From selling box lunches to becoming a famous Chinese chef

Feng Zhengming stayed in Quancheng for a few days. In addition to communicating with some enterprises from all over Qilu, he also selected some Qilu specialties.

He spent more time persuading Luo's mother together with Luo Qing.

Now that Luo Qing's belly has begun to show, Luo's mother naturally doesn't want her daughter to go south to Shanghai.

Feng Zhengming and Luo Qing repeatedly stated that they would pay attention to safety on the road.

Feng Zhengming also showed his mother-in-law the photos he took of the inside and outside of the house he rented in Shanghai.

"Mom, look at the environment over there. It's really great. I rented a small single-family house over there. There are small courtyards in front and back. I redecorated the interior."

After seeing the photos, my mother-in-law still refused to give in at first.

Until Luo Qing's aunt came forward again, and Luo Qing's grandmother also came out to persuade.

Finally, Luo's mother gave in.

"I really can't do anything about you. If you insist on going, then go ahead. But when you get there, you must be careful. It's too hard to follow Zhengming. You have to take care of yourself."

Luo Qing smiled and agreed to her mother.

Feng Zhengming also assured his mother-in-law: "I will take good care of Qingqing. She will be the boss's wife when she gets there, and I will never let her work with me.

Whenever she felt uncomfortable, I would immediately arrange a car to take her to the hospital. If she really didn't have time to come back, she would give birth there.

When the time comes, I will come back to pick you, dad, and other family members up to take care of her."

Facing Feng Zhengming's assurances, his mother-in-law said solemnly: "Remember your promise. Your career is important, but your wife and children are more important."

Feng Zhengming agreed seriously: "I know, Mom."

After convincing his mother-in-law, Feng Zhengming and his companions packed up and prepared to head south to Shanghai.

Among the young chefs who followed Feng Zhengming and Luo Qing to Shanghai.

There are Xia Hui, Sun Hai, Zhu Xu, Zhang Lei, Sun Decai and Guan Wei.

It can be said that almost all those who followed Feng Zhengming to Shanghai this time were the backbone who had followed Feng Zhengming to support Huiquanlou in the early days.

Among them, Zhang Lei and Sun Decai passed Feng Zhengming's screening and were finally brought on by Feng Zhengming.

This time Yang Peng did not follow them to Shanghai because his wife was also pregnant.

So he wanted to stay in Quancheng, buy a house in Quancheng as soon as possible, and bring his parents from his hometown to take care of his young wife.

Feng Zhengming could also understand, and asked his senior brothers to make some arrangements for Yang Peng.

The day when the group boarded the train heading south to Shanghai.

The master and his fellow brothers came to see Feng Zhengming off.

The master finally reminded: "Remember, be down-to-earth and don't be high-profile when you are a person, but you must be high-profile when doing things. If you have skills, you must show them and don't let Shandong cuisine down."

Feng Zhengming smiled and agreed: "Master, rest assured, I will definitely make Shandong cuisine famous outside."

Finally, he reminded his fellow brothers to be more conservative and to ask their master if they had any questions, and not to be as high-profile as Feng Zhengming was when he was in Quancheng.

Of course, the senior brothers all agreed with a smile, and also said that they would not be as high-profile as Feng Zhengming.

Finally, Feng Zhengming also gave some specific instructions to his junior uncle Huang Tao.

Now Huang Tao is running the food magazine in Qilu.

Feng Zhengming warned his junior uncle very seriously.

"Little Uncle-Master, I still call you Uncle-Master. I know you did something to the magazine last year. I didn't bother with you for the sake of my master, but I don't want it to happen again.

As for the ratings of restaurants in Qilu, you don't need to participate in the future. I have already made an agreement with Master Cui. Master Cui will arrange someone, and the printing of the recommended books will also be handled by someone from the province."

Huang Tao's face turned pale after hearing Feng Zhengming's words. He didn't expect that some of his little actions would be known.

He quickly apologized to Feng Zhengming: "I'm sorry, Zhengming, I, I failed your trust in me."

Feng Zhengming's tone was not soft: "I can understand that you, Junior Master, must have felt a little lost after being in various places for so many years. When you finally returned to Qilu, you still felt unconvinced.

But since you are not convinced, you should do a better job of making the magazine. I will ask Uncle San to give you some more funds later. I don’t want our own food magazine to end up being something that everyone hates.”

Huang Tao looked at Feng Zhengming, his heart full of guilt at this moment.

Without any hesitation, Huang Tao assured Feng Zhengming: "I will definitely run our magazine well."

Feng Zhengming then told Junior Master: “The magazine should no longer be a biweekly publication, but a monthly publication. The food-related content should be introduced in a more detailed manner and with many details.

The biweekly publication is too intensive, and there is no time to prepare many things. You should be able to handle this, right, Junior Master?"

Huang Tao immediately agreed: "Yes, yes, I will revise it when I get back."

Feng Zhengming nodded and didn't say anything more. He turned around, said goodbye to everyone, and led everyone into the train station.

The group watched Feng Zhengming and his companions enter the train station.

The master and fellow disciples all looked at Feng Zhengming.

They were full of expectations for Feng Zhengming and hoped that he could make a name for himself in Shanghai.

Feng Zhengming finally waved to everyone with a smile, then turned and walked towards the platform.

After Feng Zhengming could no longer be seen.

Master Yan turned and looked at Huang Tao.

"Huang Tao, do you know why Zhengming didn't replace you? It's because I went to him to plead for you. Otherwise, with Zhengming's temper, he wouldn't allow anyone with problems to appear in his team."

Huang Tao looked at Master Yan in surprise.

Then Huang Tao noticed the gazes of Feng Zhengming and several of his senior brothers.

He really felt ashamed at this moment.

He is Feng Zhengming's uncle, but he actually used the money Feng Zhengming invested in the magazine.

Although it was only a small part, Huang Tao quietly made up for it later.

But this kind of thing really shouldn't happen.

In fact, if Huang Tao really needed money, and he told Feng Zhengming, Feng Zhengming would probably give him money to solve his urgent problem, and he wouldn't have to use the magazine's investment money at all.

Now Feng Zhengming, his master, and his fellow brothers all know about this matter.

Huang Tao really felt uneasy.

He felt that he must work harder next time.

Because the eyes of his senior brothers and nephews were on him.

Huang Tao earnestly assured Master Yan.

"Brother, rest assured, I will never make the same mistake again. I will run the magazine in accordance with Zhengming's requirements and make our magazine the best promotion for Qilu cuisine."

Master Yan nodded: "We believe in your ability, Huang Tao, please don't let us down."

Hearing this, Huang Tao looked at Master Yan again, and finally he nodded heavily.

This trip to Shanghai was an extremely exciting experience for the young chefs. In their more than 20 years of life, this was the first time they had left Qilu.

And this time they went south to show off their respective cooking skills.

This may be a test for every craftsman who has learned a craft for many years.

Although Feng Zhengming has already arranged everything for the two stores.

But Shanghai is a foreign land after all, and many of its customs and practices are very different from those of Qi and Lu.

Therefore, young chefs may first need to adapt to the local customs and practices of Shanghai.

At the train station, Feng Zhengming also told everyone about the situation in Shanghai, especially focusing on his two stores in Shanghai.

“The two stores are quite far apart. If you walk or take a car, it may take a long time. However, Shanghai now has a subway, so you can travel between the two stores by subway.

After we arrive in Shanghai, I will take you to buy subway tickets, and you can take the subway to travel between the two stores.

Young chefs are really unfamiliar with the subway and have no idea what it is?
Feng Zhengming explained with a smile: "It's just like the train we take, except that the subway runs underground, so there is no traffic jam and it is more convenient to travel back and forth."

After listening to Feng Zhengming's explanation, everyone understood.

Then Feng Zhengming told everyone about the basic situation of the two stores.

“There are two stores. One is not far from the train station. The surrounding area is a relatively prosperous commercial area, and there are also many outsiders there.

The other restaurant is on a street full of western restaurants. Almost all the shops next to it are western restaurants. Of course, they are not authentic western restaurants. They are improved western restaurants run by some domestic chefs who have learned some basic western cuisine.

The two stores sell similar things, which are what I demonstrated to you before we left.

In our country it should be called rice with gravy, and the presentation is very similar to the meals in Western fast food restaurants.

Of course, the braised pork is still our main product in both stores, and I have made some improvements to the taste.”

After talking about these similarities, Feng Zhengming then began to talk about the differences between the two stores.

“The difference is that the shops on the Western Restaurant Street have some Hong Kong-style Cantonese dishes and some Western dishes. I have also made some improvements to the pork elbows, pig’s trotters and four-happiness meatballs, which are no longer the same as in the old shop.

The store near the train station is also a fast food restaurant. The menu will be mainly based on our Shandong cuisine stir-fry, which is the old tradition of the old shop in Quancheng. Of course, there will be some Shanghai local dishes on the menu. "

The young chefs were surprised to hear that local dishes would be added.

Zhang Lei saw that no one else spoke, so he chose to speak.

"Uncle Master, we don't know how to cook our own dishes, right?"

Feng Zhengming nodded: "I know, so I went back early to bring you here, just to let you go to the Shanghai Chefs Association to learn.

You need to understand the general cooking methods of local dishes, the key is the flavor of local dishes, and try to keep the taste as stable as possible. "

Hearing what Feng Zhengming said, Zhang Lei couldn't help but mutter: "Is it joining the Bangcai or Shandong cuisine restaurant?"

"What? Zhang Lei, do you think that if we add local dishes to the menu, our restaurant will no longer be a Shandong restaurant? Can't local dishes appear in a Shandong restaurant?"

Being asked this question, Zhang Lei was suddenly at a loss.

"Uncle Master, I, I didn't mean that."

Feng Zhengming said seriously, "I'll say it again. We are going to Shanghai now. Just like my branches in various places in Qilu, we must integrate some local characteristics on the basis of tradition."

Zhang Lei saw Feng Zhengming's serious face and realized that he had said the wrong thing again.

This time, Feng Zhengming originally had no plan to bring Zhang Lei with him to Shanghai.

Zhang Lei specifically asked his family to go with him to ask Senior Brother Feng Zhengming to plead for mercy.

Originally, the eldest senior brother righteously stated that he would not plead for Zhang Lei.

However, after Feng Zhengming learned about it, he still specifically tested Zhang Lei.

It is certain that Zhang Lei’s skills have improved rapidly in recent years.

In particular, he is no longer as ambitious as before, and is able to learn skills down to earth. He is also doing very well in the Gan Fanpu branch.

Yao Zhenhui often feels inferior to him in this regard.

Feng Zhengming finally decided to take Zhang Lei with him.

He also told Zhang Lei clearly that he brought him south to Shanghai because of his senior brother's face.

This will also ensure that there will be no problems in the relationship between the eldest senior brother and Zhang Lei, the master and disciple.

Zhang Lei quickly apologized to Feng Zhengming: "I'm sorry, Junior Master. I will study the local cuisine well when I get to Shanghai."

Feng Zhengming nodded: "You have to remember one thing, there is no end to learning, although normally speaking, it is already amazing for a chef to master one cuisine in his lifetime.

But as a chef, we also need to draw inferences from other areas and learn from what makes other cuisines better than ours.

We should also try to integrate elements from other cuisines into our Shandong cuisine.”

Luo Qing suddenly laughed at this time: "Okay, look at you, you always like to put on your uncle's airs. This is what we said in private, can't you not be so serious?"

When his wife said that, a smile appeared on Feng Zhengming's face.

"Isn't this the first time I've opened a branch outside of Shandong? To be honest, I'm a little nervous. This is my first step to take Shandong cuisine out of Shandong, and I hope this first step goes well."

Zhu Xu spoke up to express his agreement with Feng Zhengming's strictness.

“It’s right for Master Uncle to be strict. Some of us may be older than Master Uncle, but our cooking skills are not as good as his, and we don’t have as much experience outside as he does.

Therefore, Master Uncle’s strict requirements on us can help us make better progress.”

Feng Zhengming couldn't help laughing at what Zhu Xu said.

"Hahaha, sure, Zhu Xu, you're really good at talking now."

After hearing this, Zhu Xu suddenly felt a little embarrassed.

Others also laughed and expressed their own ideas.

Guan Wei, Sun Hai and Sun Decai are all relatively modest.

This is also a point that Feng Zhengming values ​​​​about them.

The three of them are the type who don’t talk much, but when they are working, they give people a very down-to-earth feeling.

It can be considered as a guarantee for Feng Zhengming to open a store in Shanghai this time.

Although Xia Hui is the only female chef, she is the most lively one among all.

After all, she and Luo Qing are now very good friends.

With Luo Qing's support, Feng Zhengming couldn't scold her too directly.

Of course, Xia Hui has also made great progress in the past two years.

Maybe it’s because she is a female chef, who may be at a disadvantage in cooking compared to male chefs, so she really puts a lot of effort into it, especially in terms of flavoring, and she is considered the best among young chefs.

After a long journey by train, the group finally arrived in Shanghai and met up with Jiang Chengzhe and his two apprentices. (End of this chapter)