Chapter 751 The Polar Region
When they first arrived, the five people in Tan Palace felt most deeply about the kitchen managed by the three French chefs. One word - pervert!
First of all, the requirements for cleanliness and hygiene here are extremely abnormal.
There are two meals a day. Once the meal is paid, the kitchen will start to be cleaned.
After cleaning, the French head chef on duty will personally check the hygiene.
The stove, cabinets, knives and chopping boards just look clean, but they actually wipe them with white hand towels.
As long as it is a little dirty or greasy, it will be "sucked to death".
I guarantee that I will give you a real scolding and scolding.
After you give up, you will be asked to clean it three times again, and you will have to fill out a fault report and your money will be deducted.
Not to mention the kitchen hygiene standards of ordinary Chinese restaurants these days, even the hygiene standards of Tan Palace are useless here.
There was no way to muddle through.
So white vinegar has become an indispensable treasure in Maxim’s kitchen. It is a bottle of kitchen whitening fairy water that everyone has in hand!
French chefs also treat personal hygiene issues in the kitchen very abnormally.
Not to mention the trimming of hair, beard, and nails, and the chef’s uniform must be spotless.
They actually require that as long as anyone leaves the kitchen during working hours, no matter what the reason, the first thing to do when stepping into the kitchen again is to sanitize their hands.
The chef's hat can only be taken off when the chef announces the bill!
But this is still good. A more perverted request than this would be the unforgettable cleaning day every Friday.
When doing general cleaning, clean the workbench first.
The chefs in the back kitchen had to pour a bucket of water with detergent on the stainless steel work table that had moved everything to other tables.
When the water flows to the ground like a waterfall, first wipe it with a rag slowly.
Then use a glass scraper to scrape off the water in one direction.
Finally, wipe it dry with dry paper, and the workbench is now clean.
Next, everyone uses the same method to clean the refrigerated cabinet doors embedded under the cleaning workbench one by one.
After all the countertops and cabinets in the cold snow area have been cleaned, connect a thick water pipe to the faucet and use a large flow of water to flush the floor.
Then use a huge scraper like a mop to push all the accumulated water and debris on the ground to the sewer opening.
Finally, wrap up the garbage collected at the sewer entrance and throw it away.
At this point, the simplest ground work is completed.
However, this work is far from over. How can it be enough to just clean up the personal workbench and the floor?
Be sure to ensure that there is no trace of dirt in any corner of the kitchen.
Then the more difficult aerial cleaning and the more troublesome wall cleaning began.
From the worktop to the refrigerator door to the tiles in the corners, the chefs in the kitchen have to clean everything several times.
I even had to climb up to the stove, remove the windows of the oil fume duct one by one, wipe them all carefully with steel wool, rinse them again, and wipe them again.
All exposed pipes, stoves, and shelves should be cleaned according to this process until there is no trace of oil stains.
Until the kitchen gleams like it has never cooked before, it is considered qualified.
Executive Chef Dominic's most well-known saying in the kitchen is "There will never be room for oil fume in my kitchen."
There is no doubt that in the eyes of Chinese people, all of this is an unimaginable exaggeration.
In addition, the preparation work before starting the meal is also very abnormal.
Every morning at seven o'clock, the kitchen and warehouse of Maxim Restaurant are already in full swing counting, reviewing, distributing, and managing the freshly arrived ingredients one after another.
In fact, this job is not complicated for kitchen veterans.
Because the purchasing procedures for Chinese and Western food are similar, it’s just a little more difficult.
Almost always after the goods are shipped to the warehouse, all receipts are reviewed to ensure quality and quantity, and then the invoice amount is checked with the chef.
But how to handle the ingredients later is very different between Chinese food and Western food.
Chinese food focuses on the harmony of the five flavors.
Although the texture of the ingredients is important, the cooking techniques and seasoning are more important.
Moreover, Chinese chefs can make both original and altered flavors.
No matter whether it is frozen meat, dry goods, or pickled products, even if the ingredients are not very fresh, they can still be used.
So in addition to washing the commonly used vegetables and cutting onions, ginger and garlic.
In other words, the red table is used to cut out the meat according to parts, and then distribute the dry goods.
Once most of the goods are stored in the warehouse, it’s done.
Take the kitchen of Tan Palace as an example. The most arduous daily preparation work is actually the soup set and white table.
In addition to lifting countless cans of soup stock, the soup team is also responsible for making semi-finished products for later use.
Needless to say, Bai An, steamed buns, dumplings, noodles, old noodle steamed buns, if they are not made in advance, how can they be sold?
But the good thing is that the soup team and Bai An work almost all day long, and the fire on the stove never stops.
The soup team is always simmering, boiling, simmering, and stewing. There is always a steamer on the white table, but there is no need to do surprise work and compete for time.
On the other hand, Western food is not acceptable.
Western food is mainly pure, and pays attention to the original flavor of the ingredients. What you eat is fresh. Most of the dishes are freshly made and sold.
Even the sauce must be freshly made.
Especially Maxim Restaurant, not only has a lot of fresh vegetables and imported fruits, but also a lot of seafood and dairy products, and there are also many purely imported steaks.
There are too many fresh ingredients that need to be processed in advance.
Take vegetables that are the easiest to pack, there are dozens of them.
Because most of them are extremely picky about humidity and temperature, such as: fresh spices, celery, asparagus, etc.
The processing process is actually not simple. It also requires a series of large amounts of work to complete.
To process vegetables according to the requirements of French chefs, you must first pick the most beautiful leaves by category, tear them into bite-size pieces, put them in a large basin, and wash them carefully.
In order to clean away the sediment and dirt, each type of blade needs to be cleaned at least twice, and blades that are particularly prone to hiding sand need to be cleaned three or four times.
After washing, use a huge salad drain bucket to dry the water, and then separate them into prepared crisper boxes, label them, and store them in the storage room until it is time to eat. Just take it out again.
This is done to maximize the freshness of the vegetables.
To do this well, first go to the dishwashing room to find a water filter bucket and several large basins for washing leaves, and then go to the storage room to find a few crisper boxes, the kind with lids.
Go to another room, soak some non-woven fabric, put it in an insulated box and fold it up, separate different types of vegetables, and get some more to cover the top vegetables.
After all the above preparations are done, vegetables can be washed.
After all work is completed, the work area must be cleaned quickly and all utensils cleaned and returned to their original places.
As you can imagine, it takes so much effort to prepare a simple salad. How much work it is to prepare the entire menu according to the ingredients.
And since this ingredient preparation work requires shuttling back and forth between the freezer and the fresh-keeping warehouse at minus five degrees to plus five degrees, it takes more than two hours to start.
The chefs in the back kitchen also have to overcome the test of low temperature and frost, and they need to have certain polar survival skills.
Just like the TV show thirty years later, stay awake, slow down your breathing, reduce body heat consumption...
But this is just the tip of the iceberg. Speaking of which, Preparation is still the most relaxing time of the day. In fact, at eleven o'clock every day, when the morning preparations come to an end, the siren will officially sound half an hour later, and the real uncomfortable suffering is yet to come.
Not to mention anything else, just so that all the kitchen staff can be in place when the meal starts at 11:30, the staff lunch time of just thirty minutes is particularly precious!
Don’t think that the staff meals at Maxim’s Restaurant are just that good.
Although there is no shortage of money here, even though it sells world-famous French cuisine, the job of the chefs is to deal with delicious food all day long.
But in order to ensure that employees are clear-headed, French chefs usually arrange lunch for employees with juice, coffee and cold food.
For Chinese people who are used to eating hot meals, this is simply the greatest physical abuse.
It’s quite fresh at first, and one or two meals is okay, but after a long time, who can stand it?
To be honest, it is purely a foreign crime.
When it’s time to serve the meal, the kitchen will become even more terrifying because the dishes must be served according to the customer’s order within the specified time.
As soon as the restaurant's business hours arrive and the guests sit down, the order is placed in the kitchen.
Every aspect will be under the full control of the chef, and the time between hot and cold meals will be strictly controlled.
There is no room for any differences in plate temperature, texture, sauce, decoration, etc.!
The chefs in the Western kitchen must also obey orders and do not have any time to hesitate. Every job must be done quickly, accurately and well.
So, the kitchen is no longer a kitchen, but a battlefield without smoke!
The chefs, like soldiers, activated the first-level combat mode, OnFire!
Not only must everyone strictly follow the chef's instructions, it can be called a mountain of military orders!
And the loud and powerful "OuiChef" will also ring through the kitchen!
Needless to say, as generals commanding the three armies, the "violent tempers" of the three French chefs were extremely stinky at this time and unparalleled.
Not only do they get angry, they get angry!
It's like three extremely vicious thugs, or lunatics.
They must not see anyone doing anything unimportant for even a second.
The ordering rhythm is chaotic, the dish delivery speed is slow, the color of the sauce is wrong, the work surface is not clean enough...
These are all reasons for them to verbally abuse.
Any subordinate in their mouth may become a fool who causes a hundred stupid troubles!
And in this hurry and race against time, no one can explain themselves.
Even if he is really innocent, if he is scolded wrongly, then he is scolded wrongly!
You still want to argue? That is a deliberate mistake and you will be kicked out of the kitchen!
So when the chef raises his voice and reprimands, or even throws things, the "little soldiers" can do nothing but admit their mistakes and "OuiChef".
Not to mention burns, cuts, and scratches!
This is something that shouldn't happen.
If it really happens, no matter who it is, they must pack it up immediately and return to their post after one minute to continue the work they just did.
This is the military discipline of Western chefs!
Seriously, those gentlemen and ladies who sit in the restaurant, listen to elegant and beautiful background music, and eat carefully and elegantly.
I would never imagine what it looks like in the kitchen.
The chef was shouting at him continuously. "Quick! Quick! Quick!"
The chefs' minds are racing to keep track of the list, as well as various special requirements for not eating meat, seafood, mushrooms, and dairy products.
At the same time, we have to make, arrange, and clean up in a hurry without making any mistakes.
The pressure is like food in a pressure cooker, it can only be described as an adrenaline rush.
Only after the meal mission is over will the three French guys regain their senses and become somewhat human again.
“Voilàc'estfinimerciàtous!”
This is the French sentence that all the "little soldiers" in the kitchen look forward to hearing from several French chefs every day.
Unfortunately, the cleaning work is imminent again, and the physically demanding "scrubbing" task is about to begin again.
This made everyone who was exhausted still unable to relax completely. They could only brace themselves and continue to work hard...
So it is conceivable that the five chefs from Tan Palace came to Such a place.
The sudden mental stimulation I experienced was so great that I felt at a loss as to what to do.
Not for anything else, but mainly because there are too many rules that they need to adapt to and learn!
When walking up and down the stairs, the chef should walk very quickly, but not run.
If the number of tasks that need to be processed is less than one hundred, it should not take more than half an hour to complete the tasks, and you should do other tasks immediately after completion.
You can’t look for something for more than thirty seconds, otherwise the chef next to you will ask you what you are looking for.
And help you find it quickly. If you can't find it, give up quickly.
The time it takes to wash things is even measured in seconds.
In order to be safe and save time, when moving in the kitchen, you must shout "hot" in a long and loud voice to remind others to avoid it.
Use a ruler to measure when cutting things, use a measuring cup to accurately measure the soup and pour it into the dishes...and so on.
It is not an exaggeration to say that they were completely confused. It was inevitable that they would be the ones scolded the most.
Those three French guys don’t care that they all work as chefs in Tan Palace. They don’t care that each of them is the leader of their respective groups in Tan Palace.
Not only did he always scold them, he was even more harsh than he treated the people in his own kitchen, and he wished he could just rush them away.
When it comes to teaching them how to cook French food, they don’t do it at all. They just use them as handymen.
The only chance for them to learn a little bit about French cooking is probably to catch up with three French chefs every week who are in a good mood and maybe cook a dish in the kitchen.
That is a public class, anyone can watch it.
And because of the language barrier, they didn’t even have a chance to ask questions.
As for the reason for such cold reception, it is actually not difficult to understand.
Whether foreigners have taught their disciples to starve their masters to death, I can’t say yet.
But the three French chefs definitely don’t want to waste their efforts on a few of them who are destined to leave, that’s for sure.
Even others in the kitchen thought so.
No one, not even their own compatriots, believed that these five people could adapt to the harsh environment here.
Think about it, most of the long-term employees hired by Maxim's Restaurant couldn't adapt.
Not to mention these outsiders, and two of them are women.
Of course, I'm afraid there are some reasons for being scornful of peers here.
The chefs who can stay here are, after all, the first batch of chefs in the country to learn French cuisine. They are somewhat conscious that it is not easy to persevere, and they have a superior attitude.
Especially seeing the advantages of Western food, I feel the grandeur of Maxim Restaurant every day.
They were somewhat dissatisfied and had some doubts about Tan Gong Restaurant, which opened almost at the same time as Maxim Restaurant and quickly became popular.
For this reason, not only did some people help him commit crimes, but some even made private bets that they would leave voluntarily when they couldn't stand it anymore.
(End of this chapter)