Source: People's Daily
Figures (1) and (2) are dishes made by Chef Quang Ninh.
Photo by Tan Zhijun
The picture shows the beautiful scenery of the morning light in Quang Ninh.
Photo by Jiang Xianmei
"The snail is not as crisp as the oysters, the best Jiayu February day", bamboo branch words, said Cantonese cuisine.
In recent years, Guangdong has implemented three projects of "Cantonese cuisine master", "Guangdong technician" and "southern Guangdong home economics", aimed at ordinary workers, targeted implementation of vocational skills improvement plans, encouraging and supporting practitioners to take the lead in getting rich with one skill, leading villagers to get rich, so as to live a better life together.
The people of Quang Ninh have benefited from this and become a new force in the inheritance relay of "Cantonese chefs".
One
From the air, the county seat of Guangning County, located in the central and western part of Guangdong Province, is surrounded by mountains, trees and grasses. Not far from the county seat, there is a Suijiang Zhuhai Tourist Scenic Area. The name is "Bamboo Sea", and there are many bamboos. Bamboo is a major feature of Quang Ninh, The bamboo of Quang Ninh, there are many varieties, here are verdant in all seasons, beautiful scenery.
Guangning people use local materials, and in the "signature dishes" of Guangning chefs, "bamboo" is often seen, and "bamboo" is used more often.
Tan Zhijun opened a restaurant on the side of the scenic spot. Regardless of the cuisine, the menu alone is ingenious, carved in the form of "bamboo Jane", rolled up as a bamboo tube, and unfolded as a "book Jane". On the "Book", the words "Bamboo Garden", "Bamboo Forest", "Bamboo Sheng", "Bamboo Thorn", "Bamboo Heart" and so on appear frequently.
Tan Zhijun made 10 bamboo simple menus, diners saw it, loved it, someone asked him to beg, wanted to keep it as a souvenir. Tan Zhijun smiled and said, "Since I like it, take it away, I can do it again." ”
Tan Zhijun is less than 40 years old this year, but he has more than 20 years of experience in the catering industry. At the age of 16, in order to earn a living, he followed his relatives on the road of cooking.
"Poverty is not terrible, as long as you are willing to struggle, you will definitely make your life better." Tan Zhijun said.
At the beginning of his studies, others told him: "To learn to cook, you must start from 'playing the lotus'." ”
"Which 'hé'?"
"Lotus of the lotus."
Listening to the name, it should be a good errand.
Where did he know that "playing lotus" is doing handymanship. The handyman is the dirtiest and most tired job in the back kitchen, and if the chef doesn't want to do it, the handyman has to do it. Choosing dishes, washing vegetables, sweeping the floor, mopping the floor, handing things to the master, and sometimes washing dishes. Once, when Tan Zhijun was working, he deserted his mind and handed over the wrong thing, and the chef threw the spatula and covered his face with a reprimand.
"It's really scolded to the point of Venus." Speaking of the experience of being trained, Tan Zhijun smiled and said, "Apprentices are like this, where are there those who are not trained?" ”
This "hit the lotus", one dry is 3 years.
"After that, can I become a master?"
"It's still early!" Tan Zhijun said: "After I finished working as a handyman, I became the 'King of lotus' - that is, the handyman, then a small master, and finally a master. ”
Little chef stir-fried vegetarian dishes, such as sour and spicy shredded potatoes, freshwater vegetable hearts, meet the master chef who is willing to let go, white-burned shrimp can also be done, but in the end it is some simple dishes. As for the big dishes and signature dishes, the little master has no chance to touch his hands.
Tan Zhijun soaked in the back kitchen all day, repeatedly practicing, quietly learning, and his wrists were tired and red and swollen. Until one day, a large hotel in Guangzhou took a fancy to him and hired him as an executive chef, and his salary suddenly soared to 20,000 or 30,000 yuan per month. In March 2020, he was awarded the honorary title of "Guangdong Provincial Technical Expert" by the Department of Human Resources and Social Security of Guangdong Province.
Tan Zhijun took us for a walk in the bamboo sea.
"Do you see anything unusual about my shoulder?" He took a few steps forward so that we could look closely.
Pay attention to it, it seems to be uneven, one high and one low.
"This is caused by long-term upside down, which is an 'occupational disease' of our chefs."
In recent years, the news that Guangning County has been awarded the "Hometown of Guangdong Chefs" by the Guangdong Cuisine Association and the "Hometown of Chinese Chefs" by the China Cuisine Association has stimulated Tan Zhijun's entrepreneurial ambitions. He wants to create a tourist food landmark and catering brand in the "Zhuhai" scenic spot, and drive more people to embark on the road to prosperity at their doorstep.
Dare to think and dare to do, he really quit the "executive chef" who earned a monthly salary of 20,000 or 30,000 yuan and came to take root in this sea of bamboo.
Today, his restaurant employs nearly 20 Quang Ninh chefs. The rich products of his hometown and the deep affection for his hometown are the confidence and support of his entrepreneurship, and he wants to "explore the beauty of bamboo villages and create new Cantonese flavors".
At dinner, we tasted Tan Zhijun's craftsmanship - "crispy oil slag corner", tofu sandwiched with five-spice powder, the taste is strong but not sticky; "Bamboo tube pure heart soup", the soup color is clear, the aftertaste is timeless; "Bamboo tube stone cooking fresh beef", because of the clear breath of bamboo, the thickness of the stone, beef tender and smooth; "Casserole black pepper salt mountain stream fish", although the fish bones have been removed, but the shape of the fish in the pot is intact, especially the taste is delicious and delicious...
In Cantonese cuisine, Tan Zhijun constantly innovates. Last August, he launched several new dishes. One of the "cabbage feasts", a large cabbage, makes 14 dishes. There are also "hawthorn feasts", "bamboo shoot feasts", "watermelon feasts"... Take the things of Quang Ninh and expand the way of creativity.
In his spare time, Tan Zhijun often goes to the ancient pier, walks in the shadows of the trees, and thinks about the future of Cantonese cuisine - there are famous chefs in his hometown, but unfortunately there are no famous dishes. Tan Zhijun felt that this was not a regret, but an opportunity. He said: "In my lifetime, I will get a few famous dishes out and polish the cultural business card of Cantonese cuisine more brightly!" ”
Two
What skills does a good Cantonese chef have to master? Cut, chop, fry, fry, fry, steam, boil, carve, bake, bake... Eighteen martial arts, everything must be mastered. In order to let Guangning chefs learn real kung fu, Guangning County Provincial Cantonese Cuisine Master Training Base came into being.
The base is located on the upper floor of the county human resources and social security bureau, with an area of 1000 square meters. It has a Chinese cooking training base, a Chinese pastry training base, a Western-style pastry training base, and a provincial Cantonese cuisine master studio.
Walking into the Chinese cooking training base is like entering the back kitchen of a large hotel, the bright hall is clean, well ventilated and well-equipped. 22 sets of professional stoves, 2 large ovens, 4 large refrigerators, and nearly 20 iron pots, lined up, the formation is not small.
We want to sweep the weight of the pot here, and the strange thing is that the pot has no handle, only the ear of the pot.
The pot ear is actually a small closed iron ring. When stir-frying, palm up, hold the ear of the pot, rely on wrist strength and arm strength to make the five- or six-pound pot and the dishes in the pot "move in an orderly manner".
"What should I do if the ear of the pot is hot?"
"Padded with a damp cloth." The staff said.
After going through the Taoist process, I finally cooked a delicious dish, but the chef's work is not over. He wants to carry the power of the wrist, lift the pot horizontally, then move the position and tilt it slightly, with the assistance of the spatula, so that the dish "does not disperse" into the delicate plate, and then turn on the faucet, rinse the residue in the pot, and reset the pot on the flame to start the next dish... And so on.
Cantonese cuisine has "big dishes" and "snacks", such as wonton. Some people tend to equate wontons with wontons, but there is a difference: the shape of the outer skin is different, the material for making the outer skin is different, and the filling inside is also different. Moreover, the skin of the wonton is thinner and is not easy to roll.
Walk into the "Wonton Skin" processing area. A piece of bamboo, about 5 centimeters in diameter and about one meter and five meters in length. Rest one end on top of the huge dough and hold it with your hand, and the other end ride on one leg and hold it tightly with your hand. One hand manipulates the dough of the thick pier, the other hand "fast horse and whip" roll bamboo, hands and feet are used together, the waist is straight, and the concentration is concentrated. After half an hour, the dough finally turned into a stack of thin, cool skins.
We stepped forward to "test the bull knife", and in a few moments we were already sweating. This traditional technique of rolling dough looks easy, but it is difficult to do. But for Cantonese chefs, this is all "home cooking". Under the hands of Cantonese chefs, how thin can the wonton skin be? Almost 0.5 mm. This kind of wonton wrapped in wonton skin, when it comes out of the pot, is supplemented by clear soup, and the soup is added with an appropriate amount of white pepper, shallots, sesame oil, soy sauce, sesame seeds, peanut oil, which is really crisp, fresh, and beautiful, and it tastes delicious to the extreme.
To learn cantonese cuisine, the base not only provides a venue, but also hires famous chefs to guide. For example, celebrity chef Liu Wanguang, who is now a senior kitchen consultant of a Fortune 500 company, has many titles and honors, and will also do face-to-face training for Quang Ninh chefs at the base. Usually, it is difficult for students to see famous chefs, but as soon as they enter the studio, the famous chefs are teachers, and students have the opportunity to learn and communicate at close range.
Three
Xu Zhencheng also tasted the sweetness of the "Cantonese Chef" project. He went to Guangzhou in 1994 to work as an apprentice, making dim sum, and has been working in the catering industry for 28 years. He worked as a hotel deputy general manager and a dim sum chef at a hotel in Beijing for two years.
"Make pastry, get up at 2 a.m., get to the hotel at 3:30 a.m." A person, riding a bicycle through the streets and alleys of the city, rain or shine, is really hard.
"A small raw meat bun, with coconut milk and noodles, with yeast noodles, a skin weighs eight dollars, a bun with 22 pleats, not sloppy at all." He said seriously.
In 2003, Xu Zhencheng returned to his hometown of Quang Ninh, and the "pastry chef" began to learn cantonese cuisine.
In 2021, he was ready to open a hotel in his hometown, the funds were not enough, and signed a "chef loan" with the bank through the Quang Ninh Chefs Association, with a loan of 300,000 yuan, solving a big problem. In November of that year, the hotel opened with 15 private rooms, all named after the streets and townships of Quang Ninh - "South Street", "Tanbu", "Zhouzai"... It also absorbs more than 30 people such as Quang Ninh chefs and waiters for employment.
We asked him, "Is the business good?" ”
"Now there are six or seven hundred seats, and the turnover of more than 600,000 yuan per month is not bad."
He brought up a few menus to show us, and the dishes were many and varied. As can be seen from the menu, he is deliberately using "Quang Ninh" to make more people feel "Quang Ninh".
Xu Zhencheng is "ambitious." He said that he wanted to open the hotel to Foshan and Guangzhou, so that more people would know about Guangning and like the taste of Guangning.
The Quang Ninh Chefs Association currently has more than 5,000 members, and the president is named Feng Huancheng. Feng Huancheng's experience is somewhat "legendary", he originally gave a hand to a chef in a hotel in Baiyun District, Guangzhou. Later, he used his spare time to enroll in a chef training course held by the labor department and "read while working". At the end of the course, he obtained a "Chef's Certificate" by virtue of two "reserved tracks" in Cantonese cuisine, "Whole Duck" and "Fried Milk".
"Raising the whole duck" is a craft that Cantonese chefs must master. In Cantonese cuisine, "Eight Treasure Nest Whole Duck" is filled with various raw materials such as shiitake mushrooms, lotus seeds, dried shrimp, squid, meat grains, salted eggs, glutinous rice and so on, and boiled in soup.
A few years later, Feng Huancheng became the executive chef of the hotel. The hotel started with only 13 chefs, but he helped the hotel grow and now has more than 100 chefs.
Ordinary people from handymen to chefs, there is no ten years to achieve, why is Feng Huancheng so fast?
He smiled and spat out a word: "Material"!
To be a chef, you must have "materials" - whether you are eager to learn, whether you can think, whether you do not understand culture and history, these are all very important.
Implicitly, "chef" and "stir-fry" are two completely different realms. Chefs are technicians, craftsmen, unique ingenuity, and there is room for growth.
Today, as the "bellwether" of Quang Ninh chefs, Feng Huancheng is thinking about the passing on of The flame of Quang Ninh's cooking skills. Most of the chefs in Quang Ninh are post-70s and post-80s. He hopes that with the support of the "Cantonese Chef" project and the efforts of the Chef Association, more post-90s and post-00s, especially college students, will participate, so that Guangning chefs will become industry benchmarks and carry forward Cantonese cuisine.
Four
"Only hear the chickadees in the day, and only listen to the water playing the piano at night", the ancient folk songs of Quang Ninh vividly reflect the natural beauty of this land.
Good environment, beautiful food, famous. Up to now, there are nearly 60,000 chefs in Guangning, accounting for 22.7% of the county's labor force and 9.5% of the registered population, and the chef industry has driven nearly 100,000 people in the county to find employment and start businesses.
One day at lunchtime, we randomly found a restaurant in Quang Ninh County. The façade is not big or small, and there are several plaques hanging in the foyer, with the words "Cantonese Chef Zhaoqing Famous Chef" and "Cantonese Cuisine Master Zhuxiang Famous Chef" and so on.
There are not many diners, there is a man standing at the front desk, under a question, it is the owner of this restaurant, surnamed Chen, a native of Quang Ninh.
Old Chen took us up to the second floor and into the private room. Private rooms face south. It rained for days, but in the morning the sun came out, and the sun sprinkled on the table. An autumn maple tree grows tall, jumps up the window, and the green leaves are shiny, adding a little life.
Lao Chen recommended several dishes: braised bamboo shoots, steamed mushrooms, steamed bracken. He explained: "Guangning raw bamboo, bamboo shoots, bamboo shoots are just grown, extremely tender; Bracken is also native to Quang Ninh, wild, and in season; The fungus is pine fungus, and its taste is lost in half a day, and it must be eaten on the same day. ”
How about this restaurant, you can see the "clue" from one place. Borrowing the work of washing hands, "examining" the bathroom in the private room, tasteless, stainless, no water on the ground, things are placed in an orderly manner, and I feel at ease.
Braised bamboo shoots are on the table. The aroma is overflowing for a while. According to Lao Chen, this dish is made of fat and lean pork belly, or white or green bamboo shoots, supplemented by tangerine peel and tempeh, and slow-cooked over low heat. Measured, used a pound of bamboo shoots. I clipped a green jade finger-like bamboo shoot to taste, crisp and fresh, a fresh energy.
Steamed mushrooms are on the table. Steamed with about a pound of pine mushrooms, supplemented by a little fresh meat and sauerkraut, it is a tender and delicate mountain treasure game.
Steamed bracken was also served. It's sticky and slippery, a bit like cooked eel.
Old Chen said, "You are right, the red fern is called 'mountain eel'. ”
I tasted it, and the taste was indeed delicious.
"Don't look at this bracken cheap, it is a gift from nature to the savage family of our mountain." In the past, in March, when there was no yellow, it was a very happy thing to eat a meal of fresh tempeh peel steamed red fern. ”
Lao Chen has to purchase chicken, duck and fish meat every day, purchase every day, and use it up every day, so as to ensure the "freshest".
With a good meal, Lao Chen took us downstairs and showed us the raw materials - bags of bamboo shoots, pinch one, splash water; Smell it, and there is a faint smell of earth.
Stepping out of the restaurant, looking around, there are many restaurants on this street, or called "restaurant", or called "restaurant", or called "family", which is simple and simple. From time to time, the smell of ingredients wafts in the air, making people smell and salivate. I know that these aromas hide the delicious dishes prepared by The chefs of Quang Ninh with their hearts, and also hide their determination and ambition to build a brand with diligence and wisdom and revitalize their hometown...