Siheyuan: I am different He Yuzhu

While He Yuzhu was discussing something with Director Liu in the Personnel Department's office, everyone in the cafeteria was talking about it, but they all expressed their praise for He Yuzhu. Aunt Zhang smiled and said to Aunt Wang: "Aunt Wang, your son will not have to worry about his job now. It will be easier for him to find a wife in the future."

Aunt Wang responded with a smile: "Aunt Zhang, your family is different, didn't you say that your daughter-in-law has nothing to do at home, so she can come to our canteen and do odd jobs?"

Everyone was silently calculating in their hearts how to use the recommendation quota in their hands. No matter how they used it, they could make their family's life a little better. Master Ma felt more relaxed. He had many children in his family, with 5 sons alone. Now the eldest son was an adult, and he was worried about where to find a job for him. As a result, he came across a steel rolling mill recruiting workers. Although it is said that working in a workshop has better development prospects than working in a canteen, that is for capable people. As a father, how can I not understand the situation of my own son? None of my sons are smart, and they are all honest. They are all workers. Instead of working in a workshop, it is better to work in the canteen. At least working in the canteen is easier than working in a workshop, and it is also safer.

Although Director Liu of the Personnel Department asked Xiao Shen to help deliver it, He Yuzhu felt that it would be better for him to take it back on the way to save the girl from making another trip, so He Yuzhu went to wait outside Xiao Shen's office. After a while, Director Liu came out of the office and planned to tell Xiao Shen to prepare 18 letters of introduction. As a result, he ran into He Yuzhu when he went out. Director Liu asked curiously: "Xiao He, didn't you go back? What are you doing here?"

He Yuzhu smiled and responded, "Director Liu, the cafeteria is not busy right now. I thought your personnel department would be busy next time. I will take the letter of introduction back directly after Xiao Shen has it issued, so that Xiao Shen doesn't have to run back and forth and affect your work."

"Thank you, Xiao He. Wait a moment. I'll ask Xiao Shen to write out the letter of introduction and let you take it back later." Director Liu hurried to the large office where the Personnel Department worked together. About 10 minutes later, Director Liu came out of the large office with a stack of letters of introduction. Director Liu handed the letters of introduction to He Yuzhu and said with a smile, "Okay, Xiao He, these are the 18 letters of introduction prepared for your cafeteria. When you go back, remind the people in the cafeteria not to lose them. This is only for the letters, not the people. Also, remember to remind the people in the cafeteria not to spread the word. Be sure to pay attention to the impact."

He Yuzhu took the letter of introduction handed over by Director Liu and said seriously: "I understand, Director Liu, I will definitely tell the workers in the cafeteria. Then I will leave first, you are busy."

After He Yuzhu returned to the cafeteria with the letter of introduction, he gathered everyone together again. He Yuzhu held up the letter of introduction in his hand and said, "What I have in my hand is the letter of introduction that I asked for from the Personnel Department. Come to me when you get off work, one copy for each person. I'm giving you this letter of introduction in advance, so go back and get it. It won't be replaced if you lose it. Finally, I'd like to remind you that regarding the fact that there are recommendation quotas for people in our cafeteria, don't spread it around when you go back. If it gets out in the wild and others get jealous and report it, you may lose this opportunity." After saying that, He Yuzhu motioned for everyone to get back to their work.

A few days later, the workers who were given priority for the canteen came to the canteen one after another. He Yuzhu gathered the 10 cooks assigned to the kitchen together and looked at the young men standing in a row. He Yuzhu couldn't help but feel regretful. He said that he could recruit people who couldn't cook, but he didn't expect that those recruited by the personnel department and recommended by the canteen staff had never cooked before. They had no basic skills at all. Maybe the only thing they knew was to light a fire at home. But it was useless to say anything now. Since they had recruited people, he could only bite the bullet and do it.

He Yuzhu cleared his throat and said to the young man in front of him with excitement and fear on his face: "Hello, everyone. I am the director of the canteen of the Red Star Steel Rolling Mill. My name is He Yuzhu, and I welcome everyone to work in the canteen. Although you have never cooked at home before coming to work at the Red Star Steel Rolling Mill, don't worry. In the next week, I will teach you how to stir-fry big pot dishes. First of all, I want to tell you that what I teach you is big pot dishes, not small stir-fries in restaurants, so don't think of me as your master. We are not the kind of master-disciple relationship we had in the past. Second, since you have decided to be a chef in the future, the first thing you must remember is that as a chef, you must pay attention to keeping yourself clean and hygienic. Before cooking every time, you must wash your hands, and you are not allowed to keep your fingernails. Your fingernails must be trimmed frequently. If I find black spots between someone's fingernails, don't blame me for being rude."

"Third, due to time constraints, I can only teach you how to make a few fixed big-pot dishes. As for how far your cooking skills can develop in the future, it all depends on your own research and thinking at work. Okay, I've finished. Next, I'll teach you the first step, which is learning to cut vegetables." He Yuzhu picked up a piece of potato and demonstrated to the new chef apprentice.

"When cooking vegetables for a big pot, you don't need to be so delicate. Just cut them roughly. When you hold the knife, you must pay attention to holding the handle with your hand while pinching the blade with your thumb and index finger. With your other hand, make a half fist and hold down the vegetable to be cut. Don't be anxious when cutting. You must keep your hand steady and be careful not to cut your fingers. Then use your eyes to see the position and cut the potatoes into pieces one by one. You are just starting to practice knife skills now, so don't be anxious. When you practice more, you will naturally master the knife skills."

The easy-going He Yuzhu asked the apprentices to go to their respective chopping boards and pick up potatoes to practice. He Yuzhu walked back and forth among the apprentices, observing everyone's cutting posture so that he could point out their mistakes in time.

After all the potato shreds were cut, He Yuzhu led the apprentices to a large pot. He Yuzhu pointed to the scale and the clock on the wall and said, "These two things are what you need for now. When you have mastered the skills, you can stop using them. The scale is for you to weigh the weight of the vegetables you cook in each pot. From now on, you will cook each pot according to a fixed amount. The amount of oil you put in each pot should also be weighed in advance, so that you don't lose control and put too much or too little."

After that, He Yuzhu put a few small pieces of wood into the stove. After the wood was burning, he put a few larger pieces of wood. After the large pieces of wood were fully burned, he added coal. The stove was imitated by He Yuzhu based on the more popular wood stove on a certain audio platform in later generations. After putting in the coal, He Yuzhu pulled the wooden handle on the bellows and pulled it up. After the coal burned, He Yuzhu pointed to the pot and said, "After the water in the pot has dried up for 2 minutes, pour oil into the pot. The oil starts to smoke, and then add onions, ginger, and garlic. When frying onions, ginger, and garlic, remember to swirl the oil in the pot with a spatula to make the surface of the pot stick to the grease, otherwise the shredded potatoes will stick to the pot when you pour them in later; after the onions, ginger, and garlic are fried to this flavor, pour all the shredded potatoes into it, and then you can stir-fry them with a spatula."

"You have to remember that you are cooking in a large pot, so don't flip it too quickly. It's easy to break the potato shreds. Keep your arms steady and stir-fry evenly. After about 5 minutes of stir-frying, you can add water to the pot. Don't add too much water, just enough. Then add the seasonings you prepared in advance, and then wait for the water to boil. Cook for 1 minute and serve." He Yuzhu said to his apprentices while cooking.

After He Yuzhu finished frying the first pot, he took out the shredded potatoes from the pot and put them in a basin. Then he simply cleaned the pot and asked all the apprentices, "Did you remember what I just said? Is there anything else that is unclear? If not, you can form groups of five and each group can fry a pot. One person will fry while the other four will stand by to help. If the four people who are helping find that the person who is frying has done something wrong, they must remind him in time. Tomorrow at noon, the next person will fry while the other four will help. Do you understand?"

All the apprentices shouted in unison: "Understood."

"I understand, let's get started."

So He Yuzhu asked the apprentices to start practicing stir-frying shredded potatoes in the wok. He Yuzhu stood aside and watched the movements of each group of people. Because there were four other people standing beside to help and remind them of their shortcomings at all times, the two apprentices who were cooking for the first time successfully fried the shredded potatoes. He Yuzhu used a spoon to scoop out a spoonful of shredded potatoes from each of the two pots and put it on a plate, then picked up a spoonful and put it in his mouth to taste it. The people who were cooking looked at He Yuzhu's expression nervously.

He Yuzhu, on the other hand, chewed up the potato shreds in his mouth and swallowed them expressionlessly. Well, the potato shreds were fried and the taste was OK. It was good enough to be able to cook like this for the first time. After all, this was a big pot dish cooked by an apprentice, not a small stir-fry by a chef. After tasting it, He Yuzhu smiled at the cook and said encouragingly, "It's not bad to be able to cook like this for the first time. It will be better if you practice more in the future. You guys can also take chopsticks and taste the remaining dishes on the plate. We agreed in advance that the dishes on the plate should be eaten up and not wasted."

The two cooking apprentices were praised by He Yuzhu and they scratched their heads with embarrassment. He Yuzhu continued, "You guys take these three pots of cooked food to the serving window in a while, and in the afternoon you can learn how to steam two-grain buns with the aunties. Okay, at noon, you guys can help the aunties serve food." After saying that, He Yuzhu turned and left. After He Yuzhu left, the ten apprentices quickly found their lunch boxes and chopsticks and gathered around the table, picked up the shredded potatoes and tasted them. After eating them, they all said that they tasted better than what their mothers cooked at home.

Suddenly Fang Erwa said, "How about we try some of Director He's fried shredded potatoes? We'll only eat Han Tiezhu and Wei Daniu's."

After Fang Erwa finished speaking, the others also expressed their agreement. So Fang Erwa carefully scooped half a spoonful of the potato shreds that He Yuzhu had fried, put it on the plate, and then put a chopstick into his mouth. When the others saw that Fang Erwa had already started to taste it, they also quickly picked up their chopsticks to taste it. After everyone finished eating the potato shreds fried by He Yuzhu, they couldn't help but be impressed by He Yuzhu's cooking skills. Fang Erwa even said exaggeratedly: "Tiezhu, Daniu, the potato shreds you two fried don't taste the same as Director He's. Director He is really amazing. They are obviously made with the same ingredients, but why do they taste so different?"