Why are there fewer and fewer traditional crafts?

1. The threshold of the old craft is high

In the kitchen of the long-established catering company Hong Changxing, 30 years in the industry, Master Li is performing "masterpiece": rolling out the dough, wrapping the meat filling, with the thumb as a pivot point, the index finger and the middle finger in tacit cooperation, wrapped into a circle, but 3 seconds, the prototype of a beef frying buns on The first time I've ever seen one, I've seen it in the palm of my hand.

Master Li said, he began at the age of 15 to do apprenticeship, do beef fried bread on the water temperature, ingredients, crust have to pay attention to, take and noodles, the need to alternate between hot and cold water repeatedly poured into a large pot, and then through the fingers to test the temperature of the water, "there is no specific standard, according to the air temperature to control the temperature of the water, such as the weather, 50 ℃ or so on the can! ".

At the butterfly pastry skills competition, pastry chefs from Shanghai's long-established catering companies such as Apricot Tower are also showing off their skills. Zhou Zhigang, senior technician of Shanghai pastry, said that as a typical representative of the sea-style pastry, the butterfly pastry has high requirements for the technical process: "Even the most experienced masters can't guarantee the clarity of the texture level of the final product before it comes out of the oven."

2. Many young apprentices give up halfway

The working environment is one of the dilemmas in the inheritance of the old craft, and many masters lamented, "Few people are willing to do this now, it's too hard."

Hong Changxing's staff said the backroom masters start working at 10 a.m. every day and finish at 2 p.m. After a two-hour break, they continue at 5 p.m. and work until 8 p.m. Many young apprentices are willing to come into the old school to learn when they have zero foundation, "but after a long time, they can't take the pain, and many of them have left."

The old boss Chang's confectionery chef Miao said, every day in the kitchen to stay seven or eight hours, once busy, even the phone does not have time to look at, and such working hours and workload of only 4,000 yuan per month, "in Shanghai, I think the income is a little low." Master Miao said.

3. Learning the art is never an overnight process

A small fried bread, a butterfly pastry, which may be the cohesion of several generations of artisans tireless study of the valuable experience left behind. It's not an overnight thing to get to the essence of these old-fashioned snacks.

Zhou Zhigang said it would take at least eight years to master the art of butterfly pastry production: "A new apprentice would need three years to wipe the dishes."

Master Li of Hong Changxing said that according to industry regulations, masters with apprentices, from inheritance, help to teach, each link needs 3 years to let the craft is basically mature, and this "maturity" is only the apprentice can operate independently of some of the basic things for the apprentice, 3 years to learn are the basics! The "maturity" is only that the apprentice can operate some basic things independently.

4. Some masters are not willing to teach

Shanghai Chinese old enterprise association vice president Shao Yuling said that the city **** there are 180 "Chinese old" enterprises, including "Shanghai old" 42, but dozens of old faces a new challenge. But dozens of old faces a **** the same problem: some masters are not willing to continue to pass on the craft, leading to the old craft heritage has become more and more difficult.

Reporter interviews found that many of the food production process of the old catering has been gradually transitioned from manual to fully automated equipment, take the most commonly used flour, for example, and flour, open the surface of the process has been the use of machines instead of manual. Master Miao said, for many old masters, the difference between machines and manual labor always exists, "in making things, although people will not be as uniform as the machine, but the machine will not be as meticulous as the manual craftsmanship."