From selling box lunches to becoming a famous Chinese chef

This time in Quancheng, the seven brothers truly gathered together.

The brothers first went to the master's house together.

Master Yan was also very excited and moved when he saw his seven fellow apprentices gathered together.

Master Yan started learning cooking at the age of sixteen and has been in the industry for so many years that he has had countless apprentices.

In the end, there were only six apprentices who stayed with Master Yan and were carefully selected by him.

Originally, Master Yan wanted to hand over Yan Xilou to them in the future.

The little apprentice Feng Zhengming was the last apprentice that Master Yan unexpectedly accepted.

At first, Master Yan didn't think about letting Feng Zhengming take over Yan Xilou in the future.

On the one hand, Feng Zhengming entered the industry too late, and Master Yan did not have the time to give him detailed instructions on many things.

On the other hand, Feng Zhengming is too young, and Master Yan feels that the young apprentice needs time to settle down.

I feel that if I follow other seniors, I may be able to achieve something in the future.

But until today, Master Yan really did not expect that his little apprentice would actually be the most accomplished among his apprentices.

Although Yan Xilou closed down due to poor management, later due to urban development, even the former Yan Xilou restaurant was demolished.

However, because of Feng Zhengming, Master Yan's lineage has become the most well-known lineage of Shandong cuisine.

When Master Yan saw his seven apprentices, he seemed to have returned to the time when he was busy in Yanxi Tower.

In a trance, I seemed to see the apprentices busy at the stove and the table.

As their master, he stood in the kitchen and gave them some instructions.

It seems like it all happened just yesterday.

Looking at his apprentices, Master Yan smiled.

"Well, you brothers are together again. This time you must show off the progress you have made in your skills over the past few years."

The master looked at Wang Jialiang and said, "Jialiang, you must have learned a lot of new things abroad, right? You must show them off in this competition. Let us see how you combine Shandong cuisine with some foreign things."

Wang Jialiang felt a little embarrassed when his master said this.

"Master, I haven't cooked Shandong cuisine in the past few years when I was abroad. You should know that people abroad still have their own eating habits, and our Shandong cuisine is not very popular there."

Having said that, Wang Jialiang looked at his junior brother.

"Before I returned to Quancheng this time, I passed through Shanghai. I went to Zhengming's restaurant in Shanghai. I think Zhengming did a better job in integrating Western cuisine."

Feng Zhengming also laughed when he heard what his fourth senior brother said.

"Hahaha, Fourth Brother, actually the restaurant I run in Shanghai still serves a combination of Shandong cuisine and other cuisines from all over China, but the way we serve the food is inspired by the fast food methods of overseas restaurants."

Wang Jialiang looked at Feng Zhengming and said, "But your approach is really good, and the combination of your tuning is also really great."

The master said, "Zhengming, don't be modest. You are now the most accomplished among your fellow disciples. You can share some of your things with your fellow disciples."

Feng Zhengming naturally would not hide anything from his senior brothers.

He was very frank in sharing some of his ideas with his seniors.

"I think that no matter what cuisine it is, whether it is domestic or overseas, the most important thing about food is that it tastes good. We cannot ask customers to adapt to our tastes, so we can only combine the taste preferences of different regions and find the greatest common denominator."

Wang Jialiang immediately agreed: "Yes, Zhengming, your idea is very good. I really felt that in your store in Shanghai."

Feng Zhengming: "I am also making some attempts, but what I do in Shanghai may not be suitable in Quanzhou."

The eldest brother said, "Yes, people in Quancheng still prefer the traditional Shandong cuisine."

The third brother smiled and said, "Everyone is willing to try something new, as long as it tastes good."

Second Brother: "I have been in Texas for the past two years and found that people are very curious about new things. Many young people are not willing to eat traditional food. There are indeed many people who like some things from abroad."

The fourth brother took over again: "Many people have never really been exposed to foreign food, but they just think that foreign food is better."

The Sixth Senior Brother nodded: "Yes, many people think that foreign countries must be better than domestic ones."

The fifth brother gave a summary: "This is how foreign monks chant sutras."

Master Yan instructed his apprentices: "But you still have to stick to the traditional things as much as possible and not throw away the old skills. That is the foundation of Shandong cuisine and your foundation."

The disciples nodded seriously and all obeyed their master's words.

Wang Jialiang spoke again: "Master, I came back this time just to review the cooking skills of Shandong cuisine and demonstrate all the techniques you taught me in the past."

The master sighed: "This time, Zhengming made the scale quite large, attracting many chefs to participate."

Feng Zhengming: "Master, that's not the case. Our Shandong cuisine is the root of all the cuisines in China in terms of techniques. It can be said that most of the techniques in Chinese cooking are derived from our Shandong cuisine.

So the scale of our international Shandong cuisine competition is not large at all. We just want to allow more Shandong cuisine chefs to communicate with each other.

Let us all work together to better inherit and promote Shandong cuisine.”

The master laughed when he heard this: "Zhengming is getting better and better at speaking now. He has so many things to say about these things."

These words made all the senior brothers laugh.

Feng Zhengming also laughed: "I can't help it. I've been to so many meetings that I've learned only these."

The master was very satisfied with the young apprentice: "Very good, you can speak, do, and have good skills. This shows that you can take charge of everything."

The eldest brother also agreed with the master's words: "Yes, this is the only way to be more proactive."

Fourth Senior Brother suddenly asked: "Zhengming, I heard that it was Cheng Guosheng who was going to host this competition?"

Before Feng Zhengming could speak, Fifth Brother came to help explain.

"The investors behind Cheng Guosheng wanted to raise the value of Cheng Guosheng and Jubinyuan, so they launched the competition at the beginning and wanted Zhengming to participate in the competition to compete with Cheng Guosheng and others."

The fourth brother sneered after hearing this: "This is really a common method they use. They often use this trick abroad."

Then, the fourth brother talked about some of his experiences overseas.

Feng Zhengming did not find what his fourth senior brother said strange. After all, Hong Kong City also had similar marketing tactics, and Jiang Chengzhe had also experienced them, so he more or less understood them.

But after hearing this, the master and other fellow practitioners were also very surprised.

Senior Brother: "So you can do marketing this way?"

Second Brother: "So those restaurants abroad are actually marketed this way?"

The fourth brother explained: "Marketing is their way of becoming famous. Of course, some of those restaurants do have enough strength."

Fifth Senior Brother: "In the final analysis, isn't Cheng Guosheng and his men just trying to use Junior Brother's fame to elevate themselves?"

Feng Zhengming smiled and said, "They are more or less desperate. The management method of New Jubin Garden has problems to begin with, so they can't wait to raise Cheng Guosheng's value so that he can attract more wealthy people to spend money at Jubin Garden."

The master shook his head and said, “When I went to Jubin Garden for its grand opening, I felt that something was wrong with their approach.

Later, I found out that they really wanted to go for the high-end route, but with the domestic economic environment, how could so many people afford such expensive food and beverages? "The master's words were agreed by all the disciples present.

Sixth senior brother Zhang Minghai who is in Yancheng talked about the situation in Yancheng.

“Yancheng is close to the sea, so there are a lot of tourists visiting every year. In addition, there is a lot of seafood near the sea. But in fact, the stores with good business in Yancheng are definitely those with good quality and low prices.

And good quality and low prices do not mean that the craftsmanship is bad, and it does not necessarily mean that it is a so-called high-end restaurant. "

Feng Zhengming was a little helpless: "I think that maybe Cheng Guosheng spent too much time in other places in the past few years, especially in big restaurants in Shanghai and some southern cities.

I think the domestic economic environment is getting better and better, and there will be many big bosses who need high-end restaurants to improve their status. "

After a brief pause, Feng Zhengming pointed out bluntly: "But his method is indeed not applicable in Quancheng, at least not for the time being."

Fourth senior brother Wang Jialiang expressed a different opinion.

"I think Cheng Guosheng and his team came back too late. If they had not come back before Zhengming had become the top scholar in the country and used your fame to create a guide to restaurants and hotels throughout the province,

They returned to Quancheng, did things the way they do now, and took the opportunity to introduce their own set of standards.

Perhaps after a period of implementation, many people will gradually accept their standards.

It's a pity that they acted a little too late, and you, Zhengming, got the upper hand."

These words made the master and his fellow disciples fall into deep thought.

After some thought, the master nodded in agreement.

"It is Zhengming who took the lead and made everyone accept the standards he promoted."

The fourth brother added: "Moreover, Zhengming has raised the standard for a good chef, allowing more people to pay attention to the chef's skills instead of focusing on the ingredients used."

This statement was also recognized by the master and fellow disciples.

Finally, the fourth senior brother looked at Feng Zhengming and said, "This International Shandong Cuisine Master Chef Challenge will make your ideas completely accepted by everyone. I'm afraid it will be more difficult to shake your standards in the future."

Feng Zhengming smiled: "I still need your support, Master and Senior Brothers."

The master immediately expressed his support: "Support, of course I support you."

The senior brothers also expressed their full support for Feng Zhengming.

Among the famous Shandong chefs invited this time, Feng Zhengming included all his senior brothers.

He also invited chefs from several restaurants and hotels in Quancheng, as well as chefs from all over Qi and Lu.

Perhaps if Feng Zhengming had not stepped in, Cheng Guosheng would not have been able to invite so many master chefs.

So the weight of this competition is really very high.

As a result, we received full support from the Chefs Association, the National Culinary Evaluation Committee, and the province.

With the support from all parties, plus the sponsors brought in by Feng Zhengming himself.

This will indeed create a greater momentum than that created by Cheng Guosheng and the investors behind him.

It will naturally attract more outstanding young chefs to sign up.

Feng Zhengming also specifically relaxed the registration time.

Give many young Shandong cuisine chefs more time to sign up and prepare.

As time went by, in less than a month, more than 3,000 young chefs from all over the country had signed up.

Feng Zhengming is the busiest, as he needs to travel to various venues to check out the preparations in each place.

Fortunately, the three venues are very supportive, and there are dedicated people to supervise the construction of the venues.

Therefore, the progress of the stadium construction is also very smooth.

Of course, a large amount of ingredients and seasonings were also purchased for preparation.

In this regard, Feng Zhengming also relied on the sauce factory and contacted some seasoning factories in the south through Luo Jinliang, and transferred a large number of seasonings to support the competition.

This can also enhance the reputation of Feng Zhengming's Soy Sauce Factory, so Luo Jinliang also quite supports it.

While busy with the preparations, Feng Zhengming did not forget to receive the Kofmans.

Since Feng Zhengming was unable to accompany them on the tour, he simply asked his wife Luo Qing and his third uncle to send someone to help accompany them.

The Coffmans also expressed their understanding, and Coffman even helped Feng Zhengming set up the competition venue.

Kofman is quite experienced in arranging the stadium, and he made some suggestions which were very useful to Feng Zhengming.

Mrs. Kofman and Luo Qing became increasingly close.

While Kofman and Feng Zhengming were busy, the two ladies traveled to many places.

Even Mrs. Kofman and Luo Qing took care of Feng Zhengming's daughter together.

It can be seen that Mrs. Coffman also likes children very much.

After intensive preparations, this competition, which has attracted attention from almost everyone in the country and even overseas, finally began one month after the announcement.

First, there are three sub-competition venues, and each sub-competition venue has only 20 qualifying places.

So the competition in each arena is really fierce.

Because the competitions were being held simultaneously in the three arenas, Feng Zhengming, the veteran masters and the professional judges from Beijing simply went to the three arenas to serve as judges.

Feng Zhengming went to the Yancheng sub-competition venue in person.

For the competition in different venues, first of all, according to Feng Zhengming's requirement, all chefs must cook their own dishes.

And the first thing to be competed is the basic skills of all chefs.

This also reflects that Shandong cuisine has strict requirements on basic skills.

The competitions in the three venues were also filmed and recorded on site.

The competition will be broadcast on the provincial TV news every day.

This also caused Qilu TV's ratings to rise sharply across the country.

Many people from all over the country are paying close attention and want to know what the outcome of this “International Shandong Cuisine Master Chef Challenge” will be?
The competition was divided into different venues. Because there were many participating chefs, the competition was carried out over five days.

During these five days, many outstanding young chefs emerged in all three competition venues.

Cheng Guosheng also feels a lot of pressure when he reads the news every day.

It was only at this moment that he finally realized that the things he was proud of had already been caught up by many young chefs.

He also truly realized the value of Feng Zhengming's emergence to Shandong cuisine and even to the national culinary arts.

If Feng Zhengming had not emerged out of nowhere, these young chefs would have taken him as their role model, and perhaps their skills would not have been so solid and strong.

With such a solid foundation of young chefs, Cheng Guosheng believes that the future of the culinary industry will definitely get better and better. (End of this chapter)