From selling box lunches to becoming a famous Chinese chef

While Feng Zhengming was having a meeting with his fellow seniors, the young chefs and their apprentices were also busy in the kitchen of Huiquanlou.

Feng Zhengming, the eldest brother and the fifth brother were not there, so Gu Zhicheng temporarily took over the position of head chef in the kitchen.

Qi Jiale, Xia Hui, Bao Feng and Guan Wei followed Gu Zhicheng's arrangements and assisted him in assigning the work in the kitchen.

Although several people worked together in the kitchen every day, there were only three of them at that time: Feng Zhengming, Li Huidong and Cao Zhiguo.

A lot of work was coordinated by Feng Zhengming, Li Huidong and Cao Zhiguo.

Even when Feng Zhengming was not there most of the time, there were still Li Huidong and Cao Zhiguo to command and dispatch.

Most of the time, young chefs only need to be responsible for specific work in the kitchen.

Today is different, young chefs need to arrange their own work.

Gu Zhicheng took out the notebook he usually used to take notes.

According to the tasks assigned in the notebook, tasks were assigned to Xia Hui, Qi Jiale, Bao Feng and Guan Wei.

Naturally, Lu Chongshan was still mainly responsible for the snacks, but he would occasionally get involved in some cooking.

The apprentices still followed the young chef to do the work at hand.

There is nothing wrong with this distribution.

But some mistakes are inevitable in work.

Feng Zhengming and the others were not here today. Without the strict control of the chef, the apprentice was obviously a little lax.

Soon some problems arose among the apprentices in charge of the water station.

When Qi Jiale quickly rushed to the water platform, he pushed aside several apprentices who were in charge of the water platform.

I saw that the water platform had been made a bit chaotic by the apprentices.

Even though Qi Jiale usually had the best temper in the kitchen, he couldn't help but get angry at his apprentice.

Fortunately, Gu Zhicheng rushed over in time.

He didn't let Qi Jiale get angry.

"Alright, alright, clean up here quickly. Separate the fish and shrimp from the large intestines, chicken, and duck. Go get a large tray and take out the large intestines, chicken, and duck first."

Hearing Gu Zhicheng's order, the apprentice quickly turned around and ran to get the large tray.

As a result, because I was in a hurry, I didn't notice that there was something inside when I took the large tray.

Then he turned around and stumbled, and the contents of the tray instantly fell to the ground.

This time, seeing the fried crispy meat scattered on the ground, Qi Jiale finally couldn't help it.

"What's wrong with you? The chef is not here today, and you are all so absent-minded. Don't you want to do this job anymore? You are too nice to the chef usually, right? You are all causing trouble at the critical moment."

Qi Jiale's anger could no longer be suppressed, and he scolded several apprentices, who hung their heads and dared not say a word.

Bao Feng walked over quickly and called out to the stunned apprentice: "Hurry up and clean up the mess on the ground."

When the two apprentices saw Bao Feng squatting down to pick up the things on the ground, they quickly squatted down to help pick up the crispy meat scattered on the ground.

Xia Hui also walked over, picked up a few trays and brought them to the water counter, handing them to Gu Zhicheng and Qi Jiale.

Gu Zhicheng took the tray and patted Qi Jiale: "Okay, okay, quickly clean up this side."

Then Gu Zhicheng earnestly instructed everyone in the kitchen: "The chef is not here today, I think everyone will feel a little uncomfortable, so we should not panic, we need to do things step by step.

Everyone needs to believe that we can do it well, even if the chef is not here, we can still cook well. "

Gu Zhicheng's encouragement cheered up everyone in the kitchen.

Bao Feng asked his apprentice to clean up all the crispy meat on the ground.

Then he did not let them use the crispy meat scattered on the ground.

"Don't use these crispy pork. Fry them in a new pot. We can use them to make our own lunch at noon."

Qi Jiale's emotions had calmed down, and he quickly took his apprentices to clean up the water platform.

Gu Zhicheng asked the other two apprentices to clean the large intestines, chicken and duck again.

"Remember to clean it thoroughly. The large intestine must be soaked in white vinegar and scrubbed with salt."

Qi Jiale also reminded his apprentices: "Rinse the chickens and ducks several times, and make sure to clean them inside and out. Wash away all the blood and the fishy smell of fish and shrimp."

The fish and shrimps here were also separated, and Qi Jiale personally led his apprentices to grind the shrimps.

Crushing shrimps is a job that requires a lot of patience.

As you squeeze the shrimps one by one, you will often become more and more anxious.

Fortunately, after the chaotic episode just now, the apprentices can now calm down and work.

Here, Qi Jiale leads his apprentices to carefully mince shrimps, kill fish, and clean large intestines, chickens, and ducks.

Over there, Bao Feng personally fried a new batch of crispy meat.

Gu Zhicheng also took his apprentices to prepare some dishes that needed to be prepared in advance.

Xia Hui and Guan Wei went back to work on their assigned tasks.

The kitchen of Huiquanlou soon returned to its usual busy state.

Before opening at noon, the kitchen has basically prepared all the ingredients.

It didn't affect the lunch business much.

Huiquanlou was open at noon, and Gu Zhicheng and his colleagues went to the stove to cook one dish after another according to the method Feng Zhengming usually taught them.

In terms of controlling the temperature, they may have some gap with Feng Zhengming, Li Huidong and Cao Zhiguo.

But they made every dish very seriously.

Following Feng Zhengming's previous advice, everyone slowed down the speed of serving the dishes and made sure that each dish was cooked to a sufficient standard.

I dare not say that the young chefs can make every dish very exquisite.

They are even less able to make subtle adjustments to the seasoning like Feng Zhengming does.

Especially when it comes to controlling the heat, they are not allowed to be fast.

The young chefs strictly followed Feng Zhengming's instructions, not seeking to make the food more outstanding, but only to meet the standards.

In Huiquanlou in front, He Yunqing would also directly inform the customers who came today.

"The chef is out for a meeting today, but don't worry, the chef in the kitchen has been arranged. Although the chef is not here, the quality of Huiquanlou's dishes is definitely guaranteed."

He Yunqing informed every customer coming today in advance.

This honesty is understood by customers.

Some customers were curious and wanted to chat with He Yunqing.

"Chef Feng must be very busy these days, right? I heard that many meetings in the province are looking for him."

He Yunqing smiled and responded: "It is quite busy, but the chef always arranges the kitchen well to ensure that the taste of Huiquanlou's dishes remains unchanged, so that everyone will not be disappointed when they come."

"Who is the chef today? Chef Li?"

He Yunqing continued to explain with a smile: "Master Li and the others are also going to the meeting. The chef in charge of the kitchen today is Chef Gu. He was one of the top ten in the young chef cooking competition in the same year as the head chef."

I learned that it was the first provincial young chef cooking exchange competition that he participated in with Feng Zhengming.

The customers couldn't help but make some jokes: "Hahaha, this is interesting. Originally, they and Chef Feng were both young chefs. Now, Chef Feng might be their uncle, right?"

He Yunqing nodded and explained: "Originally, the head chef is also their uncle. Although the head chef may be younger than them, he is Master Yan's apprentice. In terms of seniority, he is indeed the uncle of the young chefs."

This made the customers suddenly realize.

"Oh, that's right. Chef Feng learned from Master Yan, who was their uncle from the beginning."

"So, Chef Feng is of a very high rank."

"Of course, Master Yan is one of the masters of Shandong cuisine. Chef Feng is Master Yan's apprentice, so his seniority is naturally very high."

"No wonder Chef Feng is so good at cooking. It turns out his master is Master Yan."

He Yunqing was happily chatting with customers while writing down their orders.

It must be said that when He Yunqing is around, Huiquanlou always makes customers feel comfortable. Even though they know Feng Zhengming is not at Huiquanlou today, most of the customers are still willing to have a meal.

Of course, there are some deliberate nitpicking.

"We came to Huiquanlou just for Chef Feng. Now that he's not here, let's go somewhere else."

"That's right. Now that my status is different, I don't want to cook myself anymore."

"That's right. As the top scholar in the country, he definitely can't cook easily."

Faced with a customer who is obviously finding fault.

He Yunqing was not annoyed at all.

“You may not know that Chef Feng never cooks all the dishes at Huiquan Restaurant himself. Most of the dishes are made by other chefs under the supervision of Chef Feng.

It can be said that the dishes we cook at Huiquanlou have never been considered bad by any of our customers.

If you really want to eat dishes prepared by the chef himself, you can wait until the chef is here and make a special request.

But I must remind you that if the chef makes everything himself, you may have to pay more.”

Hearing this, several customers who were deliberately finding fault became very dissatisfied.

"Why? He should be paid more for cooking?"

He Yunqing still responded without getting angry: "You just said that you came here for the chef. Since you came here for him, of course you have to pay him more."

These words left several customers speechless.

After all, it was they themselves who distinguished Feng Zhengming from other chefs.

So it is reasonable to ask them to pay more for the dishes prepared by Feng Zhengming himself.

"Humph, you are clearly deliberately using the title of the national champion to deceive people."

He Yunqing said calmly, "Did I lie to you? Didn't I tell you clearly when you came in that the chef was going to a meeting in the province today and would not be in Huiquanlou?

If you cannot accept other chefs’ cooking, you can choose not to eat at Huiquanlou today.

We will not force you to stay at Huiquanlou for dinner."

After several exchanges of words, the customer who was deliberately looking for trouble found that he had no upper hand at all.

The key is that He Yunqing always maintains a calm state.

Their attempts to provoke with words seemed utterly futile.

Moreover, it seemed that He Yunqing had seen through all their methods.

This scares away customers who are looking for trouble.

In the end, with He Yunqing handling the situation with ease, he could only leave in shame.

After several people left, He Yunqing took the initiative to apologize to other customers.

“I’m really sorry to have embarrassed everyone. The chef is not here today, so it may be a little disappointing for everyone who came here for him.

But I still want to emphasize that we will prepare the dishes of Huiquanlou carefully regardless of whether the chef is here or not.

The chefs in the kitchen will also strictly follow the chef’s instructions to ensure that the taste is not too different from what the chef makes himself.”

After He Yunqing's explanation, the customers who stayed expressed their understanding.

"Hahaha, it doesn't matter, as long as the food is delicious."

"That's right. We believe in the skills of Huiquanlou's chefs. After all, they are all trained by the top scholar himself."

"Yes, we believe that Chef Feng can definitely train a good chef."

After He Yunqing spoke frankly, most customers expressed their understanding.

The waiter also told the kitchen staff about what happened.

In the kitchen, everyone heard about what happened earlier.

I know that He Yunqing is trying his best to protect them.

They also felt somewhat grateful to He Yunqing in their hearts.

At the same time, the previous situation also inspired the fighting spirit of young chefs.

Huiquanlou is the restaurant of Feng Zhengming, the champion of the national cooking competition. Every dish is representative of Feng Zhengming.

Since they follow Feng Zhengming, they must make every dish well.

We cannot let down Feng Zhengming, the national number one scholar.

We must also maintain Huiquanlou’s current reputation.

Everyone in the kitchen had this belief, and they became more serious in the subsequent cooking process.

As the dishes are sent to the customers one by one.

After waiting for a while, I received positive feedback from customers.

Everyone in the kitchen had a smile on their face.

This smile is a smile that everyone shows for themselves from the bottom of their heart.

Feng Zhengming and his team are not in the kitchen today, but the young chefs have already prepared the dishes.

At this moment, everyone in the kitchen has grown.

They realized that Feng Zhengming brought them not only glory but also pressure.

The customers in front saw the dishes being served one by one.

They are still quite satisfied.

"Not bad! Even though the top chef is not here, the dishes in the kitchen are still well cooked."

"Yeah, every dish looks the same as if the chef is here."

“Hahaha, after all, it was Chef Feng who instructed me to do so, so I will definitely cook it seriously.”

"Try it and see if it's any different from what Chef Feng made?"

I ate the dishes prepared by the young chef in the kitchen.

It also makes customers more satisfied.

Some customers couldn't tell the difference.

“They’re all equally delicious.”

"Yeah, it tastes just as good."

"As expected, the chefs at Huiquanlou are all very good."

"That's right. If you're not very capable, you wouldn't be able to be kept in Huiquanlou by Chef Feng."

Some of them taste different.

"Well, it's a little bit worse than Chef Feng's cooking."

“It’s a little worse, but it tastes good.”

“Could it be a psychological effect?”

"No, if you have tasted Chef Feng's food, you will know the difference."

“For the same dish, there may be almost no difference in the cooking method, but different chefs will definitely have differences in the control of heat and the specific taste.”

Is it a trick to make customers who can't taste the different flavors feel mysterious?
Then a middle-aged man gave the example of stir-fried kidney.

“Looking at this stir-fried kidney, it seems that there is no difference in the method and taste, but if you have eaten Chef Feng’s stir-fried kidney, you will obviously taste that this one is a little bit older and not cooked to the best temperature.”

The other person was obviously a customer who was a good eater, as he then pointed out some minor differences in other dishes.

Many customers basically feel somewhat convinced.

Of course, this foodie customer also smiled and said at the end: "Don't worry, these dishes are not as good as Chef Feng's, but they are definitely not worse than those in restaurants and hotels outside."

This made everyone laugh, and the customers continued to clink glasses and eat happily. (End of this chapter)