From selling box lunches to becoming a famous Chinese chef

At Sixth Brother’s house in the evening.

Feng Zhengming finally slept with his sixth senior brother.

The two brothers chatted a lot about cooking and some details about Feng Zhengming's opening of the dry rice shop in Yancheng.

The next morning, when Feng Zhengming and Sixth Senior Brother got up.

I saw that Sister-in-law Liu left breakfast on the table for them.

Feng Zhengming felt a little surprised to see that his sixth sister-in-law and the children were not at home.

Zhang Minghai got up and saw Feng Zhengming was surprised, so he explained with a smile.

"Have you forgotten? The child has to go to school? Your sister-in-law also has to go to work. She is in the hotel, and she is not like me, who can go to the kitchen at around noon."

After hearing what Sixth Senior Brother said, Feng Zhengming suddenly understood.

"Yes, yes, I forgot. The children still have to go to school."

After the two brothers had breakfast together, Feng Zhengming and Zhang Minghai went out to Donglai Restaurant together.

When they arrived at the restaurant, Feng Zhengming was somewhat surprised to see.

The entrance of the restaurant was decorated overnight.

A special banner was also hung: Welcome the national top scholar Feng Zhengming.

Feng Zhengming looked at this with a dilemma.

"Sixth brother, your boss still does this?"

Zhang Minghai waved his hand: "I definitely didn't ask him to arrange this. He made the decision himself. He really knows more about this than I do. Donglai Restaurant has been responsible for many receptions and banquets in the city."

When Feng Zhengming heard this, he couldn't help but think that Hu Feng, his sixth senior brother's partner, seemed to be quite a character.

As soon as Feng Zhengming and his friends entered the restaurant, they were immediately greeted by a line of waiters in the restaurant.

Hu Feng also hurried out to personally greet Feng Zhengming again.

"Top Scholar, why don't you sleep a little longer? I haven't finished decorating here yet."

Feng Zhengming quickly stopped Hu Feng.

"No need to be so formal. I'm not a leader. I came here to see my senior brother and exchange cooking experiences with him."

Then he reminded Hu Feng, "Boss Hu, you don't have to call me the top scholar. You and my senior brother are partners, so just call me 'Zhengming' like my senior brother."

Hu Feng hesitated: "Well, you are the top scorer in the country after all."

Feng Zhengming looked at his sixth senior brother with helplessness.

"Sixth brother, it seems that Boss Hu doesn't consider me a friend. I will go back and pack my things. I will say goodbye to you now. I will leave today."

When Hu Feng heard this, he was stunned.

Then he looked at Zhang Minghai.

Zhang Minghai gave him a look.

Then he helped persuade Feng Zhengming.

"Zhengming, Lao Hu is here to welcome you. If you don't like this, then we'll have them removed. You've come to Yancheng with great difficulty, and we brothers need to exchange experiences. You can't just leave like this."

After persuading Feng Zhengming, Zhang Minghai urged Hu Feng to remove his things quickly.

"Old Hu, get everyone to retreat quickly. We are all brothers. There is no need to do this."

As a result, Hu Feng finally had his people abandon all the welcome gifts and the prepared welcome ceremony.

He himself also seriously expressed to Feng Zhengming his willingness to make friends with Feng Zhengming.

"Zhengming, I was wrong. Just like your sixth brother said, we are all brothers. I was just being arrogant and calling you 'Zhengming'."

Feng Zhengming then nodded with a satisfied smile: "That's right, I won't call you Boss Hu anymore, I'll call you Brother Hu."

Hu Feng agreed with a smile: "Okay, call me Brother Hu, it makes brothers seem closer."

Afterwards, Feng Zhengming and his sixth senior brother went to change their clothes together.

The two brothers went into the kitchen of Donglai Restaurant together.

After entering the kitchen, Feng Zhengming took a quick look around first.

"Sixth brother, shouldn't you replace the things in your kitchen? The stove and other things are too old."

Zhang Minghai nodded: "It is indeed time to change it, but now is the peak period for the restaurant business. If we change the stove or something, it will definitely delay business."

After hearing what Sixth Senior Brother said, Feng Zhengming could understand.

Then, the Sixth Brother called the apprentices and apprentices in the kitchen to meet Feng Zhengming.

Feng Zhengming had already met two of these disciples, and had been to Quancheng several times with his sixth senior brother.

In addition to the two of them, Sixth Senior Brother now has a little apprentice.

In total, I have three disciples.

The other apprentices in the kitchen were also learning from Zhang Minghai.

After meeting his apprentices and students, Zhang Minghai introduced Feng Zhengming to his two assistants in the kitchen.

Pan Jialong and Qian Gong.

"Zhengming, these two are my assistants in the kitchen. When I was not in the kitchen before, they were the ones who cooked in the kitchen. They are both very capable chefs."

Feng Zhengming smiled and greeted Sixth Senior Brother's two deputies.

"Hello, Senior Brothers. Sixth Brother told me that your cooking skills are also very good."

Feng Zhengming politely called him "Senior Brother".

This made Zhang Minghai's two deputies feel a little embarrassed.

"Mr. Feng, please don't call us senior brothers. Our cooking skills cannot compare with yours."

"Yes, Mr. Feng, we were really impressed by the dishes you prepared at the national competition."

Feng Zhengming said to the two people with a smile.

"I still have to call you senior brothers. You two are older than my sixth brother, and you must have more experience in cooking than me. If I put on airs in front of you two, my sixth brother will not agree."

After hearing this, Zhang Minghai smiled and asked his two deputies to accept the title of "senior brother".

"Zhengming is right. I usually call you brothers sometimes, so it's only natural for him to call you brothers."

Having said that, Zhang Minghai did not call his two assistant brothers afterwards.

"Old Pan, Old Qian, you've always said that you wanted to meet my junior brother. Now you've met him, right? How's it going? Do you want to fight with my junior brother at noon?"

Zhang Minghai's proposal really made Pan Jialong and Qian Gong excited.

I can compete with the top winner of the national cooking competition.

This is something many people dream of.

Pan Jialong and Qian Gong had no idea that Zhang Minghai was deliberately setting a trap for them.

The two hesitated for a moment, then nodded in agreement.

"Okay, then let Zhengming give us some pointers at noon."

"Yes, let's communicate with Zhengming."

Feng Zhengming listened to what the two said and wondered if they hadn't noticed that this was clearly a trap set by Sixth Senior Brother?

When Feng Zhengming wanted to remind him, he saw Sixth Senior Brother winking at him.

I realized that it was indeed Senior Brother Six who set up the trap on purpose.

He wanted to let his two deputies fight with Feng Zhengming so that they could understand how powerful Feng Zhengming was.

Seeing that Sixth Senior Brother was so playful, Feng Zhengming agreed.

The next period of time is the time for preparing ingredients in the restaurant's kitchen.

Feng Zhengming did not disturb them, but quietly watched the people busy in the kitchen.

When Ding Yuan, Gao Yongfu and Hou Dong came to the restaurant.

The kitchen has basically finished preparing the ingredients.

Feng Zhengming couldn't help but give some small suggestions to his sixth senior brother and the others.

"Sixth brother, you don't need to fry so much tenderloin in advance. You can use some of it first, and then prepare more when more customers come and some are consumed.

As for the Four Joy Meatballs, you don’t need to pound them so hard, just pound them until they stick to your hands. If you pound them too hard, they won’t cook well.” Feng Zhengming didn’t give any more opinions on some of the more famous seafood dishes in Yancheng.

After all, seafood is indeed one of the most famous dishes in Yancheng.

Feng Zhengming did tell his sixth senior brother some small details about how to process hairtail.

"It is best to remove the scales on the surface of the hairtail fish by wiping them with a rag. Don't use too much force. Also, after cutting it open, the black color in the abdominal cavity at the front end must be washed clean in this way."

Zhang Minghai also wrote down these points and asked his apprentices and students in the kitchen to remember them as well.

"Have you seen the standards? Follow them from now on. Don't always think about being lazy."

He took the opportunity to teach his apprentices and students a lesson.

Zhang Minghai asked his junior apprentice in a low voice: "How do you usually teach the apprentices in the kitchen? These guys are always trying to be lazy. When I teach them, they always try to skip some steps."

Feng Zhengming was amused when he heard this: "Didn't Master often tell us about this before?"

Zhang Minghai immediately looked helpless: "There is no other way. Master used to really beat me, so I can't do that now, right?"

After hearing what Sixth Senior Brother said, Feng Zhengming, as a chef who also had apprentices in the kitchen, could understand Sixth Senior Brother's difficulties.

In the past, when you were an apprentice, you had to be as diligent as possible and do more work to attract the attention of the master chefs so that they would be willing to teach you some real things.

If you perform well when being taught by the masters and are accepted as an apprentice, you will study more seriously.

But now it’s different. Many apprentices have learned something in vocational schools.

Then after entering the kitchen, they will feel that they have already learned and know everything.

So they won’t seriously ask the chef in the kitchen for advice.

You may even go into the kitchen and cook dishes the way you think they should be cooked.

Not only does he not take the initiative to find work to do, but he is also always thinking about showing off in the kitchen.

This kind of apprentice will really give all chefs a headache.

In the past, if the old masters encountered such apprentices when they were young, they would definitely take action.

Including Feng Zhengming, it can be said that all the fellow disciples had been beaten by their master.

But now, it’s just as Sixth Brother said.

After the apprentice came in, even if he did something wrong, he would no longer hit people casually like before.

If a fight really broke out, the apprentice might go to the police station and report it to the police.

Maybe the police won’t really arrest anyone when they come.

But when this kind of thing happens, it always has a bad impact on the kitchen.

This also leads to the chefs in the kitchen trying not to hit their apprentices as much as possible.

But some apprentices may just like to do things according to their own ideas.

As a result, they ruined a good dish.

It really makes the chef very angry.

Just looking at him makes me want to teach him a lesson.

Feng Zhengming had also had this feeling, so he understood the depressed mood of his sixth senior brother.

"Sixth brother, it is indeed difficult to lead apprentices nowadays, but you have always had a good personality. Just be patient and lead them slowly. Explain the principles to them clearly. I believe that the apprentices will gradually learn to be obedient."

Zhang Minghai is indeed the one with the best temper among his fellow disciples.

Among the senior brothers, the one with the worst temper is the fourth senior brother.

The next one should be the third senior brother.

The eldest senior brother almost never teaches his apprentice a lesson.

Even if the apprentice makes a mistake, the eldest brother won't even get angry. Most of the time he will clean up the mess for the apprentice and then give the apprentice a good education.

Sixth senior brother Zhang Minghai is similar to the eldest senior brother.

However, it was obvious that Sixth Brother was able to suppress his anger.

Feng Zhengming could only comfort his sixth senior brother.

Fortunately, Sixth Senior Brother also understands that teaching an apprentice requires patience.

"It's okay. I know everything. Don't worry. I'm just telling you."

When the preparations were finally completed, Zhang Minghai was very excited and prepared to arrange for his junior fellow apprentice to fight with his two deputies.

This made Zhang Minghai very excited, and he couldn't even hide the smile on his face.

When Feng Zhengming saw the look on Sixth Senior Brother's face, he felt helpless.

Ding Yuan and the other three saw this and thought Zhang Minghai was very strange.

The three of them came up to Feng Zhengming and asked curiously.

"Brother Feng, why does your brother look like something is wrong?"

"Yes, Brother Feng, your brother seems very excited."

"Is your senior brother planning to plot against us?"

When Feng Zhengming heard the three people's doubts, he was a little amused.

"Don't worry, my Sixth Brother is not trying to plot against you. He wants me to teach his two deputies a little lesson."

Before Ding Yuan and the other two could continue asking questions, they heard Zhang Minghai's two deputies starting to shout.

"Junior Brother Feng, shall we begin?"

"Yes, let's get started quickly. It's just right to make a working meal, so we can all have lunch together."

Feng Zhengming was also excited and expectant when he saw the two people.

He wondered if these two people would still be able to laugh after a while?

Zhang Minghai smiled and listed three dishes: "Okay, the three of you can come together. Let's have some osmanthus meat, some pickled cabbage, and some pickled fish slices. They are all home-cooked dishes. We will eat them at noon, so there is no need to cook a big meal."

After hearing Sixth Senior Brother mention these three dishes, Feng Zhengming felt that they were indeed not difficult.

But after thinking about it, I immediately understood what Sixth Senior Brother meant.

This is to let him cook the same dishes as chefs Pan and Qian.

Once it’s cooked, everyone in the kitchen will serve it as a staff meal.

When the time comes, everyone can try them and compare them.

Isn’t it obvious who is good and who is bad?

Feng Zhengming couldn't help but look at his sixth senior brother and smile bitterly.

It was obvious that the Sixth Brother wanted to embarrass his two deputies in front of everyone.

However, Pan Jialong and Qian Gong obviously didn't notice it.

They were clearly quite confident about their three home-cooked dishes.

The two agreed and started selecting materials.

Seeing how enthusiastic the two were, Feng Zhengming had no choice but to go over and select the materials.

I didn’t choose very good materials, I just picked a few things at random.

However, as a relatively famous restaurant in Yancheng, Donglai Restaurant prepares all kinds of food that are of excellent quality.

Especially the fish and shrimp, they are really fresh.

Looking at the fresh seafood, Feng Zhengming was still quite envious.

It’s a pity that Quancheng is not by the sea after all, so it’s not easy to get very fresh seafood.

Fortunately, the fish fillets in pickled must not be very fresh, the key is to choose fish without bones.

Yancheng naturally uses the longli fish which is easier to get from the Bohai Sea.

All three of them have chosen their materials.

Each of them stood in front of the chopping board and began to make some preparations.

Zhang Minghai also took out the wine juice that had been hung up. (End of this chapter)