National Tide 1980.

Chapter 750 Hell's Kitchen
Ning Weimin has been sparing no effort to support the inheritance and development of traditional crafts in Beijing.

Not only is it expensive, but it also takes a lot of energy and time.

So in this sculpture art exhibition, although the things he ordered shocked everyone when they appeared in public, and made many guests feel fascinated.

It also attracted the praise of many colleagues in the art industry, and many art magazines rushed to report.

Even those few large-scale works of art, with the recommendation and promotion of the Artists Association, have a good chance of being included in art textbooks for primary and secondary schools.

But for Yu Ning Weimin, this is not so unexpected.

Although he was very proud, very relieved, and very happy, but he was not very excited about it, because there was no suspense.

The cost and standard of these high-quality products made by well-known master craftsmen are on the bright side, and it is inevitable that they have won unanimous praise.

Compared with it, it was another thing he did quite casually, which was kind of careless

Although it was only a short period of one or two months, he didn't pay too much attention and extra effort.

But the harvest was much more than his initial expectation, which made him overjoyed.

That is to let several chefs from the altar palace go to Maxim's restaurant to learn how to cook.

Speaking of this matter, Ning Weimin's original purpose was actually very simple, mainly for three points.

One is to make advance technical preparations for going abroad.

To go to Tokyo to open a branch of Tangong is already a matter that Ning Weimin must implement, and it is a certainty.

But there is not a single Japanese restaurant in Beijing these days.

It was opened by the Beijing Hotel, which is said to be the first daily food store in Beijing by the "five people", and it will not open until April 1985.

Therefore, considering the small amount of daily meals and requiring exquisiteness, it does not reject the characteristics of raw food and cold food.

Then Ning Weimin sent a chef to Maxim's restaurant to learn French cuisine, which is obviously more practical.

In this way, you can not only learn some new cooking skills, but also adapt to more advanced kitchen equipment.

Second, Ning Weimin also wanted to take advantage of this matter to make a temporary arrangement for Jiang Dachun and Xiaocha, who did not hesitate to lose their jobs and wanted to come to the altar palace.

These two boys are young, temperamental, daring to rush, dare to do things, smart, and adaptable. Ning Weimin is quite optimistic about them.

In his heart, he already thought that these two boys would be his best helpers in going to Tokyo, so of course he should focus on training them.

The third is that it can comprehensively improve the level of dishes in the altar palace itself.

Compared with Chinese food, the biggest advantage of Western food is delicacy and beauty.

This is not to say that Chinese food is not refined and lacks aesthetics.

But the problem is that because of different cultural attributes, aesthetics are different.

Chinese food has always been more about content than form. It is to let people get the greatest satisfaction from the taste of the food itself through the process of eating.

Therefore, the exquisiteness and ostentation of Chinese food are reflected by the color, fragrance and flavor of the dishes themselves.

There must be enough dishes, expensive ingredients, and great taste.

As for the other is not important.

Even things like food carvings were first used in sacrifices, not for decoration of dishes.

This skill is generally used in high-end banquets, and it has been carried forward after the founding of the People's Republic of China.

Therefore, according to the tradition, the decoration of the Chinese banquet is to be more particular.

Usually it's just adding table surrounds, putting on gold and silver wine glasses, and ivory chopsticks.

There have never been flowers or other decorations on the table, not even a tablecloth in the past.

This is not stinginess or poverty.

It's because according to the old etiquette, the seats of the guests are divided according to the wood grain of the table.

Conversely, Western food is very different.

The foreign devils are actually the complete opposite of us, putting more emphasis on form and ignoring content.

Probably because there are too few dishes, there will not be any obvious changes, they are all focused on other than food.

For example, the decoration of tables and chairs, the outstanding satin or silk, the style of utensils, the variety of wine, and the display of flowers are all extremely particular.

In the past, there were often people who drew special patterns and made special utensils for a guest.

Even the importance of the menu, music, flowers, and lighting should be ranked before the food itself, and more attention should be paid to the comprehensive experience.

In the end, for the innovation of dishes, it is naturally easier to get entangled in the external beauty of food.

To be honest, in fact, Ning Weimin's idea of ​​managing the altar palace is to borrow some of the business methods and concepts of western restaurants.

Buy beautiful utensils, pay attention to service, use cultural atmosphere and decoration to enhance the taste of food, and combine the respective strengths of Chinese and Western food into one.

This makes his Tangong restaurant appear tasteful and stylish, which not only shocked and attracted the attention of the Chinese people, but also attracted the favor of foreigners.

Therefore, Ning Weimin believes that it is also necessary to grasp the shape of the dishes if it is more detailed.

If you draw a sentence, learn from the barbarians to control the barbarians.

If we can learn all other people's skills and combine our own advantages, the dishes of Tangong Restaurant will be more perfect.

Not to mention, both internal and external skills are hard enough, which is a double bonus.

At that time, it will be more convenient to kill the foreign exchange of foreign devils, and it will be justifiable.

It should be said that Ning Weimin's wishful thinking has definitely been done well enough.

But then again, he is not a professional chef after all, and he doesn't know enough about cooking, so he has limitations and deviations.

You know, French cuisine is recognized as the number one cuisine in the Western world.

Its status in the Western world is just like Shandong cuisine, as the only native cuisine of Chinese food, is the leader of the eight major cuisines in our country.

The essence of French cuisine is not limited to the exquisite appearance.

There are so many cooking methods and rich dishes, although it is not comparable to Chinese food, it is the best of Western food, and it has its own uniqueness.

What's more, in order to open up the market of the Republic, the first three foreign chefs hired by Maxim's Restaurant are not ordinary people.

Everyone is quite well-known and experienced in the French catering industry.

Among them, La Fontaine, the head chef of the bakery, is 36 years old and a senior pastry chef who once served the Elysee Palace in France.

His craftsmanship was favored by French President Valery Guiscard d'Estaing, who visited China in 1980.

And as the executive sous chef Le Goff, despite his age of only 26, he has amazing talent.

Before he was hired to go to China, he had just made a name for a little-known restaurant in Paris with his innovative dishes and won a Michelin star.

In addition, Le Goff is also a disciple of the world-renowned French chef Joel Roubson, and he was fortunate enough to follow this famous chef for three years.

Joel Lubzon is also known as the chef of the century, a legendary star chef, who managed 63 restaurants around the world at the age of [-].

He is legendary because he has won 32 Michelin stars in his life, and he is the world-recognized record holder for the most total number of stars.

The last Executive Chef was named Dominique.

At the age of 43, as a master in the kitchen, he is not only the oldest, the most qualified, but also the most powerful.

Because not only has he been employed by two Michelin three-star restaurants successively, he has served as executive chef for many years, and he is also a member of the French Catering Institute.

Académie Culinaire de France (Académie Culinaire de France), also known as the French Academy of Famous Chefs, was founded in 1883 by Joseph Favre, a famous Swiss chef and author of "General Dictionary of Cooking and Food Hygiene".

It is the oldest catering and pastry society in the world, and its members are famous chefs from all over the world.

It is very difficult to apply for membership. At least nine years of experience as a chef in France and outstanding contributions in the catering industry are required.

At the same time, it will take one year to pass various reviews and resolutions.

Therefore, this society has less than a thousand members worldwide, and most of them are chefs of Michelin-certified restaurants.

To put it bluntly, this society is too difficult to join, and it's too amazing.

The status of Shaolin and Wudang in the world's catering industry is equivalent to the status of Shaolin and Wudang among all the famous and decent families in Jin Daxia's martial arts novels.

Then think about it, such a great cuisine, and such a great chef.

In addition, as the only restaurant in the country that sells authentic palace dishes, Tan Gong is also a leader in Chinese cuisine.

The chefs sent by Ning Weimin are all selected from the best, and they are masters who are willing to learn and practice hard after being trained by many famous chefs.

These two good things collide, two kinds of broad and profound catering cultures collide, and the resulting collision reaction is so earth-shattering?

To make an appropriate analogy.

It was originally thought to be a collision between a bow and arrow and a crossbow, but it turned out to be a nuclear bomb colliding with a hydrogen bomb.

All in all, both sides miscalculated.

Ning Weimin underestimated French food, and those French chefs didn't pay enough attention to Chinese food chefs.

Well, in this era of relatively closed information, there is a serious gap between Chinese and Western cultures.

Naturally, a food culture collision that no one expected happened in the back kitchen of Maxim Restaurant.

And the resulting good drama, as well as the major impact and wonderful consequences, are beyond all estimates in advance.

As for the specific process, what was it like?
First of all, it should be admitted that the three French chefs at Maxim's Restaurant have a lot of prejudice against Chinese food.

This mainly depends on their own arrogance and self-confidence, as well as their bad impression of French Chinese food.

Yes, there are many Chinese restaurants in France.

It's a pity that time has passed and the legend of Wanhualou, which first caused a sensation in Paris and became famous in Europe, has long since disappeared in history.

In this era, the number of Chinese restaurants in France is number one in Europe.

But the cuisine is single and the tricks are outdated, which is also famous.

It is not too much to say that almost all the menus of Chinese restaurants are the same, and the taste has not changed much.

It is even still famous for bamboo shoots, bean sprouts and tofu, which were the most symbolic Chinese food in those days.

Coupled with the outdated family management model, the next generation of expatriates will not be able to eat hard, food hygiene is not up to standard, vicious competition, abuse of MSG, and other unfavorable factors.

And the "dog meat incident" exposed by the Chinese food industry in the Netherlands has led to widespread distrust of Chinese food by Westerners.

This has led to the decline of the Chinese restaurant industry in France.

Even many restaurants have to fake Japanese food in order to do business.

Can such Chinese food be delicious?
It's not that several French chefs have never eaten it, but it is precisely because they have eaten it that they despise it.

Of course, these French chefs cannot be said to be completely disappointed with their attempt at Chinese food.

During the renovation of the Maxim restaurant in Beijing, Song Huagui once gathered all the domestic chefs and waiters hired and sent them to the Maxim restaurant in Paris, France for three months of "intensive training".

In the middle of the training, those domestic chefs once cooked a relatively authentic Chinese meal for French chefs.

It's just that according to the existing ingredients in the restaurant, domestic chefs have very limited choices.

In addition, these chefs are almost all young people from Chongwenmen Hotel, their level is not high, and they are not comfortable with Western kitchen utensils.

In the end, they only baked some homemade cakes, made Kung Pao Chicken, and added a hot and sour soup.

After eating it, although the French chefs gave it a thumbs up, the general opinion is that it tastes good.

But I still regard these Chinese food as just a fresh snack, which strengthens the misunderstanding that there are no big dishes in Chinese food.

Later, after the three chefs came to the capital, they were entertained by the Chinese side and ate Judequan's roast duck once again.

Although it was really delicious that time, don’t forget that in this era, Chinese restaurants in our country generally use a lot of oil.

Well, just this hospitality meal, I suddenly gave these masters who are used to drinking blood to eat sausages.

The three of them all bared their teeth and had diarrhea in obscurity for several days.

Then think about it, what a painful realization!
No wonder they can have a good impression of Chinese food.

They began to have a deep-rooted misunderstanding, thinking that Chinese chefs are unhygienic and lazy.

Chinese food generally has serious food safety problems, and it is not something that people eat.

And this kind of negative emotion is also hard not to be brought into the kitchen work by them.

In fact, since the opening of the Maxim restaurant in Beijing.

Domestic chefs generally feel that the three of them are not easy to deal with.

It seems that during the three-month training period, everyone has lost their friendship with them.

The kitchen managed by the three of them is suffering like hell.

A series of work requirements, especially in terms of hygiene, are much stricter than in Paris, almost harsh.

And because of the language barrier, there is a misunderstanding of the Chinese chef.

Their work attitude is extremely rough, and they are arrogant, yelling and swearing at every turn, and there is no respect at all.

As a result, every chef in the country has resentment and dissatisfaction with them.

When it's not working, he "stays away" from all three of them, and behind his back he gave them nicknames for these chefs from hell.

La Fontaine is called "Pull List" by everyone.

Le Goff was called "Fuck the Joy".

The most distinguished executive chef, Dominique, is honored as "white hair" because of his gray hair.

To put it simply, Maxim's has only been open for a little over a year.

Seventy percent of the domestic chefs in the kitchen were replaced, and most of them were transferred away because they couldn't bear their bad temper and humiliation.

No matter how much money is given, they can almost earn twice as much as working in domestic restaurants, and few people can bear this grievance.

The chefs of the altar palace are Maxim's restaurant under such circumstances.

(End of this chapter)