Far away in Moscow

Chapter 51 The Yellow Sea Hotel
"Why? Too little? Chefs earn a lot, but you don't have that skill." Xu Qiang looked at him cheerfully: "Don't think too simple, cutting board workers in restaurants is different from cooking and cutting vegetables at home. You have no experience at all, and you can only be regarded as apprentices when you first go, and you can get two hundred dollars, which is not low. What's more, the actual working hours are not long every day, and you don't miss classes, which is just right for you two. "

Li Baoqing lowered his head and murmured silently, Hu Yi hurriedly responded: "It's not too little, it's not too little, it's pretty good. If you have money, you can do it. We don't speak Russian well, so how can we be picky and picky? What do you think?" Baoqing?"

"That's right." Li Baoqing said with a coy smile, "It's not bad for us to get two hundred in the current situation."

"Speaking of which, two hundred dollars is indeed too little. It must be very hard for you to go to class during the day and work at night. But you might as well regard this as a temporary emergency job, and wait until you find a better job in the future." Xu Qiang said seriously: " What's more, working in that kind of restaurant is not dangerous, you don't suffer crimes, you don't worry about the police checking your identity, and you don't fear hooligan skinheads. It's not cold in winter and not hot in summer. I don’t want to introduce it to others.”

"Yes! It can save a lot of food money!" Li Baoqing suddenly realized: "Thank you Brother Qiang! Then when can we go to work?"

"Don't worry, all the Chinese cooks are on vacation now, and I don't think they will go back until after the Chinese New Year. I'll say hello to the head chef some other day." Xu Qiang took a sip of his white wine: "I'll leave my cell phone number to you guys. Let's call."

A few days later, the students who went home for the New Year began to return to school one after another.Zhou Dali returned with a lot of money and blood, and packed a lot of snacks and good cigarettes in the box. On the day he returned to the dormitory, he invited two roommates who were malnourished to go downstairs to the Arabic restaurant and have a good meal.

Immediately afterwards, Yu Feifei also brought from China the [-] dollars that Hu Yi wanted to wear, and Hu Yi directly took out [-] dollars to lend to Li Baoqing, and the two bid farewell to the hard life of counting rubles.
As the end of the month approached, Xu Qiang also had some news, and he took Hu Yi and Li Baoqing to meet the head chef of the Chinese restaurant at the Yellow Sea Restaurant.The head chef called Xu Qiang brothers, but he didn't give a high glance to the two students he brought. After Xu Qiang left, he took them into the kitchen and shouted at a fat chef: "Old Wei, old Wei! have eaten!"

The fat chef was leaning against the corner and gnawing cucumbers. He was startled by the head chef's yelling, and hurriedly rubbed his hands on the apron: "Hehe, it's nothing to do when you're idle."

The head chef glared at him angrily: "I know you're free, so I'll arrange something for you." He pointed behind him and said, "These two are new to the chopping board. You are in charge of arranging their work, first let them familiarize themselves with the cutting board." one time."

"Okay!" Old Wei agreed, and when the head chef left, he picked up the remaining half of the cucumber and continued to chew it without saying a word.Hu Yi and Li Baoqing stood aside respectfully for a while, and asked with a smile, "That... Teacher Wei, what do you think we are doing?"

"What are you doing?" Old Wei threw the cucumber handle away, picked up a tomato and took a bite: "Work! It's still early, you two can go over there to get a few carrots and shred them for practice." When practicing hands, it is required to be uniform in thickness and length, and each stick should be like a matchstick."

From that day on, Hu Yi and Li Baoqing started their first jobs in their lives.The place of work is far away from Youda University, and it takes an hour to get there by subway.The two went straight to the subway station after class every day, and hurried back to sleep before the dormitory building was locked after get off work. Although they were not used to it at first, they only felt a little tired in their wrists and arms, and they didn't feel particularly hard.

Huang Hai is a mid-to-high-end restaurant run by Russians. The restaurant is exquisite and luxurious, and the kitchen is bright and tidy.There are both Chinese food and Western food here, which can be self-service or a la carte. Chinese food is mainly served in the evening, mainly Shandong cuisine.The dishes are not particularly rich, and most of them are representative home-cooked dishes, but the price is often hundreds of rubles, which is several times more expensive than domestic restaurants, but it can only be regarded as an upper-middle level in Moscow.

The Chinese and Western kitchens are independent. Most of the Chinese kitchens are Chinese, and they are busy with their own work. Only Lao Wei comes here from time to time to arrange Hu Yi and Li Baoqing to do this or that, or to give a few pointers.

Lao Wei is a Chinese food cooker, in his 30s, with a strong Shandong accent, a big head and a thick neck, and two eyes that roll around like crazy. He looks slick.In fact, this person's temperament is relatively simple and honest, but he is a bit greedy and likes to take advantage of small things, and always likes to steal something in the kitchen.

In the first few days, Hu Yi and Li Baoqing basically could only do some chores, cutting vegetables on the chopping board mainly to practice their skills.Cutting slowly with one knife at a time is still barely enough, but the speed is a little faster, and the accuracy of the hand is lost. The size of the cuts is different, the thickness of the slices is uneven, and the shreds are thick and thin. As a work meal.Lao Wei is not in a hurry, sometimes rolls up his sleeves and comes over to demonstrate a few times in person, sometimes gnaws on a cucumber and sneers at the side:
"Choke? Xiao Hu, why are you crying? Oh, chopping onions. There's no way, men don't cry when they cry, it's just that they didn't catch up with cutting onions."

"Hey! Brother Li, are these shredded potatoes? You want to cut French fries for McDonald's, right? Don't think about it, it's useless, they are all cut by machines."

"Oh my god, did you cut your hands? Look, it's dripping with blood. Hurry up and run it under the faucet! Then stick a Band-Aid on it! Wooden things, how can you not cut your hands on a chopping board? Just get used to it."

It is still winter in Moscow right now, the Chinese food business in Huanghai is not very prosperous, and the Chinese food kitchen is relatively quiet. When the chefs are free, they gather in groups of threes and twos to smoke and chat.Hu Yi and Li Baoqing are the youngest and newcomers. Others treat them indifferently, only Lao Wei is willing to chat with them to amuse them, or tell some rules and anecdotes about the kitchen.

After a few days, the two got to know Lao Wei very quickly, and also discovered the difference between him and others: other cooks at the stove were only in charge of cooking, and did not care about anything else, but Lao Wei was busy all day long. , not only stir-fried on the stove, but also responsible for cold cooking; while communicating with other chefs, while instructing others to wash and chop vegetables, they are more worried than the head chef.

Hu Yi was very curious about this, and took advantage of the break time after the peak dinner period to ask: "Brother Wei, I think the Chinese in the back kitchen are the busiest for you, just like the chief executive. You should not be a master chef who specializes in cooking Bar?"

"What are you talking about! Of course it is!" Old Wei opened his eyes wide and was very shocked by his doubts, and then said bitterly: "Actually, I used to be in charge of Shuncai, but later the boss felt that Chinese food is relatively deserted during the off-season, and there is no It is necessary to arrange a special person to arrange the dishes. It happened that Sizao left at the end of last year, and the head chef asked me to take care of it first. But the job of shunting dishes cannot be left alone, so let me take care of it for the time being.”

"I just said that you are different from other master chefs." Hu Yi looked at Lao Wei proudly: "What does Shuncai do? Do you serve dishes to guests?"

"Nonsense! That's called Chuancai. It's a job in a restaurant. It's not the same thing as a back kitchen." Old Wei angrily stubbed out his cigarette butt, picked up a carrot and took a bite: "Shuncai is mainly responsible for serving food between the stove and the cutting board." Coordinating the progress of the work, instructing you to cut vegetables according to the order in the front hall, and helping the master prepare the ingredients, that is an experience job, and a considerable part of the work content is close to the management position!"

"Oh!" Hu Yi and Li Baoqing nodded together: "It really is the chief executive."

"Of course, in terms of job level... Cough, it's second only to the master!" Old Wei said solemnly, "Don't think that just anyone can be qualified for this job. Generally, kitchens require Shuncai to be able to go up and down. , You must be familiar with the entire workflow of the back kitchen, and you can do everything. Carving flowers, marinating meat, and arranging a plate, you have to do it at your fingertips. When there is a shortage of chopping boards, you can cut with a knife; I'm too busy at work, and I can fry it with a spoon! Do you know what it's called? It's called panacea oil!"

"So it is!" Hu Yi said in awe: "I thought you were not good at craftsmanship, but I didn't expect you to be...you are..."

"Everything is clear, everything is loose." Li Baoqing said.

"Little bastard, change the flowers and hurt me." Old Wei pretended to be angry, but he heard the head chef shout from a distance: "Old Wei, old Wei! We are almost busy ahead, let everyone get stuttering!"

Old Wei got up and walked towards the stove, turned his head and pointed at the two of them with a smile and scolded: "You dislike my craftsmanship, don't you? Don't eat my fried dishes later!"

"Eat! Eat!" Li Baoqing stomped out the cigarette butt, and followed him: "You are very good at cooking, can you teach me how to do it when you have time?"

Old Wei picked up the broom and spun the frying pan a few times quickly, and looked at Li Baoqing with a smile: "What do you want to teach you? Do you want to be a master chef?"

Li Baoqing grinned and said: "How can I have that ability, it's nothing more than learning to cook and eat by myself."

"Then don't learn from this place." Old Wei poured out the pot of water: "Most of the people who come to eat at this time of the year are old men and foreigners. Chinese food has to be changed according to their tastes. The fried dishes are even more delicious. I don’t like to eat it myself, so it’s no wonder you hate it.”

"Yes." Li Baoqing scratched his head and said, "No wonder, sometimes I feel a little...wrong when watching the dishes you cook."

"It's strange if it's right!" Old Wei slowly raised his hips: "Take tomato scrambled eggs as an example! We Chinese pay attention to sweet and sour dishes, red and yellow, delicious and beautiful. But the manager said Lao Maozi doesn’t like rotten tomatoes, so when cooking for them, the ratio must be adjusted. A plate of yellow eggs is dotted with two or three pieces of tomatoes. Tell me, what’s that called? Just use ketchup and scrambled eggs. !"

Li Baoqing wrinkled his nose: "That's right, old Maozi really doesn't understand our Chinese cuisine."

"This is still secondary." Lao Wei continued to pour out his bitterness: "Our Chinese food here is mainly Shandong cuisine, and we pay special attention to seasoning with soy sauce. But Lao Maozi is not used to it, so we can only use as little as possible in cooking. The dish is simply changed without soy sauce. Tell me, can it still taste that way?"

"No soy sauce? How can I do that?" Li Baoqing shook his head again and again: "No wonder you always feel that your cooking is too bland."

"That's right." Old Wei resentfully said, "So, there is no technical content in cooking in this ghost place, just remember one thing: don't put soy sauce if you can. Anyway, they can't eat well."

"Hey, remember." Li Baoqing smirked a few times.The head chef smacked his lips impatiently at the side: "Okay, old Wei, don't you feel tired of talking about these words all day? Hurry up and cook, everyone is waiting for dinner."

(End of this chapter)