mijobooks Chapter 72 Baking Genius
Chapter 72 Baking Genius
After hearing Lu Yuan's refusal, General Manager Wang became a little anxious, fearing that General Manager Ding would be angry about it.
He immediately grabbed Lu Yuandao and said, "Boss Lu, President Ding is a leading company in our industry. If it's inconvenient for you, I can arrange your schedule."
Lu Yuan shook his head and refused, saying, "I'm sorry, Mr. Wang, this is my principle. I'm truly sorry."
Mr. Wang wanted to pull Lu Yuan aside to talk, but Mr. Ding smiled and waved his hand, saying:
"Mr. Wang, it's alright. When it comes to dining, we should listen to the chef. May I book a private dinner for next Saturday?"
Lu Yuan responded with a faint smile and said, "Of course, just tell me your requirements."
After leaving his secretary's phone number, Mr. Ding and Mr. Wang left first.
As they parted, Mr. Wang asked nervously, "Mr. Ding, is this alright?"
Mr. Ding said nonchalantly, "That's good. Boss Lu is a pure person."
After saying that, Mr. Ding got into his Tiger Head Mercedes and drove off, leaving Mr. Wang to ponder quietly in the night.
Lu Yuan had a vague idea of the other party's status, but he didn't need to curry favor with him.
Given his current pace of development, he has no shortage of wealth, but he doesn't really want to get involved in status.
During his time back in 1996, although cooking was tiring, he experienced a joy he had never felt before.
This free and unrestrained approach is something that no renowned executive chef can replace.
While resting at the front desk, he roughly did some calculations.
This afternoon, due to the expansion of our business premises, our revenue increased to 5000 yuan.
Adding the 5000 yuan from the afternoon private dinner, today's revenue has exceeded 1 yuan.
This turnover is nothing compared to the big restaurants in Guangzhou, or even the big hotels in the provincial capital.
But it's already an outrageous number, which is actually the allure of the catering industry.
Once customers approve, your reputation will explode, and you'll never lack business again.
Especially in this era without the internet, people only had word of mouth as a way to know whether a restaurant was good or bad.
After Lu Yuan finished washing up, it was already 10 p.m. when he lay down on the kang (a heated brick bed).
This day is not only physically tiring, but also mentally draining when you're focused on cooking.
But even after such extreme fatigue, he found it difficult to fall asleep.
After lying there for half an hour, Lu Yuan was overwhelmed by a strong feeling of hunger and felt a little dizzy.
Only then did he realize that he hadn't eaten anything all afternoon and evening.
That's how chefs are; they often find themselves facing a table full of delicious food, yet frequently go home hungry.
With a helpless smile, Lu Yuan, wearing slippers, quietly pushed open the door, intending to go to the kitchen to find something to eat.
After coming from the backyard to the front of the restaurant, he saw that there were lights on in the front yard.
He pushed open the door, peeked out, and noticed that the lights in the fried dough workshop were still on.
Upon approaching, he noticed that Wei Yinghong was staring at something on the table.
Lu Yuan simply pushed open the door and went in. Seeing several loaves of bread on the table, he immediately exclaimed:
"Mom, did you bake this?"
"You child, you scared me to death in the middle of the night!" Wei Yinghong, who was intently staring at the bread, was startled and asked:
"Are you done with work over there? Your dad said the people eating today were all very wealthy, so I didn't dare go over to check."
Lu Yuan completely ignored what Wei Yinghong said and instead bent down to look at the bread on the table.
Finally, he couldn't resist, picked up a loaf of bread, and tore off a piece. The bread floated down like a soft cloud.
Lu Yuan fed the bread into his mouth, chewed it carefully, and slowly closed his eyes.
Rich milky aroma, incredibly soft, yet with the resilience of wheat.
This is Japanese-style raw toast!
Lu Yuan stared incredulously at the bread on the table, then looked at Wei Yinghong, who was completely bewildered.
"Mom, did you bake this?"
Wei Yinghong reached out and touched Lu Yuan's forehead, saying, "Are you exhausted? Didn't I just ask you that already?"
"Mom, how did you bake this?" Lu Yuan asked curiously.
This Japanese-style raw toast has become a sensation in the baking world since its debut.
When the Shanghai branch opened, a loaf of raw toast that originally cost 98 yuan was resold by scalpers for 300 yuan.
Wei Yinghong said helplessly, "It's all because of Xiaoxue."
"Your second aunt went to the next village to get some fresh milk for Xiaoxue, but Xiaoxue thought it tasted too strong, so she hid it on this table."
"I didn't see it when I was kneading the dough, and I knocked over the milk, spilling it all over the dough."
"But I thought I couldn't waste this dough, so I decided to bake it into steamed buns. I didn't expect the dough to be so wet and sticky; it took me a long time to knead it properly."
"But the dough was still too soft, so it wouldn't be chewy enough for frying. I put it in the tin box of the oven-baked flatbread and baked it. I didn't expect it to turn out like this, and it's actually quite delicious."
Lu Yuan was completely shocked after hearing this. Just how perfect was this twist of fate?
He had some knowledge of how to make raw toast, and somehow he managed to get everything right by accident?
Could it be that Mom is a baking genius?
Regardless of the consequences, Lu Yuan was starving and happened to have some delicious food to fill his stomach, so he ate a whole loaf of toast in just a few bites.
"Eat slowly, son. Didn't you eat lunch this afternoon? Why are you so hungry?"
Wei Yinghong poured Lu Yuan a glass of water and asked with concern.
Lu Yuan gulped down several mouthfuls, immediately feeling relieved. He then picked up another piece of raw toast and asked:
"Mom, do you believe one of these things you bake could sell for 98 yuan?"
Wei Yinghong couldn't help but laugh after hearing this, and shook her head, saying:
"Only a fool would spend 98 yuan to buy a steamed bun."
Lu Yuan laughed and said, "Maybe even idiots will line up to buy it then."
It's a pity that butter and heavy cream are hard to find these days, otherwise Lu Yuan really wanted to see what his mother could come up with.
However, some basic baking recipes don't rely heavily on butter and cream, so you might want to give them a try.
At this moment, Wei Yinghong suddenly spoke up: "But making this is quite interesting. Mom thinks it's better than frying dough sticks. You don't need to use an oil pan, and it smells milky and fragrant when baked."
Lu Yuan said, "Then let's not fry dough cakes anymore, we'll just bake these and sell them!"
Anyway, the main purpose of frying dough cakes has already been fulfilled, and now it's just kept to give Wei Yinghong something to do.
"That won't do. Drivers often buy fried dough sticks to eat on the road," Wei Yinghong said firmly, shaking her head.
Lu Yuan said, "Then let's fry a little less. When I have time, I'll teach you how to make a few more breads. In the future, we can bake whatever you want and sell it."
Lu Yuan suddenly pictured a scene: a truck driver buying a baguette from a small rural restaurant by the national highway.
This scene is so out of place!
After eating some bread, Lu Yuan felt sleepy. After helping Wei Yinghong tidy up the fried dough workshop, he went back to his room to rest.
The following morning, Lu Wen brought another group of Lu family relatives to the restaurant.
Lu Yuan had previously considered that he needed to add two more skilled cooks to his kitchen.
One person specializes in cooking home-style dishes, while the other specializes in preparing cold dishes.
After tasting the dishes made by those six aunties last time, Lu Yuan had full confidence in their cooking skills.
He carried with him the habits from his previous life and didn't really trust anyone other than himself and his apprentice.
But after fully immersing himself in 1996, his views became more relevant to the times.
Meeting the needs of diners is the most important thing. A qualified restaurant must regularly introduce new dishes, otherwise diners will get tired of them.