From selling box lunches to becoming a famous Chinese chef

Chapter 895 Give Jiang Chengzhe a Holiday

Although Feng Zonghe wanted to live with Feng Zhengming and others in Feng Zhengming's house in Shanghai.

But the invitation from the eldest son and daughter-in-law was also a thoughtful gesture.

And the eldest grandson also hopes that grandfather can stay and live with them for a while.

In addition, seeing that his eldest daughter-in-law came for him and Brother Situ, he also made a lot of preparations.

Feng Zonghe agreed to live in his eldest son's house for a while.

After Feng Zhengming chatted with his uncle for a while, he took the initiative to cook dinner.

However, since his uncle has an aunt who cooks at home, Feng Zhengming doesn't want to take away her job.

So he just cooked a few home-cooked dishes and left the rest to his aunt.

One of the dishes Feng Zhengming made was Qi Lu’s specialty fried chicken, which was what his brother requested.

While Feng Zhengming was cooking, the aunt who was cooking was standing next to him and wanted to learn.

Feng Zhengming naturally did not hide this and carefully explained the details to the aunt.

"When frying chicken, you first need to dry-fry it like this. You need to fry it until the oil becomes clear. This will add some dry fragrance to the chicken."

Feng Zhengming stir-fried the chicken pieces until thoroughly cooked, then used a spatula to move the chicken pieces to the edge of the pot. He then added the prepared onions, ginger and garlic into the pot to stir-fry until fragrant, and then moved the chicken pieces back into the pot and stir-fried them together.

"Auntie, if you can't do it this way, you can first fry some of the scallions and ginger in oil to bring out the aroma, and then put the chicken pieces in the pan to dry-fry."

Auntie wrote it down carefully.

"Okay, okay, Mr. Feng, your cooking skills are really great."

Feng Zhengming smiled and said, "This is just an ordinary home-cooked dish that anyone can make."

The eldest aunt also came over at this time, smiling: "Auntie, don't compare with him. He is the national cooking champion and is responsible for various national reception work. We eat at home, and the home-cooked dishes are delicious."

Auntie also smiled and nodded in agreement: "I know, home-cooked dishes don't need to be fancy."

Feng Zhengming also taught his aunt some things.

For example, there are tips on how to cook porridge, how to make it softer and not stick to the pot, etc.

Auntie really learned a lot from following me.

In addition to stir-frying chicken, Feng Zhengming also fried shredded chicken with coriander and stir-fried liver with green onions for the two grandfathers and uncle, as a side dish for everyone to drink with dinner in the evening.

It turned out that Feng Zhengming was only going to cook two dishes, but he couldn't stop and simply cooked all the dishes for tonight.

In the end, even my aunt felt a little embarrassed.

"Oh, what's the good of this? This should be my job."

The eldest aunt smiled and said, "Auntie, you don't have to be like this. Our family doesn't care about those things. You usually work very hard. Just take a break today and learn from Zhengming."

The dishes were served one by one, and my uncle and aunt also invited my aunt to join them for dinner.

Although the aunt was a little embarrassed, the two grandfathers still asked her to sit down and eat with them.

After everyone sat down, the uncle raised his glass and said, "Come on, let's have a drink together. Thank you Zhengming for helping to bring your grandfather and Grandpa Situ here this time."

Feng Zhengming smiled and said, "You're welcome, uncle. I also wish you good luck in your future work in Shanghai."

Feng Guofeng smiled: "Okay, thank you, our top scholar."

Everyone raised their glasses, even my aunt raised her glass and drank.

When eating, the aunt was embarrassed to pick up the food at first.

It was my aunt and Luo Qing who helped me pick up the dishes, which gradually made my aunt relax.

After eating the dishes cooked by Feng Zhengming, my aunt couldn’t help but sigh.

"The top scholar's craftsmanship is really good."

The eldest aunt smiled and said, "What if he is the top scholar?"

The aunt nodded: "Yes, yes, he is the top scholar, his craftsmanship is really amazing."

Feng Yucheng had no time to talk and just kept eating.

He really likes the dishes cooked by his elder brother.

The family had a happy dinner together.

Feng Zhengming and Luo Qing could see that their uncle's family was truly happy.

Especially for my uncle, this is probably the first time for him to have a meal at home with his family after living abroad for many years.

Especially when my father is around, I can even have a couple of drinks with him.

This kind of day might be what my uncle has been hoping for for many years while living abroad.

After dinner, Feng Zhengming and Luo Qing took their daughter and prepared to say goodbye and leave.

My uncle's family wanted to keep them.

"Why don't you stay here tonight? Clean up a room for the three of you to stay here for the night."

"Yeah, you guys have to go back so late, isn't that a little unsafe?"

Feng Zhengming smiled and responded, "It's okay, uncle, aunt, we still have to clean up when we get home, and I still need to go to the store. It's only eight o'clock now, so it's still early."

Luo Qing: "Yes, it's only eight o'clock, it's really not late."

Finally, it was Grandpa who spoke up: "Let the young couple go back. Zhengming hasn't been home for a long time, so they really need to go check out the stores here."

Since grandpa had spoken, my uncle's family no longer tried to try to keep us.

However, my uncle still called for a car to take Feng Zhengming and his family of three to the store.

Feng Zhengming and Luo Qing declined, but the aunt said something.

"This is not a gift for you, it's for our little Youyou, so you are not allowed to refuse."

After hearing what his aunt said, Feng Zhengming, his wife and their daughter thanked her, then got in the car, said goodbye to his uncle's family and the two grandfathers and left.

On the way back, my daughter was tired and started to feel confused.

Feng Zhengming took his daughter from his wife's arms and let her sleep in his arms.

The driver took Feng Zhengming and his friends to the intersection of Western Restaurant Street.

Feng Zhengming, his wife and their daughter got off the car and thanked the driver and said goodbye.

Then Feng Zhengming, holding his daughter in his arms and carrying some luggage, walked towards his store with his wife.

Although it was already past nine o'clock in the evening, the store was still full of customers.

There was no one queuing at the door, which meant that the customers inside were the last batch of customers tonight.

Feng Zhengming handed the child in his arms to his wife and asked her to wait for him outside for a while.

He walked in, greeted everyone, and then asked for his car keys from the bar.

Afterwards, Feng Zhengming drove his wife and daughter back home.

Then Feng Zhengming drove back and found that some customers had already left the store.

Feng Zhengming pushed the door open and entered the store, just in time to see Jiang Chengzhe coming out to serve the dishes.

The dishes were served to the customers first, and Jiang Chengzhe looked at Feng Zhengming with a smile.

"Our great chef, you are finally back."

Feng Zhengming smiled: "How is it? Is business going well recently?"

Jiang Chengzhe: "Business is the same as always, barely doing OK, definitely not as good as when you were here, head chef."

Feng Zhengming: "Hahaha, our Chef Jiang is too modest. I heard that our restaurant, under the leadership of Chef Jiang, just won the Shanghai City Restaurant Award."

This happened when Feng Zhengming was holding a competition in Quancheng.

The chefs and catering associations in Shanghai have jointly organized a restaurant selection.

Jiang Chengzhe led the restaurant to successfully win the Excellent Restaurant Award. In Feng Zhengming's opinion, the award for Shanghai's Excellent Restaurant just shows Jiang Chengzhe's ability.

Jiang Chengzhe was not very satisfied with the result.

“Although you won the award for the best restaurant, it was more because you laid a good foundation. I just maintained it based on your foundation.”

Feng Zhengming smiled and said, "Azhe, you are wrong. I was in Quancheng at that time, and Xia Hui and the others were also in Quancheng.

There is only you here, but you can still lead everyone to win the Shanghai Outstanding Restaurant Award. That is your credit and your strength.

Don’t underestimate your own abilities. Look at the customers in the store. They are very satisfied with your craftsmanship.”

Jiang Chengzhe was stunned by what he said.

He really wasn't that confident in himself.

Ever since I met Feng Zhengming at the national competition.

Jiang Chengzhe always felt that he was inferior to Feng Zhengming in every aspect.

Later, he followed Feng Zhengming to Shanghai to run a restaurant.

Originally, Jiang Chengzhe thought that his craftsmanship could be on par with Feng Zhengming's.

But what he didn't expect was that Feng Zhengming could open four stores in Shanghai at once.

Moreover, Feng Zhengming is able to run all four stores very well.

The efforts behind this may not be well understood by outsiders.

But Jiang Chengzhe has always been with Feng Zhengming, and he knows very well how much Feng Zhengming has paid behind the scenes.
He could better understand where Feng Zhengming's real skills lay.

Many people would think that Feng Zhengming’s strength must be his excellent craftsmanship.

After all, he is the top scholar and the best chef in the country.

This is indeed true, but there is never a shortage of excellent chefs in the country.

Even though many people were not optimistic about the fourth session, many excellent chefs still emerged. They all have their own unique skills in cooking and can be said to be no worse than Feng Zhengming.

However, those excellent chefs can at most become the head chef in the kitchen of a famous restaurant after obtaining investment.

Or you can open your own high-end restaurant featuring your own cooking skills.

None of them can run as many stores as Feng Zhengming.

Perhaps many people would think that this is because Feng Zhengming has enough money to open so many stores, and he has equally excellent young chefs around him to help him.

But most people would not ask themselves why Feng Zhengming can attract so many young chefs to follow him?
But those other chefs with great skills cannot attract so many outstanding young chefs to follow them?
Also, is it possible for Feng Zhengming to run so many stores at the same time, just relying on the skills of those young chefs?

There is a key point behind this that is unknown to the public.

Feng Zhengming can give all young chefs the guidance they deserve.

He would break down complex dishes into seemingly simple steps, and then assign different people in the kitchen to handle different steps of a dish.

This will reduce the pressure on individual chefs in the kitchen to cook.

It can also improve the efficiency of serving food in the kitchen.

The most important thing is that Feng Zhengming breaks down the steps and does them one by one, so he can restore each of his dishes to the greatest extent.

In this way, the young chefs' skills are improved while customers can enjoy the delicious food.

Just like when Feng Zhengming was not in Shanghai, Jiang Chengzhe and his team were still able to ensure the quality of the food in the restaurant.

He was also able to successfully win the Shanghai Outstanding Restaurant Awards with the staff who stayed in the kitchen.

This is the good foundation laid by Feng Zhengming.

On the one hand, it gives Jiang Chengzhe a good space to perform, and on the other hand, it also allows the remaining personnel to cooperate with him.

Jiang Chengzhe only truly realized this when Feng Zhengming was not around.

Feng Zhengming has built a complete system in the kitchen, which makes his life as the chef quite easy.

When fixed dishes can be easily made, it naturally gives the chef room to show his talents.

For example, serving a side dish at the end, or a hidden dish.

These can showcase some of the chef’s skills and novel ideas.

It can also give customers the pleasure of exploring the unknown.

Jiang Chengzhe was able to lead the staff who stayed in the store and successfully won the award for Shanghai's Outstanding Restaurant.

It is also because of the dishes on the hidden menu that Jiang Chengzhe showed.

It brought some very novel experiences to the judges who came to select the candidates.

Others would think that Jiang Chengzhe is a great cook.

But Jiang Chengzhe understood that the reason he had room to make those dishes was because of the advantage of the framework designed by Feng Zhengming in decomposing the work in the kitchen.

Just like in restaurant selection, one of the factors is the speed of serving food.

This is a perfect reflection of Feng Zhengming's entire kitchen planning.

Many of the dishes seemed to the judges to be time-consuming to prepare.

In Feng Zhengming's restaurant, dishes are always served at a speed that surprises the judges.

The key point is that the judges could not find any fault with the dish.

Jiang Chengzhe and Feng Zhengming share details of previous competitions.

Almost all his words were praising Feng Zhengming.

Feng Zhengming stopped him with a smile.

"Okay, there's really no need to say more about this. Ah Zhe, you've been praising the plan I built in the kitchen, breaking down the steps of a dish and assigning different chefs to complete different steps.

This improves the speed of serving dishes and also makes the dishes served in the kitchen more standardized.

But you still overlooked one point. My set of dishes requires a capable chef like you to lead the kitchen in order to be successfully completed."

Jiang Chengzhe was stunned for a moment after hearing what Feng Zhengming said.

He thought about it carefully for a while.

Soon Jiang Chengzhe realized that Feng Zhengming was right.

Feng Zhengming did break down the cooking steps, but how to plan each step requires understanding the abilities of everyone in the kitchen.

But if you can't memorize every detail of each dish.

And if your basic skills and craftsmanship are good enough.

How is it possible to memorize all the details?
So in the final analysis, Feng Zhengming's method is the icing on the cake.

Feng Zhengming's method of breaking down the steps can only work best when the chef has sufficient skills.

Seeing that Jiang Chengzhe understood what he said, Feng Zhengming continued to encourage him.

"Azhe, you have to be more confident. When we participate in the national competition together, you want to defeat my confidence? We are going to create a top restaurant in Shanghai together. How can you not have confidence?"

Feng Zhengming's words deeply touched Jiang Chengzhe.

The inferiority complex in his heart gradually dissipated during this period.

Looking at Feng Zhengming, Jiang Chengzhe gradually regained his confidence.

"Hahaha, thank you Zhengming, I trapped myself. I don't even believe in my own skills. I'm really too decadent."

Feng Zhengming smiled: "You look a little tired, how about giving you a few days off?"

Jiang Chengzhe shook his head: "No, I'm not tired."

Feng Zhengming still insisted: "It doesn't matter if I take a few days off. I'm back now. Are you still afraid that I'll bankrupt the store?"

Jiang Chengzhe was stunned for a moment, then he laughed easily: "Hahaha, OK, then I will listen to the chef's arrangements and take a few days off."

(End of this chapter)