Master Zhao was born in the late 196s. His parents were both working, and he left school at the age of 15. Not because of poor family conditions, but because he was too naughty to study hard. In order to punish him, his father sent him to Guangzhou restaurant as a waiter, hoping to make him suffer, so he backed out and came back to beg for school.
Guangzhou Restaurant is a well-known high-end restaurant in Guangdong Province (now it is a listed company), and it was the first in China to hold a Manchu-Chinese banquet (then called a Manchu-Chinese banquet).
I remember that when the Manchu-Han banquet was first opened, the evaluation diners included twenty or thirty Japanese food experts, and they ate for three days and three nights. Master Zhao, the little waiter, was shocked by this battle, and also planted a little seed of the court banquet chef in the depths of his heart.
Roasting suckling pigs are famous in Cantonese cuisine, and the roasting technology is very particular. For example, the materials must be small fragrant pigs of 1-2 kg, the pig skin should be washed white, the pig brain should be removed, and the suckling pig water should be prepared with white vinegar, maltose, red Zhejiang vinegar, rice wine and rose wine in a certain proportion.
Put the washed suckling pig on the open hearth, wrap the pig's feet and ears with tin foil, and brush the suckling pig's water for curing. When the ingredients are tasty, the pigskin is poured with hot water of 7-8 degrees to make it hard, so as to finalize the design.
Everything is ready. First, roast the pig's cavity with slow fire, then roast the pig's back with high fire. Brush the oil and turn it over until the pig's skin is golden and reddish, and it is very beautiful under the light. This is undoubtedly a large-scale handicraft at the banquet.
He was so novel about it that he jumped up and down around the master and kept asking questions. These exquisite delicacies, full of color, flavor and taste, have aroused the strong interest of master Zhao. At the age of 15, his family is not bad, and he doesn't have a particularly strong sense of making a living.
Although Master Zhao is young, he is tall and handsome, and he is always pushed to the front hall by his boss. He wanted to stay in the kitchen and learn from the master. I'm not very satisfied with the boss's arrangement. Young and willful, he lost his temper and wouldn't let me work in the kitchen, so I'll quit.
obviously, my father's abacus is wrong, and it is even more impossible to go back to school. Kid of 15 or 16 years old, groped and found out that baiyun hotel's Nanhu Hotel recruited cooks, so he defected.
PART2: youthful and exuberant, never awakening
at that time, there were no technical schools or training schools of this kind, all of them followed the master, and the master was also a rough craftsman. If he failed to do well, he would just throw you a shuttlecock and scold you, which was a high regard, for your own good. Unlike today's disciples, words are too heavy to be emotional.
With diligence and cleverness, it won the appreciation of the master. With this tacit understanding, the master and apprentice are willing to beat and scold. On the one hand, I like it and work hard. On the other hand, I have a monthly salary of 7 to 8 yuan and a bonus of 8 to 1 yuan, which is more than my brothers at home. I am very satisfied with this independence.
Guangzhou, because it is close to Hong Kong, is the earliest place for mainland China to come into contact with new things, such as Southeast Asian dishes and Japanese dishes, which are all integrated in Cantonese cuisine. Both the service standard and the food technology have developed rapidly, and the restaurant business is booming, like opening the printing machine.
China World Hotel is the first foreign-funded hotel in Guangzhou. At that time, a big notice was posted to recruit 138 yuan/month, plus a bonus of 1-15 yuan, and the number of applicants was crowded. Other hotels at the same level have also raised their wages one after another.
By the early 199s, Master Zhao had started to be a chef himself, working in some social restaurants, getting to know many bosses, being naughty since childhood and enjoying making friends and playing, earning a good income every month, and feeling very bullish. I invite my brothers to eat and drink, and I also play cards with some bosses in my spare time. I won't win or lose, but I can't save any money anyway.
In p>1996, Master Zhao came to Beijing for the first time and worked as a chef in a hotel owned by an electrical appliance company. His boss was very kind to him, except for his salary, and bonuses were paid no matter whether the business was good or bad. At that time, the electrical appliance business was in its heyday, and the sales of more than a dozen electrical appliance cities were very impressive in one day.
The owner of this hotel doesn't expect it to make money, but mainly helps the owner entertain business partners and friends from all walks of life. It is common for the specific business to authorize the master to take the team to help the boss accompany the guests, but the wine bureau and the card game are not afraid to recruit the master to ensure that the boss can take care of it decently.
The boss is also generous. He often says, "If you win, it's on you; if you lose, it's on me.". But master Zhao never took it seriously. Some cards have a lot of chips, and when they are unlucky, they really get paid for half a month.
At that time, the bosses were also generous, not so many rules and regulations, and they were happy with their work. In Beijing, Master Zhao has a fellow-townsman circle in Guangzhou and Hong Kong. Every month on the second and sixteenth day of every month, they have to sit down for a party (AA party). After eating and drinking, they also sing K and play cards.
Looking at the recruiting master now, it is that there were not so many cultural and entertainment programs at that time, and I didn't know how to kill time, eat, drink and have fun every day, and people called you at cards. If I didn't go, I would lose face.
PART3: return to the original heart, deepen the skills and life
Later, Master Zhao had a son. After his son went to school, his wife took care of the family wholeheartedly, and leisure was about to become a thing of the past. Men wake up and the prodigal son returns, sometimes in a flash. So he left Beijing and went to a hotel in Guangzhou for six years.
During this period, I helped my boss raise a high-end club to entertain VIPs from all over the world. When we opened, we cooked 6 cold dishes and 12 hot dishes, and set up a pictographic platter with Dapeng spreading its wings. The leaders were very satisfied and praised "Thank you for bringing us new food and culture".
This is recognition. The boss's praise makes him feel that the innovation of his work is valuable. In the past two or three years, leaders have changed from batch to batch, and each leader has different concerns. Later, the management of catering has become more and more sloppy, the equipment has been updated slowly, and the system has not paid attention to it, and the revenue has also declined all the way.
In 211, Master Zhao went to a hotel owned by a large domestic enterprise to do high-end catering in a private club. Those who came here were either rich or expensive. Swallow-winged abalone and Lafite are home-cooked dishes here, and it is not uncommon for a table of people to spend hundreds of thousands a night. Lafite of 82 is like beer in the eyes of these bosses.
The business of the clubhouse is good, and the proprietress is generous. 1% of the turnover is given to the master recruiter, who is at his disposal. He usually rewards the team with 7%. Everyone is happy when they earn money, and the business of the clubhouse is better if they pay attention to the guests and take care of the dishes they cook, thus forming a cycle of conscience.
someone asked him why he didn't go to a bigger star-rated hotel. He said, "I'm more afraid of seeing a foreign language than my dad", and it's hard for him to die if he orders a menu in a star-rated hotel. Now if the Hilton Hotel hadn't provided him with a secretary in the kitchen, it is estimated that he wouldn't have been able to do it.
Master Zhao has a free and easy nature, has a certain talent for food research, is generous and generous to his friends and brothers, and is humorous. Braised abalone with swallowwings is his specialty.
It is said that when I was in a restaurant in Jilin, I relied on my personal gold-lettered signboard, and the sales of abalone in the hotel were all shipped by tons. Every time I talk about it, even if he is in his fifties today, he will still be happy for several days when he is praised by the diners or the boss. He accepts his apprentice because of his interest, not because he doesn't know what to do to learn cooking!
He said that every dish takes the chef's mind, from the research and selection of ingredients to the repeated pondering of technology, nutrition collocation and image setting. If there is no interest, cooking is just to finish the work.
Star hotels have a series of standard constraints, such as hygiene, equipment, processes, utensils, etc. Once there is no standard requirement, the quality of dishes may decline, which can be tasted by diners with keen taste buds.
Master Zhao said that although he was a cook himself, he had traveled a lot, and he could say that he had eaten all the characteristics of China, but his favorite meal was still the meal cooked by his mother. I said, "It's because I have a special complex about my mother's cooking!" Master Zhao said, "No."
He thinks it's because his mother is preoccupied with how to cook this dish, and his son will love it. From going to the vegetable market to buying good ingredients, picking and cleaning them, and carefully preparing them, he also thinks about whether people are getting angry or need tonic these days. How can the food made like this not be appetizing? Therefore, it is very important to be careful.
after the interview, master Zhao used standard five-star hotel etiquette to see us to the door and promised that if friends around him were interested in learning a few dishes, they could call him at any time.
if we catch up with the rest day, he will even accompany us to the vegetable market, starting with the selection of ingredients and teaching by hand. He enjoys the process of sharing, and even more enjoys the process of us enjoying delicious food.
I think this is love! Enthusiasm has nothing to do with age, and has nothing to do with region. If you love, there is no boredom, and there is no fatigue. You will be conscientious and interested all your life.
ordinary people's little happiness and real happiness are interpreted in this funny and brave middle-aged uncle!