The Northern Stories of Chef Lao Tan

Chapter 100
"Bashang Yutou Restaurant" is the first restaurant visited this time.

After the members of the inspection team arrived, they entered the storefront and kitchen in an orderly manner under the guidance of the organizers.

Lao Tan felt that the decoration of the store was good, so he took a few photos, and then went into the kitchen.

No matter how spacious the kitchen is, it is crowded at this time, not to mention crowded.The staff leading the tour kept shouting, "Those who come in later go to the right, and those who have finished the tour go out from the left, don't squeeze, take your time, there is plenty of time, let's have lunch here at noon."

Sichuan cuisine and Northeast cuisine are different in taste. Sichuan cuisine is spicy and fragrant, while Northeast cuisine is salty and fragrant.Evenly divided, each has its own characteristics.

The biggest feature of the kitchen is that all the male employees don’t wear chef’s hats, and they have bald heads like Lao Tan. This makes the visitors feel fresh and curious, and ask why they all shave their heads.

"It's cool, it won't lose your hair. The masters are all bald, so we will be bald." A chopping boy said with a smile.

"Is it a rule?" Someone asked.

"No, you don't have to shave it. If you don't shave it, you wear a hat. The hat will get wet when you sweat, and the hoop will be uncomfortable." The chopping board said.

After hearing the chopping board's explanation, Huang Yuhang said to Lao Tan: "When I go back, I will also ask my kitchen staff to shave their heads, because there will always be hair in the dishes that are saved."

"Don't shave. It's warm here, and the head doesn't freeze. It's so cold in the Northeast, and the ears can be frozen off with a bare head. Besides, now that children protect their hair, how many people are willing to shave?" Old Tan looked at Huang Yuhang asked with black hair, "Would you like to shave it?"

Huang Yuhang stroked his hair and said, "Yes - but everyone shaved it, I think it looks good."

"Look at others, they are the rules, how many years of tradition, if you don't believe me, you can ask the master on the stove." Old Tan said.

Huang Yuhang was curious, so he went up and asked a master in his thirties. The master said that they shaved their heads five years ago, starting from the head chef.80.00% of the kitchen is the chef's disciples and grandchildren, all obedient and shaved.

Huang Yuhang asked if there was anyone who didn't want to shave?The master said yes, but everyone was bald, and no one laughed at anyone, so they followed suit.He also said that now the whole of Chengdu knows his family, and their bald head is their symbol.

Who would have thought that bald heads could become the culture of a restaurant.

What is culture?

When a behavior exists for a long time and forms a habit, people will naturally abide by it, and it becomes a culture over time.

For example, some restaurants require employees to read the "Disciple Rules" at the morning meeting.In the beginning, it was just a regulation. Some employees were willing to read it, while others were not.But stick to it. After two years, the old employees will read it automatically. Although the new employees don't know why they read it, they will read it after watching the old employees read it, so a habit will be formed, and then it will become a culture.

Take the kitchens of people in the Kanto region as an example. There is a habit now—be it vegetable leaves or garlic cloves that fall on the ground, as long as they are on the ground, anyone who sees them will pick them up immediately without delay.

why?The rules are as follows: within the sight range, if you find that the vegetables that fell on the ground are not picked up in time, everyone will deduct two points and observe three minutes of silence.

It doesn't matter if you deduct two points, but no one wants to mourn for a vegetable leaf or a garlic clove for three minutes.So as long as there are vegetable leaves on the ground, I will pick them up immediately, and if I don’t have time, I will call someone nearby to pick them up.

Sometimes new employees don't know what's going on, and think it's just a vegetable leaf, so there's no need to make a fuss.The old employees would pick it up immediately, and the new employees would ask why, but the old employees would not explain it, and would pick it up when they told you to pick it up, and ask those why.

So I developed a habit, as long as the vegetable leaves fall on the ground, whoever sees them will take the initiative to pick them up, regardless of the reason.Even if you pick it up and see that it is useless, you can throw it into the trash can, but it cannot be placed on the ground.

There are many people who hold the same idea as Huang Yuhang, and they can't help but pick up their mobile phones to take pictures of these bald employees, so that they can take them back to show to their own employees, and ask their own employees to shave their heads too.

These are ideas with little hope of realization.Old Tan has been bald all these years, and there are quite a few younger brothers who follow him, none of them shaved their heads.

Lao Tan led Huang Yuhang around slowly and came to the pot stall.

Fifteen casserole fish heads stewed on a row of clay pots.

The fish head is the restaurant's signature dish. It is famous for its delicious fish meat and rich milky soup. It is completely free from spicy taste and is good at stewing.This is also the shrewdness of the store - all the dishes are spicy and spicy, and suddenly there is a salty and fresh one, the customers must like it, not to mention the extreme.

The practice of casserole fish head is the same as the iron pot fish developed by Lao Tan in the dumpling restaurant, and they are both doing the opposite.Lao Tan added elements of Sichuan and Hunan cuisine on the basis of the Northeast's salty and fresh taste. His family abandoned the spicy taste of Sichuan cuisine and adopted the cooking techniques of northern cuisine, which shows that the people who created this dish have unusual thinking.

Lao Tan chatted with the master in charge of the casserole for a while, and he was still a fellow.A native of Heilongjiang in Northeast China, the owner of Zhang's Fish Farm in Harbin used to make casserole fish heads, and was dug out by the boss here.

As the saying goes, when a fellow countryman sees a fellow countryman, his eyes are full of tears.Although not crying, but also close.The casserole master said that there are three ways to make fish head in his family, and what I see now is the one that is most recognized by customers-cooked fish head with bone tofu.There are also "La Mei Spring Fish Head" and "Raw Baked Garlic Fish Head in Red Soup", both of which are selling well.

The three fish head products together sell more than one hundred copies every day, nearly 10,000 yuan.

Most of the people who visited the kitchen went out, and Lao Tan and Huang Yuhang walked around to the back door of the kitchen.

Open the door and come out, it is an empty courtyard with a shed made of colored steel tiles, and there are four sets of large fish tanks in the shed.There are silver carp, carp, grass carp and crucian carp in it.There are more than one hundred silver carp in the majority.

There is a row of small benches in the open space in front of the fish tank, probably for the kitchen staff to rest.There are two old men who keep the fish, one is sweeping the stagnant water on the floor, and the other is cleaning the fish heads.

The two old men noticed that someone was coming in. Seeing that Lao Tan and Huang Yuhang had badges hanging around their necks, they knew that they were here for a visit. They both smiled and nodded politely.

Old Tan smiled and nodded at the two old men, stepped forward and asked, "Are you two the only ones who kill fish in our family?"

"Three, one has a rest today." The old sweeper said with a smile.

"How much is a month?" Old Tan asked.

"One thousand and eight."

"Oh, not too much, is it enough to spend?"

"Enough, my boss provides us with insurance, including medical insurance and endowment insurance." The old man smiled, and it could be seen that the smile came from the heart.

"How about the insurance?" Huang Yuhang asked in disbelief.

"Well, as long as you work here for one full year, you will be covered by insurance." The old man said.

"How long have you been working here?" Huang Yuhang asked.

The old man stretched out his hand, then clenched his fist and said proudly: "Ten years, ten years, I worked here when I was a small restaurant."

Old Tan was not surprised that the hotel provided insurance for the old man, but what he was impressed by was the working attitude of the two old men and the sincere smiles on their faces.From the smile, it can be seen that the old man is very happy and comfortable working here.

It is not easy for a restaurant to achieve this step. Nowadays, how many restaurant employees scold the boss with the salary of the boss, which is almost a normal phenomenon.

To be honest, in a restaurant, few employees say that the boss is good.

This requires modern catering people to think carefully.

Lao Tan and Huang Yuhang came back from the back and walked to the front hall.

"Master Tan, does your family provide insurance for employees?" Huang Yuhang asked.

"No, it's collective accident insurance." Lao Tan replied, and continued: "It is right and a trend to provide insurance for employees. It is a guarantee for employees so that they can work with peace of mind without any worries."

"I do have the idea of ​​providing insurance for the employees. When I talked to the employees, the employees said no. It is better to raise the salary directly if I have that money. It is affordable." Huang Yuhang said.

"The awareness has not increased—but it is absolutely right to buy insurance. In the next ten years, whoever has a stable workforce will win. Don't worry, it will no longer be a competition of products, but a competition of people. It is guaranteed that there will be stores. After the renovation is completed, the business cannot be opened because people cannot be recruited." Lao Tan said.

It was already past eight o'clock in the evening by the end of the meal test day.

Lao Tan was a little tired and wanted to take a bath and sleep.Huang Yuhang, Cao Tao, Hu Jing and Wang Chef were still in high spirits, and they went out for a walk and had some wine by the way.In order not to spoil everyone's interest, Lao Tan also came out with him.

I found a pickled fish shop near the hotel, and the five of them went in and drank some wine.

Cao Tao and Huang Yuhang shared a common language and were attracted to each other. They came out of the shop and went to the bar to play.

Chef Wang asked Lao Tan to find a massage parlor to relax, but Tan was not good at it, so he was going back to the hotel, so Chef Wang had to go alone.

Hu Jing and Lao Tan walked back, and when they reached the small flower bed in front of the hotel, Hu Jing said to sit for a while and chat.

Chengdu in late autumn still has the breath of summer, and the nights are warm and cool, which makes people feel comfortable.The street is brightly lit, and from a distance, it is a scene of feasting and feasting.The busy pedestrians at night make this bustling city look comfortable and warm.

Hu Jing's face was flushed red, and her eyes were a little dazed.

She wanted to talk to Lao Tan about her own affairs.Although the two worked together, they never really talked alone.

Lao Tan gave her the impression that he was a very dedicated person, he had almost nothing else to do in a day other than work, at most he was drinking with guests.There is nothing extravagant in him, and he is very upright, which is respected and admired.

Of course, she also regretted and was ashamed of the small report she made when Lao Tan first came to work in the Kanto family. She thought that Lao Tan would wear small shoes for herself when she came back this time, and would make things difficult for her, and she worried about it for several days.

Later, he found out that Lao Tan didn't care about it at all, so he was relieved, and laughed at his worries severely.Especially when she came out for inspection this time, Mr. Xu told her that Lao Tan proposed to take her out, which made her very grateful, and Lao Tan's image in her heart was a bit taller.

In fact, Lao Tan has always been the image of a big brother in her heart, generous, open-minded, reliable, and full of wisdom.Sometimes she thought that if she really had such a big brother, her husband would never dare to look for women outside, he was so afraid.

Through this thought of the relationship with Wang Gang, Wang Gang also hinted to her that if Lao Tan knew the relationship between the two of them, he would not spare her lightly. After all, Zhou Xiaomei was Lao Tan's niece, and Wang Gang was still a little afraid of Lao Tan.

It's not that Wang Gang is afraid of Lao Tan, everyone in the restaurant is a little afraid of Lao Tan.

In normal work, Hu Jing was polite when she met Lao Tan, and she dared not say anything unless Lao Tan asked her.

Today, I also came out to investigate the reason why I felt relaxed after changing the environment, and I was grateful to Lao Tan, so I had the courage to sit down and chat for a while.

(End of this chapter)