PNB Chapter 137: The Experience of the Restaurant Chef
Chapter 137: The Experience of the Restaurant Chef
The next morning at ten o'clock, Zhao Xiaojing finished making the sweet soup and condiments and went to the Gushanfeng restaurant.
There are wedding banquets in these two days, so Gu Shanfeng specifically asked Zhao Xiaojing in advance and made an appointment with her to come over today to familiarize herself with the environment.
As soon as Zhao Xiaojing entered the restaurant, she felt an orderly and busy atmosphere.
As soon as she entered the hotel front desk, someone hurriedly came to greet her. After learning her name, he immediately led her all the way to the kitchen.
Along the way, she also saw waiters in each box checking the tableware on the table. Some were meticulously adjusting the folds on the tablecloths, some were replenishing toothpick boxes and tissue boxes, and some were adjusting the distance between tableware.
Zhao Xiaojing secretly sighed that professionals are different. The front desk receptionist had already walked to the door of the kitchen and took a complete set of chef uniforms from the storage room nearby and asked Zhao Xiaojing to change into them.
After changing, Zhao Xiaojing was led by the receptionist into the kitchen through the nearest door.
When I entered the kitchen, I saw a group of young people, who I didn't know were chefs or kitchen workers, concentrating on cutting vegetables, while Master Gu walked from one end to the other, looking at them with a serious face.
"Master Gu, I'm here." Zhao Xiaojing walked over and greeted him in a low voice.
"Xiao Zhao is here. Have you had breakfast?" When Gu Shanfeng saw Zhao Xiaojing, his serious expression immediately bloomed and he smiled like a flower.
"I've eaten. How many tables are there for wedding banquets today? It looks like a lot of food has been prepared."
The chefs in front of the operating table had tense expressions and stood in a circle around the table. In front of each of them was a large vegetable basket, which looked to be two or three times the amount of vegetables prepared in the cafeteria at that time.
"There are not many people today. There will be three sessions at noon, with about 82 tables. I'll show you around first so you can understand the process." Master Gu led Zhao Xiaojing to the operating table and began to introduce.
"This is our food preparation area. If there are less than 100 tables for the banquet that day, this is our cutting time. The people cutting vegetables are considered cooks, and they are also my apprentices.
That's our waiter over there."
Zhao Xiaojing took a look and saw that there were eight apprentices that Master Gu had pointed out. They sat in a circle and occupied most of the space on the operating table.
The eight disciples had all looked tense since they came in. Now they lowered their heads, with inexplicable panic on their faces.
Two chefs were carving things on the side. There were carrots, cucumbers, and cherry tomatoes. Each one was carved into a bunch of parts in the same way, and it was hard to tell what they were going to be.
"After they finish chopping, the cold dishes will be mixed here. The cold dish chef is checking today's seafood ingredients over there. After he finishes mixing, he will transport it to the cooked food packaging area for unified plating, and the chef will also decorate it.
This is our hot food area, where you came to try the food last time. I am the hot food chef, but I also make some other dishes. Haha, we use this kind of constant temperature deep fryer here, set the time and temperature, and it will remind you when it is ready, and we will just take it out.
Now I have developed a bad habit of relying solely on machines. All of these apprentices are the same. None of them can match your control ability. The last time you came, you really gave me a wake-up call."
Gu Shanfeng sighed and shook his head. Zhao Xiaojing's expression brightened when she heard it.
It turns out there is such a convenient thing. Why has she never thought of using it!
If she gets this machine, she can sell fried foods and her workload will be reduced!
"Do you want to try it?" Gu Shanfeng asked, looking at Zhao Xiaojing's reaction.
"I want to! I don't know how to use this yet." Zhao Xiaojing nodded obediently.
"I'll show you around then. When they prepare the hot dishes, you can come over and watch them do it. My useless apprentices will be in charge of frying. You can teach them when the time comes."
"That's not the case. The most we are doing is learning from each other. How can I expect them to teach me?" Zhao Xiaojing smiled and waved her hand. The two continued to walk along the frying area. After passing the steaming and baking areas of several tall ovens, they arrived at the rough processing area of the ingredients.
This area is connected to the entire kitchen in the back kitchen, but there is a separate glass door separating it from the rest of the kitchen, creating a separate space.
"After the ingredients are delivered every morning, we simply process and handle them here. The person who checks the ingredients over there is the cold dish chef. After he finishes the inspection, he starts the rough processing here."
Gu Shanfeng took Zhao Xiaojing to open the door and walked in. After entering, they found that the space inside was also quite large, almost the same size as the kitchen that Zhao Xiaojing rented.
As soon as you enter the door, you will see a large chopping machine, and behind it are several pools. The pools are carefully divided into categories for meat, vegetables, and aquatic products. Each basin is also labeled, such as the fish basin, meat basin, vegetable basin, etc.
Five chefs were busy with their own work. The leading chef was checking everything back and forth. The others were dismembering king crabs, sawing ribs with a bone saw, cutting meat rolls with a slicer, and killing fish fillets and shrimps. Everything looked very organized.
"This door is for delivering food. It leads directly to the back door of the hotel. Every morning, food is brought in and delivered directly from here. After being inspected and processed here, it is sent to the back kitchen.
This not only prevents the dishes from dirtying the floor of the front hall and conflicting with the guests' walking paths, but also shortens the transportation distance and reduces labor costs."
Gu Shanfeng pointed to another door in the rough processing area and said.
Zhao Xiaojing was full of admiration after hearing this. She said that professionalism is different and the details are considered very comprehensively.
After looking at the rough processing area, I looked at the plain food area, the cleaning and disinfection area, and the cooked food packaging area, and then returned to the original operating station.
At this moment, all the prepared dishes have been cut, and the cold dish chef is instructing several kitchen workers, who are Gu Shanfeng's apprentices. Each of them is holding a large steel basin and mixing the cold dishes.
"Xiao He, you need to add another half spoonful of sugar! Xiao Yun, where's the pepper powder in your dish? Did you eat it again?! Xiao Zuo, what are you doing? Focus on mixing the dish!"
The cold dish chef was mixing the ingredients in his own bowl while keeping an eye on the actions of his apprentices, giving them reminders from time to time.
She didn’t know if it was Zhao Xiaojing’s illusion, but she always felt that as soon as they came over, the kitchen workers suddenly tensed up all over.
After the cold dishes were mixed, two cooks followed the cold dish chef to push several large basins to the cooked food packaging area. Gu Shanfeng took the two cooks to start preparing hot dishes, and the other four cooks went to different areas to help. Zhao Xiaojing followed Gu Shanfeng's arrangements and followed him to the cooked food packaging area.
After going to the packaging area, Zhao Xiaojing was amazed by the scene that appeared.
About a hundred smooth white porcelain plates were laid out one by one on the large countertop in the cooked food packaging area. The waiter quickly painted lines on the plates with colorful sauces and arranged them into shapes. He had already placed the last few plates at the end of the counter.
The kitchen workers here are wearing gloves, holding a large basin in their left hands, and taking out the prepared cold dishes from the basin with their right hands and arranging them on plates quickly and neatly. A plate can be placed in the middle of the table in just a few seconds.
In addition, there are braised dishes that do not need to be mixed in advance and are already cut and placed on a six-layer mobile shelf on the side. There is also a small dipping bowl next to it, and the kitchen worker is scooping the prepared sauce into the bowl one spoonful at a time.