Passing on the heritage, in this master "master spoon", apprentice "help cook" a moment .

The inheritance of the continuation of the Cantonese cuisine has become a bright business card of Foshan, but also for Foshan's counterpart in Liangshan Prefecture, Sichuan Province, opened up avenues of poverty alleviation and enrichment. Since last year, Guangdong has been actively promoting the "Cantonese Cuisine Master" project as an important tool to implement the "rural revitalization" strategy and win the battle against poverty. Now, a batch of Liangshan young people came to Foshan to "learn from the master", into the kitchen classroom of the famous Cantonese cuisine, and become a new force in the inheritance of Cantonese cuisine.

Cantonese Cuisine Masters in the Big Time

As one of the eight major Chinese cuisines, the formation, prosperity and development of Cantonese cuisine cannot be separated from the active promotion of Shunde chefs. Liang Jiexiang, a scholar of the Qing Dynasty, wrote in his book "Fengcheng Dreaming Record", "Shunde milk and honey of the township, the word diet, Guangzhou inferior to its exquisite."

By the end of the Qing Dynasty and early Republic of China, Shunde chefs with a skill to go to Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Macao, and even to Southeast Asia, Europe and the United States, and even Africa to open restaurants and hotels. "Overseas, Shunde restaurants are often Cantonese clubs," writes Guangfu Haiyun.

"From a historical perspective, Cantonese cuisine has a great influence in the country. In the 1930s and 1940s, restaurants and pubs specializing in Cantonese cuisine appeared in Shanghai. However, the period when the influence of Cantonese cuisine reached its peak was after the reform and opening up." Lai Yongtai, who was born in Ronggui, Shunde, in 1950, is a witness to this history.

Back in 1973, most colleges and universities across the country resumed enrollment. At that time, Lai Yongtai had been farming in his hometown of Shunde for five years. By chance, he learned that the Guangzhou Service Industry Secondary Vocational School (now Guangzhou Tourism and Business Vocational School) was about to open a culinary program to enroll 100 students.

"In those days, it was not easy for young people to go back to the city to study. I didn't even think about it and enrolled, and I was fortunate enough to be accepted." Recalling the past more than 40 years ago, Lai Yongtai's thoughts are still clear, "At that time, the 100 students who entered the school together were divided into two directions: pastry and cooking. I chose to cook, and from then on the road of the chef."

In fact, the Guangzhou Tourism and Commerce Vocational School was the first school in the province to offer a culinary program, and is therefore known as the "Whampoa Military School" for Cantonese chefs.

A big background is that, at the beginning of the reform and opening up, Guangzhou's hotel industry gradually emerged. The famous White Swan Hotel was born during this period. According to statistics, in 1980, Guangzhou has 28 hotels, the number of rooms is 8146. What followed was the scarcity of talents in hotel-related industries. Therefore, in the 1980s, Guangzhou Tourism and Business Vocational School actually undertook the task of delivering talents for local star-rated hotels.

However, the young Lai Yongtai did not think so much about it, "Our generation is very simple, can have a stable job is very satisfied". With the understanding of the chef industry continues to deepen, he gradually like this line of work, a dry is more than 40 years.

Cantonese cuisine is one of the cultural cards of Guangdong, and its development has changed along with the times. Cantonese cuisine chefs are the little people of the big time. The story of their struggle to pursue their dreams has the same distinctive brand of the era.

In 1989, Lai Yongtai graduated and has been teaching for more than 14 years. At this time, living in Shunde Leliu Kong Qingcong, just graduated from high school soon, came to Xianquan Hotel to become an apprentice.

"There is a saying that roughly means that if you can't read, you can be a chef. I think it's pretty good to be a chef who can eat a lot of things, including a lot of novelty foods." Kong Qingcong also revealed that he had wavered when he first joined the industry because being a chef was too hard. "The challenging and innovative nature of this career as a chef made me stick with it."

The years go by like a shuttle. Now, Kong Qingcong engaged in the chef industry has more than 30 years, and in the Shunde Institute of Vocational and Technical College (hereinafter referred to as "Shun Vocational College") teaching for eight years. " Now what I want to do is to pass on my culinary experience to the students. "

Feng Yuanri, a colleague of Kong Qingcong, is a "post-80s" who chose to enroll in the culinary program at Shun Vocational College in 2008 after failing the college entrance exam.

This year, Feng Yuanri became a teacher of the culinary profession in Shun Vocational College, teaching culinary arts and serving as a class teacher. "How to teach my 'teachers and siblings' and guide them to better start their careers is my new challenge."

The Changes and Constants of Technique Inheritance

Within the Cantonese culinary community there is an ancestral motto: There is tradition, but no authenticity.

"Every master has a specialty, every famous chef has a specialty. They summarize their own experience into valuable experience, and then pass it down from generation to generation, which is the reason why the apprentice progresses quickly." In Lai Yongtai's view, today, the traditional "master with apprentice" is still an important way of passing on skills in the Cantonese cuisine industry.

In the 1970s, when he was just starting school, he studied with a group of famous chefs from Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau, "What my predecessors taught me was not only cooking skills, but also cooking ethics. Their love for the industry touched me y."

Corporate practice is an integral part of learning to cook. After graduation, Lai Yongtai took the podium, and still insisted on walking into hotel kitchens with students to participate in production operations.

"At that time, I took students together in Guangzhou Cosmos Restaurant before and after four years. Early in the morning to the restaurant, with the students to do pasta; morning tea time with the students to push the dim sum cart hawking; playing the load, plate, frying pan and so on a number of positions I have done." In his mind, going into the kitchen and taking up positions is the best way to improve his skills, "My culinary skills were accumulated in those years."

From a student to a teacher, and then gradually stepped up to the post of principal, Lai Yongtai attributed his perseverance to the guidance and teaching of the master, as well as the progress made in the process of practice. "After eight tests, I went from being a person who didn't know anything about the kitchen at the beginning to a senior technician (chef extraordinaire). Along the way, I have felt my progress, with the sense of achievement that comes with it."

For Kong Qingcong, the road to learning to cook is even more difficult, "when there is a saying in the industry called 'teach the apprentice, starve the master', encountered a newcomer to the industry want to worship, most of the masters are not willing to accept, and generally do not allow the apprentice to get close to."

"Stealing the master" has become the main way to learn to cook Kong Qingcong. "Usually work, they secretly see how the master operates. When the master went to smoke or after work, we use kitchen scraps to practice knife work, frying pan and other basic skills."

The process of learning to cook is like an "upgraded monster" road: The first time you join the industry, you start as an odd-job worker; after two months to half a year, you'll be assigned to a "water table" position, which is responsible for fish and seafood.







The first thing you need to do is to get your hands dirty.

"From rough processing to fine processing, and then slowly learn to do simple dishes, until a year and a half or two years later, the master will be assured that you will be able to take charge." Kong Qingcong said that many people find it difficult to stick to this path and falter in the middle, "but I understand that once I falter, all the time in front of me is wasted." About four years into the industry, he began to fry from the responsible for small fry, working meals, "tail fire" gradually rose to the head.

In 1999, after more than ten years of work in the Xianquan Hotel, Kong Qingcong jumped to the Shunfeng Villa Hotel as head of the production department. During this period, the catering industry was developing rapidly in Guangdong. Many newly opened restaurants looking for chefs were willing to hire apprentices from Shunde Xianquan Hotel. "In the beginning, Cantonese restaurants were more common around Guangzhou and Shunde. Then there were many owners who took their chefs out of the province to start their own businesses, and that was all an afterthought."

By Feng Yuanri's generation, there were more options for learning to cook, such as attending vocational schools. "I had never cooked or even held a knife before I went to college. When I first started learning to cook, I was among the 46 students in the class who had a poor foundation."

By the curriculum, teaching progress of the limitations of the teacher to play more is to introduce students to the door, so that it has a comprehensive knowledge of the chef. As for the improvement of cooking skills, it is still "practice depends on the individual". "Usually less opportunity to practice in the classroom, I and a few students came up with a way to go to the faculty cafeteria to help." During college, Feng Yuanri and his classmates insisted on helping out in the faculty cafeteria, without being paid, and with working meals. "Through a lot of intense training, I felt a significant improvement in my skills."

Even so, in Feng Yuanri's view, "master with apprentice" is still an important mode of survival in the chef industry. "In this business, learning from a good master means a better platform and development opportunities."

The Inner Philosophy of Taste Reconciliation

Dice the onion, ginger, garlic and other accessories, and then add the peeled raw shrimp to the pot. The hot oil in the pot boiled for a while, and the aroma was overflowing. This is April 12, Lai Yongtai, Kong Qingcong for Liangshan State "precision poverty alleviation" chef training course students on the first lesson: spicy shrimp.

All along, Cantonese cuisine, especially Canton cuisine, is known for its lightness and freshness. "Nowadays, young people's dietary tastes are heavy, so we also try to use Cantonese cooking techniques to blend the Sichuan cuisine flavor." Kong Qingcong said.

The constant reconciliation and evolution of flavors reveals the inherent philosophy of innovation and tolerance in Cantonese cuisine. In the Qing Dynasty, Qu Dajun said, "All the foodstuffs in the world are available in the eastern part of Guangdong; all the foodstuffs in the eastern part of Guangdong may not be available in all parts of the world." The richness of Lingnan has provided sufficient material guarantee for the diversified ingredients of Cantonese cuisine. For this point, the Southern Song Dynasty, Zhou Chai Fei, "Ling Wai Dai Ai" also has a pithy record: "Deep and wide and Xidong people, no matter birds and animals, snakes and insects, no not eat it. There are good and ugly flavors among them." Until today, Cantonese cuisine continues to absorb and introduce foods from around the world as ingredients.

In addition, Guangdong's unique geographic location, convenient land and water transportation, and well-developed commercial trade make it easier to absorb and integrate the characteristics of foreign food culture, and then further drive the influence of other regions of the food industry.

In Lai Yongtai impression, after the reform and opening up, many Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao chefs began to gradually "north", to a certain extent, the taste of the northern cuisine, cooking habits and even the tone of the impact.

"Now common stainless steel cooking equipment, initially from Hong Kong into Guangdong, and then gradually spread throughout the country." He explained that the kitchen equipment made of stainless steel, with the advantages of easy cleaning and high functionality, once introduced will soon be widely used. In addition to advanced equipment, the concept of kitchen management in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao, represented by the post setting, has also brought a profound impact on the catering industry around the world.

"The catering industry is the window of the national economy. At that time, Guangdong's economic development soared, and naturally developed faster and more influential in terms of food and beverage." Lai Yongtai said.

In recent years, "creative dishes", "conceptual dishes", "mood dishes" and other types of emerging dishes are quite popular, and their innovations in taste, presentation and other aspects, by the Young people's pursuit. This has invariably inspired Cantonese chefs to innovate.

Recently, Feng Yuan Ri learned a number of innovative Cantonese dishes, one of which is "colorful pouring sauce eel willow". The dish uses eel, a traditional Cantonese ingredient, and incorporates Western cooking techniques.

After cutting the ingredients, Feng Yuanri took out an electronic kitchen scale and carefully measured the grams of salt, sugar, chicken powder and other seasonings, and then made the sauce. "Before not yet skilled in this dish, measured with kitchen scales can try to avoid taste deviations."

The processed eel fillets are poured into the teriyaki sauce and tossed to coat, then transferred to a plate with shredded onions, green peppers, red peppers, green onions, ginger, rakkyo, and coriander stalks, and sprinkled with sesame seeds. Eel Fillet with Colorful Sauce is ready to serve, just mix the ingredients well. Fresh sweet and rich layers of taste, colorful appearance with, in order to meet their taste preferences at the same time, but also cater to the young people "let the phone eat first" this dining habits. "In the current environment of emerging dishes, Cantonese cuisine needs more packaging and creativity." Feng Yuanri said.

The return of craftsmanship after the hustle and bustle

"I love my profession, and I want to train more excellent chefs." Since his retirement from the post of principal of Guangzhou Tourism Business Vocational School in 2011, Lai Yongtai has been serving as a consultant for Shun Vocational College as a culinary professional, assisting the school in teaching guidance, teaching and research development.

In the past 40 years of teaching career, Lai Yongtai has lost count of how many students he has taught. "In the 1970s and 1980s, there was also a group of Beijing students who came to our school specifically to learn Cantonese cooking for two whole years." Later, the craftsmanship of these students could be tasted at many important national banquets.

In addition to teaching, Lai Yongtai is also often involved in dish development and technical research in catering enterprises. In his opinion, there are still a lot of articles to be done in the current Cantonese cuisine industry in terms of food culture excavation.

"After this year, I'm going to really 'put down the kitchen knife'." Near the end of the interview, 69-year-old Lai Yongtai said with a smile, he is going to start enjoying his retirement, his career is considered to have drawn to a close.

From "stealing" into the profession to teach, from a certain point of view, Kong Qingcong also realized a career cycle. "In the past, as a chef, my sense of achievement came from the guests' recognition. Now as a teacher, my sense of fulfillment comes from every improvement of my students." He also said half-jokingly, "In the past, we have to learn to cook by stealing from the teacher, but now the students have a teacher to teach them hand in hand, it has been very happy."

Unlike his two predecessors, Fung Yuen-il experienced a brief absence and has just returned to the Cantonese cuisine industry. "After graduation in 2011, I entered the catering industry to work. Then, due to various objective factors and my own inner confusion, I entered the financial industry for a while." In August 2014, he returned to Sooner Vocational College to participate in a culinary training program and is now a culinary instructor and classroom teacher. "I used to be very keen on making life plans, but now I prefer to focus on the present and practicing good cooking."

"After 50" Lai Yongtai, "after 60" Kong Qingcong and "after 80" Feng Yuanri's story of struggle is the growth of three generations of Foshan's Cantonese cuisine chefs. The story is the epitome of the growth of three generations of Foshan's Cantonese cuisine chefs.

From the confusion to the determination of Cantonese chefs, from the heyday of the entire cuisine to the integration of innovation, behind the concept of a return to the value of the concept, back to the food and cooking itself.