From selling box lunches to becoming a famous Chinese chef

Feng Zhengming's plan was naturally quickly approved shortly after it was submitted.

Even in the reply letter, he directly appointed Feng Zhengming as the executor of his proposal and allowed him to assign and transfer personnel.

At the same time, in order to implement the plan, all places were notified to start transporting specialties to the capital.

After the plan was approved, chefs from all over the country were eager to use local specialties.

However, Feng Zhengming proposed another solution that was recognized by everyone.

"Everyone should try to use the unique techniques of each place, and use materials that are available in the capital as much as possible, and try not to use things that are rare in your hometown.

We all made this picture of the unified mountains and rivers of our motherland to celebrate the unification of our motherland, so we should try not to cause more trouble."

This point raised by Feng Zhengming was also recognized by other chefs.

After all, if all the raw materials are really purchased from all over the place to the capital.

There will be a long delay on the road.

And some things may not be completely fresh.

The most important thing is that a lot of national resources need to be mobilized.

Feng Zhengming felt that was not a good idea.

Other chefs also understood Feng Zhengming's thinking.

After all, most of the chefs participating in this state banquet are of a certain age.

They have all experienced various relatively difficult periods in the country.

So chefs really don't want to add too much burden.

After some coordination, all places finally decided that the menu should be simpler.

Most of the things needed can be purchased in the capital.

Even for some things with local characteristics, the department in charge of state banquets will usually make some preparations.

Therefore, after the required material list is finally reported.

The department responsible for purchasing was a little surprised.

They hardly need to purchase all materials separately again.

Basically, they can be called directly from their warehouse.

This has reduced a lot of burden on the purchasing department.

The leaders of the purchasing department couldn't help but sigh that if Feng Zhengming, the top scholar, could become the head chef for state banquets in the future, their purchasing department might be able to have a lot of ease.

Afterwards, chefs from all over the country submitted their own province's state banquet menus.

This menu is different from the previous cold dish platter that everyone collaborated on.

This menu needs to be presented to foreign guests from various countries and representatives from all walks of life attending the state banquet.

Therefore, the menus submitted by chefs from all over the country also include some local specialty dishes.

Also in this regard, Feng Zhengming and his team reported according to the menu that they had discussed with the master chefs before arriving.

This Shandong cuisine menu has almost eliminated all stir-fried dishes.

Most of the dishes are based on cooking techniques such as stewing, steaming, simmering, and boiling.

Of course, the menu also includes several classic Shandong dishes.

For example, scallion-fried sea cucumber, crispy fried fish fillet, eight-treasure bag chicken, and braised prawns are the well-known classic Shandong dishes.

These dishes don’t seem to require much difficulty in terms of cooking techniques.

But these dishes are able to reflect the characteristics of Shandong cuisine without too much deviation.

After this menu was submitted, the people in charge of the review felt that Feng Zhengming was too conservative when they saw his menu.

However, Feng Zhengming's conservatism also made it easy for his menu to be approved.

After all, it is a state banquet, not a national cooking skills competition.

There is really no need to pursue too many fancy techniques or innovative dishes.

The key to a state banquet is that it must be delicious, have national characteristics, and not go wrong.

This time, the return of the state banquet also hopes to gather special dishes from all over the country.

The dishes that can become specialties in different places must not be very complicated dishes, and may even be some very homely dishes.

While Feng Zhengming and his colleagues were submitting their menus one after another and waiting for review.

They had a brief moment of leisure.

Then the department in charge of the state banquet organized them to visit the place where the state banquet was held, including some important landmark buildings in the capital, and some important reception departments.

In order to facilitate visits by chefs from all over the country, several buses were specially arranged to pick them up.

The first stop, of course, was the Forbidden City, which Feng Zhengming and his team were not able to enter on the first day they arrived in the capital.

A group of chefs entered the Forbidden City, and many of them were stepping into the place for the first time.

One chef couldn't help but joke: "In the past, would we all be recruited into the imperial kitchen?"

This immediately caused all the chefs to laugh.

Then someone echoed, "That's true. We are considered the best chefs in the country."

Then, a chef whose ancestor was a formal imperial kitchen chef began to explain.

"In the past, the best chefs were not the chefs in the imperial kitchen."

Hearing this, the other chefs couldn't help but become curious.

The chef from Northeast China continued to explain seriously.

"Think about it, the three most famous imperial cuisines that still exist today were not prepared by chefs from the imperial kitchen? And many of the famous Cantonese chefs back then were not imperial chefs, were they?"

After listening to this carefully and thinking about it, everyone nodded in agreement.

Seeing that everyone agreed with what he said, the other party continued speaking.

“So, in fact, the top chefs at that time were actually private chefs in the homes of some merchants. Those merchants had a lot of wealth and could more easily collect ingredients from all over the world.

Therefore, the private chefs in their homes are the top chefs who can really let go and show off their cooking skills.”

A chef asked: "Back then, the first thing a royal chef in the Forbidden City should have done was to understand the rules, right?"

The Northeast chef nodded: "Yes, there are many rules in the palace, and the first thing a royal chef must do is to understand the rules."

A chef joked: "Is it the kind of thing where if you make a dish wrong you'll lose your head?"

This made the chefs burst into laughter.

This visit to the Forbidden City allowed the chefs to appreciate some of the royal scenery of the past.

The chefs even visited the legendary imperial kitchen.

Even the chefs took photos in the dining room.

It can be considered as being a royal chef.

Especially when they saw Feng Zhengming carrying a more professional camera, many chefs wanted Feng Zhengming to help them take photos.

Feng Zhengming agreed immediately.
Everyone also said that they would write their addresses to Feng Zhengming after they returned, and ask Feng Zhengming to send the photos to everyone after they were developed. They also welcomed Feng Zhengming to communicate with them in the future.

Feng Zhengming naturally needs to communicate more with these chefs.

He also thought that in the future he could work with these chefs from all over the country to promote the restaurant standards he introduced in Qilu to the whole country.

Finally, Feng Zhengming also asked someone for help to take a group photo with several senior brothers.

After taking a group photo, Feng Zhengming couldn't help but sigh again.

"It's a pity that Fourth Brother didn't come back, otherwise we brothers could really take a group photo."

Several senior brothers also nodded in agreement.

Li Huidong even reminded him: "Zhengming, when you go back and develop the photos, you must give me one."

As soon as the eldest senior brother opened his mouth, the other senior brothers also said that they wanted them too.

Feng Zhengming smiled and agreed: "Don't worry, I'll find a professional to help develop it, enlarge it for us, and frame it. I'll send it to you brothers when the time comes."

After visiting the Forbidden City and some surrounding attractions, it was already evening. The person in charge of entertaining Feng Zhengming and his friends said that they would invite them to Quanjude in the evening.

When they heard that we were going to Quanjude, the chefs were immediately happy.

Feng Zhengming said directly: "If you invite us to Quanjude, the chefs at Quanjude should be careful. We are all experts. Don't let us find any problems and embarrass everyone."

Chefs from other places also echoed the sentiment.

The person in charge of reception was also a little amused.

But afterwards, everyone went to Quanjude together.

The manager of Quanjude and the chef from the kitchen came to greet us personally.

This is within the industry, to show respect for Feng Zhengming and others.

Especially when he saw Feng Zhengming, the chef took the initiative to shake hands with Feng Zhengming.

"I've heard that the top winner of our national cooking skills competition is very young. Today I see that he is indeed very young."

Feng Zhengming lowered his attitude and said, "You're too polite. Judging from your accent, you're from Qilu. Are you from Rongcheng?"

The master chef smiled and nodded: "Yes, from Rongcheng."

Feng Zhengming couldn't help but sigh: "Quanjude has not changed after all these years, and the roast duck chefs are still only from Rongcheng."

After sighing, Feng Zhengming asked: "Master, what is your name?"

"My surname is Sun."

Feng Zhengming was stunned at first, then he laughed: "Master Sun, when I was recruiting people for Huiquan Restaurant last year, I also happened to recruit an apprentice from Rongcheng named Sun."

When the other party heard this, he immediately asked, "Is it Sun Decai?"

Feng Zhengming was stunned again: "Do you know him?"

Master Sun smiled helplessly: "He's my nephew."

Not only Feng Zhengming, but also several of his senior brothers and other chefs from all over the country were stunned by this.

It was Master Sun who broke the silence: "It would be good for him to become Feng Zhuangyuan's apprentice. He can practice his basic skills well."

Feng Zhengming came back to his senses and said, "He is still very hardworking. He should be able to officially start cooking next year."

Everyone else also came to their senses and couldn't help but sigh that this world is really a small place.

Chef Sun said with a smile: "In the past, most of the famous chefs in the capital were Shandong cuisine chefs from Qilu. Later, more and more chefs from other places came to Beijing."

At this point, Master Sun looked at the chefs of Cantonese cuisine and Hong Kong City.

"In recent years, Cantonese chefs and chefs from Hong Kong are the most popular in Beijing."

Hearing this, the chefs of Cantonese and Hong Kong cuisine quickly became humble.

The chef representatives who came from Hong Kong this time were basically all old acquaintances of Feng Zhengming.

People like Long Kunbao, Dai Long, several people who had previously participated in the National Cooking Skills Competition, and several people who later came to Quancheng to communicate with Feng Zhengming and others were all there.

However, Jiang Chengzhe did not come this time. I heard that he was participating in a competition in Southeast Asia and did not have time to come back.

Jiang Chengzhe's inability to come back made Feng Zhengming miss him a little.

After all, among that group of famous chefs, only Jiang Chengzhe and Feng Zhengming are of similar age.

Then Feng Zhengming and his friends went into Quanjude together.

Naturally, the chefs still want to take a look in the kitchen.

Take a look at Quanjude’s roast duck oven with your own eyes.

Feng Zhengming even took some photos with his camera.

He was also thinking about whether he should set up a roast duck oven when he returned to Quancheng.
I have already thought about letting Sun Decai learn the craft from Master Sun.

After the tour, Feng Zhengming and his friends did not enter the private room, but sat down in the lobby of Quanjude.

This way everyone can communicate better.

The chefs are also very well behaved and don't make loud noises.

But when the roast ducks were served one by one, everyone couldn't help themselves.

They all stared at it very carefully, and at the same time communicated with each other and discussed the method of cooking the roast duck.

Among them, the chef from Jinling also talked about some of their Jinling roast duck recipes.

There is indeed some difference between the methods used in Jinling and Quanjude.

The uniqueness of Quanjude Roast Duck lies in the way of eating the duck skin dipped in granulated sugar.

This is indeed a rather sweet creation.

The thin, greasy duck skin is dipped in granulated sugar and put into the mouth.

The aroma of oil, paired with the sweetness of granulated sugar.

The crispness of the duck skin is really irresistible.

Of course, there is a fatal problem with this way of eating.

That is, you can’t eat too much, because if you eat too much, you will feel very sick.

Feng Zhengming basically only tasted one piece.

After all, this is the first time he has tasted it in his past and present life.

The taste is really good.

Feng Zhengming then rolled a duck roll and ate it.

He had eaten this in his previous life, but it was roast duck imitated from various places.

Feng Zhengming can no longer remember the taste of the food he had eaten in his previous life.

Try the roast duck from Quanjude.

Feng Zhengming thought it was worth a try.

There are also some side dishes, such as roasted duck heart and mustard duck feet.

These are also some of Quanjude’s dishes that have been around for some time.

The taste is indeed above standard.

Of course, this may also be related to the arrival of a group of chefs from all over the country like Feng Zhengming.

We are all experts, so naturally Chef Sun from Quanjude will be more careful and cautious when doing the cooking.

Overall, Feng Zhengming and the chefs from all over the country were quite satisfied with the Quanjude roast duck meal.

After all, this is a classic dish that is famous all over the world.

In addition, Master Sun is in charge of it personally.

It is indeed very difficult for the car to roll over.

Later, Master Sun also came from the kitchen to exchange ideas with Feng Zhengming and chefs from all over the country.

Everyone also gave Master Sun a lot of ideas.

For example, in addition to roast duck, you can also make some other duck dishes.

Everyone even discussed the possibility of a whole duck banquet.

Master Sun benefited a lot from the discussion.

Of course, the benefits are mutual. During the discussion, other chefs including Feng Zhengming also gained some inspiration and thought of some dishes that could be presented in the roast duck style.

After eating the roast duck, Feng Zhengming and his friends were sent back to the dormitory.

After coming back, we still got together to continue discussing and exchanging ideas.

This kind of communication, which is purely for the purpose of making good dishes, has led to many different ideas from each chef.

It also gave everyone new ideas for some of the dishes at the upcoming state banquet.

Although the menu may have been basically finalized, the chefs feel that there are still many areas worth innovating in the preparation of some dishes. (End of this chapter)