From selling box lunches to becoming a famous Chinese chef

Jiang Chengzhe watched Feng Zhengming shopping like a shopping spree, buying all kinds of things in various brand-name stores on the pedestrian street.

He was really surprised and muttered to himself at the same time.

"Isn't it always said that the mainland is poorer? This Feng Zhengming is a Shandong cuisine chef, and Qilu doesn't seem to be rich either. Where does he get so much money to buy so many things?"

Jiang Chengzhe was really shocked by Feng Zhengming's purchase.

Feng Zhengming bought several sets of clothes, including several sets of children's sportswear and sports shoes at an international sportswear store.

In addition to clothes, Feng Zhengming also bought several watches in a high-end watch store, most of which were men's watches, but there were also a few women's watches.

Then he went to the perfume shop and bought several bottles of different perfumes.

In the end, I even bought a lot of foreign liquor.

After purchasing so many things, Feng Zhengming even bought a large suitcase to make it easier to carry them.

Jiang Chengzhe followed him all the way and witnessed Feng Zhengming's terrifying purchasing power.

This completely overturned Jiang Chengzhe's understanding of mainlanders' wealth.

Until Feng Zhengming finished shopping.

He saw Jiang Chengzhe's incredible expression.

Feng Zhengming smiled and said, "I'm sorry to make you laugh. There are many things here that you can't buy in Quancheng. I always have to bring some things back to my relatives and friends at home, so I bought a lot."

Jiang Chengzhe came back to his senses, and after thinking it over again and again, he couldn't help but ask a question.

"Chef Feng, why did you bring so much money this time?"

After hesitating for a moment, and without waiting for Feng Zhengming to answer, Jiang Chengzhe continued, "As far as I know, a chef's monthly salary in the mainland can't possibly support you buying so many things, right?"

Feng Zhengming laughed and said, "I am not just a chef. I have two stores in Quancheng, one is a dry rice shop, oh, my dry rice shop is a bit like a Chinese fast food restaurant.

There is also a restaurant, which is considered to be a relatively famous restaurant in our Quancheng, and I manage it quite well. "

After hearing what Feng Zhengming said, Jiang Chengzhe suddenly understood.

"So that's how it is. I was thinking, where would an average chef get so much money to buy these things?"

In Jiang Chengzhe's mind, he thought that since Feng Zhengming ran a restaurant, he must have made a lot of money from the restaurant.

But in fact, Feng Zhengming's purchasing power is mainly due to the profits from the restaurant.

The food in the dry rice shop seems to be very cheap, but the main purpose of the dry rice shop is to make small profits but quick turnover.

Even the private rooms of Huiquanlou are fully booked every day by some business owners.

But the actual daily profit is still not as good as that of Feng’s restaurant.

Fengjia Restaurant relies on a large number of customers every day, and its daily turnover can reach two to three times that of Huiquanlou at its peak.

In addition, the Feng family’s dry restaurant was bought by Feng Zhengming.

The lack of rent expenses is a major advantage of a dry rice shop.

Feng Zhengming never mentioned these to anyone.

In the eyes of outsiders, it has always been believed that he makes money mainly by making Huiquanlou famous.

With the help of Jiang Chengzhe, Feng Zhengming and his family first moved the two large boxes of things they had bought back to the bus that was waiting to take them back to the hotel.

Then as a thank you, Feng Zhengming invited Jiang Chengzhe to have something to eat.

"It seems that Huanghe Road is not far from here. Why don't we go to Huanghe Road to have a look? I'll treat you. Let's go to Huanghe Road to check out some shops."

Hearing Feng Zhengming say this, Jiang Chengzhe smiled and nodded.

"Okay, I just want to go and see it."

So the two of them asked for directions and walked towards Huanghe Road together.

After walking out of the pedestrian street and turning a corner, the two soon arrived at the intersection of Huanghe Road.

Standing at the intersection of Huanghe Road, you can immediately feel a different atmosphere.

Compared to the pedestrian street, it is even more bustling here than over there.

The restaurants and hotels along the entire street are brightly lit, and the red, green and yellow neon lights are extremely dazzling.

Jiang Chengzhe looked at this place and couldn't help but sigh: "This place makes me feel like I'm back in Hong Kong."

Feng Zhengming looked around the entire Yellow River Road.

He had been here in his previous life, but the road was no longer so prosperous at that time.

At this moment, the road was really full of lights and traffic.

You can see many luxury cars parked or driving on the road.

If you compare Quancheng with this place.

Even the busiest sections of the roads in Quancheng may seem like rural areas.

Jiang Chengzhe suddenly muttered, "I wonder if I can eat authentic local cuisine in a place like this?"

Feng Zhengming smiled and replied, "You can look for it. In a place like this with so much light and wine, I'm afraid the people who come here don't come here for the purpose of eating."

Jiang Chengzhe thought about it, looked at the scene of feasting and revelry in front of him, and nodded in agreement with Feng Zhengming's judgment.

The two men first walked along Huanghe Road, looking from the beginning to the end of the street.

Finally, they chose a restaurant that looked to be the most impressive on Huanghe Road.

Jiang Chengzhe looked around and muttered, "I'm afraid the price of this restaurant is not cheap, and it looks like it needs to be booked in advance."

Feng Zhengming walked forward with a smile: "Let's ask first."

The two walked up to ask, and perhaps because of Jiang Chengzhe's accent, the other party actually said that it could be arranged.

This surprised Jiang Chengzhe a little.

After entering the room, Feng Zhengming whispered, "I was able to come in because of your status as a Hong Kong city."

Jiang Chengzhe was still a little bit surprised: "No way?"

Feng Zhengming was very sure: "Definitely."

The two were invited to the second floor, which was a large hall.

The waiter led the two to a not-so-big table.

After sitting down, Jiang Chengzhe asked directly: "What is your specialty?"

The waitress immediately said, "Our most special dishes are Farewell My Concubine and Herring Lung and Sea Cucumber."

Jiang Chengzhe was a little surprised when he heard this: "Black carp, lung and sea cucumber? What kind of dish is that?"

Without waiting for the waiter to explain, Feng Zhengming smiled and said, "The liver of the big black carp is the fish liver. The so-called black carp liver and sea cucumber should actually be braised liver and sea cucumber."

Feng Zhengming then flipped through the menu on the table and asked the waiter, "Is your head chef a Cantonese chef?"

The waitress nodded and said, "Yes, our chef is a Cantonese chef specially invited by the boss."

Feng Zhengming immediately closed the menu and said, "Then give us two servings of dry fried beef noodles, one serving of sweet and sour pork, and one of your dishes of black fish, lung and sea cucumber."

The waitress didn't say anything. She just agreed to write down the menu and turned away.

It is obvious that there are many customers in the restaurant, so the waiters are quite busy.

After the waiter left, Jiang Chengzhe looked at Feng Zhengming in surprise.

"You actually know to order dry fried beef noodles and sweet and sour pork to test their chef's skills?"

Feng Zhengming smiled and said, "In fact, braised pig's lungs also test the chef's skills." Jiang Chengzhe became even more curious about the dish of black carp, pig's lungs and sea cucumber.

"It seems like you know a lot about it. Tell me, how is braised bald lung made?"

Feng Zhengming then gave Jiang Chengzhe some explanation.

"First of all, this dish uses herring liver, which is a very difficult ingredient to obtain. Generally, only a large herring weighing more than ten kilograms can have such a small fish liver.

So to make one dish, you need at least ten large blue carps to take out their livers.

And the fish liver must be taken from a living fish, otherwise it will lose its taste if taken out prematurely.”

After hearing what Feng Zhengming said, Jiang Chengzhe could not help but pick up the menu and quickly turned to the dish of black carp lung and sea cucumber to check the price.

Seeing this, Feng Zhengming said, "Hahaha, no need to look at the price, it's my treat."

Jiang Chengzhe took a look at the price and breathed a sigh of relief: "It's okay, not too expensive."

Feng Zhengming continued, "In fact, braised pig's lung is already a very luxurious dish, and their restaurant also adds sea cucumber.

This means that most of the customers who come to this restaurant probably do not understand the elegance of braised pork lung.

The restaurant's sea cucumber dish should make it easier for customers to understand that this dish is indeed expensive."

Jiang Chengzhe actually understood what Feng Zhengming meant.

"It's like this. Often, customers don't understand a dish. They only judge the value of a dish by the price of the ingredients. They always think that the more expensive the ingredients, the better it is."

Feng Zhengming nodded: "Yes, braised bald lung is a difficult dish to make, because the bald lung itself is very tender. When braising it in the pot, the heat must be even, and the force when shaking the spoon must be gentle and even, otherwise the bald lung may be broken.

Therefore, being able to cook the braised pig's lung perfectly and make it taste good is a great test of the chef's skills in cooking and using the spoon."

Jiang Chengzhe thought of the other two dishes ordered by Feng Zhengming.

Stir-fried beef noodles and sweet and sour pork.

These two dishes also test the chef's cooking skills and spoon skills.

At this moment, Jiang Chengzhe smiled and said, "Senior Brother Feng is still good at ordering food."

Feng Zhengming said modestly: "I also heard that dry fried beef noodles and sweet and sour pork are two dishes that test Cantonese chefs. When they are served, I will ask you to judge them."

Jiang Chengzhe said: "I am still more curious about the black carp lung and sea cucumber."

Feng Zhengming whispered: "I'm curious too."

The two of them smiled at each other.

Although there were many customers in the restaurant, the speed of serving food to Feng Zhengming and his friends was not slow.

Soon, the dry-fried beef noodles and sweet and sour pork were served.

Seeing the two dishes on the table, Jiang Chengzhe first used chopsticks to gently open the stir-fried beef noodles and looked at the bottom of the plate.

The bottom of the plate is quite dry, with almost no oil visible.

Jiang Chengzhe nodded: "The chef's skills are very good. This dry fried beef noodles is very good."

Then he looked at the sweet and sour pork again, and even bit into one to taste it.

"The sweet and sour pork was also very good. The meat was fried well and still tender inside. The sweet and sour sauce was also very good."

After listening to Jiang Chengzhe's evaluation, Feng Zhengming picked up some food with his serving chopsticks and put it on the plate.

First I tried the sweet and sour pork, and then I tried the stir-fried beef noodles.

Jiang Chengzhe watched Feng Zhengming taste the food and waited for his evaluation.

Feng Zhengming was obviously not satisfied after tasting it.

“The sweet and sour taste of the sweet and sour pork is not good, it is a bit sweet, and the meat is not seasoned in advance, so there is no flavor inside.

The stir-fried beef noodles did have no oil on the bottom of the dish, but it tasted too dry. I think the chef deliberately put less oil in order to avoid oil on the bottom of the dish.”

Jiang Chengzhe was somewhat surprised by Feng Zhengming's comments.

"Brother Feng, you are really amazing. You can actually find these problems while eating."

Apparently Jiang Chengzhe also noticed these problems, but he didn't say them out loud because he wanted to see if Feng Zhengming could tell the same.

Feng Zhengming smiled and said: "It's actually not difficult to taste it out. You can taste it if you taste it carefully."

At this time, the waiter came and served the two of them the real dish, herring lung and sea cucumber.

When they saw this dish being served, Feng Zhengming and Jiang Chengzhe looked at each other.

The two of them knew without even trying to eat that the dish was badly put together.

You can clearly see that the braised lung in the middle has become a little broken.

As for the sea cucumbers surrounding it, it was visibly tasteless.

The restaurant's chef was even reluctant to pour some soup on the surface of the sea cucumber.

Feng Zhengming and Jiang Chengzhe saw such a dish served on the table.

The two of them suddenly felt that they had really wasted the money they spent on today's meal.

After the waiter left, Jiang Chengzhe smiled and whispered to Feng Zhengming, "You're right. This place really isn't a place for a proper meal."

After hearing this, Feng Zhengming said, "Try it. Don't waste it."

Using a clean spoon, he scooped up the braised pig lung and placed it in Jiang Chengzhe's and his own small bowls.

The two of them first tasted the braised lungs on the plate.

After eating, Feng Zhengming smiled bitterly and said, "It looks like the chef might be a local chef. This is a very standard local dish with thick oil and red sauce."

Jiang Chengzhe didn't know whether to laugh or cry when he heard this.

He then picked up a sea cucumber and ate it together with the braised pig lung.

As a result, after taking this bite, Jiang Chengzhe instantly looked helpless and could only force himself to eat the food in his mouth.

When Feng Zhengming saw Jiang Chengzhe's expression, he knew what was going on without even asking.

"It seems that sea cucumbers have absolutely no taste."

Jiang Chengzhe nodded: "It has no taste at all. It still has no taste when paired with this lung. This dish is really useless except that it is expensive."

Feng Zhengming was amused by Jiang Chengzhe's words, and he also took a bite, imitating Jiang Chengzhe's behavior.

Sea cucumbers really have no taste at all, and if you taste it carefully, you can even taste a slight fishy smell.

In the end, the two of them managed to finish the meal.

After paying and walking out of the restaurant, I turned back to look at the crowded restaurant.

Jiang Chengzhe couldn't help but sigh: "Fortunately you ordered two servings of dry fried beef noodles, otherwise we wouldn't be able to eat enough for this meal."

Feng Zhengming couldn't help but burst out laughing.

Yes, if it weren’t for the two servings of dry fried beef noodles, this meal would have been quite filling, and the two of them would have gone back to the hotel hungry after finishing the meal.

The two men did not stay on Huanghe Road. They quickly walked out of Huanghe Road and returned to the waiting bus.

After getting in the car, Feng Zhengming and Jiang Chengzhe carefully recalled the meal tonight.

They suddenly understood why this national competition had an item that set standards for classic dishes.

There are indeed some chefs who can make classic dishes look terrible. (End of this chapter)