Chapter 323: If It Crashes, Who Doesn't Crash?

Except for the somewhat baffling step of frying sea cucumber, the rest of the production methods for the double-crab bun filling were within Qin Huai's understanding.

They were also the same as described in the recipe given by Old Man Wang.

Simply put, double-crab buns made with fresh crab roe and double-crab buns made with crab roe paste were two different production philosophies.

Both had extremely high requirements for the chef's seasoning. The former needed to reduce seasonings as much as possible to restore the original flavor of the food, which was the taste of crab roe. It had to use the least amount of seasoning to cover the fishy smell of sea cucumber and crab roe, while at the same time giving the sea cucumber a new taste paired with crab roe.

Qin Huai called this seasoning philosophy "bland," using seemingly bland seasonings to highlight the original flavor of the ingredients. Under this production method, the focus of double-crab buns seemed to be on the crab roe, but the real difficulty was actually on the sea cucumber.

How to use the simplest seasonings to suppress the fishy smell of crab roe and restore the original flavor of crab roe as much as possible, Qin Huai had already learned and practiced on crab roe shumai.

The effect was okay, not stunning, but at least it didn't crash and didn't disgrace the crab roe shumai.

But how to use the least amount of seasoning to cover the fishy smell of sea cucumber, this was not a simple matter of seasoning. How to handle sea cucumber, how to soak it in water, how many times to soak it, how long to soak it, how to cut it, whether to simmer it in high-quality broth, whether clear water or high-quality broth was suitable, and what kind of sauce to use for seasoning—these were all problems.

Fortunately, these problems already had answers in the recipe given by Old Man Wang, which was written by Master Jing back then. Master Jing's recipe was bought at a high price by Xu Nuo, the youngest son of Factory Manager Xu. Master Jing rewrote the two recipes for Xu Nuo because Wang Gensheng was in urgent need of money and wanted to sell the recipe. To facilitate the sale of this recipe, Master Jing made additional modifications to the recipe.

The content of the modification was to write the places that were originally vague or might not be understood by people with lower levels in more detail, more like a nanny-level beginner textbook.

Such a recipe would be easier to sell than the original version, and the selling price would be higher.

Master Jing's heart was all written in this recipe.

Thanks to this nanny-level tutorial, the handling method of sea cucumber, which would originally have been controversial, misunderstood, and might need guessing, was written clearly and plainly. You just needed to follow the recipe—provided you could do it.

This was also why, after Zheng Siyuan saw the recipe Qin Huai had from Old Man Wang, he felt it didn't matter that there was no fresh crab roe to make the authentic double-crab buns, because the production difficulty of the authentic double-crab buns might not be higher than the crab roe paste version.

The crab roe paste version was a completely different style—the more seasonings, the better; the stronger the taste, the better; the more presence the spices had, the better—the "big spice" style.

Qin Huai also understood a little why the crab roe paste version was like this. Cooking was like this: light paired with light, thick paired with thick. Fresh crab roe had unique conditions, and its focus was on freshness and original flavor, so the simpler, the better.

And crab roe paste itself needed to be simmered with a large amount of seasonings and spices, and finally thickened with starch for taste, texture, and long-term preservation. Such a production process had long had nothing to do with pursuing natural freshness—it was full of spices.

Since that was the case, it was better to carry the thick taste to the end. Anyway, crab roe and sea cucumber were the same; the sauce for cold-mixed sea cucumber was even more exaggerated than the sauce for ordinary sauce-making. Ingredients with extremely strong flavors like mustard had to be added as the protagonist, so sea cucumber wasn't afraid of heavy ingredients either.

It could be said that if the two recipes for double-crab buns were given to ordinary people separately, without telling them that they were the same snack, they would definitely think they were recipes for two kinds of buns.

The styles were completely different, and the production ideas and angles were also different.

Qin Huai watched Zheng Siyuan adjust the filling.

In Zheng Siyuan's words, Master Jing's recipe for crab roe paste was already outdated. The times were changing, and technology was also progressing. With current technology, there was no need to use so many spices to ensure the long-term preservation of the sauce, and there could be great improvements in taste and style.

Of course, Zheng Siyuan was not a completely unfilial descendant. Although he felt that his grandmaster's crab roe paste recipe was outdated, he still affirmed his grandmaster's crab roe paste, feeling that this crab roe paste must be very delicious when mixed with noodles.

Heavy-flavored sauce, after all, is delicious when mixed with noodles.

Qin Huai only tasted a few mouthfuls when he went back last night and didn't have time to mix it with noodles. He planned to start eating crab roe mixed noodles after he and Zheng Siyuan really started researching crab roe paste seriously.

At that time, three big spoonfuls of sauce in a bowl of noodles, mixed thoroughly, so that every noodle was covered with sauce or crab roe. Then paired with some refreshing side dishes, similar to pickled radishes, sour beans, salted vegetables, etc., and a bowl of tangerine peel tea or Xiao Ou's signature fruit tea, that feeling...

Slurp.

Qin Huai decided to send a message to Ouyang tonight, asking Ouyang to open the milk tea shop earlier in the future, not so late at 8:00 PM.

A Master Qin who didn't want to reveal his name had to eat breakfast before 8:00 every day, and the milk tea shop opening at 8:00 seriously affected Master Qin's eating of crab roe mixed noodles.

The crab roe paste was ready-made, and the focus of adjusting the filling was on the sea cucumber.

Zheng Siyuan was very careful, and could even be described as cautious. If conditions didn't allow, or maybe there was no need, Zheng Siyuan wanted to take a measuring cup, dropper, and scale to precisely control the dosage to adjust the filling for the sea cucumber.

As Qin Huai expected, heavy ingredients had to be used to adjust the filling for sea cucumber.

The sea cucumber that had been fried in the oil pan would have a slightly crispier skin. Not only was the texture different when eaten, but it was also easier to absorb flavor when seasoning. Qin Huai watched Zheng Siyuan add various spices one by one, stir, place, scoop out, and cut into cubes.

Then stir the sea cucumber and crab roe paste, stir-fry over low heat, and then stew like the filling for three-ding buns.

The fragrance of the filling was already very rich.

It wasn't the rich bun filling like the three-ding bun filling, but a rich vegetable fragrance. People passing by who didn't understand the cause and effect would find it hard to imagine that Zheng Siyuan was making bun filling; they would probably think he was cooking and was collecting the juice over high heat.

Qin Huai also wanted to taste a mouthful.

As the saying goes, if you want to know the taste of a pear, you have to taste it yourself. Qin Huai thought so, and did so.

"Can I have a mouthful now?" Qin Huai asked.

Zheng Siyuan moved aside, letting Qin Huai come over to scoop a spoonful. Qin Huai wasn't polite either; he had been watching and smelling the taste on the side and was hungry, so he scooped a big spoonful directly, blew it cool, and tasted a mouthful.

Delicious.

Still the same sentence: this filling must be very delicious when mixed with noodles.

The taste was provided by the crab roe paste, full of crab roe flavor, and a little thickness of starch. Not fishy, no strange smell, the sea cucumber was well integrated, with no sense of existence. Except for being able to clearly eat something that didn't belong to crab roe when eating—soft and waxy with a semi-crispness from being fried and then boiled—it basically didn't have a name in this filling.

Zheng Siyuan was right: double-crab buns were crab roe providing taste, and sea cucumber providing texture.

What sea cucumber had to do was integrate without being abrupt.

A master's seasoning skill work.

Qin Huai savored it for two seconds, finished the remaining filling in small mouthfuls, and asked: "Is the double-crab bun made with fresh crab roe also this taste?"

Zheng Siyuan said very honestly: "I don't know; I haven't eaten it either."

"When you asked me the first time, I told you that I only know the crab roe paste version of double-crab buns, and my dad should only know this version of double-crab buns."

"The other recipe was bought by a customer and given to my grandmaster back then, and then asked back later. According to my grandmaster's meaning, the creator of that recipe was not him, and the owner was not him. He only learned and used it for a short time; he had no qualification to pass this recipe to others, even his own apprentice."

"So my dad actually didn't learn how the fresh crab roe version of double-crab buns was made; he just knew a rough idea, and he didn't deliberately study or learn it."

"But my dad has eaten it. If you want to know, you can call and ask him now, but I don't guarantee that he can explain it clearly with his expressive ability."

"That's not necessary." Qin Huai said.

He had confidence in Zheng Da; with Zheng Da's expressive ability, he definitely couldn't explain it clearly.

"I'm just curious. I think the taste of these two double-crab buns should be different. I dare not say which one is delicious; they must each have their own merits." Qin Huai said.

"My senior uncle also said so." Zheng Siyuan nodded. "The recipe given by Old Man Wang, didn't you show it to my dad and my senior uncle? I asked my senior uncle privately: what exactly is the taste of double-crab buns made with fresh crab roe? Too much time has passed; my senior uncle actually can't explain the very specific taste, but the two tastes my senior uncle said are different."

"Just like twins, no matter how similar they look, two people are different, and parents and relatives can also distinguish them."

"Not to mention that the production methods of these two double-crab buns are different, the difference in taste is even greater. My senior uncle told me that the customer who gave the recipe to my grandmaster back then especially liked to eat both double-crab buns together; he felt that eating them that way was the complete way to eat double-crab buns."

Qin Huai instantly felt respect for Xu Nuo; as expected of the youngest son of the factory manager. When ordinary customers could eat rice just by smelling the fermented rice steamed buns, Xu Nuo had already developed a luxurious way of eating both double-crab buns at the same time.

Grand, truly grand. In the process of chatting, Zheng Siyuan turned off the fire, scooped out the filling to cool, and started wrapping the buns.

Qin Huai and Zheng Siyuan wrapped them together.

"You just tasted the filling; what do you think the filling of double-crab buns should be like?" Zheng Siyuan asked.

"Hard to say." Qin Huai frowned; he really felt it was hard to say.

Before tasting the filling, he only had a vague concept of double-crab buns. After tasting the filling, he still only had a vague concept of double-crab buns.

"I think it's quite delicious, but it's hard for me to imagine that this is a bun filling." Qin Huai said the truth. "As a bun filling, is it a bit too heavy?"

"It's almost catching up with those strange red oil hot pot filling buns, you know what I mean? It just gives me the feeling of taking a good dish and forcibly making it into a filling and stuffing it into a bun."

Zheng Siyuan was silent.

Qin Huai didn't discover Zheng Siyuan's silence at the first time, because he was immersed in his own thoughts.

Qin Huai continued: "Yes, that's the feeling. Just now when tasting the filling, I kept feeling it was a bit strange. When smelling the taste, I felt it was like a dish; even if it wasn't a dish, it should be a topping for noodles."

"Under normal circumstances, when making bun filling, unless it's someone like Guo'er who is very unconventional, the filling is the filling, and the dish is the dish. There must be a very obvious difference between the two. From boiling the filling, stir-frying the filling, and adjusting the filling, you can see at a glance whether this is for pastry filling or for savory cooking."

"But the filling of this double-crab bun is very blurry. If you don't believe me, I'll call someone to ask. You know who An Youyou is, right? Her level is poor, and she won't lie."

After speaking, Qin Huai beckoned to An Youyou, who was frying radish cakes not far away, signaling her to come over.

Seeing the boss calling, An Youyou hurriedly handed over the work of frying radish cakes to someone on the side, ran over in small steps.

"Master Qin, is Sister Hong urging for the radish cakes? I'm frying them. The amount Sister Hong wants is too large; I can watch two pots at most at one time, and if there are more, it's easy to fry them burnt. And I've already found a helper; at most 5 minutes, I can send the radish cakes over." An Youyou thought her work had a problem and was very panicked, fearing that she would be beaten back to her original form before she succeeded in promotion and salary increase.

Qin Huai:?

"How much did Sister Hong want?"

"300 large portions of radish cakes, saying the neighborhood committee has an activity today."

Qin Huai:...

As expected of you, Chen Huihong; the way to get closer is to let An Youyou work until she is exhausted.

Qin Huai thought about how he didn't cut radishes for a long time today and asked with concern: "Are there enough radishes? Do you want me to cut some more?"

"Enough. Master Chen An just cut a lot of radishes; it's just that the remaining radish shreds might need your help with seasoning, Boss. The amount is enough to supply the neighborhood committee. I saw you were busy and originally planned to tell you about this later." An Youyou explained.

After speaking, An Youyou didn't forget to stare at Qin Huai, fearing to see any dissatisfaction on Qin Huai's face.

Qin Huai didn't care about these at all. As the true and only boss of Yunzhong Canteen, Qin Huai didn't care about anything usually, and he was used to not reporting big or small things to him; things were arranged and done before telling him.

Even the work reports that Huang Xi regularly sent to him, Qin Huai didn't read them seriously, just scanned them and passed them.

Master Qin, who had confidence in his craftsmanship, knew very well what Yunzhong Canteen truly relied on—not marketing strategies, but his craftsmanship.

"It's all a small matter; I'll go season it later. You come and taste this filling first; what do you think it's like?" Qin Huai pointed to the filling in the small basin.

An Youyou understood immediately; the boss was letting her taste the flavor, so she took the spoon nimbly.

Only scoop a little bit.

After tasting and pursing her lips, she showed an expression of exclamation, and words of praise were about to blurt out.

"If you want to say how delicious the filling is, you don't need to say it yet; just say what it's like." Qin Huai interrupted the spell.

"Dish." An Youyou said. "Delicious dish; if it could be used to stew things and mix with rice, it must be especially delicious!"

It could be seen that An Youyou had her own unique insights into eating.

She could even think of using double-crab bun filling to stew things and then mix with rice; as expected of the Three-Legged Golden Toad.

Zheng Siyuan:...

In a corner where no one cared, Zheng Siyuan had been autistic for a while.

"Okay, go back to work; I'll come and season the radish cake filling later."

An Youyou went back to continue frying radish cakes.

Qin Huai turned his head to look at Zheng Siyuan, and only then noticed that his friend's emotions were a bit wrong, seeming a bit low, as if something had happened just now that made him unable to lift his head.

"What's wrong with you?" Qin Huai asked with concern. "Is your stomach uncomfortable?"

"If you are uncomfortable, go to the bathroom; there aren't many buns left for me to wrap."

Zheng Siyuan pursed his lips: "No."

Immediately after, he seemed to have made a great determination, saying with a look of "death as returning home": "You said the taste of this double-crab bun filling tastes very much like a dish."

"Yes, it's quite special."

"When my dad taught me back then, he told me that when making double-crab buns with crab roe paste, the biggest taboo is to make the filling taste like a dish."

"The seasoning of double-crab buns is a miss as good as a mile. Even if it's not bad, doing it wrong is a failure."

Qin Huai:...

Qin Huai finally realized what had just happened.

Master Xiao Zheng crashed for the first time when demonstrating, showing off his cooking skills, and making sample dishes.

And it was a serious crash.

Qin Huai felt he should say something to comfort Zheng Siyuan.

"Double-crab buns are so difficult, so it's within reason that it wasn't done well." Qin Huai comforted. "It's quite delicious, really."

"It's much better than when I made four-joy tangyuan before!"

Crashing, well, you get used to it after crashing. Although it's a bit embarrassing to crash when demonstrating to others, there will be many embarrassing things in the future; don't care about such small things.

Zheng Siyuan silently put down the buns he had just wrapped.

"The staff bathroom is on the 2nd floor, right?"

"I'm going to the bathroom to calm down."

"Steam it yourself after wrapping; I believe you should know how to control the heat."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 324 =====