From selling box lunches to becoming a famous Chinese chef

Jiang Chengzhe was originally upstairs, listening to Feng Zhengming talk a lot about lobster cooking.

He thought he could see lobsters at Huiquanlou.

He also thought that if he had the chance, he would show off his lobster making skills.

What Jiang Chengzhe didn't expect was that the kitchen of Huiquanlou didn't prepare any lobster at all.

This made him very confused at first?

Feng Zhengming knew his doubts and explained with a smile: "We don't produce lobsters in the Qilu Peninsula. Usually, the lobsters here need to be ordered in advance and brought from the south."

These words made Jiang Chengzhe suddenly understand.

"Oh, I forgot about that."

Jiang Chengzhe couldn't help feeling a little anxious when he saw that there were no lobsters for him to show off his skills.

“Is there any seafood I can cook?”

Feng Zhengming smiled and asked, "How about you make a sea cucumber?"

"Don't." Jiang Chengzhe declined without a second thought, "I admit that your Shandong cuisine chefs are the best at making sea cucumbers. I really can't compare to them."

Hearing Jiang Chengzhe's words, everyone in the kitchen felt very proud.

That’s right, as a Shandong cuisine chef, if you can’t cook sea cucumber well, how can you call yourself a Shandong cuisine chef?

Feng Zhengming smiled and thought about it, then ordered some seafood for Jiang Chengzhe.

"We also have large prawns from the Bohai Bay, as well as squid, sea bass, and knife fish..."

Jiang Chengzhe immediately interrupted Feng Zhengming: "Do you still have knife fish?"

Feng Zhengming quickly explained: "It's not the knife fish you mentioned. The knife fish here is actually hairtail fish, which is also a specialty of our Bohai Bay."

Jiang Chengzhe suddenly realized: "Oh, it's hairtail. I've also heard from Master and the others that the hairtail here is really great."

Feng Zhengming led Jiang Chengzhe to the freezer where the hairtail was stored.

"Look, they are all Bohai knives. The knives used in Huiquanlou are definitely the best."

Jiang Chengzhe looked at the hairtail in the freezer and couldn't help but sigh: "It's so beautiful."

Feng Zhengming asked: "How about you show off your cooking skills tonight? Grill some hairtail?"

Jiang Chengzhe thought for a moment and muttered: "Hairtail? Braised in red sauce? Braised in yellow sauce? Braised in yellow sauce? And fried in oil?"

After thinking for a while, Jiang Chengzhe refused again: "No, no, I feel like I can't make anything with those methods of making hairtail. Do you have any other options?"

Feng Zhengming thought about it and suddenly remembered something that Jiang Chengzhe might be suitable for doing.

"If you hadn't mentioned it, I would have forgotten that there is also a batch of yellow croaker and a batch of swimming crabs arriving today. Do you want to choose one?"

As he spoke, Feng Zhengming showed both of them to Jiang Chengzhe to choose from.

Jiang Chengzhe was also a little surprised when he saw the big yellow croaker.

"Wow, Zhengming, your Huiquan Restaurant has so many good things. You even have big yellow croaker?"

Feng Zhengming asked with a smile: "Why? Do you want to make us a dish of yellow croaker in soup?"

When Jiang Chengzhe heard this, he immediately said with a smile: "You should ask Brother Bao to cook this dish."

Feng Zhengming asked curiously: "Long Kunbao? Can he really make yellow croaker soup?"

Jiang Chengzhe nodded: "He can cook. You have seen the movie, right? In fact, many of the dishes in the movie were designed by him and Uncle Dai Long."

Feng Zhengming couldn't help but find it quite interesting.

Since I came to this era, some people have changed.

When he met Long Kunbao at the national cooking competition, he was a little curious about his identity.

I found out later in a private conversation.

It turns out that Long Kunbao and Dai Long are real chefs here.

When filming that movie, Long Kunbao was invited to participate, and he was also the chef for many dishes in the movie. Together with Dai Long, he designed a lot of dishes for the movie.

Knowing this, Feng Zhengming had an interesting feeling of the overlap between movie and reality.

Feng Zhengming smiled and asked again: "Didn't you learn from Brother Bao?"

Jiang Chengzhe shook his head: "That dish is not easy to learn. A lot of the cooking process was omitted in the movie. In fact, it takes a lot of effort to make that dish once."

Feng Zhengming expressed his opinion on the dish.

"I don't think that dish is that difficult. I think the dish they designed in the movie probably doesn't taste that good. It's just for aesthetics. If I were to make it, I would probably improve it a little bit."

Jiang Chengzhe immediately urged: "Okay, I'll go back and tell Brother Bao and let you guys come back for a PK."

Feng Zhengming did not refuse, but changed the subject.

"Okay, what are you going to cook tonight? If you don't want to cook the yellow croaker, then the only thing left is the swimming crab."

This time Jiang Chengzhe was no longer picky.

"Okay, then we'll have swimming crabs. I'll make you some stir-fried swimming crabs with green onions tonight."

Feng Zhengming didn't bother to be polite with Jiang Chengzhe and handed him an apron: "Okay, I'll leave the swimming crab to you."

Jiang Chengzhe also didn't bother to be polite with Feng Zhengming. He took the apron and put it on.

Wearing an apron, Jiang Chengzhe went to open the box containing swimming crabs.

Take a few swimming crabs from it.

Normally, these swimming crabs are used to make lotus crabs in the kitchen of Huiquanlou.

Ever since the provincial reception dinner, Feng Zhengming put lotus crab on the menu.

Soon, lotus crab became a signature dish of Huiquanlou.

Of course, this dish is not cheap.

So even though it is one of the signature dishes, basically few customers sitting in the hall order it.

However, this just meets the psychological needs of some guests who have booked private rooms upstairs.

This dish quickly became one of the almost must-order dishes in the private room.

Feng Zhengming probably knew how to make the stir-fried swimming crab with green onions that Jiang Chengzhe wanted to make.

You should first disassemble the swimming crab, but not remove the crab meat like you do with the lotus crab.

Instead, chop the crab into small pieces together with the crab shell, dip the cut surface in flour and fry it in a pan.

After frying, simply stir-fry with green onion and ginger.

The preparation method is indeed not as complicated as that of lotus crab.

However, the stir-fry method with green onions can retain the freshness of the swimming crab to the greatest extent. Combined with the onion fragrance of green onions, it is also a very delicious stir-fry.

Jiang Chengzhe did exactly what Feng Zhengming had envisioned.

He quickly rinsed the swimming crabs on the water table.

Next, open the crab shell, trim some edges and corners, and remove the crab's mouth and the gills inside.

Finally, chop the swimming crab into pieces, sprinkle some flour on the cut surface and fry them in a pan.

The other people in the kitchen thought Jiang Chengzhe's cooking was a bit too unrefined.

Jiang Chengzhe doesn't care about other people's opinions.

He probably guessed what everyone was thinking and explained with a smile: "This method is a common method at the seaside."

After the swimming crabs are fried, Jiang Chengzhe uses the little oil left in the pan to stir-fry the scallions and ginger.

Then put the fried swimming crabs into the pot, add cooking wine, and start stir-frying.

Add some salt and a very little sugar, and finally put the green onions into the pot, stir-fry together, then remove from the pot and serve.

Everyone in the kitchen looked at each other in bewilderment. They all thought that Jiang Chengzhe's method was a little too simple.

Jiang Chengzhe finished it and said to everyone with a smile: "Come on, everyone, try it."

Seeing that no one was moving, Feng Zhengming took the initiative to step forward and take the lead.

"Okay, let's try them all. I think Azhe's method should be good too."

Led by Feng Zhengming, everyone picked a piece to try.

The surface of the swimming crab is covered with fried juice.

When they sucked it with their mouths, everyone in the kitchen immediately felt that it tasted really good.

It's just a very simple and plain salty and fresh taste.

But the aroma of green onions combined with the freshness of the swimming crab itself really makes this dish delicious enough.

Even so, there isn't much meat to eat from a piece of swimming crab.

But sucking and chewing the crab shell also makes people feel a unique flavor.

Feng Zhengming saw that everyone was eating with gusto.

"How is it? It seems like everyone likes the taste."

After this question was asked, everyone in the kitchen suddenly came to their senses.

After looking at the swimming crabs in their hands, they all admitted that it tasted really good when cooked this way.

Gu Zhicheng spoke first: "It tastes great, with the aroma of green onions and the freshness of the swimming crab. It doesn't need too much seasoning. It tastes great like this."

Others also agreed and thought that the dish was indeed well cooked.

Seeing everyone praising him, Jiang Chengzhe also smiled.

"Thank you for your praise. I am very happy that everyone likes what I do."

Feng Zhengming glanced at the time and it was almost time for dinner.

He announced decisively: "Okay, it's almost time for dinner. Everyone, get ready. Let's eat first. After dinner, we will use our cooking skills to conquer all diners."

Everyone in the kitchen responded immediately in unison.

Then everyone went to prepare their own work meals.

Jiang Chengzhe saw the atmosphere in the kitchen.

Especially after hearing Feng Zhengming's words, he suddenly felt like he was reading a comic book.

"Zhengming, you know what? What you just said reminded me of an animation adapted from a comic book. At the end, they said they were going to conquer the national competition."

Feng Zhengming smiled and asked, "Slam Dunk?"

Jiang Chengzhe nodded immediately: "Yes, Slam Dunk, Zhengming, you have also watched it?"

Feng Zhengming replied: "Of course I have seen it. Many children are watching it now."

Jiang Chengzhe was suddenly excited: "In our area, we all read comic books at first, and then we made animations. Many children and adults who have read comics really liked it."

Feng Zhengming responded with a smile; "It is indeed a very good and passionate cartoon."

As the two were chatting, Xia Hui came over and prepared to invite Feng Zhengming and the others to have dinner together.

Hearing the two talking about cartoons, she couldn't help but feel curious.

"What cartoons? How old are you, Chef? Still watching cartoons?"

Feng Zhengming turned his head and looked at Xia Hui: "How old are you to be able to watch cartoons?"

Jiang Chengzhe quickly agreed, "That's right, a man is a boy until he dies."

Xia Hui pouted: "My brother and his friends have been watching some cartoons recently. My brother even learned some lines from the cartoon, saying something like "Coach, I want to play basketball."

Hearing Xia Hui say this, Feng Zhengming and Jiang Chengzhe were immediately amused.

Feng Zhengming smiled and explained to Xia Hui earnestly: "It's not a bad cartoon. On the contrary, it's a cartoon that makes people positive and optimistic."

Jiang Chengzhe nodded: "Yes, cartoons are very inspiring."

But it is obvious that Xia Hui is still not interested in cartoons.

Feng Zhengming was somewhat looking forward to it.

If another food cartoon appears in the future, will Xia Hui be attracted after watching it?
Then Feng Zhengming and Jiang Chengzhe went over to eat, and they were still talking about cartoons while eating.

Soon, some young apprentices in the kitchen also joined in.

They also watched the cartoon and liked it very much.

In the end, even Li Huidong couldn't help but interrupt.

"Is it the cartoon about basketball? My son watches it every day after he finishes his homework."

Then Li Huidong looked at Feng Zhengming and Jiang Chengzhe.

"How old are you two? Are you still watching cartoons like other kids?"

When Xia Hui heard what Master Uncle said, she immediately agreed: "That's right, Master Uncle, it's not appropriate for you to watch cartoons at your age."

Feng Zhengming could only seriously explain the general plot of the animation to his senior brother, Xia Hui, and other people in the kitchen.

After listening to Feng Zhengming's general narration, especially the part where he omitted the funny parts and also omitted the love plot.

Just talking about the process of learning basketball, hard training, and teamwork, the Xiangbei team made it to the national competition step by step.

The eldest brother, the fifth brother, Xia Hui, and the young chefs and apprentices in the kitchen who had never seen them before were all moved by his words.

Cao Zhiguo sighed: "This is really a great cartoon, going from not knowing how to do something to learning it, and then going through constant training and growing up through setbacks.

It’s exciting to finally become the backbone of the team and lead the team to the national competition.”

Gu Zhicheng looked at Feng Zhengming and pointed out: "No wonder the chef likes you. It feels like you are a character in a cartoon, step by step entering the national competition and finally winning the first prize."

Feng Zhengming smiled and shook his head: "No, it's not enough for me to become the top chef in the country. If we follow the plot of the animation, one day, our entire kitchen team will become the best chef team in the country."

These words immediately made everyone in the kitchen even more excited.

Everyone was encouraged.

The desire to follow Feng Zhengming and become the best chef team in the country was ignited in my heart.

Even Jiang Chengzhe was moved by Feng Zhengming's repeated words.

He was filled with the urge to join Feng Zhengming's team.

Even Xia Hui, who had always been dissatisfied with her brother watching cartoons, was influenced by Feng Zhengming's words. She decided to take some time to watch the cartoon that her uncle and brother liked.

Qi Jiale suddenly sighed at this time: "It would be great if there was a cartoon about our chefs."

Feng Zhengming almost blurted out, "It's true."

But then I think about it, that cartoon hasn’t come out yet.

He just smiled and said, "I believe there will be one in the future. Maybe it will become a cartoon loved by children and adults all over the country, just like Slam Dunk."

Jiang Chengzhe suddenly spoke up: "I think we can ask Hong Kong's cartoonists to create a comic based on your experience. I believe it will definitely be very exciting."

Everyone in the kitchen looked at Jiang Chengzhe and asked in unison, "What is a comic?"

Jiang Chengzhe explained to everyone what comics are.

After hearing the explanation, Xia Hui was the first to agree with Jiang Chengzhe's previous proposal.

"That's right. Let your Hong Kong cartoonist make a comic based on Master Uncle's story. It will definitely be very good."

Everyone in the kitchen started to cheer and agree.

Feng Zhengming could only wave his hands, indicating that his achievements were not worth the hype or even being made into a cartoon. (End of this chapter)