From selling box lunches to becoming a famous Chinese chef

In the following days, Feng Zhengming's life entered a fairly stable state.

Every morning, I visit my wife at the hospital and bring her breakfast that I made myself.

Then I rushed back to the restaurant from the hospital to start preparing the ingredients.

At noon, he would arrange for someone to deliver meals from his restaurant to his wife and others at the hospital. In the afternoon, he would still be in the restaurant's kitchen preparing for the evening's business.

After closing for the evening, Feng Zhengming will make a special trip to the hospital.

He visited his wife and children, and then took his daughter, father-in-law, mother-in-law, and aunt home from the hospital.

The menu for the National Day banquet in Shanghai has been submitted, but I haven't received a reply yet.

Feng Zhengming and his two senior brothers were not worried at all about this.

However, some of the other invited chefs were somewhat anxious.

They were worried that there might be something wrong with the menu.
If a problem arises, will they have enough time to provide a second menu?
Feng Zhengming was not worried at all; he knew very well that the menu he had submitted should be fine.

The reason there hasn't been a response yet is probably because some review is still needed.

The main focus is on reviewing the dietary restrictions of banquet guests.

Sure enough, a week later, the Shanghai authorities responded and approved Feng Zhengming's menu.

The news thrilled the chefs who had been summoned.

Feng Zhengming, on the contrary, remained very calm.

He knew very well that finalizing the menu was just the beginning; the real work and serious work was about to begin.

Because every dish on the menu must be carefully crafted.

Especially at the National Day banquet, the cooking process for each dish, from the initial selection and processing of ingredients, to the subsequent cutting, preparation and cooking, and finally the plating and serving methods, will be meticulously planned.

All of this needs to follow a detailed process.

Therefore, the time ahead will be even busier for Feng Zhengming.

He first made time to spend a day at the hospital with his wife and children.

Luo Qing knew that her husband would soon be fully engaged in the National Day banquet and might not be able to come to the hospital to accompany her every day.

That's why her husband took a day off to come to the hospital to be with her and the children.

Luo Qing held her husband's hand, a relaxed smile on her face.

“You don’t need to be so nervous. You have hosted many state banquets before. This invitation to the National Day banquet in Shanghai is definitely a piece of cake for you. The children and I believe in you.”

Feng Zhengming: "I'm not nervous, but the time is a bit tight this time and there's a lot to prepare."

Luo Qing smiled and said, "What's there to be afraid of? My husband is the national culinary champion, so there's definitely no problem."

Feng Zhengming laughed after hearing this: "Hahaha, you really think I'm omnipotent?"

Luo Qing: "You are omnipotent, both my child and I think so."

At this point, Luo Qing looked at Feng Nuanyou: "Youyou, aren't you right?"

Feng Nuanyou immediately nodded: "Yes, yes, Dad is amazing, he can make everything taste delicious."

Feng Zhengming: "With your support, I have even more confidence that we can succeed this time."

Luo Qing: "You took people to the National Day banquet, will the restaurant have to close down again?"

Feng Zhengming: "Yes, the restaurant will be temporarily closed for a few days. However, I asked Fu Jun and Cai Tao to take their people to make preparations in advance. After the National Day banquet, we will resume business on October 3rd."

Luo Qing: "Wouldn't that be too tiring?"

Feng Zhengming: "It's definitely going to be tough, otherwise how can we support so many children in the family?"

Luo Qing smiled and patted her husband lightly.

"What's wrong? Are you complaining that I had too many children?"

Feng Zhengming: "No, having more children is a blessing. Since we've decided to have this child, we definitely want to give them a more comfortable life and not let them be worse off than Youyou."

Feng Nuanyou: "Yes, my younger siblings should be like me."

Upon hearing her daughter's words, Luo Qing reached out and touched her daughter's face.

“Our Youyou has grown up so much, she really is like an older sister.”

Feng Zhengming: "Of course, Youyou is already in kindergarten, she's a big girl now."

Feng Nuanyou smiled and said, "Youyou is the big sister."

Hearing her husband mention their daughter going to kindergarten, Luo Qing became worried again: "Do you think it's really a good idea for Youyou to go to kindergarten in Shanghai?"

Feng Zhengming: "That's good. I've already talked to the kindergarten here. Youyou will go there to get used to it first. She won't have to go for long periods of time each day. After the National Day holiday, she can go to kindergarten for the whole day."

Luo Qing looked at her daughter: "Does Youyou like kindergarten?"

Feng Nuanyou really thought about it seriously.

“The children in kindergarten are all a bit slow, but Youyou has to play with them all.”

Luo Qing was amused by her daughter's words.

"You silly girl, why do you think that other kid is stupid? You're still dragging him into playing with you. If he finds out, he won't want to play with you anymore."

Feng Nuanyou: "No way, they all like to play with me, and the teacher likes me too. The teacher lets me take care of them."

Feng Zhengming: "It seems that our Youyou is born with leadership qualities."

Luo Qing laughed: "You, in your eyes your daughter is perfect in every way. How old is she? What kind of leadership qualities does she have? If people told others, wouldn't they laugh at you?"

Feng Zhengming: "They say you can tell what a person will be like at three years old, and now Youyou is four years old."

Feng Nuanyou: "Yes, yes, Youyou is four years old now, she's a big girl."

When Luo Qing saw her daughter repeatedly emphasizing that she was a big girl, she gently pinched her daughter's cheek.

"Okay, okay, you're a big kid now, so you have to be good at kindergarten and not bully the other kids, okay?"

Feng Nuanyou nodded obediently: "I'm a good girl, I won't bully others."

What Feng Zhengming and Luo Qing didn't know was that...

My daughter made a little boy cry on her first day of kindergarten.

The little boy snatched someone else's toy and got a verbal sparring session from Feng Nuanyou.

The little boy couldn't argue with Feng Nuanyou at all, and in the end, he was brought to tears by Feng Nuanyou's constant retorts.

However, the teacher handled the situation afterwards.

The matter was resolved smoothly, and the boy seemed to have been persuaded by Feng Nuanyou, so there was no indication that he would complain to his parents.

Feng Zhengming and his wife were unaware of this matter.

After making the little boy cry, Feng Nuanyou acted like a big sister in the class.

The other children not only dared not provoke her, but they also enjoyed playing games with her.

Therefore, it has become apparent that teachers tend to favor Feng Nuanyou.

Let Feng Nuanyou lead the children in the class to play games.

However, the little girl is also somewhat dissatisfied with the kindergarten.

"Dad, could you bring our lunch to the kindergarten when you're done with your work? The food at our kindergarten isn't very good. I heard that a lot of the kids don't like it. If you bring us our lunch, we can eat more."

Upon hearing his daughter's request, Feng Zhengming thought for a moment and nodded in agreement.

"Okay, after Daddy finishes his work during the National Day holiday, I'll go with you to your kindergarten and talk to the principal to find out what's going on. If it's really that the chef's skills aren't good enough, Daddy will deliver meals to your kindergarten, okay?" Feng Nuanyou happily agreed, "Okay."

Luo Qing said helplessly, "You still say you won't be biased? Aren't you biased enough towards Youyou?"

Feng Zhengming smiled and said, "Our two little ones will be going to kindergarten in the future. If we make sure the food at Youyou's current kindergarten is good, then the two little ones will be able to eat well."

After her husband said that, Luo Qing thought about it and realized that it made perfect sense.

"Okay, you have a point."

Feng Zhengming had a very happy day with his wife and children.

Two days later, the old-style restaurant temporarily closed, and Feng Zhengming led his people to the place in Shanghai where the National Day banquet was to be arranged to begin preparations.

Almost simultaneously, the overseas food critics association that had previously reviewed the restaurant released its results.

All three groups of judges gave it extremely high marks.

The judges felt that the restaurant was absolutely top-notch in terms of its interior and exterior environment, service, and food quality.

What surprised these overseas food critics in particular was that Feng Zhengming overturned their previous preconceived notions about Chinese cuisine.

In the past, many foreigners remembered Peking duck as the only Chinese food they could think of.

There are also various Western-style Chinese dishes that have been modified in overseas Chinese restaurants.

Therefore, in the past, many people overseas believed that Chinese cuisine was incapable of using high-end ingredients.

Or rather, Chinese cooking methods are not suitable for high-end ingredients.

However, the three groups of judges sent by the Overseas Food Association completely overturned their preconceived notions about Chinese cuisine after eating at Feng Zhengming's restaurant.

For the first time, the three groups realized that Chinese cuisine could make so many top-quality ingredients so delicious.

The key was on the menu; they actually saw descriptions of the relevant ingredients.

It is clearly stated that all the ingredients were purchased by Feng Zhengming from within China.

This was somewhat unexpected by those in the overseas food association.

Of course, what amazed them the most was the seasoning of each dish.

In the past, many foreigners couldn't get used to Chinese food, and the key issue was actually the seasoning.

People from different places have different tastes, so some Chinese dishes may not be to the liking of foreigners.

However, at Feng Zhengming's restaurant, the taste of the food will be specifically asked when ordering.

Ask the customer if they prefer sweet, moderate, salty, sour, or even spicy food.
These advance inquiries provided a great experience for the members of the overseas food association.

Especially after they were asked, the dishes served were indeed to their liking.

This is something that even members of this food connoisseur association, in the top restaurants they recognize, might not be able to truly achieve.

It can be said that Feng Zhengming's restaurant allowed these members of the overseas food association to appreciate another kind of beauty in Chinese cuisine.

Therefore, after some discussion, the Overseas Food Association decided to include Feng Zhengming's restaurant in the year-end global restaurant rankings.

Feng Zhengming was unaware of these things until he arrived at the Shanghai National Day banquet venue with other chefs.

They also devoted themselves wholeheartedly to preparing all the dishes on the specific menu.

According to the previous design, a specific serving process design is also needed.

To ensure the timing of the banquet, the serving time for each dish must be planned in advance.

We cannot delay the time it takes for guests to savor each dish, but we also cannot take too long to serve the later dishes.

Therefore, this also requires precise timing.

The design of the food serving process becomes very important.

Feng Zhengming summoned all the staff who were originally in charge of the reception work for the National Day banquet in Shanghai.

After listening to Feng Zhengming's adjustments and arrangements for their work.

The staff responsible for reception were initially a bit confused.

They had never thought that the process of serving food would need to be specifically designed.

Feng Zhengming's process design, in particular, demonstrates his detailed understanding of each dish.

For example, when preparing stir-fried snail slices in vinegar and pepper fish soup, it's not appropriate to pour hot soup directly onto the dish in the banquet hall, as that might lead to some mistakes.

If the scalding soup splashes onto a guest, it would be an irreparable mistake.

Therefore, Feng Zhengming requested that the snail slices be stir-fried in broth during the serving process.

Feng Zhengming needs to calculate the exact time for this process.

So he walked back and forth on site to calculate the time.

He even pushed the cart back and forth several times to calculate the time.

His requirement is that when the stir-fried conch slices in the vinegar and pepper fish soup are served to the customer, the temperature should be just right for eating, and the conch slices should also be cooked to perfection.

This precise timing was something that even many chefs, let alone those in charge of reception, had never imagined.

There's also the dish "Dragon Playing with a Pearl".

Feng Zhengming's design was to have the servers push a whole plate of food to the guests.

Serve the dishes to the guests in individual portions at the table.

This also requires ensuring that the temperature of the dish is just right along the way.

That is, the sea cucumber and soup are kept warm when served.

To allow guests to enjoy the best taste and flavor.

It can be said that after Feng Zhengming and his team arrived at the venue for the National Day banquet, Feng Zhengming was constantly optimizing the process of serving the dishes.

Through repeated trials, they finally found the optimal temperature for each dish when it was served, as well as the best serving process.

Then, based on the optimal serving time, the specific cooking time for each dish in the kitchen can be deduced.

Which dish should be prepared first, and which should be served later?

Feng Zhengming would arrange the exact time for each dish in great detail.

Those who participated in the National Day banquet with him this time truly experienced Feng Zhengming's abilities.

His method of calculating even the overall time for serving dishes is something many chefs would have overlooked in the past.

Chinese cuisine emphasizes the control of heat, which is essentially the control of time.

What is the perfect cooking time?
That is to deliver a dish to the guest at just the right time.

This means that some chefs may prepare dishes in the kitchen with perfect cooking time and temperature, but when the dishes reach the customers, the customers feel that they are overcooked.

They didn't take into account that serving food takes time.

How can you ensure that the dish is still cooked to perfection when it reaches the customer?
You must allow yourself enough time to serve the food.

Only then can a dish be presented to the guests in its best form.

Of course, in reality, most of the dishes at the National Day banquet don't require much attention to cooking time and temperature, since there are so many guests that it's impossible to cook each dish individually.

Therefore, almost all the dishes on the menu can be prepared in advance, and only need to be processed and served at the end.

Even so, Feng Zhengming still strived for perfection to ensure that the banquet guests left satisfied. (End of Chapter)