Courtyard House: The Chef's Intelligence System

Zhang Shih-hao got married two days ago. His family used to sell tofu, but they can't sell it anymore.

His bridal chamber was next to the two rear rooms of Li Jiuzhou's house.

Although he spent more money on the dowry for his wedding, he didn't spend a penny to get a room in the back row of houses; the factory arranged it for him.

There are gains and losses, so when you think about it that way, Zhang Shih-hao actually didn't lose out.

The steel rolling mill gets quite busy towards the end of the year, with overtime work gradually increasing.

The kitchen staff also frequently have extra food prepared for them.

Li Jiuzhou simply gave up, letting Sha Zhu take over as the head chef, while his apprentice Fu Lai assisted him.

Sha Zhu taught his apprentice the same way he had taught him before.

If you have the chance, you can watch, learn, and memorize it first. Otherwise, if You Fulai cuts the meat according to the rules for three years, what the hell will you learn? By then, it will be too late.

Li Jiuzhou had already discussed it with Sha Zhu, and they would be more open to teaching any apprentices as long as their character was up to standard.

If their apprentice were to turn against them in the future, the two brothers Tiangang would have plenty of ways to make sure their apprentice couldn't make it in the culinary world of Beiping, so there was nothing to be afraid of.

Li Jiuzhou, on the other hand, felt unmotivated to cook because the ingredients at the factory were too ordinary.

He would only be interested if his second uncle brought him something good; otherwise, he would just be craving something nice to eat.

He usually cooks dinner at home, and even a simple braised fish he makes is incredibly delicious.

The factory hosts a lot of banquets at the end of the year, and the ingredients are ordinary, so Sha Zhu's expertise in Beijing-style Sichuan cuisine can come in handy.

It can be said that the most common food eaten by ordinary people in Beiping (Beijing) when they go out to eat is Sichuan cuisine.

Because it's cheap and goes well with both alcohol and rice.

No matter what the ingredients are, they can figure them out.

Shandong cuisine is different; its famous dishes all use a rich broth as a base, making them complicated and time-consuming to prepare.

Unless Li Jiuzhou is notified in advance, Xiaozhao always serves Sichuan cuisine.

Occasionally, other cuisines will be added.

For example, Sha Zhu's lunch today consisted of ten dishes in total, seven of which were Sichuan dishes, accompanied by Cantonese stir-fried beef noodles, Fujian ginger duck, and Zhejiang Dongpo pork.

Sha Zhu likes to do this because he has never wanted to be a chef specializing in a single cuisine since he started working with his senior brother.

My father used to want him to master Shandong cuisine, Sichuan cuisine, and the family's traditional Tan family cuisine.

Things are different now. Sha Zhu is now a master chef who has mastered multiple cuisines.

In the past year or two, when we went out to cook, he was basically in charge of the cooking, while his senior brother gave him pointers. During that time, his cooking skills improved tremendously.

During that period, Sha Zhu experienced both pain and happiness.

The painful part is that not only do I have to cook, but I also have to memorize the recipes when I get home at night, because my senior colleague will check them.

What's wonderful is that my cooking skills have improved rapidly and I've gained recognition.

At that time, Manager Luan personally tried Sha Zhu's dishes, no less than thirty dishes, and finally commented that the first batch was solid and steady, and the second batch was just lacking time.

The meaning is clear: Sha Zhu's cooking skills are excellent, he's just a bit too young.

Originally, the factory leaders had some complaints about Li Jiuzhou not cooking himself, but when Sha Zhu stepped in, their eyes lit up.

The Sichuan cuisine was prepared to perfection, especially since it was currently very popular in Beijing, which made it even more remarkable.

Of course, the factory leaders all knew how Li Jiuzhou earned his culinary title.

That's Mr. Yu, the top chef who invented famous Sichuan dishes such as charcoal-grilled fish and boiled fish fillets.

When Li Jiuzhou became famous, Shazhu was still mercilessly killing fish under his tutelage.

The factory leaders knew a thing or two about Sha Zhu's culinary skills; it was because Li Jiuzhou had trained him.

If the junior brother is this awesome, then the senior brother must be even more impressive.

Li Jiuzhou is now the canteen director of the steel rolling mill. If you don't have the status, it'll be hard to get him to cook for you personally, brother.

Unless the invitation is extremely important, they are too embarrassed to say a word.

With Sha Zhu in charge, things are already pretty stable.

Other factories were very envious and jealous of the fact that one factory had two head chefs, and they tried their best to poach them.

Even Sha Zhu wanted to dig it up.

It is worth noting that on several occasions, Chef Wu Yusheng, the founder of Emei Restaurant and a master of Sichuan cuisine, personally brought ingredients to discuss cooking with his two apprentice brothers.

Of course, the main purpose is communication, and we can also try to recruit some people on the side.

The factory leaders were terrified, fearing that their employees would be poached by the Emei Restaurant.

The two brothers are frequent customers of Emei Restaurant, and entering the kitchen is a breeze for them.

Therefore, the two brothers were very famous in the Sichuan cuisine scene in Beiping.

Li Jiuzhou is proficient in multiple cuisines, and he is especially skilled at preparing imperial banquets.

Such top chefs provide you with the trump card that every restaurant wants.

Now that it's a joint public-private enterprise, if it were still like it was a few years ago, the manager would really have to offer a courtyard and a car to poach Li Jiuzhou.

Regular customers who have dined at Li Jiuzhou's restaurants in Beijing know the value of having a top-notch chef.

Especially the old folks and their descendants, when they had guests at home, they would invite Li Jiuzhou to cook a whole table of dishes.

As long as the ingredients are available, the feast on that table is basically a delicacy reserved for the emperor.

One particularly funny incident involved Li Jiuzhou cooking for the remnants of the old regime, preparing dishes that resembled imperial banquets.

While they were eating, the head of the family kept muttering about how he had overstepped his bounds and how he was guilty, but when he finally ate, he was more enthusiastic than anyone else!

She even invited Li Jiuzhou to cook for her eight times in one month, and she thoroughly enjoyed the meals.

At Fengzeyuan, you can only eat Shandong and Sichuan cuisine; there are no imperial banquets.

If you want to eat there, you have to ask Li Jiuzhou to come over, and you have to make an appointment in advance.

Of course, Beiping did have high-end restaurants, including those serving official cuisine, also known as Tan Family Cuisine.

But right now, the big restaurants are doing terribly bad business, and only wealthy capitalists can afford to go there.

Ordinary people can easily brag about eating a large bowl of pork dumplings at a restaurant all day long.

They are reluctant to eat stir-fries; they prefer to buy a pound of pork and cook it at home, as it's more cost-effective.

People who go out to eat Sichuan food are generally high-paid or have low-level management positions.

Eating Sichuan food now is economical and offers great value for money.

Five yuan can get you about seven or eight dishes, of course, without drinks.

If you go to Fengzeyuan Restaurant, five yuan is just the minimum amount you need to order one dish.

So Emei Restaurant has been incredibly popular lately because it's so cheap!

It's so popular that we can't keep up with the demand.

This situation made the veteran managers of various restaurants secretly curse in their hearts:

"Damn, even Sichuan cuisine that used to be considered low-class is now outclassing us, and our business is still so good."

Compared to other restaurants, Emei Restaurant's business was very poor; it barely broke even and barely made any money.

Fengzeyuan is doing a bit better right now; it serves Sichuan cuisine and is still making a profit.

Li Tielong and Wang Shan originally thought that the poor business at Fengzeyuan would give them some free time, but they never expected that Sichuan cuisine would become popular in Beiping. This was truly outrageous.

The result was that I became even busier.

At Fengzeyuan, only the two of them know how to cook Sichuan cuisine. If they don't do it, who will?

Sometimes when Li Tielong gets busy, he mutters to himself, "I should have known better than to let Sha Zhu go." But it's no use regretting it now; he still has to get on with his work.