From selling box lunches to becoming a famous Chinese chef

Before leaving, Jiang Chengzhe took his parents to their restaurant for a meal.

Feng Zhengming also cooked personally and prepared a table of authentic Shandong cuisine for Jiang Chengzhe's parents.

In particular, a trick was specially made for Jiang Chengzhe's parents to help him win the first place in the national competition.

Jiang Chengzhe's parents were really amazed when they saw the Oolong Playing with Pearls made by Feng Zhengming.

"No wonder Zhengming is the top scholar. This dish is so beautiful."

"Yeah, this is the Oolong Playing with Pearls? It's really beautiful."

Feng Zhengming smiled and said, "Thank you for your compliments, uncle and aunt. Please try it and see if this dish is delicious."

Father Jiang: "Such a beautiful dish, it's worth it just to look at it."

Feng Zhengming: "No, we still have to try it. Food is not just about looking good, the key is to make it delicious."

Jiang's parents tasted the dish together.

The sea cucumber still maintains a certain elasticity in its texture, and the sea cucumber has been seasoned in advance.

With the filling made from Shanghai ginseng and Feng Zhengming’s unique scallion sauce, the taste is really quite different.

If it is paired with some hydrangeas, it will taste even more special.

After eating this dish, Jiang Chengzhe's parents couldn't help but praise Feng Zhengming's good cooking skills again.

"It's delicious. This dish is really delicious. It proves that you deserve the title of No. 1."

"Yes, this dish is different from many dishes we have eaten before. It has a real texture and flavor. Ah Zhe, you should learn from others in the future."

Feng Zhengming: "We learn from each other. A-Zhe has also given me a lot of inspiration, allowing me to create more different dishes."

Jiang Chengzhe: "Don't be modest. You can think of many dishes without my inspiration."

Feng Zhengming smiled: "How can you be modest? There is really no need for modesty between us. I am telling the truth. Don't always deny your own abilities. Jiang Chengzhe's craftsmanship has always been great."

Feng Zhengming also told Jiang Chengzhe's parents about him.

"Uncle and aunt, you may not know, but Azhe's cooking skills have always been great, it's just that he is a little unconfident in front of me. I hope he can be more confident in the future and can make good use of his skills."

After hearing what Feng Zhengming said, Jiang Chengzhe's parents also encouraged their son.

"Azhe, Feng Zhuangyuan, you are right. You should be more confident."

"Yes, they trust you so much, you need to be more confident and use your skills to the best of your ability to live up to their trust."

After hearing what his parents said, Jiang Chengzhe looked at Feng Zhengming.

He knew that Feng Zhengming said this deliberately in front of his parents.

He just wants his parents to encourage him so that he can be more confident.

Jiang Chengzhe nodded and said, "Mom and Dad, don't worry. I will follow Zhengming well and show off my skills as much as possible so that our store can attract more customers."

We entertained Jiang Chengzhe's parents and let the two elderly people have a nice meal in the restaurant.

Afterwards, Feng Zhengming, his wife, daughter and Jiang Chengzhe went to see the old couple off to board the plane.

Jiang Chengzhe watched his parents walk into the airport, and he couldn't help feeling a little depressed.

Feng Zhengming comforted him: "Why don't you buy a house in Shanghai and bring your uncle and aunt over."

Jiang Chengzhe: "Wait a little longer, don't we still have to open the high-end restaurant first?"

Feng Zhengming: "These two things won't be delayed. We don't lack the money for that house now."

Jiang Chengzhe still insisted: "Wait a little longer, let's run the high-end restaurant first, and make sure the business is really good, then I will buy a house and bring my parents over."

Feng Zhengming was somewhat helpless: "You are so mean. Our restaurant has to be put on hold. Kong Xingli and his restaurant are about to open. Our high-end restaurant will probably be open next year at the earliest."

Jiang Chengzhe: "Then we will prepare next year, and I will bring my parents over next year."

Seeing Jiang Chengzhe so stubborn, Feng Zhengming had no choice but to persuade him any further.

"Okay, let's choose carefully next year and pick a neighborhood close to our newly opened high-end restaurant. This way it will be convenient for you to go home and take care of your uncle and aunt more."

After seeing Jiang Chengzhe's parents off and Jiang Chengzhe coming back, Feng Zhengming and his colleagues began to recruit new apprentices.

In fact, after this news was released, many people have contacted Feng Zhengming.

Including master chefs from all over the country who have a good relationship with Feng Zhengming, they all recommended their apprentices to Feng Zhengming.

After some discussion, Feng Zhengming and Jiang Chengzhe decided to invite all the apprentices recommended by the masters to come for an interview.

These people may just be apprentices now, but as they grow up, they may become good chefs and the backbone of Feng Zhengming's stores.

Feng Zhengming also made everything clear to the chefs in advance.

No matter who recommends someone, he or she will definitely start as an apprentice when he or she first enters the store.

Almost all the chefs expressed their understanding of this point.

As for the young people who were recommended.

They were full of anticipation to visit Feng Zhengming's shop.

Not to mention starting as an apprentice, even if they start as a waiter serving dishes, many of them would be happy to do so.

So before long, dozens of people came to Shanghai from all over the place.

Some of them are from Qi and Lu, and some are from provinces surrounding Shanghai.

Many people who come here have letters of recommendation from the master chef.

Feng Zhengming almost never opened the letter he received.

He told the young chefs who came very directly.

"Let me tell you first, when I recruit people, I will definitely start with apprentices, no matter where you are from or who your master is.
I think your masters also hope that you can stay here based on your skills, and do not want you to stay based on the master's recommendation letter, so I will not read the recommendation letter.

Now that you are here, you will have a two-week internship period after passing the interview.

Chef Jiang, I, and several store managers will conduct some inspections on you and give you scores based on your performance.

The 20 players with the highest scores will be retained.

Feng Zhengming paused for a moment and gave everyone some encouragement.

“Don’t be discouraged if you are not retained. Not being retained doesn’t mean that you are not excellent. It just means that you are not suitable to stay in my shop. I hope you will not give up your skills.

I will give you half a month's salary, and if you want to go back, I will also give you travel expenses."

At this time, someone asked, "Mr. Feng, where are we going to live for the next half month?"

Feng Zhengming replied: "I live in rented dormitories. The dormitories of the four stores are not far from each store, and I eat employee meals in the store."

After listening to Feng Zhengming’s introduction, most of the young people who came felt that the trip was worthwhile.

Food and accommodation are provided, and there is also half a month's salary. You can work in Feng Zhuangyuan's store for half a month.

What they saw and learned during this period alone will probably benefit them for a long time.

Everything that needed to be said had been said in advance, and the next step was to assess the group of apprentices who came to apply for the job.

Because there were so many people coming, Feng Zhengming divided them into several groups and sent them to the kitchen for assessment.

In fact, the assessment is very simple, it is just the dishes they need to prepare for the chef qualification examination.

Feng Zhengming and Jiang Chengzhe focused more on details.

The key point is to see whether these applicants can pay attention to every detail during the assessment.

For example, when you enter the kitchen, do you carefully observe the various arrangements in the kitchen?
Also, when standing in front of the counter, do you adjust the height of the chopping board? When selecting ingredients, do you pay attention to not wasting them?

Also, during the cutting process, do you consider saving raw materials?
And the quality of the knife skills during the cutting process.

Also, after finishing the cutting, will you clean up the chopping board and knife?

During the cooking process, I will also observe their every detail.

Can you control the oil temperature?

Can you ensure that the rapeseed is cooked to the right temperature?
Finally, the finished dish is examined to see whether it meets the assessment requirements.

After the whole set of assessments, Feng Zhengming specially prepared a form.

There will be scores for different steps above.

He, Jiang Chengzhe, Sun Hai, Xia Hui, Guan Wei, Zhu Xu and Zhang Lei all conducted observations and gave scores separately.

After observation, Feng Zhengming had to admit that the apprentice chefs who followed their master did pay more attention to details than those who had just graduated from vocational schools.

After all, those master chefs themselves will also strictly demand their apprentices.

Especially if you often help the master chef, if you don't do the details well as required, you may be scolded at best, or beaten at worst.

Therefore, these apprentice chefs who have followed master chefs can be said to have done very well in paying attention to details.

Of course, some apprentices who have just graduated from vocational schools can also pay good attention to details.

This aspect should have been taught to them by teachers in vocational schools.

There were some apprentices who looked around as soon as they entered the kitchen.

Whether they are chopping meat or cooking, they do it in a crooked way.

Some of them were stopped before they were finished.

"Okay, you guys don't have to do it anymore. Look at yourselves. When have you ever seen a chef in the kitchen look like you?
He was either listless or looked around since he entered the kitchen, and he didn't even look like he was standing still.

You can't even hold the knife right when cutting the mound, hurry up and don't waste the time of the people behind you."

The person who stepped forward to call a halt was none other than Xia Hui.

Others also disliked it, but no one directly asked to stop it.

Xia Hui couldn't stand it anymore and didn't want to tolerate these people, so she stopped them and kicked them out.

Faced with this situation, the apprentices looked at each other, not knowing what to do for a moment.
It was Feng Zhengming who came in and shouted, "The judges have spoken. You guys should come out and go back to practice hard. First, improve your posture. Don't act like experienced people."

Once Feng Zhengming gave the order, the apprentices had no choice but to leave.

Then Feng Zhengming said to Jiang Chengzhe and the others, "You actually let Xia Hui speak? Why? Are you afraid of offending people?"

Including Jiang Chengzhe, several people felt embarrassed by Feng Zhengming's words.

With Xia Hui's proof, the subsequent assessment went very smoothly.

Finally, 47 people were selected with the highest comprehensive scores.

Judging from their cooking skills, they can indeed cook the dishes required for the test, but they are all very lacking in experience.

The most obvious problem is the control of heat and seasoning, almost no one can get it right.

Feng Zhengming finished the assessment after all the other apprentices who came to apply for the job had left.

He immediately gave the first lesson to the 47 people who were left behind.

"You must always carry this small spoon with you. There is a place on the apprentice apron I gave you to put this small spoon.

The reason why you are asked to carry this small spoon with you is to remind you to taste the food yourself at any time when seasoning it.

Don’t think that you can do the same just because the chefs in the kitchen can easily adjust the seasoning based on their experience.

Let me tell you, the reason you are kept here today is just because you did better than others, it doesn’t mean you are qualified.

Just in terms of the tone, you all fail."

Feng Zhengming taught him this lesson, and soon the spoons and aprons for the 47 people were delivered as he requested.

Although they were scolded in the first lesson, the apprentices who were left behind were still quite happy.

After all, they all had admiration for Feng Zhengming in their hearts.

The master chefs and teachers who recommended them all have a good relationship with Feng Zhengming.

Therefore, I often use Feng Zhengming's current achievements as an example in front of them.

Especially the teachers in vocational schools, they have already regarded Feng Zhengming as someone who must be mentioned in class.

Next, Feng Zhengming divided the people into four groups and sent them to four stores for internship.

"It will take two weeks. I hope you can be retained by the store manager in the end."

All forty-seven people also expressed that they would work hard.

With forty-seven additional apprentices, the kitchens of Feng Zhengming's four stores were well staffed.

Although the 47 people who were left behind lacked experience, their basic skills were very good.

Entering the kitchens of the four stores has obviously relieved a lot of pressure on the original kitchen staff of the four stores.

Feng Zhengming did not ask too much about the situation of the other three stores.

He also left most of his work to Jiang Chengzhe and Xia Hui to train the new apprentices.

Because he had enough manpower, Feng Zhengming naturally took time to start looking for a suitable place to open a high-end restaurant.

At the same time, Feng Zhengming is also contacting some young chefs who are emerging in various local cuisines.

I hope that when I open my own high-end restaurant in the future, I can invite them to join me.

First, Feng Zhengming started looking for local Shanghai cuisine.

Still wondering what Feng Zhengming is going to do? The local cuisine chefs have also recommended dishes to Feng Zhengming.

Tell him which young chef is showing some potential right now.

Feng Zhengming took the initiative to contact the other party, and more or less revealed some invitation in the communication.

Many young chefs would certainly be happy to receive an invitation from Feng Zhuangyuan.

Through secret contacts, Feng Zhengming actually got in touch with several young chefs in Shanghai.

But there is no wall in the world that is completely airtight.

The news that he was secretly contacting outstanding young chefs quickly spread.

The group of old masters and chefs who introduced the young chefs to him were all a little amused and helpless.

As a last resort, the old masters came forward to talk to Feng Zhengming.

He said that if Feng Zhengming was really short of staff, he would not poach people from behind so blatantly.

Feng Zhengming simply responded calmly: "No matter how good a young chef is, if they always stay under their master, they will never be able to truly grow up.

I look for them to give them a better opportunity, so that they have the chance to surpass their masters and become master chefs.

Wouldn't this better promote the progress of our young chefs?"

After hearing Feng Zhengming's response, the old masters were at a loss as to what to do with him. (End of this chapter)