The story of a cook

Chapter 374 Comparing Cooking Skills with the Japanese

The hotel was very busy a few days before the Spring Festival, and there were unit dinners and annual meetings every day. When it was busy, the banquet hall on the seventh floor had to be used.Fortunately, there are sufficient raw materials, and only a few employees go home for the New Year. It is no different from normal business, and there is no delay.

Master did not continue to work after his arm was injured, and has been recuperating at home.I called and told me to go to Hainan during the Chinese New Year, not at home, and to come back to work after the Chinese New Year.

Before the Spring Festival, I called my family and told Fifth Sister and the others that I would not go back after the Chinese New Year, and that I would go back after the Chinese New Year after Lin Yan gave birth.It's okay for Fifth Sister not to come back. My mother is in good health, so don't worry about it. Tell me to take good care of Lin Yan. As long as Lin Yan is like everything else.

Lin Yan also came back from her mother's house, and her belly grew bigger again.Seeing her big belly gives me a sense of accomplishment and I'm flattered.I am thirty, and I will be 31 after the new year, and I will become a father. If I am 31 at home, my children will have to go to elementary school.

The Chinese New Year is almost here, and the neighbor Li Ge's family of three is going to the old man's house to celebrate the New Year. Her family's Xiao Lele saw Lin Yan come back and said why she should stay at home for a day before going to her grandfather's house.There is no way that brother Li and sister-in-law Li can only stay at home with their children and Lin Yan for one more day. When Xiao Lele left, she said that she would come back after the third year of junior high school to see the little brother in Lin Yan's stomach.

The eldest brother and sister-in-law who sell dried fruit across the door have gone back to her hometown to celebrate the New Year.

After the two of them left, our family was left in the whole corridor. Lin Yan told me not to go out to drink after get off work at night and come back early, otherwise she would be afraid.Our compound is usually very lively. When the Chinese New Year comes, all the rented houses here have gone home to celebrate the New Year. There are not many old residents left. They are all old men and women, and they are all taken home by their children to celebrate the New Year.There are not many houses in the entire compound that celebrate the New Year at home, and it is dark at night, without the bustle of the past when there are many people, it is indeed quite creepy.

Lin Yan asked me what kind of stuffed dumplings I would eat on Thirty Nights, and I could say anything, as long as it was dumplings.She said it was stuffed with pork and green onions, and I said yes.

"What time does your restaurant have dinner at [-]?" She asked me.

I said: "No matter what, the guests have to leave. Let's go at eight o'clock. I can come back at ten o'clock."

"So late?" she said, a little unhappy.

"I'm the head chef. I can't let the staff leave first, so I have to drink with the staff." I said.

"Then don't drink too much, and don't eat too much, you have to eat when you get home." She told me.

"Don't worry, I won't." I promised.

At [-] am, I received a notice from the chairman that the head chef of the Japanese store will fly to the provincial capital in the afternoon, planning to spend a Chinese New Year here, and will visit the kitchen and cook a performance dish.

The arrival of this Japanese chef is very unwelcome. I was educated in patriotism when I was a child, and I don’t have a good impression of the Japanese. Whenever I think of the Japanese, I think of the hatred of the country and the family, and I hate it.But now is a peaceful age, and we can't shoot them all with a gun, let alone do business with others. China is a country of etiquette, and etiquette is indispensable. They come from afar as guests, so we have to receive them well.

I went to the front desk and looked at the order book. Today, there are 76 tables in total, 32 tables at noon and 44 tables in the evening.

The first day of junior high school was not busy, with 61 tables, and it became busy from the second day of junior high school, with no less than 150 tables every day, until the eighth day of junior high school.

A busy Spring Festival.

At 10:[-] p.m., all the dishes in the kitchen are served, and the cleaning begins. After cleaning, the employees start to prepare meals for the evening dinner.At this time, the Japanese chef hadn't come yet, Mr. Huo said that the chairman was visiting the night scene in the middle street with him, and he would arrive at the store in [-] minutes.Tell the kitchen brothers to clean up the hygiene, tidy up their appearance, and wait for Japanese friends to come to visit.

At [-]:[-], the chairman accompanied the chef from Japan to visit the kitchen.

All the brothers and sisters in the kitchen lined up to welcome. The whole Japanese chef was very embarrassed. At the same time, he was shocked by the large scale and cleanliness of the kitchen. It is estimated that in his impression, the kitchens of Chinese restaurants must be buried, not as Japanese. clean.

The sanitation of our Chinese restaurant kitchens is no worse than that of Japan, and I am confident in this.

After looking at the kitchen, the Japanese chef became interested and wanted to make a sea cucumber dish. I told the translator that I could cook it in the kitchen on the third floor, and the kitchen on the second floor had to cook meals for the staff.

When we came to the kitchen on the third floor, the chefs and cutting boards in the kitchen on the third floor prepared the sea cucumbers. Wang Chunlai brought new work clothes and aprons to the head chef.Not to mention, he is very skilled in using the stir-fry pot and controlling the firepower of the stove, and has a solid foundation.The sea cucumbers are also good, with a certain technical content, and a good understanding of sea cucumbers.

When he finished, everyone applauded.

I thought it would be over when he was done. Who would have thought that the belligerent character of the Japanese came, so I talked to the translator a few words, and the translator told me that he wanted to see how well Chinese chefs cook, and asked me to cook a dish too. He wants to learn.

As soon as I heard it, I became excited. If you want us to make airplanes and cannons, we may not be able to do it. Cooking is our old profession. Who is afraid of others? Let him show the level of our Chinese cooks by making a dish.

Since he made sea cucumber, I will make fish.

I asked the chopping board if there were any raw materials for the minced shrimp and sea bass.

Go to the stove and start making shrimp paste sea bass.

Boil water in a pot, add a little refined salt, dip the cut fish head and fish tail in the minced shrimp, soak in water and warm slowly, then mix the fish strips in the minced shrimp, and quickly put them into the pot with the technique of celestial maiden scattering flowers.This is the first time I have used it since I learned how to scatter flowers. It is estimated that the Japanese chef didn’t understand what’s going on in the back. The sea bass strips in the pot began to slowly float up from the bottom of the pot one by one, and the sea bass strips wrapped in minced shrimp were chubby like white jade strips, crystal clear.

I heard the exclamation of the Japanese chef behind me, but there was no applause. The brothers standing behind me in the kitchen were used to watching me cook sea bass with shrimp paste, and thought it was nothing.

These boys didn't have applause when there should be applause, and let the Japanese chef know what momentum is.

Hey--

The fish head and fish tail are cooked and placed on both ends of the fish pond plate. The fish strips control the water, stir-fry the shredded green bamboo shoots quickly, cook in sesame oil, and then place them on the bottom of the fish pond plate, and then put the fish strips that have controlled the water on the On top of shredded green bamboo shoots, sprinkle with multicolored shredded bamboo shoots and pour hot oil to stimulate fragrance.Instead of pouring seafood sauce into the fish pond plate as usual, I put the seafood sauce into the saucer, and at the same time adjusted a sashimi green wasabi sauce, and used the two juices at the same time.

The Japanese chef took a piece of shrimp paste and sea bass dipped in seafood sauce with his chopsticks and gave me a thumbs up. Then he picked up another piece and dipped it in wasabi sauce, and said in Chinese, "Good! Good!"

I talked to the translator a few more times, and the translator told me that the fish I cooked was very good, which he had never seen before, master.

I smiled and said to the translator: "Tell him that Chinese cuisine has a long history and Chinese cooking skills are extensive and profound. He is welcome to come to China, and he will often come and communicate with each other in the future."

The translator translated my words, and the Japanese chef was very happy. He extended his hand to shake my hand, and shook hands with him as a sign of friendship.

The Japanese chef did not eat at the restaurant, and left with the chairman, saying that he went directly to BJ for tourism.

It's good to go, if I don't go, I have to eat with him, I feel awkward.

The kitchen on the second floor has prepared the staff's New Year's Eve dinner, and the pastry has cooked dumplings.

Today, we had a dinner in the hall on the second floor, and there were 60 tables. All the employees together accounted for 140 to [-] people. Some went home for the New Year, and the rest were more than [-] people.

Mr. Huo spoke first, first he wished everyone New Year greetings, and then asked everyone to eat, drink and have fun.

The New Year’s Eve dinner for the employees of the Spring Festival Hotel was not lively. Many employees who hadn’t been home for the New Year were very homesick, and some employees secretly shed tears. This scene made people feel uncomfortable.Before the meeting, every employee calls their parents at home, chats with them about the daily routine, and tells them to go home when they are done with work.

Catering people are like this. Every year during the Spring Festival, they fight in their posts, serving tables and tables of delicacies to the diners, but they can’t go home, kowtow to their parents and say Happy New Year.

Bitter helplessness.

I toasted the table with the wine glass.It starts with the table of the kitchen boys, then the cold dish brothers, then the pastry room, and finally the stove chefs.After all the respect, I went to the logistics table, eating dumplings and drinking with the sister who washed the dishes, the aunt who picked vegetables, the water table, and the aunt in the cafeteria.Their work may seem inconspicuous, but it is indispensable. They are the hardest in the kitchen and the lowest paid. It is good to accompany them.

The sister who washed the dishes asked me: "Chef Tan, I heard that your daughter-in-law is about to give birth?"

I said, "Yes, around May Day."

She asked, "Where is your wife now?"

"At home." I said with a smile.

"Are you at home alone?" The eldest sister asked concerned.

I said, "Yes, she is at home by herself."

The eldest sister said: "Then you stop drinking, go home quickly, and go back early on the New Year's Eve."

I said: "It's okay, stay with you for a while, don't worry."

The eldest sister said: "Go back, you don't need to accompany us, we are close to home, and we have to go back soon."

Aunt Picking Vegetables said: "Go back, Chef Tan, your wife is still pregnant, it's inconvenient for me to be at home, so go back early and don't have to accompany us."

I thought about it for a while, and at this time some employees in the city started to withdraw. I stood up and said that I would go back, and then came to Mr. Huo Zhang Li's table and told them to go back first.

Everyone knows my situation and wants me to go back early.

Had a drink with them and came back.

It was exactly ten o'clock when I got home. Lin Yan had already cooked the dishes and wrapped the dumplings, and was waiting for me to come back to cook.

Seeing me enter the room, she was full of joy, and said to me: "You are back, I was scared to death."

Seeing the frightened expression on her face, she immediately asked nervously, "What's the matter?"

She said: "It's nothing wrong, it's just that I was watching TV in the house at seven o'clock, and I heard a loud noise from the kitchen, which startled me. I thought it was a thief, and I was too scared to make a sound. "

I asked, "Is anyone coming in?"

She said: "It's not a big deal, someone came in."

As soon as she said someone came in, I immediately became nervous and asked, "Who is it? A thief?"

"No, do you know that the eldest brother from the opposite door went to his sister-in-law's house for the New Year?" she asked.

I said, "Yes, my elder brother went to my sister-in-law's house to celebrate the New Year."

"Brother has a son, sixteen or seven." She said: "After the divorce, the son belongs to his wife. The daughter-in-law of the elder brother took drugs, and the child is left alone. He stays at his aunt's house and does not go to school. I came to my eldest brother's house last month."

The eldest brother has a son, I know, the young man is quite handsome.

I asked, "Is the eldest brother's child here?"

She said: "It's not a big deal, he came to see his dad, saw that the lights were not turned on at the eldest brother's house, and no one answered his phone, so he jumped in from the back window of the kitchen, it seemed that he wanted to live at the eldest brother's house. Seeing that the door of my eldest brother’s house was locked, I started knocking on our door. I didn’t dare to open it. I asked him who he was in the room. He said he was his son, so I didn’t dare to open the door. I told him that his father was going to his aunt’s house for the New Year. No, not at home. The kid didn’t leave either, and said outside that he hadn’t eaten for two days.”

I said, "Isn't he at his aunt's house?"

"He said that his aunt went to the old woman's house to celebrate the New Year, but he didn't go with him. Thinking that his father was here to celebrate the New Year, and his father was not at home, he borrowed 100 yuan from me, and he went to his aunt's house." She said.

"Did you lend it to him?" I asked.

"Well. I thought about it, and opened the door. As soon as I opened the door, the child knelt down for me, kowtowed to me, and said Happy New Year, auntie. I was so embarrassed that I was shocked. I saw that the child was wearing a small leather jacket with a sweater inside, his face seemed to have not been washed for several days, and his feet were wearing a pair of sneakers, shivering from the cold, so I gave him 200 yuan money."

"Okay, just give it, it's very pitiful."

"It's true that you said big brother. When you go to your sister-in-law's house for the New Year, make arrangements for the children first, and just take care of yourself and don't care about the children." Lin Yan said angrily.

I said: "This is the benefit of divorce. No one cares about the children, it's like begging for food." Then I asked: "He left after taking the money?"

"Well, I left after taking the money. I said I would cook him something to eat, but he couldn't say, go to his aunt's house to eat, and then left." Lin Yan said: "The big boy kneels down for me, They all scared me."

"Okay, you are doing a good deed, so that you can accumulate virtue until you grow old and become a Buddha." I said, "Don't be afraid, you stay here, and I will cook dumplings. After cooking the dumplings, we can celebrate the New Year."

"The dishes are cold, are they still hot?" she asked.

I said, "No, it's not too cold, the temperature is just right."

I went to the kitchen to cook dumplings, then set off firecrackers in the compound, and started eating dumplings with Lin Yan to celebrate the new year when I came back.

A busy, warm and peaceful New Year's Eve.

(End of this chapter)