Chef at the University Canteen

Chapter 522 - 285: Locally-Improved Stir-Fried Fly Heads

The interview went very quickly.

As Jiang Yu had mentioned earlier, the interview was merely a process of mutual understanding, where the canteen needed to get a general idea of these chefs and the chefs needed to get to know the Seventh Dining Hall.

Therefore, this interview was more of an exchange than an actual interview.

Chef recruitment is inherently a process of mutual selection, much like a matchmaking event for young men and women; only once they’ve understood each other can they determine if they’re suitable for one another.

The difference with matchmaking is that if two people find they aren’t suitable after deep interaction, they simply break up. But when a chef is recruited and turns out to be unsuitable, whether they resign or are dismissed, it’s troublesome regardless.

Yet despite this, Jiang Yu and the others took less than an hour to complete this interview.

After all, for chefs, how well they speak cannot compare to how well they cook.

If the dishes they cook don’t taste good, what use are they?

So, the tasting is the main focus of this interview.

By now, it was already ten o’clock, and in another hour and a half, the canteen would be opening, so Jiang Yu and the others brought all ten chefs to the kitchen and said to them:

"As everyone knows, this is a student canteen, and the biggest difference between canteen dishes and restaurant dishes is that one is large pot cooking while the other is small pot cooking.

It’s universally known that those who can cook large pot dishes certainly can cook small pot dishes, but those who can cook small pot dishes may not necessarily be able to cook large pot dishes.

The key reason is that large pot dishes involve more quantities, making them harder to control; aspects like fire, taste, and color have their requirements even in large pot cooking.

So next, let’s each cook a dish."

Upon hearing this, the expressions of the seven Red Chefs varied.

Some appeared very calm and composed, showing confidence, while others looked quite nervous, their hands tightly clutching their clothes; and some had smiles on their faces, eager to give it a try.

Though these chefs were of similar age, they had different experiences; some had never dealt with large pot dishes, like Xiong Zhengtao for instance.

But some had retired from army cooking units, where they used to cook large pot dishes, then entered a restaurant as chefs after leaving the service, like Niu Daqiang.

There were even some who had worked in a canteen for a while as chefs, like...

Of course, these individuals had rich experiences because Jiang Yu deliberately selected them, as the Seventh Dining Hall was essentially a canteen, primarily serving large pot dishes. But mastering large pot dishes with perfect color, aroma, and taste was no easy feat.

Xiong Zhengtao became tense upon hearing Jiang Yu’s words.

Although he sought opportunities to consult with master chefs in the school canteen near Qingshan Restaurant after deciding to apply as a chef at the Seventh Dining Hall, and personally tried cooking large pot dishes a few times, he never really felt his large pot dishes could meet Jiang Yu’s standards.

He initially presumed the tasting would only require them to cook small pot dishes, never expecting Jiang Yu to instruct them to make large pot dishes directly.

The issue is, if any of their dishes’ flavors aren’t right, wouldn’t the entire dish be wasted?

Despite having doubts swirling in his head, Xiong Zhengtao didn’t have time to ponder, as Jiang Yu spoke again.

"Here are the dishes prepared by the canteen for lunch today, altogether fifteen dishes."

Jiang Yu pulled out a printed menu and handed it to Niu Daqiang, then smiled and said to everyone,

"The seven of you can choose one dish from it to cook."

After a pause, he turned to the three Bakery Chefs and smilingly asked,

"As for the three Bakery Chefs, should I give you a challenge?"

Since the canteen had low requirements for Bakery Chefs, they were mainly recruited to make stuffed buns, and to help Lu Shuwu with soup dumplings, otherwise, he’d be overwhelmed doing it alone.

Another reason was Ma Guoqiang was currently mainly occupied with cold noodles, leaving him little time to make buns, so the role of a Bakery Chef was to help him with some workload.

Whether it was Jiang Yu’s unclear explanation or Hua Xiaoling’s misunderstanding of Jiang Yu’s intention, the recruitment notice she wrote also didn’t clearly express the requirements for Bakery Chefs, resulting in the arrival of three seemingly excellent Bakery Chefs.

This development sparked some other thoughts in Jiang Yu.

"Alright, I’ll follow Boss Jiang’s instructions."

The three Bakery Chefs, two men and one woman, exchanged glances and nodded in agreement.

All three had confident expressions on their faces.

Jiang Yu thought for a moment and smilingly said, "It’s currently summer, and everyone’s appetite isn’t great. Why not, master chefs, make a specialty snack from Shaanxi Province, cold skin noodles?"

Cold skin noodles are a traditional Han cuisine originating from the Guanzhong region of Shaanxi Province.

Cold skin is a general term for rolled noodle skin, noodle skin, rice skin, and brewed skin; differentiated by raw materials, preparation methods, and regional variations, including hot rice (noodle) skin, rolled noodle skin, baked noodle skin, and brewed skin.

Cold skin has a long history, supposedly dating back to the era of Qin Shi Huang, over two thousand years ago.

The traditional preparation of cold skin is through washed noodle skin; after dough is kneaded and proofed, noodle paste is made by washing, and then steamed into cold skin.

Finished cold skin, paired with various seasonings, are chewy, smooth, and appetizingly sour and spicy, making them an indispensable summer delicacy.

The preparation of cold skin isn’t complex, but making them well isn’t easy.