From selling box lunches to becoming a famous Chinese chef

Chapter 686 Make a Fried Chicken for the Kitchen

Li Huidong, Cao Zhiguo and He Yunqing looked at each other.

All three of them could feel that after Feng Zhengming came back, his few words brought some changes to Huiquanlou.

They also felt some changes in Feng Zhengming after his trip.

Over the past six months, Feng Zhengming has clearly become more knowledgeable about the ways of the world.

He was dealing with the family conflict of his third senior brother Yang Bin at the dry rice shop.

The method used was to appease the third senior brother's wife.

Through the conversation with the third sister-in-law, I learned that she didn't really want to harm the dry rice shop.

It was just because the third senior brother hit her in anger.

That's why she was a little angry and allowed her elder brother to do things in the old shop that did not affect the business of the shop.

After learning about his third sister-in-law's situation, Feng Zhengming directly opened a new branch on Furong Street.

Then let the third sister-in-law and her eldest brother take charge of the new store over there.

And Feng Zhengming of Xindian only holds a portion of the shares.

It can be said that the new store was completely handed over to the third brother's family to run.

Feng Zhengming did this in exchange for his third brother continuing to help him run the old shop, and he turned the shop into an affordable restaurant.

This means that he now has one more restaurant in operation.

Feng Zhengming's method was very effective in resolving the family conflict of the third senior brother.

Transfer those who affect the operation of the old shop away from the shop.

Although I invested some money and helped my third senior brother open a new dry food shop.

But with Feng Zhengming's current fame, it would be too easy for him to make money by opening a new store on Furong Street.

And it was handed over to my third sister-in-law and her brother to run.

This saves Feng Zhengming the trouble of finding someone to run the business.

In this way, he relatively easily resolved the conflicts in his third brother's family, and also solved some problems at the Feng family's dry restaurant.

Now that Feng Zhengming has come to Huiquanlou, he has used another way to solve the problem.

He didn't blame anyone or name anyone who had gone wrong in some way.

To be frank, many people in Quanzhou now praise Huiquanlou.

This method can once again inspire the pride of everyone in the kitchen of Huiquanlou.

This will reveal the sense of honor and disgrace of the people in Huiquanlou.

This will allow everyone to realize their own laziness.

There is no need for Feng Zhengming to waste any more words, as people with a sense of honor and disgrace will naturally make adjustments themselves quickly.

If he had no sense of honor and disgrace, he would still just want to live his life relying on Feng Zhengming's reputation.

If the truth is revealed soon, Feng Zhengming will not stay in Huiquanlou.

Feng Zhengming just said some words of encouragement in the end, and then went to change his clothes.

Then I went into the kitchen and discussed with everyone some new insights gained from what I saw and heard during this trip.

“We may still be a little conservative in cooking, we should be bolder, I think many things don’t have to be made according to the traditional methods of the past.

Of course, the techniques cannot be changed casually, but some modern elements can be added to make the dishes richer and more delicious.”

After hearing what Feng Zhengming said, everyone in the kitchen fell into deep thought.

During the time when Feng Zhengming was away, the kitchen of Huiquanlou almost strictly followed the menu set by Feng Zhengming in preparing dishes.

The dishes are also presented as Feng Zhengming taught everyone.

It can be said that it is quite satisfactory overall.

Although there are not many changes, there will be no problems.

This helps maintain the reputation of Huiquanlou.

Many diners feel that although Feng Zhengming is no longer at Huiquanlou, the food is still as delicious.

Therefore, Huiquanlou's business was not affected at all.

But this alone is obviously not what Feng Zhengming wants to see.

He still hopes that everyone in the kitchen of Huiquanlou can have some ideas of their own.

Every chef can come up with a dish that he or she may be better at.

You can even share it with others so that they can learn from them.

Feng Zhengming recounted some of his experiences along the way, especially the different ways of cooking fried chicken in different parts of Qilu Province.

“Fried chicken is cooked in many different ways in different places. This time we really tasted fried chicken from all over the country. For example, the fried chicken in Mengyin tastes richer because it is made with some sauce.

The fried chicken in Taicheng is different from that in Mengyin, and tastes slightly more braised.

When we arrived in Zaocheng, we were all very excited by the spicy fried chicken there.

I used to think that only people from Hubei, Jiangxi and Sichuan cooked very spicy food.

I didn’t expect that there is a kind of thin-skinned green pepper in Zaocheng, which is also quite spicy and tastes really exciting. "

Everyone listened to Feng Zhengming talking about what he saw and heard on the road.

Everyone couldn't help but reveal a longing expression.

I really want to go for a walk and have a look.

Feng Zhengming started talking about the peppers in Zaocheng, and then turned to the other peppers.

"I think that many people may gradually start to like the spicy taste, and we should also add some chili peppers appropriately, based on the characteristics of our Shandong cuisine."

Li Huidong smiled and asked, "It seems that most people here still can't eat spicy food."

Feng Zhengming nodded: "Big Brother is right. I know that people here can't eat spicy food that well, but there will definitely be some outsiders coming in the future. We need to make some adjustments to the taste so that outsiders can like it."

Cao Zhiguo asked curiously: "So Zhengming, you are planning to make some spicy dishes?"

Feng Zhengming shook his head: "I'm not making spicy dishes specifically. Spiciness can only be added to the existing seasonings and can't be overly prominent, otherwise it will become Sichuan cuisine, right?"

Li Huidong nodded: "Yes, we can't do the same as others."

Feng Zhengming continued with a smile: "I have traveled all over Shandong this time, and my feeling is that the most important point of Shandong cuisine is 'harmony'.

The taste is not one that stands out, but a fusion of various flavors, so that multiple flavors can be tasted in one dish. "

Almost instantly, everyone thought of the most classic Shandong dish: Nine-turn Large Intestine.

The taste of the dish Nine-Turn Large Intestine really embodies the word "harmony" very well.

The combination of various flavors on a large intestine will indeed give diners a different and special experience.

Feng Zhengming also asked everyone to think more broadly.

“Just like the Nine-Turn Large Intestine, it is very good to blend several flavors. We can also try this with some of our other dishes, and it is not necessary to blend all the flavors into one.

It can be a combination of sweet and sour, or salty and fresh.

Or add some spicy, hot and sour flavors.

There are also sweet and spicy ones. ”

Feng Zhengming's words really made everyone fall into deep thought.

Especially Li Huidong, he has been seeking a breakthrough all the time. Now, listening to his junior brother's words, he seems to have touched the key to a breakthrough in cooking skills.

After chatting with everyone for a long time, Feng Zhengming simply started preparing a dish in the kitchen for everyone to taste.

The dish that Feng Zhengming cooked was the fried chicken which was quite famous in Qilu.

These were some of the ideas he came up with after trying different fried chickens from different places along the way. Feng Zhengming found a not-so-big rooster in the kitchen, and quickly cleaned and chopped it into pieces.

When chopping the chicken, Feng Zhengming intentionally chopped the pieces not too small.

Along the way, I've seen that the characteristic of fried chicken in different places is that the chicken pieces cannot be chopped too small.

It is necessary to reflect the feeling of being unrestrained and domineering.

Of course, Feng Zhengming will still clean up all the three tips.

In fact, many fried chicken restaurants may not pay attention to this point.

So when he was chopping the chicken, he also warned everyone in the kitchen.

"The wing tips and the nails of the chicken feet must be removed, and the chicken tips at the buttocks must also be removed."

Everyone in the kitchen nodded seriously to show that they understood.

After chopping the chicken into pieces, Feng Zhengming rinsed them.

After rinsing until no blood was visible, Feng Zhengming put the chicken pieces aside to drain the water.

At the same time, he took the pot, heated it up first, and then added cold oil to moisten the pot.

After lubricating the pan, add onion and pepper oil into the pan.

Feng Zhengming also added some sesame oil.

"This is my own attempt. If you have chicken fat, you can add some chicken fat."

Then Feng Zhengming put nothing in the pot. When the oil was hot, he directly put the drained chicken pieces into the pot and stir-fried them.

Seeing this scene, some apprentices in the kitchen were a little surprised.

"You just stir-fry the chicken like this? You don't even need to blanch it?"

"Yeah, or should I pull the oil?"

Li Huidong took the opportunity to warn his apprentice: "This is called raw stir-frying, which means putting the chicken directly into the pan and stir-frying without blanching or frying it. The moisture of the chicken must be completely fried out."

Another apprentice asked curiously: "Master Li, if we stir-fry it like this, don't we need to add the onion and ginger first?"

Cao Zhiguo took over the conversation: "No, stir-frying means just putting the ingredients into the pan and frying them."

Feng Zhengming picked up the pot and showed it to his apprentices.

"The whole process is done over high heat. The moisture in the chicken must be removed by frying it like this. You can see that the surface of the chicken is brown and the oil in the pan has almost turned clear.

At this time, move the chicken pieces aside, put the onion and ginger into the pan and stir-fry until fragrant, then add some cooking wine and continue stir-frying.

After frying the flavor, add the sauce. This sauce is prepared by me according to different cooking methods in different places.

There is sweet noodle sauce, some soybean paste, and I also add some oyster sauce.

Move the chicken pieces aside and pour the sauce into the pot. Stir-fry the sauce thoroughly first. Then move the chicken pieces back and stir-fry quickly.

When it is almost mixed, add the chicken soup prepared in advance. ”

Having achieved this step, Feng Zhengming introduced it to everyone.

“There are actually two ways to cook it. One is to put less soup in the fried chicken so that the soup is dried up and the chicken is eaten in a relatively dry state.

Another way to cook it is to add more soup, so that the dish will have some soup in it, which can be used to soak the pancakes.”

Feng Zhengming did not add a lot of soup, the soup was basically level with the chicken pieces, and then he covered the pot.

"Then it's time to burn it. Be patient and wait for it to burn well."

While waiting, Feng Zhengming and the others started chatting again.

Li Huidong asked about some of the things he saw and heard along the way.

Feng Zhengming also told everyone a lot of his experiences in detail.

"It was only after I traveled around our Qilu region that I realized that Qilu is actually so rich in resources. Every place has its own unique products, such as the dates in northeastern Qilu.

There are also seafood from coastal areas, vegetables from Shouguang, and freshwater fish and shrimp from some rivers and lakes in the south.

Of course, I also discovered that we in Qilu are really good at roasting chicken, and each place has its own unique skills.”

Hearing Feng Zhengming say this, everyone couldn't help but laugh.

Listening to him talk about what he saw and heard along the way, I felt as if I had walked the same journey myself.

Of course, it’s definitely different from the experience of going there in person.

But everyone listened with great interest.

As Li Huidong was chatting, the topic returned to the fried chicken made by Feng Zhengming.

"Zhengming, your fried chicken should be different from other places, right?"

Feng Zhengming nodded: "Yes, it is different from other places. This is a combination of local characteristics. It is another flavor that I created myself. I made it today for you all to taste."

Gu Zhicheng asked with a smile: "Then, Chef, is this our Quancheng version?"

Feng Zhengming quickly denied it: "It can't be considered our Quancheng version. Quancheng also has its own way of doing it. Mine can only be considered my own original way of doing it."

Xia Hui stood up and asked excitedly: "Then we are not the first to eat it?"

Feng Zhengming smiled and nodded.

Qi Jiale took the opportunity to make fun of Xia Hui.

"Xiao Xia, don't you want to be the first to taste it?"

Xia Hui could naturally tell that Qi Jiale's joke had a hidden meaning.

It was obvious that she wanted to say that she was interested in Feng Zhengming.

So Xia Hui didn't indulge him at all.

"Stop talking nonsense here. It's okay for you to say that about me, but you are not allowed to slander my uncle."

Xia Hui's words made Qi Jiale look embarrassed.

Feng Zhengming also looked at Qi Jiale.

On the way back, Feng Zhengming already knew it when he was chatting with his two senior brothers.

There was slackness in the kitchen, and Qijia Le had the most problems.

Now look at the way Qi Jiale is joking with Xia Hui.

Feng Zhengming felt that the first person he wanted to have a private talk with should be Qi Jiale.

Some things really need to be made clear, and Qi Jiale also needs to be given some reprimands.

But now, in front of everyone, Feng Zhengming changed the subject and continued to talk about the different fried chickens in different places.

"The taste of fried chicken is basically salty and fresh in all places, but some places add some sauce, so there is a hint of sauce flavor, and the addition of chili peppers in Zaocheng makes the fried chicken have a certain spicy taste."

While introducing, Feng Zhengming also cut some green and red pepper pieces.

"We don't have any peppers from Zaocheng today, so we'll use these more common green and red peppers."

The peppers are basically cut into prismatic pieces.

At this time, the water in the pot has almost boiled and the chicken pieces are basically cooked.

Feng Zhengming opened the lid of the pot, added the green and red pepper pieces into the pot, and then quickly stir-fried them.

Evenly distribute the green and red peppers among the chicken pieces.

Then turn off the heat and serve.

Feng Zhengming smiled and pushed the plate of fried chicken he had improved to everyone.

"Come on, let's try it together and see if you can get used to my improved taste."

(End of this chapter)