Master Zhao was born in the late 1960s, with both parents and employees. He dropped out of school at the age of 15. Not because of poor family conditions, but because he is too naughty and doesn't 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 study.
Guangzhou Restaurant is a well-known high-end restaurant (now a listed company) in Guangdong Province, and it was the first to hold the Man-Han Banquet in China (then called the Man-Han Banquet).
I remember when the Manchu-Han banquet was just opened, there were twenty or thirty Japanese food experts who evaluated the diners. They ate for three days and nights. Master Zhao, the waiter, was stunned by this battle and planted a small seed of the court banquet chef in his heart.
Roasted suckling pig is very famous in Cantonese cuisine, and its roasting technology is very particular. For example, the material must be 10-20 kg of small fragrant pigs, the pigskin should be washed white, the pig brain should be removed from impurities, 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 pickle them with suckling pig water. When the ingredients are tasty, water the pigskin with hot water of 70-80 degrees to harden it, thus setting.
Everything is ready, first roast the pig's cavity with slow fire, then roast the pig's back with big fire, and constantly brush the oil and turn it over until the pig's skin is golden and reddish, which is very beautiful under the illumination of light. This is undoubtedly a large-scale handicraft at the banquet.
He is very novel about this, jumping up and down around his master and asking questions. These delicacies aroused the strong interest of Master Zhao, who is 0/5 years old and has a good family, and did not have a particularly strong sense of making a living from them.
Although Master Zhao is young, he is tall and handsome, and he is always pushed to the front hall by his boss. He wants 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 quit.
Obviously, my father's abacus is wrong, and it is even more impossible to go back to school. A child of 15 or 16 fumbled for a chef in Nanhu Hotel in baiyun hotel, so he defected.
The second part: youth, exuberance, youth is not awake.
At that time, there was no technical school or professional training school. They all followed the master, who was also a clown playing tricks. If he doesn't do well, he will directly dump you with a webbed head and beat and scold you. This is very important to you and is for your own good. Unlike today's disciples, the words are too heavy and emotional.
With diligence and cleverness, he won the appreciation of the master, and even if he had this tacit understanding, he was willing to beat and scold. On the one hand, I like it and work hard. On the other hand, my monthly salary is seventy or eighty, and my bonus is eight to 10, which is more than my brothers at home. Young people are satisfied with this independence.
Because Guangzhou is close to Hong Kong, it is the earliest place for Chinese mainland to get in touch with new things, such as Southeast Asian food and Japanese food, which are all integrated into Cantonese food. Service standards and food technology have developed rapidly, and restaurant business is booming, just like opening a printing machine.
China World Hotel is the first foreign hotel in Guangzhou. At that time, a 138 yuan/month was posted, plus 10- 15 yuan bonus, and the number of applicants was crowded. Other hotels at the same level have also raised their wages.
By the early 1990s, Master Zhao had already started to be a chef himself. He took jobs in some social restaurants, got to know many bosses, was mischievous since childhood, liked to make friends and play, earned a good monthly income, and felt very bullish. I invited my brothers to dinner and drink, and I also played cards with some bosses in my spare time. I won't win or lose, but I can't save any money anyway.
1996 Master Zhao went to Beijing for the first time and worked as a chef in a hotel owned by an electrical appliance company. The boss is very kind to him, except for his salary, no matter whether the business is good or bad. At that time, the electrical appliance business was in full swing, and the sales of more than a dozen electrical appliance cities were very impressive.
The owner of this hotel didn't expect it to make money, mainly to help the owner entertain business partners and friends from all walks of life. It is common for a specific business to authorize a master to lead a team to help the boss accompany the guests, but the wine bureau and card games are not afraid to recruit a master to ensure that the boss can take care of it decently.
The boss is also very generous, often saying, "If you win, it's on you, if you lose, it's on me." . But Master Zhao never takes it seriously. Some cards have a lot of chips, and when they are unlucky, they really get paid half a month.
At that time, the bosses were also generous, without so many rules and regulations, and were very satisfied with their work. In Beijing, Master Zhao has a circle of fellow villagers in Guangzhou and Hong Kong. On the second and sixteenth day of every month, they have to sit down and have an AA party. Sing k and play cards after eating and drinking.
Look at the current recruiter, that is, there were not so many cultural and entertainment projects at that time. I don't know how to pass the time when I am free. I eat, drink and have fun together every day. You are called to play cards. If I don't go, I will lose face.
PART3: Return to the original heart and deepen skills and life.
Later, Master Zhao had a son. After the son goes to school, the wife takes care of the family wholeheartedly, and carefree is about to become a thing of the past. When a man wakes up, the prodigal son turns back, sometimes in an instant. So he left Beijing and went to a hotel in Guangzhou for six years.
During the period, I helped my boss raise a high-end club to entertain VIPs from all over the world. When we opened, we cooked six 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, and 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 became more and more sloppy, the equipment was updated slowly, the system did not pay attention to it, and the revenue also fell all the way.
20 1 1 Master Zhao went to a hotel owned by a large domestic enterprise to cook high-end catering in a private club. People who come are either rich or expensive. Swallow-winged abalone and Lafite are common dishes here, and it is not uncommon to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars a night on a table. Lafite in' 82 is like beer in the eyes of these bosses.
Business in the clubhouse is good, and the proprietress is generous. 65,438+0% of the turnover goes to the main recruitment, and the main recruitment generally rewards the team 70%. Everyone is happy when they earn money. If the business of the clubhouse pays attention to the guests, it will be better to take care of their own cooking and form a cycle of conscience.
Someone asked him why he didn't go to a bigger star hotel. He said, "I am more afraid of reading foreign languages than my father." It's hard for him to die if he orders food in a star hotel. Now, if the Hilton Hotel hadn't equipped him with a kitchen secretary, he probably wouldn't have done it.
Master Zhao has a free and easy nature, has a certain talent for food research, and is generous and humorous to his friends and brothers. Stewed abalone with swallow wings is his specialty.
It is said that when I was in a hotel in Jilin, I relied on my personal golden signboard, and the abalone sales in the hotel were shipped by tons. Every time I talk about it, even if he is in his fifties today and praised by diners or bosses for a few days, he will still be happy for several days. He accepted his apprentice because he was interested, not because he didn't know what to do to learn cooking!
He said that every dish has a chef's mind, from the research and selection of ingredients to the repeated pondering of technology, nutrition collocation and image setting. If you are not interested, cooking is just to finish the work.
Star hotels have a series of standard constraints, such as hygiene, equipment, processes, appliances and so on. 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, although I am a chef myself and have been to many places, I can say that I have eaten all the characteristics of China, but my favorite is my mother's cooking. I said, "that's because I have a special complex about my mother's cooking!" " Master Zhao said, "No."
He thinks it's because his mother is thinking about how to cook this dish, and his son will like it. From going to the vegetable market to buying good ingredients, selecting, cleaning and carefully making, he is also thinking about whether people are getting angry these days and whether they need supplements. How can the food made in this way turn people off? Therefore, it is very important to be cautious.
At the end of the interview, Master Zhao sent us to the door with standard five-star hotel etiquette, and promised that if friends around him were interested in learning some dishes, they could always find him.
If we catch up with the rest day, he is even willing to accompany us to the vegetable market, starting with the selection of ingredients and teaching by hand. He enjoys the process of sharing, and we enjoy the process of enjoying food.
I think this is love! Enthusiasm has nothing to do with age or region. If you love, there is no boredom or fatigue. You will be conscientious and interested all your life.
The small happiness and real happiness of ordinary people are interpreted in this funny and just middle-aged uncle!