From selling box lunches to becoming a famous Chinese chef

During the few days in Yicheng, Feng Zhengming not only participated in several symposiums organized in Yicheng City.

He also took a car arranged by the city and traveled to many counties and towns in Yicheng.

To the north of Yicheng is a continuous mountainous area, with the Yimeng Mountains and the Mengshan Mountain Range becoming the key obstacles to development in the mountains.

I have to say that it is quite difficult to develop this area.

In fact, it’s still the same old saying: If you want to be rich, build roads first.

However, with today’s capabilities, it may not be possible to connect these mountainous counties and towns.

So after Feng Zhengming took a look at the situation on site, he suggested that it is not advisable to raise roosters on a large scale in the mountains for the time being.

This is mainly because of the lack of access. If large-scale farming is carried out and transportation cannot keep up, it will be very troublesome.

Of course, the people in Yicheng also understand this, so they are also considering building the road first.

People in Yicheng still hope that Feng Zhengming can help attract more investment.

Feng Zhengming did not refuse and said that he would definitely help as much as possible.

I ran around Yicheng for a few days.

Feng Zhengming was indeed almost falling apart from the bumpy ride on the mountain road.

Of course he still gritted his teeth and persevered.

I visited most of the counties and towns under Yicheng.

In particular, I went to Mengyin County to learn about the situation in the county firsthand.

In the end, Feng Zhengming gave his own suggestion, which was to conduct a pilot breeding first.

"We will place them in the mountains around Mengyin and in the mountainous area north of Yicheng. If the pilot breeding is successful, we can promote it further. I will help publicize it and purchase the mountain roosters that are raised."

Feng Zhengming's words made the leaders in Yicheng City very happy.

In addition, the leaders of Yicheng City also promised to give Feng Zhengming many preferential policies.

"Don't worry, Mr. Feng. If you need any discounts, our city will help you apply for them. We guarantee that we can help you apply for all the necessary procedures, as well as the support we can provide."

Feng Zhengming responded with a smile: "Thank you for your trust, leaders. At the end of the year, there will be a provincial young chef cooking competition. I hope to see young chefs from Yicheng participating. Then we can better promote your Yicheng fried chicken."

The city leaders naturally nodded and agreed: "Okay, okay, we will definitely send the best young chefs to participate."

Feng Zhengming looked at Fu Shanfu and Xu Yong who were present: "I think Chef Fu and Chef Xu can go."

When they heard this, they looked at each other first, and then looked at Feng Zhengming together.

Feng Zhengming reminded the two again: "However, it is not enough for you to just know how to make fried chicken. You also need to learn some classic Shandong dishes. It just so happens that several people from your Yicheng Cooking Association are here. I think you should ask them for advice and learn cooking skills systematically."

The president of the Yicheng Cooking Association, named Liu Qisong, is an old chef who is over 50 years old.

He also learned cooking in Quancheng.

Feng Zhengming chatted with him and learned that the other party had worked as a chef in Jufengdeli.

So when Feng Zhengming talked with him, he felt that the other party's basic skills were quite solid.

Now Feng Zhengming asked Fu Shanfu and Xu Yong to go to the Cooking Association to study.

After hearing what Feng Zhengming said, Liu Qisong looked at Fu Shanfu and Xu Yong with a smile.

"You two bosses are welcome to come to our cooking association for exchange and learning."

Although Fu Shanfu and Xu Yong each opened their own fried chicken restaurant.

But in fact, both of them are not very old.

Xu Yong is just thirty years old.

Fu Shanfu is not even thirty years old.

Compared to the two of them, Liu Qisong could indeed be considered a senior.

After thinking for a while, Fu Shanfu suddenly stood up and walked in front of Liu Qisong.

In full view of everyone, Fu Shanfu bowed respectfully to Liu Qisong and made a request.

"Master Liu, I want to be your disciple. Are you willing to accept me as your apprentice?"

Neither Liu Qisong nor anyone else present had expected that Fu Shanfu would actually become their apprentice directly.

When Feng Zhengming saw this scene, he looked at Shanfu, a guy with a shaved head who looked like a mountain man, with a different eye.

Fu Shanfu's move can be said to be quite smart.

He became Liu Qisong's disciple and was able to enter the circle of Yicheng Cooking Association.

And this time he became Feng Zhengming's apprentice in front of him.

It will also leave a good impression on Feng Zhengming.

This will be of great help to the future development and growth of Fu Shanfu's store, especially to the improvement of his own status in the culinary industry.

Xu Yong soon followed Liu Qisong and respectfully expressed his desire to take Liu Qisong as his teacher.

This made Liu Qisong a little at a loss for a moment?

When everyone at the scene didn't know what to do.

Feng Zhengming suddenly spoke up: "President Liu, this is a good thing. These two are the chefs and bosses who represent Yicheng Fried Chicken today. President Liu, you can accept them as your apprentices and give them some more detailed guidance.

It has improved their cooking skills, which is good for the future development of Yicheng’s cooking industry, especially the inheritance of Yicheng fried chicken.”

After hearing what Feng Zhengming said, Liu Qisong felt that this was the truth.

He looked at Fu Shanfu and Xu Yong who were standing in front of him respectfully.

"I have to tell you two, if you want to be my disciple, I will be strict. You are all big bosses, but if you want to learn from me, you still have to start from the basics. You have to be able to endure the hardship."

Hearing this, Fu Shanfu said without hesitation: "Master, rest assured, I will definitely learn from you."

When Xu Yong saw Fu Shanfu's directness, he nodded and said, "Master, I will also learn from you."

Liu Qisong nodded: "Okay, you are mentally prepared, then today in front of our top scholar, I will officially accept you two as my apprentices, and I hope you will learn cooking well.

By the end of the year, I hope you two can represent Yicheng and participate in the provincial youth chef cooking competition."

Feng Zhengming stood up and asked people to help set up the venue.

Then, with everyone witnessing, Fu Shanfu and Xu Yong respectfully became Liu Qisong's disciples.

Liu Qisong later expressed his gratitude to Feng Zhengming individually.

"Thank you so much, Mr. Feng. If you hadn't come to Yicheng, the culinary industry in Yicheng might not be as united as it is now."

Feng Zhengming responded with a smile: "Master Liu, in fact, in many cases, the establishment of the Cooking Association is to unite local chefs as much as possible, so in many things, Master Liu, you have to shoulder the responsibilities that the Cooking Association should bear."

Liu Qisong nodded in agreement: "Yes, our cooking association is not doing well in this regard."

Feng Zhengming reminded Liu Qisong again: "From what I have come across, Chef Fu and Chef Xu are both very honest and sincere people, although their restaurant is already well-known in Yicheng.

Moreover, their fried chicken skills have been recognized by many people, but if they want to develop better, they need to become apprentices.

I hope you, Master Liu, can teach them well. You must also hope that they can become the representative chefs of Yicheng, right? "

Liu Qisong said with a serious face: "That's for sure. Since they have chosen me as their master, I will definitely teach them well."

After witnessing Fu and Xu becoming apprentices and arranging some matters in Yicheng, Feng Zhengming and his party set off again. This time, Feng Zhengming and his party did not continue to head west.

Instead, go north first.

From Mengyin, first go to Xintai and then enter the territory of Taicheng.

The reason for this trip was that Feng Zhengming wanted to visit Mount Tai first.

Once you enter Taicheng, you can clearly feel that there are more mountain roads.

Along the way, the group saw a different kind of mountain scenery.

Starting from Xintai, Feng Zhengming and his friends also saw many fried chicken shops in Taicheng.

But here, they don’t call it Yicheng fried chicken, but Taishan fried chicken.

Ding Yuan, Gao Yongfu and Hou Dong all found this very interesting.

"Once we are in Taicheng, they call it Taishan Fried Chicken. In Yicheng, they call it Yicheng Fried Chicken. Do other places have their own fried chicken?"

Gao Yongfu said with a smile: "We have come a long way. We have seen fried chicken in many places. It's just that there are no stores specializing in fried chicken in other places. Only Yicheng has a store specializing in fried chicken."

Hou Dong listened and thought about it carefully, and was a little surprised: "It's true. There are fried chickens in other places, but there are no stores specializing in fried chicken."

Feng Zhengming smiled and explained to the three people: "It's very simple. Although fried chicken in other places has its own local characteristics, the fried chicken in Yicheng uses different chickens.

So it was considered as a specialty of Yicheng, and Yicheng opened a store that only sells fried chicken.”

Hou Dong asked curiously: "Brother Feng, is Taishan fried chicken different from Yicheng's?"

Feng Zhengming smiled and spread his hands: "I don't know about that either. The techniques should be similar, but the taste should be different."

Then Feng Zhengming mentioned the special dishes of Taicheng.

"Actually, Taicheng also has its own specialties. Their specialty here is tofu meatballs."

The three of them were curious after hearing this. How to make tofu balls?
Feng Zhengming gave a brief explanation: "It's actually very simple. It's just tofu that's ground up, mixed with some vegetables, added with some spices, then rolled into balls again, coated with a layer of starch on the surface, and deep-fried."

After hearing what Feng Zhengming said, the three of them became even more curious and some of them wanted to try it.

After talking about this, Feng Zhengming simply took the three of them into the city of Taicheng and found a small restaurant to try the Taishan tofu meatballs and Taishan fried chicken.

Four people entered the small restaurant, and as soon as they sat down, a young woman came out to greet them.

"Hello everyone, you want to eat, right? What would you like to eat?"

The woman who greeted Feng Zhengming and the others was not tall, but her figure showed that she was quite strong.

Feng Zhengming didn't think much about it and ordered tofu meatballs and Taishan fried chicken first.

"Excuse me, are you the boss lady?"

When the woman heard this question, she nodded readily.

Feng Zhengming asked the other party to recommend two dishes.

"Then the lady boss recommended two dishes for us. Four dishes should be enough for the four of us."

The proprietress thought for a moment and recommended: "Do you four drink alcohol? If so, I recommend a smoked pig's trotter for you."

Ding Yuan immediately responded: "We don't drink."

However, Feng Zhengming immediately ordered the smoked pig's trotter: "It doesn't matter. Since the boss lady recommended it, she must be confident. Let's have the smoked pig's trotter."

The lady boss then recommended another dish: "Then let me recommend you another special dish here, fried eggs with skin."

When Feng Zhengming heard about this dish, he immediately nodded and agreed: "Okay, this dish is good, let's have this one."

The lady boss asked, "Would you like some soup? We can make a meatball soup with our homemade meatballs."

Feng Zhengming nodded again: "Okay, one more, four dishes and one soup is enough."

The lady boss no longer recommended other dishes: "Okay, the four of you wait a moment, the fried chicken will take a little longer."

Feng Zhengming responded: "It doesn't matter, we are not in a hurry."

The proprietress then went to the kitchen to start preparing.

After the proprietress left, Feng Zhengming and his friends soon discovered something strange.

Ding Yuan looked around and asked in a low voice, "Did you notice? We are the only table in this restaurant, and apart from the proprietress just now, there is not even a waiter."

Gao Yongfu and Hou Dong also nodded, they actually discovered it.

Feng Zhengming was very calm: "Didn't you notice when you walked in? This is a husband-and-wife shop. I guess the boss and his wife are the only ones busy in the kitchen right now."

Hearing this, Ding Yuan, Gao Yongfu and Hou Dong were somewhat surprised.

The three of them were very puzzled. Even if it was a husband-and-wife shop, there should be service staff, right?
After waiting for a while, it seemed that the proprietress who was busy in the kitchen remembered it.

She came out from the kitchen wearing an apron and quickly made a pot of tea for Feng Zhengming and the others.

"I'm sorry, I forgot to serve you tea."

Feng Zhengming smiled and responded: "It doesn't matter, we just need to wait for dinner, and we don't need any tea."

Then Feng Zhengming asked again: "Madam boss, are you and the boss the only ones working in this store? Although your store is not big, you should at least hire one or two waiters, right?"

The proprietress felt a little embarrassed when she heard this: "I'm sorry, we haven't hired anyone yet."

After hesitating for a while, the proprietress gave an explanation.

“This restaurant was previously run by my parents. My father passed away two years ago, and the business was passed on to me and my husband. My husband was my father’s apprentice.

He has been learning skills in the kitchen with my father, and he is a man who only knows how to work hard.

We are not very good at running a business, so as you can see, the restaurant is not doing well right now.”

After hearing what the boss lady said, Ding Yuan, Gao Yongfu and Hou Dong suddenly understood the boss lady's difficulties.

However, after hearing this, Feng Zhengming had a different judgment in his mind.

In his opinion, according to what the proprietress said, this small restaurant was left by her parents, so there should have been service staff there before.

The key is that the boss lady’s parents have been running the business for so many years, so there must be regular customers coming to eat.

So now there is not a single customer in the restaurant.

This cannot be explained by the phrase "not knowing how to run a business".

Feng Zhengming felt that there might be other inside stories behind this.

He thought that perhaps there were some problems with the dishes, which was why the restaurant's regular customers stopped coming.

Feng Zhengming and his friends waited for quite a long time.

It can be seen that the chef in the kitchen is indeed not very efficient.

It may also be because business is usually slow and many things are not prepared in advance.

This resulted in a slow serving of food.

Finally, several dishes began to be served.

The first things served were tofu meatballs, scrambled eggs with strips of skin, smoked pig's trotters, and meatball soup.

Just by taking a look at the dishes on the table, Feng Zhengming had already made his judgment. (End of this chapter)