Starting with vegetable greenhouses in 1988

Chapter 221 Wu Daqiao

In the morning, Li Zhe interviewed a total of 10 waitresses. Besides Han Chunyan, there was another person who left a deep impression on him.

The applicant, Sun Yuehua, 24 years old, stated on his resume that he had worked as a waiter in a state-run restaurant for three years, making him the most experienced applicant...

After reviewing his resume, Li Zhe asked directly, "Comrade Sun Yuehua, since you have experience working in a restaurant, you should know how to serve guests. How would you handle it if a guest rushes to order food?"

Sun Yuehua leaned back in his chair, his voice languid: "I've seen this kind of thing a lot. Just tell him, 'The kitchen is busy.' That's how it is in state-run restaurants. If customers get impatient and grumble a bit, just ignore them. You can't exactly argue with the kitchen staff."

He paused, then added, "If you encounter someone who's being unreasonable, it's normal to argue back. We're waiters, not punching bags."

Li Zhe's brow twitched, but he didn't answer. Instead, he asked, "What would you do if you saw a customer go to the counter to get chopsticks, bowls, and plates themselves?"

"Let them take it," Sun Yuehua said dismissively. "It's more convenient for the guests to do it themselves, and we'll save ourselves a lot of trouble. Besides, if we really try to stop them, they'll think we're meddling."

"What if a guest isn't careful when taking it and knocks over the vinegar bottle next to them, spilling it all over the floor?" Li Zhe pressed.

“He needs to be careful,” Sun Yuehua said matter-of-factly. “He’ll have to pay for it if he breaks it. State-run restaurants have rules that you have to pay for damaged items at cost. If he doesn’t pay, does he expect me to?”

As he listened, Li Zhe smiled and said, "Comrade Sun Yuehua, I think guests come to eat to feel comfortable—when they are urging you to hurry up with the food, offer them a cup of tea and say, 'Please wait a moment, I'll go to the kitchen to check'; when guests are getting things themselves, lend a hand and hand them over. Don't you think that would be better?"

Sun Yuehua disagreed, saying, "Boss Li, this is the rule I've followed for so many years in state-run restaurants. When customers come to eat, we just serve the dishes, and that's it. This is a new society, and waiters are also masters of society, no less than the customers."

He dismissed it, saying, "As long as our food is good and the prices are cheap, we won't have to worry about not having customers. Besides, the waiters are so busy, they're constantly running around, how could they have time to keep running around to the customers?"

Li Zhe put down his pen: "Comrade Sun Yuehua, from what you've said, you seem to agree with the practices and rules of state-run restaurants. So why did you leave the state-run restaurant to interview at our restaurant?"

"Hey, our restaurant isn't doing well, we can't pay out wages. We only got 20 yuan before the New Year, not even enough to buy New Year's goods. I have a whole family to support, so I have to find another way to make a living."
I heard from a friend that you pay high wages here, so I came to check it out. I'm different from those newbies out there; I have experience and I know everything about restaurant operations. If you hire me, you'll be getting a great deal.” Sun Yuehua patted his chest loudly.

Tan Jingya couldn't help but laugh: "Why is your restaurant not doing well? Is it because you don't have any customers?"

"You're mistaken. Our restaurant doesn't lack customers at all. During mealtimes, there's a long line outside. It's just that the prices of the dishes are too low, so we don't make any money at all. Some dishes don't even break even, and we even lose money."

Tan Jingya understood: "Your restaurant's prices are cheap, so customers come here for the low prices and don't care about the service. If the restaurant doesn't make money with low prices, it's useless no matter how many customers you have, and we still can't pay your salaries."

Tan Jingya changed the subject, "But our restaurant is different. Our restaurant's prices are high, and our customers not only want to eat well, but also to eat comfortably. Only then will they be willing to pay more. Only when the restaurant makes money can we pay you higher salaries."

Li Zhe gave Tan Jingya a wink, thinking that saying more would be pointless. Sun Yuehua's speech and behavior were still the old ways of state-run restaurants. Li Zhe was genuinely worried that he would corrupt his new employee.

In the morning, Li Zhe interviewed 10 waiters, 9 of whom passed the interview, while Sun Yuehua was the only one who was eliminated.

At the same time, this also served as a reminder to Li Zhe that Tan Jingya, the two chefs, and Lin Qiaomei had all worked in state-run restaurants. Seeing Sun Yuehua's state, Li Zhe felt it was necessary to remind others that they couldn't bring the rules of state-run restaurants to their own.

After interviewing the waiters, Li Zhe then interviewed kitchen helpers. A total of five kitchen helpers came to the restaurant for interviews, and the interview location became the kitchen.

The first test is on basic skills, which is also the most crucial knife skills—for example, cutting potato shreds on the spot to see how fast and even the thickness of the shreds are; whether the scallions, ginger, and garlic are handled cleanly and efficiently without any waste; and whether the meat slices can be cut thinly.

In addition, there is the processing of ingredients, such as washing vegetables, removing impurities and blood from meat, and processing dried goods.

All five kitchen helpers were quite capable and had prior work experience. After consulting with the two chefs and Tan Jingya, Li Zhe decided to keep all five kitchen helpers.

Around noon, Shuxiangju Restaurant welcomed another interviewee—Wu Daqiao.

He was the chef introduced by Chang Cheng, the purchasing manager of Jianguo Hotel.

Li Zhe looked him up and down. The man was not very old, only in his early thirties, of medium height, and was carrying a large bag, which he carefully placed on the ground.

"Hello, both of you. My name is Wu Daqiao, and I'm here for a chef interview." Li Zhe stood up to greet him: "Hello, Chef Wu. I'm Li Zhe. We've spoken on the phone before."

"Hello, Mr. Li." Master Wu's voice was not loud, but it was steady.

The two shook hands, and Li Zhe invited him to sit down: "Master Wu, I heard from Manager Chang that you are good at Sichuan and Hunan cuisine."

"Yes. I started helping out in the kitchen when I was 10 years old, and formally became an apprentice at 14. I learned Sichuan cuisine from Master Ma Baochang, while Hunan cuisine is a family tradition."

Tan Jingya knew that Li Zhe had hired a chef, but she didn't know much about the chef's background, so she tentatively asked, "Chef Wu, I also know a little about Sichuan cuisine. I'd like to ask what the differences are between the methods of making Sichuan red oil and Hunan chili oil?"

Wu Daqiao said: "To make Sichuan-style chili oil fragrant, you have to heat rapeseed oil to 80% of its maximum temperature, let it cool to 60% before pouring chili powder on it, add alkanet root for color, and let it soak for two days before using it. The key is the lingering fragrance."

Hunan-style chili oil should be very strong. Boiling rapeseed oil is poured directly over it, then garlic and fermented black beans are added and fried. It can be used the same day, and the flavor is intensely spicy.

He paused for a moment, then continued, "Moreover, Sichuan cuisine relies on Sichuan peppercorns to reduce the spiciness, while Hunan cuisine relies on perilla leaves or pickled cowpeas to alleviate the spiciness; they are different approaches."

Tan Jingya nodded secretly, then asked, "What if a customer says 'the shredded pork with garlic sauce is too sweet,' how would you adjust it?"

"The key to fish-fragrant sauce is 'salty, sweet, sour, spicy, and umami'; if any one of these ingredients is missing, it will fall apart." Wu Daqiao thought for a moment and said, "If it's too sweet, you can't just add salt—that will make it bitter. You have to add some vinegar and a small half spoonful of light soy sauce. The sourness can suppress the sweetness and also enhance the umami. This is the 'flexible seasoning' of Sichuan cuisine; you can't just follow the recipe rigidly."

Li Zhe didn't quite understand their conversation, but he thought it sounded very professional, and said with a smile, "Master Wu, how about you show us your skills? Let us learn from you."

Wu Daqiao glanced at the bag on the ground: "Okay, I brought all the tools."

The three of them went downstairs and into the kitchen. After meeting the other two chefs, Li Zhe gave a brief introduction, and Wu Daqiao opened the bag, took out several jars and knives, and put them away: "Boss Li, what kind of dishes would you like me to make? Sichuan and Hunan cuisine are both fine."

Li Zhe was an amateur and didn't know which dish could showcase a chef's skill level, so he looked at Tan Jingya beside him and said, "Manager Tan, you can order."

Tan Jingya's gaze swept across the vegetable shelf and landed on the newly delivered bighead carp—the fish head weighed a good two pounds, and there were still fresh bloodstains on its gills. She pointed to the fish head: "Chef Wu, please make a double-pepper fish head."

Wu Daqiao smiled and said, "You are an expert. This dish looks like a fancy dish, but it actually tests your basic skills the most: if you don't remove the fishy smell properly, it will be fishy; if you don't cook it properly, it will be overcooked; if you don't blend the Sichuan and Hunan spiciness well, it will become 'hard spiciness'."

Wu Daqiao put on an apron and started by preparing the fish head: he cut it open from the lower jaw with a knife, but did not cut through the skin, and said to Li Zhe, "This way, it will be heated evenly when steaming and will also maintain its shape."

Next, I rinsed the inside of the fish's gills repeatedly with clean water to remove the blood vessels, then rubbed salt all over the fish and massaged it for half a minute before rinsing it clean.

Instead of using ready-made chopped chili peppers, he took half of the pickled chili peppers and chopped them into a paste, while keeping the other half of the fresh red chopped chili peppers in small pieces. He added some chopped pickled ginger and minced garlic, drizzled a spoonful of rapeseed oil, and mixed it all together...

He boiled the water in the iron pot before placing the plate containing the fish head inside, and even lined the bottom of the fish with a layer of tofu. After steaming for seven minutes, he lifted the lid and drizzled a spoonful of cooking wine along the edge of the plate.

After taking it out of the pot, I heated some oil in a separate pot, threw in some Sichuan peppercorns and small red chilies, and poured them over the fish head with a "sizzle" after they were fried until fragrant.

The oil, coated with the red of the chili peppers and the green of the Sichuan peppercorns, exploded on the fish head, even drawing the attention of the kitchen helpers outside: "Wow! This aroma is even stronger than that of state-run restaurants!"

Li Zhe picked up a piece of meat next to the fish eye—the tenderest and most likely to be fishy part—but when he put it in his mouth, there was no muddy taste at all. The fish meat was very tender, and the numbing and spicy flavors were layered and not conflicting at all.

He took another bite of the tofu underneath, which had soaked up the broth and was even more flavorful than the fish.

Tan Jingya also picked up her chopsticks to taste it, and after just one bite, she nodded secretly—the cooking was excellent in both removing the fishy smell and controlling the heat, even better than the chefs in most state-run restaurants.

She couldn't help but wonder, where did Boss Li find such a good chef?

(End of this chapter)