Chapter 56

Two bowls of small wontons.

In one bowl, the wonton wrappers were blown up like bubbles, thin as cicada wings, with a near-pinkish-white color, making the wontons in the white porcelain bowl, seasoned with seaweed and garnished with green onions, as beautiful as a painting.

The wonton wrappers in the other bowl were also thin as cicada wings, and one could even see the meat filling through the wrinkled skin, making it visible to the naked eye what the filling was. In the white porcelain bowl, besides the usual seaweed and green onions, there were dried shrimp and egg strips, and the various colors gathered in one bowl looked very bright next to the bubble wontons.

Qin Luo, who had already eaten two five-diced baozi and two three-diced baozi, was swallowing hard.

At this moment, she really wanted to say to Qin Huai: Brother, I think Brother Zheng is more reliable than Uncle Zheng. Why don't you become Brother Zheng's apprentice!

"The one on the left is bubble wontons, and the one on the right is crepe wontons." Zheng Siyuan said. "Both types of wontons are meant to be eaten for their freshness."

"Because there wasn't enough time, the filling and the dough are the same. The bubble wontons have a lard soup base with a drop of sesame oil. This is roughly the amount for one bowl; you can decide on the specific pricing."

"Want to taste?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Qin Luo took action.

One spoonful for one little wonton, sent into her mouth along with the soup; she didn't even chew much, feeling it just slide down her throat.

Qin Luo's tears were almost falling.

"Mom, the wontons Brother Zheng made are much better than yours!"

Zhao Rong, thinking about Qin Luo's high school that hadn't been settled yet, felt like hitting her daughter in front of an outsider.

By the time the first bowl of bubble wontons and crepe wontons were out of the pot, it was already 7:00 AM.

At this time, the first batch of customers who came early for baozi had already eaten their fill and gone home. There were only a few loyal customers in the shop, like Old Man Xu and Old Man Cao, who lived in this residential area or the one next door and had nothing to do since they didn't have to work. Going anywhere was the same, so they might as well sit in the canteen chatting and bragging; if they got thirsty, they could buy some hand-shaken lemon tea.

There were no signs for crepe wontons or bubble wontons in the shop, but there were signs for wontons and fresh shrimp wontons.

"Sister Xi, go find the fresh shrimp wonton sign and hang it up, use a cloth to cover the words 'fresh shrimp', and just say it's a new wonton dish on limited-time sale." Qin Huai stood at the kitchen door and said loudly.

This wasn't the first time the canteen had done something like this; so many types of buckwheat steamed buns had dropped in the afternoon, how could they make signs for each one? They were all just "new steamed buns, limited-time sale."

Huang Xi indicated she understood and went to find the sign.

The elderly men who were chatting about their children and grandchildren's studies and work instantly perked up.

Xu Tuqiang sat up straight instantly and, taking advantage of the fact that Qin Huai was still standing at the kitchen door, asked loudly, "Master Xiao Qin, are there wontons now?"

Qin Huai was a bit surprised. "Grandpa Xu, you drank a bowl of mung bean soup this morning and ate two cages of five-diced baozi and one cage of three-diced baozi. Just now while chatting, I saw with my own eyes that you drank a cup of hand-shaken lemon tea, a cup of soy milk, and ate a tea egg. Can you still eat wontons?"

Xu Tuqiang hadn't expected Qin Huai to be so attentive to him. For a moment, he was so moved that he wanted to post on his Moments to record the wonderful conversation just now, and said firmly, "I can eat them."

His voice was as firm as if he were about to join the Party.

Qin Huai shook his head, indicating he didn't understand these elderly men who exercised in the morning, and returned to the cooking station to instruct Zheng Siyuan to secretly only boil half a portion of wontons for Grandpa Xu, and make up the rest for him tomorrow, to avoid overstuffing the old man.

After giving the instructions, Qin Huai continued making fermented rice steamed buns.

Zheng Siyuan started boiling the wontons while watching Qin Huai make the fermented rice steamed buns.

"Your technique for these fermented rice steamed buns is a bit like mine." Zheng Siyuan said. "My craft was taught by my father, and my father's craft was learned from his master."

"Is that so?" Qin Huai said. "I learned this craft from a snack encyclopedia, right, Luo Luo?"

"Yes, yes, yes." Qin Luo said, holding her bowl and nodding while eating. "My brother couldn't make fermented rice steamed buns well before. He's been making buckwheat steamed buns every day for the past while; maybe he had a breakthrough after making so many steamed buns, and suddenly his fermented rice steamed buns are exceptionally delicious!"

Zheng Siyuan:...

For some reason, hearing this kind of story made him feel so angry.

These damn people with excellent talent.

"The key to making fermented rice steamed buns is temperature." Qin Huai shared enthusiastically. "The temperature of the fermented rice, the temperature of the dough, and the temperature of the fermentation are all very important. And according to my experience, don't use a juicer to crush the fermented rice; it's better to mash it by hand and then filter it."

Zheng Siyuan nodded, indicating he had learned something and would try it when he had time. After 8:00, Zheng Da, who hadn't been a snack chef for many years, arrived at the canteen to change clothes and start work.

At this point, the regular customers of the Yunzhong Canteen thought the two snack chefs Qin Huai had mentioned he wanted to recruit had arrived and started work.

Everyone expressed high praise for the skills of the two new snack chefs, saying they were delicious, they loved them, they liked eating them, and they would even skip work to eat them.

But what everyone didn't know was that the two Master Zhengs soon had the same confusion as Master Xiao Qin.

Why can't we make these locust flower steamed buns up to standard?

Zheng Siyuan's thoughts were the same as Zheng Da's; Qin Huai's technique, methods, and production process had no major problems, but the finished product was very inconsistent with his level.

Simply put, Qin Huai's level is B to B-, and if he performs normally without any accidents, Qin Huai should be able to make B to B- grade snacks.

Of course, the specific deliciousness of the snack depends on the type and recipe, but there is no doubt that Qin Huai can make B-grade snacks.

Now that the locust flower steamed buns only have a C to C- grade taste, it means something went wrong somewhere.

Not to mention that this steamed bun has an S-grade recipe.

The problem is huge.

And the biggest problem now is that they can't find the problem.

In the afternoon, Qin Huai made them again.

This time, Zheng Da and Zheng Siyuan moved stools and sat on the side to watch, almost wanting to take a video camera to record the whole process and watch it frame by frame after going home.

Still couldn't find the problem.

"This shouldn't be." Zheng Da really had a headache now.

Zheng Da had originally thought that with his experience and Zheng Siyuan's talent, solving a small steamed bun would be as easy as pie.

Now, he and his son were captured by the steamed bun.

"Siyuan, do you have any ideas?" Zheng Da looked at his son.

Zheng Siyuan was silent for a moment and asked, "Can I try making them?"

Zheng Da thought this was a great idea; if they couldn't see the problem, they might as well try making them themselves.

Then the plot turned into Qin Huai moving a small stool to the side to watch Zheng Da and Zheng Siyuan make them.

The result wasn't very good either.

Zheng Siyuan had a major failure, and Zheng Da had a minor failure.

The three of them, each with a steamed bun, fell into complete silence.

After a long time, Zheng Da spoke: "How about this."

"Siyuan, let's go to the mall later and buy a few more sets of clothes to change into."

"Extend the hotel stay for another week."

"I don't believe it; in one week, I still can't handle a steamed bun!"

Zheng Siyuan:...

Dad, don't speak too soon.

Don't end up failing to take an apprentice and failing to handle the steamed bun either.

(End of chapter)