From selling box lunches to becoming a famous Chinese chef

After Yang Shuxia’s training, Huiquanlou’s service staff have a better understanding of service work.

And some of their movements have become more standardized.

This made Feng Zhengming feel quite relieved.

As the reception dinner arranged by the province approached, Feng Zhengming also began to prepare ingredients with the kitchen staff.

There were more than forty tables in total for the entire banquet.

Therefore, for Feng Zhengming and his team, preparing materials is a rather tedious process.

Just the soup requires preparing several pots in advance.

Not only is there soup for stir-frying or cooking, but you also need to prepare a separate clear soup for making mullet egg soup.

There are also various other ingredients that need to be prepared in advance.

In order to ensure the progress of serving the dishes and that the quality of the dishes is good enough, many things need to be prepared in advance.

Through her own efforts, Xia Hui proved that she could replace Feng Zhengming in making lotus crabs.

However, to make lotus crab, the most important part is to peel out all the crab roe and crab meat first.

So on the day before the reception dinner, Feng Zhengming led everyone to peel the crab roe and crab meat separately after Huiquanlou closed in the evening.

The peeled crab roe and crab meat are all stored in the refrigerator, waiting to be cooked tomorrow.

Before leaving in the evening, Feng Zhengming carefully checked all the ingredients.

Li Huidong and Cao Zhigang also followed along to check.

After making sure that everything was ready, the three brothers finally left Huiquan Tower.

At this time, it was already past two in the morning.

Feng Zhengming and his friends were riding their bikes on their way home.

Li Huidong smiled and said, "Tomorrow we brothers will prepare another big meal."

Cao Zhiguo echoed, "Yes, it really feels like I'm back in Yanxi Tower. Back then, Master took us to various banquets and everyone was so busy."

Feng Zhengming smiled and said: "I still miss the busyness back then."

Cao Zhiguo said: "It is indeed nostalgic. How high-spirited we were back then. When people in Quanzhou mention Yanxilou, everyone gives it a thumbs up and says it is one of the best Shandong cuisines in Quanzhou."

Speaking of this, the three brothers felt a little disappointed.

Li Huidong sighed: "I didn't expect that Yanxilou, which was once so prosperous, would really close down in our hands."

Feng Zhengming said quickly, "Brother, you can't say that. The closure of Yanxilou is not our fault. It's the fault of the people who run Yanxilou. They didn't run the business well and mortgaged Yanxilou. They used the money to do other things, which is why Yanxilou closed down and the restaurant was auctioned off by them to pay off their debts."

Cao Zhiguo also agreed with his junior brother: "Yes, it's not our problem, it's those people who are greedy."

Li Huidong smiled and said, "I know, it's not our problem. In fact, when Zhengming got the old plaque back, I thought about whether we could hang it in Huiquan Tower."

These words surprised Cao Zhiguo, and then he felt that it seemed really possible.

"Yes, why not hang the old plaque in Huiquanlou? With two old plaques at Yanxilou and Huiquanlou, Huiquanlou will definitely have better business."

Feng Zhengming smiled and shook his head when he heard this: "No, Huiquan Tower is Huiquan Tower, and Yanxi Tower is Yanxi Tower. I must rebuild a Yanxi Tower and hang up the old plaque."

As he spoke, Feng Zhengming stopped smiling and looked very serious.

The two brothers saw Feng Zhengming's face under the street light.

They also understood that Junior Brother always did what he said.

Junior brother should be able to do this.

Cao Zhiguo thought for a while and muttered: "I wonder how much it will cost to rebuild Yanxi Tower?"

Li Huidong said: "It will definitely be a lot, especially if you want to build an antique restaurant like Yanxilou, it should not be easy."

Cao Zhiguo nodded: "It's really not easy. It seems that not everyone knows how to build Yanxi Tower."

Feng Zhengming smiled and said, "We'll talk about that later. Big Brother, Fifth Brother, do you think we are fully prepared for tomorrow? Is there anything missing?"

These words made Li Huidong and Cao Zhiguo think seriously about it.

After some careful reflection, Cao Zhiguo said: "Everything that should be prepared has been prepared. Some things need to be prepared tomorrow morning and cannot be prepared the night before."

Having said this, Cao Zhiguo paused and thought about it carefully before he was sure.

"Everything should be ready. It's definitely sufficient. There won't be any problems."

Li Huidong was still thinking seriously, and Feng Zhengming himself was also thinking seriously.

After a long time, when the three were about to separate at the intersection.

Feng Zhengming and Li Huidong both made sure that nothing was missed.

"should be no problem."

"Yes, let's go to the restaurant early tomorrow morning to check again."

Afterwards, the three brothers separated at the intersection and went home first.

It was already 2:30 in the morning when Li Huidong rode his bike back home.

In order not to disturb his wife and children at home, after entering the house, he tiptoed into the bathroom to wash up and prepared to take a nap on the sofa in the living room. Anyway, he should return to the restaurant around five o'clock.

However, just as Li Huidong was about to lie down on the sofa, the bedroom door was opened.

Li Huidong saw his wife Hu Yan coming out.

"I thought you wouldn't be back tonight."

Li Huidong smiled softly and said to his wife, "I didn't want to come back at first, but I thought it would be inconvenient to sleep in Huiquan Building, so I came back."

"How are your preparations going? Is this the first time Huiquanlou has hosted such a banquet this year?"

Li Huidong nodded: "Yes, this is the first time this year, we have almost prepared everything, there is nothing missing..."

However, just as he said this, Li Huidong suddenly remembered something.

He quickly stood up and grabbed his clothes that had been thrown on the sofa.

"I forgot something. I have to go back to Huiquan Tower. You go to sleep. I won't be back. I'll find a place over there to sleep for a while."

Seeing her husband going out again, Hu Yan felt that it was too hard.

"It doesn't have to be so hard in Huiquanlou, right?"

Li Huidong smiled and said to his wife, "We can't help it. This is a provincial reception dinner. We must do it well. After all, we are entertaining foreign guests."

Seeing Li Huidong walking out of the house again, Hu Yan first sighed helplessly.

But on second thought, Hu Yan felt happy for her husband again.

Although it seems that my husband is working hard, I can tell from the expression on his face that he quite likes this kind of busyness.

Hu Yan understood that her husband had never given up his desire to become a good chef.

At the beginning, my husband left Yan Xilou and contracted the canteen with my eldest brother-in-law.

Although contracting a canteen does make more money.

But Hu Yan could see that her husband was not only hard-working in the canteen, but also unhappy.

However, it was during the time when Feng Zhengming worked in the cafeteria after Yan Xilou closed down that Li Huidong was much happier.

Later, Feng Zhengming left the canteen and opened his own dry food shop.

As the business of the dry rice shop became more and more prosperous, Feng Zhengming's reputation also grew. Later, Feng Zhengming really became one of the most famous chefs in Quancheng.

He even won the championship of the National Cooking Competition representing Shandong cuisine.

Faced with all this, Hu Yan could still sense that while her husband was pleased with his junior fellow apprentice's success, he also felt a little bit lonely.

As the eldest senior brother, he did not set a good example for his junior brothers.

Hu Yan understood what was in her husband's mind if it weren't for his junior fellow apprentice.

Maybe they, the fellow disciples, really want to slowly make their master's reputation disappear in Quancheng and in Shandong cuisine.

Now Li Huidong has the opportunity to show off his cooking skills in Huiquanlou.

You can openly show off the skills taught by your master in Huiquanlou.

How could this not make Li Huidong excited?

So Li Huidong put in his full enthusiasm.

Hu Yan drank some water and then went back to the bedroom to sleep.

Although Hu Yan couldn't sleep because of thinking about her husband, she still supported her husband in pursuing his ideals.

Li Huidong rode his bicycle all the way back to Huiquanlou under the cover of night.

When Li Huidong returned to Huiquan Building and was about to open the door, he heard a noise behind him. He turned around and saw Feng Zhengming also coming back on a bicycle.

The two brothers met in front of the door and were stunned when they looked at each other.

After a moment of silence, the two brothers laughed at the same time.

Then the two brothers almost said the purpose of their return in unison.

The brothers opened the door together, entered Huiquanlou and went straight to the kitchen.

Entering the kitchen, the two brothers found the soaked sea cucumbers together.

In fact, the reason why the two brothers rushed back was because they forgot to season the sea cucumbers in advance.

Because there are a lot of sea cucumbers to be cooked for the dinner in the evening, if we wait until the morning to season them, we may not have enough time to season all of them in advance.

The reason why the provincial government came to Huiquanlou to hold a dinner was naturally to taste Feng Zhengming's Oolong Xizhu.

The key to Oolong Xizhu is actually to season the sea cucumber.

The sea cucumber itself should have enough flavor.

Otherwise, during subsequent cooking, the flavor will only remain in the soup on the surface of the sea cucumber.

The sea cucumbers cooked in that way will taste much worse.

Originally, the brothers had planned to prepare the sea cucumbers before leaving, and put them all in a casserole and simmer them slowly over low heat.

By this time, the sea cucumber should be fully seasoned by noon.

The sea cucumbers can be taken out in the afternoon, stuffed with fillings, and then cooked with green onions before dinner.

The two brothers worked together to fish out all the sea cucumbers and carefully counted them.

The next step is to place everything in the prepared large casserole.

Put a bamboo mat on the bottom of the casserole, put some pork bones and ham in it, and then put the seasoning bag on it, especially the green onion and ginger left over from making scallion oil.

Without the onions and ginger, the sea cucumbers would taste much worse.

Everything was prepared, Feng Zhengming and his eldest brother simmered the sea cucumbers over low heat.

All that's left is waiting.

The two brothers finished everything.

Li Huidong smiled and said, "It was us two who discovered it again."

Feng Zhengming immediately understood what the senior brother meant.

In the past, in the kitchen of Yan Xi Lou, the master would always give these two people the task of preparing the ingredients in detail.

Because the eldest brother Li Huidong has always been the most careful one.

As long as the master has mentioned something in advance, the eldest brother will prepare it carefully.

There are even some small things that the master may not be able to remember very clearly, but the eldest brother will definitely not forget them and will prepare them all for the master.

The master had taken Feng Zhengming to another place for exchange before, and had talked to Feng Zhengming about this on the way.

"Your eldest brother may not be the best among you in terms of talent, and his understanding of some dishes is not very good, but he is able to do things very carefully and do everything according to what I teach him."

After praising Feng Zhengming, the master also gave him a serious warning.

"Zhengming, you have to remember that cooking is just like doing anything else. Small details are the key to success or failure. Don't take any chances. You must strictly follow the right process and the right procedures.

You can’t just change the craftsmanship that has been passed down for many years and determined by many generations of chefs just because you want to. "

Feng Zhengming heard from his master that time that when he was in Yan Xilou later, he would often follow his senior brother to prepare ingredients for his master.

He studied carefully with his senior brother, learning all the details of preparing ingredients.

Especially what the Master said, there cannot be any deviation.

Senior Brother Li Huidong will really do it without any deviation.

Li Huidong saw Feng Zhengming finished his work without saying a word and just stood there staring at him.

He smiled and said, "What's wrong? Looking at me like that?"

Feng Zhengming came to his senses and said, "Brother is still the same. He remembers every detail of the preparation and will not make any mistakes."

Li Huidong responded: "Master always said that these are the basics, and the basics cannot be changed. If you change the dish, it won't taste the way it should."

Feng Zhengming nodded: "Master is right, but among us brothers, you are the best."

This made Li Huidong feel a little embarrassed.

"Hahaha, are you flattering me on purpose? Do you have some bad idea that you want my help with again?"

Feng Zhengming quickly said, "No, no, I'm not trying to flatter you. I really admire you, big brother."

Li Huidong looked around at the rather spacious kitchen of Huiquanlou.

"If we're talking about admiration, you're the one we admire. How long has it been? Look here, you've already walked ahead of all of us, standing in the position of the master that we once looked up to."

When Feng Zhengming heard this, he quickly said, "You can't say that. I'm still far from being a master."

Li Huidong shook his head: "No, the difference between you and Master is nothing more than experience. How old are you? When you have completed your accumulation, you will definitely surpass Master."

"Hahaha, after being praised like that by big brother, I feel like I'm not myself anymore, a little bit proud."

Li Huidong laughed immediately: "Don't get carried away. If you get carried away, all your efforts will be wasted."

Feng Zhengming nodded and agreed: "Don't worry, brother. I won't get carried away. I will continue to study more and strive to make Shandong cuisine better and promote our Shandong cuisine better."

Li Huidong nodded: "You can do it."

Feng Zhengming glanced at the time and said, "Brother, it's still early. Let's go out and find a place to sleep for a while. You can't go home at this time. Let's stay at Huiquanlou for a while."

Li Huidong agreed: "Okay, I think we should lock the door and go to the locker room to take a nap."

Feng Zhengming also nodded in agreement.

The two brothers locked the door of Huiquan Building and went to the locker room together to make a bed on the floor with cardboard boxes. (End of this chapter)