From selling box lunches to becoming a famous Chinese chef

A few days later, the cooking school under the Provincial Cooking Association arranged a group of apprentices to visit Huiquanlou.

These apprentices are considered to be the most outstanding students in the culinary school.

They were not only going to visit Huiquanlou, but were also arranged to visit other restaurants and hotels in Quancheng.

The reason for arranging this kind of visit is mainly to help students better understand Shandong cuisine.

After all, they are only learning theories in school, and these students may not understand the real situation in the kitchen.

Therefore, the cooking school will arrange for students to visit the kitchens of the more famous restaurants in Quancheng.

When Feng Zhengming and his colleagues were at Yanxilou, they also encountered students from the culinary school who were arranged to visit Yanxilou.

At that time, the masters would usually ask their fellow disciples to guide the students.

It also gives those students an opportunity to experience the kitchen.

There are about 20 students coming to Huiquan Building this time.

They were also familiar with the teacher who brought them here, Feng Zhengming.

He is a teacher at a cooking school and an apprentice of Master Cui.

His name is Sun Kuangyi.

He brought his people to Huiquanlou and saw Feng Zhengming greeting them at the door. He quickly took the initiative to greet Feng Zhengming.

"Brother Feng, I'm really sorry that I asked you to greet us at the door in person."

Feng Zhengming smiled and responded: "It's okay, I have to explain some rules in advance to avoid unnecessary trouble."

Sun Kuangyi nodded: "Yes, yes, the rules should indeed be explained in advance."

Feng Zhengming glanced at the 20 students who came to the restaurant today.

"Hello everyone, welcome to visit the kitchen of Huiquan Building. I need to explain to you first that our kitchen of Huiquan Building pays more attention to hygiene, so you must all change into chef uniforms and wear chef hats before entering."

Sun Kuangyi laughed and interrupted, "I reminded them of this."

Feng Zhengming nodded: "Since your teacher Sun has already told you, I hope you can all strictly abide by it. Also, you can watch in the kitchen, but you must not disturb the work in the kitchen.

I will teach you two dishes after your visit. I hope you can watch and learn carefully. "

Sun Kuangyi couldn't help but interrupt again: "You guys came to the right place today. Our national champion wants to teach you two dishes."

One of the students couldn't help but ask, "Will you teach us the dish that won you the national championship?"

After hearing this, Feng Zhengming and Sun Kuangyi smiled at each other.

Sun Kuangyi's eyes were somewhat stern: "You haven't even learned to walk yet, and you want to run?"

These words made the students afraid to speak.

Feng Zhengming then patiently explained to the students.

"There are four dishes in total that I cooked in the national competition. If you really want to learn those four dishes, you can observe carefully in the kitchen of Huiquan Building. I can tell you now that those four dishes are cooked every day in the kitchen of Huiquan Building. It mainly depends on whether you can observe carefully."

These words made the students eager to try and see if they could learn it.

When Sun Kuangyi heard Feng Zhengming say this to the students, a smile broke out on his face.

He still understood Feng Zhengming's intention.

Feng Zhengming told the students that they could learn how to cook the dish that won him the top honor, which was actually to encourage the students to pay attention and observe carefully.

But Sun Kuangyi knew very well that when Feng Zhengming was cooking the award-winning dish in the kitchen, some steps would definitely be omitted or reduced.

Even if these students are shown the specific steps, I am afraid it will be difficult for them to learn.

They are both chefs, although Sun Kuangyi is not as skilled as Feng Zhengming.

But he still has a clearer understanding of the cooking learning process.

Many dishes seem simple, but they are actually very difficult to prepare well.

However, Sun Kuangyi did not point out what Feng Zhengming said.

He also wants students to watch it carefully.

I want to see if there are any students who can figure out the true meaning of Feng Zhengming’s dishes by watching them.

Next, Feng Zhengming got to know the students briefly.

Take them into Huiquan Building and ask them to change into chef uniforms and chef hats first.

Then Feng Zhengming took them directly to the kitchen of Huiquanlou.

As they stepped into the kitchen, the students immediately felt an atmosphere that was completely different from what they were experiencing in school.

First of all, the kitchen at Huiquan Building is much larger than the kitchen where they have classes at school.

Secondly, everyone seems to be pretty busy here.

Twenty students came in together, and almost no one looked up to observe them.

Students feel as if they are completely ignored.

However, the students also understood that this neglect was not intentional by everyone in the kitchen.

In fact, everyone in the kitchen has their own job.

No one had the time or energy to observe the apprentices who came in.

Feng Zhengming patiently gave some explanations to the students.

“The kitchen may be different from what you imagine. It cannot be supported by just one chef. It is a place that requires everyone’s cooperation.

You should be able to see that in the kitchen, each chef has his or her own work to do.

If you fail to complete your work in time, it may affect the next chef.

This may cause some problems in the overall operation of the kitchen.”

Having said that, Feng Zhengming looked at the students.

"I hope you can remember the scene in front of you. Don't think that being a chef is a very cool thing. Working in the kitchen is very hard and every chef works very hard."

After listening to Feng Zhengming's words, the group of students who came to visit felt somewhat touched.

The students seemed to understand all of a sudden that their dream of becoming a chef might not be theirs for the time being.

At least in the kitchen of Huiquanlou, it would be impossible to cook without learning a complete set of procedures.

The students found that even some cutting and preparing work was not as simple as they had imagined.

After a tour, some careful students discovered some of the dishes that won Feng Zhengming the top prize in the imperial examination were made in the kitchen.

"Hey, hey, hey, look, what are those guys cooking? Is that the dish that won Chef Feng the top prize?"

“Looks like it.”

"Yeah, it really looks like it."

"What dish are you talking about? That's the sea cucumber with scallions, right?"

“It’s not the braised sea cucumber with scallions. We think it’s the dish that won Chef Feng the first prize.”

"What? Chef Feng's winning dish?"

"It looks very similar. Look carefully. Those sea cucumbers need to be cooked after they are taken out."

"No, they are stuffing the sea cucumber with stuffing."

"Putting stuff in the sea cucumber? That should be Chef Feng's dish, Oolong Playing with Pearls."

While the students were discussing, Feng Zhengming walked up to them.

"How is it? Did you see the dishes you wanted to see?"

The students suddenly woke up and looked at Feng Zhengming together.

When he saw Feng Zhengming, his face was full of smiles.

The students all laughed. Then one student asked boldly, "Chef Feng, the sea cucumbers they make need to be cooked with a special soup after being stuffed with the fillings."

Feng Zhengming did not hide it: "Yes, after stuffing, it needs to be cooked in scallion sauce."

Another student asked, "Chef Feng, can we learn this dish first?"

Before Feng Zhengming could speak, Sun Kuangyi could not help but remind him: "Don't be too ambitious, you still have to learn step by step."

The students were somewhat disappointed when they heard what Sun Kuangyi said.

But soon, these students became like children and their attention was attracted by another chef.

Because while the students were watching, the chef actually flipped the spoon.

When the students saw this scene, they couldn't help but exclaim.

Feng Zhengming felt a little helpless when he saw this: "It takes a long time to practice to turn the spoon over. I advise everyone not to waste energy on this unless it is absolutely necessary to use it."

These words serve as a warning to these students.

After they had almost finished touring the kitchen, Feng Zhengming took them to visit the private rooms of the restaurant.

The layout of the private room was quite eye-opening for the students.

Many of the students came from all over Qi and Lu to learn skills.

In the photos taken in the private room of Huiquanlou, they saw many sceneries of their hometown, which made them miss their hometown.

Moreover, the students also learned something from seeing how Feng Zhengming designed and arranged the private room.

After the tour, Feng Zhengming took them back to the kitchen.

This time, I found a temporarily unoccupied stove and started teaching students how to cook.

The first dish Feng Zhengming taught his students was a very traditional dish, stir-fried chicken with soy sauce.

"Stir-fried diced chicken with soy sauce is a very traditional dish in Shandong cuisine. It is also a relatively basic dish. I will first teach you a simpler dish."

When students heard about the dish "Stir-fried Chicken with Soy Sauce", they felt it was a bit too simple.

However, watching Feng Zhengming select the ingredients, marinate and coat the ingredients, then cook the diced chicken, and finally stir-fry them with sauce.

During the whole process, Feng Zhengming gave very detailed explanations while working.

Let students gradually go from being indifferent to listening seriously.

Feng Zhengming explained in great detail, such as how big should the chicken cubes be cut? How can we ensure that the chicken cubes remain as tender as possible?
It seems that Feng Zhengming can explain while not stopping his hands.

And when teaching students, Feng Zhengming also deliberately slows down the cutting speed.

Carefully explain the process of cutting and preparing. How should we ensure that the diced chicken looks as good as possible?
After seeing Professor Feng Zhengming, the students also discovered that some of the things he taught were slightly different from what the teachers in school taught.

Some of the more interested students couldn't help but ask the team leader, Teacher Sun Kuangyi.

Sun Kuangyi said with a smile: "Different chefs will definitely have their own habits when making the same dish, but the techniques used are generally the same, so you don't have to copy them."

But when Feng Zhengming heard what Sun Kuangyi said, he immediately warned the students with a serious face.

"My method is a very traditional and standard method of stir-fried diced pork with soy sauce. I know that the method you learned in school may be different from mine, so I hope you can go back and try making it yourself and see if the taste will be different if you use different methods."

As he was talking, Feng Zhengming had already finished the stir-fried chicken cubes.

Finally, the plate contained diced chicken covered in a glossy sauce mixed with walnut kernels.

Just looking at this dish of bright sauce and starch made the students feel very tempted.

"This dish looks even more beautiful than the one the teacher made during class."

"Yeah, the teacher's cooking definitely doesn't look this good."

"He is indeed the best in the country. He can cook a dish of stir-fried chicken with soy sauce so well."

"How else could he win the National Cooking Competition?"

"I really hope I can have the opportunity to participate in the future. I will be satisfied if I can bring back a small prize."

The students really felt great about Feng Zhengming's dish of stir-fried chicken with soy sauce.

Feng Zhengming asked the students to taste each one.

After taking a bite, the students can better appreciate the difference of this dish of stir-fried chicken cubes.

The taste is salty and fresh with some sweetness.

There is almost no sweetness, but it tastes quite delicious.

The key is that the diced chicken in this dish of stir-fried chicken is very tasty.

The flavor of diced chicken is not just the sauce on the surface.

After chewing carefully, you will find that the diced chicken also has some flavor.

This way, the diced chicken tastes delicious.

In addition, the diced chicken is coated very well, ensuring that it tastes tender and smooth.

One student couldn't help but exclaim: "So this is what stir-fried pork cubes taste like."

This sentence was spoken from the heart and won the approval of many students.

In the past, we only ate this dish in schools and other restaurants and hotels.

In the past, most students would think that this dish tasted similar in every restaurant and was just so-so, not too surprising.

But today, when students ate Feng Zhengming's dish of stir-fried chicken cubes, they tasted a different flavor.

Some smart students have already started to murmur.

"So this is the seasoning before cooking. The diced chicken needs to be marinated with some flavor. The base and the sauce complement each other and make the dish taste better."

Recalling the time when Feng Zhengming was marinating diced chicken, he carefully told his students how much salt to put in.

After careful consideration, the students understood why what Feng Zhengming cooked was different from what they had eaten before.

Feng Zhengming earnestly warned the students: "Remember every step and detail. The most taboo in cooking is to not cook dishes that are almost the same. You may think the dishes are almost the same, but the customers may think they are very different."

This warning made all the students nod their heads seriously and take note of it.

In the eyes of these students, Feng Zhengming, the champion of the national cooking competition, is indeed talented.

Then Feng Zhengming taught the students a dish that was a bit difficult.

A dish of stir-fried beef with green onions.

This dish requires some knife skills, as the beef needs to be cut into relatively thin slices.

Also, the process of starching beef is more complicated.

Before coating the beef, you need to beat the beef with scallion and ginger water.

Feng Zhengming also teaches students very seriously.

Including how to beat the onion and ginger water into the beef.

There are also some tips on how to make the beef taste more tender.

It can be said that Feng Zhengming was not stingy at all and taught the students who came today very seriously.

This dish of stir-fried beef with green onions was an eye-opener for these students.

Watching Feng Zhengming’s cooking process, students may have some concerns about the taste.

After the dish was really taken out of the pot, the students smelled the aroma and immediately felt that this dish was indeed different.

When eating, the students exclaimed "so tender".

When Sun Kuangyi saw the two dishes that Feng Zhengming taught him, he whispered with Li Huidong who was temporarily free at the side.

"Is Zhengming teaching too much?"

Li Huidong smiled and responded: "Not much, just a few little tricks." (End of this chapter)