A bowl of three-shrimp noodles in the morning, with the most seasonal and delicious taste, starts a new day for the whole family.
This can actually be said to be the true characteristic of Huaiyang cuisine, or Suzhou cuisine. What you eat is the flavor of the season, and what you taste is the freshness.
After breakfast, Feng Yifan packed up his things and went into the kitchen to start his busy day.
Feng Ruoruo originally wanted to go to the kitchen to see her father, but was stopped by her grandparents, who said they wanted to take their granddaughter out for a walk.
"Ruoruo, grandpa and grandma will take you out for a walk, okay?"
"That's right, I'm going out to play with grandma and grandpa. When we come back from playing, we can have lunch."
When Feng Ruoruo heard what her grandparents said, the little girl fell into a state of hesitation and entanglement.
In fact, the little girl didn't want to go out. She wanted to stay at home and watch her father in the kitchen. She liked to be with her father and watch him work, and she could help a little by the side.
But grandpa had come with great difficulty, and the little girl hadn’t seen him for a week or two, and she also wanted to go out and play with her grandparents.
So at this time, the little girl was really confused and didn't know what to do
Finally, it was mother Su Ruoxi who spoke up: "How about this, I'll go with you and leave the house to Grandpa Shi, Grandpa, and Dad, okay?"
Hearing that her mother was going too, Feng Ruoruo immediately became nervous: "Oh, Mom, are you going too? What about the family? Dad, Grandpa, and Grandpa Shi will be too busy to take care of it."
When Shi Jinbin heard what the little girl said, he immediately said, "What's the matter? Do you still look down on Grandpa Shi? Do you think Grandpa Shi can't take good care of your grandpa?"
Feng Ruoruo stepped forward and said, "No, Grandpa Shi, if you, Grandpa, and Dad stay, you will have to work in the kitchen and look after the restaurant. It will be very busy and too tiring."
Hearing the little girl say "it's too hard" with a serious face really made the elderly people feel heartwarming.
Shi Jinbin couldn't help but say, "Oh, Jinrong, your little girl is so heartwarming and good at talking. It's so comfortable to listen to her."
Su Jinrong smiled and said, "Ruoruo, you have always been very well behaved and warm-hearted."
Grandpa Feng Jiandong went on to say: "Our Ruoruo is really caring and likable."
Lu Cuiling hugged her granddaughter and said, "Grandma's little darling, your words really warm my heart. I really don't want to be separated from you."
Feng Ruoruo also hugged her grandmother and said, "Grandma, we won't separate."
Feng Yifan came out of the kitchen at this time. After listening to the problems everyone was facing, he smiled and said to his daughter, "It's okay, Ruoruo. You and mom can go out with grandpa and grandma. Dad can take care of the restaurant and grandpa. I'll wait for you to come back for lunch, okay?"
Feng Ruoruo looked at her father and asked, "Then Dad, you have to wait for me to come back and pass on the menu."
Feng Yifan smiled and nodded in agreement: "Okay, Dad will wait for Ruoruo to come back before opening the restaurant. I'll wait for Ruoruo to pass me the menu."
After all this talk, the little girl finally agreed: "Okay, mom and I will go out with grandpa and grandma and play for a while, and we will be back soon."
Feng Ruoruo was finally persuaded, and the family immediately began to prepare and soon took the little girl out.
After Feng Ruoruo and her mother accompanied her grandparents out.
Feng Yifan, his father-in-law, and his uncle sat down at a table in the corner of the restaurant near the kitchen and began to discuss the menu for tomorrow's cooking competition with Su Lanxin.
Feng Yifan first handed a menu he had prepared to his father-in-law and uncle-in-law Shi Jinbin for them to see.
The two old men read it carefully together.
Shi Jinbin was the first to ask, "Yifan, are you sure you want to use this menu? Most of the dishes on your menu are based on vegetables, and cooking vegetables is not easy, especially for children."
Feng Yifan nodded seriously: "Yes, I know it's not easy, but I still stick to this menu. I hope the children can eat healthier."
Shi Jinbin continued, "But yours is obviously much more difficult than Chen Wei's."
In Shi Jinbin's opinion, the fact that Chen Wei had obtained so many high-end ingredients already gave him a certain advantage.
You know, whether it is those very high-quality fresh shrimps and crabs, or those sea fish, or some meats including foreign ham and beef.
It can be said that overall, the quality of the ingredients is very high.
The original flavor of high-end ingredients actually has the upper hand.
If Feng Yifan uses some meat dishes, he can make up for some of the gaps through seasoning, and he may even rely on some domestic cooking methods and seasoning techniques to easily surpass the opponent.
But Feng Yifan chose a more difficult path.
He is going to cook some vegetarian dishes.
It is difficult to make vegetarian dishes taste good, and if you want to make vegetarian dishes that children like, the difficulty may be even higher.
So Shi Jinbin was still a little worried, fearing that Feng Yifan would make a mistake in the cooking competition.
After being silent for a long time, Su Jinrong suddenly said, "Well, believe Yifan."
Shi Jinbin did not expect that Su Jinrong would choose to trust his son-in-law. He was also a little surprised that he could still trust his son-in-law so much even though he knew there were great risks.
But seeing Su Jinrong's determined gaze and Feng Yifan's confident smile on his face.
In the end, Shi Jinbin could only nod and say, "Okay, since Yifan is willing to take on the challenge, I will definitely help you this time."
Feng Yifan said to Shi Jinbin seriously: "Thank you, uncle."
Then the three of them worked together to optimize the menu again, determining which dishes were suitable and how to make them.
Shi Jinbin and Su Jinrong also shared their own experiences and optimized the menu very accurately.
Feng Yifan also took it very seriously and integrated some details to determine the final cooking methods.
After the menu was basically finalized, Shi Jinbin suddenly said, "Well, since it's mainly vegetarian dishes, you can wait for my eldest daughter to come and let her give you some advice."
When Su Jinrong heard Shi Jinbin mention his eldest daughter, he immediately asked, "When is it?"
Shi Jinbin turned his head and glanced at the clock on the wall: "Well, we're almost at the station."
Su Jinrong said again: "Let Yifan go and answer it."
Shi Jinbin smiled and waved his hands: "No, this is her first time to the master's place, so of course she has to come by herself. Becoming a disciple is a big deal. If she can't even find the door, what's the point of worshipping?"
When Feng Yifan heard what his uncle said, he couldn't help but laugh and said, "Uncle, you are a bit harsh on my senior sister."
Shi Jinbin said seriously, "This is not too strict. When your senior sister comes, you will know when you ask her. When she wanted to learn cooking from me, I put forward several requirements for her. She was able to do all of them, so I taught her. She suffered a lot."
Su Jinrong said to his son-in-law: "You, uncle, are very serious."
Feng Yifan smiled and nodded: "It can be seen that Master Uncle must be very strict in the kitchen."
Shi Jinbin sighed: "Now that I am older, I don't lose my temper as much. If it were in the past, none of those disciples would not be afraid of me."
Feng Yifan suddenly asked, "Dad, Uncle Master, when Grandpa taught you, was he strict?"
Su Jinrong and Shi Jinbin looked at each other, and the two brothers recalled the past again.
After recalling for a moment, Shi Jinbin said, "Your and Ruoxi's grandfather was actually a very good-tempered person. He rarely got angry, but he was also a very strict person.
In the kitchen, if Fan made even the smallest mistake, he would criticize us seriously, but he never lost his temper or scolded us harshly. He would just explain to us over and over again without listening.
Sometimes, he would even tell us the story many times in all seriousness. "
Listening to my father-in-law and uncle-in-law talking about their experiences learning to cook.
For the first time, Feng Yifan discovered that his grandfather was really serious. Although he was strict, he would never scold his disciples and would not get angry easily.
But from the words of his father-in-law and uncle-in-law, Feng Yifan could easily hear that his grandfather's strictness when teaching was terrifying.
It was like making my uncle cut the wood for three days straight because I made a mistake. It was really boring.
There are also cases where apprentices who make mistakes are forced to cook for a whole day, and then have to eat the food themselves if it doesn’t meet the standards.
How many dishes do you have to eat in a day
The cruelest thing is probably that the apprentice is not allowed to cook for a month.
As a cook, you are not allowed to cook in the kitchen for a month, which is really torture.
The purpose is just to make the apprentice who made a mistake remember his mistake and not make it again next time.
Talking about their apprenticeship days, both brothers Su Jinrong and Shi Jinbin missed the past very much. Although it was hard at that time, there were always many interesting things.
After the two old men chatted for a while, breakfast next door was almost over, so Lin Ruifeng came over to help clean up the restaurant.
Feng Yifan pushed his father-in-law and went to the kitchen with his uncle to prepare the ingredients.
There is still a lot of preparation work to do this morning.
Because not only do we need to prepare some ingredients for today, but we also need to prepare some ingredients for tomorrow's cooking competition, so it is destined to be a very busy day.
Entering the kitchen, Su Jinrong was sitting in a wheelchair, responsible for supervision and giving some suggestions.
Feng Yifan is the only one who is busy, while Shi Jinbin also helps with some small tasks.
Watching Feng Yifan's smooth movements, Shi Jinbin couldn't help but give Su Jinrong a thumbs up again.
This shows Su Jinrong that Feng Yifan is really a great cook.
Although the dishes to be cooked tomorrow will be mainly vegetarian, because they are vegetarian dishes, a lot of soups need to be prepared in advance.
Some soups need to be cooked very carefully and also need to be suspended to ensure that the soup is clear.
After all, the soup is what adds flavor to the vegetarian dishes during the cooking process, so there cannot be too many impurities in the soup, which would create an unpleasant smell and affect the taste of the vegetarian dishes.
While making the soup, Feng Yifan would also prepare some ingredients in advance, and also prepare some meat to go with the vegetarian dishes.
Of course, this also includes the processing of ingredients needed for Su Ji’s lunch and dinner business today.
For example, some ingredients need to be soaked in advance, some ingredients need to be pre-processed in advance, and some ingredients need to be cooked in advance to ensure that they are soft.
The work in the kitchen is really very busy.
Perhaps only by actually entering the kitchen can you understand why Su Ji does not make breakfast according to its rules
The main reason is that there are not enough people. If we want to ensure the quality, prior preparation is essential.
Feng Yifan walked back and forth between the stove and the chopping board, working very quickly and preparing every ingredient quickly.
Even those that need to be cleaned, such as fish need to be slaughtered and cleaned, shrimp need to be cut in advance, and meat needs to be sliced in advance.
Feng Yifan arranged this series of processes in an orderly manner, and it can be said that he really arranged the time very well.
In the eyes of Su Jinrong and Shi Jinbin, two bystanders who were aware of the unusual cleansing in the kitchen industry.
Feng Yifan arranged all the time very reasonably, there were almost no unnecessary movements, everything was so smooth, even a little mechanized.
This requires absolute confidence in one's cooking skills and a thorough understanding of every step involved to be able to do it so accurately.
Of course, there is another crucial point, that is, Feng Yifan is young enough now.
Su Jinrong and Shi Jinbin actually knew a lot of the steps and movements, but if the two old men were to do it, they would not be able to complete the movements very well due to their age.
Later on, when Feng Yifan saw that noon was getting closer, he started to speed up.
Even Shi Jinbin was unable to keep up with the pace and could only watch from the side.
Watching Feng Yifan's movements, Shi Jinbin couldn't help but say to Su Jinrong, "Jinrong, your son-in-law is really amazing. Did you see that? His movements are just like those of his master back then."
Su Jinrong nodded.
Of course he could see it, and before Shi Jinbin came, he seemed to vaguely see his father's figure in his son-in-law more than once.
The father back then, and now the son-in-law, truly possesses the demeanor of a master.
While Feng Yifan was busy in the kitchen, his daughter Feng Ruoruo and her mother had already walked out of the old street with their grandparents.
Today they went out from the east together, then crossed the road outside the east exit of the old street together, and came to a renovated urban area across the road.
This used to be a residential area near the old street. Now the community has been demolished and rebuilt, and tall buildings are rising from the ground.
Standing outside the community, Lu Cuiling looked up at the tall buildings in the community and suddenly said to her daughter-in-law, "Ruoxi, you might as well buy a house here, so you don't have to live above the restaurant, it will be more convenient."
Su Ruoxi was a little surprised when she heard her mother-in-law's words: "Mom, we live well here, why do we want to buy a house here?"
Lu Cuiling continued, "Think about it, Ruoruo will grow up and go to primary school. I heard that there is a good primary school in this community."
Hearing her mother-in-law say this, Su Ruoxi immediately understood what her mother-in-law meant.
Lu Cuiling was considering her granddaughter's future schooling.