The story of a cook

Chapter 24 Preparing for Opening

I called Master Chen and Master Gao and asked them to help introduce a good chef.I really wanted to call Master Chen back, but unfortunately he couldn't come down there.

The day after Master Guo finished trying the dishes, I was working in the kitchen when I heard someone behind me shouting, "Tan Zi." It was very familiar, and when I looked back, it was Li Jianhan, and I was very pleasantly surprised.

A comrade-in-arms in the trenches was not only happy to see him again after being separated for three months, but also warm in his heart.He was a little thin and his face was tanned, but he was very energetic.

"Tanzi, when did you come back?" he asked.

I said, "I've only been back for a few days."

"Just now when I saw the hotel opening in front, I thought maybe I could meet the old man, but I did." He said happily.

"It's fate." I said.

"Didn't you go to Tiexi?" He asked.

"Go, come back." I said, and then asked him: "When did you come back?"

"just came back."

I asked him, "Why, do you want to come back?"

He said: "Come back and work, just haven't found a job yet."

In this way, Li Jianhan came back to do the water case with me.

The restaurant was not open, and Li Jianhan and I cleaned up the kitchen.The overall decoration of the front desk has been completed, and a few waiters have been recruited to clean up.In the past two days, two chefs came to test the dishes, and their cooking was mediocre, not as good as Master Guo's. Brother Feng and Sun Mei got a little angry.

Brother Chen called and said that there was a very good chef named Zhang Tao, who just came back from other places and could come over.I talked to Brother Feng, and Brother Feng said to call someone over immediately.

Zhang Tao came the next day. He was of medium build, quite fat, with a round face and a very energetic appearance. He looked a few years older than me.After coming here, I talked with Brother Feng for a while, and then let me show the raw materials and seasonings in the kitchen.

Him and me: "Tan Zi, have you been doing this all this time?"

I said, "Well, more or less."

"The store is a bit small, can the wages be paid properly?" he asked.

It seems that he has been working in a big shop, he feels that Shengmei is small, and he is afraid that the salary will be low.

I said, "Brother Zhang, you have to discuss this with the boss yourself."

He said: "Let's not talk about it now, cook two dishes and ask them to taste them first, and then talk about it after eating."

What he said made me feel that he was very powerful, and he was very sure of himself.

He selected several raw materials and made four dishes: meat slices, panlong eggplant, Jinjiang bean curd and dried tofu.

Experts will know if there is any.

The four dishes made by Zhang Tao gave me the feeling of "dominant".The same ordinary raw materials, in his hands, are exquisite dishes.

Needless to say, he passed the test directly, Feng Ge and Sun Mei were very satisfied, and negotiated with him to settle the salary.In such a kitchen, the head chef Zhang Tao, the deputy chef Guo, and Li Jian and I are still short of a cold dish master and a dish washer.Zhang Tao said that he had a cold dish and would come over in two days.Washing dishes is easy to solve, and it is still very easy to recruit a laid-off female worker.

After the kitchen staff was settled, Zhang Tao and Master Guo studied the recipes and the menu for the opening ceremony. After the business recipes were finalized, Li Jianhan, the cold dish chef, and I prepared the ingredients and prepared for the opening.

I have been very busy these days. Not only do I have to prepare raw materials and seasonings, but I also have to go to the market with Brother Feng to buy goods. Butler.

Zhang Tao and Master Guo disagreed about the menu for the opening dinner. Brother Feng called me over, and the four of us sat together to study together.

"I've worked here, so I know a little bit about it." I said, "Santaizi people have strong tastes and like strong-flavored dishes. When we open for business, there are leaders and friends who come to treat guests, but most of them are from Santaizi area. , I will make this suggestion in terms of the taste of the dishes."

"What dishes do you serve? You have been here for a long time, so give me some advice." Zhang Tao said.

"The banquets here generally consist of sixteen dishes, four cool dishes, four pieces, four meat dishes, and four vegetarian dishes. The amount must be large, and there should be no shortage of food." I said.

Brother Feng said: "Yes, the amount of food must be large, don't eat half of the food, it would be shameful." Feng Ge said.

"Let's do better with the four items, and they are usually carp. I suggest a better fish." I said.

Master Guo said: "The opening is usually carp, which looks festive, and the carp leaps over the dragon's gate."

At this time, Sun Mei happened to come over and said, "I think Tan Zi is right, we don't serve carp, but fish of higher quality."

Zhang Tao said: "Then let's eat perch, what do you think?"

Sun Mei made a direct decision and said, "Let's go for the perch."

Once the fish is settled, the other three items can be ordered. The four items are: Steamed Sea Bass, Braised Pork with Preserved Vegetables, Linglong Shrimp, and Red Braised Chicken.

After setting the menu for the opening ceremony, Zhang Tao asked me after coming out of the private room: "Master Guo is a friend of the boss?"

"No." I said, "It was introduced by a friend of the boss."

He hummed, and then asked, "Tan Zi, what's your relationship with the boss?"

I said, "It's okay, I'm just a worker."

"I see that the boss thinks highly of you. He will call you to order a menu. You are better than our chef."

"Brother Zhang, I'm not that good. I just worked here and know what people like here."

He didn't speak, and looked a little unhappy.

The opening menu is determined by the chefs, and the head chef has absolute power.He felt that I didn't take his head chef seriously when I participated in a water case, and he felt somewhat uncomfortable.

It gives me the feeling that he is a little narrow-minded, and you should be more careful when dealing with such a person, because you don't know that if you say that sentence wrong, you may offend others.But considering that he came through me, it’s not like that.

The opening of the hotel is the busiest. Chefs don't like to open the hotel. Not only the body is tired, but the heart is also tired.

Under normal circumstances, chefs who open restaurants don't work for long.

No matter how good the training before the opening of the restaurant is, and how comprehensive the preparations are, there will still be one thing or another after the opening of the restaurant. Either the wrong food is served, the wrong food is cooked, or the food is thrown away.

The order menus are all handwritten by the waiter, in triplicate, one at the bar, one in the kitchen, and one for serving dishes, all of which are the entire menu.It's not as convenient as it is now. One menu is one order, and each dish follows the order. As long as the order is not lost, the dishes can't be lost, and it's good.

At that time, there was only one whole list, and when the food was served, it was conveyed by mouth, and sometimes I would make a mistake, and the dishes from the private room were brought to the hall, and the dishes from the hall were served to the private room.

In addition to making mistakes when serving dishes, there will also be dishes falling off when you are busy.There are ten dishes on a list, and nine dishes are prepared. I thought it would be all right, until the waiter came to urge the dishes to remind me that one dish was missing.If the guest is easy to talk, it will be fine if you make it up, if the guest is not good to talk, the food will be returned directly.It is the responsibility of the kitchen to return it.

In addition, the boss always treats guests when opening, and all the guests who come are friends, and as friends, they like to give some opinions.Some of them were very pertinent, while others offered their opinions just for the sake of their opinions, as if they were not friends without some opinions.At this time, it depends on whether the boss's position is firm or not.

A wise boss analyzes and integrates the opinions put forward by friends, which are real problems, which are questionable, and which are not considered.The real problems will be solved immediately, and the research and analysis worthy of discussion will be discarded without consideration.

If the boss is a person who has no idea, then it’s over. Believe everything you say, think it’s right, and accept it. After listening to this side, go to the chef. What dish is salty, tasteless, too spicy, too bland, It shouldn't be served in a square plate, it should be served in a round plate, and this dish should be made with lamb, not pork-wait, wait, anyway, as long as it is a friend's opinion, it is right, then it has to be Improvement. In the end, the entire chef didn't know how to cook, so he had to resign.

Often the first group of chefs who open a hotel are the best chefs, because they are all carefully selected.

The most taboo thing about hotels is to change chefs frequently.Changing the chef requires re-adjusting the recipes. Some of the returning customers have just eaten the previous set of recipes. When they come back, the recipes are changed, and the dishes they want are no longer available, and these customers will be lost.

The cost of changing chefs is very high, not just changing a few dishes, many restaurants end up changing themselves to death because of frequent chef changes.

The kitchen is preparing to open, as is the front desk.

Sun Mei is very troubled, now it's on the [-]th, and it will open on the [-]th, and there is no front desk manager yet, so she asked me to help contact one.The person who asked me to find the kitchen was okay. I didn't even know a few waiters, let alone the manager. Where could I find them.

I told Zhang Tao, and he said it was hard to find. The managers he knew were all working in the city, and they didn't want to come to Santaizi, and they couldn't pay that much even with the salary.I asked a manager how much it is now, and he said at least [-], which is not very good, and the better ones are [-].After listening to it, I couldn't help sticking out my tongue, thinking that I just got [-], and others will make [-], and I can earn [-] anytime.

He said: "My salary here is not high. Brother Feng gave me [-]. He said that after the opening of the business, the business will increase a bit. I think it's enough. How can this bigger store be better?" Then he went on. Said: "I wanted to ask for more when we were talking, and I will bring you two hundred. After all, you found me."

I said, "I don't need it, as long as you feel satisfied."

"Nowadays everyone pays attention to hard work, otherwise there will be good jobs and no one will introduce them." He said.

"We're buddies, there's no need for this."

In the evening, there were four tables of guests, all of which were arranged dishes, prepared in advance, and there was no need to cut and match the dishes when leaving, so I stood behind and watched Zhang Tao cook.

Zhang Tao's dishes are very good, and it is a kind of enjoyment to watch him cook.It looks very slow and unhurried, but it is actually very fast. One person can watch three stoves, and there is no delay in frying and stewing.Master Guo was far behind him. At the beginning, Master Guo was still a little bit dissatisfied, but after two days of frying, he began to accept it, and respected Zhang Tao.

Craftsmanship can't be fake, if it works, it works, and if it doesn't work, it doesn't work.

After the four tables of dishes are done, there is nothing to do. After tidying up the kitchen, I start to get off work.Zhang Tao, Master Guo, and the cold dish master did not live in the dormitory, and went home without eating. Li Jianhan asked me if I had eaten. I knew what he meant, and wanted to go out for a drink.

The two of us came out of the kitchen and came to the hall. There were three waiters cleaning the table in the hall. Brother Feng was installing light bulbs. Sun Mei was talking with a woman at the bar, and she called me over when she saw me.

"Tan Zi, this is a new manager named Yang Li, who used to work in Airline." She introduced the woman standing beside her to me.

Say hello to Yang Li, and she smiles.

He looks about 30 years old, 1.6 meters tall, in good shape and good-looking, especially those watery eyes.

I said to Sun Mei: "This time the front desk is full."

"It's all set." She breathed a sigh of relief, and said, "It's good that Manager Yang comes this time, I don't care about anything, I'll leave it to her."

"Be good to be your boss wife." I said.

She nodded with a smile, and then said with some emotion: "I knew that working in a hotel is so troublesome and I didn't do anything. I blamed the factory manager Wang. I did it all the time. This is too tiring."

"Just wait until the business is finished and get on the right track. All restaurants are like this, just people who are busy during the preparation period." Yang Li said.

I said, "Yes, I'm tired at this time, and I won't be tired after the opening of the business. I just need to straighten everything out."

"After the opening, I don't care about anything. There is Manager Yang in front and you in the back. I will play every day." Sun Mei said to me.

"It seems that you are the head chef, Master Tan." Yang Li said.

I hurriedly said: "I'm not, the water case, the side dish, the chef's surname is Zhang, and his name is Zhang Tao. I will bring you to meet tomorrow."

She looked at me suspiciously, maybe wondering what Sun Mei said just now.

"Tan Zi is my family's fortune-telling general, and also a veteran of the three dynasties. He was here when we were doing renovations. He is our family's big housekeeper. If you have anything to do, you can just ask him. He knows everything about our family, even better than my boss. "

Brother Feng came over to Yang Li after installing the light bulb, and put his hand on my shoulder by the way.

"Go back to sleep or what are you going to do? You can't sleep this morning, so don't go. I'm hungry."

I had no choice but to go back to the kitchen with Li Jianhan and cook four dishes. Brother Feng, me, Yang Li, and Li Jianhan sat drinking together, and Sun Mei went to the private room to accompany the leader.

While drinking, I found that Yang Li is very talkative, and will come up with things, she is very charming.I don't like such a woman very much, maybe Li Jianhan likes it - he is a little confused.

(End of this chapter)