Although the assistants haven’t held the spatula yet, they don’t feel such psychological pressure. However, the boss is clearly trying to reorganize the kitchen. If they slack off now, who knows if there will be sudden measures taken against them?
Only a fool would run into the fire at a time like this.
After all, they went to great lengths to get hired as kitchen assistants at Shangshi Private Kitchen with the goal of learning excellent culinary skills.
Now that the boss demands strictness and the chefs work diligently, it’s a perfect opportunity for them to learn by observing nearby.
At the moment, Fu Yu is learning to cook from the boss himself, which is an incredibly rare opportunity.
Several assistants seem to be quietly focusing on their work, but in reality, they’re each trying to find opportunities to watch Fu Yu’s every move.
After all, Fu Yu is now learning the cooking techniques of the Liu Family Cuisine, personally taught by the boss.
If they could pick up even a trick or two from this, it would be greatly beneficial.
Now that Liu Zhangpeng has gone over to talk to Fu Yu, several assistants immediately perk up their ears to eavesdrop.
It’s not just Liu Zhangpeng; others are also quite curious about this matter.
How exactly did Fu Yu accurately determine the culinary preferences of others based on the diners’ eating habits?
Speaking of this, Liu Zhangpeng felt quite complicated.
"Chef Kang came to dine that day and was very satisfied with the dishes here. At that time, I was assisting with the cooking along with the boss. The boss said that he only knew about Chef Kang’s culinary preferences after hearing it from you. How did you do it?"
Fu Yu: "Oh, Chef Kang called me over to the private room for a chat. I noticed on his table that the scallions and cilantro were picked out from a few dishes, and there was another dish where most of the side dishes were untouched, but the white jade mushrooms were picked clean. Mainly because that dish had quite a lot of white jade mushrooms, it was particularly evident."
As soon as he said this, Liu Zhangpeng was stunned for a moment. Could it be...?
It’s really that simple?
Thinking of this, Liu Zhangpeng couldn’t help but ask: "Did you just look at it that simply to figure it out? Then how did you determine that Chef Kang likes eating vegetables over meat?"
After all, Qianlima is a seafood restaurant.
Fu Yu explained: "Oh, in the dishes he ordered, there was one with some pork chunks in it. I noticed that it was almost untouched, yet the side dishes were picked out cleanly, so I figured that Chef Kang should prefer eating vegetables."
"Because the pork chunks in that dish are a major highlight, with exceptional taste, unless someone doesn’t like meat, almost everyone would love it once they try it."
So that’s how it was.
Liu Zhangpeng nodded, realizing there’s really no shortcut for this; it’s all about paying more attention, being meticulous, and observing more.
However...
Liu Zhangpeng looked at Fu Yu’s young and handsome face, and silently sighed in his heart.
In terms of age, I definitely can’t compete with Fu Yu.
In terms of looks... forget it, let’s not bring that up.
To make the boss and the mentor pay more attention to myself, unless Fu Yu stops coming by in the future.
That is surely impossible.
So the only way out for myself is to have Fu Yu highlight me appropriately.
Liu Zhangpeng put his hand on Fu Yu’s shoulder: "Chef Fu, can we discuss something between us?"
Fu Yu curiously glanced sideways: "Go ahead."
Liu Zhangpeng sincerely said: "Could you not perform so excellently? You have no idea, the look my teacher gives me now, it’s full of disdain! I’m really afraid he might impulsively kick me out to take in new disciples!"
The few assistants eavesdropping all nodded immediately in agreement.
Indeed!
Could you stop being so awesome?
Your skills make it hard for us to live!
Looking at the pitiful and aggrieved Liu Zhangpeng, Fu Yu sighed helplessly.
Is it wrong to be excellent?
...
In the situation where he couldn’t refuse Liu Zhangpeng’s enthusiastic offering of a dessert coupon, Fu Yu promised to act low-key in the future and to be modest in his conduct.
Avoid bragging, showing off, or flaunting techniques whenever possible.
Fu Yu quietly glanced at the dessert coupon.
Worth 200 yuan.
Enough to exchange for a big cake for Liu Yuqing.
After spending a lot of time together, Fu Yu realized that Liu Yuqing had a special fondness for sweets.
He planned to find some time to exchange for a cake to give to Liu Yuqing, making her really happy.
Thinking about it, it felt quite nice to get something for free.
Fu Yu blissfully put away the coupon.
Just then, Wang Yulong came over, noticing Fu Yu holding a recipe book, and smiled kindly: "Xiaofu, today we’re serving stuffed dishes at our restaurant, be sure to follow your teacher closely and learn, you won’t see such an authentic way out there."
Fu Yu nodded with a smile: "Okay, Chef Wang."
Wang Yulong smiled, feeling more and more satisfied with Fu Yu.
This young man is indeed impressive, not arrogant or impetuous, and handsome too, importantly, he has talent.
Silently sighing to himself, he turned and saw Liu Zhangpeng standing aside peering over.
Wang Yulong’s expression changed suddenly, and he sternly said: "Zhangpeng! If you’re not busy, you should hurry up and practice the stuffing technique for the stuffed dishes. If you don’t catch up with the bean sprout stuffing, then we might as well not have this dish in the future."
Liu Zhangpeng quickly responded: "Teacher, I will start practicing right now."
Wang Yulong sighed: "It’s not just me saying this, you really need to put more effort into honing your skills, getting close to red makes you red, getting close to ink makes you black, you should get closer to Xiaofu and communicate more."
There was one more thing he hadn’t said out loud, to give Liu Zhangpeng some face in front of others.
Today, Fu Yu was learning to make stuffed dishes for the first time, and he might just surpass him in the end.
Wang Yulong looked at his disappointing apprentice, sighed deeply, and turned back to his cooking station.
Leaving Fu Yu and Liu Zhangpeng looking at each other.
Fu Yu tried to explain: "I..."
Liu Zhangpeng clenched his fists: "What, what!"
Fu Yu was taken aback, sighing: "Well..."
Liu Zhangpeng glared: "You’re still talking!"
Fu Yu felt very helpless, and really wronged.
He honestly... didn’t say or do anything!
Shaking his head, Fu Yu turned to arrange the seasoning bottles on the cooking station.
Forget it, no showing off during cooking, just follow the teacher’s lead and learn the techniques well.
...
The atmosphere in the kitchen was always very harmonious.
After all, with Liu Yunong personally overseeing things, everyone was relatively relaxed.
Wang Yulong and Liu Zhangpeng handled the cooking, while Liu Yunong was teaching and cooking with Fu Yu, and the assistants were busy with their tasks while trying to learn from others surreptitiously.
In the kitchen, with experience from anyone’s fingers, they could gain a lot.
Don’t assume every assistant will have the chance to take charge of cooking.
Without several years or even decades of culinary experience, it’s quite tough for ordinary people to hold their own.
Especially for those like them, who came into Liu Family Cuisine without prior experience.
Before the cooking began, Liu Yunong placed the ingredients prepared by the assistants onto the rack next to the cooking station, checked them one by one, and then decided on the cooking order.
Fu Yu followed beside, taking a close look at the specific related ingredients.
However, Fu Yu suddenly remembered something, regarding how to choose the right combination of meat stuffing and vegetables.
Thinking of this, he turned to Liu Yunong: "Teacher, are the stuffed dishes we make here the classic version or the improved version?"
Stuffed dishes emphasize embedding the meat stuffing into the vegetables, where some vegetables are large and easy to stuff.
But some vegetables are quite small, making it challenging to stuff the meat into them.
Because it was so difficult to operate during cooking, many dishes were later improved upon.
Just like the classic old taste recipes he saw yesterday, without a few years of practice, there’s no way to make them.
Moreover, even if they can be made, these time-consuming and laborious dishes that don’t sell for high prices probably won’t easily make it onto the menu.
At least, when he was at Qianlima, his restaurant was like this, with many classic dishes being retired for this reason.