Chapter 144

Huang Shengli felt he might need to re-examine the recipe for the dough fruits.

When Zheng Da sent him this recipe before, he had studied it for a few days and only saw that this recipe was very strange.

A recipe for a pastry snack had significantly higher requirements for red-case skills than for pastry skills. It didn't look like a snack; it looked more like a dish that just happened to need dough. The chef who created this recipe seemed to be a highly skilled red-case chef who was forced to study pastry for some reason.

It could be said that it was as strange as it could be.

But none of this was as strange as the fact that stir-frying the filling actually required the big flip of the wok.

What was the concept of needing the big flip of the wok to stir-fry filling?

95% of the dishes on the menu at Huang's Restaurant didn't need the big flip of the wok.

Huang Shengli felt he was indeed getting old; hearing such explosive news, his brain couldn't turn around for a moment, and he opened his mouth, not knowing what to ask. By the time he thought about what to ask, the fragrance of the dough had already drifted over.

The fragrance emitted after the very delicious dough was steamed; the rich wheat fragrance was mixed with a faint fermented rice fragrance. The fermented rice fragrance was very faint, but hard to ignore. It was like a flower adding to the splendor; among a cluster of flowers, this one was the most dazzling.

Now Huang Shengli didn't even have the extra mind to think about why stir-frying the filling needed the big flip of the wok, because he was too familiar with this fragrance.

The taste of fermented rice steamed buns.

It was his master, Master Jing Lixiang, the chef of the state-run restaurant, when he was still an apprentice. Every day he would steam them, attracting people to scramble for them. The people buying steamed buns lined up from inside the state-run restaurant to the end of the street, and the line was endless. Beside the line were children holding bowls, eating while savoring the fragrance of the steamed buns. The fragrance of the fermented rice steamed buns, which, if you bought one, could really make the neighbor's children cry with envy.

This was the taste!

Huang Shengli took a deep breath, feeling as if he had returned to decades ago, when he was in his teens.

At that time, he and Zheng Da were still apprentices in the state-run restaurant, and their wages were very low, barely enough for them to eat and drink. However, at that time, he and Zheng Da lived and ate at the master's house, never went hungry, and still had extra money to give to their families every month.

Huang Shengli also remembered when he was helping to sell steamed buns as a helper, the neighbors weren't petty, but white flour steamed buns were indeed precious food. He grabbed the steamed buns, and everyone's eyes were fixed on his hands, fearing he would grab a small steamed bun and they would lose out.

The master was always particularly amazing; the size and weight of each steamed bun were about the same, hard to distinguish with the naked eye.

Huang Shengli also remembered that when he was in his teens, he was always particularly greedy, eating his fill every day, and feeling hungry after a while. When helping to sell steamed buns, he was always secretly swallowing his saliva while selling.

At that time, he and Zheng Da were both apprentices, and the discounted food at the state-run restaurant didn't come to their turn. The master would always save his own steamed buns for them, breaking one steamed bun into two halves, one half for himself and one half for Zheng Da.

Thinking and thinking, Huang Shengli only felt his eyes were a bit blurry, as if he had returned to the very distant past along with the fragrance of the steamed buns.

"Master, you're here! I just ran from the warehouse directly to the second floor to find you, so you were at the kitchen door. Master, let me tell you, the fermented rice steamed buns Qin Huai made are really super delicious, as delicious as the ones Uncle Zheng makes! I got you two of the prettiest ones, and they're still hot. You must taste them."

"Master, you must taste the ones I got for you; the ones I got look much better than the ones the Eldest Senior Brother got."

Dong Shi's chattering words pulled Huang Shengli directly from his distant memories to reality. Seeing his very talkative little apprentice holding a plate in his hand, with two pretty, white, and fat fermented rice steamed buns on it, Huang Shengli calmed his mood slightly.

Sure enough, he was getting old; smelling the fragrance of a steamed bun made him reminisce about the past.

Huang Shengli sighed quietly; it seemed it was time to truly prepare for retirement.

Huang Shengli smiled and picked up a steamed bun, opening his mouth to take a big bite.

He hadn't eaten like this for many years.

But this time, Huang Shengli wanted to be like when he was young, opening his mouth wide to take a fierce bite as soon as he got the fermented rice steamed bun, because once he ate slowly, the remaining steamed bun in his hand would be eyed by Zheng Da.

One bite down, the steamed bun was fluffy but didn't lose its chewiness, and the wheat fragrance was fully stimulated. Accompanied by chewing, the original slight sweetness of the steamed bun mixed with the sweetness of the fermented rice in his mouth.

The fragrance of the fermented rice lingered on the tip of his nose, but he couldn't taste the alcohol.

This was the taste; this was the taste fermented rice steamed buns should have!

Huang Shengli remembered the words his master kept repeating when he taught Zheng Da how to make fermented rice steamed buns decades ago.

"The most important thing about making fermented rice steamed buns is to take the fragrance of the rice wine and the sweetness of the fermented rice. If the fermented rice steamed buns really have an alcoholic taste, then this steamed bun is a complete failure."

Without a doubt, the steamed bun in front of him was a successful fermented rice steamed bun. Successful to the point that Huang Shengli felt he had returned to his apprenticeship era. No matter whether his learning and work results for the day were good or bad, whether he had made progress or messed up, when the day's work ended, the master would pull out a fermented rice steamed bun like a magician, break it in half for him, and tell him he had done a great job today.

Huang Shengli chewed silently, many memories constantly welling up in his heart.

It wasn't that he hadn't eaten fermented rice steamed buns all these years. Although Zheng Da gave up becoming a top pastry chef and went into business to become a wealthy businessman, and hadn't practiced his culinary skills hard all these years, the skills he learned back then were actually not lost.

Sometimes when their fellow apprentices gathered, Zheng Da would also show off his skills and make some delicious snacks, and fermented rice steamed buns were one of them.

Zheng Da had indeed received the master's true inheritance.

But—

Huang Shengli looked at the fermented rice steamed bun that had already been half-eaten in front of him, grabbed the steamed bun fiercely, pressed it flat, wrinkled it, let go, and watched the steamed bun slowly bounce back.

None of them were as similar as this steamed bun.

Zheng Da made steamed buns, and he made his own steamed buns.

Qin Huai's steamed bun, however, made Huang Shengli feel very much like the master's steamed bun.

It couldn't be said to be exactly the same, but it was indeed more similar than the ones Zheng Da made.

And for some reason, the more he ate, the more he missed the master, missing him to the point that Huang Shengli's eye sockets were a little red.

"Master, were your eyes smoked by the steam of the steamed bun? Why do they seem a little red? They shouldn't be hot anymore." Dong Shi touched a sore spot.

"Something got into my eyes." Huang Shengli said irritably, picking up the other steamed bun on the plate, "What are you shaking in front of me for? Xiao Qin is here for the first day and must not be used to the environment. You are the most familiar with Xiao Qin, why don't you go chat with Xiao Qin."

"Don't think I don't know, I asked you to help watch how Xiao Qin's soup was hanging before? You spent more than half the time chatting, and your mind wasn't on the soup at all."

Dong Shi chuckled and ran away with the plate.

Huang Shengli stuffed the other steamed bun to Zheng Siyuan, and Zheng Siyuan waved his hand to refuse: "Uncle Master, I've been eating fermented rice steamed buns every morning during this period."

The implication was that he had eaten too much and finally wanted to change his taste after returning home.

"Did your dad teach Xiao Qin this steamed bun?" Huang Shengli asked.

Zheng Siyuan shook his head, indicating he didn't know: "Probably not, but my dad might have given some pointers. Qin Huai saw the recipe in the Complete Book of Snacks and researched and made it himself. He even gave me pointers."

"Told me that temperature is the most important factor in making fermented rice steamed buns. I went back and tried it according to what he said, and found that precise temperature control indeed makes better steamed buns."

Huang Shengli was shocked again.

He had just thought that Qin Huai's fermented rice steamed buns were guided by Zheng Da and Zheng Siyuan, but he didn't expect the opposite to be true; it was Qin Huai who guided Zheng Siyuan.

Huang Shengli thought for a while: "Siyuan, leave later tonight. I'll cook and make a table of good dishes to welcome Xiao Qin!"

"Isn't your back not very good these two days?"

"Small matter." Huang Shengli hammered his back, "It won't delay cooking, and it's not much, just one table."

"I also have to let Xiao Qin see the strength of his Master Huang."

"I'm not a half-baked chef like your dad who learned cooking for more than ten years and then went into business."

Zheng Siyuan:...

No, Uncle Master, why did you suddenly start stepping on him?

(End of chapter)