From selling box lunches to becoming a famous Chinese chef

After everyone arrived, Feng Zhengming went to the kitchen first and called out all his apprentices.

Under the chairmanship of He Yunqing and witnessed by everyone, Feng Zhengming's apprenticeship ceremony officially began.

Even Luo Qing's parents and brother were present today.

Luo Wenhan also helped set up the camera to film Feng Zhengming's apprenticeship ceremony.

When everyone was looking forward to the apprenticeship ceremony, the bank's car arrived outside.

Feng Zhengming led his apprentice out and carried in the old plaque of Yan Xilou from the bank's car.

Everyone at the scene was a little surprised, but Master Yan was extremely excited.

Master Yan should have guessed what is covered with the red cloth?
Feng Zhengming put the old plaque away and then uncovered the red cloth on it.

The old plaque of Yan Xi Tower suddenly appeared in front of everyone.

Looking at this old plaque with a history of a hundred years, everyone is filled with emotion.

The former Yanxilou was an old restaurant that could be compared with Jufengde, Taifenglou and Jubinyuan.

Having experienced various wars, he has also witnessed the rise and fall, glory and disgrace of the city of Quancheng.

Perhaps no one would have thought that when the domestic economy was getting better and better, Yan Xilou would come to its end.

The old chefs present, as well as the master chefs from Beijing and other places all felt regretful.

But there are many time-honored brands like Yan Xilou that have closed down all over the country.

Too many time-honored brands have failed to withstand the impact of the market in the tide of economic development, and were eventually submerged in the economic tide, becoming stepping stones on the road to development.

Many time-honored brands may not even have their signs or names left.

The old plaque of Yanxi Tower returned to Feng Zhengming's hands.

In full view of everyone, Feng Zhengming led his disciples to kneel down in front of the old plaque.

"You all need to remember that Yanxilou is where I, your master, learned my craft. Whether Yanxilou can reopen in the future and regain its former glory is my responsibility, as well as yours."

The disciples immediately responded in unison: "We will remember Master."

Feng Zhengming led his disciples to kowtow to the old plaque of Yanxi Tower.

After Feng Zhengming and the others stood up, several fellow brothers also came forward, knelt down and kowtowed.

Master Yan bowed deeply and respectfully towards the old plaque of Yan Xilou.

It was indeed something no one had expected that Feng Zhengming would take out the old plaque of Yan Xilou.

At the same time, old masters and chefs from Quancheng and other places have also realized that the old plaque of Yanxilou is now in Feng Zhengming's hands.

Master Su whispered to the two apprentices beside him.

"Feng Zhengming is indeed amazing. He was able to retrieve the old plaque of Yan Xilou and bring it into his own hands."

Kong Xingli, who came back specially, looked at his junior brother who now took over as the chef of Jufengde.

They both understood what the old plaque on Yanxi Tower meant.
The value of an old plaque is more than just a plaque.

In the future, Feng Zhengming will be able to reopen Yan Xilou in Quancheng, and he will need to hang up this old plaque.

If the old plaque was not in his hands, the price he would have to pay to reopen Yan Xilou would be high.

Now that the old plaque is in his hands, he can reopen Yan Xilou whenever he wants.

After his master had paid homage to the old plaque, Feng Zhengming asked the bank staff to send the plaque back first.

"Please be careful with it and keep it in your safe for now."

The bank staff agreed, "Don't worry, Mr. Feng, we will keep it safe."

After watching the bank staff leave with the old plaque, Master Yan finally spoke.

"Zhengming, have you already got the old plaque?"

Feng Zhengming nodded and said, "Yes, Master. The old plaque was originally mortgaged to the bank. Later, when the bank's custody period expired, it was auctioned off. I contacted the bank privately and bought the old plaque."

Master Yan: "Well, it proves that you haven't forgotten Yan Xi Lou, very good."

The two sons accompanying Master Yan could understand their father's feelings at the moment.

Everyone has a new understanding of the abilities of their junior fellow apprentice Feng Zhengming.

He is truly the most capable of all the disciples.

Next, there was the ceremony where Feng Zhengming formally accepted someone as his disciple.

He Yunqing first announced Feng Zhengming's past honors, and then introduced the apprentices who were becoming his apprentices today.

Xia Hui was introduced in particular, and it was also made clear to everyone that Xia Hui would be Feng Zhengming's apprentice.

After the introduction, Xia Huixian began to formally become Feng Zhengming's apprentice.

According to the old rules, one had to kneel down and kowtow to the master when becoming his apprentice.

Feng Zhengming did not ask Xia Hui and the others to kneel down, but asked them to bow and then serve him tea.

Although Xia Hui and the others wanted to kneel down and kowtow to Feng Zhengming, they naturally did not dare to kneel down because Feng Zhengming had given the order.

Xia Hui walked forward and bowed respectfully to Feng Zhengming and Luo Qing, then picked up the teacup beside her and handed it to Feng Zhengming and Luo Qing.

"Master, please have some tea. Master's wife, please have some tea."

Feng Zhengming and Luo Qing took the teacups and took a sip of the tea.

Luo Qing also gave Xia Hui a red envelope.

Xia Hui greeted Feng Zhengming and Luo Qing, and then kowtowed to Master Yan.

Master Yan helped Xia Hui up, drank the tea that Xia Hui offered her, and gave Xia Hui a set of recipes that he had compiled.

"Xia Hui, now that you have officially become my disciple, you must learn well from your master. The recipe book that Master gave you is a collection of some old dishes that Master has collected over the years. You must read it carefully and learn well when you take it back."

Xia Hui listened carefully and kowtowed to the master again: "Thank you, master. I will definitely learn the craft from my master well."

After Xia Hui, Sun Decai, Hou Dong, Gao Yongfu, Tang Yong and Lu Haisheng came forward together to bow to Feng Zhengming and become his disciples.

The five people also served tea to Feng Zhengming and Luo Qing respectively.

Luo Qing also gave each of them a red envelope.

Afterwards, the five of them kowtowed to Master Yan together.

The master also gave them the recipe as a gift to become his apprentice.

"You five are only apprentices now, but you can't slack off. You must study hard and become formal apprentices as soon as possible. Do you understand?"

The five people responded in unison: "Understood."

The ceremony of accepting disciples has come to a conclusion here.

Next, Feng Zhengming asked everyone who was attending the ceremony to wait for a moment.

He led his apprentices to the kitchen and quickly began serving food to the guests who had arrived today.

Starting from the cold dishes, every dish is made by Feng Zhengming and his apprentices personally, including the various carvings on the plating.

Seeing the dishes on the table, Chef Hou from Beijing smiled and said, "I can taste Zhengming's cooking again."

This immediately amused the others.

Luo Jinliang couldn't help but add: "Now it's really not easy to eat a meal cooked by Feng Zhuangyuan."

After hearing this, everyone said that it was indeed not easy.

Li Huidong, the eldest senior brother, still has to make up for his younger junior brother.

“Zhengming is too busy now, with too many chores to deal with. He needs to personally take care of the situation of each branch and the review of the annual recommendation guide.

So he really doesn't have much time to cook in the kitchen, so please forgive me for that." Huaiyang cuisine chef Zhang Quande said, "Zhengming is opening a restaurant in the old western-style house in Shanghai, so can we go there to taste his cooking?"

Long Kunbao, who came from Hong Kong, immediately responded: "Then you have to go and try it. The old house restaurant should be different."

Dai Long also smiled and said, "We really need to go and see what the top restaurants in our country should look like."

When Dai Long said this, he was obviously a little bit unconvinced.

Dai Long was definitely the most famous chef in Hong Kong in the past.

So he was ambitious to enter the mainland market.

Unexpectedly, before he could take any action, Feng Zhengming suddenly appeared.

Compared with Dai Long’s various marketing methods in Gangcheng at that time, Feng Zhengming’s marketing methods are more powerful, and the key is that Feng Zhengming’s marketing is more advanced.

No one thinks he is marketing himself, but most people support him.

This made Dai Long a little unbearable, and he was quite dissatisfied with Feng Zhengming in his heart.

But judging from the current situation, no one can shake Feng Zhengming's fame and status.

Dai Long felt even more unconvinced.

He has been trying to find a way to surpass Feng Zhengming.

But today I saw that Feng Zhengming was so busy even accepting disciples.

Dai Long really felt that he had to admit defeat.

So he still wants to get some bargaining power in his words.

But no one paid much attention to Dai Long's words today.

Today everyone is here to sincerely celebrate Feng Zhengming's acceptance of a disciple.

"Feng Zhuangyuan has accepted an apprentice, so there is someone to take over our family."

"Hahaha, considering his current age, it seems like he is still in his prime, right? He shouldn't need a successor for the time being."

"That's true. No wonder he only has one disciple now. The other five are just apprentices."

"Well, in the past, when we entered the kitchen, didn't we all start as apprentices?"

"Yes, you have to start as an apprentice. If you do a good job and are noticed by a master, you will have the opportunity to learn some skills. Then you have to follow the master for a period of time before you can eventually become an apprentice."

The old masters and master chefs present were all well aware that the transition from apprentice to apprentice is a necessary process.

When they first entered the kitchen, they had to go through the same process.

Especially the old masters, when they were learning their skills, many of them needed to watch and learn secretly.

Because when the masters were apprentices, they would often keep some tricks back.

After all, there is an old saying: Teach your apprentice and starve yourself to death.

This is not a joke.

In an age when it is inconvenient for people to go out, the skills of a master chef are something that can support him for the rest of his life.

If everyone knew about his skills, the master chef himself would probably have lost his job long ago.

Master Cui said with emotion: "When I was an apprentice, we didn't use gas stoves like we do now, but stoves with coal briquettes. We got up early in the winter to light the stoves for the masters and prepare coal briquettes and everything else."

Master Su: "Hahaha, I was young at that time, and I had a quarrel with my master because of the stove."

Hearing this, everyone present couldn't help laughing.

It is well known that Master Su has a quick temper.

But no one really expected that Master Su would dare to quarrel with his own master.

Master Wang, who had come all the way back from Beijing, smiled and said, "Old Su, why don't you tell us in detail?"

Master Su did not shirk his responsibilities: "There is nothing much to say, it was just that I couldn't get up in the middle of winter, so my master scolded me. I was not convinced, so I said that my master didn't teach me the craft well and treated me like a laborer.

The master got angry and scolded me for not knowing what was good for me, saying that I was unwilling to work hard and that he would never teach a disciple who could not endure hardship.

Listening to Master Su’s narration, it is actually hard to tell who is right and who is wrong?
Although the master did scold Master Su at the beginning, it was the master who taught Master Su his skills later on.

It can be seen that although the master said this, he still has high hopes for Master Su.

After the cold dishes, the next thing is the various hot dishes.

The first dishes served were classic Shandong cuisine, including braised pork elbow, Qilu fried chicken, sweet and sour carp, and braised beef ribs.

Almost every dish is a very exquisite one.

There is also a vinegar and pepper fish soup dish.

Only then are various stir-fried dishes served.

Fried crispy dishes, stir-fried kidney, braised liver tips, stir-fried tripe shreds with coriander, and stir-fried pig's trotters with green onions.

The dishes one after another overwhelmed the old chefs and master cooks present at the ceremony.

The key is that all the dishes are impeccable in terms of knife skills and cooking time.

After that, there were prawns and cabbage, as well as two heavyweight dishes, sea cucumber braised with scallions and nine-turn large intestine.

Almost all of them are classic Shandong cuisine.

The dishes that Feng Zhengming served really impressed the Shandong cuisine masters and chefs.

Especially when his scallion-fried sea cucumber is served, the rich scallion aroma hits you in the face.

Look at the sea cucumbers on the plate, each of them is of uniform thickness and has fine thorns on the surface.

It is not difficult to see that the quality of the sea cucumbers used by Feng Zhengming is quite good.

Cheng Guosheng took a bite of Feng Zhengming’s scallion-fried sea cucumber.

He immediately tasted a flavor that was completely different from his own.

Feng Zhengming's scallion sauce is rich but not greasy. It has a very simple and rustic scallion flavor, which is paired with salty and fresh flavors and a hint of sweetness, making it very memorable.

Compared with Feng Zhengming's scallion sauce, Cheng Guosheng's scallion sauce is indeed inferior.

Dai Long was also shocked by Feng Zhengming's scallion sauce.

He also didn't expect that a dish of braised sea cucumber with scallions would be so delicious.

"It would be a shame if you don't eat this scallion sauce with some rice."

As soon as he finished speaking, a waiter brought a small bowl of rice.

Dai Long was not polite and scooped some scallion sauce with a public spoon and poured it on his rice.

Stir the rice, scoop a spoonful and put it into your mouth.

Close your mouth and chew the rice grains slowly. The onion aroma of the scallion sauce will stir repeatedly in your mouth, combining with the rice aroma of the rice itself.

It may even make you reluctant to swallow it.

Jiang Chengzhe watched Dai Long finish his first bite and asked with a smile, "What do you think, Chef Dai?"

Dai Long could only sigh: "Delicious, really delicious."

Of course, Dai Long did not completely admit defeat and added another sentence.

“My golden fried rice isn’t bad either.”

These words made Jiang Chengzhe unable to hold back his laughter.

Feng Zhengming, together with his apprentice Xia Hui, and his apprentices Sun Decai, Hou Dong, Gao Yongfu, Tang Yong, and Lu Haisheng, prepared the dishes one by one and presented them to the people watching the ceremony.

Finally, Xia Hui was asked to cook a dish to end today's apprenticeship banquet. (End of this chapter)