Chapter 199: The Younger Generation is to be Regarded with Awe

Qin Huai felt that his colleagues in the Huang Ji back kitchen were a bit strange today.

First, Huang Jia was acting inexplicably; he didn't know what kind of setback he had suffered, but he insisted on eating crab roe shumai and Guo'er.

Not long after, Dong Shi, who usually slacked off and chatted normally, suddenly stopped talking and began to work vigorously. He cut all the eggplants that Wang Jun didn't want to cut in one go, and while cutting, he laughed inexplicably.

It was the kind of laughter that came from the heart and couldn't be controlled at all. The corners of his mouth were raised, and he laughed until his face went stiff.

Dong Li was also unusual; his younger brother was laughing so hard he couldn't close his mouth, while Dong Li would reveal a mysterious smile from time to time, then happily stir-fry the meat filling for the Dream-Realizing Fulfilling Shaobing.

There was no need to be this happy just to eat Dream-Realizing Fulfilling Shaobing. Although Qin Huai wasn't very close to Dong Li and didn't have much interaction with him usually, he hadn't just met Dong Li yesterday. He knew that Dong Li was a person who didn't have many expressions on a daily basis and didn't like to talk much; his younger brother chattered away all day long, using up the entire quota of words for the two brothers.

And then there was Wang Jun.

Wang Jun was Qin Huai's chief assistant and had the most contact with Qin Huai on a daily basis. As the number one honest man in the Huang Ji back kitchen, Wang Jun was not good with words and didn't speak much. Most of the time, he worked in silence without saying a word, having little presence.

Today, Wang Jun didn't have much presence either, but Qin Huai keenly sensed that ever since just now, Wang Jun had been looking at him with an inexplicable, reverent gaze.

Qin Huai had seen this kind of gaze before.

Every time Huang Shengli showed off his skills by making some major dish, Wang Jun would watch from afar on the sidelines, standing on tiptoe and stretching his neck, his eyes filled with this kind of reverent expression.

But he hadn't made any signature dishes today.

To be precise, Qin Huai felt that his level was simply not in the same league as Huang Shengli's. At his level, even if he cooperated with Huang Shengli to make A-grade Guo'er, Wang Jun wouldn't look at him with this kind of gaze.

These were all people who had relatively good relationships with Qin Huai. As for Qi Tian and many other colleagues who didn't even have names, Qin Huai also felt they were acting strange.

Finally, after Qin Huai finished mixing the filling for the salted egg yolk style crab roe shumai, he couldn't help but ask Wang Jun, who was beside him: "Is there any good news at Huang Ji today?"

"Why do I feel that you are all inexplicably happy and excited?"

Wang Jun:...

The honest man Wang Jun used his lifelong acting skills to maintain his expression and said in a muffled voice: "M-maybe there is. Master is going to cook the Three-Head Banquet for the wedding banquet tonight, so everyone is quite happy."

Is that so?

Qin Huai had some doubts.

First of all, he trusted Wang Jun, this honest man.

However.

Was this reason a bit... far-fetched?

"Is there no other good news?" Qin Huai pressed.

"Definitely not right now." Wang Jun said with a sincere face, while silently adding a sentence in his heart.

It might not be the case in a few dozen minutes.

After all, the thing that every chef dreams of happening is about to appear in the back kitchen soon.

Although he couldn't be the protagonist, being the shocked NPC beside the protagonist was also excellent.

Qin Huai looked at Wang Jun twice, chose to believe him, and continued to make the crab roe shumai.

The crab shell yellow in private room 111 and the dim sum in private room 777 had already been served one after another. Before the dim sum for private room 777 was served, Huang Jia inexplicably transformed into a food taster, using the excuse of being starving to taste one of each type of dim sum.

As it turned out, Huang Jia wasn't that hungry; he couldn't eat anymore when he reached the Jiang Mi rice cake. Then Qi Tian, Dong Shi, and Dong Li took turns getting hungry, relaying to eat the dim sum, and even commented on the spot, finally reaching a conclusion—

The glutinous rice shumai tasted average, the Jiang Mi rice cake was unexpectedly delicious, the lard rice cake wasn't worth eating, the mung bean cake was unremarkable, the crab shell yellow performed normally, the filling Dong Shi stir-fried for the Dream-Realizing Fulfilling Shaobing wasn't as good as Huang Jia's, and the date paste yam cake was just okay to make up the numbers.

The few people who finished the discussion finally chose Huang Jia as their representative to find Qin Huai, expressing that they wanted to eat crab shell yellow and Dream-Realizing Fulfilling Shaobing, and asked Qin Huai if he could make a single serving later, not much, just a single serving would do.

Qin Huai felt that today was already absurd enough; he wouldn't feel strange no matter what absurd things Huang Jia said to him, so he nodded and agreed directly.

The salted egg yolk filling crab roe shumai was very simple; the production process and technique were much simpler than proper crab roe shumai, and the taste wouldn't be too different either.

After all, in terms of public taste, salted egg yolk filling was a standard, delicious flavor that could be accepted by everyone.

Qin Huai could make high-difficulty crab roe shumai reach B-grade, so naturally, the medium-difficulty salted egg yolk shumai was not a problem.

What really needed Qin Huai to do seriously was the Guo'er.

Before Qin Huai went on vacation, he asked Huang Shengli to help him stir-fry a batch of filling, and after making a batch of raw Guo'er embryos to take back to the Yunzhong Academy, he had never made Guo'er again.

As the only dim sum that Qin Huai could make reach A-grade, Guo'er had extraordinary significance for Qin Huai.

Before Guo'er reached A-grade, Qin Huai felt that this was a dim sum where the savory dish proportion was higher than the pastry dish proportion.

After reaching A-grade, Qin Huai discovered that good dim sum had no proportion of savory dish versus pastry dish; both were very important. Only a good pastry dish could match a good savory dish; if you felt that one aspect was not important, it might simply be because you were bad.

Under this mindset, Qin Huai would naturally be extremely serious and careful when making Guo'er.

And...

How should he put it, Qin Huai could judge from the names that Jiang Weiming and Jiang Weijin were likely biological brothers, and their culinary skills were taught by the same father, absolutely from the same sect.

And Jiang Weijin's pastry dish foundation was obviously much higher than Jiang Weiming's.

During this period, Qin Huai hadn't watched Jiang Weiming's teaching videos much, he had been watching Jiang Weijin's all along, and the focus was on the Three-Dice Bun teaching videos.

The Three-Dice Bun was a very comprehensive dim sum.

It had very high requirements for kneading dough, mixing filling, and even heat control; the S-grade Three-Dice Bun could be said to have brought these three skills to the extreme.

Dim sum that could reach S-grade had no shortcomings.

Making Guo'er again after a week, Qin Huai was surprised to find that although the dough for Guo'er and the dough for the Three-Dice Bun were completely different types of dough, the techniques were different, the fermentation time was different, and even the kneading method was different, but the sect was the same.

These two brothers were from the same faction!

Putting the techniques learned from Jiang Weijin's teaching videos into the pot-stickers self-created by Jiang Weiming was actually reasonable.

It was interconnected.

No wonder the Sophora flower steamed bun that their father Jiang Chengde made casually to coax children was S-grade; with this level, what dim sum wouldn't be S-grade.

Just as Qin Huai was lamenting that the culinary level of this family surnamed Jiang was truly high, another thing that shocked him appeared.

Qin Huai originally thought that there would be nothing else in the Huang Ji back kitchen at noon today that would make him feel absurd.

Reality told him, there was.

The world could be even more absurd.

Huang Shengli and Huang Anyao ran over.

This matter itself was not considered absurd; what was absurd was the state of the two.

Huang Shengli was fully armed, dressed very thickly, with a hat, scarf, and mask, not missing a single one. The whole person looked radiant, and as soon as he rushed into the back kitchen, he shouted:

"Where is the stove? Spare me a stove!"

Under normal circumstances, if Huang Shengli rushed into the back kitchen in this state, Huang Jia would definitely go up to stop him at the first moment. Not only stop him, but he would also earnestly persuade Huang Shengli that now was the critical period of recovery and he couldn't cook at will.

But today, Huang Jia rushed up in one stride to lead the way for Huang Shengli, with such a fawning attitude and such walking speed that Qin Huai almost thought Huang Jia was preparing to murder his mentor and take his place.

Following behind Huang Shengli was Huang Anyao, who was tired to the point of being half-dead for some reason, panting, sweating profusely, unable to stand steadily while walking, and looking like he was about to fall to the ground headfirst.

"Water... water!" Huang Anyao struggled to stand at the kitchen door, not daring to go in, "A stool, give me a stool first."

With a thud, Huang Anyao couldn't stand and knelt down.

Qin Huai:...

What is going on today? Is this still the Huang Ji he is familiar with?

Is Huang Anyao... went to run a marathon?

Seeing Qin Huai staring at Huang Anyao with a shocked face, Huang Shengli said gently: "Anyao just doesn't exercise much on a daily basis; he just rode a bicycle for a while and is like this now."

"Xiao Qin, you don't need to worry about him, you continue doing your own thing."

Huang Anyao was helped up by an assistant to sit on a small stool, like a fish that had landed on shore and was on the verge of dying of thirst, and said stubbornly: "That's right, don't worry about me."

"Qin Huai, you just do your dim sum!"

The back kitchen was brilliant and colorful, while private room 888 was relatively plain.

Xu Cheng was usually very quiet when eating.

When he traveled north and south as a food critic in his early years, he would always be like a backpacker, carrying a bag into a well-known or ordinary small restaurant, ordering a few dishes, finishing a meal in silence, and then leaving silently.

Now that he was older and no longer running around, Xu Cheng would occasionally eat with friends, but most of the time he was alone or eating with his assistant like today. People who were not familiar with Xu Cheng found it difficult to judge whether he was satisfied with today's dishes based on his state while eating. But Xu Cheng's assistant could guess the boss's mood through some subtle small actions.

The assistant felt that Xu Cheng was generally satisfied today.

It couldn't be counted as a surprise; Xu Cheng had eaten for so many years, north and south, basically eating his way through the whole world, and had eaten his way to his current status. For a random dish from an unknown chef to make Xu Cheng's body shake and make him slap the table and shout bravo, such things could only appear in cool novels.

Basically, if he could make Xu Cheng feel satisfied and finish a dish or a piece of dim sum, it was considered very good.

Now Xu Cheng had finished the fermented rice steamed bun and the Three-Dice Bun and was drinking Chen Pi tea. The squirrel mandarin fish, the sizzling eel paste, and the stir-fried seasonal vegetables ordered on the table hadn't been touched by a single chopstick; they were all eaten by the assistant.

The assistant ate while drinking Chen Pi tea.

Why was this perfectly good Chen Pi white fungus and lotus seed soup named Chen Pi tea?

The assistant expressed great confusion.

Since when was tea eaten with a spoon? Could the Huang Ji waiter make such a low-level mistake as to get the names of the dishes wrong?

However...

The assistant quietly glanced at the boss.

Although this Chen Pi tea tasted average, it was indeed very comfortable to drink.

It was a stewed dish, after all; having this taste was already quite good. Looking at the boss's state, one could tell he was very satisfied with this Chen Pi tea; he had drunk half a bowl of the small bowl, but his chopsticks were reluctant to be picked up for a long time.

In fact, the assistant's guess was not wrong; Xu Cheng was indeed very satisfied with today's dim sum.

As a professional food critic, Xu Cheng knew very well that different chefs should have different evaluation standards.

For example, Peng Changping, who had been retired for many years and ranked first in the Famous Chef Record, if the dishes he made didn't leave other chefs far behind, didn't make the diners who ate the dishes feel like their tongues were going to be fresh off, and didn't make everyone feel like the food was going to reach their throats but still want to lick the plate ungraciously, then it was unqualified.

But there was only one Peng Changping, and there could only ever be one first place in the Famous Chef Record; Xu Cheng couldn't use the world's number one standard to require all chefs.

Xu Cheng knew that there were many unknown masters hidden among the people.

Just like when he traveled in Southeast Asia in his early years, he once went to eat at a very famous street stall because of its reputation; it was said that everyone who had eaten it couldn't forget it, and people nearby would feel uncomfortable if they didn't eat it for a day.

Xu Cheng ate it and discovered that the snacks in this stall seemed to have added some ingredients that shouldn't have been added.

Feeling uncomfortable if not eating it for a day might not be purely a psychological effect.

Of course, besides this extremely rare and strange case, Xu Cheng had indeed eaten many small restaurants hidden among the people. Some chefs might not have a high overall level, but they only made one dish in their lifetime, making that one dish reach the peak of perfection.

Facing such master chefs who were destined never to be on the Famous Chef Record, Xu Cheng never stinted on words of praise.

When "Zhi Wei" was still a monthly magazine, Xu Cheng would occasionally open a special issue that only introduced dishes and not chefs, using the entire space to describe these recipes and introduce these good dishes scattered among the people to the readers.

Of course, now "Zhi Wei" wouldn't open such a journal alone. Everything that could be introduced had basically been introduced, and there wasn't enough space.

Xu Cheng felt that today's Three-Dice Bun and fermented rice steamed bun couldn't compare to a column that could make the cover like the Eight-Treasure Chestnut Pigeon, but a short recommendation, occupying half a page or a page, sandwiched in the middle of the magazine was still okay.

Just consider it encouraging a newcomer.

After all, this Master Xiao Qin seemed to be only in his 20s, very young, and the future was promising.

Now, Chinese pastry dim sum was declining, and good seedlings were basically all at Does Zhi Wei Ju; the dim sum in many large restaurants was just barely edible.

It was rare to have a young pastry chef who could make fermented rice steamed buns and Three-Dice Buns to this level; Xu Cheng felt it was still worth being on "Zhi Wei" to encourage and promote it.

Not to mention that this dim sum was not expensive.

18 for a fermented rice steamed bun, 56 for a Three-Dice Bun; in Xu Cheng's view, this taste was worthy of this price.

Food at this price placed on "Zhi Wei" was absolutely a cheap dish.

In the past year, the dishes that had been on "Zhi Wei" and could be written by Xu Cheng himself had no prices lower than 100 yuan.

Xu Cheng's original intention for founding "Zhi Wei" was to share the delicacies he had eaten while traveling around the world over the years with the public. As a result, as the influence of "Zhi Wei" grew, whether a dish could be on "Zhi Wei" became the best standard for testing its price.

Xu Cheng originally wanted everyone to be able to eat delicious food without stepping on mines, but it turned into letting everyone eat delicious and expensive food without stepping on mines; such a result occasionally made Xu Cheng laugh and cry.

If it weren't for the fact that Xu Cheng himself was too rich and wouldn't be moved by the small amount of money that restaurants wanted to buy food prices, high-end restaurants would have already spent money to invite Xu Cheng to write food reviews to increase dish prices.

Xu Cheng quietly finished a bowl of Chen Pi tea and let out a long sigh of relief.

Very magical.

This was Xu Cheng's first feeling after finishing today's meal.

With his taste and level of pickiness, such a normal bowl of Chen Pi white fungus and lotus seed soup could never enter his eyes on a daily basis; at most, he would taste one or two mouthfuls and that would be it, and he wouldn't drink a full bowl like today.

But today...

Xu Cheng felt it was very comfortable to drink.

This comfort didn't come from the taste, but from the heart; when drinking Chen Pi tea, he felt warm in his heart and very at ease.

So at ease that he even wanted to eat another Three-Dice Bun.

This did not conform to his usual eating habits.

Reaching middle age, Xu Cheng inevitably began to maintain his health, restraining his appetite and avoiding eating too full or too much in one meal like when he was young.

But today, well.

The younger generation is to be regarded with awe.

Xu Cheng already knew where he should go to eat dim sum 10 years later.

"Xiao Wang, have you finished eating?" Xu Cheng asked.

"Boss Xu, finished."

"I remember Huang Ji stops accepting orders around one o'clock, what time is it now?"

"1:07."

"Then the back kitchen should still be busy, let's wait a while, do you... want to eat dim sum?"

"I... want to eat... yes, Boss Xu!"

Xu Cheng revealed a satisfied smile: "Then ask the waiter if there are still fermented rice steamed buns and Three-Dice Buns, and have another serving of each, and I'll eat half a serving on the way."

The assistant hurriedly went to place the order.

5 seconds later, the news of Xu Cheng's additional order reached the back kitchen.

The entire back kitchen was stirred up; Huang Anyao was so excited that he almost jumped up from his chair, but because his legs were really too sore, he couldn't jump up.

"Are there still Three-Dice Buns and fermented rice steamed buns?"

"Yes, yes, specially reserved!"

"Quick, quick, quick, plate it!"

Qin Huai looked at the suddenly excited crowd with some confusion and asked Zheng Siyuan in a low voice: "Do you feel that everyone is acting strange today?"

"Did you notice that Master Huang's big spoon-flipping action just now was particularly exaggerated?"

Zheng Siyuan:...

Zheng Siyuan felt that it was very boring that everyone clearly didn't have good acting skills, but insisted on acting hard to give Qin Huai a surprise.

But seeing that this play was about to reach its climax, he couldn't not act either.

"No." Zheng Siyuan said with feigned confusion, "Is there anything strange? I think everyone is very normal today; it's almost time to get off work, so it's normal to be happy."

Qin Huai:...

Do you know that the strangest person right now is you?

Zheng Siyuan, when did you become so talkative?

(End of this chapter) ===== CHAPTER 200 =====