From selling box lunches to becoming a famous Chinese chef

Chapter 381 Different people order similar dishes
Opening the artificial leather cover of the menu, there is a full-color menu inside. The first dish is Feng Zhengming's homemade yam paste.

There are two flavors of mashed yam on the menu.

They are the osmanthus honey and blueberry jam first launched by Feng Zhengming.

The photos on the menu are of two flavors made by Feng Zhengming and the chef, and then let professional photographers take pictures.

The pureed yam is beaten very finely and squeezed into small flowers using a piping bag.

The middle of each flower is decorated with osmanthus honey or blueberry jam that is eaten with yam paste.

I have to say that many people's mouths are watering when they turn to the first page of the menu.

As a result, Feng Zhengming himself may not have expected that this yam paste would become a must-order dish for all the guests invited to the table today.

Turning over the page of pureed yam, the next page is white braised pork elbow, and the back of the page of pureed yam is an amber pig's trotters.

White braised pork elbow is a popular cold dish that Feng Zhengming developed together with his master at the dry rice shop.

Today at Huiquanlou, the table of senior chefs also ordered sea cucumbers roasted with green onions.

Amber trotters are actually soy sauce-colored crystal trotters.

"Have a piece of vinegar and pepper fish, this is a must-order."

"That's right, don't be deceived by him. This is what he is like. He took over Huiquan House and hired such a powerful chef. He can't do it without showing off in front of us."

The table of senior chefs ordered mullet egg soup.

This dish is considered to be Master Yan’s representative dish.

There are also many dishes on the menu that are not Shandong cuisine, such as sweet and sour short ribs.

Hearing what Chang Zongfu said, everyone present immediately became happy.

When Chang Zongfu faced his friend, he also smiled and said: "Our chef is so good that there is nothing we can do about it. This dish needs to be done well. How can it be done if the chef's skills are not up to par?"

The guests at Chang Zongfu's table had obviously watched TV and wanted to try this dish at Huiquanlou.

"This is Lao Chang's true face. You have all been deceived by him before."

"Yes, yes, you must order this. This dish is not commonly seen nowadays."

While teasing Chang Zongfu, the friends continued to order. Following the service staff's recommendations, they ordered a few more Huiquanlou's special dishes.

In addition to some of the more famous dishes, some of the more homely dishes on the menu are also beautifully photographed.

The master chefs wanted to test whether Feng Zhengming, Master Yan's apprentice, had truly learned the essence of Master Yan's dish.

"Oh, I had this dish once in Jufengde, but for some reason, they stopped making it in Jufengde."

The boiled pig's trotters are deboned and put into a container together with the soy sauce stew, then cooled and refrigerated to freeze.

After all, this is a very famous Shandong cuisine, and it is also a dish that must test the skills of a Shandong cuisine chef.

Like the nine-turn large intestine, this dish is ordered by every table.

"Old Chang, you guys at Huiquan House are incredible. You dare to cook this dish."

At Chang Zongfu's table, in addition to the dish of braised sea cucumber with green onions, they also ordered the charred fish on the menu.

Because this dish on the menu looks even more beautiful after being plated and photographed, especially the golden fried hairtail, which is very tempting just by looking at it, and it is very tempting for children.

Turning over the cold dishes, the first dish that followed was Feng Zhengming’s signature dish at Huiquan Restaurant, fish with vinegar and pepper.

There are also fried double crispy and hot fried kidneys. These two dishes are also a test for Shandong cuisine chefs.

Several tables with children all ordered the dish of hairtail fish in tomato sauce.

Make sure there is no turbid blood in the soup cooked from the pig's trotters.

Chang Zongfu and his group ordered Bazhen Budai Chicken in clear soup.

In the photo, the pig's trotters jelly on the plate are arranged in a fan shape. Each piece is soy sauce color and very translucent, as beautiful as a piece of amber.

Naturally, there are a few classic Shandong dishes among them. It is a way to taste Feng Zhengming's craftsmanship and see if it can compare with other restaurants in Quancheng.

For example, on the menu, Feng Zhengming added a dish of sweet and sour short ribs.

When it came to ordering soup, the choices at each table were different again.

Just before serving, remove from the container, cut into pieces, and serve on a plate.

It is now considered a representative dish in Shandong cuisine.

This dish, like braised sea cucumber with green onions, is a dish that appears at the Youth Conference dinner.

This is considered a very homely dish, but the photo on the menu shows the short ribs dripping with juice, which looks very tempting.

In addition to these meat dishes, there are also some cold side dishes in the cold dishes. There are no pictures on the menu, but they are listed separately on the last page of the cold dishes.

This dish has also become a favorite among children.

During production, in order to make the jelly soup clear and translucent, the pig's trotters need to be blanched and washed.

Seeing vinegar and pepper fish on the menu, the friend Chang Zongfu invited almost immediately ordered this dish.

"Hahaha, you old Chang, I even praised you a few times and you still got mad."

The relatives and friends invited today also ordered some classic Shandong dishes.

For example, for beef dishes, Feng Zhengming added a dish of stewed beef brisket with radish in Zhuhou sauce to the menu.

This is considered a Cantonese dish.

After seeing it, several senior chefs said that Feng Zhengming's menu, which drew on the strengths of others, was somewhat novel.

Although the master chefs didn't think there was anything wrong with it, some members of the Culinary Association didn't think it was good.

Li Zhifeng said bluntly: "Huiquan Restaurant is a time-honored Shandong cuisine restaurant. Zhengming actually added dishes from other places to the menu. I'm afraid there is something wrong."

Several vice presidents and directors who came with him also agreed with Li Zhifeng's words.

"Yes, with the appearance of such foreign dishes on the menu, doesn't it mean that Huiquan House has given up on what it originally stood for?"

"Xiao Feng is still too young to add these foreign dishes to the menu."

"Huiquan Restaurant was originally a Shandong cuisine restaurant as famous as Jufengde, Jubinyuan, Taifeng Restaurant, and Yanxi Restaurant. Now the new menu includes dishes from other places. It's really a bit embarrassing."

After hearing the words of several people from the culinary association, Master Cui said: "I think there is nothing wrong with Zhengming's behavior. Whether it is Shandong cuisine, Sichuan cuisine, Cantonese cuisine or other places, aren't they all our domestic cuisine?
Different cuisines can be distinguished when introducing them, but why can’t dishes from different places appear on the menu of a restaurant?
Does it mean that besides Shandong cuisine, I can’t eat food from other places in Quancheng?
Or do we, the people of Shandong province, not be able to taste the different flavors of other regions? "

Master Cui's few questions left several people in the cooking association speechless.

Maybe when other master chefs open their mouths, a few people from the culinary association will start to argue.

But after Master Cui said it, the people from the Culinary Association naturally had no choice but to shut up.

Chef Cui is quite satisfied with most of the dishes on Feng Zhengming's menu. "Zhengming's menu includes a lot of classic dishes, and it uses the best methods of various ingredients. This is what a good chef should do, and it cannot just be limited to a certain cuisine. Only by being able to integrate the strengths of different cuisines can a restaurant survive for a long time.”

These words were an endorsement of Feng Zhengming, and Master Cui also said it to the cooking association members present.

Similarly, the old masters from Jufengde, Jubinyuan and Taifenglou also received lessons together.

The orders of the guests were finished one after another, and the orders were sent to the kitchen one by one.

When Feng Zhengming got the order, he first arranged the orders and looked at each order carefully.

After counting the number of duplicate dishes on some lists, we can first see that almost every list has mashed yam, nine-turn large intestine, and sea cucumber roasted with green onion.

Feng Zhengming immediately shouted: "Prepare the cold dishes first, double yam puree, white braised pork elbow, amber pig's trotters... Hurry, hurry, get ready."

After such a shout, the chef in the back kitchen who was responsible for cold dishes immediately started busy.

The chef in charge of the cold dishes today is Xia Hui. She is also very careful. She cuts each cold dish neatly and arranges it on the plate according to Feng Zhengming's previous design.

Plate after plate of cold dishes came out, almost the same as the photos on the menu.

Feng Zhengming glanced at it and was quite satisfied with Xia Hui's cold offers, so he asked her to let Chuan Caisheng go.

At the same time, Feng Zhengming gave some cooking to Gu Zhicheng to lead others to cook.

He himself started preparing the nine-turn large intestine and sea cucumber roasted with green onion.

The most troublesome thing among them is the nine-turn large intestine. Although the head of the large intestine has been stewed in advance, the final seasoning and roasting still take some time. Feng Zhengming also cooks it directly in the pot in batches at a time.

Braised sea cucumbers with green onions are relatively easy to handle, because the sea cucumbers are stewed in advance to get the flavor, and all that needs to be done is to fry the green onions.

The fried scallions need to be steamed to bring out the onion flavor and make the scallions softer.

Take out the steamed scallion segments and scallion oil, and simmer them in the pot with the sea cucumber.

Because it is necessary to ensure the integrity of the dish, although the sea cucumber is sliced ​​open, it still needs to be intact when presented on the plate.

After being plated in this way, it will be more beautiful when served, and at the same time, it will be convenient for customers to eat.

While Feng Zhengming cooks by himself, he also directs and dispatches other people in the kitchen.

For some stir-fry dishes, the dishes need to be removed first, and the order of serving dishes needs to be adjusted to ensure that the dishes are not piled up at once. At the same time, the light and dark colors of the dishes must be alternated.

Although so many people, including friends and relatives, came at once, they all ordered food almost at the same time.

Fortunately, Feng Zhengming had anticipated in advance that some dishes would be ordered, so he prepared a lot of things in the kitchen in advance.

Therefore, you will not feel too panicked when cooking, and can ensure the progress of cooking safely.

Of course, Feng Zhengming also knew very well that today, several senior chefs and several people from the cooking association still had to find some faults.

Especially those from the Culinary Association, they must be looking for faults with Feng Zhengming and others in some classic Shandong dishes that test the chef's ability.

Feng Zhengming is not in a hurry about this, he has his own arrangements.

Why did Feng Zhengming always ask the chefs to follow him and his third senior brother Yang Bin in the restaurant and food stalls before the opening of Huiquan Building?

This is to hone the adaptability of every chef in the kitchen.

When it comes to spooning skills, everyone is actually not bad at it.

But there are always many problems emerging in the kitchen.

So this is a test of the chef's adaptability.

Moreover, as the chef, Feng Zhengming cannot complete every dish himself.

Other chefs need to take the initiative to cooperate with me.

After training in the dry rice shop and the food stall, the young chefs now have a relatively good understanding of cooperation with Feng Zhengming.

After basically preparing several major dishes, the next step is the dishes that require Feng Zhengming and others to show off their cooking skills.

For example, fried double crispy in oil, stir-fried kidneys, and fried coriander sting heads.

Each dish tests your knife and spoon skills.

Moreover, the master chefs and several members of the culinary association who ordered these dishes just wanted to test the overall cooking skills of Huiquanlou's back kitchen.

When a large number of dishes need to be served at once, is it possible to master these dishes that test your skills?

Feng Zhengming finished the nine-turn large intestine and roasted sea cucumber with green onions one after another, and handed them over to others to put on the plates, before he started to prepare these dishes that would test his spooning skills.

In terms of matching, Bao Feng and Qi Jiale have already prepared for Feng Zhengming.

Gu Zhicheng took a look and asked, "How about I cook these dishes?"

Feng Zhengming shook his head and said: "You can't do it today, I have to do it. Master and the others ordered these dishes just to test me, and there are also those from the Culinary Association waiting to find fault."

Qi Jiale heard this and said, "We are also chefs in the kitchen. We can't let the chef cook all the dishes."

Feng Zhengming laughed: "Of course you can't let the chef cook all the dishes, but some dishes do require the chef's hands. If the chef can't do it, how can he be a chef?"

Without letting anyone continue talking, Feng Zhengming immediately started taking action.

First came the fried double crispy dish, followed by the fried double fried dish ordered by another table.

When these two dishes came out of the pot, Feng Zhengming subconsciously checked the plate while loading it.

Make sure the plates are a little warm, otherwise if the two dishes are served cold from the time they are taken out of the pot to the table, the dishes will be almost cold and will definitely lack a lot of flavor if they are served to guests.

After Gu Zhicheng waited for the food to be plated, he personally took it out and placed it on the tray outside, and told him to hurry up and serve the food.

"Hurry up, remember not to order these two dishes by mistake, and watch the room carefully."

When the waiter saw Gu Zhicheng coming out to give instructions, he naturally understood that these two dishes needed to be served as soon as possible, so he did not dare to neglect at all and hurriedly carried the dishes to serve them.

After two rounds of oil frying, Feng Zhengming next stir-fried the kidneys.

Finally, when I was preparing to fry the coriander stings, I was not satisfied with the results.

"How are these stingheads sliced? Can they be used if they are so thick? Don't be afraid of using the knife. It only takes a few seconds for the coriander to explode. How can you do it if it's thick?"

Feng Zhengming said that he would slice it again before quickly taking the dish out of the pot.

Everyone else in the kitchen was filled with admiration when they saw Feng Zhengming's neat cooking skills.

This was still during Feng Zhengming's time, because he was busy with the renovation of Huiquan Building and various preparations before the opening. It had been almost a month since he had done anything.

Relatives and friends in the private room watched the dishes being served one after another.

Even people who don’t know much about it are amazed when they see that the dishes on the table are almost the same as the photos on the menu.

(End of this chapter)