From selling box lunches to becoming a famous Chinese chef

Feng Zhengming himself has the support of the province, and also receives support from various Kong research institutes and associations.

Naturally, his entire set of rules for hanging up the signature dishes of Confucius Mansion cuisine was easily implemented successfully.

Among them, Feng Zhengming pushed the Xia family forward and made it a cooking training point for Confucius cuisine, which was naturally approved.

After all, in terms of craftsmanship, the Xia family’s Confucius Mansion cuisine is truly unmatched.

As for the decoration and interior layout of restaurants and hotels that wanted to serve Confucius cuisine, people from some research institutes and associations present discussed and came up with a feasible plan.

Feng Zhengming did not participate too much in this aspect, and instead let people who knew the business do the work.

Feng Zhengming just gave a very simple opinion.

"Whether it's decoration or interior layout, it must be doable. It can't be too luxurious just for the sake of restoration, but it can't be too casual in decoration and interior layout either."

Feng Zhengming's suggestion set the tone for restaurants and hotels serving Confucius cuisine.

As for the subsequent inspection of existing restaurants and hotels that serve Confucius cuisine.

Feng Zhengming was not prepared to participate at all. After he formulated the rules, he left the rest of the work to the provincial and local governments.

The meeting lasted for about four days.

During the meeting, Feng Zhengming had already asked Master Xia to make some preparations at the Xia family's Shili Restaurant.

After the fourth day's meeting was over, Feng Zhengming and Master Xia invited everyone to dinner at Shili Restaurant in the evening.

"The chef tonight is our Master Xia. I am here to help Master Xia. The reason why we arranged this meal at Shili Restaurant is that we want you to witness with your own eyes what Confucius Mansion cuisine should be like."

This statement left everyone at the meeting with no way to refute it.

Master Xia has long been a well-known master in the province.

Feng Zhengming is now the top winner of the national cooking competition.

The cooperation between the old and the young is absolutely rare.

Moreover, the cooperation between the old and the young is enough to convince everyone.

In the afternoon, Feng Zhengming and Master Xia entered the kitchen of Shili Restaurant together.

Several dishes prepared by Master Xia are considered to be quite famous.

For example, scallops going to court, ginkgo biloba with poetry and etiquette, Confucius Mansion imitation bear paw, Confucius Mansion grilled fish fillet, Confucius Mansion roasted mandarin fish in a flower basket, first-class tofu, Confucius Mansion first-class hot pot, carp in arms, braised shark fin, etc.

It can be said that Master Xia also brought out the Xia family's unique skills for this dinner.

A lot of ingredients need to be prepared in advance.

There are many dishes that you probably wouldn’t be able to order when you normally dine at Shili Restaurant.

Because many of the dishes are really challenging for the chef’s skills.

For example, the actual method of cooking the dish "embracing carp" has long been lost.

The dish that Master Xia and his team revived originally consisted of two carps, one large and one small, which were braised separately and then placed together on a plate.

But there are also rumors that the original way to cook this dish was to stuff small carp into the belly of a big carp.

In this way, after the big carp on the outside is fried, the small carp in the belly will appear steamed.

After frying, place it on a plate and pour the braised sauce on it.

When Master Xia and his team were restoring the fish, they also tried to stuff the small carp into the belly of the big carp.

It turned out that the carp's mouth was too small, and it was impossible to stuff the small fish into the big fish's belly.

Even the chefs of Confucius cuisine have great skills in deboning.

The carp's internal organs and bones can be taken out without breaking the skin.

But even if the carp can be completely deboned.

I still can’t think of any way to stuff the small carp into the big carp’s belly?

In the end, Master Xia and his team had to use another method.

Braise the two carps, big and small, separately, and then arrange them on the plate in a shape where the big carp is holding the small carp in its arms.

When Feng Zhengming was accompanying Master Xia to make this dish, he came up with a rather bold idea.

"Grandpa Xia, the carp's mouth is too small. Can we replace the big fish outside with other fish? For example, can we replace it with a large yellow croaker? Or some fish with a larger mouth?"

Master Xia was a little surprised when he heard this: "Can that still be called hugging carp?"

Feng Zhengming smiled and asked, "Why can't it be called embracing a carp? Isn't there a carp in the belly?"

After hearing this, Master Xia was left speechless.

Upon closer examination, Feng Zhengming's approach was indeed not wrong.

After all, the name of the dish is "Holding Carp", and it doesn't say that the person holding a carp is also a carp.

But Master Xia still felt that it seemed a little strange.

"It's still not good. Confucius Mansion cuisine is very particular about etiquette. If you stuff a small carp into a large yellow croaker, doesn't it look like a carp is born in the belly of the yellow croaker? This has a very bad meaning."

Feng Zhengming thought about it carefully and felt that what Master Xia said was right.

Perhaps using large yellow croaker instead of large carp can indeed create the effect of having fish in the belly of a fish.

But in fact, this approach is indeed inappropriate in Confucius Mansion cuisine.

Feng Zhengming then thought of another feasible approach.

"Grandpa Xia, can we gut the big carp, remove the bones, stuff the small carp into the belly, seal the belly again, and then fry it?"

Master Xia shook his head helplessly: "We tried this method before, but the final shape was not complete, and it was difficult to prevent hot oil from being poured into the fish's belly. After frying, the small carp inside would be very ugly."

After hearing this, Feng Zhengming realized that Master Xia and his team had indeed tried it, so he didn't think about it any more.

However, when Feng Zhengming was watching Master Xia making two braised carps.

He still insisted on taking out the fish bones directly without opening the belly.

"Grandpa Xia, since we want to keep the whole fish intact, why don't we just remove the bones? This will ensure that the two fish look more beautiful, and we can also stuff some ingredients into the fish belly."

After hearing what Feng Zhengming said, Master Xia thought about it and felt that this approach was indeed feasible.

So, the old and the young began to work together to make this dish of "embracing carp".

Debone two whole carps, one large and one small.

After cleaning, marinate it with salt, onion, ginger and rice wine.

At the same time, Feng Zhengming specially prepared several auxiliary ingredients based on the ingredients for the yellow croaker soup.

Some diced sea cucumbers and even some shark fins were added to it.

Use the stir-fry method to season and stir-fry these ingredients in advance.

Then put it in the refrigerator to freeze into soup jelly.

Then pour these ingredients into the stomachs of the two carps and seal the carp's throats with shrimp glue.

Coat the surface of the carp with flour, then fry the two carps in a pan.

When frying, the carp also needs to be bent into a crescent shape.

After frying the two carps, they are braised separately.

The braising process is carried out by Feng Zhengming and Master Xia at the same time.

Finally, the two cooked carps were placed together on the plate.

The big carp is placed on one side of the plate, and the small carp is placed in the arms of the big carp, presenting a shape of a big carp holding the small carp.

Finally, thicken the braised sauce and pour it over the two fishes.

After the dish was finished, Feng Zhengming and Master Xia were both very satisfied.

Especially Feng Zhengming added some embellishments at the end, making the whole dish look more beautiful.

When the dish was served, everyone at the dinner party was stunned.

The owners and chefs of restaurants and hotels that hung signs with Confucius cuisine all came over and looked at the dish very carefully.

A chef observed it with some disdain.

"It's just braised carp, what's so special about it?"

"That's right, braised carp, when it's served, it's decorated, it's called embracing carp."

"That's right. If the dish is presented more beautifully and the name of the carp is added, the price will go up immediately."

Many of the chefs who deliberately said these words had already determined that the "Kongfu Cuisine" signs of their restaurants and hotels could not be used, and they came here tonight just to cause trouble.

By the way, I want to belittle the Xia family, or should I say, deliberately disgust the Xia family.

But a few people just finished speaking in a sarcastic tone.

Someone from the local culinary association present stepped up to point out the key to this dish.

"Didn't you see that these two carps were whole and boneless, not gutted? You didn't even see that, and you still have the nerve to question Master Xia's craftsmanship?"

When these words were spoken, everyone watching was stunned.

Everyone quickly came closer to take a closer look and found that the fish's belly was indeed not opened.

This silenced the chefs who were questioning the question.

Several people from the Confucius Mansion Research Association and the Confucius Mansion Cuisine Association were even more excited.

"As expected of Master Xia, this dish is really well cooked."

"Yes, the art of hugging carp has been lost for many years. This should be the case."

"Yes, that's right. The carp has a complete shape, which is really rare."

"You are worthy of being Master Xia. Only Master Xia has such skills."

As they were exclaiming, Xia Zhennan stepped forward and said, "There is something you haven't noticed. Look at the fish's belly, it's bulging, which means there's something in it."

As he spoke, Xia Zhennan gently poked a hole in the fish's belly, and the soup that had been poured into the fish's belly immediately flowed out.

In an instant, a rich fragrance wafted around.

Everyone couldn't help but exclaim: "What a nice smell."

The bellies of the two carps were gently pierced with chopsticks, and the contents immediately flowed all over the plate.

In an instant, the shape of the carp in the plate formed a new shape.

It's like two carps swimming in the river.

The big carp held the small carp in its arms, teaching its child how to swim in rivers.

Looking at this unique idea on the plate, Chen Zhiheng couldn't help but mutter, "Why does this look like the work of Feng Zhuangyuan?"

Xia Zhennan nodded after hearing this: "Yes, this is indeed a unique idea that only Feng Zhuangyuan could think of. Our restaurant used to make the carp in arms dish by simply braising two large and small carps separately and then putting them together on a plate."

Tao Jingwen couldn't help but sigh: "As expected, our top scholar always brings us all surprises."

When this dish of carp in arms was served, everyone present was completely convinced.

Even the owners of the Confucius cuisine restaurants and hotels that are about to be unveiled are speechless when faced with such dishes.

Compared with other people's craftsmanship, no matter how hard their restaurants and hotels try, there is still a huge gap.

Feng Zhengming did not give too many suggestions for the following dishes.

I just help Master Xia and help him cook various dishes.

Almost all of them are made according to the methods that Master Xia and several Shandong cuisine masters restored back then.

When a table of Confucius Mansion dishes was finally ready.

Feng Zhengming even used his camera to take a precious photo.

Facing the crowd, Master Xia expressed his gratitude to everyone with some excitement.

"Thank you all for coming to our Xia family's Shili Restaurant today. Let me work with our top scholar to prepare this table of Confucius Mansion dishes for you. This is a recognition of our Xia family."

Hearing Master Xia's words, everyone present applauded.

The leaders couldn't help but say that Master Xia was really too modest.

"Master Xia, we didn't really understand you and the Xia family in the past. We didn't know you and the Xia family had such good craftsmanship. It was because we didn't do our job well that the Xia family has been buried over the years."

"Yes, yes, Master Xia, please forgive us for our negligence. We will do a better job supporting the Xia family's Confucius Mansion cuisine in the future."

"That's right. We need to let more people know about the Xia family's craftsmanship, and we also need to organize people to learn from you, Master Xia."

Master Xia was also very excited when he heard that his company had won the recognition of the leaders.

Tao Jingwen and Chen Zhiheng also expressed that they would report the Confucius cuisine passed down by the Xia family to the province.

"Master Xia, don't worry. Confucius cuisine will definitely receive more support in the future."

"Yes, the provincial government will definitely take it seriously and will no longer allow some unsophisticated restaurants and hotels to casually put up signs labeling themselves after Confucius cuisine."

Upon hearing this, Master Xia thanked the two men.

He then turned and looked at Feng Zhengming.

The latter just smiled indifferently.

For Feng Zhengming, this result is very good.

Feng Zhengming also thinks that he can apply for the intangible cultural heritage of Confucius Mansion cuisine in the future.

At least it must first become a provincial intangible cultural heritage, and then apply for national intangible cultural heritage.

This will help better promote and pass on Confucius cuisine.

Of course, if we want to pass on the tradition well, we still need to teach the younger generations more strictly.

Feng Zhengming also discussed this point specifically with Master Xia.

Feng Zhengming felt that some outstanding young Shandong cuisine chefs who were determined to learn and inherit Confucian cuisine could be allowed to study at the Xia family's Shili Restaurant.

We cannot simply recruit apprentices who have no basic knowledge.

After all, many parts of Confucius cuisine require quite detailed cooking techniques.

If you don’t have enough foundation, it will definitely be difficult to master.

Master Xia also agreed with this. In fact, he tacitly agreed to let Xia Hui learn cooking from Feng Zhengming, and later sent Xia Mingye to learn too, also out of this consideration.

Only after you have mastered the basics of Shandong cuisine and then progressed to learning Confucius cuisine can you achieve twice the result with half the effort.

The dinner at Xia Jia Shili Restaurant received unanimous praise from everyone.

After the dinner, Feng Zhengming said goodbye to Master Xia and others, and he took Ding Yuan, Gao Yongfu and Hou Dong to continue their journey.

Not long after they left, most of the signs selling Confucius Mansion cuisine on the old street near the Mansion were taken down.

After a series of assessments, Xia's Shili Restaurant naturally became the first officially listed Confucius Mansion Restaurant. (End of this chapter)