From selling box lunches to becoming a famous Chinese chef

In the kitchen, Feng Zhengming did not cook. He still personally led the new apprentice to do various basic work.

He handed over the task of cooking to Yao Zhenhui and Yang Peng.

This brought great pressure to Yao Zhenhui and Yang Peng.

Yang Peng couldn't help but put on a sad face and admitted his mistake.

"Uncle Master, why don't you come to the kitchen? I'm really a little nervous with you around. I don't know what to do."

Feng Zhengming said seriously: "What are you talking about? You can't even handle this little pressure from me, do you still want to be a chef in the future?

You said you wanted to win a place in the provincial youth cooking competition. Seeing your attitude, I think you should just not sign up. Why don’t you go home and farm with your wife?”

Yang Peng had no way of refutation after hearing these words.

Feng Zhengming continued to warn: "I can tell you that there will be a lot of people participating in the provincial youth chef competition this year."

After a pause, Feng Zhengming had already cut the shredded osmanthus pork ordered by the previous customer.

While marinating and starching the shredded pork, Feng Zhengming did not forget to give instructions to several apprentices.

"You all have to remember, after you cut the shredded meat, you must add salt first. The shredded meat must have a bottom, and then you can't grab it. You have to knead it slowly to knead the salt into the shredded meat first.

Then add some scallions, ginger, cooking wine, and finally dry starch. Do you see the shredded meat? A thin layer of paste, absolutely not too much. "

After the marinating and starching were completed, Feng Zhengming handed the things to Yang Peng.

“Okay, hurry up. There will be a lot of young chefs from across the province participating in the competition this year. It’s not like the first session, when there weren’t many young chefs participating, so it’s easier for you to get a good result.

There are more participants this year, so it is possible that some young chef masters will emerge.

If you don’t even dare to cook, then don’t sign up for the competition.”

After listening to Feng Zhengming's words, Yang Peng was also inspired to fight.

He decisively stopped hesitating and reached out to take the various ingredients from Feng Zhengming.

Then he prepared a bowl of sauce himself.

Then he began to prepare the stir-fried osmanthus meat.

Feng Zhengming asked several apprentices to watch carefully from the side.

"Watch carefully. Pay attention to the cooking method of this dish and the control of the heat. These are the details that need to be known."

Although Yang Peng tried hard to calm himself, he was somewhat nervous because Feng Zhengming and the new apprentice were watching him.

Fortunately, the last plate of osmanthus meat was completed smoothly.

Feng Zhengming didn't say much and asked the new apprentice to serve the dishes quickly.

One of the new apprentices immediately stepped forward, picked up the plate and ran outside.

The other apprentices didn't get this opportunity, but they didn't seem depressed standing there.

Feng Zhengming naturally gave another warning.

"In the kitchen, you must be diligent at all times. If you want to learn something, you must first be able to work. If you are so casual, the chefs will not like you in the kitchen, and they will not teach you anything, let alone have the opportunity to cook."

After hearing what Feng Zhengming said, the new apprentices suddenly realized that their performance did not satisfy Feng Zhengming.

So in the following period of time, the new apprentices began to fight openly and secretly with each other.

However, their open and covert struggles are actually a fight for more opportunities to work.

By working hard, he wants to win Feng Zhengming's favor so that he can learn more from him.

Feng Zhengming didn't touch any dish throughout the whole lunch.

He was the dealer for Yao Zhenhui and Yang Peng.

At the same time, through the process of doing the work, I also teach the apprentices some things.

With Feng Zhengming's explanation, the new apprentice understood many of his own shortcomings.

It seems that they all graduated from vocational schools and learned a lot of cooking techniques in those schools.

But when they actually arrive in the kitchen, the apprentices will find that there are many things they still don’t understand.

The key is that they couldn't keep up with the pace of many things in the kitchen at the beginning.

Many situations that you will only encounter in the kitchen will never be seen in school.

Therefore, in some unexpected situations, the apprentices would be really dumbfounded.

Feng Zhengming would handle the matter while carefully explaining to them how to deal with it.

After a lunch, the new apprentices learned a lot from Feng Zhengming.

In the evening, Feng Zhengming began to let his apprentices get started.

"Come on, cut the meat into strips."

"Wait a minute, you don't know how to cut meat into shreds? These are shredded meat?"

"Don't be in a hurry. You don't need to be fast. You just need to learn how to cut evenly first."

When they first start, apprentices are inevitably nervous and make some mistakes.

Feng Zhengming will never tolerate others and will point out their mistakes directly.

And if the apprentice made a mistake, he would make him start over again.

"Start over. Cut the meat from the beginning. Don't tinker with it. Throw away all that. Cut it over again."

Under Feng Zhengming's strict guidance, the apprentices were able to successfully start working in the evening.

Although Feng Zhengming was not completely satisfied with the work done in many areas.

But at least the apprentices have gotten the hang of it and have a basic understanding of some of the kitchen processes.

When times are busiest, Feng Zhengming has to do it himself.

Only at this time did the apprentices realize how powerful Feng Zhengming was.

He did everything from cutting to cooking in one go.

Some stir-fried dishes take less than a minute to prepare under Feng Zhengming’s hands.

This really shocked all the apprentices.

In fact, Yao Zhenhui and Yang Peng were also shocked.

In the past, they knew that Feng Zhengming was very skilled and could cook very quickly.

But today, when I saw him teaching an apprentice and he needed to prepare a dish in a hurry, he had to do it himself.

Everyone finally saw how fast Feng Zhengming could be.

One advantage of Xindian is that it is near the residential areas of several factories, so it doesn’t open very late.

After about ten o'clock in the evening, there are basically no new customers coming to the store.

Therefore, the new store will close much earlier in the morning.

Today is Feng Zhengming's first day training an apprentice.

He was after the last table of customers left.

Look at the time, it's almost half past ten.

He continued to take everyone together to clean the kitchen and the front of the store.

After finishing a very thorough cleaning, Feng Zhengming called everyone to sit down in the store.

Even the waiters in the store were called over and everyone was asked to sit down.

“Just to put it simply, I came to the new store today and everyone’s performance was very good and they all seemed very motivated. I hope this is everyone’s true performance and everyone can work hard like this in the future.

This store is not just mine, it belongs to all of you. Only when the business of this store is good, the hard work of everyone will be rewarded accordingly. So I want to thank everyone for their efforts first, and hope that everyone can keep up the hard work. "

After Feng Zhengming finished speaking, everyone present smiled and nodded, indicating that they would work hard to do the job well.

After that, Feng Zhengming didn't say anything more and asked the waiters to go home first.

The remaining ones were Yao Zhenhui, Yang Peng and eight new apprentices.

Feng Zhengming looked at the eight new apprentices and this time he smiled.

“I am very satisfied with the overall performance of the eight of you today. You did make some mistakes, but you were able to quickly realize the problems and listen to my corrections.

Also, I may have been a little harsh in speaking to you today, but I hope that you eight can really listen to me and try to make fewer mistakes in the future."

The eight new apprentices looked at each other in bewilderment. None of them had expected this.

Feng Zhengming actually said that he was satisfied with their performance today.

In fact, the eight people were somewhat nervous.

Before the eight people came, they always thought they were doing well in school.

After they arrived, they went through rounds of screening and finally were left.

They can also get personal guidance from Feng Zhengming, the national top scholar.

The eight people were more certain at the beginning that they should be the best apprentices recruited this time.

But today, I followed Feng Zhengming and started from the most basic work.

The eight people suddenly realized that they were not only not excellent, but also very clumsy.

They found that many things they learned in school were completely different when they entered the kitchen.

There were many things they had never seen before and they knew nothing about them.

Although the eight people have been working hard to learn from Feng Zhengming today.

But after seeing how Feng Zhengming could quickly complete a dish by himself from cutting to cooking.

The eight people really understood that they were just like a group of elementary school students in front of this national cooking champion.

Feng Zhengming can even cook a dish smoothly without adding any sauce in order to save time, and the appearance and taste of the dish will hardly deviate from the original.

what is this?
This is a top chef who is immersed in the kitchen and is proficient in every step of cooking. He can make good dishes based on his experience alone.

The eight new apprentices were filled with longing.

I dream that one day I can be as skilled as Feng Zhengming.

Any dish can be made with ease.

On the first day in the kitchen of the restaurant, the eight new apprentices, who were originally full of confidence, had their confidence shattered by Feng Zhengming's simple and rough approach.

But now, Feng Zhengming's words successfully repaired the shattered confidence.

Because they have won the recognition of the national cooking champion.

Feng Zhengming smiled and looked relaxed.

"Don't be so nervous. Now, our work is over. You don't have to be nervous. I will definitely not scold you outside of work hours.

I just hope that you can maintain your desire to learn today.

In the following days, you will all be able to do your work well as you did today, and learn what you need to learn.”

Feng Zhengming's words gave great encouragement to the new apprentices.

It makes them suddenly feel that they are not so bad.

At least I got the praise from the national cooking champion.

After the encouragement, Feng Zhengming warned everyone to be more careful when staying in a dry food shop.

"You will stay in the store for the time being. Be careful at night. I have already found a suitable dormitory for you nearby. I will let you move in once I find one."

Eight apprentices expressed their willingness to live in the store.

The apprentices also said that they felt this was a form of experience.

Feng Zhengming smiled after hearing this: "We don't have to suffer so much. We will have to find a dormitory for you sooner or later. It's not a good idea to live in the store all the time."

Afterwards, Feng Zhengming asked the eight new apprentices to stay in the store, and he left with Yao Zhenhui and Yang Peng.

After leaving the store, Feng Zhengming finally began to talk with Yao Zhenhui and Yang Peng.

"How's it going? Do you two have anything to talk about today?"

Yao Zhenhui and Yang Peng looked at each other.

The two people did have something to say, but they didn't know how to start.

In the end, Yao Zhenhui signaled Yang Peng to speak first.

After all, Yang Peng is Li Haidong's apprentice. Even if Yao Zhenhui feels that what he said is wrong, his uncle Feng Zhengming will not blame him.

Seeing that Yao Zhenhui didn't dare to speak first, Yang Peng had no choice but to speak first.

"Master, you transferred all the other people in the new store's kitchen away and came here to train the new apprentices. Is it because you think highly of them?"

When Feng Zhengming heard Yang Peng's question, he smiled and replied, "I'm not optimistic about them. They are not much different from the other dozen or so new apprentices.

I arranged it this way so that these apprentices can learn as quickly as possible and integrate into the kitchen as soon as possible."

Yang Peng asked again: "Uncle Master, are you training talents for opening a branch?"

Feng Zhengming nodded: "Yes, the plan to open branches is already underway. We will open at least seven or eight branches in various parts of the province next year."

When Yao Zhenhui heard this, he couldn't help but exclaimed with Yang Peng: "So many stores?"

Feng Zhengming smiled and replied, "Yes, the branches of Ganfanpu are our first stops to enter various places in the province."

"Front stop?" Yao Zhenhui and Yang Peng were even more surprised.

Feng Zhengming gave a brief explanation.

"Yes, I hope to open a Shandong cuisine restaurant in various places in the province, and promote our Zhengluxing brand in the province first."

Some of Feng Zhengming's words were beyond the scope of Yao Zhenhui and Yang Peng's understanding.

The goal of the two people has always been to become independent chefs.

Not to mention thinking about it, it is impossible for them to have the same thoughts as Feng Zhengming.

Want to open a restaurant in every part of the province?
The first thing that came to Yao Zhenhui and Yang Peng’s mind was: How much money will this cost?
Feng Zhengming could guess what the two people were thinking.

"Hahaha, do you think that I can't afford to open restaurants all over the province? Do you think my idea is a pipe dream?"

Yao Zhenhui and Yang Peng were stunned, and then quickly said "no" together.

Feng Zhengming continued to laugh happily.

"It may be a bit of a pipe dream now. I really don't have that much money right now, so I want to open branches of the dry rice shop in various places in the province and make some money first."

Feng Zhengming hadn't told Yao Zhenhui and Yang Peng the second half of the sentence.

Because he knew that the two people could not understand his thoughts other than making money.

In addition to making money from the branches, Feng Zhengming also relies on the branches to help him build a name for himself in the province.

He wants people from all over the province to know the "Zhengluxing" brand first.

When everyone knows about this brand, he wants to open restaurants in various places. If he does not have enough funds at that time, he can easily get investment just by relying on the brand he has created.

However, if we want to open restaurants in various places, the current number of apprentices is still too small.

Feng Zhengming looked at Yao Zhenhui and Yang Peng and said, "You guys work hard. You are already the backbone of our Zheng Luxing. I hope that you can all become independent chefs in the future and go to a Zheng Luxing restaurant in different places to be the chef." (End of this chapter)