Chapter 260 Trials

After entering the house, the old lady finally understood why Baoru was not at home to invite them to dinner, as there was no room for them at home.

Their house only has one room, with a simple wooden bed against the wall, a writing desk, a bookcase, and a desk next to the bed. There is a three-door cupboard and a shelf near the door. Towels are hung on the shelf, a washbasin is placed on the upper layer, and bowls and chopsticks are placed on the lower layer.

"Bao...Baoru, you live here?" The old lady asked, pulling Zhuang Baoru aside, "If your grandparents knew that you lived in a place like this..."

Although Baoru is the adopted daughter of the Ye family, she is extremely loved by the two ancestors of the Ye family.

In the mid-1950s, Britain and the United States imposed a blockade on China, preventing Chinese scientists from returning to China. Baoru went to Singapore from the United States in the name of visiting relatives, and then returned to China via Singapore. Since then, she has become a concern in the hearts of the two ancestors. Before they died, they repeatedly asked them to find Baoru and take good care of her.

"Mom, everyone's housing conditions are not good. Many professors have returned in the past two years, and the school's housing is becoming increasingly tight. The leaders did consider giving us a new house with a separate kitchen and bathroom." Zhuang Baoru smiled, "But Xiaoying and Xiaoya have gone to the United States, and Weiwen and I are at school and the research institute from morning to night. When we come back, we just sleep. There is really no need for such a big place."

The old lady sighed. This room was not even as big as the cloakroom at home.

Yue Ning was looking at the photos pressed under the glass of the desk, one of which was a photo of Uncle Mo and her father holding her together.

Her fingers gently stroked the figure of her father in the photo, and she thought to herself: If only my father were still here.

Mo Weiwen reached out and touched her head, and said, "Dad will be very happy to see how good you are."

"Ningning, the car is here, let's go." Ye Yunxian urged at the door.

Yue Ning turned around and responded: "Coming."

"Grandma, uncle, aunt, my sister and I are going to the hotel." Yue Ning greeted the elders.

"Go ahead!"

Yue Ning and Ye Yunxian walked out together. The general manager of Jinhua Hotel had been waiting at the entrance of the alley. When he saw Ye Yunxian, he hurried over to greet her.

Today, Ye Yunxian manages the Ye family's three hotels in Singapore and Malaysia. The Ye family waited for 30 years for China to open its doors, and returned to China as soon as the doors opened. They have invested in three hotels in China, and Yuecheng Hong'an is expected to be completed by the middle of next year.

The Hong An in Beijing and Shanghai are not independent hotels, but buildings that integrate hotels and department stores. Due to the complexity of the project, the construction period will be relatively long, and it is expected to start operation in the second half of 1984.

The scale of these three projects is not small, so Ye Yunxian, the eldest daughter of the Ye family, was sent to Hong Kong City to be responsible for the future management of hotels in Hong Kong City and the mainland.

The predecessor of Jinhua Hotel was Hong'an Hotel, which was one of the top luxury hotels during the Republic of China period and also one of the largest hotels owned by the Ye family at that time.

This hotel was nationalized after liberation and became one of the first state guesthouses in Shanghai.

This time when Hong An returned to Shanghai, and only joint ventures were allowed in the mainland, the Ye family chose Jinhua as their partner, largely because Jinhua’s predecessor was Hong An.

Jinhua Hotel is a seven-story building that combines the Nanyang and Baroque styles. Adjacent to it is a department store with the same style, and the two are connected by a sky bridge.

Yue Ning followed Ye Yunxian out of the car, and the general manager of Jinhua Hotel took them into the conference room on the ground floor.

At this time, Chef Dong Yinkui was talking with the leaders of the Shanghai Second Commercial Bureau.

Last time, Chef Dong, Chef Lu and others went to Hong Kong City and brought back the videotape of last year's Chef King Competition. After they went back to study it, they had many questions about the competition.

Moreover, that video was of the Hong Kong and Macau Chef King Competition, while the new competition was open to the whole world, and the rules had changed a lot. It was impossible to explain it clearly over the phone, and the phone charges in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan were very high, so it was impossible to talk for a long time. It just so happened that Yue Ning was going to the mainland, and his destination was Shanghai.

The leaders were worried that the participating chefs had never been abroad, and that when they went to Hong Kong to compete, they might make some low-level mistakes, which would lead to such a high-level team being eliminated in the preliminary round. That would be too embarrassing.

Therefore, they simply merged the trials in Beijing and Shanghai, and asked Yue Ning for guidance while she was there.

In this competition, Hong An Hotel in Hong Kong is the largest sponsor, and also provides round-trip air tickets as well as food and accommodation for the three participating teams from the mainland.

Moreover, the last time the Ye family father and daughter came to the mainland for inspection, their decision to invest was one thing, but they were not very satisfied with the current situation of mainland hotels, even the state guesthouses like Jinhua.

They invited Yip Wing-han, ostensibly to ask for her guidance, but in reality they also wanted her to experience the charm of traditional Chinese cuisine.

Since Yue Ning and Ye Yunxian had limited time, they only participated in the review of two main dishes.

At this time, the six stoves on the scene were busy cooking. Dong Yinkui introduced to the two of them: "This time the time is too tight. The leader means that we can only select from the teams sent by several units. We have reported to the superiors and plan to hold a 'National Cooking Master Skills Performance Appraisal Conference' next year."

Yue Ning nodded and said, "Let's take a look at the situation outside first, and then think about how to improve it. For HTV, this is also the first time they have hosted such a large-scale event. This year's influence will definitely not be very large. Only if we do a good job of organizing the competition this year, will more teams from other regions participate in the competition in the future."

The person in charge of the selection competition introduced to them the participating teams, which were all chefs from famous hotels and restaurants in Beijing and Shanghai.

Yue Ning saw Lu Peide's cousin Lu Yude preparing the dishes, so he said to Dong Yinkui, "Second Uncle Dong, go back and tell Second Uncle Lu that Brother Lu has become more and more successful recently."

When Lu Yude heard Yue Ning mention his cousin, he paused for a moment.

"How did you become successful?" Dong Yinkui asked.

"He wants to study university courses, get a bachelor's degree, and then go to a French business school to study hotel management." Yue Ning said, "So I got in touch with the college in Hong Kong that trains professional service talents for us. I plan to set up such a project to not only train chefs' cooking skills and management capabilities, but also help them improve their academic qualifications. Cultivate senior talents in restaurant and hotel management with an international perspective."

Previously, when Chef Dong and Chef Lu went to Gangcheng, Yue Ning mentioned to them that perhaps Beijing and Shanghai could also adopt the same approach as Yuecheng and come to Gangcheng for training.

“Does this mean that trained chefs will also have the opportunity to go to France?” asked the leader of the Shanghai Second Commercial Bureau.

In this era, the quota to go to Europe is extremely precious. Yue Ning nodded and replied: "I will send a very small number of chefs who are particularly outstanding and have a management vision to study abroad, and those who are sent out must work in the Hong'an Hotel in the future."

Ye Yunxian said, "Ningning discussed this with me on the way here, and I agree with her idea. France's catering and hotel management level is at the top level in the world, and Hong'an also plans to carry out similar cooperation. When I stopped in Yuecheng, I proposed to Director Song of Yuecheng Second Commercial Bureau that Hong'an Hotel in Hongcheng should also carry out similar training projects. Director Li, you might as well take a look at the effect of Yuecheng's training first, and then see whether to send people to Hongcheng to study."

“Okay, okay!”

Yue Ning smelled the aroma of braised meat. She walked forward, looked at the steaming casserole and asked, "Braised?"

The fat chef who was busy preparing cold dishes shook his head: "No."

"Su Zao meat?" Yue Ning asked again.

"Girl, you are really knowledgeable." said the fat chef with a smile.

Yue Ning also smiled and said, "I have to try it later."

"Of course."

Yue Ning continued to walk forward. After Yue Ning walked away, Dong Yinkui said to the chef, "Be careful with your words."

"What's wrong? I saw in the video that this girl is quite generous!" said the chef nonchalantly.

Dong Yinkui couldn't do anything about him and had to move forward.

Yue Ning picked up the braised sauce prepared by the chef of Jinhua Hotel, scooped a little with a small spoon to taste it, then gave a thumbs up and praised: "This braised sauce is well made. Where did this mud come from?"

"It was sent by the winery designated by our hotel. It's better than the usual fermented dregs, and tastes more fragrant when it's hung out." The chef asked, "I saw in the video that your restaurant also makes fermented dregs."

"Yes! There are many people from Shanghai and Ningbo in the port city, and they like to eat this dish." Yue Ning said.

The chef nodded and said, "You can try what we cook later."

"good."

The next person was the chef from Shanghai West Suburb Guest House. Yue Ning saw him breaking the fascia of the pork chops.

"What are you going to cook?"

"Pork chops in egg sauce," the chef replied. "Foreign guests like to eat fried pork chops wrapped in bread crumbs. We improved it a bit and used fluffy egg batter to make fried pork chops. It has a unique flavor."

Yue Ning smiled and said, "It must be paired with spicy soy sauce, and it would be best if it has a bottle of orange soda."

After the chef marinated the pork chops, he began to prepare the egg batter and said, "You know how to eat it."

The chef from the next restaurant was wielding his knife very quickly as he was slicing meat. He had already prepared shredded green peppers on the side.

"Master, are you going to make shredded pork with green peppers?" Yue Ning asked.

After the chef cut the meat into strips, he began to mix the seasonings and starch. He said: "I don't use starch to coat it, but rely on the strength of my hands to 'make the starch'. I use refined salt, white pepper powder, and a little rice wine, stir until the meat strips become sticky, and then drizzle cooked rapeseed oil on it to seal in the oil and moisture."

Yue Ning was intrigued by his cooking method and stood there without moving, watching him blanch the green pepper strips first, and then fry the shredded pork in the oil pan.

Then, the chef heated up the iron pan, and when it started to smoke, he poured a circle of cold oil to lubricate the pan, then immediately poured it out and replaced it with lard. When the lard was completely melted and smoking, he added green peppers and shredded pork, stir-fried them for a few times, and immediately added the prepared seasonings. As soon as the aroma of the sauce came out, he immediately turned off the heat.

The green pepper and pork shreds came out of the pot, and the chef said, "Please taste it."