Chapter 125

Qin Huai finished the fruit platter at Luo Jun's house, and Luo Jun started shooing him away. Before leaving, Qin Huai displayed Chen Huihong's fine style—he took a bag of fruit with him.

Qin Huai didn't go to the canteen but went straight home, flopping onto the sofa to watch TV in the same posture as Luo Jun.

Must say, this posture was quite comfortable, though it was a bit hard on the waist after a long time.

Qin Huai watched TV, played music on the speakers, and played on his phone, all while his mouth didn't stop eating fruit. After playing intensely for a while, Qin Huai started sending messages to Zheng Siyuan.

Qin Huai: Are you there?

Zheng Siyuan:? Something up?

Qin Huai: I just got two snack recipes from Mr. Luo Jun. It's said he bought them from a famous Shu chef years ago. Secret recipes—want to study them together tomorrow?

Zheng Siyuan: Okay.

Zheng Siyuan: How much for the recipes? I'll split the cost with you.

Qin Huai: No money needed. Mr. Luo only has one requirement: give him the first batch once they're made.

Zheng Siyuan: Got it, let's start studying tomorrow.

Qin Huai wasn't lying; he did indeed fleece two snack recipes from Luo Jun. After Luo Jun revealed that he had bought snack recipes from Jiang Weiming 60 years ago, Qin Huai had casually asked if the recipes were still around.

As it turned out, the recipes he bought were long gone, but Luo Jun remembered them.

This guy—he couldn't remember what his wife looked like very clearly, but he remembered the recipes perfectly. Qin Huai really didn't know what to say about him.

However, the snack recipes Luo Jun bought were even more unexpected to Qin Huai.

From the conversations between Jiang Weiming and Seeing Liu Tao in the memory, one could hear that Luo Jun was a pure meat lover; he didn't like vegetables at all. Even tofu had to be made to taste like meat, and cabbage had to be stewed in chicken soup.

So when Qin Huai heard that Luo Jun had bought two snack recipes from Jiang Weiming, his first reaction was that they must be meat-filled snacks that Qin Luo loved.

It turned out they weren't.

The recipes Luo Jun bought were for Lotus Root Starch Osmanthus Cake and Milk Buns—both were common, low-difficulty sweet treats deeply loved by women.

These two snacks were definitely not to Luo Jun's taste; they must be what Seeing Liu Tao loved to eat.

Of course, Jiang Weiming had also thoughtfully gifted the recipe for the Apple Pastry, while firmly stating that this thing was not a pastry, but a new style of bun.

Qin Huai watched TV for a while, felt bored, and simply looked at the two recipes Luo Jun gave him.

Qin Huai already knew how to make Lotus Root Starch Osmanthus Cake; this snack was a regular in palace intrigue dramas, often appearing in the snacks of the consorts as an important prop to highlight the Emperor's favor.

Qin Huai had learned his Lotus Root Starch Osmanthus Cake from a comprehensive snack book. The result didn't look as good as the pictures online—it wasn't translucent enough, and it didn't taste as sweet, fragrant, or chewy. Sprinkling dried osmanthus on top, besides tasting the osmanthus fragrance, didn't help the flavor at all, and one could even taste the bitterness of the dried osmanthus.

After eating it once, Qin Luo felt the consorts really had no taste; it wasn't as good as eating Date Paste Yam Cake.

The recipe Luo Jun bought was written in great detail. In this recipe, the only ingredients needed for Lotus Root Starch Osmanthus Cake were pure lotus root starch, white sugar, osmanthus honey, and water.

The whole recipe was basically a "foolproof" formula; as long as one was a pastry chef, they could understand it and start making it.

The recipe was precise down to every step. Whether to add sugar first or osmanthus honey first, what color the osmanthus sugar water should be boiled to, what state it should be in when boiling, when to add the lotus root starch into the sugar water to stir, how long to stir, and what degree it should be at before putting it into the steamer.

Even the heat control, when to add firewood, what color it should be when successful, and what state it would be in if it failed were all written clearly.

If conditions hadn't prevented it, Qin Huai felt Jiang Weiming would have loved to record a teaching video, breaking it down step-by-step.

This was truly how to teach!

Qin Huai felt the recipes Jiang Weiming wrote were even easier to learn than Jiang Chengde's video tutorials.

Both were surnamed Jiang, so why was the gap so large?

The recipe for Milk Buns was even clearer. If Lotus Root Starch Osmanthus Cake still required a little culinary skill, then Milk Buns were truly something anyone with hands could do.

Simply put, Milk Buns were just pouring milk into a pot, boiling it over high heat, then simmering it over low heat to boil out a thick milk skin. Filter out the milk, press the milk skin firm, add sugar, and make it into a sweet, milk-flavored little snack.

As long as the ingredients were high-quality and one didn't burn the milk while boiling, there wouldn't be any problems.

The recipe for Milk Buns was also a foolproof tutorial, detailing what state to boil it to before letting it cool and sit, and to what degree to press it before rolling it into small balls. How much sugar to add, how to add it—one could see the painstaking effort of the master who wrote the recipe just from the text.

This was clearly out of fear that the person reading the recipe wouldn't learn it. Qin Huai gnawed on a pear, finished reading the two text-based recipes, and felt he should strike while the iron was hot and watch the video tutorial.

Qin Huai clicked on the game panel, double-clicked 【Apple Pastry B-grade】, poked out the video tutorial, and started watching.

The video tutorial started with kneading the dough.

Qin Huai was very familiar with the scene—it was the small kitchen from the memory. The video tutorial only showed Jiang Weiming's hands, but one could hear from the voice that Seeing Liu Tao was right there.

"Kneading dough requires finesse; use the base of your palm to exert force. If you rely solely on your wrists, it's easy to injure them."

"The dough for pastries must be firm. Don't use too much force when kneading; knead less and rub more. If the dough is too soft, it won't be easy to shape."

Jiang Weiming spoke as he moved, making Qin Huai sigh as he watched that this was truly a perfect teaching video.

Master Jiang, you should learn from this; *this* is a teaching video!

Seeing Liu Tao's voice came through: "Master Jiang, are you teaching me how to knead dough? I'm not very good at this; I only know how to stew soup."

"Mrs. Luo, my apologies, it's just a habit."

"Did you take on any apprentices when you were in the North?"

"No, but I have four younger brothers below me. I'm used to teaching them. Whenever there's someone around, I can't help but teach as I cook."

"Then you will surely be a good master in the future, capable of raising apprentices who are no less skilled than you," Seeing Liu Tao's voice was full of smiles. "When you get old and have apprentices and sons to care for you, you can enjoy your later years."

"I'll take your auspicious words, Mrs. Luo."

Qin Huai finished watching the entire teaching video earnestly.

An excellent teaching video.

Perhaps as Jiang Weiming said, he was used to teaching his brothers while cooking, so whenever someone was around, his movements would involuntarily slow down. This was not only evident in the kneading but also fully displayed when stir-frying the filling.

When Qin Huai watched the stir-frying in his memory, he only felt the technique was quite good. Now, watching it again with a learning mindset, he realized it was truly awesome.

One could only say he was worthy of being a famous Shu chef recognized by the game system; his control over heat was simply astonishing.

When stir-frying, he controlled the oil perfectly. Because it was for pastries, the filling couldn't be too oily, or the oil seeping out would affect the overall shape of the pastry.

But it couldn't be too dry either; dry meat filling didn't taste good.

The stir-fried filling was in a perfect state of being moist but not dry—a state that made Qin Huai sigh that it was a work of art. It made Qin Huai want to ask Jiang Weiming if the hand he used for the spatula and the hand he used for kneading were actually the same hand.

Was there a buff on his hand when he held the spatula?

Not to mention the chicken soup simmering after stir-frying; Qin Huai did this every day, boiling filling for Five-Treasure Buns and Three-Treasure Buns every morning.

When boiling, the chef's state was usually very casual, but Qin Huai was truly casual, while Jiang Weiming was "controlled casual."

Jiang Weiming's control over heat had reached a certain realm, so he could chat while boiling the filling. Qin Huai, on the other hand, had no idea that boiling filling required heat control, so he would chat while boiling.

After watching the teaching video, Qin Huai deeply felt that Luo Jun's disdain for the filling of the Dream-Fulfilling Shaobing he made was justified.

He had eaten too well in his early years.

After watching it once, Qin Huai was still unsatisfied and watched it again.

And then watched it again!

One last time!

Plus one more time!

On this wonderful day of slacking off, Qin Huai didn't remember a single plot point of the TV show he watched; his mind was full of the wonderful filling in the pot, in its stir-fried and boiling states.

Oh, it was truly perfect.

That night, Qin Huai dreamed of perfect fillings shimmering with golden light.

(End of chapter)