Chapter 172

At noon, Zheng Da and Huang Shengli arrived at the Huang Ji kitchen on time, and before they started arguing, they each ate a bowl of longevity noodles.

These were longevity noodles specially made by Qin Huai, so they had to be eaten first.

With a bowl of noodles in his stomach, Zheng Da forgot all the words he had prepared for the day.

Zheng Da was originally determined to win today.

He had already lost for a week, watched teaching qualification videos for a whole week, and memorized teaching materials for a whole week; he felt it was time to win once.

Qin Huai had been a "crab man" for a whole week!

The smell of crab on his body was almost marinated in; walking on the road, others would think Qin Huai was a crab seller. It was time for him, a master who could truly teach techniques, to step up!

When the last drop of noodle soup was finished, the words in Zheng Da's mouth changed to: "Say that again! Qin Huai said he had been processing shrimp and crabs for a week, felt he made too little dim sum, and really wanted to make dim sum, which is why he made chicken soup noodles at noon today???"

Huang Jia nodded affirmatively.

Zheng Da suddenly didn't dare to argue.

What kind of approach is this?

I've never heard of such a training method for pastry chefs.

Huang Anyao and Gong Liang, these two laymen, couldn't tell, but could he, Zheng Da, a professional pastry chef, not tell? The level of the noodles in Qin Huai's chicken soup noodles today was simply skyrocketing compared to before, achieving another small-scale breakthrough.

As long as this breakthrough wasn't just a flash of inspiration and could be maintained, the taste of all the noodles and dim sum Qin Huai made in the future could go up another small step.

Peeling shrimp and crabs actually has such a miraculous effect!

Should I let Qin Huai peel for two more days to find the feeling again?

Not only was Zheng Da confused after a bowl of noodles, but Huang Shengli was also a bit confused.

He intended to go easy on him today.

Although Huang Shengli felt from the bottom of his heart that Zheng Da's teaching level was really too rotten, Zheng Da's technique was still very good. Moreover, Zheng Da was a professional pastry chef, while he, Huang Shengli, was a savory chef; he couldn't teach Qin Huai crab roe shumai.

Hard practice of the most basic skills related to ingredients for a week was enough for Qin Huai.

The rest could be done through accumulation; it couldn't be rushed.

Moreover, Huang Shengli knew very well that re-practicing basic skills at Qin Huai's stage and level was very dry and boring, and would lead to a loss of motivation.

So he planned to go easy during the argument today and let Zheng Da win once, so that Qin Huai wouldn't have to practice basic skills this afternoon and could make complete crab roe shumai.

After practicing basic skills for a week and then making crab roe shumai again, his level would definitely improve. He would still likely flip, but not as severely as before.

Huang Shengli planned it well: let Zheng Da teach for a day, which could make Qin Huai clearly realize that practicing basic skills was very useful, and at the same time make him realize that only practicing basic skills couldn't make good crab roe shumai.

With such a reminder, letting Qin Huai practice the seasoning of various ingredients for the filling for another week would definitely yield twice the result with half the effort.

But now Huang Shengli was a bit hesitant, hesitant about whether to deliberately go easy and let Zheng Da win the argument.

Qin Huai's progress was too unconventional.

Peeling crabs, and his noodle and dim sum level went up.

What kind of logic is this?

Should he continue peeling crabs or not?

Continuing to peel would be a waste of time, but not peeling seemed to affect Qin Huai's progress in noodles and dim sum.

With the same hesitation and doubt, Huang Shengli and Zheng Da's argument today was very restrained and controlled.

"You don't understand pastry at all. Let me tell you, at this stage, the most important thing is practicing basic skills. Xiao Qin needs to get familiar with ingredients, peeling shrimp and crabs. Encouraging growth by pulling up the seedlings is not advisable, do you know? Listen to me, continue practicing basic skills today!" This was said by Zheng Da.

"I don't understand pastry as well as you, but I have taught 9 apprentices, plus Siyuan, that's 10. Do you understand teaching planning? I told you Xiao Qin's basic skills are already very good, there's no need to continue practicing basic skills."

"Of course, I'm not saying there's no need for practice at all. I think if Xiao Qin is willing to peel crabs, he still needs to. But basic skills are not the focus now; I think what Xiao Qin needs most today is systematic learning, making crab roe shumai completely once." This was said by Huang Shengli.

"What systematic learning, building a foundation is the focus now!"

"What building a foundation, systematic learning is the focus now!"

It was fortunate that Huang Shengli and Zheng Da intentionally restrained the volume of their argument, and Qin Huai was already used to them coming over to argue every day, so he didn't pay much attention while picking crabs in the distance.

Otherwise, if the above conversation had been heard by Qin Huai, he would probably have thought his learning progress was too slow and that he had been expelled from the school by both masters, neither of whom wanted to teach him anymore.

Although he had never entered the school.

Ultimately, under Huang Shengli's major concession, Zheng Da reluctantly won the argument today and obtained the teaching qualification.

Having not obtained the teaching qualification for a week, and suddenly becoming a teacher again, it would be a lie to say Zheng Da wasn't excited.

Zheng Da was so excited he didn't know what to say; what was the first sentence again?

"Xiao Qin, let's pick crabs first, this crab needs to... it's already picked, right."

The first sentence was wrong.

"Then now let's process the shrimp and crab meat, let me see... this is also processed, right."

The second sentence was also wrong. Zheng Da and Huang Shengli had eaten a bowl of noodles before the argument, which delayed some time, and the argument took a while, so Qin Huai had already consciously finished the preparation work.

Zheng Da nervously pursed his lips: "Then let's start making the filling; the most important thing for crab roe shumai is the combination and seasoning of the filling."

"I remember you've read the 'Suiyuan Shidan', which has a very precise description of crabs: Crabs should be eaten alone, not paired with other things; it is best to boil them with light salt soup and peel and eat them yourself. Steaming them keeps the flavor complete, but it is too bland."

"Crabs are such ingredients; foods with strong original flavors are suitable for eating alone to best bring out their original taste. If too many colorful side dishes are added, it will be like the guest usurping the host's role."

"This is also why many creative dishes now look fancy but taste average. Cooking isn't about the more ingredients and seasonings the better; sometimes you can't add, you have to subtract."

"Of course, I'm not saying these foods must be cooked alone. If that were the case, there wouldn't be shrimp meat in crab roe shumai, it would all be crab meat. Foods with distinct and strong flavors all have obvious shortcomings; for example, crab roe has a fishy smell; its freshness is accompanied by fishiness."

"What we chefs need to do is to do our best to remove the fishy smell while retaining its original flavor and freshness, and consider the combination of ingredients under these circumstances."

Zheng Da's opening remarks made Qin Huai look at him with new eyes.

Is this still Zheng Da? This full theoretical knowledge, this perfect eloquence, this quoting of classics, this concise and logical reasoning.

These online courses weren't watched in vain.

They are really useful!

Just as Qin Huai cast an admiring look at Zheng Da, Zheng Da proudly straightened his back and glanced sideways at Huang Shengli, his eyes full of triumph.

Then Zheng Da moved and began to silently make crab roe shumai.

The movements of his hands were impeccable, and the silence of his mouth made people cover their foreheads.

Qin Huai & Huang Shengli:...

You prepared for a week, and you only prepared these words?

Never mind, at least the words were good, there's progress.

Qin Huai began to watch Zheng Da make crab roe shumai.

Qin Huai watched every day.

During this time, when Qin Huai was peeling shrimp and crabs to practice basic skills, he often watched Zheng Da make crab roe shumai while practicing.

Zheng Da made two baskets every day, not a large amount, barely enough for each chef in the kitchen to have one. He also ate them himself, eating them as if taking revenge, often looking at Qin Huai practicing basic skills with Huang Shengli with resentment while eating.

Today is different; today is Qin Huai learning from him.

Zheng Da made the crab roe shumai with extra vigor.

Having made a lot during this time, Zheng Da basically didn't hesitate or experiment when making crab roe shumai, mixing the filling and seasoning all in one go. Of course, he didn't do any fancy tricks; fancy tricks don't suit Zheng Da's simple dim sum style.

Zheng Da made, Qin Huai watched.

A batch of crab roe shumai was wrapped and steamed; Qin Huai knew it was his turn to make crab roe shumai.

He had only made crab roe shumai twice in total, and neither time could be considered a good memory.

Making dim sum requires muscle memory accumulated over time; good dim sum is made by dim sum chefs day after day.

Why is it said that the dim sum a dim sum chef is good at has a lot to do with their personal preferences? Because the dim sum they are good at must be what they love to make. Only by doing it a lot will one be good at it, and only by doing it a lot will one do it well.

Qin Huai had only made it twice, and now after a week's interval, he was clearly a bit rusty when he started mixing the filling.

But he remembered in his mind how Zheng Da mixed the filling.

He remembered Zheng Da's proportions, remembered Zheng Da's techniques, and also remembered the order in which Zheng Da added seasonings.

But Qin Huai knew that just remembering these was useless; for a dim sum as difficult as crab roe shumai, it couldn't be made just by watching and copying.

One must understand.

Those who learn from me live, those who resemble me die.

Qin Huai recalled the characteristics of crab meat and shrimp meat that Huang Shengli had told him during these days.

He recalled the taste of the crab meat and crab roe he had peeled during this time.

The rich fishy smell lingered on his fingertips and wouldn't wash off, and what he had to do was suppress this fishiness while retaining the maximum freshness of the crab roe and crab meat.

He couldn't destroy the taste of the crab roe and crab meat, so he couldn't use strong-smelling spices.

He had to retain the freshness and sweetness of the crab roe, crab meat, and shrimp meat, so he had to strictly control the amount of seasonings like salt and soy sauce.

He had to use Shaoxing wine and ginger slices.

He had to understand the ingredients and then change them.

Qin Huai did it step by step.

When he was processing the shrimp and crab meat, he didn't think at all about how Zheng Da had done it before, nor did he deliberately replicate Zheng Da's steps and processes, but his movements were actually very similar. His mind was full of what Huang Shengli had told him: he had to understand the ingredients, understand the ingredients, and then change the ingredients.

He had to know where the crab meat and crab roe were good and where they were lacking. He had to think about how, when he went home every night, he felt like a walking big crab, and how he could make this big crab smell less fishy and taste exceptionally fresh.

How he could retain the faint freshness and sweetness of the shrimp meat while making it a supporting ingredient for the crab roe and crab meat, becoming the ingredient with the largest proportion in this dim sum but the least screen time.

When Qin Huai really started to think about these things, he discovered that in such a situation, one wouldn't think at all about whether one was deliberately imitating someone.

It's not important, I don't care.

Making this dim sum well is the most important thing.

Qin Huai seasoned carefully.

Zheng Da watched from the side with his eyes straight; he wasn't blind, and of course he could see that Qin Huai seemed to have found the knack for making crab roe shumai.

He already knew how to control the crab meat, crab roe, and shrimp meat, and how to control the proportions between various ingredients and seasonings.

Qin Huai might still flip, but it would definitely not be as outrageous as the previous two times.

This progress is too fast.

Am I really a teaching genius, letting Qin Huai learn just by teaching casually?

Zheng Da thought.

Huang Shengli watched with satisfaction from the side and said to Huang Jia: "Xiao Qin is really a good student that every teacher can't help but be moved by and want to take as an apprentice."

Whatever is taught, he learns; whatever is pointed at, he hits.

Huang Jia handed over a bowl of warm tea: "Master, drink some tea to moisten your throat."

"Can Master Zheng take Qin Huai as his closing disciple?" Huang Jia asked curiously.

"Hard to say." Huang Shengli shook his head. "Xiao Qin definitely doesn't have the intention or thought of becoming an apprentice, but it doesn't have to be a closing disciple. Even if Xiao Qin just becomes a registered apprentice of Zheng Da, I estimate Zheng Da would be overjoyed."

"Let's see. Once Xiao Qin learns crab roe shumai, if he's happy and feels Zheng Da's level is indeed okay, he might just take Zheng Da as his master."

Huang Jia:...

Is this statement a bit reversed?

Under normal circumstances, isn't it "happy to take xxx as an apprentice"?

But Master Zheng is...

It's indeed hard to say; from a certain level, Master Zheng is also very abstract.

While Qin Huai was making crab roe shumai, Zheng Da's crab roe shumai came out of the pot.

Qin Huai ate one and continued wrapping shumai.

Gong Liang, sitting at the kitchen door, ate two.

Huang Anyao was going to talk to the supplier about prices today and didn't come to Huang Ji, so Gong Liang helped him eat his shumai.

At the same time, Gong Liang also packed Huang Anyao's longevity noodles for his wife and children to eat. Gong Liang's assistant came over specially to run an errand, acting as a delivery boy.

Gong Liang had been building his mental state while eating the crab roe shumai Zheng Da made.

He knew that Qin Huai's crab roe shumai would also be steamed soon.

Last time, Gong Liang was moved and ate three of Qin Huai's crab roe shumai, and couldn't even eat dinner.

Gong Liang decided to eat two today.

Not eating three was because he had eaten a bit too much today, and he really couldn't eat three.

Last time Gong Liang ate three crab roe shumai and couldn't say a single word.

He really wanted to give Qin Huai some advice, but apart from saying this shumai was: "Terrible! Very terrible! Extremely terrible! It's simply not for humans! How could you make crab roe shumai like this? How can you face Master Jing with such crab roe shumai?" and other meaningless words, Gong Liang couldn't think of anything else.

He wasn't a professional.

Therefore, during this week, Zheng Da watched teaching qualification videos for a week, and Gong Liang wasn't idle either; he watched "Zhi Wei" for a week.

Seeing it made his mouth water, and he wished he could buy a plane ticket and set off to eat all over the world right now.

Unfortunately, he couldn't.

Qin Huai was still struggling for his crab roe shumai, and he, Gong Liang, couldn't run away first; at least he had to persist until Assistant Xiao Qin made qualified crab roe shumai before buying a plane ticket and setting off.

After watching "Zhi Wei" for a week, Gong Liang learned many descriptions and expressions about food.

Gong Liang wasn't as tongue-tied as Zheng Da; on the contrary, Gong Liang's tongue was very good, silver-tongued, and could even turn black into white.

That he couldn't find words was entirely because he lacked knowledge reserves.

Now he had them.

Gong Liang was ready.

At 3:30 PM, Qin Huai's crab roe shumai came out of the pot.

As usual, the chef eats first.

Qin Huai looked at the crab roe shumai, which looked good, and while he felt his performance today should be okay, he wasn't sure if his feeling was right.

The flips of the previous two times were still fresh in everyone's memory.

Qin Huai took a deep breath, calmed his mood, prepared himself mentally, and took a bite.

Eh, not fishy.

The main reason for the big flips in Qin Huai's previous two times making crab roe shumai was that there was a big problem with the proportion of ingredients, making the steamed crab roe very fishy, similar to the fishiness of sitting in a duck pen and drinking duck soup.

Just one bite was enough to make people spit out the shumai in their mouths and start cursing the chef.

This time's shumai didn't have this problem at all.

Qin Huai began to chew.

Hmm, there's the taste of shrimp meat; you can taste the freshness and sweetness of the shrimp meat, but not much.

Very good, the taste of crab meat can also be tasted, richer than the shrimp meat.

The taste of crab roe is the most obvious, strong and domineering, spreading rapidly in the mouth, quickly suppressing the crab meat and shrimp meat.

There is freshness.

There is sweetness.

There is no fishy smell.

Qualified!

Qin Huai felt that he wasn't here to eat dim sum at all; he was here to be a quality inspector.

Quality Inspector Mr. Xiao Qin stamped the "qualified" seal on the crab roe shumai in front of him.

Qualified, but only qualified.

There were no problems in any aspect, the taste was okay, it couldn't be called stunning, it was an ordinary and standard crab roe shumai.

If using game ratings to score, Qin Huai felt it was about C- grade.

He could tell others he knew how to make crab roe shumai, but he definitely wouldn't make it on a daily basis.

Very good, practicing basic skills was indeed useful.

Everyone tasted the crab roe shumai Qin Huai made one after another.

At the kitchen door, Gong Liang bit into half a crab roe shumai as if facing death.

Chewed once.

Hmm?!

"Holy crap, the crab roe shumai made by Assistant Xiao Qin is actually this delicious!" Gong Liang blurted out.

Because he couldn't squeeze in, Dong Shi, who could only hold a plate and eat crab roe shumai at the kitchen door, glanced at Gong Liang and sighed in his heart that he was truly worthy of being Mr. Gong, truly able to praise anything.

Such an ordinary crab roe shumai, yet he could praise it so sincerely.

Truly worthy of being everyone's recognized number one fan of Qin Huai.

Dong Shi swallowed the crab roe shumai, emptied his mouth, and chattered to join the discussion next door.

"I also think Qin Huai's crab roe shumai this time has improved a lot compared to last time; this time it's simply a normal crab roe shumai. Does he practice at home every night? God, this is too hard; what time does he have to go to sleep?"

"No wonder his level improved so fast!"

"Is Qin Huai off this week?"

"Not off? He said he wants to save this month's leave and next month's leave together to go back to Shanshan to see his sister. Wow, wouldn't he have to work for forty or fifty days in a row? Isn't this similar to Zheng Siyuan? Do they pastry chefs not like to rest?"

"I really want to live next to Qin Huai, so after work at night, maybe I could go to his house to snag some dim sum."

The speaker was unintentional, but the listener was attentive.

Gong Liang sent a message to his assistant.

Gong Liang: Settle the landlord next to Qin Huai within this week, and settle the landlord of the house Qin Huai lives in before next week; I want to take down both houses.

Assistant Xiao Wang: Received, okay Boss Gong!

(End of chapter)