From selling box lunches to becoming a famous Chinese chef

Feng Zhengming won the first place in the provincial selection competition, and after being broadcast on live television, he naturally became famous again.

Although in this era, his fame had not spread across the country so quickly.

However, Feng Zhengming is already famous in the province, including in neighboring provinces, and especially in Beijing.

Therefore, before he left with the group for the national competition, many people came to Quancheng specifically to find Huiquanlou, wanting to taste the cooking skills of this young champion of Shandong cuisine.

Among them, there is a team from Beijing.

The team received a special reception from the province.

In name, several veteran chefs from Beijing brought their master chefs here to learn and exchange ideas.

But in fact, there are several people in the team who are obviously extraordinary.

And their target, naturally, is Feng Zhengming.

After the provincial government received the team, it asked Chen Zhiheng to specifically notify Feng Zhengming.

Knowing that Feng Zhengming was preparing for the national competition during this period, many dishes of Huiquanlou were cooked by his two senior brothers.

Chen Zhiheng arrived at Huiquanlou first and informed Feng Zhengming privately that to receive the exchange team from Beijing, Feng Zhengming must cook personally and make corresponding preparations.

Chen Zhiheng even said: "We don't need your Huiquanlou waiters to serve in the private room that night. We will arrange for someone to serve. You can just send the food outside the private room when you serve it."

Hearing what Chen Zhiheng said, Feng Zhengming probably guessed that the person he needed to receive was not an ordinary person.

This is definitely not the chef team that came from Beijing for exchanges as Chen Zhiheng mentioned.

Feng Zhengming asked directly: "Do you have any requirements for the dishes for the reception? Are there any dietary restrictions?"

Chen Zhiheng took out his notebook, which had some things written on it, and handed it to Feng Zhengming to read.

Feng Zhengming looked at it carefully, then nodded to indicate that he understood.

"Okay, Brother Chen, I'll have the kitchen ready and the reception will definitely be done well."

Chen Zhiheng nodded: "Just keep it in mind, explain the details clearly to your Huiquanlou staff. We will come to check again on the same day, and your staff should try to cooperate as much as possible."

It can be seen that Chen Zhiheng is still a little nervous.

Feng Zhengming was relatively relaxed: "Don't worry, Brother Chen, we will fully cooperate."

Chen Zhiheng smiled and patted Feng Zhengming on the shoulder: "The province has absolute trust in you."

After hearing this, Feng Zhengming also laughed: "Hahaha, then the pressure on my shoulders is really not small."

Chen Zhiheng smiled and said, "Pressure brings motivation. We all believe in your ability."

After seeing Chen Zhiheng off, Feng Zhengming had a discussion with He Yunqing, his third and fifth senior brothers, the head waiter of Huiquanlou, and several main chefs in the kitchen.

"The people we are going to receive this time are definitely not the old chefs and master chefs from the Beijing Cooking Association. I guess they are special people from Beijing, so we must take it seriously."

After hearing this, Fifth Senior Brother Cao Zhiguo said, "It seems that Zhengming, you have attracted the attention of an important figure."

Third Senior Brother Yang Bin thought for a moment and suddenly asked, "Are you planning to transfer Zhengming to the Great Hall?"

These words shocked everyone present.

If Feng Zhengming was transferred to the Great Hall, things would be completely different.

That's not just a recognition of Feng Zhengming's cooking skills.

More importantly, Feng Zhengming will have a completely different development direction in the future.

Moreover, if Feng Zhengming was transferred to the capital, some of his original plans might have to be changed.

After all, once he went to the capital, Feng Zhengming would no longer have the opportunity to continue doing business.

At most, he could retain his temporary positions at Fengjia Ganfanpu and Huiquanlou.

If you want to open a big restaurant in the south, you probably won’t be allowed.

Of course, Feng Zhengming will also get another development opportunity accordingly.

In the future, Feng Zhengming may do more academic research on cooking, and also become an examiner, responsible for teaching and assessing younger chefs.

But in terms of age, Feng Zhengming's current age does not seem suitable for entering the Great Hall, and his future will be uncertain.

At Feng Zhengming's age, it can be said that he is in the prime of his life.

As he has such great cooking skills at this age, he should go out and try his luck in life.

He also has enough energy to make some more daring attempts.

So He Yunqing thought for a moment and said, "At Zhengming's age, he should be bolder and should not determine his future like this now."

After hearing what He Yunqing said, others also felt that this made sense.

They all say that youth is frivolous.

Feng Zhengming is at an age when he should be frivolous.

If he didn't make more daring attempts, everyone would think it was a shame for him to have such great cooking skills at such a young age.

Feng Zhengming said with a smile: "Don't make wild guesses. Although someone came to inspect me, they might just want to test my skills. They don't necessarily want me to go to the capital."

After a pause, Feng Zhengming continued, "Besides, I am a small boss now, and it is not appropriate for me to be transferred to an important place like the Great Hall to be responsible for reception work."

This statement was recognized by everyone.

Given Feng Zhengming's current status, he really doesn't seem suitable to go to the Great Hall.

After discussing this topic, Feng Zhengming gave some serious instructions.

"No matter who comes tonight, we must cooperate seriously. Tonight I am required to cook the food myself, so we must prepare carefully. All service staff, without the other party's permission, try not to get close to their private room."

Everyone nodded in agreement and took note of Feng Zhengming's arrangements.

The head waitress suddenly asked, "Chef, which private room will he sit in tonight?"

Feng Zhengming replied: "Of course it's the largest private room. Big sister, please inform the service staff in charge of the private room that they don't need to be in charge of the private room tonight. Just hand it over to the staff from the province."

Then he said to He Yunqing: "Uncle He, just deliver the food to the door."

After explaining the responsibilities for serving in the private room at night.

Feng Zhengming said to the two brothers again, "I should be responsible for the dishes for the guests from Beijing tonight. I am afraid that the dishes for other guests will require the two brothers to take more care of them."

Yang Bin and Cao Zhiguo naturally agreed.

"Don't worry, we will definitely take care of the other dishes."

"Yes, it's guaranteed to be the same as usual."

He Yunqing thought for a moment and asked again: "Chef, should we not receive so many other guests in the evening?"

Feng Zhengming shook his head: "When Brother Chen came to inform us, I also asked him, and Brother Chen did not tell us to close the store at night, so it is better for us to open as usual."

Finally, Feng Zhengming reminded everyone to prepare well in the evening and try not to have any problems.

In the evening, the chef exchange team from Beijing arrived as scheduled.

Not only were there people from the province accompanying him, but there were also several master craftsmen from Quancheng accompanying him.

Then, accompanied by the master chefs, several master chefs from Beijing entered the kitchen of Huiquanlou together.

First, he watched Feng Zhengming directing the kitchen while preparing the dishes himself.

Several masters from Beijing all recognized Feng Zhengming's abilities.

He also frequently praised Master Yan, saying that he really had a very talented little apprentice.

When Feng Zhengming was preparing the sea cucumber, the old chefs came forward to watch carefully. Facing the old chefs, the other chefs in the kitchen were somewhat nervous, and even dared not to breathe in the kitchen.

But Feng Zhengming remained relatively calm and just worked hard to complete the task at hand.

Originally, sea cucumbers had to be prepared in advance.

However, since he had been instructed, Feng Zhengming still demonstrated the process of seasoning the sea cucumber to the masters.

After seeing this, several master craftsmen from Beijing all praised Feng Zhengming for his craft inheritance.

"It seems that Xiao Feng has inherited the essence of Shandong cuisine in making sea cucumbers."

"Yes, the sea cucumbers are obviously caught by themselves, the quality is very good, and the ingredients used to make the sea cucumbers tasty are very sufficient."

"The key is still the green onions. The amount of green onions should be heavy. It is very critical."

"Hahaha, this is Shandong cuisine after all, and green onions are the most important ingredient."

An old master who was the oldest among the people present and had white hair and beard spoke.

"Shandong cuisine may seem mild in flavor, but in fact you have to use lots of ingredients, especially sea cucumbers. If you want to make it delicious, you won't be able to use enough ingredients."

The old master Feng Zhengming also knew that the other party was also born in Qi and Lu.

He is a well-known Shandong cuisine master in Beijing.

The other party has even been received by leaders many times.

He can truly be considered the true master of Beijing’s Shandong cuisine.

Another chef who is not a Shandong cuisine chef also said with a smile: "No matter what cuisine it is, it is often a matter of analogy. When a chef cooks, he has to use a lot of ingredients.

Without the confidence to put in enough ingredients, it is impossible to make the dish delicious.”

Feng Zhengming carefully prepared the ingredients for the sea cucumber, then put them in a ceramic pot and started stewing the sea cucumber.

At the same time, he also prepared the hydrangea scallops by himself according to the method used in the previous competition.

See the hydrangea scallops prepared by Feng Zhengming.

Several master chefs in the capital immediately thought of the Oolong Playing with the Pearl dish he had made in the competition.

"It looks like Xiao Feng is going to make his Oolong Xizhu for us today."

"That dish can be considered Xiao Feng's signature dish."

Master Cui spoke up at this time, "Today, I would like to ask all the seniors from Beijing to give Zhengming some guidance to see if his Oolong Playing with Pearls can be entered into the national competition."

After hearing what Master Cui said, several masters from Beijing present laughed.

The Beijing Shandong cuisine master said: "Mr. Cui, you are too polite. Since you all praised the dish, it must be a good enough dish.

And we all watched TV and saw some of the cooking process of the dish on site.

We all thought that dish was good enough to be entered into a national competition.”

In fact, before coming to Quancheng this time.

The culinary community in Beijing has had some discussion about this Shandong cuisine selection competition.

It can be said that those who participated in the discussion meeting were all well-known masters in Beijing.

Everyone watched the video of the game repeatedly.

Many dishes in the competition were also given extremely high praise.

For example, Feng Zhengming’s Oolong Xizhu is a creative dish that has won praise from the chefs.

Compared to the last game, everyone spent more time showing off their skills.

They all show off their carving skills, as well as their skills in dish presentation.

Feng Zhengming's second performance of Oolong Xizhu, whether in terms of the concept of the dish or the application of techniques, really won unanimous recognition from the master chefs.

The masters have accumulated experience from many years of work.

Although I didn’t see the dishes being cooked on site, I also didn’t get to taste the final dish.

However, the masters can still roughly imagine the basic flavor through the many details in the video.

Therefore, the chefs are almost certain that Oolong Xizhu is definitely a dish that combines the techniques of Shandong cuisine to the extreme.

So this time when they came to Quancheng, the chefs were also looking forward to this dish.

Now you can see Feng Zhengming making this dish in the kitchen with your own eyes.

The old masters watched carefully.

The shrimps prepared by Feng Zhengming are all fresh large prawns that have been freshly peeled.

The old masters all approved of this approach.

"Yes, using fresh shrimps can make the shrimp paste taste fresher."

“And after the shrimp paste is beaten out, the balls will be elastic.”

“The combination of fresh shrimp and fresh scallops really makes the food even more delicious.”

At this time, the Beijing Shandong cuisine master smiled and said to the Cantonese cuisine master: "Isn't it true that our Shandong cuisine is not much worse than your Cantonese cuisine in terms of freshness?"

This made the Cantonese chef laugh.

"Hahaha, Shandong cuisine has always been considered the top cuisine in our country. It is the root of our Chinese cooking. Naturally, in many aspects, it is not inferior to other cuisines."

In fact, the term "cuisine" has become gradually popular in recent years.

It seems that no matter what dish it is, we have to distinguish what cuisine it is?
But in fact, in the eyes of the old chefs, they never care about the dispute between such cuisines.

The masters mostly communicate and learn from each other.

I also hope that the younger generation will not be obsessed with the dispute over cuisine.

It can really make better use of and integrate things from different cuisines.

Thereby adding more flavor to the dish.

Feng Zhengming prepared the sea cucumbers and scallops, and then he took out the prepared pigeons.

I started to handle the pigeons carefully again.

I saw Feng Zhengming prepared pigeons, and it seemed that he also prepared shark fins.

This made the master chefs from Beijing almost immediately think of pigeon wings.

And Feng Zhengming's subsequent processing is very similar to the Cantonese cuisine of pigeon wings.

However, when they saw the later part, the masters present gradually discovered the difference.

Feng Zhengming did debone the pigeon and stuffed the steamed shark fin and ham into the pigeon's stomach.

But later he did not cook it in clear stew method, but used the Shandong cuisine braised method.

Moreover, the pigeon was over-fried, and the skin turned brown-red.

Finally, the complete dish of braised pigeon is placed on the plate.

If you hadn’t seen Feng Zhengming cook it with your own eyes, you wouldn’t have imagined that such a seemingly ordinary dish, braised pigeon, actually has so much hidden secrets.

After seeing Feng Zhengming's bold creation, the old masters from Beijing had a new understanding of him. (End of this chapter)