"Master of State Banquet" shoots short video to teach young people to cook
"Uncle" Zheng Xiusheng, from the age of 16 to retiring at the age of 66, has worked in Beijing Hotel for 50 years, has done countless state banquets, and won the Chinese Master Cooking Master's Lifetime Achievement Award.
When he was 20 years old, he made a lion head for Premier Zhou Enlai and served as the chef of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.
Boiled dried shreds, fried eel paste, braised fish head, braised saddle bridge, crab yellow shark fin... are all his specialties.
"Second Bo" Sun Lixin, 24 years old, is the head chef of Huadu Hotel. He was awarded the title of "Top Ten Chinese Famous Chefs" by the Ministry of Commerce. He is also the chief consultant of the Chongli menu plan for the 2022 Winter Olympics in Zhangjiakou.
"Second Uncle" likes to play cards out of common sense. The roast duck, which has been passed down for 600 years, is marinated in vegetable juice. Nowadays, the common blueberry yam was also invented by him, just to avoid wasting leftovers.
After doing a state banquet for most of his life, both the uncle and the second uncle retired.
What do you do after retirement?
They want to pass on the experience, skills, and experience they have summed up over the years to young people without any reservations, so that "old fans" will "debut".
They settled in Tencent Watch Point in September 2020, shooting short videos to teach cooking, and now they have over one million fans and over 10 million fans on the entire network.
During the epidemic, many young people started to cook their own meals at home, and followed the short video teaching of "old rice bones", and they were able to reproduce delicious dishes.
"Master of State Banquet, everyone gave me such a name. First of all, we have to love this industry." Recalling that when he first entered the industry, Zheng Xiusheng felt that he was a cook. Choosing vegetables, cutting green onion, ginger and garlic, cutting auxiliary materials, and then shredded, dices, pieces, slices and other main ingredients in various shapes..." One knife and one knife is the path to Zheng Xiusheng's growth.
After 8 years of learning and lay down a solid basic skills, Zheng Xiusheng began to feel that this industry has something to dig deeper, "not just cooking a dish, but also related to people's health and cultural heritage."
At that time, the Beijing Hotel was also responsible for the reception of the country, and there were even more things carried in a meal or a dish.
"We share the experience and experience with the little fans, so that they can feel that the chef is not only cooking, but also bringing joy to your family and life." Zheng Xiusheng said.
"Lao Fan Gu" has a slogan: pass on the technique without reservation.
In a short video of a few minutes, they explained every detail of cooking clearly, making it easy for the "little fans" to learn; not only that, but the dishes in their hands also have stories.
Sun Lixin has studied Sichuan cuisine, Cantonese cuisine, Huaiyang cuisine, Shandong cuisine...It can be said that if fans ask, there is almost nothing he doesn't know. Fans not only learn to cook, but also gain knowledge.
The content of short videos that teach cooking on the Internet is not too small. In addition to the status of "State Banquet Master", where are the advantages of "Old Fangu"?
Sun Lixin believes that it is life experience, "the richer the experience, the better things will be presented at the end".
Sometimes, "Uncle" and "Second Uncle" will discuss it when cooking a dish together.
A piece of Kung Pao chicken, the traditional taste is spicy, salty and fresh, and now the popular one is "lichee mouth with sweet and sour". In order to let fans better understand the origin of this dish, Sun Lixin simply demonstrated two methods at once. Fans choose whatever you want.
Which is more difficult to cook or to make short videos?
The two masters unanimously chose the latter.
In order to satisfy the stomachs of young people and their strong thirst for knowledge, they will read reviews seriously, and specially set up a column of "Old Fans Talking" to respond to comments.
Chinese cuisine is extensive and profound, and there are significant regional differences. Even "sweet rice dumplings" and "salty rice dumplings" can arouse heated discussions every year, and "old rice dumplings" sometimes find it difficult to adjust.
"In order to let netizens understand the recipe of a dish, we sometimes even have to turn out the old recipes from 50 years ago as evidence to popularize it for everyone." Zheng Xiusheng said.
To give the simplest example, to make Laba garlic, the garlic must be peeled, washed, dried, and fermented in vinegar for 20 days.
There are now some online videos, saying that as long as you boil the vinegar and soak the garlic, you can eat it in 3 days.
Misleading like this made the "Old Fangu" look particularly anxious, eager to correct the "how" in his short video, and had to show evidence of the "why".
Most of their fans are very young and active users. "Old Fangu" understands the stomachs of young people and understands their lives better: ribs are delicious, but young people after work have no time to cook for a few hours. So, "Lao Fan Gu" teaches the pressure cooker to make ribs. The ribs are cooked with rice within an hour; young people love desserts, so Erbo makes a glutinous egg; even instant noodles, who love to innovate. In my uncle’s hands, it has become a tempting fried noodle; there is also the juice of Kung Pao chicken, the juice of shredded pork with fish flavor, the juice of sweet and sour fish... "Lao Fan Gu" all provide precise recipes to make Chinese food The mysterious "right amount" in cooking can be copied.
Let young people eat "national banquet dishes" at home, so that young people can gently soothe their stomachs after hard work.
"It's a pleasure to cook food. My uncle and I just want to pass the warmth of the world to thousands of families through short videos." Sun Lixin said.
In the 242 short videos that have been released, there is a dish that is very popular among the "small rice bones".
In fact, it was just a "plain" fried noodles, but it was made for aunt 40 years ago.
Young people have learned a bowl of noodles and a large bowl of "dog food".
China Youth Daily·China Youth Daily reporter Jiang Xiaobin Source: China Youth Daily