From selling box lunches to becoming a famous Chinese chef

Feng Zhengming and Gao Fengyi followed the owner of the small restaurant into their kitchen.

The kitchen of the small restaurant is not big, but the stove is fully equipped.

Feng Zhengming looked at him carefully and couldn't help but look back at Gao Fengyi.

"Brother Gao, I think the boss's kitchen is better than the hotel's kitchen?"

Gao Fengyi could only smile bitterly after hearing what he said.

But he still helped the hotel to get some of the money back.

"It can't be helped. After all, the hotel's kitchen serves both Chinese and Western food, as well as dishes from different regions of China, so it looks a bit messy. Unlike the kitchen here, which only has a two-burner stove, a countertop, a sink, and a barbecue grill."

Feng Zhengming knew that Gao Fengyi was trying to help the hotel make up for the loss.

To be honest, the customers the hotel needs to deal with are more complicated.

It is indeed a bit cumbersome to have all kinds of cuisines gathered together in the kitchen.

However, some areas in the hotel kitchen still seem a bit too messy due to lack of coordination.

Feng Zhengming did not comment further. He first selected a few green onions and scallions from the boss's kitchen.

I also took a piece of ginger and a handful of peeled garlic.

When preparing to make it, Feng Zhengming first introduced the fried scallion oil to the boss.

"If you have time, you can fry some fried shallot oil in advance. You can also prepare some garlic oil for frying golden garlic in advance. Both shallot oil and garlic oil are great when you cook seafood."

Gao Fengyi nodded: "Yes, onion oil and garlic oil are definitely used when cooking seafood. If you want your seafood to be unique and popular with customers, you have to prepare these things in advance."

When Feng Zhengming fries scallion oil, he first fries the green onions until they turn brown and then removes them from the frying pan.

Next, add scallions and ginger slices to the oil.

Because time did not permit, Feng Zhengming fried the scallions in slices.

This way the flavor of the green onions can be released more easily.

After frying for a while, the kitchen was filled with the rich and tempting aroma of onions.

The owner of the seafood restaurant learned it immediately.

Feng Zhengming fried the green onions and then cleaned the yellow croaker he had bought.

The main thing is to clean the internal organs and make some cuts on both sides of the yellow croaker.

Add a little bit of salt to give it a base flavor.

The next step is for Feng Zhengming to lightly grill the yellow croaker over the charcoal fire in the oven.

Then use scallion oil to fry the yellow croaker on both sides.

After coloring, Feng Zhengming used a spatula to place the yellow croaker on the edge of the pot.

Then add the garlic, onion and ginger into the pan and stir-fry. After the aroma comes out, add rice wine and soy sauce.

As the aroma of rice wine and soy sauce evaporates, add water to the pot and slowly push the yellow croaker back into the water.

The amount of water is just enough to cover the yellow croaker.

Just season it with simple salt and sugar, and add the green onions that were fried earlier into the pot.

Cover the pot and slowly cook the big yellow croaker.

Feng Zhengming smiled and looked at the boss Gao Fengyi and said, "The ingredients here are still the best. Good ingredients don't need too many complicated seasonings. Simple salt, sugar and soy sauce are enough."

Gao Fengyi agrees with this very much: "Yes, the better the ingredients, the simpler the seasoning is. However, it still needs to be well seasoned to be delicious."

The boss asked curiously, "Feng Zhuangyuan, why do you want to grill the fish first?"

Feng Zhengming smiled and replied: "It's very simple. Just add a little bit of barbecue flavor to the fish, and the taste of the fish will be a little different."

Then the boss looked at the pot and asked, "Do you keep the lid on the pot?"

Feng Zhengming nodded: "Yes, cover the pot and cook it slowly over low heat until the soup starts to thicken."

There is no need to open the lid of the pot to check. Feng Zhengming can accurately calculate the time to open the lid based on the smell and movement in the pot.

When the lid of the pot was opened, the soup inside had indeed thickened a lot.

Feng Zhengming first took out the scallion segments, ginger and onion from the pot.

Then take the scallion segments that were only slightly fried before and put them into the pot.

When the soup was completely thickened, the boss quickly brought Feng Zhengming a large plate.

Slowly push the fish from the pan onto a plate.

Feng Zhengming heated the scallion oil in a clean small pot.

Finally, drizzle some hot oil over the fish.

The boss couldn't help drooling when seeing this large yellow croaker braised with green onions.

Just by smelling the aroma of onions, the boss felt like he could have a bowl of rice.

Feng Zhengming squatted down with the fish in his hand and asked the boss with a smile: "Boss? How about I leave a piece for you?"

The boss almost subconsciously wanted to agree, but when the words were about to come out of his mouth, he came to his senses and quickly waved his hand to refuse.

"No, no, no, how can I do that? You guys should eat this dish. I think this plate and this fish are not enough for you. I'll prepare a few more dishes for you to eat with your wine."

Feng Zhengming said without hesitation: "Okay, thank you for troubling me, boss."

Gao Fengyi also reminded with a smile: "Give me a plate of spicy clams, that goes well with wine."

The boss immediately agreed: "Okay, okay, I'll get it for you right away."

Wait for Feng Zhengming and Gao Fengyi to come out with the fish.

When the fish was placed on the table, the aroma alone immediately attracted everyone.

Feng Jiandong looked at the braised yellow croaker with green onions on the plate.

"As expected, our top scholar has to take action."

Ding Yuan echoed, "Brother Feng's moves are different."

Gao Yongfu smelled it and exclaimed: "It smells so good."

Hou Dong swallowed his saliva and said, "This scallion-fried yellow croaker is so delicious."

Feng Zhengming called out to everyone: "Alright, alright, stop praising, hurry up and eat and try it."

Naturally, everyone picked up their chopsticks.

Gao Fengyi picked up a piece of fish and also picked up a piece of scallion from the plate.

Then put the scallion segments and fish into your mouth.

The aroma of green onions combined with the tenderness of the fish made Gao Fengyi really enjoy this bite.

“It’s delicious. It’s really delicious.”

Everyone present thought that the scallion-braised yellow croaker was delicious.

The boss served some of the remaining seafood on the table and even ordered a plate of spicy clams for Feng Zhengming and his friends.

The boss blanched the clam shells and threw them away, leaving the entire plate filled with clam meat.

This makes the meal very comfortable for everyone.

This seafood meal just after arriving in the island city made everyone very satisfied.

In the end, just as the boss said, we didn’t have enough of the braised yellow croaker with green onions.

Ding Yuan, Gao Yongfu and Hou Dong even shared the soup with rice and ate it all.

After finishing the meal, Feng Zhengming and his friends said goodbye to the boss, who did not charge them a penny.

Even if Feng Zhengming and Gao Fengyi insisted on giving money.

The boss also refused to take their money.

"I can't charge you. You two chefs taught me a lot tonight. If I charge you again, what will I become? If I can really make the seafood taste better in the future, I will ask you two chefs to give me some advice then."

After hearing this, Feng Zhengming and Gao Fengyi did not force the boss to collect the money.

After all, they buy the raw materials themselves in the market.

The boss won’t charge much for processing the product.

After walking out of the seafood market, Gao Fengyi said goodbye to Feng Zhengming and others.

"Zhengming, I'm going back first. You guys should have a good rest tomorrow and have some fun in the island city. I'll come find you the day after tomorrow."

Feng Zhengming asked with a smile: "Senior Brother Gao, you want to see me the day after tomorrow. Are you asking me to go to the meeting of your cooking association?"

"Hahaha, of course. A top scholar like you is here, and you are the vice president of the Provincial Cooking Association. You are the superior of our Municipal Cooking Association anyway. We will definitely ask you to give us some guidance on our work."

Hearing Gao Fengyi say this, Feng Zhengming looked helpless: "Senior Brother Gao, I'm really not good at giving instructions."

Gao Fengyi still insisted: "It doesn't matter, it's just a small meeting, you can just talk casually, we will treat you to a meal at noon, and in the afternoon, we will ask you, the top scholar, to really guide our young chefs."

Without waiting for Feng Zhengming to speak, Gao Fengyi lowered his voice and said, "Isn't the end-of-year Young Chef Competition about to start? Give them some pointers."

Hearing this, Feng Zhengming felt a little helpless, but he could only nod and agree.

"Okay, see you the day after tomorrow."

Gao Fengyi saw that Feng Zhengming agreed, and immediately nodded with a smile: "Okay, see you the day after tomorrow."

Watching Gao Fengyi leave, Feng Zhengming couldn't help but sigh: "My Senior Brother Gao is indeed a capable person."

Uncle San echoed beside him, "He is indeed a capable person. He is in charge of the restaurants and chefs in the island city. He has a lot of management experience."

Feng Zhengming looked at his uncle: "He is not only good at management, but also has great cooking skills."

Luo Qing was a little curious when she heard this: "Is he really a great cook? I haven't heard much about him."

Feng Zhengming nodded. "He is a native of Daocheng, but he first went to Yancheng Fushan to learn cooking, then he went to Zibo City Boshan to learn cooking, and finally he also went to Quancheng to learn cooking from a master. It can be said that he really mastered the three major branches of Shandong cuisine."

Ding Yuan, Gao Yongfu and Hou Dong exclaimed: "So amazing?"

Seeing that everyone was a little surprised, Feng Zhengming knew that no one knew Gao Fengyi.

Many people may think that Gao Fengyi is better at management and cooking theory.

After all, Gao Fengyi participated in the writing of some cooking textbooks and recipes.

However, Feng Zhengming knew that Gao Fengyi's craftsmanship was truly amazing.

Gao Fengyi can cook many dishes that are not common nowadays.

At this time, Uncle San suddenly thought of something about Gao Fengyi.

"By the way, I heard that there is a seafood restaurant in Island City that was jointly opened with a wealthy businessman from Hong Kong City. It seems that he is the consultant sent by Island City."

Feng Zhengming nodded: "That's right. In Island City, only Senior Brother Gao can compete with the chef from Hong Kong City."

After talking with Gao Fengyi, Feng Jiandong was very tactful and asked Ding Yuan, Gao Yongfu and Hou Dong to leave first.

Leave some time for Feng Zhengming and Luo Qing to be alone.

Let the two of them stroll along the beach in the island city.

The two walked hand in hand towards the beach of the island city and strolled on the beach.

Although it was already night, the beach was still very lively.

There were also many people playing and having fun on the beach.

There were even people singing and dancing.

Feng Zhengming took Luo Qing by the hand as they walked and looked around. Neither of them spoke a word. They quietly enjoyed this night which was a little noisy but very refreshing for them.

After walking for a while, Luo Qing spoke first.

"You look a lot thinner. Is it hard to walk all this way?"

When Feng Zhengming heard Luo Qing's words, he pulled her into his arms.

"It was really hard on this journey. Several of us wore out several pairs of shoes. Fortunately, we were well prepared, otherwise we might not even have shoes when we got to the island city."

Hearing this, Luo Qing immediately looked at the shoes on Feng Zhengming's feet.

"Are your current shoes okay? How about we go buy a few more pairs tomorrow?"

I saw Luo Qing panicking and staring at her shoes.

Feng Zhengming couldn't help but find her concerned look very cute.

"Okay, don't worry, this pair of shoes is new and can be worn for a while. There's no need to rush to buy new ones."

Luo Qing still felt uneasy after hearing this: "Why don't we buy two pairs for you to take with you?"

Feng Zhengming waved his hand: "No, it's better for us to travel light."

Then, without waiting for Luo Qing to speak, Feng Zhengming began to tell her about the interesting things he encountered along the way.

Luo Qin quickly listened to it and was very interested.

She found that Feng Zhengming had traveled to so many places along the way and had seen so many interesting things.

Of course, in addition to interesting things, Feng Zhengming also witnessed some poverty in the mountainous areas along the way.

Some villages and towns are still very backward.

When listening to Feng Zhengming talking about this, Luo Qing felt somewhat sad.

The domestic economy is indeed developing better and better now, but there are still many areas that have not been developed, and this will still take a long time.

Feng Zhengming then told Luo Qing some of his insights along the way.

"When you do business with Uncle San, you must remember one thing: simply competing with low prices is not a long-term solution. We must create our own brand and make others accept and recognize our brand.

Only when others accept and recognize our brand will you have more advantages and be more confident when doing business with others.

This is just like when I was on this trip, when others knew that I was the national cooking champion, they all treated me with courtesy.

This identity of mine is also my brand, which is what I rely on to give orders to some restaurants and hotels.”

Luo Qing listened and nodded: "Grandpa Situ also said that we should not just think about small profits but quick turnover, but should pay more attention to quality and brand."

Feng Zhengming agreed with a smile: "After all, Grandpa Situ has been abroad for many years, so he still understands the rules of foreign countries very well."

The two chatted about business for a while, and Feng Zhengming suddenly asked: "You have been away for so long, how is your family? Are your parents in good health? And your brother, is he studying hard?"

Luo Qing immediately smiled and replied, "My parents are in good health, but they always urge us to get married as soon as possible. My brother has really changed his personality and is now studying very seriously. My uncle saw that he was very serious and helped him find some maintenance jobs so that he could practice."

After hearing this, Feng Zhengming was quite impressed with Luo Wenhan's performance.

"Your brother is actually quite smart, but he just didn't show it before. Now that he has found something he likes, I believe he will get better and better in the future."

Feng Zhengming also asked about the situation of Luo Qing's uncle and aunt.

Luo Qing's uncle will return to Quancheng at the end of the year, so he probably won't have to travel around anymore.

"My uncle is about to retire, so he probably won't be traveling around anymore. He and my aunt can be together every day."

Feng Zhengming laughed when he heard this: "That's great, uncle and aunt should get together more often."

Luo Qing also told Feng Zhengming about the situation of Grandpa Feng and Grandpa Situ, as well as some information about the two dry rice restaurants in Quancheng and Huiquanlou.

Although Feng Zhengming is not in Quancheng, the three stores are operating very smoothly. (End of this chapter)