From selling box lunches to becoming a famous Chinese chef

Next, the brothers sat down again and began to communicate with each other.

Mainly because the seniors were very curious about the dishes that Feng Zhengming cooked in the national competition.

This is especially true of fourth brother Wang Jialiang, who had been abroad before. Although he did watch part of the video through some friends after returning, he was still curious about Feng Zhengming's dishes.

"Zhengming, I heard that you cooked the dish you won the prize for, Oolong Xizhu, once during the provincial selection. And you improved it for the national cooking competition? How did you cook that dish specifically?"

Hearing Fourth Brother ask this, seeing that the other brothers present were all very curious, even Master wanted to know.

Feng Zhengming broke down his dish into various details and talked about it with his master and fellow senior brothers.

"That dish is first of all a combination of two dishes, scallion-fried sea cucumber and hydrangea scallops. When I was selected in the province, I just made sea cucumber with scallion-fried sea cucumber and paired it with hydrangea scallops, and combined them to make that dish."

After hearing these words, the brothers carefully made some deductions in their minds.

The seniors are quite familiar with these two dishes.

Back then, these two dishes were the signature dishes in Yanxilou.

Especially the braised sea cucumber with scallions, which can really be regarded as Master Yan’s most famous dish.

As apprentices, Feng Zhengming and his fellow seniors are naturally very familiar with this dish.

The key to this dish is that the sea cucumber needs to be soaked yourself.

Then there is the matter of flavoring the sea cucumber.

As for the taste of the scallion sauce, it tests the seasoning skills of different chefs.

Master Yan passed on the scallion sauce he had developed to his apprentices without reservation.

But after teaching, Master Yan once said that he hoped his apprentices could have their own ideas.

The basis of the scallion sauce is like that, but when making it, you can actually make some adjustments.

Therefore, the taste of the dish of braised sea cucumber with scallions will be slightly different when made by Feng Zhengming and his senior brothers.

When Master Yan was teaching, he also asked his fellow apprentices to do things differently.

Brothers are also prohibited from asking each other about each other's secret recipes for seasoning.

These are the original words that Master Yan once told his apprentices.

"You all inherited the same techniques from your master, but you must be able to make differences in seasoning. Only when each of you can create your own flavor can you be considered a true master."

So for the same scallion-fried sea cucumber, the flavors differ slightly among the brothers.

As for the Hydrangea Scallops, this dish is much simpler.

After Feng Zhengming explained the simplest method, he then went on to talk about the method used in the competition.

"In the competition, I stuffed the sea cucumber with shrimp paste before cooking it. The seasoning was just salt. After the filling was put into the sea cucumber, I cooked it."

Wang Jialiang was a little surprised: "Putting stuffing into the already seasoned sea cucumber?"

Feng Zhengming nodded: "Yes, this is to increase the flavor of the sea cucumber and give it a different taste."

Wang Jialiang carefully deduced it in his mind and couldn't help but nodded.

“The filling of sea cucumber is indeed a rather novel method, and the shrimp paste filling is also quite suitable.”

Feng Zhengming continued, "I learned how to make lobster balls from the Hong Kong and Cantonese chefs at the national cooking competition. So in addition to hydrangea scallops, I also used lobster balls at the national cooking competition."

Wang Jialiang suddenly remembered the photo he had seen after returning to China.

"So that's how it is." Wang Jialiang said to his wife, "Do you remember the photo of the dish we saw in Shanghai? It had four big balls in the middle, surrounded by a circle of smaller balls, and outside were sea cucumbers with scallions."

After hearing what Wang Jialiang said, Zhang Lili immediately remembered the photo.

"Yeah, that photo, it turns out that's a lobster ball in the middle."

Zhang Lili then asked curiously: "Junior brother, what is the soup you poured on top at the end?"

Feng Zhengming replied: "It is a sauce. I used broth, added some shrimp brains and shrimp oil, and a little pumpkin puree. After boiling them together and filtering them, I thickened them with glass starch and poured them on the lobster balls and hydrangea scallops in the middle."

He added: "I still pour scallion sauce on the sea cucumber."

Zhang Lili was very surprised after hearing this.

"It turns out that a dish like that requires such a complicated process."

Wang Jialiang smiled and said, "What Zhengming said has been simplified a lot. In fact, if we really want to do it, it will take a long time."

Feng Zhengming also nodded: "Yes, sea cucumbers, lobsters, scallops, and shrimp paste fillings all need to be prepared separately, and they must be seasoned separately and paired with different soups.

Even the final presentation of the dish requires all preparations to be done in advance, so that the food cannot be left too cold.”

Wang Jialiang said: "It's not easy for one person to cook such a dish. It proves that you deserve the title of No. 1."

Cao Zhiguo smiled and said, "Zhengming came back and worked in the kitchen of Huiquanlou, researching how to make that dish. Before the Chinese New Year, he broke down all the steps. We tried it at a provincial reception dinner before the Chinese New Year and it was still feasible."

Wang Jialiang was a little surprised by Cao Zhiguo’s words.

"Zhengming, you're making great progress."

Feng Zhengming said: "Thanks to the help of my third and fifth senior brothers, and the eldest senior brother who would come to Huiquan Building to help me from time to time. Without the help of my senior brothers, I would not be able to complete it alone."

Master Yan said with great satisfaction: "You brothers should help each other more."

After his master spoke, Li Huidong also expressed his position in front of his master.

"When Huiquanlou opens after the New Year, I will help Zhengming take care of the kitchen."

Feng Zhengming laughed and said, "Then I'll leave it to you, big brother."

Wang Jialiang was a little surprised: "Big Brother is also going to the kitchen of Huiquanlou?"

Li Huidong nodded: "Yes, I can't continue to contract the brewery cafeteria. Fortunately, Zhengming helped me and let me work in the kitchen of Huiquan Building."

Wang Jialiang said, "That's great. Big Brother, your skills are not worth it in the brewery cafeteria."

Second Senior Brother Chen Zezhi echoed, "Yes, the brewery cafeteria really can't display Senior Brother's cooking skills."

Li Huidong saw that his fellow junior students were all praising him.

He smiled and said, "Although I have the title of the eldest senior brother, in front of my fellow junior brothers, I am the worst off. I only have my skills left to return to the master."

After hearing what the senior brother said, the other junior brothers all began to encourage him, hoping that he could cheer up.

Feng Zhengming said directly: "Don't say that, Senior Brother. I want to hand over Huiquan Tower to you to help me guard it in the future."

This surprised Li Huidong very much.

"Are you going to hand over Huiquanlou to me?"

Feng Zhengming nodded: "Yes, I want to walk around our Qilu land this year, hoping to find the inheritance of our Shandong cuisine everywhere in Qilu land.

Then maybe later, I will go south to Shanghai and open a Shandong cuisine restaurant in Shanghai.

So I definitely can’t stay in Quancheng forever and take care of Huiquanlou.” Hearing Feng Zhengming’s subsequent series of plans, the brothers were somewhat amazed.

The senior brothers also understood that the junior brother’s future path was destined to be different from theirs.

Zhang Lili was a little surprised: "Junior brother, you are already the champion of the national cooking competition, why don't you go to Beijing? Why do you want to go south to Shanghai?"

Feng Zhengming smiled and replied, "Fourth sister-in-law, the capital is a place where many experts gather. I'm afraid I won't be able to defeat them if I go there, so I'd better avoid them.

Shanghai is an international metropolis, full of the fusion of Chinese and foreign cultures. I want to let more people see and taste our Shandong cuisine through Shanghai."

Zhang Lili understood: "Junior brother wants to promote and popularize Shandong cuisine."

Feng Zhengming nodded: "Yes, Shandong cuisine made me successful, so I will naturally make Shandong cuisine successful."

Fourth Brother Wang Jialiang said: "If you want to go south, you must make some changes in taste. The difference in taste between the north and the south is still quite obvious."

Zhang Lili agreed: "Yes, the tastes of the north and south are very different. In a city like Shanghai where people from the north and south meet, everyone's tastes may be very different. It is not easy to satisfy most people."

Wang Jialiang nodded: "Zhengming, you should have seen it when you participated in the national cooking competition. The tastes of different places in the country vary greatly. When your sister-in-law and I went abroad, we found that the tastes of foreigners are even more different from ours."

When talking about his experiences abroad, Wang Jialiang opened up completely.

"Master, fellow disciples, do you know this dish, General Tso's Chicken?"

Hearing this name, all the fellow disciples present were stunned.

Feng Zhengming had heard of it in his previous life, but he had never eaten this dish.

Master Yan nodded and said, "I've heard of this dish. It should be a dish created by Chinese chefs abroad."

Then Master Yan started talking: "This dish was first created by a Hunan chef named Peng. After he went to Taiwan, he created this dish in Taiwan. Later, he brought this dish to America across the ocean and opened a restaurant called Peng Garden there. Later, this dish became famous all over the world."

After hearing the master's narration, everyone, including Feng Zhengming, was shocked.

Even Wang Jialiang and Zhang Lili were surprised.

Zhang Lili was actually born abroad, but she received a lot of Chinese education since childhood and has a sense of belonging to China.

That's why she traveled back to China alone, wanting to see her parents' hometown with her own eyes.

As a result, he met Wang Jialiang, and the two of them even got to know each other because of a quarrel over a dish.

As a result, the two of them got to know each other through quarreling and actually developed feelings for each other.

Zhang Lili thought Wang Jialiang was an excellent cook, so she wanted to invite him to go abroad with her and help her run the family restaurant better.

When he first went there, Wang Jialiang cooked a lot of authentic Shandong dishes, but as a result, the restaurant's business got even worse.

Even many diners who used to frequent Zhang Lili's restaurant couldn't accept it.

Later, Zhang Lili took Wang Jialiang to eat at many restaurants abroad.

Let Wang Jialiang experience the different flavors of foreign food.

It can be said that Wang Jialiang is the disciple most favored by the master besides Feng Zhengming.

Wang Jialiang is also a person who is very good at learning and improving.

Like Feng Zhengming, Wang Jialiang has never been a person who sticks to the old ways.

So he made some improvements to the dishes while abroad, using various foreign seasonings to blend the flavors that foreigners like, and made Western-style Chinese food that is very suitable for foreigners' tastes.

Zhang Lili's restaurant suddenly became popular abroad.

Wang Jialiang has made this dish, General Tso's Chicken, many times abroad, and added many of his own ideas to it.

But Wang Jialiang and Zhang Lili also heard Master Yan say this today.

This is the first time I learned the origin of General Tso’s Chicken.

Master Yan smiled and said: "This dish tastes like sweet and sour pork with some spicy flavor."

This shocked Wang Jialiang.

"Master, you are amazing. You actually know this flavor."

Master Yan smiled and said: "After participating in the first national cooking competition, we had a lot of exchanges. I went abroad for exchanges several times in the 1980s. I ate this dish abroad and discussed it with some foreign chefs."

At this moment, all the disciples, including Wang Jialiang, couldn't help but think in their hearts.

As expected, the master is still the master.

At this time, the eldest brother Li Huidong asked: "What does this dish have to do with Zuo Zongtang?"

Wang Jialiang smiled and said, "Brother, this dish has nothing to do with Zuo Zongtang. It just uses Zuo Zongtang's name."

Master Yan continued, "The traditional method of making this dish is to use a tender young hen. Of course, you can also use chicken thighs to make it. Remove the bones from the chicken thighs and peel off the skin."

Debone the chicken legs, tear off the skin, leave the clean chicken thigh meat, and cut into large pieces.

Then give the chicken legs a bottom feed.

When coating, use egg yolk instead of egg white.

Master Yan said: "To make it crispier and more colorful, you need to use egg yolk for battering. The sauce is even simpler, just broth, sugar, and white vinegar. To make the dish look good, you can't add soy sauce."

After listening to Master Yan, the apprentices were able to cook this dish almost immediately.

To put it bluntly, the process is indeed similar to sweet and sour pork.

The difference is that this dish uses white sauce, and because it has a sweet and sour taste, no MSG can be added.

Also, add a little tomato sauce.

The chicken coated with batter should be fried twice in the oil pan to ensure that the surface is crispy enough.

As Feng Zhengming listened to his master, what came to his mind was the fried chicken nuggets from his previous life.

It seems that the overall taste is really similar, except that this dish needs to be stir-fried at the end.

Stir-fry the sweet and sour sauce with the fried chicken.

To add a little spiciness, add some dried chilies.

After listening to the master's explanation, Wang Jialiang couldn't help but smile and said, "Master, you are amazing. You can actually cook this dish."

Master Yan laughed and said, "This dish is so simple. When I was studying abroad, we basically learned how to make it after watching it once. We also made it ourselves when we came back, but it was too sweet and we couldn't get used to it."

Wang Jialiang nodded: "Yes, many people in China may not be used to the taste."

Zhang Lili couldn't help but say: "But it is very popular abroad. Many foreigners like this dish very much. They think Chinese restaurants should have this dish."

Feng Zhengming couldn't help but say: "I think foreigners really like fried chicken. This dish wraps the fried chicken with their favorite sweet and sour taste, plus a light spicy taste, which makes them like it even more."

Wang Jialiang and Zhang Lili looked at each other and nodded in agreement with Feng Zhengming's statement. (End of this chapter)