From selling box lunches to becoming a famous Chinese chef

Less than a month later, on the day of the Spring Equinox, Feng Zhengming's second dry rice shop finally opened.

Many people from the culinary industry came to celebrate on this day.

There are also people sent by the district to the brewery where Feng Zhengming’s new store is located.

Of course, both the provincial and municipal cooking associations sent people to congratulate.

The scene was so heated that people from several factory families' quarters at the brewery were very surprised, and many people were attracted to the streets to watch.

The sign that was unveiled read "Zheng Luxing, Feng's Dry Restaurant".

Everyone immediately knew that this was a branch of Feng Zhengming's dry rice shop.

"We have the best store in Quancheng."

“Yes, it’s a new store.”

"I've heard for a long time that a new store was going to open in our area, but I didn't expect it to actually open here."

"That's great. I don't have to go to the city center to eat their braised pork in the future."

"Yes, you can buy it at your doorstep later."

After the firecrackers were set off, Feng Zhengming stood up with a smile and announced loudly to the crowd.

"Hello everyone, our second shop of Ganfanpu officially opened today. You can rest assured that the craftsmanship and taste are the same as before, and the price is the same as before. You are welcome to come and eat often."

When the crowd heard Feng Zhengming say this, they burst into applause.

Everyone is really curious about Feng Zhengming's new store.

Feng Zhengming’s new store here is not decorated like the old store, with many classical elements.

This new store is completely decorated in the style of a fast food restaurant.

The whole store looks quite bright and transparent, and the seats inside are also arranged relatively full.

Of course, for this new store, Feng Zhengming still chose a semi-open design for the kitchen.

Customers who come in can order their food by looking at the window.

This design is a candid display of the chef's skills in the kitchen to customers.

Although now everyone has great trust in the skills of the chefs in Feng Zhengming's kitchen.

But Feng Zhengming's design further reflects his confidence.

Some people who came to congratulate the store left after watching it open.

After all, many people who came to congratulate were unable to sit down and eat due to their status.

However, Feng Zhengming also had an arrangement. He planned to send them each a box lunch at noon.

So he then invited the crowd watching the scene to go into the new store for dinner.

After people started to enter the new store, Feng Zhengming himself went into the kitchen.

Today is the opening of the new store. As the champion of the national cooking competition, he wants to show off his skills to everyone in the new store.

When the customers entered the new store, they saw Feng Zhengming had changed into his chef's uniform and was standing in the kitchen. They all bought meal tickets for the new store and then lined up at the window to order.

It is a rare opportunity to taste the dishes cooked by the top scholar in the country.

In the kitchen, Yao Zhenhui and Ding Yuan, together with Zhang Lei, Yang Peng and two apprentices, assisted Feng Zhengming.

But in fact, when Feng Zhengming was in the kitchen, they often had no way to help.

Especially since today is the first day the new store opened, many people will intentionally order some of the more difficult dishes when ordering.

For example, several customers directly ordered stir-fried kidney and stir-fried shrimp kidney.

These two dishes really require a lot of cooking skills.

If you order it in a regular restaurant, they probably wouldn’t dare to make it.

But Feng Zhengming still dared to take the job on the opening day of the new store.

Of course he dared to accept it because he had already made some preparations.

Ingredients like kidney and shrimp have been prepared in advance.

Even the auspicious blocks were carved in advance.

So if someone orders these two difficult dishes, Feng Zhengming will still cook them.

However, even the cutting and preparation should be prepared in advance.

But these two dishes still require very high skills in cooking and using the spoon.

Seeing so many customers in the new restaurant, Zhang Lei and Yang Peng in the kitchen both said directly that if it were them, they might not dare to make these two dishes.

Yao Zhenhui smiled and said, "Just keep a normal mind and don't look at the customers outside."

Feng Zhengming agreed as he lubricated the pot, "Yes, don't worry about what happens outside. Just remember that you are the chefs in the kitchen and you have to cook the dishes at hand well."

As he was talking, Feng Zhengming had already put the scallions and ginger into the wok, and then he added the fried kidneys and shrimps into the wok.

Then pour the prepared sauce into the pot, stir-fry quickly for a few seconds and serve.

"Alright, alright, serve the food."

The whole process took less than a minute. Not to mention Zhang Lei and Yang Peng, even Ding Yuan was a little slow to react.

Yao Zhenhui worked in the kitchen of Huiquanlou and followed Feng Zhengming for about a year.

After having a certain understanding of Feng Zhengming's cooking skills, he quickly brought out the plate of stir-fried shrimp waists and served them.

Feng Zhengming then moved on to the next dish of stir-fried kidney.

To others, Feng Zhengming seemed to cook effortlessly and without any nervousness at all.

Even when there were many people queuing outside, Feng Zhengming was still cooking and teaching Zhang Lei, Yang Peng, Ding Yuan and the apprentices at the same time.

“For stir-fried pork kidney, after you coat the pork kidney with starch in advance, you must control the oil temperature when frying it, so you must remember not to fry and stir-fry in the same pan, otherwise it will be difficult to control the oil temperature.

You need to know your stove, know its firepower, and be able to judge the oil temperature."

As he was speaking, Feng Zhengming had already put the kidney into the frying pan and was gently loosening it with a pair of iron chopsticks.

The people nearby watched the kidneys being put into the pot and instantly realized that Feng Zhengming had controlled the oil temperature just right.

The kidney slices only slid slightly in the pot and were quickly poured out by Feng Zhengming.

"You have to get used to using iron chopsticks. Don't use a spatula to stir the food with oil. Do you understand?"

After hearing what Feng Zhengming said, Zhang Lei and Yang Peng next to him understood that he was targeting them.

Zhang Lei and Yang Peng were also told by their master several times to get used to using iron chopsticks when lubricating with oil.

However, the two of them felt that the iron chopsticks were a bit heavy, and because they were made of metal and were relatively long, they were indeed somewhat uncomfortable to use.

Not only Zhang Lei and Yang Peng, but even Yao Zhenhui is often not used to using iron chopsticks.

But just like Feng Zhengming said, you have to get used to using iron chopsticks when lubricating oil.

On the one hand, the surface of iron chopsticks is relatively smooth, which makes it easier to loosen the greasy vegetables during the greasing process.

More importantly, iron chopsticks are very slender, so during the greasing process, you won’t be able to poke around with the ingredients like you would with a spoon, which can easily break the ingredients.

Feng Zhengming gave instructions to a few people, then he changed the pot, heated the pot, added cold oil, and stir-fried the chopped green onion and ginger.

First, stir-fry the side dishes, then add the kidney. At the same time, pour in the sauce, stir-fry quickly to allow the sauce to evenly coat the surface of the kidney. Finally, pour in some pepper oil and serve.

"When stir-frying kidney, you should also pay attention not to put too much oil in the pan, otherwise the dish will easily lose its oil."

Feng Zhengming was quite at ease and didn't seem anxious at all.

Even though there were many people waiting in line outside, he still cooked dishes for the customers at his own pace.

What was most incredible to Yao Zhenhui, Zhang Lei, Yang Peng and Ding Yuan in the kitchen was.

Feng Zhengming can still ensure efficiency and the quality of the dishes while talking and doing.

He gave people the feeling that he was a machine.

Almost every dish is cooked to just the right degree of perfection.

What Ding Yuan found incredible was that there was a new stove in the kitchen of the new store.

But Feng Zhengming seemed very familiar with it.

Wait until the first wave of guests are dealt with.

Ding Yuan raised his doubts to Feng Zhengming.

Hearing Ding Yuan's doubts, he immediately laughed: "Hahaha, this is not something I was born with. I came here to try the stove a few times before, and I know the stove's firepower in advance."

This made Ding Yuan and the people in the kitchen understand immediately.

I couldn't help but admire Feng Zhengming even more.

When he opens a new store, he is still willing to come early to try out the new stove and understand its fire power.

Moreover, from his arrangements of the entire new shop inside and out, it is not difficult to see that Feng Zhengming really knows the new shop well.

This means that he had been to the new shop more than once before.

This is a serious attitude towards new shops.

Ding Yuan admired him sincerely.

Not long after Feng Zhengming finished his work, his third senior brother Yang Bin came over.

As we had agreed in advance, Third Brother would come over and guide us in the new shop.

Yang Bin arranged everything at the old shop in the morning.

There isn't really much to arrange.

We can rest assured that Zhu Xu, Xia Mingye, Sun Hai and Sun Decai are at the old shop.

In particular, Zhu Xu worked in the kitchen of Jubinyuan for a long time and he has rich experience in the kitchen.

However, the new shop really needs our third senior brother Yang Bin to take charge.

Originally, Feng Zhengming also wanted to stay here for a while.

However, Huiquanlou has several reception tasks assigned by the province these days, so Feng Zhengming must keep an eye on Huiquanlou.

Yang Bin entered the kitchen, looked around and said with a smile: "Not bad, the new shop is indeed cleaner than our old shop, and the things look neater and more comfortable."

Feng Zhengming laughed when he heard this: "That old shop is not clean and comfortable, but it's your responsibility, Third Brother."

These words left Yang Bin speechless for a moment.

He scratched his head and could only say embarrassedly: "It's really my problem."

This made everyone in the kitchen laugh.

Feng Zhengming smiled and warned: "I'm leaving it to you this time, but you can't make the kitchen of this new shop too messy. Make sure it's tidy and clean."

Yang Bin immediately said, "You make it sound like the old shop is so dirty and messy?"

Feng Zhengming laughed: "How could that be? I still believe in your ability, Third Brother."

"Alright, alright, stop flattering me and go back quickly. Isn't Huiquanlou waiting for you? You should pay more attention to the reception mission for the province."

Feng Zhengming nodded and agreed: "Don't worry, with Senior Brother here, nothing will go wrong."

Yang Bin also nodded: "That's right, it's no problem with Senior Brother."

Feng Zhengming stayed in the new shop until noon.

At noon, he and his third brother went to the kitchen to cook for the large number of customers who flocked into the new shop.

On the first day of opening, the new shop’s business could be described as quite hot.

Of course, many people came specifically for Feng Zhengming.

Maybe if Feng Zhengming is not around, some people won’t keep coming.

Feng Zhengming mentioned this to his third senior brother, the kitchen staff, and the service staff in the front shop at the end of the business at noon.

"Everyone should be mentally prepared. We can't expect that there will be so many people and such good business every day like today. There may be more people on weekends or when everyone happens to want to eat braised pork together.

On normal days, the shop may not be fully occupied.

Don’t worry too much. We need to take our time to build a new shop, make good products, and build a good reputation. I believe that more and more people will come to eat here.”

Yang Bin smiled and said, "Don't worry. In fact, not having many customers every day is a good thing for us. We don't have to do a lot of work. You still have to pay everyone. How good is that?"

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone present couldn't help but laugh out loud.

However, seeing Feng Zhengming was there, he had to hold it back.

Feng Zhengming saw that everyone wanted to laugh but didn't dare to.

He smiled and said, "It's okay, laugh if you want to. I know everyone has this thought in their mind, and it's not wrong. The business of the shop is not good, so everyone can relax a little."

At this time, Chang Xiuqin, who had followed the new shop, said, "Don't worry, Xiao Feng, we will definitely run the shop well."

Feng Zhengming was a little surprised by what Chang Xiuqin said.

However, after Chang Xiuqin expressed her opinion, others also expressed their willingness to work hard to run the shop well.

Feng Zhengming was somewhat moved when he saw how united everyone was.

"Thank you, sister. I hope our new shop will do better and better."

After encouraging everyone, Feng Zhengming felt relieved to hand over the new shop to his third senior brother and others.

He went out and walked to the bus stop, then took the bus back to Huiquanlou.

After Feng Zhengming left, Yang Bin gave serious instructions to everyone.

“Starting today, we are all working together. I believe that the new employees should know that the salary you get here is higher than any other store outside, so I hope you can work hard.

Although the boss said before he left that our business might not be as good as it is today.

But I hope our business can get better and better, so you all need to cheer up and provide services to customers seriously.

Especially after customers have finished eating and left, the table must be cleaned immediately. It must be wiped clean without leaving any debris, understand?"

Yang Bin gave some serious instructions and warned the service staff to clean up the garbage in the shop in a timely manner.

In this regard, we have provided some training to these service personnel when we recruited them before.

Among them, Chang Xiuqin and several service staff were also transferred from the old shop.

Yang Bin still emphasized it seriously, hoping that the new shop could also do well in this aspect.

This is also one of the reasons why the old shop has a good reputation.

As we were talking, another customer came in.

When I poked my head in, I was too embarrassed to ask if it was still open.

Seeing this, Yang Bin immediately greeted, "Yes, yes, it's still open. Come in and see what you want to eat."

Then a few people entered the shop, quickly ordered some meat and vegetables, and sat in the shop to eat.

Perhaps Feng Zhengming himself did not expect that, although the business of the new shop was not as popular as the old shop, it was not as bad as he thought. (End of this chapter)