Siheyuan: Starting as a Chef Apprentice

When he spoke, his voice was steady and powerful, and every word was clearly heard by the students, making everyone more and more looking forward to the upcoming training course.

After the opening ceremony, the training officially began. Chinese chefs know that if they want these students who have no basic knowledge of Chinese cooking or only have a superficial understanding of Chinese cooking to truly master the essence of Chinese cuisine, they must start from the most basic part, step by step, and gradually guide them into the wonderful world of Chinese cooking.

The first step is to learn about the ingredients. Chef Zhang, who is in charge of teaching, stood in front of the operating table. The big screen behind him showed pictures of various ingredients commonly used in Chinese cooking. He picked up a fresh carrot, held it in his hand so that the students could see it clearly, and then said in standard French:
"Students, now let's get to know the ingredients. This is carrot, which is a very common vegetable in Chinese cooking. It has bright colors, is rich in various nutrients, and has a sweet taste. It can be used for stir-frying, stewing, and cold dishes, etc. Different cooking methods can present different flavors."

As Master Zhang spoke, he handed the carrots to the students in the front row, asking them to observe and touch them closely to feel the texture of the food. The students reached out their hands, curiously took the carrots, looked at them carefully, and some even put them under their noses to smell them, whispering to their companions about their feelings.

Then, Master Zhang picked up vegetables such as potatoes, onions, green peppers, cabbage, and meat ingredients such as chicken, pork, and beef, and introduced in detail their characteristics, nutritional value, and common uses in Chinese dishes. The students listened very carefully, and many of them took out notebooks to write down the key points.

After learning about the ingredients, we entered the stage of teaching knife skills. This is an extremely important part of Chinese cooking. Exquisite knife skills can not only make the ingredients better in the cooking process, but also make the dishes present beautiful shapes.

Master Li came forward with a sharp Chinese kitchen knife in his hand. He first showed the students the style and grip of the knife, and said, "Students, this is the kitchen knife we ​​often use in Chinese cooking. It may be different from the ones you usually see. It has a wider blade and moderate weight. It requires certain skills to use. Look at the way I hold the knife. My fingers should be bent so that I can better control the force and direction of the knife and avoid cutting my fingers."

After that, Master Li began to demonstrate the action of cutting vegetables. He put a clean potato on the chopping board, held the potato with his left hand, with his fingers slightly curled inward, and held the knife with his right hand, with the blade at a certain angle to the chopping board, and then swung the knife up and down rhythmically. The potato quickly turned into uniform thin slices under his knife, and each slice was of the same thickness, as if it was cut by a machine. The students looked at the superb knife skills and couldn't help but exclaimed, with admiration and envy in their eyes.

After Master Li finished cutting the potato slices, he stacked them together and continued cutting. This time, the potato slices became thin potato shreds, each one distinct and of uniform thickness, sparkling under the light.

"Look, this is the Chinese knife technique for slicing. The shreds should be cut as evenly as possible, so that every ingredient can be cooked at the same time when cooking, and the taste will be consistent. Now you can try it yourself. Start with slicing potatoes. Don't be in a hurry, take your time." Master Li said as he encouraged the students to practice.

The students picked up their knives and ingredients and started to try. For a while, the classroom was filled with the sound of knives hitting the cutting board. Some students cut relatively smoothly, although the speed was a bit slow, but at least they could cut potato chips of roughly the same shape; while some students seemed a little flustered, either cutting too thick or unevenly, and some accidentally cut their fingers, gasping in pain.

Chef Li and other assistant chefs shuttled among the students, instructing them patiently. When they saw that a student was cutting something incorrectly, they would stop, pick up the kitchen knife and demonstrate personally, correcting their movements.

"You should bend your fingers a little more so that you can press the ingredients more steadily. Don't lift the knife too high, otherwise you may cut your hand." Master Li said to a student whose vegetable cutting posture was not standard. While speaking, he held the student's hand to help him adjust his posture.

In this way, under the careful guidance of the chefs, the students slowly mastered some basic knife skills. Although they are not yet proficient enough, it is an important step in learning Chinese cooking.

As the training course progressed, we finally entered the teaching phase of making specific dishes. On this day, the dish we were going to learn to make was the classic Chinese Kung Pao Chicken, a dish that is loved by people for its unique flavor and rich taste. At the same time, it also covers many key techniques of Chinese cooking during the production process, making it very suitable as a teaching dish.

The person in charge of teaching this dish is Chef Wang. He stands in front of the operating table with the prepared ingredients placed in front of him, including tender chicken, crispy peanuts, red dried chilies, green peppers, and seasonings such as onions, ginger, and garlic.

Master Wang first picked up the chicken, put it on the chopping board, and began to explain: "Students, to make Kung Pao Chicken, we must first prepare the chicken. We need to cut the chicken into dices. The size of the dices should be uniform, not too big or too small. If they are too big, they will not be easy to fry, and if they are too small, the taste will be bad."

As he spoke, Master Wang began to cut the chicken. He was skilled and his movements were smooth. The chicken quickly became evenly sized dices under his knife. After cutting, he put the dices in a bowl and continued, "The diced chicken needs to be marinated, which will make the chicken more flavorful and tender. We add appropriate amounts of salt, cooking wine, soy sauce, and starch, then mix them with our hands and marinate for about 15 minutes."

As Master Wang spoke, he added various seasonings into the bowl one by one, then gently stirred the diced chicken with his hands so that each piece of chicken was evenly coated with the seasoning. His movements were very rhythmic and his eyes looked intently at the diced chicken in the bowl, as if he was treating a precious work of art.

The students also gathered in front of the operating table, watching Master Wang's every move intently. Some even imitated Master Wang, preparing ingredients on their own operating tables, and repeating the steps explained by Master Wang in a low voice.

As a chef in a hotel, Pierre has a strong interest in Chinese cooking. He naturally participated actively in this training course and did not miss any opportunity to learn. He stood in the front, staring at Master Wang's operation without blinking, listening carefully to the master's explanation while carefully handling the ingredients in front of him.

He picked up the chicken and cut it carefully according to the method taught by Master Wang, muttering: "First cut the chicken into cubes of even size, then marinate it with seasoning for a while. Well, the heat is also critical. Stir-fry it quickly over high heat so that the chicken can be cooked quickly and keep its tender taste."

Although Pierre's chicken-cutting movements were not as skillful as Master Wang's, he was also very serious, cutting every piece very carefully, trying to keep the size of the chicken cubes consistent. After cutting, he followed Master Wang's instructions, added the right amount of seasoning to the bowl, and then gently mixed the chicken cubes with his hands. His focused expression seemed to have forgotten everything around him.

While the chicken was being marinated, Master Wang began to explain how to prepare other ingredients. He picked up the green pepper and dried chili pepper and said, "We need to cut the green pepper into small pieces and the dried chili pepper into segments, so that their fragrance can be better released when stir-frying. Also, cut the green onion, ginger and garlic into fine pieces. These seasonings play a very important role in Chinese stir-frying and can add fragrance to the dishes." After that, Master Wang quickly prepared the green pepper, dried chili pepper, green onion, ginger and garlic and placed them neatly for use.

15 minutes passed quickly, and the marinated chicken was already well seasoned. Master Wang turned on the stove, lit the fire, and after the pot was heated, he poured in a proper amount of oil and said, "Students, now we are going to start cooking. The heat of cooking is very important. For this dish, we have to use high heat to stir-fry quickly, so as to ensure the fresh and tender taste of the chicken."

As the oil temperature rises, it begins to smoke slightly. Master Wang pours the marinated diced chicken into the pot. With a sizzling sound, the diced chicken instantly rolls in the pot, and the aroma wafts out. Master Wang holds a spatula and quickly turns the diced chicken so that each piece of chicken is evenly heated. The diced chicken quickly changes color in the pot, from pink to white.

"Look, the chicken has changed color. Let's take it out and put it aside. Let's stir-fry the seasoning first." Master Wang said as he took out the diced chicken and put it in a bowl. Then he poured a little more oil into the pot, added chopped green onion, ginger, garlic and dried chili peppers, and slowly stir-fried them over low heat until they were fragrant. Then he added appropriate amounts of soy sauce, vinegar, sugar, salt and other seasonings to make a bowl of sauce. Then he poured the previously fried diced chicken back into the pot, added green pepper pieces, and continued to stir-fry over high heat until each piece of food was coated with the sauce.

Finally, Master Wang sprinkled a handful of crispy peanuts and stir-fried them for a few times, and the delicious Kung Pao Chicken was ready. The Kung Pao Chicken on the plate was tender and juicy, the peanuts were crispy and delicious, the green peppers were green and refreshing, and the rich sauce made it bright red and fragrant, making people salivate at the sight.

The students looked at the plate of Kung Pao Chicken with eyes full of amazement and envy, and they all applauded.

Pierre also completed the preparation of Kung Pao Chicken on his own workbench. Although he was a little hesitant during the process, for example, he almost poured too much seasoning and the heat was not controlled very accurately when frying the chicken, but he finally succeeded in making a plate of Kung Pao Chicken.

When he saw the dishes he made himself appear in front of him, an excited smile suddenly appeared on his face. He excitedly said to the students around him: "Wow, Chinese stir-fry is so particular. It tastes so good. I feel like I have learned a lot of new things."

The student next to him also responded with a smile: "Yes, it looks like a simple dish, but I didn't expect there are so many steps and techniques. But it's really interesting. I think I have fallen in love with Chinese cooking."

Other students were also tasting the Kung Pao Chicken they made. Although the taste of each person might be slightly different, everyone was immersed in the joy of trying Chinese food for the first time. They exchanged their thoughts and experiences in the production process with each other, and the classroom was filled with laughter.

……

As the business of Wang's restaurants in Paris became increasingly prosperous and famous, Wang Jianye's sights were no longer limited to this city. He began to think deeply about the issue of brand expansion, with the vision of promoting Chinese dining culture and unique Sino-French fusion dishes to more places in France.

After all, France has a diverse and large catering market. Each city has a large number of customers who love food and are willing to try new flavors. If branches can be successfully opened in other cities, it will undoubtedly inject strong impetus into the long-term development of the hotel.

Therefore, Wang Jianye carefully organized a market research campaign. He personally led the team members to visit several major cities in France.

The team members include talents from various key positions of the hotel, including professionals responsible for market analysis, chefs proficient in dish development, and elites good at store operation and management. Everyone is fully aware of the great significance of this survey for the future development of the hotel. They are all focused along the way, ready to devote themselves to various inspection work at any time.

Their first stop was Lyon, a city with a rich history and vitality. It occupies an important position in the economic and cultural fields of France. Its catering market is also prosperous, diverse and highly competitive.

After arriving in Lyon, the team members immediately began an in-depth investigation of the local catering market environment. They traveled through the streets and alleys of the city, observing the distribution of restaurants in different blocks, the operating characteristics of various restaurants, and the dining habits of customers.

At the same time, we also collect relevant data and carefully analyze local consumption levels to understand the acceptance and price sensitivity of customers at different levels regarding catering consumption.

The flow of people is one of the key factors to be examined. Team members will go to various potential site selection areas at different times, count the number of pedestrians passing by, and calculate the peak and trough periods of the flow of people, striving to accurately grasp the popularity of each location.

During this detailed and comprehensive investigation, one day, the team members came to a prosperous area in Lyon. There were a lot of cars and people coming and going here, and shops were lined up on both sides of the street, which was very lively.

Xiao Li, as a member of the team who has a keen eye for site selection, looked around and his eyes suddenly lit up. He walked a few steps quickly and came to a shop, then pointed at it excitedly and said to Wang Jianye:
"Boss Wang, look here. It's in the city center, surrounded by large shopping malls, office buildings, and many residential areas. There's a lot of traffic, and the dining atmosphere is also very strong. I think it's quite suitable for us to open a branch." (End of this chapter)