The beginning is only when you become a chef

Chapter 100: Food Truck Stall (Two Chapters in One)

"Are the ingredients ready?"

"Okay okay."

"Invite me to visit the car manufacturer and customize a food truck on the spot?"

Hearing the cordial invitation on the phone, Xia An exclaimed, and immediately became quite interested.

There are enough striped salmon and lychee sturgeon for tonight's stall. The Shu Cultural and Tourism Bureau can arrange for someone to deliver them to your door right away.

The preparation work for tonight's stall is nothing more than boiling fish soup, pounding fish paste, and kneading dough.

Fortunately, "Fantasy Fish Noodles" is the same as the original catfish noodles, without any complicated ingredients and side dishes. The only thing that is a bit time-consuming is the making of the fish rolls.

As for the food trucks.

Xia An has been craving for it for a long time.

It’s not a big deal to keep using an old electric tricycle.

As his cooking skills improved by leaps and bounds, he could now cook dishes in multiple pots at the same time.

The stove on the old electric tricycle seems to be insufficient. In fact, if we look a little further ahead and make early preparations for the "Silver Chopsticks and Ten Pots Return", it is necessary to customize a large-scale food truck with 10 stoves.

[Silver Chopsticks, Ten Pots Return] is the unique skill of the Flying Monkey King Zhu Qi. The most amazing thing about it is that he can cook ten dishes at the same time!

"Is there someone coming to pick me up in a special car? Okay, wait for me for a moment."

Xia An chose to accept Director Li's kindness.

This is obviously also a return of favor from the Shu Culture and Tourism Bureau.

After all, how much does it cost to customize a large domestic food truck? Compared with inviting this Douyin master to set up a stall at the night market to promote the local city style and the considerable and huge tourism economy, this cost is simply not worth mentioning.

He sent a message to Lu Jiaxin on WeChat about his itinerary.

Now Lu Jiaxin is considered his assistant.

Lu Jiaxin: "Go and customize a food truck?"

"I suddenly thought of a marketing idea. Boss Xia, do you know the 'Red Dressed Leader'?"

Xia An: "Who is the Red Dressed Leader??"

He doesn't have time to watch Douyin or read gossip all day long. Whenever he has free time, he devotes himself to studying dishes.

Lu Jiaxin: "In short, a big internet celebrity said that he wanted to switch to a domestically produced new energy vehicle, and it caused a sensation in the city. The square of the group's headquarters was turned into a car show, filled with various brands and all kinds of vehicles!"

Well, Xia An couldn't understand it, but forget it. All the operations work had long been thrown to Lu Jiaxin, and he was too lazy to think about it.

Just as Xia An finished washing up, changed into casual clothes and arrived at the hotel entrance.

"oops!"

Liu Shimeng was waiting in the lobby. When she saw Xia An coming out of the elevator, she waved and shouted excitedly from a distance: "Boss Xia, here, here!"

Xia An: ? ?

He walked forward with a question mark on his face.

"Why are you here? Where is Director Li?" Xia An was surprised.

Liu Shimeng said with a smile: "Boss Xia, don't underestimate me. After all, I am an outstanding local youth representative selected by the Shudi Culture and Tourism Bureau, and I am also a food industry promotion ambassador strongly promoted by the Culture and Tourism Bureau... Well, one of the promotion ambassadors!"

"He has appeared in many Shudi official promotional videos!"

The twenty-year-old girl did not dress up today. She was wearing casual clothes, a short high-waisted short-sleeved white T-shirt on her upper body. When she raised her hand to say hello just now, half of her slender waist was exposed. She was wearing washed light blue jeans on her lower body, which set off her round and slender long legs.

With a baseball cap on his head, his thick and smooth hair fell on his shoulders.

The overall look gives people a youthful and lively feeling.

Xia An was stunned, then thought about it and realized that this was the truth.

He has participated in promotional videos for Lijiang City. As an outstanding representative of the Liu generation, there is no reason why Liu Shimeng would not be noticed by the Shu Culture and Tourism Bureau.

Besides, this little girl is not just a pretty face. Xia An had already experienced her cooking skills last night.

In Liu Shimeng's pseudo small noodle bowl tart dish, Xia An was very sure that this little girl's seasoning skills were better than his, after all, his seasoning was already perfect.

Obviously much stronger than him, that could only be the case as he had reached the so-called "extreme realm" in urban legends.

If Liu Shimeng could present a chameleon noodle bowl tower with a higher degree of completion, rather than a fake reproduction with only a dozen dishes.

If it were close to the hundreds of numbers of our ancestor Liu Maoxing.

Then she could have said something cruel like "Anyone who comes here will just be killed" on the show last night.

"Dudu-"

In the parking lot, Liu Shimeng unlocked her pink mini electric car, turned back to Xia An, stuck out her tongue and said embarrassedly:

"It's not a luxury car, it's a Hongguang mini. Don't mind, Boss Xia."

Xia An sat in the passenger seat.

Seeing Liu Shimeng nervously driving the mini electric car out of the parking space, I suddenly understood why Liu Shimeng chose the Hongguang mini.

Not only is it short and small, it is also very cute.

Easy parking is probably also a highlight.

"Boss Xia, there are still quite a few automobile factories in Jinguan City and the neighboring mountain city."

Liu Shimeng introduced it seriously on the way.

"But food trucks and food stalls belong to a niche circle. Most famous chefs who can afford expensive food trucks choose to open a restaurant and will not leave them on the roadside in the sun and rain."

"As for ordinary stall owners who can't afford it, they just run a small business to make a living by using a cheap modified electric tricycle. They don't have the funds to buy a food truck or a stall truck."

About half an hour later.

A certain brand of automobile factory located in Jinguancheng.

As soon as the car entered the factory gate and parked, a middle-aged man in a suit knocked on the window, opened the passenger door, leaned forward to greet us, and said with a red face:

"Hey, Boss Xia, welcome to our factory to customize your vehicle!"

Liu Shimeng got out of the car and said with a smile: "Boss Xia, this is Director Chen. Director Li has greeted him."

Director Chen laughed:
"Even if Director Li didn't say hello, knowing that the customer is Boss Xia, we will do our best to meet all of Boss Xia's requests!"

As he spoke, Director Chen led the way very attentively.

The factory park is very large and you need to drive.

Soon, an automobile production and manufacturing line that stretched for an unknown length and covered an unknown number of acres appeared before our eyes.

"Boss Xia, please take a look. These are several new models of urban mobile food trucks that our factory is promoting."

Xia An was a little dazzled.

The largest dining car is shaped like a double-decker bus. It has a built-in sunshade roof on the second floor, making it a small open-air cafe. The first floor of the bus contains the kitchen and several bar tables.

The whole car is painted red and has many fashionable details. It looks stylish and cool.

But, it's too big!
Xia An shook his head.

There is no place at home to put this large night market stall cart.

The medium-sized dining car, similar to the Baby Bus, was of a size that met the requirements, and there were many styles. Xia An picked and chose, and chose one that featured traditional Chinese style and trendy decoration. He pointed at the sample car and said:

"That's what I want."

Then, Xia An stated his customization requirements.

"You want ten stoves? Stoves?" Director Chen's smile froze for a moment. Seeing that Xia An wasn't joking, he hesitated and said, "Ten stoves. If they are all professional high-fire stoves, the fuel consumption will be very high..."

"Do you think it's time to convert it into an all-electric kitchen?"

The all-electric kitchen is a new trend in the food industry recently. It has many advantages. There are no flying flames, and the indoor temperature does not rise significantly. The high-temperature sauna-like working environment is greatly improved.

Xia An had never worked in an all-electric kitchen before, so when he heard this, he was a little curious, but more hesitant.

Seeing this, Director Chen understood:

"Then we will build two dining cars for you, Boss Xia."

"One is a fully electric kitchen, using electromagnetic heating technology."

"The other one is a traditional stove kitchen. Then we will arrange engineers to plan the space of the dining car for you. You can open ten stoves at the same time to cook dishes, and the fuel reserves will not be tight!"

Thus, the trip to the car factory ended successfully.

On the way back to the hotel.

Liu Shimeng said with a hint of meaning:

"Boss Xia, I don't recommend you to use an all-electric kitchen. Technology has brought progress and convenience, but it also has disadvantages." "Oh?" Xia An became interested, "Tell me about the disadvantages?"

Liu Shimeng: "In an all-electric kitchen, chefs no longer need to carefully observe the changes in the fire when cooking. They can directly set the temperature of the induction cooker to achieve precise temperature control."

"Over a long period of time, the chef's cooking skills will undoubtedly gradually deteriorate!"

"Moreover, I have tried many times before to use an all-electric kitchen to stir-fry certain dishes with the most particular 'wok aroma', but I found that no matter what, the 'wok aroma' of cooking on an induction cooker is very weak!"

Xia An nodded.

Liu Shimeng gave a good example, pot qi.

In Chinese cuisine, wok smell is a very metaphysical taste, but it is undeniable that it really exists.

At this time, Xia An's eyes narrowed slightly.

Liu Shimeng's tone darkened as he added:

“The preparation methods of fantasy ingredients above the gold level are becoming more and more bizarre, tricky and complicated, and are gradually out of the scope of what technology can do.”

Hearing this, Xia An said secretly in his heart.

Perhaps this is the fundamental reason why Liu Shimeng wanted to tell him not to indulge in all-electric kitchens.

In the field below the special grade, all-electric kitchens have great advantages such as convenience, environmental protection, and energy saving.

But after the special grade.

I guess that's all shortcomings.

In short, different levels will lead to very different perspectives.

Liu Shimeng, with the Liu family's profound teaching and personal experience, avoided many detours.

I returned to the hotel in Liu Shimeng’s Hongguang mini car.

Liu Shimeng, however, did not plan to leave. This 20-year-old sunny and lively girl put her hands together and pleaded, "Boss Xia, can I help in the kitchen for the next two days?"

“I have extensive experience helping in the kitchen!”

"I can do any job! You treat me like a beast of burden!"

Hearing this, Xia An hesitated to speak, with a strange expression on his face.

Is there anyone who is eager to work as a slave?
His three beautiful female apprentices are all at home in Lijiang City. Now he is in Jinguan City and is indeed in need of help.

"Okay, do you want me to pay you a salary?" Xia An was no longer a black-hearted boss who was short of money. He was happy to offer Liu Shimeng, the publicity ambassador of the Shu Culture and Tourism Bureau, a considerable salary.

Unexpectedly, Liu Shimeng waved her hands again and again, saying happily:
"How dare I ask for a salary!"

"Being able to be by your side, Boss Xia, and watch you closely at how you restore and reproduce ancient dishes, I can learn a lot of culinary knowledge that money can't buy!"

At this time, Lu Jiaxin received a WeChat message that Xia An had returned, and brought her worker Su Yan to the hotel lobby to arrange for Xia An to shoot the material.

Liu Shimeng looks like a little follower.

With an obedient look, he followed his boss closely.

Lu Jiaxin couldn't help but chuckle: "Xiao Shimeng, have you also been conquered by my boss so quickly?"

Liu Shimeng was so ashamed and angry when he heard this:

"Pfft, what kind of strategy is that? I just want to learn the skills to recreate ancient recipes and dishes from Boss Xia!"

The two men were of similar age and were obviously close friends who had known each other for a long time.

Lu Jiaxin didn't listen to the explanation, and waved her hand, asking the worker Su Yan to shoot the video material immediately:
"I'll arrange a short video for you right now. I've already thought of a title, 'Me! The little genius of the Liu family, joining Boss Xia's kitchen team!'"

Liu Shimeng: ? ?
(=ω=；)
"Xinbao, you are worthy of being a big internet celebrity on Douyin. You have really mastered the art of clickbait!" Liu Shimeng's mouth twitched.

"I just want to ask you, is this the real situation? Am I lying in the slightest?"

Lu Jiaxin put her hands on her hips and snorted.

Liu Shimeng: “…”

The group came to the hotel's professional kitchen that was vacated for Xia An to use.

The barred salmon and lychee sturgeon that Director Li had arranged for have already arrived and are all alive, swimming in a row of transparent glass tanks against the wall.

Xia An glanced at the time and after going out, it was almost noon.

But one afternoon is more than enough to prepare the dishes.

"Xiao Shimeng, can you kill fish?"

They both came out of the locker room, and Xia An threw a waterproof apron to Liu Shimeng.

"Will do!"

The girl was not a pampered child at all. She took the apron and put it on. She took the net and took the lead in catching a salmon. She slapped it on the water platform:

"Boss Xia, I'll help you scrape the scales, cut the fins, remove the internal organs and clean the blood stains!"

As he spoke, Liu Shimeng pulled out a knife from the knife rack.

boom!
The fresh salmon was knocked unconscious by the blow of the knife.

After that, her knife skills were clean and quick.

Xia An watched and commented silently in his heart.

As expected of Liu's little genius, his knife skills are undoubtedly perfect.

Then, seasoning is the extreme.

The knife skills are perfect.

Among the three basic skills of controlling the heat, flipping the wok, and plating the dish, which of them have been achieved to perfection?
At least Xia An was certain that Liu Shimeng's pastry-making skills must not be perfect, otherwise, the pseudo-small noodle bowl tart dish she presented would have been more complete.

"what."

Lu Jiaxin lowered her head to look through Douyin, and suddenly came closer:

"Boss Xia, was that the brand car factory you were visiting just now? They're promoting it so quickly that they've already posted a Douyin short video!"

Xia An took a look and found it was true.

There are short videos of himself visiting the car manufacturing assembly line and being unable to let go of several food trucks, touching and looking at them.

Data on views, replies and comments.

In the official Douyin account of this brand of automobile, there is a momentum of explosive expansion.

"Director Chen did ask me, and I agreed."

“Hehe, then we don’t have to promote it ourselves.” Lu Jiaxin was delighted. “Boss Xia, believe it or not, within half a day, the entire automobile manufacturer circle will be undercurrents, and all manufacturers will take advantage of this wave of popularity and compete to give you new models of food trucks for free!”

Xia An was suspicious: "Is it an exaggeration?"

Lu Jiaxin said:

"Not at all!"

As she spoke, she casually clicked on the comment reply section of the short video.

Show Xia An the comments of Douyin netizens.

[Catch a Boss Xia alive here! 】

[You just finished the show yesterday, but you are full of energy to visit the car factory today? Want to buy a new car?]

[@All car manufacturers, who will eventually receive this overwhelming wealth? ]

[Boss Xia = traffic code, come out and line up to get a food truck. In the future, Boss Xia will drive your car to set up a food truck. That will give your brand exposure.]

Xia An: ? ?

Netizens are helping him @major brand car manufacturers.

He felt it was unnecessary. It was not like he had no money to buy it, so begging on the internet was not an option.

Seeing Xia An's slightly embarrassed expression, Lu Jiaxin covered her mouth and laughed secretly:

"This is a spontaneous action by netizens. Even if you, Boss Xia, use your official account to issue a statement, it's too late now. Don't underestimate the business sense of big brands and manufacturers."

"Even if they don't originally make food trucks, they can still build a batch of prototypes for you, and they can kneel down in the living room to receive this overwhelming traffic!"

Xia An shook his head and simply stopped thinking about it.

"Preparing to shoot the trailer material for the stall?"

“Yeah, it’s already being filmed!”

(End of this chapter)