From selling box lunches to becoming a famous Chinese chef

Chapter 218 People who love cooking

In the early morning of the next day, Feng Zhengming still got up early as usual.

When I was at Yanxi Tower, I had developed the habit of getting up early.

It's just that when I was in Yanxilou, I got up early to follow my master to the suburban wholesale market for shopping.

I got up early now and needed to go to the meat factory to bring back the meat.

Nowadays, the business of the Feng Family Restaurant is getting better and better, and the consumption of meat alone is very large every day.

Moreover, Feng Zhengming goes to the meat factory early every morning for the purpose of buying pig trotters.

The five-spice boneless pig's trotters recipe given by the master is also an indispensable signature of Fengjiagang Restaurant.

However, if it is too late to go to the meat factory, the pig trotters will be distributed to different butchers.

Feng Zhengming went there early in the morning. With the connections accumulated by his grandfather, he was able to go in and carefully select the best pig trotters, and he could also cook them all directly at the meat factory and bring them back.

In fact, according to Grandpa Tang of the meat joint factory, Feng Zhengming does not need to go there early in the morning. He can have someone reserve it for Feng Zhengming.

But Grandpa still warned Feng Zhengming that he must go by himself in the morning. On the one hand, he must develop the habit of carefully selecting and doing everything himself.

More importantly, every morning, Feng Zhengming would bring some food to Grandpa Tang according to his grandfather's instructions. This could be regarded as maintaining a good relationship with Grandpa Tang and the meat factory.

When third senior brother Yang Bin didn't come, grandpa would accompany him in the morning.

Now that the third senior brother Yang Bin is here, Feng Zhengming no longer asks his grandfather to go with him, but he and the third senior brother go together.

After all, grandpa is getting older, so running around every morning is really hard.

He and his third senior brother rode two tricycles.

I bought pork at the meat factory, and then went to the wholesale market on the outskirts of the city to buy some other vegetables.

Feng Zhengming finished washing, said something to his grandfather who had already gotten up, and rode his tricycle to the restaurant to meet his third senior brother.

When Feng Zhengming rode his tricycle into the alley behind the dry rice shop, he saw a figure standing in the dark alley in the distance, standing in front of the back door of the dry rice shop's back kitchen.

Feng Zhengming raised the lamp in his hand and shined it forward.

I vaguely felt that the figure outside the back door looked familiar.

After careful identification, Feng Zhengming was a little surprised: "Is it Xia Hui?"

Xia Hui, who was standing outside the back door, heard this and immediately responded: "Yes, yes, uncle, is that you?"

Feng Zhengming stepped forward on the tricycle and saw Xia Hui standing in front of the back door. The weather was already a bit cold now, and she was obviously shivering from the cold.

"What are you doing here so early in the morning? It's so cold outside, why don't you knock on the door and get in?"

Xia Hui said excitedly: "Before I went back last night, I heard from Sister You and Qing that you should come over in the morning and ask Uncle Yang and the others to buy meat together. I just wanted to come over in the morning and go with you."

Xia Hui followed up and said, "I'm afraid that I came too early and knocking on the door would affect Uncle Yang and the others' rest."

Feng Zhengming really couldn't help but laugh. He didn't expect Xia Hui to come over specifically.

"Actually, you don't have to come here so early. Third brother and I are responsible for buying groceries in the morning. For example, Lao Shen and Anbang come here at nine o'clock in the morning and start packing things to open at noon."

Xia Hui immediately said: "I'm different from them. They are people hired by you, uncle, and that's what they do. I'm here to learn from you, uncle, so I must come here early and follow you." you."

Feng Zhengming looked at Xia Hui and was really surprised for a moment.

Because what Xia Hui did was very similar to what she used to do in Yanxi Tower.

At that time, Feng Zhengming followed his master diligently in the back kitchen of Yanxi Building, whether before or after he became a master. In the morning, when his master went to the morning market to buy vegetables, Feng Zhengming always got up earlier than his master, and even prepared breakfast for him later. .

Then I followed Master to the morning market for shopping. When I came back, Feng Zhengming was pulling a cart full of things.

Of course, later the manager of Yanxilou took away the purchasing power and no longer let Master Yan and Feng Zhengming be responsible for purchasing.

The result was that some very poor vegetables came back.

There are even many times when the manager does not prepare the ingredients that should be prepared in advance. As a result, the customer orders a dish, but there is nothing in the kitchen to prepare that dish for them.

Therefore, after the collapse of Yanxi Tower, Master seriously warned Feng Zhengming and his disciples.

Whenever you want to cook well, you must first know how to purchase, and you must try to do the purchasing yourself.

Because you don’t even know the ingredients used in cooking, how can you cook the food well?

Feng Zhengming opened Fengjiagang Restaurant and always followed his master's instructions.

Although Xia Hui was shivering from the cold, her face was still full of excitement.

Feng Zhengming opened the door and said, "You really love cooking."

Xia Hui nodded: "Yes, I just like cooking. I have watched my grandfather and father make so many good dishes and receive praise from so many people since I was a child. I feel that they are very powerful. I have been yearning for that since I was a child."

Feng Zhengming opened the door and led Xia Hui in.

"It seems you have the potential to become a chef."

Xia Hui was even more excited: "Really? Uncle Master, do you think I can become a chef?"

Feng Zhengming nodded: "One of the key points to become a chef is that you must first like cooking and be able to get happiness from cooking for customers and receiving praise from customers."

Xia Hui agreed with Feng Zhengming's statement: "That's right, uncle, you are really awesome and your speech is good."

After saying this, Xia Hui reached out and patted Feng Zhengming's shoulder.

This made Feng Zhengming a little bit dumbfounded.

Xia Hui's character really doesn't look like a girl at all, she almost looks like a young man.

Walking into Feng's restaurant, the two people talking had already woken up the people inside.

Yang Bin was startled when he heard a woman's voice, and soon recognized it was Xia Hui. He quickly called Chen Anbang and Sun Hai.

"Get up quickly and put on your clothes."

Chen Anbang and Sun Hai were also in a hurry and quickly put on their clothes.

When Feng Zhengming heard the commotion, he stopped Xia Hui and stood in the kitchen for a while.

"Let's wait and let them get dressed."

When Xia Hui heard this, she immediately shouted inside: "Uncle Yang, you are so lazy. You should be like Uncle Feng and get up early."

Yang Bin's voice soon sounded inside: "You girl, why did you come here?"

Xia Hui responded after hearing this: "I'm here to go shopping with you."

Yang Bin said: "You are a girl, you came here before dawn, you are very brave."

Xia Hui said a little proudly: "I have been brave since I was a child, and I am also a chef. I am strong and not afraid."

Feng Zhengming still warned: "Don't take it seriously. If you encounter some gangsters along the way, don't think about fighting with them. It's better to hide." Xia Hui laughed and said, "Don't worry, uncle, I definitely won't. He will fight hard, and it’s so early, the little ruffian hasn’t even gotten up yet.”

Yang Bin and the others finally put on their clothes and put away the folding beds and bedding placed on the food stall.

When Feng Zhengming saw the third senior brother and the others coming out, he asked with concern: "Third brother, you must not have slept well, right? I will rent a house for you as soon as possible."

Yang Bin smiled and said: "It's okay, have you forgotten? When we were in Yanxi Building, didn't we set up a folding bed to sleep together at night?"

Sun Hai also said: "I always slept on bunk beds in school, but here I sleep alone, which is pretty good."

Chen Anbang even said with a smile: "I live in my brother's house and sleep on a folding bed."

Feng Zhengming could only say: "Okay, okay, I understand, you all have unique skills."

Then he asked: "What? Are you all going to go in the morning?"

Xia Hui immediately emphasized: "I must go."

Sun Hai and Chen Anbang said almost in unison: "Go."

Yang Bin said with a smile, "Let's all go. Let's get a tricycle later. We can go together with the three cars and buy more vegetables. Ganfanpu's pork trotters, pork trotters and Sixi meatballs are all selling well now. Please buy more." When the pork comes back, we can make more.”

Feng Zhengming said: "We still can't make too much. For example, the meatballs and Sixi meatballs are best sold out on the same day. After all, it's really not good if it's left overnight, and the pig's trotters can't be kept for too long."

Yang Bin asked with a smile: "Are you still worried that you won't be able to sell out? Is there any day when there won't be people who come late and can't buy it?"

What Third Senior Brother said is indeed correct.

Nowadays, Fengjiagan Restaurant does have customers who come late and cannot buy anything.

This is because Feng Zhengming deliberately controls the amount of pork, five-spice boneless braised hooves and Sixi meatballs he makes every day.

Although these three items are actually made and placed in their respective stews, they can indeed be kept for a period of time.

Especially now that the weather is getting colder and colder, it really can be left for two or three days without any problem.

However, Feng Zhengming still hopes that the daily pork belly, five-spice boneless pork trotters and Sixi meatballs will be made fresh on the same day, so as to ensure freshness and not affect the taste due to being soaked in the soup for too long.

It can be said that this is also the key to maintaining the reputation of these three items of Fengjiagang Restaurant.

Feng Zhengming looked at everyone and said, "Let's go."

Pushing out the tricycle parked at the back door, everyone rode the two tricycles to the meat factory.

Because there were more people going, and Chen Anbang and Sun Hai were there.

So the three-wheelers became Chen Anbang and Sun Hai.

Feng Zhengming and Xia Hui sat on the larger tricycle driven by Sun Hai, while Chen Anbang rode another one with Yang Bin.

Yang Bin saw that Chen Anbang was having a hard time riding, so he smiled and reached out to pat Chen Anbang's back gently.

"Are you feeling a little strenuous? Let me tell you, this is what apprentices have to do. We have all done it before. We used to do the shopping for Yanxilou and drag back a cart full of several hundred kilograms of stuff. We just rode a tricycle all the way. Pull back.”

Yang Bin added: "Before, when we went to buy meat in the morning, we would always take it all the way back to the dry rice shop."

Feng Zhengming looked at Chen Anbang and said, "You don't need to pedal so hard. You can slow down appropriately. In fact, you are not in such a hurry."

Yang Bin laughed: "You still need to practice. Anbang, if you want to become a disciple, you are really far behind."

Chen Anbang said breathlessly: "I, I, know, I will, work hard."

Xia Hui immediately encouraged Chen Anbang: "Come on Chen Anbang, I believe you can do it. In the future, whether you are apprenticed to Master Yang or Uncle Yang, you will definitely be able to succeed."

Yang Bin looked at Xia Hui and said, "You are such a cheerful girl, you are always cheerful."

Xia Hui responded with a smile on her face: "Of course, I think I will be very happy if I can learn the craft from you guys, cook in the kitchen for others, and make others happy eating the dishes I cook."

Yang Bin looked at Xia Hui and said to Feng Zhengming, "This girl is a bit interesting."

Then Yang Bin asked Sun Hai: "Xiao Sun, tell me, do you like cooking?"

Sun Hai replied dully: "I like it."

Yang Bin asked again: "Have you ever thought about becoming a chef?"

Sun Hai turned around immediately this time and answered Yang Bin very seriously: "I have thought about it, I want to become a chef like Master Yan."

Yang Bin smiled and said to Feng Zhengming: "Look, everyone is very ambitious."

Feng Zhengming said: "It's good to be ambitious. As we say, do what you do and love what you do. Don't you, Third Brother, also love the profession of chef? Otherwise, you wouldn't have put in so much effort and practiced secretly on your own day and night."

Yang Bin was a little surprised and asked: "How did you know that I practiced secretly before?"

Feng Zhengming smiled and said, "My senior brother told me."

Feng Zhengming then added: "And later when I went to Yanxi Tower, I also saw that you would practice secretly when you had nothing to do. You would also study the recipes by yourself, write down some of what the master said in a notebook, and then go back by yourself. Study it carefully.”

Yang Bin felt a little embarrassed after being told this.

"So you were peeking at me all the time?"

Feng Zhengming laughed: "Hahaha, brothers, you all love the chef profession."

Yang Bin also laughed and sighed: "Yes, we are all a group of people who love the chef industry. Maybe at the beginning, we just regarded it as a job, but later, under the guidance of the master, we all subconsciously fell in love with cooking. Dishes and experience the joy of cooking.”

Feng Zhengming said: "Master said that if you want to cook well, you must first really like cooking and be able to get happiness from cooking. Only with sincere love can you devote yourself to cooking well. "

Chen Anbang couldn't help but said after hearing this: "I know, I will work hard. Only if you really like cooking can you work hard to learn the skill well."

This morning, Feng Zhengming and his party ran from night to dawn.

Purchased various materials needed for the Fengjiagang restaurant and food stalls.

Along the way, the group also talked about a lot of things.

Feng Zhengming and Yang Bin also took advantage of the procurement opportunity to teach three apprentices, including Chen Anbang.

Explain some things that need to be paid attention to when purchasing, teach them how to purchase, how to choose some good fresh ingredients, and how to avoid the traps of some vegetable vendors.

Such a group of people who really love cooking gathered together and spent a long time running around this morning.

Finally, he pulled two tricycles full of goods back to the rice shop.

It can be said that everyone is very tired, but everyone's hearts are full of joy.

Because everyone knows that they are doing something they love.

Chen Anbang also gradually fell in love with cooking through this morning.

(End of this chapter)