Chapter 327: Helper Learning Group

The crab roe noodles in the morning were sold until 8:42 AM.

The last bowl of crab roe noodles was bought by a leader surnamed Wang from a company in a nearby office building. As for why Qin Huai could know so detailedly, it was mainly because the leader's employees happened to be behind him buying buns, and Qin Huai heard more than one office worker call this leader "President Wang."

To be honest, getting to the level of President Wang is different; he is not afraid of being late for work at all.

President Wang ate this bowl of noodles for a full 18 minutes, from the time Yunzhong Canteen had the largest passenger flow to the time the passenger flow was extremely deserted. After eating, he didn't forget to go to the Xiao Ou hand-beaten lemon tea shop opposite to buy fruit tea under the recommendation of the waiter, and didn't forget to ask if this crab roe mixed noodle was sold every morning.

It could be seen that President Wang decided to be late for work every morning for the sake of eating crab roe mixed noodles.

"It seems that customers like today's crab roe mixed noodles very much. Although we didn't make crab roe paste that satisfied us, we satisfied most customers." Qin Huai summarized with a smile.

Zheng Siyuan was unmoved by Qin Huai's words, just asked slightly suspiciously: "Did you learn any new encouraging teaching methods from somewhere recently?"

Qin Huai nodded readily: "I've gained some insights from guiding the employees in the shop recently. How is it? Is my rhetoric just now okay?"

"Senior Uncle's rhetoric in this aspect is more excellent than yours." Zheng Siyuan said. "If it were Senior Uncle who wanted to praise someone just now, he would definitely not let me hear that he was deliberately praising someone."

Qin Huai understood; he still had to practice.

"What snacks to make today?" Zheng Siyuan asked.

Zheng Siyuan was a pastry chef who did things with a sense of proportion. He could distinguish between normal work and extra practice, and would never let extra snack research affect normal work.

"Same as before, I'll make four-joy tangyuan and mung bean cakes, and you make three-ding buns and fermented rice steamed buns, and feel free to play the rest." Qin Huai said. "However, I might be a bit lazy during this period, and I need to trouble you to make more of some snacks."

"I want to take advantage of the time we research crab roe paste to familiarize myself with sea cucumber."

Zheng Siyuan greatly appreciated Qin Huai's visionary learning method. Crab roe paste needed to be researched, but the help Qin Huai could give in this part was very little (he wasn't good at heat control). Qin Huai played more of a role in tasting and making noodles so that the crab roe paste wouldn't be wasted.

By the time the crab roe paste research was finished, Qin Huai might even have no progress in seasoning, knife skills, and heat control, but his kneading of dough would have made rapid progress.

Don't ask; asking is that he made enough crab roe mixed noodles.

"Need help? How do you plan to familiarize yourself?" Zheng Siyuan asked.

"I plan to make cold-mixed sea cucumber." Qin Huai said.

"Isn't sea cucumber fishy? Then I will do the easiest and easiest-to-crash method. Although my knife skills are not very good, cold-mixed sea cucumber shouldn't require very good knife skills either. The most important thing for cold-mixed dishes is seasoning. I believe that after I make cold-mixed sea cucumber well, I will know enough about sea cucumber. By then, your crab roe paste should be almost ready, and we will combine them to formally research double-crab buns."

Facing Qin Huai's plan, Zheng Siyuan only said one sentence: "Knife skills are also quite important."

"The knife skills of all cold-mixed dishes are very important."

"Then I'll find someone to help me cut it. Li Hua's knife skills are not bad; I'll tell him later."

After speaking, Qin Huai showed a slightly distressed expression: "Sigh, at first I thought two pastry chefs were enough in Yunzhong Canteen, but later I found that pastry chefs alone were not enough, and I had to recruit more helpers. But it wasn't until I really recruited helpers that I knew that helpers in this era are not like those in Huang Ji and Does Zhi Wei Ju."

"If it weren't for you coming to help me, I wouldn't have time to practice cold-mixed sea cucumber at all."

Zheng Siyuan echoed: "Ordinary restaurants are indeed very difficult to recruit helpers with decent cooking levels, not to mention that your requirements for helpers are higher than ordinary masters."

"Whether it's Huang Ji's or Does Zhi Wei Ju's, their ordinary helpers' levels are more than enough to be normal chefs in ordinary restaurants. Not to mention anything else, Wang Jun can only be counted as half a cutting-block chef in Huang Ji, but in terms of cooking level, he is stronger than the two savory chefs in your canteen."

Qin Huai:...

Alright, I know; you are very dissatisfied with the staff meals of our Yunzhong Canteen.

"What dishes did you eat yesterday?"

"I ate plum vegetable braised pork, garlic water spinach, and pork rib soup at noon."

"Don't eat plum vegetable braised pork; I always feel that the plum vegetable braised pork in our canteen is particularly salty, but there are customers who love to eat it, so this dish has never been withdrawn."

"I suggest you eat some tomato scrambled eggs; it's okay to mix with rice."

Zheng Siyuan:...

Tired, destroy it.

Master Xiao Zheng, who was not very satisfied with the staff meal, could only sigh deeply, and then started kneading dough to make buns.

Another plain morning.

Master Xiao Zheng, who was conscientious, had been burying his head in making snacks, and Master Qin, who was not doing his proper job, only made four-joy tangyuan and mung bean cakes, and then started researching cold-mixed sea cucumber.

Qin Huai's research results were not tasted by anyone.

Every time he finished mixing a portion, he tasted a mouthful himself, then showed a look of difficulty and wore a painful mask, then doubted life, was silent for a few seconds, and finally poured it out.

The same plot kept happening repeatedly in the back kitchen. As Master Qin's face became more and more solemn, Pei Xing, who originally planned to hold the dough and rush up to accept today's guidance, very sensibly kneaded his own dough silently.

When eating at noon, Pei Xing asked Li Hua in a low voice very puzzled: "When Master Qin tried dishes before, didn't he do it after making them and let us taste them together?"

"Why is he always doing it silently, eating silently, and then pouring it out silently today?"

Pei Xing's face was full of "I also want to contribute to Master Qin."

Li Hua looked at Pei Xing deeply and finally understood why this relationship household was mixed up in Does Zhi Wei Ju just like himself. Talent is one aspect, and EQ is another aspect.

Li Hua silently shoveled a mouthful of rice and said: "Master Qin has his own judgment in his heart; he feels that if it's not needed, it's not needed."

Some dishes have the value of tasting, and some dishes don't even have the value of tasting.

The pigs that eat the swill of the canteen today are lucky.

On the other side, Qin Huai was doing cold-mixed sea cucumber and doubting life.

It wasn't that it was so bad that he doubted life, but that he felt doubt about life because of the difficulty of sea cucumber dishes.

Before, Qin Huai could say that he didn't understand sea cucumber at all. Even if Cao Guixiang gave him a short basic theory class for more than an hour and let him practice it himself, Qin Huai didn't understand sea cucumber before practicing.

Now he understands.

This thing, sea cucumber...

It's really fishy!

Compared with sea cucumber, any fishy smell, meat fishy smell, or seafood fishy smell is a piece of cake. The fishy smell of sea cucumber is the real fishy smell. It is a kind of fishy smell that is not particularly strong, but if it is not handled cleanly, you can taste it as soon as you eat it, directly destroying the seasoning of the whole dish, and using the most intuitive effect to tell you that this chef's kung fu is not enough.

It can't be said that it is particularly difficult to handle.

But it is indeed not easy to handle.

Qin Huai's master-level seasoning determined that he couldn't crash any big cars in seasoning.

The process of making cold-mixed sea cucumber today was indeed the same. Because he really wasn't familiar with the ingredients and his technique was very raw, many problems appeared during handling, leading to the first few portions indeed being

Learning a new dish is a process of constantly discovering problems and constantly correcting them; Qin Huai corrected his problems very quickly, but he had only corrected them.

He had simply managed to remove the fishy smell of the sea cucumber in the cold tossed sea cucumber dish, achieving a passing grade, but he had not made the cold tossed sea cucumber taste delicious.

Sea cucumber as an ingredient has no flavor of its own; all its flavor is imparted during the final seasoning stage, making it a true dish of showing off one's skills.

Showing off skills means one must have the skills to show off.

It could be said that during the morning's preparation process, every time Qin Huai made a little progress, he doubted his life a little more.

Because as he learned more about sea cucumber as an ingredient, a question previously raised by Cao Guixiang began to circle in his mind.

Can an ingredient like sea cucumber... be used to make buns with crab roe?

How did the chef who invented this recipe dare to do it?

This is no longer a question of being highly skilled and bold; this is simply... willful. How can these two ingredients be combined together?

Also, with his increasing understanding of sea cucumber as an ingredient, Qin Huai realized that the processing method invented by Master Zheng—frying the sea cucumber for a few seconds—was simply genius.

Zheng Da was indeed exceptionally gifted.

His ideas were unconventional, but his results were astonishing.

As Qin Huai worked, he developed a sense of awe for Master Zheng.

This admiration and confusion lasted until noon; even when he was slicing shredded radish in front of his phone camera, his mind was thinking about how anyone could have thought to pair sea cucumber with crab roe—was this right?

Are double crab buns made with crab roe paste really the same kind of double crab buns as those made with fresh crab roe?

Qin Huai even understood Zheng Siyuan a little; ignorance is bliss. When you don't know, you have no concepts and feel everything is possible. The more you know, the more limited your thinking becomes—or rather, not limited, but you know the difficulty and the barriers, so you simply wouldn't think in that direction.

Thinking about it this way, Zheng Da really is a genius.

Daring to throw anything into a deep fryer for a quick fry—although this behavior is very absurd, this kind of thinking is very genius.

"What's wrong, Xiao Qin? You're absent-minded; what are you thinking about?" Cao Guixiang noticed Qin Huai's slight distraction and reminded him, "Thinking about this and that while cutting vegetables is not a good habit; watch your hands."

Qin Huai didn't even subconsciously look down at the kitchen knife and explained directly: "I'm thinking about how crab roe and sea cucumber can be paired together to make bun filling."

Cao Guixiang couldn't help but laugh out loud, coughed twice from the laughter, and hurriedly picked up her cup to drink water: "It seems you learned to make sea cucumber today. Let me guess what you made; you definitely couldn't make a hot dish, as your knife skills and heat control aren't up to par. For a cold dish, I suppose only cold tossed sea cucumber could be made, right?"

"Did you use the recipe I gave you?"

"Yes." Qin Huai nodded.

"Then you can practice well." Cao Guixiang said, "My recipe is not an ordinary one; it counts as a secret recipe at the very least. The seasoning is highly difficult, and it must be made by a chef with a lot of experience or a very high level of seasoning skill."

"However, what you just said is also correct; combining crab roe and sea cucumber to make bun filling is very absurd. The difficulty of this filling is no lower than the seasoning difficulty of the cold tossed sea cucumber I gave you. If you can make the cold tossed sea cucumber well, I believe there is a possibility of success for that so-called double crab bun you mentioned."

Qin Huai:?

Qin Huai looked up in shock: "Ah, the recipe for cold tossed sea cucumber you gave me is very difficult?"

"Of course, this is a secret recipe. How could a secret recipe have low difficulty? Wouldn't the ones with low difficulty have been stolen by others already?" Cao Guixiang looked at Qin Huai in the camera with an innocent expression; if she could hold back the smile at the corner of her mouth, her innocence would have been acted out more realistically, "And only secret recipes are delicious; ordinary cold tossed sea cucumber tastes very average and couldn't possibly be as good as what this recipe makes."

Qin Huai:...

"I didn't expect that either." Qin Huai said leisurely, "The recipe you gave me so casually is actually a secret recipe."

"What's unexpected about that? You are a pastry chef, so there are very few recipes I can give you. If you were a savory chef with this talent, let me tell you, I have as many secret recipes similar to cold tossed sea cucumber as you want. I could guarantee you wouldn't repeat a single one for three years if you learned one a month."

"Have you ever thought about taking an apprentice?" Qin Huai asked.

In the video, Cao Guixiang's action of drinking water paused; she thought carefully and then shook her head.

"It's not my turn. I still have two senior fellow apprentices. Although they both went abroad and I don't have their contact information, I heard that they took many apprentices before going abroad and brought them all out of the country."

"Let the matter of sect inheritance be left to my senior fellow apprentices; I, this junior sister, will just be lazy and live a leisurely life in the south."

Qin Huai, being very perceptive, did not continue to ask and silently cut the vegetables.

Just as he was cutting, a message from Tan Weian popped up, asking if Qin Huai was busy, as his video call just now didn't go through.

This was a rare occurrence; although Tan Weian liked forwarding pictures very much, he basically had never made a video call to Qin Huai. If there was an urgent matter, he would make a voice call.

It seems there really was an urgent matter among urgent matters, the kind that must be discussed face-to-face.

"Master Cao, I have a friend who wants to make a video call to me; it should be an urgent matter, so I'll take it first."

"Go ahead, handle your business first." Cao Guixiang nodded.

Qin Huai put down the kitchen knife, hung up the video call, and immediately called Tan Weian back via video call.

The other party answered instantly.

Looking at the background, Tan Weian should be at Does Zhi Wei Ju, crouching at a place suspected to be the warehouse entrance, answering the phone stealthily.

"What's the matter?" Qin Huai asked.

"It's just... there's a matter that's not big or small, but might be a bit big." Tan Weian stammered, "That... didn't my junior fellow apprentice and I return from the exchange at Huang Ji before the New Year?"

Qin Huai didn't quite understand what Tan Weian wanted to express and tried to guess: "Is it that Gu Li encountered some problems when making pastries, and he was too embarrassed to come to me directly, so he asked you to help him ask me?"

"No, no, no, no, no." Tan Weian denied it repeatedly, five "no"s in a row to express that it really wasn't, "It's that everyone's progress has been too great."

Qin Huai:?

"To tell you the truth, although you can't tell, I really gained a lot while researching the Four Happiness Tangyuan."

Qin Huai:??

"Gu Li is the same; I even feel now that the Ruyi Rolls he makes are already showing initial results, and there really is a possibility of success."

"The others go without saying; they didn't have a proper master to begin with and were ordinary helpers, usually learning a little here and a little there at our Does Zhi Wei Ju. Going to Huang Ji this time was simply a leap forward; those who didn't know would have thought they had apprenticed at Huang Ji."

Qin Huai:???

"So..." Qin Huai asked hesitantly, "Did you want to make a video call to me to express your gratitude?"

No way, Tan Weian, this isn't your character script.

"That's not it either; it's like this." Tan Weian took a deep breath and finally got to the point, "Our Boss Su wants to discuss something with you."

"The Boss Su whose daughter is on a blind date with Zheng Siyuan?"

Tan Weian hurriedly whispered: "Yes, yes, yes, keep your voice down; Boss Su is walking towards me."

Qin Huai immediately put on a serious expression: "What is it?"

"You know, as the largest sect in the pastry world, what Does Zhi Wei Ju lacks the least is registered disciples, which are helpers."

Just as Tan Weian finished speaking, a deep male voice interrupted him.

"Xiao Tan, what are you saying? Give me the phone; I'll talk to Master Qin."

Immediately after, the screen fluctuated violently due to the phone being handed over, and soon the face of a middle-aged man with a square face full of "I am a protagonist" appeared in the frame.

The middle-aged man smiled very enthusiastically.

"Master Qin, right? I am the boss of Does Zhi Wei Ju; you can just call me Boss Su, everyone calls me that."

"Boss Su."

"It's like this, Master Qin; I heard from Xiao Tan this morning that you need helpers over there."

"Isn't this a coincidence? We at Does Zhi Wei Ju happen to have many helpers who are in great need of your guidance. Your guidance last time was really too successful; our Master Zhou is full of praise for your teaching!"

"How many do you need over there? Give me a number, and I'll have Xiao Tan lead a team; let's start an exchange and study period of 1 to 2 months first."

"Use the people as you please; use them just as you did when you were at Huang Ji. I remember you have my WeChat; if there's anything, just say it directly on WeChat. If you are dissatisfied, tell me anytime, and I will change the people for you."

"You don't need to worry about accommodation either; we will arrange it well here."

"If you have time, it would be even better if you could come to our Does Zhi Wei Ju for an exchange for 1 to 2 months in the middle or second half of the year. What do you think?"

Boss Su looked at Qin Huai with great anticipation.

Qin Huai:...?

Is this the legendary protagonist treatment of being sent minions... ah no, being sent helpers?!

"That... of course that's good." Qin Huai nodded, "Is it just that the specific details still need to be discussed?"

"Of course, you are still working, right? I won't disturb you; we'll chat on WeChat later."

(End of chapter)