From selling box lunches to becoming a famous Chinese chef

Cheng Guosheng rushed to the door of the room where his master, Master Wang, lived and happened to run into his fellow apprentice Lin Guofu.

Lin Guofu has been in Jufengde in recent years.

When Cheng Guosheng returned to Quancheng to reopen Jubin Garden, he also contacted his junior fellow apprentice Lin Guofu.

After all, in the past at Jubin Garden, Lin Guofu was also Cheng Guosheng's deputy.

However, like Lin Guofu and Zhu Xu, he did not return to Jubin Garden.

When the two brothers bumped into each other head-on, it was a bit awkward for a moment.

It was Lin Guofu who spoke first: "Brother, you are here to see Master as well? You want to ask Master about the final allocation of the top ten chefs, right?"

Cheng Guosheng immediately asked, "Have you talked to Master about this? Did Master give you the quota?"

Lin Guofu shook his head: "Master is not here. I guess Master and the others should know that we might come to find them, so they are hiding from us."

Cheng Guosheng naturally didn't believe it in his heart, but at this moment, he saw someone else coming to the floor of the hotel where the masters lived.

The person who came was Jufengde’s current head chef “Kong Xingli”.

Kong Xingli was also stunned when he saw the two brothers Cheng Guosheng and Lin Guofu.

But he soon realized that the two men must have the same intention as him.

So he greeted Lin Guofu, nodded with a smile to Cheng Guosheng, and walked past the two of them towards Master Su's room.

Cheng Guosheng watched Kong Xingli press the doorbell for a long time, but no one responded.

Kong Xingli knocked on the door a few times and shouted a few times inside.

But no one responded.

Kong Xingli had no choice but to return.

I saw Cheng Guosheng and Lin Guofu.

Kong Xingli asked Lin Guofu: "Master Wang is not here either?"

Lin Guofu nodded: "Yes, Master is not here either."

Kong Xingli said helplessly: "It seems that Master and the others have already expected that we would come looking for them, so they are all hiding from us."

Cheng Guosheng thought about it and took the initiative to invite the two: "Brother Kong, Junior Brother, let's go downstairs to eat something and chat?"

Upon hearing this, Kong Xingli looked at Lin Guofu and then he agreed.

"Okay, Old Cheng, you've made such a big fuss about reopening Jubin Garden in Quancheng since you came back. I've always wanted to take some time to stop by and chat with you and learn from you. So, let's go downstairs and have a drink?"

Lin Guofu naturally did not refuse, and the three of them went downstairs together.

The apprentices of other masters also went upstairs to find their respective masters.

Only a few of Feng Zhengming's senior brothers did not come to see him and Master Yan.

Because all the seniors know that the junior brother is organizing this competition, so it doesn’t matter who else you find, in the end it all depends on strength.

Kong Xingli, Cheng Guosheng and Lin Guofu came to the hotel restaurant together.

The three of them each ordered a large glass of beer, a few side dishes, and sat together to chat.

Cheng Guosheng spoke first: "Do you think Feng Zhengming is a good organizer of this competition? Don't you think he is using us to help him?"

When Kong Xingli heard this, he first glanced at Lin Guofu.

Lin Guofu noticed Kong Xingli's eyes, but he still spoke first.

“Feng Zhengming has the ability and qualifications to host such a competition. To be honest, if Feng Zhengming hadn’t hosted it, let alone whether the judges from Beijing could be invited, at least it would have been impossible to attract so much sponsorship.

As for Mr. Kofman from abroad and Mr. Wei Ling from Hong Kong, I’m afraid we can’t invite them.”

Kong Xingli nodded: "Guofu is right, Zhengming is indeed very capable. He has been so busy outside these years, and in the end he still wants to promote our Shandong cuisine.

The name of his company, 'Zheng Luxing', doesn't it mean that he wants to revive Shandong cuisine? "

Cheng Guosheng looked at his junior fellow apprentice, then at Kong Xingli.

The two people's words blocked his original words.

But then Kong Xingli went on to say: "He really gave himself a difficult problem in this competition. There are so many famous Shandong chefs. If he wants to choose the top ten, I'm afraid it will cause some problems."

After hearing what Kong Xingli said, Cheng Guosheng finally found a point to start the conversation.

"That's right. How can it prove who is better with just three dishes? The selection of the top ten chefs is obviously unreasonable."

Cheng Guosheng took a sip of beer and continued to express his thoughts.

"I think we should join hands and boycott Feng Zhengming's unreasonable behavior. We can't decide who is better just because of three dishes, right?"

Kong Xingli agreed: "Yes, I agree with what you said, Old Cheng. We really can't decide who is the top ten chef based on just three dishes in the competition. Our cooking skills are similar, and no one is better than anyone else."

Seeing that Kong Xingli agreed with him, Cheng Guosheng felt that he should add fuel to the fire.

"Furthermore, Feng Zhengming asked those young chefs to compete with us. They are all our apprentices. What qualifications do they have to compete with us for the title of the top ten chefs?"

As soon as these words came out, Kong Xingli's expression suddenly changed, and then he did not continue speaking.

Lin Guofu spoke directly to his senior brother.

“Brother, what you said is not right. The progress of young chefs is good for the development of Shandong cuisine. Although there are indeed some of our apprentices among the top 100 chefs this time, not all of them are our apprentices.

Besides, if the apprentice can defeat the master, we should be even happier, because it means that our skills are indeed passed down.

If we are easily defeated by our apprentice, it means that we may be out of date and our skills have declined.”

Lin Guofu's words made Cheng Guosheng's expression change slightly.

But when he glanced at Kong Xingli, a smile reappeared on his face.

"Junior brother is right. If we lose to those young chefs, it can only be said that our skills have declined."

When Kong Xingli heard Cheng Guosheng say this, he also agreed with a smile.

"Okay, then there's no need to look for masters. From now on, everyone will rely on their own abilities."

As he spoke, Kong Xingli raised the wine glass in his hand.

Cheng Guosheng and Lin Guofu also raised their glasses.

The three men drank the wine in their glasses and then stood up.

However, the three people who got up did not return to the room. Instead, they walked out of the hotel together and rushed to the stadium.

Since it has been said that everyone has to rely on their own abilities, they must prepare some things tonight.

After all, many dishes in Shandong cuisine do require some preparation in advance.

Otherwise, if you make it on the same day, it will definitely not turn out as it should be.

When the three returned to the competition venue to prepare the kitchen arranged by the competition chef, they found that it was in full swing and it was obvious that many people were busy inside.

Cheng Guosheng, Lin Guofu and Kong Xingli looked at each other.

They all realized that they were too late.

The three of them felt a little embarrassed at this moment.

While others are preparing seriously for the competition, they are still trying to find a backdoor to seek help from their master.

Looking at it this way, they are indeed a bit embarrassed to be among the top ten chefs.

However, the three of them went into the kitchen to prepare ingredients, quickly changed their clothes and began to prepare their own things.

In fact, at this time all the masters and Feng Zhengming were watching the chefs preparing ingredients next door.

I saw Cheng Guosheng, Lin Guofu and Kong Xingli come in.

Master Wang and Master Su looked at each other. They probably thought that the three people came late and might have gone to their room to look for them.

However, Cheng Guosheng, Lin Guofu and Kong Xingli were not latecomers.

Because more than half of the chefs in the competition have not yet come to prepare the ingredients.

This actually gave Master Wang and Master Su some comfort.

Feng Zhengming just looked inside. There were about thirty people preparing ingredients in the kitchen.

The first dish was a trial for everyone.

Everyone should be able to show their true skills for the second dish.

For example, several chefs there, including Cheng Guosheng, have selected the best sea cucumbers.

This means that they should all choose sea cucumber as their second dish.

The most classic dish in Shandong cuisine is braised sea cucumber with scallions.

This dish can be said to be the threshold between ordinary chefs and master chefs of authentic Shandong cuisine.

If you want to become a master chef of Shandong cuisine, you must be able to cook braised sea cucumber with scallions.

Knowing how to cook here doesn’t just mean being able to roast the sea cucumber.

It is to create a unique taste of your own.

In Quancheng, in the past, every big restaurant such as Jufengde, Taifenglou, Jubinyuan, Yanxilou, etc. had the dish of braised sea cucumber with scallions, but if someone was willing to spend money, they could order the braised sea cucumber with scallions from all the big restaurants.

If you taste them together, you will clearly taste the difference in flavor.

You don't even need a very professional judge to taste the difference.

Even ordinary customers can taste the difference by comparing several restaurants together.

The first difference lies in the different ways that different chefs handle sea cucumbers.

The second is that each chef has a different taste in seasoning the sea cucumber.

The last and most important point is each chef’s unique scallion sauce.

Ordinary chefs probably know that scallion sauce is made by frying scallions, then steaming them and adding scallion oil to season them, and then using the scallion sauce to cook the sea cucumbers.

The next level chef will fry some of the onions and not fry the rest, and cook both types of onions together to make onion sauce.

In the hands of the master chef, everyone will have his or her own unique skill in making scallion sauce.

It's like the abalone sauce of Cantonese cuisine.

The abalone sauce made by top Cantonese chefs must have a unique flavor.

A Shandong cuisine chef cannot be called a master if he cannot make his own scallion sauce.

Some people may find it a bit metaphysical.

But the tongue never lies. The scallion sauce in the chefs' hands will allow customers to make the choice with their tongue.

The most intuitive example is that in Feng Zhengming's store on Hucheng West Restaurant Street, whenever scallion-fried sea cucumbers are available, customers can't wait to order a bowl of scallion-fried rice or noodles.

Customers will really wipe off every bit of residue on the bottom of the plate.

Therefore, every Shandong cuisine chef has his own unique twist on the dish of braised sea cucumber with scallions.

Feng Zhengming watched as several chefs inside were preparing.

He couldn't help but smile and said to the chefs: "If I had known earlier, the last two dishes should have been fixed to one, and it should have been fried sea cucumber with scallions."

As soon as these words were spoken, several old masters almost said it in unison.

"Okay, we should let them cook this dish."

Feng Zhengming didn't know whether to laugh or cry after hearing this: "No, is it too late to notify them now?"

Master Cui: "It's still in time. You can ask the staff to inform them that tomorrow's competition will be postponed for one day to give everyone more time to prepare. The second dish will be the braised sea cucumber with scallions."

When Master Cui said this, all the other masters present nodded in agreement.

When Feng Zhengming saw the masters all saying this, he went out and made a phone call.

Soon, the staff responsible for event coordination began running around to make notifications.

Several chefs who were already in the kitchen preparing ingredients for the second dish, braised sea cucumber with scallions, were all a little surprised to receive such a notice.

Cheng Guosheng asked, "Is this what Feng Zhuangyuan meant?"

The staff member who came to notify has not spoken yet.

Master Wang walked into the kitchen to prepare ingredients.

"It's not Zhengming's idea, it's the idea of ​​a few of us old guys. Scallion-fried sea cucumber is a very important dish in Shandong cuisine, so we think that for the second dish, we should let you all make scallion-fried sea cucumber to see if your cooking is up to standard."

Master Wang and several other masters came in, followed by the participating chefs who had received the news.

After the top 100 Shandong cuisine chefs arrived.

Master Cui stepped forward and said: "Scallion-fried sea cucumber is a famous Shandong dish, and it is also an unwritten test dish for a Shandong chef to become a master chef.

I believe that everyone has made this dish and knows what it means to Shandong cuisine.

After discussing with Zhengming, we decided to have you all make scallion-fried sea cucumber as your second dish.

Tomorrow's game will be postponed one day to give you all enough time to prepare.

I hope the famous Shandong cuisine chefs will not disappoint us old guys.”

Other masters also stepped forward and offered words of encouragement.

The statements made by the old chefs made the top 100 chefs present feel the pressure on their shoulders in an instant.

Braised sea cucumber with scallions is a very important dish in Shandong cuisine.

Just as Master Cui said, every Shandong cuisine chef can cook this dish, and will add his own understanding based on the inheritance of his predecessors.

Therefore, this dish was singled out as a test for the top ten Shandong chefs, and it really convinced everyone.

Although the methods may seem the same, the difference in taste in the end will be the key to determining the winner.

Since the master chef has spoken, the top 100 chefs present naturally would not have any objections.

Feng Zhengming stepped forward at this time and said, “I have already informed you that the competition will be postponed for one day, so you still have one day to prepare tomorrow. You can go back and rest tonight.

Have a good rest so that you can prepare everything you need tomorrow."

Kong Xingli asked: "Tomorrow we will make the scallion sauce. Can we make them separately?"

Feng Zhengming knew what this meant.

The master chefs all have their own unique recipes for scallion sauce, which are usually not passed on to others.

Even the recipes of scallion sauce used by master chefs are slightly different from those of their own masters and fellow apprentices.

"Brother Kong, rest assured. Tomorrow I will discuss with Master Xia and the locals in Qufu and try to give you all separate places to make scallion sauce so that your recipes will not be exposed."

Everyone present was satisfied with this answer, and then they all went back to rest.

Feng Zhengming watched everyone leave and saw some young chefs looked a little sad.

After he and others had left, he gave the masters a bitter smile.

"It seems that you are giving some preference to the chefs. Young chefs are naturally at a disadvantage in the competition of braised sea cucumber with scallions."

The old masters looked at each other.

Finally, Master Cui stood up and said: "If they want to defeat their masters and become one of the top ten Shandong cuisine chefs, they must be able to pass this level on their own." (End of this chapter)