Chapter 949: Chapter 399: This Is Clearly Just a Pot of Hotpot Broth—How Dare You Call It Abalone Sauce?

Originally, he planned to speak up for everyone in front of Lin Xu, to boost morale and encourage everyone to work hard.

But now that his nephew is being used as a pawn, he decided to let Director Lin deal with it. Whoever Lin wants to fire, let him fire.

Upon seeing the head chef’s expression, Lin Xu knew that firing Qi Siliang was the right move.

Currently, all the major positions in the kitchen are dominated by Qi Zhentao’s people, including adopted sons, senior and junior apprentices, so the entire back kitchen is like one big family.

This is a major taboo in the kitchen.

Not just in the kitchen, but in all industries — once a department becomes like a family, it’s almost like heading toward a downhill path.

Because they’re all familiar, it’s too easy to muddle through and get away with things.

With such a mindset, anyone would become lazy.

"Sorry to make you laugh, Director Lin, let me show you around first."

Qi Zhentao led Lin Xu around the kitchen, and people kept greeting them along the way, but he ignored them, talking only about the various departments of the kitchen.

Lin Xu followed beside him, listening intently.

He was somewhat bewildered by the back kitchen of such a massive hotel.

Yanjing Hotel is not like the Fishing Platform. The Fishing Platform is divided into eighteen buildings with eighteen restaurants, each operating independently, equivalent to eighteen high-end private dining establishments.

But the back kitchen of Yanjing Hotel is more centralized.

The whole hotel hardly has a few restaurants, half of which are outsourced, and those directly managed rely entirely on the Chinese Etiquette Hall’s kitchen, led by Qi Zhentao, to take the lead.

The remaining few restaurants are things like the Western Cold Café, which are fine for simple meals, but for a good meal, you still have to come to the Chinese Etiquette Hall.

This setup makes the entire back kitchen particularly large, and the staff very complete.

Passing through the vegetable washing and preparation areas, Qi Zhentao led Lin Xu into the depths of the kitchen, which is the soup section, a special place because all the soups used in the restaurant are made here.

As they reached the entrance, they heard shouting from inside:

"Can’t even learn abalone sauce, what’s the use of having you?"

Qi Zhentao gave an apologetic smile to Lin Xu:

"The person in charge here is my junior apprentice, he’s a bit hot-tempered."

Lin Xu peeked his head in to see a chubby chef scolding some young apprentices.

His clothes didn’t fit well, the buttons were tight and it seemed like the chef’s jacket could burst open at any moment. 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

Previously, the front desk manager Gou Junguo had mentioned the head of the Soup Department during the signing in the office.

This head chef was Qi Zhentao’s junior apprentice, hot-tempered, originally a top chef from the sautéing section, but due to limited skills in cooking, had transferred to the Soup Department.

Even in the Soup Department, there weren’t any impressive achievements, and the soups made here had already received several complaints.

Whenever there were distinguished guests, it still depended on the support of Qi Zhentao to barely keep things from falling apart.

Now seeing this chubby guy still taking on apprentices, Lin Xu leaned against the door frame, watching with interest.

"You have to be generous with the ingredients for abalone sauce, use tricks, blanch the ingredients, toss them in the pot, add a lot of chicken stock and flavoring, bring it to a boil, and season it when using it."

Qi Zhentao’s face changed upon hearing this, just about to speak, when this chubby chef turned and asked:

"Brother, why did you bring an outsider here? Didn’t I say that our soup recipes are secret? What if someone steals them?"

Who’s going to steal your secret recipe?

Are you worried this place won’t close down fast enough?

In a restaurant where per capita spending is over a thousand yuan, using chicken stock and flavoring is a bit too much, isn’t it?

Qi Zhentao said:

"Junior, this is Lin Xu, the new director of the Dining Department, personally invited by President Ye to rectify the back kitchen... Who taught you to use chicken stock and flavoring in abalone sauce?"

"I came up with it myself, it can save a lot of time."

Seeing him speak so brazenly, a look of helplessness flashed across Lin Xu’s face.

No wonder Yanjing Hotel has had so many bad reviews in recent years, with this kind of shortcut, it’s no surprise.

He said to Qi Zhentao:

"Chef Qi, your junior should be demoted to an ordinary apprentice. Regardless of Chinese or Western cuisine, high-end dishes rely on various broths, entrusting the Soup Department to someone like this, Yanjing Hotel will never turn its fortunes around."

With skills like that, still seriously taking on apprentices, isn’t that a joke?

"My junior usually isn’t like this..."

Qi Zhentao gave his junior a helpless glare.

I’ve already said he’s the director, yet here you are with your self-creations, which must impress you greatly, since no other chef thought of such tricks, only you did?

He was just about to say a few words in defense when the head chef threw down his chef’s hat:

"Demote me to an apprentice? I quit! I want to see how the Soup Department runs without me."

His shouting attracted the attention of people from the surrounding steaming and pastry sections.

How will it operate?

Isn’t that simple?

Lin Xu rolled up his sleeves and said to the few dumbfounded apprentices:

"Since you’re here, I’ll show you how to properly make abalone sauce... What on earth is this in the basin?"

By now, the ingredients for the abalone sauce were mostly ready, and he was just about to get busy when he noticed a basin of thin, murky liquid with a layer of grease floating on top.

"This is the abalone sauce we made."

Abalone sauce?

Lin Xu picked it up, gave it a look, and handed it to Qi Zhentao:

"Chef Qi, don’t immerse yourself only in techniques, management needs to keep up too. Can this be called abalone sauce? Even hot pot broth is better than this, right?"