From selling box lunches to becoming a famous Chinese chef

In Cui's Cooking School in Quancheng, there is a small courtyard outside the school's back kitchen.

There are also several cultivated vegetable plots in the small courtyard.

Luffa vines are coiled on the shelf, creating a shady spot.

There is a small folding wooden table with several large teapots and cut watermelons placed on it.

Several small bamboo chairs surround the small wooden table.

Under the guidance of Master Cui, several masters from Quancheng walked in here together.

Master Su said with a loud smile: "Okay, Lao Cui, your place is really nice. It will be very comfortable to cool down here in the summer."

Master Sun agreed: "Senior Brother Cui will find a place. It's really quiet and cool here."

Master Wang laughed and said, "Senior Brother Cui didn't even ask us to come and sit down."

Master Yan finally said: "We will come here often to sit and sit."

"Come, come and sit here often from now on." Master Cui finally extended an invitation to several masters.

The master chefs all sat down. Master Cui poured tea for everyone with his own hands and cut the watermelon.

Everyone ate some watermelon first.

After another short period of silence, Master Wang spoke first: "Zheng Ming showed mercy this time. Otherwise, I'm afraid we won't be able to do business after we gather in Binyuan."

Master Yan immediately said: "Old Wang can't say that. It's too flattering to Zhengming. He did a good job at the wedding banquet this time, but it won't hurt you big restaurants."

These words made Master Wang look at Master Sun and Master Su.

Afterwards, the three masters smiled bitterly almost at the same time.

Master Su sighed: "Zhengming's wedding banquet was really beautifully organized. To be honest, it put a lot of pressure on us. Jufengde held meetings all night long to discuss how to deal with it."

Hearing Master Su's words, Master Cui and Master Yan couldn't help laughing.

Master Wang and Master Sun couldn't laugh at all.

Because after Feng Zhengming’s TV interview at Huiquan Tower was released, it had a huge impact on Jubinyuan and Taifeng Tower.

Master Yan said: "You guys really think too much, and you were led astray by that bad boy Zhengming. You don't even think about how big the Huiquan Building is.

If all the wedding banquets in Quancheng are held by Huiquan Building, can Huiquan Building handle so many wedding banquets? "

Being told this, Master Wang and Master Sun suddenly woke up.

Master Su continued: "Lao Yan is right, we discussed it in Jufengde until the end, and that's what I told them.

Zhengming is indeed very thoughtful. To be honest, the wedding banquet he organized really used the characteristics of our Shandong cuisine to the extreme.

However, it is impossible for Huiquan Building to take over all the wedding banquets in Quancheng. Huiquan Building is not such a big place.

More importantly, Zhengming and the others couldn't be busy with too many wedding banquets. "

Master Cui said: "So I invited you here today, not to hear you complain to each other here, but to hope that we can discuss together and see how to change some things in several big restaurants in the future."

"That's right." Master Yan agreed, "That bad boy Zhengming did make a bit of noise this time, but he also set a benchmark for us.

That bad boy has put new twists on the traditional Shandong cuisine banquet. We old guys should give him some support. "

Hearing what Master Yan said, the three masters present at Jufengde, Taifenglou and Jubinyuan were all a little surprised.

However, the three masters quickly understood what Master Yan meant.

Feng Zhengming's wedding banquet this time really put the Shandong cuisine banquet on the map and set a benchmark banquet standard.

It can be said that the dishes served at the wedding banquet are all relatively traditional Shandong cuisine.

But Feng Zhengming added many new elements to the tradition.

And it is presented in a very traditional way.

Feng Zhengming's great success this time is a result that several masters are very willing to see.

Because in these years, the discovery of Shandong cuisine has gradually been limited to Qilu Ben Province.

It has become a bit difficult to expand outside.

More importantly, Shandong cuisine has gradually become reduced to some home-cooked dishes.

The banquet standards that Shandong cuisine should have originally cannot be presented at banquets in many cases.

In other words, presenting it completely according to Shandong cuisine banquet standards may not be acceptable to many people now.

There is a whole set of rules and a lot of etiquette when serving the food.

Maybe it's really not suitable for the development of today's era.

Therefore, Shandong cuisine gradually gives people the impression that it is a little bit too high and too low.

It seems to be a home-cooked dish, but the cooking technique is a bit complicated.

If it is used as some banquet dishes, it seems not so exquisite.

This situation of being caught in the middle has become a shackle for the development of Shandong cuisine.

Feng Zhengming successfully released this shackles with a wedding banquet this time.

It’s like telling everyone: Who said tradition can’t be exquisite? Who says Shandong cuisine can’t be high-end?
As long as you use the cooking techniques of Shandong cuisine, you can make some ingredients that are not available before.

Several old masters think that such exploration and development is a very good thing.

Only by continuously absorbing and merging, and introducing some raw materials and seasonings from other regions on the basis of tradition, can the taste and nutrition of the dishes become better.

This is a broad avenue for the future development of Shandong cuisine.

It is not good to stick to tradition conservatively and be unwilling to make developments and changes.

But if you can't understand the various techniques of Lu cuisine and just make random changes, you won't be able to explore anything new.

Feng Zhengming's wedding banquet really combined tradition and new things very well.

Master Su sighed: "I didn't expect that boy Zhengming would bring out all the pastries."

Master Wang and Master Sun also nodded in agreement.

They learned that Feng Zhengming had brought out traditional cakes to replace the more popular Western-style cakes at wedding banquets, and they all thought the design was very good.

Master Cui said: "I heard that the dumplings served by Zhengming are not completely traditional, and some Western pastry methods are also added to them."

Master Yan smiled and took out a lunch box he brought.

After opening the aluminum lunch box, there happened to be a glutinous rice dumpling inside.

Master Yan took it out with a smile, broke it open and said, "I brought one, let's try it together."

Seeing the pastries brought out by Master Yan, several masters were immediately curious and took a closer look.

Master Su, a master who is also famous for his white hair, stretched out his hand and poked it lightly and said, "The hair on this side is very good. The color on it should be made by adding some vegetable and fruit juices."

Master Yan took it out from the lunch box, then broke it up and distributed it to several masters.

When it is opened, you can clearly see the filling flowing out. Seeing the stuffing flowing out from the inside, several master chefs subconsciously reached out to catch it.

Fortunately, Mr. Yan has quick eyesight and quick hands, and there is a lunch box underneath.

The filling was not allowed to flow to the ground.

Chef Yan carefully used the lunch box to catch some of the dripping filling, and used the soft pastry skin to take out some.

Later, each of the master chefs was given a small piece.

"Look at me. I forgot that Zhengming told me that the filling in this is leaky. Look at it, it's all drained out."

Master Su looked at it carefully and said: "The filling method of this Liuxin filling is a bit like Cantonese dim sum. They have a custard Liuxin bun over there, and the filling is in this state."

Master Cui said: "The filling of his filling must have borrowed the Cantonese dim sum recipe, but the smell should not be just the Cantonese dim sum recipe. The filling has some oily aroma, which is considered a Suzhou-Hangzhou style. Commonly used for snacks.”

Several master chefs also tasted the cakes in their hands.

The skin tastes soft and you can taste the flavor of the fruit and vegetable juices mixed into the skin.

Then there is the filling, which has a very silky texture and has some small particles.

And between the flowing filling and the outer skin, there is actually a layer of filling that sticks to the inner wall.

The whole pastry has a very novel filling combination with a bit of Western style and some Cantonese dim sum.

Adhering to the inner wall is a layer of very sweet red bean paste. The grainy texture of the sand comes from the bean paste.

This is because the beans in the red bean paste are not crushed very finely and retain a part of the grainy texture.

The flowing filling inside is obviously the Cantonese style custard recipe.

As for the aroma of oil that Master Cui smells, it is applied between the bean paste and liquid filling to prevent the two fillings from being completely mixed together after steaming.

In this way, you will feel three different tastes when you eat it.

After Master Su finished eating, he licked the remaining filling on his fingers.

"It's true that the waves behind the Yangtze River push the waves ahead. Nowadays, young people really dare to think and do. Combining the pastry with other dim sum recipes can really create a unique effect."

Master Wang and Master Sun also finished eating one after another, and they also sighed at the deliciousness of this pastry.

"Using the shape of our local pastry and matching it with the fillings of other dim sum, it turns out that it has such an effect."

"Hahaha, young people really dare to think and do, and it's also because they have such a good era."

Master Cui said: "Yes, there are so many things they can use now. With the development of the times and the continuous improvement of our country's national strength, they can not only use materials from all over the country, but even materials from abroad.

At this time, if we continue to stick to the so-called tradition, it will be authentic, won't we miss a lot of delicious food? "

Several old masters agreed with this statement.

Chef Yan suggested: “After this national cooking skills exchange competition, we can invite chefs from all over the country to exchange and learn, or we can go to them to exchange and learn.

I believe that by communicating and learning from each other in this way, we will better promote the development and progress of our cooking skills. "

Master Cui immediately agreed: "Lao Yan's suggestion is a good one. We can indeed hold some exchange activities like this in the future."

Su, Wang, and Sun also thought this was a very good suggestion.

Master Cui said with a smile: "Actually, I had this idea before, and wanted to invite some chefs from other places to come to my training school to teach these students, so that the students can also understand the eating habits of different regions. "

Master Yan then said, "Senior Brother Cui can also ask Zhengming and the others to come over for class."

Hearing this, Master Su smiled and said: "Hahaha, Lao Yan, you are giving your little apprentice a back door."

Master Yan immediately responded: "You can also let your apprentices come to class."

Master Wang said: "Lao Yan, do you want our apprentice to come here and compete with your little apprentice during training?"

Master Sun agreed: "I think that's what I think."

Master Yan didn't hide it either: "It's okay if you think so."

This afternoon, several old chefs were discussing the future development directions of Shandong cuisine in the vegetable garden under the loofah vines.

Some of the innovations Feng Zhengming made in Huiquan Building obviously inspired the old masters.

This allowed the master chefs to see the future development path of Shandong cuisine.

Soon, the old masters also taught these ideas to their successors.

Quietly, Quancheng's catering industry slowly began to undergo a revolution.

As Huiquan Building receives more and more attention, business is naturally getting better and better.

Even Feng Zhengming's Feng Family Restaurant business is better than before.

Because there is a rumor in Quancheng that Fengjiagang Restaurant is the replacement of Huiquanlou. If a few friends get together and feel that going to Huiquanlou is a bit expensive, then consider going to Fengjiagang Restaurant.

Feng Jia Gan Restaurant's various stir-fried dishes are definitely no worse than Huiquan Restaurant.

So in this way, many people who gathered with friends naturally chose to go to Feng's restaurant.

As for the wedding banquet, although Huiquan Tower has indeed gained enough fame.

But just like Master Yan said to several masters, the space in Huiquan Building is limited after all.

It is impossible to undertake all the banquets that need to be held for wedding banquets in the entire Quan City.

Therefore, some people still choose other restaurants.

Of course, Feng Zhengming Huiquan Restaurant has the standard, and other restaurants have also made improvements in wedding banquets.

This means that some other restaurants can also receive wedding banquets on some relatively big wedding days.

However, after all, there is Huiquan Restaurant for comparison, so the pressure on several large restaurants to host wedding banquets is still quite high.

After some consideration, Mr. Su finally lowered his face and went to Huiquan Building in person to find Feng Zhengming.

Feng Zhengming did not expect that Mr. Su would come to see him.

But when he saw Mr. Su coming, he could probably guess the purpose of his visit.

"Uncle Su, do you want me to go to Jufengde to give you some advice on the wedding banquet?"

Master Su said with a smile: "What your master said is true. I really can't hide it from a bad boy like you. Why didn't I find out before that you are so thoughtful?"

Feng Zhengming was a little dumbfounded: "Master Su has such a great reputation as Ju Fengde. Is it inappropriate for me to give advice on the wedding banquet?"

Master Su immediately put away his smile and said seriously: "What's the matter? Don't you want to give me some advice? Are you worried that Jufengde will steal your business?"

"No, no, Master Su, you see what you said, although the business of Huiquan Tower is stable now, I haven't grown enough to think that I can compare with Ju Fengde."

Master Su said that Feng Zhengming was a little afraid of being young and energetic.

Master Su put on a smile again and said: "So, just go and point it out. If you think something is bad, just scold them. If a bunch of brats can't stand up to you, you should be scolded." "

Seeing Master Su saying this, Feng Zhengming had no choice but to agree to take the time to go to Jufengde to communicate. (End of chapter)