From selling box lunches to becoming a famous Chinese chef

The three of them officially began to prepare, because Zhang Minghai's two assistants in the kitchen wanted to compete with Feng Zhengming, so naturally the three of them did not ask others to help, and they did the whole process by themselves.

After selecting the ingredients, the three people's preparations immediately began to go awry.

Pan Jialong and Qian Gong first started preparing the fish fillets in pickled wine.

Both of them were very serious about slicing the whole piece of fish into large slices.

Feng Zhengming did not process the fish fillets first. He first cut the osmanthus meat into shreds, marinated the shredded meat, sealed it with oil and set it aside.

Then Feng Zhengming started to slice the fish. He also marinated and coated the sliced ​​fish with batter, sealed it with oil and set it aside.

Feng Zhengming cut and prepared all the other side dishes and placed them neatly on the plate.

At this time, Pan Jialong and Qian Gong had already started cooking the fish fillets in fermented wine.

Feng Zhengming just finished cutting and preparing the three dishes.

This made many people in the kitchen look a little strange?
I don't quite understand why Feng Zhengming only makes a little bit of each dish? Why not make each dish one by one?

Then cut the osmanthus meat and the fish slices in fermented wine and set aside.

Feng Zhengming still didn't start cooking either of these two dishes.

He actually took the cabbage again, cut out the roots, and then used a knife to slice the cabbage stalks into thin slices one by one, and all of them were cut with a knife.

After slicing the cabbage, Feng Zhengming first cooked the cabbage with vinegar.

Then everyone in the kitchen witnessed Feng Zhengming's efficiency.

He stir-fried the pickled cabbage almost quickly.

Then quickly rinse the pot and start making the next dish, osmanthus meat.

In the eyes of everyone in the kitchen, Feng Zhengming never stopped.

Just standing in front of the stove, cooking one dish after another.

In a blink of an eye, Feng Zhengming had finished two dishes: pickled cabbage with vinegar and pork with osmanthus fragrans.

The last dish is the fish fillet in sauce.

At this time, the other two had just finished cooking the fish fillets in fermented soybean sauce and were cutting the other two dishes.

Seeing that Feng Zhengming's other two dishes were out of the pot and put on plates, he started to make the last dish, the fish fillet in spicy sauce.

This made Zhang Minghai's two assistants in the kitchen suddenly realize the gap between them.

If they want to serve food to customers without any help, their efficiency is really too slow.

Feng Zhengming first blanchs the various ingredients.

After blanching the ingredients, pour oil into another pot.

When the oil temperature reaches about 40%, start putting the fish fillets in one by one.

The well-cured fish fillets are put into the oil pan and gradually become very white and tender, floating on the surface of the oil.

When all the fish fillets turned white and floated up, Feng Zhengming poured out all the fish fillets.

Leave some oil in the pot, add the scallions and ginger first to sauté until fragrant, then add the fermented rice wine into the pot and some clear chicken broth.

After adjusting the taste, add the seasonings and fish fillets into the pot and simmer over high heat.

Finally, thicken with water starch.

When thickening, pour it into the pot and slowly spread the sauce with a spoon.

Make sure the sauce in the pot can almost cover the fish fillets and ingredients.

Finally, drizzle the scallion oil prepared in advance and serve.

When Feng Zhengming's dish of fish fillet in fermented rice wine came out of the pot, all three of his dishes were completed.

Looking at the three dishes placed on the table, everyone in the kitchen was shocked.

No one expected that Feng Zhengming's preparation process seemed very slow.

But once he really prepared something, he started doing it so quickly.

Especially the last dish of fish fillet in fermented rice wine.

The other two chefs finished their work before him, so when the three plates of fish fillets in fermented wine were put together for comparison, there was naturally a stark difference.

Feng Zhengming's plate of fish fillets in fermented rice wine has very white fillets and the soup is neither too thick nor too thin. It is paired with black fungus, green beans and bamboo shoots, making it look really fresh and beautiful.

Compared with the other two chefs’ braised fish fillets, theirs did not seem as neat as Feng Zhengming’s.

It can be clearly seen that Pan Jialong's sauce is a bit thick, and the soup is almost coagulating together.

Qian Gong’s starch was obviously too thin, and it did not hold up the soup, making the dish appear to be full of soup.

This sharp contrast made Pan Jialong and Qian Gong instantly realize their own gap.

Just with this trick of thickening the sauce, the two of them were already in trouble.

However, the two of them still finished the remaining two dishes carefully.

When each person's three dishes were placed together.

Feng Zhengming's three dishes are truly eye-catching no matter how you look at them.

It gives people a feeling of wanting to eat it just by looking at it.

I'm not going to eat it alone, I want to have two bowls of rice to eat it with.

Pan Jialong and Qian Gong looked at Feng Zhengming's three dishes. After looking at each other, they expressed their admiration to Feng Zhengming respectfully.

"Mr. Feng, we are truly impressed. Your cooking skills are truly amazing."

"Yes, these are three homely dishes, but after you cooked them, the results are completely different."

Pan Jialong added: "Seeing the dishes you cook, we can finally see that Shandong cuisine is indeed a work of art."

"Really, the dishes you cook are like works of art." Qian Gong also praised.

Feng Zhengming heard the compliments from the two and waved his hands with a smile.

"You two brothers, you don't have to be like this. I think the dishes you two cook are also very good. As for craftsmanship, as long as you are careful when cooking, you can master the details very well."

Then Feng Zhengming explained these three dishes to the two of them.

Especially when talking about the fish fillets in fermented wine, Feng Zhengming gave a lot of details.

"After the fish fillets are prepared, they must be rinsed to clean the mucus on the surface of the fish fillets, and then the fish fillets must be gently squeezed dry. This process cannot be done with too much force, but it cannot be done without force either.

Feng Zhengming also demonstrated to the two people how to use force to squeeze out the water.

Feng Zhengming also mentioned marinating fish fillets, and his suggestion was to add a little bit of fermented sauce during the marinating process.

"When marinating, you can add a little bit of fermented rice wine, which will make the fish fillet more fragrant."

Feng Zhengming's explanation was quite detailed, even including the techniques of battering and stir-frying the fish fillets, and he taught everyone in the kitchen, and repeatedly reminded them not to catch them.

After Feng Zhengming's teaching, everyone in the kitchen felt like they had learned something.

Several dishes have been prepared. In the following time, Zhang Minghai asked the front service staff to come to the kitchen to get their meals.

Everyone in the big restaurant had lunch together before opening at noon.

After eating his lunch, Hu Feng exclaimed, "He is indeed a top chef. His cooking skills are different. These are three very common dishes, but they taste so good."

The boss's words were unanimously agreed by everyone.

Whether it is the kitchen staff or the front-of-house service staff, they can taste the difference in Feng Zhengming's cooking skills.

It may be just a slight difference in seasoning, but Feng Zhengming can adjust the taste and accurately grasp everyone's taste preferences. This unique ability makes everyone, including Pan Jialong and Qian Gong, have to be convinced.

After eating, Feng Zhengming also had a conversation in a low voice with his sixth senior brother.

"Sixth brother, the taste of your rice wine is not good. For the dish of fish fillet with rice wine, you can't just use one kind of rice wine to stew the rice wine. You still have to add some other rice wines. The stewed rice wine will taste better.

It is also best to add some sugar osmanthus, so that the resulting juice will have a hint of osmanthus fragrance.

It will definitely taste better when used to marinate fish fillets and when making fish fillets in sauce later.”

These words made Zhang Minghai a little confused.

"There are so many requirements for fermented rice wine? We need to use several different types of rice wine? And we need to add sweet osmanthus? What is this method?"

Although he was surprised, Zhang Minghai realized that this must be a method created by Feng Zhengming himself.

Because when my master taught me, there was no such method for making fish fillets in wine sauce.

Moreover, in Shandong cuisine, sugared osmanthus and different types of rice wine are not often used.

Because in Shandong cuisine, rice wine is generally called southern wine.

This also shows that rice wine originated from the south.

Therefore, the technique of cooking Zaoliu in Shandong cuisine appeared very early.

But the commonly used fragrant dregs and rice wine also come from the south.

As for what Feng Zhengming said about using several different kinds of rice wine to stir the lees, it’s not that Shandong cuisine chefs in the past didn’t know how to do this, but that Shandong cuisine chefs in the past had not been exposed to too many different kinds of rice wine.

However, Zhang Minghai felt that Feng Zhengming's idea should be fine.

In particular, Feng Zhengming was quite meticulous in giving him a proportion.

Zhang Minghai felt that it might be worth a try.

Feng Zhengming also reminded Brother Six: "Before hanging the dregs, you must soak it for more than one night to allow the flavors to fully blend before you can hang the dregs."

Zhang Minghai nodded after hearing this: "I know this. We have to soak the dregs overnight first."

Then Zhang Minghai laughed again: "I still remember that when our master taught us how to make it, we didn't hang the dregs. We just diluted the dregs with rice wine and used it after sifting it."

Feng Zhengming smiled and nodded: "In the past, the method was indeed not to hang the lees in the sauce, so that the flavor of the sauce would be stronger."

"Yes, but now many people are not used to eating that way, so we still have to stir-fry it, and the resulting dish will look good."

After hearing what Sixth Senior Brother said, Feng Zhengming reminded him again.

"Sixth brother, people are more particular about food now than before. They all hope to eat beautiful and delicious dishes, so when you cook in the restaurant, you should still pay attention to this."

Zhang Minghai promised: "Don't worry, I will pay attention."

At noon, I don’t know if Hu Feng had promoted it in advance.

A lot of customers came to Donglai Restaurant.

In fact, many customers came here just for Feng Zhengming.

Obviously, the news that Feng Zhengming, the national number one scholar, was at Donglai Restaurant was leaked intentionally by Hu Feng.

Zhang Minghai was very dissatisfied with this and even went to talk to Hu Feng about it.

"Old Zhang, what are you talking about? Who is your junior brother? He is the most famous champion of the national cooking competition. He came to our place, so of course we have to promote him."

Without waiting for Zhang Minghai to reply, Hu Feng expressed it very seriously.

"Lao Zhang, we run a restaurant, so we definitely want the restaurant to do well. Now that your junior brother, the top scholar, has come, we must of course promote it. After he leaves, others will also know that our Donglai Restaurant is related to your junior brother.

Our business will definitely be good in the future. As long as you keep your craftsmanship up, we will definitely make more money."

Zhang Minghai hesitated for a moment after hearing what Hu Feng said.

But he still said seriously: "I don't want to use my junior brother's reputation to cheat money."

Hu Feng looked incredulous: "How is this a scam? Just tell me if he is here. I didn't say that he must have cooked the dish. I just wanted to let others know that you are his senior brother."

Zhang Minghai was still quite stubborn: "No, we can't promote it like this. It's not fair to use Zhengming's reputation like this."

Just when Zhang Minghai and Hu Feng were about to get into an argument.

Feng Zhengming found the two people.

"It's okay, Sixth Brother. I think what Brother Hu did is a good thing. Since I'm in Yancheng, it's not like I can't see anyone. It's okay for him to promote me in your restaurant. Sixth Brother, you just need to ensure your cooking skills are good.

With Brother Hu's promotion, I believe your restaurant's business will be better, and you can make more money in the future."

When Hu Feng saw Feng Zhengming coming over, he originally thought that Feng Zhengming would also stop him from using his name for publicity.

I didn't expect Feng Zhengming to be so open-minded and have no objection to using his name for publicity.

After being stunned for a moment, Hu Feng came to his senses and quickly thanked Feng Zhengming.

"Thank you, Zhengming. I shouldn't have used your name to promote the product without informing you. I'm really sorry."

Hu Feng's attitude was still quite sincere.

Feng Zhengming waved his hand: "It doesn't matter. Since I'm here to see my sixth brother, of course I hope that his business will get better and better and gain more recognition."

Having said that, Feng Zhengming suddenly changed the subject.

"But Brother Hu, your big restaurant still depends on my Sixth Brother. Shouldn't you give me some more shares? Maybe I can invest some more in the future and expand the restaurant."

After hearing what Feng Zhengming said, Hu Feng was stunned.

He thought about it and realized that Feng Zhengming was waiting for him here.

The reason why Feng Zhengming was willing to let Hu Feng use his name for publicity.

He wanted Hu Feng to give Zhang Minghai some more shares.

Moreover, Feng Zhengming directly stated that he might consider investing in the restaurant in the future to expand it.

He could invest in the restaurant and expand it, which meant that he could also work with Zhang Minghai on his own to open another restaurant in Yancheng as part of their fellow apprenticeship, completely getting rid of Hu Feng.

This immediately sounded the alarm for Hu Feng.

He also realized that today's promotion would indeed help the restaurant business better.

But at the same time, the restaurant will become more dependent on Zhang Minghai.

Hu Feng thought about it carefully and realized that after going through all this, he seemed to have become a worker.

Feng Zhengming saw that Hu Feng remained silent.

He grinned and said, "Hahaha, don't be nervous, Brother Hu. I have no intention of poaching Sixth Brother. Besides, Sixth Brother's family was able to buy a house in Yancheng and send their children to school in the city, all thanks to Brother Hu's help.

I think Sixth Brother will not easily leave Donglai Restaurant, nor will he easily break up with his friend, Brother Hu."

Hu Feng understood that Feng Zhengming was warning him.

In the past few years, Hu Feng did bully Zhang Minghai because he was honest.

In name, he made Zhang Minghai a partner of the restaurant.

However, Hu Feng did not sign a contract with Zhang Minghai, nor did he give Zhang Minghai clear shares, nor did he offer Zhang Minghai any dividends from the restaurant's business.

He just gave Zhang Minghai a lot of salary increase and gave him a three-bedroom house.

These are obviously not equal to Zhang Minghai's value in the Yancheng culinary industry.

Feng Zhengming was reminding Hu Feng to take out the things that should be given to the sixth brother. (End of this chapter)