In Zhongshan and even in the Cantonese cuisine industry in Guangdong, almost everyone knows the "fierce brother", he is Zheng Yaorong, president of the Zhongshan Culinary Association and chairman of Sanxi Restaurant Catering Service Co., Ltd. In the industry for 36 years, Zheng Yaorong has been committed to promoting and innovating the cooking skills of Zhongshan Cantonese cuisine and carrying forward Zhongshan Cantonese cuisine. Senior Technician of Chinese Cooking, Senior Nutritionist, Registered Chinese Culinary Master, Guangdong "Kitchen God"... After nearly 40 years of dealing with Cantonese cuisine, Zheng Yaorong has won the highest gold content honor in the industry.
Recently, Zheng Yaorong won another special honor. Zhongshan commended the advanced workers and advanced collectives of model workers, and Zheng Yaorong was listed among them, and he was also the only representative of the commended individuals engaged in culinary work.
"Kitchen God" was awarded the "Labor Model", which is an affirmation of Zheng Yaorong's adherence to and innovation of Zhongshan Cantonese cuisine skills, all of which must start from his story with Zhongshan Cantonese cuisine.
Zheng Yaorong (left).
Get taste enlightenment from "novelty food"
Zheng Yaorong, a native of Sanxiang, Zhongshan, was born in 1967. Sanxiang Town, famous for its powder and special tea fruits, also laid the groundwork for Zheng Yaorong to enter the back kitchen later. Zheng Yaorong's family has distant relatives in Hong Kong and Macao, after the reform and opening up, Hong Kong and Macao relatives returned to their hometown to bring new foods such as canned abalone to complete Zheng Yaorong's taste enlightenment, but also opened his ideas about food. Because he liked food, the then 18-year-old Zheng Yaorong did not hesitate to enter the catering industry and enter the Fuhua Hotel after graduating from high school in 1985.
From the late 1980s to the 1990s, it was the most glorious era of Cantonese cuisine in Zhongshan. Starting with Zhongshan Hot Spring Hotel, a large number of Western-style seasonings, ingredients and cooking methods poured into Zhongshan, becoming the "flame" that ignited the wave of innovative development of Zhongshan Cantonese cuisine, and the "new Cantonese cuisine" that integrated Chinese and Western cuisine was also born.
Under the background of the great development of the industry, Zheng Yaorong also grew rapidly. Starting from the "miscellaneous" in the back kitchen, Zheng Yaorong has made continuous progress in learning, and gradually formed his own culinary concept, which has now become a benchmark in the industry. In 2008, Zheng Yaorong won the Chinese Food Culture Contribution Award, in 2009 he won the Top Ten Chinese Catering Culture Contribution Award, and in 2017, he won the World Cantonese Cuisine Outstanding Achievement Award.
Innovate Cantonese cuisine from "disobedience"
Zheng Yaorong inherited Guangdong's top ten famous chefs Huang Yuekun, who is one of the inheritors of the traditional braised Shiqi pigeon. After 6 years in the industry, Zheng Yaorong, who had accumulated experience, began to try some new methods of cooking.
"When I was an apprentice, I often 'challenged' the master, and the braised Shiqi pigeon was made using the traditional method of soaking brine, and a lot of herbs were added to the brine, and the taste was heavier. Later, we have been thinking about improving this way of making it. Zheng Yaorong laughed and said that the raw fried Shiqi pigeon was born from "disobedience".
In 1991, he won the Gold Medal for Asian Cuisine for his first raw fried Ishiki pigeon. When it first came out, raw fried Ishiki pigeon was a "maverick" dish, and today it is the most common practice of ishiki pigeon in Zhongshan.
Zheng Yaorong is making raw fried Shiqi pigeons.
From master cook to teacher
After years of experience, Cheng Has risen from apprentice to chef and from industry person to master of preaching. He is a part-time teacher at The Migo Polytechnic School, and it has become part of his life and work to lecture at the school. In recent years, he has also been rated as the host of Guangdong Zheng Yaorong Cantonese Cuisine Master Studio, undertaking the mission of disseminating and carrying forward Zhongshan Cantonese cuisine.
From the back kitchen to the campus, the role change is not easy. Today, Zheng Yaorong has also opened a Zhongshan special food restaurant in Zhongshan, continuing his Zhongshan Cantonese cuisine inheritance and innovative exploration, at the same time, he also runs in a number of technical and vocational colleges in Zhongshan, bringing his ideas and exploration experience into the campus, cultivating a group of "academic" Zhongshan Cantonese cuisine talents.
For the inheritance of Zhongshan Cantonese cuisine, Zheng Yaorong has his own ideas. Zhongshan is a "famous city of Chinese Cantonese cuisine" and one of the birthplaces of the new Cantonese cuisine, he believes that Zhongshan Cantonese cuisine has a good foundation, but to develop it, we must seize the word innovation. He pinned his hopes on the innovation of Zhongshan's new Cantonese cuisine on his apprentices and encouraged his apprentices to dare to "deny" the master.
"Innovation is inseparable from the support of talents." With the in-depth advancement of the Cantonese cuisine master project, Zhongshan Cantonese cuisine has ushered in new development opportunities, which makes Zheng Yaorong feel pleased. He suggested that Zhongshan should take advantage of opportunities such as the Cantonese cuisine master project to strengthen the reserve talent reserve, attach importance to the training of culinary teachers and students in vocational colleges and universities, and the masters of industry enterprises should enter the school to play a leading role, open up the channels of communication between industry enterprises and colleges, and realize the integration of industry and education.
Nanfang Daily reporter Lei Haiquan wu fan
【Author】 Lei Haiquan; Wu Fan
【Source】 Southern Press Media Group South + client
Source: South+ - Create more value