sandwich design for the new store will be somewhat different from those in the two other locations.

He incorporated the cooking methods for donkey meat from the Shandong region.

It was even braised using the recipe for Feng Family Braised Pork.

The resulting donkey meat has a rather unique flavor.

When Feng Zhengming arrived with his apprentices and five young chefs, they also tasted the donkey meat that Yang Bin and Jing Guanlin had improved together.

Jing Guanlin was quite confident: "The taste of our donkey meat is probably more unique, as it combines some flavor characteristics of Hebei Province and Shandong Province."

Feng Zhengming: "I believe in the skills of Senior Brother Jing and my Third Senior Brother. The taste must be just as good."

The five young chefs who came with them were also quite curious.

I want to try the unique donkey meat sandwich at this shop in Shicheng.

The baked flatbreads in this shop are all made to order.

The person in charge of making the sesame cakes was an apprentice who had once learned the art of making pastries from Lü Chongshan.

Feng Zhengming looked at the flatbread the other party had made and smiled.

"Well done, your skills are no worse than your master's. It seems that you didn't learn from Chongshan for nothing."

The apprentice beamed with joy at the praise.

"Thank you for the compliment, sir."

Hearing the apprentice call Feng Zhengming "Master" left everyone a little bewildered.

The apprentice then explained, "I learned the art of pastry making from Master Lü. Although Master Lü did not formally accept me as his apprentice, in my heart, Master Lü is my master. Master Lü wanted to take a grandmaster as his master, so I should call him grandmaster."

Yang Bin looked at Feng Zhengming: "Are you already planning to take Lü Chongshan as your apprentice?"

Feng Zhengming was also a little helpless: "There's nothing I can do. Old Lü just wants to become my apprentice. I promised him in Beijing that once he makes a name for himself there, I'll take him as my disciple."

At this point, Feng Zhengming looked at the apprentice who was learning how to make dishes: "Lin Bo, did Lü Chongshan tell you that I was going to take him as my apprentice?"

Lin Bo nodded: "Yes, I have always kept in touch with my master. After my master went to the capital, I would ask him many questions. Later, my master told me about them."

Feng Zhengming: "Alright, this old Lü seems to be really impatient. I'll have a word with him when I see him in Beijing this time."

By this time, Lin Bo's baked buns were already ready.

Feng Zhengming smelled the fragrance: "Not bad, it seems you have indeed received your master's true teachings."

Lin Bo said somewhat embarrassedly, "Not yet. Actually, the way I make this baked bun is the way we do it in Shandong."

Feng Zhengming: "It's okay, we'll just use the Shandong approach. Our store doesn't need to be modeled after those in Hebei province."

Hearing this, Jing Guanlin chuckled: "Alright, so you're trying to differentiate yourself from us?"

Feng Zhengming: "Of course we need to differentiate them, otherwise how will people know that the food in my shop tastes better?"

Jing Guanlin: "Hahaha, you're not even pretending anymore. You just want to use our local stuff and cause trouble, right?"

Feng Zhengming: "No, that's not true. I hope that some local specialties can be made exactly the same as those in the local area, or even surpass some ordinary local shops. That would show our respect for the local cuisine."

Feng Zhengming's words made Jing Guanlin fall into deep thought.

Like Jing Guanlin, five young chefs from Shanghai who had come with Feng Zhengming were also deep in thought.

When they arrived here with Feng Zhengming, they suddenly realized that Feng Zhengming was different from the one they had seen in Shanghai before.

When they were in Shanghai, Feng Zhengming was usually the one who had the final say in the kitchen.

He never adheres to formalities, much less tries to cater to the tastes of Shanghai residents.

However, once he arrived in Hebei Province, Feng Zhengming clearly intended to focus on the local specialties.

Moreover, we need to make their unique features even better.

You can make some comparisons with other people's unique features.

This more authoritarian stance was something Feng Zhengming had never shown in Shanghai.

At that moment, the five young chefs realized that they seemed to lack Feng Zhengming's confidence and boldness.

When they first heard that Feng Zhengming was going to open a separate shop for the five of them, they were all filled with anticipation.

However, when it came to making the preparations themselves, the five of them became indecisive.

On the one hand, they were unwilling to let their shop in Shanghai become their master's shop, and did not want to be affected by their master, especially by their fellow disciples.

On the other hand, they lack their own abilities and confidence in their ability to run a store.

This conflicted mindset led them to think about things in increasingly complicated ways.

In the end, I even started to avoid it myself.

This trip with Feng Zhengming allowed me to see some things about the branch in Shicheng.

The five young chefs realized that opening a shop wasn't as difficult as they had imagined.

Feng Zhengming said that opening a store is possible, and he will give absolute trust to everyone in charge of a new store.

Those who gain Feng Zhengming's trust will also do their best to run the store well in their own way.

Lin Bo took out the baked flatbread, cut it in half with a knife, and then stuffed the prepared braised donkey meat inside.

Yang Bin explained with a smile, "We make several kinds of donkey meat in our shop. There is this kind of sliced ​​braised donkey meat, and there is also this kind of donkey meat with alternating layers of fat and lean meat, chopped up with broth."

Feng Zhengming reached out and took it: "Okay, I'll have one of each kind so I can try them."

Lin Bo immediately took a piece of donkey meat from the braising pot on another cutting board, chopped it up, and put it into the baked bun before handing it to Feng Zhengming.

Feng Zhengming first ate the meat-sliced ​​baked bun, and then ate the chopped meat bun with meat broth.

After eating both, Feng Zhengming was quite satisfied.

After eating it, he encouraged everyone to try it too.

Everyone naturally tried both different types of donkey meat sandwiches.

After finishing what he was eating, Feng Zhengming couldn't help but sigh, "Really, I should have brought Youyou with me. Youyou would definitely love this."

Hearing this, Jing Guanlin laughed: "Hahaha, I thought you would bring the kids over to play this time, Zhengming."

Feng Zhengming: "I can't bring her over. She's been traveling too much lately and is quite tired. I'll let her stay in Shanghai to rest."

Jing Guanlin: "Zhengming, you really dote on your daughter."

Yang Bin stood by, smiling and helping to speak up.

"Of course, Zhengming loves his daughter very much. Whenever his daughter speaks, he will drop everything to be by her side."

Yang Bin's words made Jing Guanlin laugh as well. After laughing, Jing Guanlin said, "Zhengming still needs a son, otherwise what will you do with your skills?"

This statement clearly resonated with Yang Bin and others.

Perhaps in people's traditional mindset, they still feel that Feng Zhengming's skills are so good that his shops should be inherited by his son.

Instead, Feng Zhengming smiled and said he didn't need his son.

“I have both men and women. I don’t have a strong desire for a son. Even if I had a son, I wouldn’t force him to learn to cook if he didn’t want to. Besides, I have apprentices.”
"My apprentices are perfectly capable of passing on my skills, so why must my son be the one to inherit them?"

Hearing Feng Zhengming say this, and seeing his smiling face, I realized that...

Everyone could tell that what he said wasn't just empty talk.

This made Jing Guanlin sigh.

"Zhengming, your thinking really does give the impression that you see through everything."

Feng Zhengming: "It's not that I see through everything. I just feel that I have worked very hard and am prepared to dedicate my life to the culinary industry that I love. Children should also have their own interests and dedicate their passion to what they love."

Jing Guanlin was speechless after Feng Zhengming said that.

After a moment of silence, Jing Guanlin nodded; "Zhengming, you're right. Children should have their own wonderful lives."

Feng Zhengming smiled and steered the conversation back to donkey meat sandwiches.

"Excellent, this donkey meat tastes great. Thank you for your guidance, Senior Brother Jing."

Jing Guanlin: "Don't thank me. The way this donkey meat is made is partly thanks to your own recipe for braised pork broth and your white braising sauce. That's why it tastes like this."

Feng Zhengming: "But to make the donkey meat taste like the locals, we still need Senior Brother Jing's help to adjust it."

Jing Guanlin was indeed pleased by Feng Zhengming's words, but he remained modest.

The apprentices and five young chefs who came with Feng Zhengming all thought the donkey meat sandwich tasted very good.

Xia Hui: "I've never had donkey meat sandwiches before, and they are really delicious."

Gao Yongfu: "I ate there once, and the taste was different from what we have in our store. Our store's food is definitely better."

Hou Dong: "It's even more fragrant. This tastes completely different from pork roujiamo (Chinese hamburger)."

Feng Zhengming laughed when he heard this: "Of course it's different from a roujiamo (Chinese hamburger)."

The five young chefs were quite satisfied with their meal.

The five young chefs were mostly from the south, so they hadn't really eaten such a hearty donkey meat sandwich like those from the north.

The large slices of donkey meat alone made them find it incredibly delicious.

Besides donkey meat sandwiches, Shicheng's shops naturally offer other local delicacies as well.

Of course, the main dishes in this shop are almost all kinds of noodles.

It has both flat noodles and other types of noodles, including buckwheat noodles.

Moreover, these noodles, when paired with braised pork from Feng Zhengming's rice shop, have a unique and delicious flavor.

After looking around the kitchen, the five young chefs quickly noticed something.

It turns out that the braised pork belly that Feng Zhengming started his business with is something that is loved by many people across the country.

In this branch in Shicheng, for example, not only can the braising liquid from braised pork belly be used to make donkey meat.

You can also pair braised pork with flat noodles and various other types of noodles.

You can even add braised pork belly to a baked bun.

It's a unique way to eat it.

Braised pork knuckle can also be paired with popular local staple foods.

In restaurants like those in Shicheng, there's a unique dish called "Pot-fried Pork Knuckle".

It involves braising the pork hock in white broth, coating it in batter, deep-frying it, cutting it into small square pieces, and then eating it with salt and pepper.

It's a unique way of eating that has a distinctive flavor.

Of course, four-happiness meatballs and pig's trotters are also very popular in Shicheng.

After visiting the Shicheng branch, the five young chefs got together again to chat when they returned to their hotel that evening.

“We should also learn from the head chef and create a signature dish of our respective cuisine that can satisfy everyone. This way, it can become the main dish of our restaurant.”

“That’s right. We’ve overlooked that in the past. We always thought we should innovate like the head chef.”

"You really need to get out and about more. The chef's restaurants in various places are so full of local flavor."

"Yes, the chef's branches have four signature dishes: braised pork belly, braised pork hock, pig's trotters, and four-happiness meatballs. These dishes are so popular that they would be loved anywhere. By adding local specialties to these four dishes, it is easy to become a popular restaurant in the local area."

"Compared to the head chef, we really don't have anything worth showing off."

The five young chefs truly felt the huge gap between themselves and Feng Zhengming.

In the past, they thought that they could catch up with Feng Zhengming through hard work.

Later, Feng Zhengming opened an old-style restaurant, which gave the five young chefs a sense of awe and admiration.

However, the five were not completely discouraged and still wanted to continue their pursuit.

This time, when I came out with Feng Zhengming, I saw how well the Shicheng branch was doing, even though he didn't show up.

Most incredibly, they were able to incorporate local delicacies into the restaurant.

This really overturned what young chefs had imagined.

It was at this moment that the five of them, after some reflection, finally understood the importance of a restaurant's signature dish.

If you want to open a shop, you must have a few dishes that leave a deep impression on everyone and make them like your shop.

Just like the four dishes that all of Feng Zhengming's shops have: braised pork belly, pork hock, pig's trotters, and four-happiness meatballs.

Even now, Feng Zhengming has improved the recipe and made four-happiness meatballs with beef and mutton.

In addition to pig's trotters, they also made lamb trotters.

But no matter how things change, the essence remains the same; his shop has always preserved that unique flavor.

This flavor allows people from Shandong in other places to taste the flavors of their hometown, and it also allows people from other places to taste the flavors of Shandong. It has indeed become a flavor that many people can hardly forget.

Deng Huaichuan: "I have decided not to open my own shop for the time being. I will continue to stay by the chef's side."

Wang Hanwen: "I want to apply to the head chef to open a branch in Chengdu."

Huang Yunliang was delighted when he heard Wang Hanwen's words.

"Haha, Lao Wang, we're on the same page! I've thought of that too. We can apply to open a branch in our hometown of Mindu."

Li Yao and Han Rui exchanged a glance, and then both gave a wry smile.

Li Yao: "If you put it that way, doesn't that mean Han Rui and I won't have anywhere to open a shop?"

Han Rui quickly distanced himself: "Don't say that. You're a local from Shanghai, but I'm not. I could actually go back to my hometown and open a branch."

Deng Huaichuan: "No, you guys, are you all not planning to stay in Shanghai?"

Wang Hanwen: "Going back to open a branch of the head chef's business is also a form of opening a business."

Huang Yunliang and Han Rui echoed almost in unison, "That's right." (End of Chapter)