~Look for the best young chefs~
The content of this issue is titled by Mazi
Cooking is a hard profession, and the older generation of chefs are engaged in this profession, mostly to survive. Now that people's living standards have improved, young people may choose this industry more because of interest. So do what you like, you will definitely do well. Baron ————
Joke Chef no.054
As a chef, you want others to respect you, first of all you have to respect yourself, you have to respect the guests, you have to respect the ingredients. Ingredients are a carrier, taste is a bond, only through your hands to fuse the two can be condensed into a force, conveying a warmth on the taste buds.
———— Li Yi
Xiamen Marriott Hotel & Conference Center
Executive Chef, Marriott Chinese Restaurant
Joining the military is not a kitchen
Li Yi is a child who grew up in the army compound, especially envious of those uniform soldier brothers, very much advocating the life of enlistment, and Li Yi's father himself is a veteran of the Vietnam War This desire is a few points deeper, and he is inspired to become a soldier when he grows up.
After graduating from junior high school, Li Yi, who immediately wanted to enlist in the army, decided to suspend the road of joining the army under his father's half coaxing and half deception, and reluctantly followed his relatives into the kitchen, but unexpectedly got the favor of the goddess of luck. The kitchen that Li Yi walked into at that time was a social catering kitchen with a scale of 200 people, there were 50 cannons, and the master of stir-frying could not see his head at a glance, this scene shocked Li Yi's heart, and he seemed to find the feeling of fighting in his heart that he dreamed of "battlefield". The noisy sounds in the kitchen, knives, tableware, fires, shouts, one after another, militarized management made Li Yi's blood boil, at that moment Li Yi decided to gamble his life here, the kitchen became his battlefield, he wanted to become the leader of the battle.
Rich experience at home and abroad creates creative inspiration
In li yi more than 20 years of practice, he has been in Fujian, Kunming, Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou international five-star hotels, but also deep ploughing in Beijing for 8 years, during which he successfully received olympic multi-royal guests and apac large conferences, and had the opportunity to be sent to South Korea, Vietnam, the Philippines, New York, Bahrain and other places in Chinese restaurants, working overseas experience not only enriched his experience, but also increased his understanding of ingredients, but also gained a lot of local cooking techniques and unique flavor of sauces. Their existence makes Li Yi's feathers constantly plump, and it has also become the secret weapon of his creation.
Watching Li Yi cook will make you feel that it is a pleasing thing to the eye, meticulous, meticulous and exuding elegant beauty. And Li Yi actually pays attention to a "he" word when cooking, which means "meaning, shape, and taste". In his view, tradition and innovation are inseparable, and there is a collision with Chinese and Western cultures in innovation, the bloom of local culture, focusing on different cities, facing different people, it is necessary to add or subtract dishes. For example, the famous "crispy chicken" in Cantonese cuisine has some sand ginger flavor, "When I made this dish in Kunming, because I knew that there was pepper and ma chicken in the Yunnan-Guichuan region, I combined the two, and after 3 days of raw pickling with more than a dozen spices made, let the taste of pepper and hemp be integrated into the chicken, and then carried out crispy processing, showing a unique taste and flavor, so that guests can eat a second bite, delicious chopsticks."
Although Li Yi's roots are Cantonese vegetables, there are many branches. Western food, Lu cuisine, Fujian cuisine, Sichuan cuisine, etc. Therefore, when designing new dishes, he will take the four seasons as a blueprint, combine the seasonal ingredients in the four seasons, but not only the local ingredients, but also look for some special local ingredients, coupled with the variety of cooking techniques to make the food qualitatively change.
Nowadays, many chefs will see some good dishes, and they will directly copy, tangible but soulless. Li Yi does not oppose copy, you can absorb the good places made by others, but you must have your own soul in it, this dish is different from others, there is a connotation and a story, so that it is sublimation, giving the dish a new life, and achieving the realm of "people without me, people with my essence". "The ingredients are for people to eat, and you can't deviate from them just to look good." Li Yi said that Cantonese cuisine is about "the people take food as the sky, and food takes taste first" The taste must be OK. In my opinion, Li Yi is both traditional and not traditional, innovative but not absolutely innovative. In his words, no matter how innovative you are, don't stay away from the things handed down by the teachers, "I will never make a dish!" ”
Stir-fry out a rainbow of slices
Many things have their own masters, Li Yi's dream is to stir-fry a rainbow, definitely not a joke!
More than ten years ago, Li Yigang made a wok under the master in Hong Kong, the master was strict and demanding, and could not be produced if it did not meet the standards, at that time, Li Yi's technology was not solid enough and young, and the busier he was, the more upset he became. At this moment, Li Yi, who was buried in stir-frying, threw the pot, and the oil on the dish in the pot bumped into the water column of the dragon head on the side, just when the steam of the hot water on the side of the pot rose, and suddenly formed a layer of oil film to bloom out of a rainbow At that moment, Li Yi smiled ~ The more you pay, the greater the return, it turns out that as long as you insist on the miracle in front, it will lead you to success!
Li Yi is more traditional, he feels that chefs must have a bottom line, and they must have a reverence for the industry and ingredients. In the case of chicken, some chefs will feel that removing the bones and roasting or frying them will be convenient when you eat them. Removing the bone in order to present the taste is two completely different things. You remove the bone, its juice will drain, remove the bone, the meat will deform, it will be very dry. Fish remove meat, bones remove, it is okay. Because the fish is removed, the water can be retained with protein and not too much nutrient loss. You must not forget some of the things of your ancestors, which have been verified for hundreds of years or even thousands of years, not that you say that you just patted your head and changed it.
It is more to persevere and enjoy
Doing the kitchen is hard and tiring, especially when you have a family, and a lot of the time you will ignore your family for work. People who can persist after the passion and continue to walk in the kitchen today are definitely loving this line of work, not just to support their families or forced to be helpless.
Li Yi often says to his confused chefs, "You have to think about why you are in this industry, if it is just to earn some wages, you might as well change to a Didi driver and Meituan takeaway." Today, the chefs of Li Yi's team have followed him for at least five years, 5 fields, they really love the industry, and Li Yi has a sense of belonging, and can go to the end of cooking "food" together, because Li Yi is not only insisting on doing one thing, or loving, but also enjoying.
Baron talks to Chef
Baron: How do you think it takes to make a restaurant a good one?
Li Yi: I think there are two parts that are very important, one is the service, and the other is the kitchen. To do a good job, you must have a good team, as a chef you need to have technology, wisdom and management ability, personal charm, etc., to solidify this team, and then you set a correct standard for everyone to do together. And the service of this piece, the soul is our production, followed by the quality of hardware and waiter service.
Today's chefs, not only in the kitchen, but also to go out, to understand today's service, how today's production, how to give back to the guests, in order to better do the future dishes and manage the restaurant.
Baron: What would you do if you left the system one day?
Li Yi: I want to open a small shop, cook my favorite dishes, not just for a living, but to enjoy the pleasure of food to the taste buds with friends who love food from all over the world.