The first thing I did was to find out

Chapter 168 Dough Upgrade
After winning the argument, Huang Shengli took over the teaching responsibility and began to teach the theoretical lessons skillfully.

The Suiyuan Food List emphasizes the importance of food quality in its notes: to make a delicious meal, the chef is responsible for 60% of the credit, and the person who purchases the food is responsible for 40%. This shows that if you want to be an excellent chef, you must first know how to choose good ingredients.

Qin Huai had read some of the "Suiyuan Food List" - Qin Luo bought a copy when he was in the fifth grade of elementary school.

I bought it at the used book stand at the back door of the elementary school. It was three yuan a copy, two yuan more expensive than the Dim Sum Encyclopedia. Qin Luo thought that the "Suiyuan Food List" was the same recipe as the "Dim Sum Encyclopedia". When I opened it, I could find different delicious dishes to make at home.

After buying it, he found out that it was actually a classical Chinese book with translation. Although Qin Luo was sad that he had wasted 3 yuan, he still finished reading "Suiyuan Food List" for the sake of the money. Qin Huai also flipped through a few pages with him.

Finish reading the instructions on the first few pages.

Qin Huai was deeply impressed by the last one, which was about one's duties.

The general meaning is that the main cooking methods of Manchu and Han cuisine are different, and the chefs of both sides have been accustomed to their own cuisine since childhood, so they are very good at their own methods. So when they entertain each other and prepare dishes in their own way, the guests will find it delicious and the chefs will not lose their own characteristics.

But nowadays many chefs have forgotten to maintain their own characteristics and try hard to please the guests. Not only do they fail to cook the guests' dishes in the way they like, they also lose their original intentions.

This is like a scholar entering the examination room to take an exam. If he just imitates others, imitating the master when he meets one and the examiner when he meets one, he will only learn the basics and will never pass the exam in his lifetime.

The reason why Qin Huai was so impressed by this duty was not because he thought it was correctly written, but because he thought it was simply nonsense.

What's wrong with imitation? Qin Huai has been making dim sum since he was a child by reading recipes from others. He would learn from dim sum encyclopedias when he came across one, and from pastry shop owners when he met one. He rarely failed and received numerous praises.

In other words, the level we are exposed to now is a bit high, and we couldn’t learn it when we were learning from Zheng Da.

After Qin Huai failed miserably in his first attempt to completely imitate Zheng Da's approach, the idea of ​​his duties came to his mind.

Is he now the scholar who can only learn the basics and will never pass the exam in his lifetime?
Qin Huai is also learning from Huang Shengli how to select crabs.

He is good at picking shrimps, but he is really not good at picking crabs. Crabs are the most important part of crab roe siomai. The crab roe, which provides the most dominant flavor in crab roe siomai, and the crab meat, which complements the crab roe and makes it less dominant, are the two star ingredients in this snack.

How to select crabs, take out the meat, how much meat to take, and how to judge the state of crab roe and crab meat are the most important parts of the preliminary preparation work.

Of course, if Qin Huai was the chef of the restaurant, he could delegate this step to others. No chef would do this kind of pre-production miscellaneous work of handling side dishes, and even Huang Shengli would not do this unless it was necessary.

But not doing it does not mean not knowing how to do it. Qin Huai must first know how to do it before he is qualified not to do it.

Qin Huai quietly turned his head to glance at Zheng Da who had already strolled to the side of the steamer.

Zheng Da was squatting beside the steamer watching the video so intently that Qin Huai could vaguely hear a few key words.

Lecture, method, expression, description.

It can be seen that Zheng Da really wants to win the argument.

Zheng Siyuan was practicing his own skills on the side. He usually didn't come to Huang's kitchen in the afternoon, but he heard that Qinhuai had a big fight yesterday, and today was a rare day for Zheng Da and Huang Shengli to gather in the kitchen, so Zheng Siyuan came to join in the fun and see if he needed to stop the fight.

Gong Liang was no longer sitting at the kitchen door, but he seemed to have not left. He went outside to make a work call.

Qin Huai felt that Gong Liang would most likely not be able to eat the crab roe steamed buns made by Zheng Da this afternoon. Master Zheng had his teaching license revoked and was banned from teaching today, so Gong Liang's trip was in vain.

Qin Huai planned to prepare some special food for Gong Liang tomorrow and make two fruits as a reward to him, so as to prevent his favorability from dropping.

Qin Huai was picking crabs according to the method Huang Shengli taught him. He picked up one and looked at Huang Shengli. He felt relieved when he met his approving eyes.

"Master Huang, I have a question for you." Qin Huai said softly.

"Oh? Tell me about it." Huang Shengli immediately perked up.

"I know that theoretically, learning something shouldn't be about blindly imitating others." Qin Huai put the crabs he had chosen into a plastic basket and began to pick out the next plump crab he liked, "but it's hard for me not to imitate others."

"I never thought there was anything wrong with imitation before. Even when I was making apple noodles, I was completely imitating Zheng Siyuan."

"But now I am also imitating, I even thought I was pretty good at mixing stuffing, but I ended up imitating like this."

“Is it possible that my method was wrong from the beginning? This is not the way to make snacks?”

Huang Shengli did not answer immediately, but smiled and helped Qin Huai pick another crab.

"If Huang Jia asked me that, I would definitely tell him that yes, that's not how dim sum is made."

"Huang Jia is facing the same problem now. I taught him cooking skills step by step, from childhood to adulthood. He is simply a younger version of me. When you eat his dishes, you can clearly taste my style. You will know he is my apprentice as soon as you eat them."

"He became famous because of this, but also trapped because of this. When I was here, he helped me at Huang Ji. Old customers came for my cooking skills, and they were also willing to try Huang Jia's cooking skills. But when I was away, without the real owner, an imitator with poor skills could not attract so many customers, and Huang Ji's business fell into decline."

"This is Huang Jia's dilemma. He has this worry. He has been thinking about how to get rid of the shadow of my master, how to stop imitating and make his own dishes."

"This is actually the dilemma faced by most of the disciples of famous chefs. If they were ordinary disciples of famous chefs, I would definitely tell them that this is wrong and that cooking cannot be done blindly by imitating others."

Qin Huai felt that there was a but in Huang Shengli's words.

"But you are different." Huang Shengli said, "Do you think Zheng Siyuan's dim sum is similar to Zheng Da's?"

"Similar." Qin Huai said affirmatively. More than similar, as soon as he tasted it, he knew that the snacks were made by the same master, father and son.

When the father and son stood together making snacks, it was as if they were copied and pasted; their techniques and movements were similar.

"So do you think Siyuan's dim sum is imitating Zheng Da?"

Qin Huai was stumped by the question.

It is true that Zheng Da’s craftsmanship is better than Zheng Siyuan’s, and the styles, methods, and schools of their dim sum are the same, but to be honest, it’s not really imitation.

Zheng Siyuan is a dim sum chef with a very personal style.

The dim sum that he is good at and not good at are very obvious and distinct. It is the kind that if you eat the dim sum he is good at a few times, you will be able to taste that it is made by Zheng Siyuan the next time you take a bite.

“For ordinary chefs, blind imitation is a barrier that restricts them. But for chefs like you and Siyuan, imitation is a way for you to master it quickly.”

"This common bottleneck will not restrict you at all. I guess you asked me this, Xiao Qin, because I didn't imitate the crab roe steamed buns well." Huang Shengli said with a smile.

Qin Huai lowered his head in shame. Huang Shengli was too tactful in his words. Not only was his imitation not good, it was simply terrible.

"Don't worry, this is not your problem. It's just that Zheng Da doesn't know how to teach." Huang Shengli glanced at Zheng Da who was still concentrating on watching the video. "He has the desire to be a master, but he doesn't have the ability to be a good master. You haven't even walked steadily yet, but he wants to take you flying. How can he skip steps like that?"

"First, follow me for two days to familiarize yourself with the dishes and build a connection with the ingredients. Then, I'll season and make crab roe siu mai. For the next two days, you don't have to make crab roe siu mai. Instead, you can be a handyman for two days and focus on handling the ingredients."

Qin Huai certainly didn't mind processing the ingredients. He could do anything as long as Huang Ji didn't mind.

"What should we do with the processed ingredients?" Qin Huai felt that Huang's didn't seem to have that many shrimp and crab dishes that needed to be chopped.

"Let Zheng Da make the crab roe steamed buns. He has nothing to do anyway. You can learn by watching him make them. He wants to be a master, so a master has to do his homework in advance." Huang Shengli said that it was okay to make his junior work harder, as he had a good waist and could make snacks.

"It just so happens that I haven't eaten crab roe steamed buns for many years. Let him make them for a while so that I can enjoy the delicacy."

Qin Huai:......

The relationship between you brothers is really unpredictable.

In this way, Qin Huai began his life as a dim sum chef who commanded people in the morning and a food preparer who was commanded in the afternoon.

Every day, he worked diligently to pick shrimps and crabs, peel shrimps and remove crab meat, and chop the shrimp meat and crab meat. Qin Huai soon became a crab lover, smelling like crabs wherever he went. People in Huang's kitchen didn't need to look up to know that Qin Huai had come just by smelling the smell.

This training method for food prep workers is indeed useful. Listening to the theoretical knowledge of shrimp and crab meat 1000 times is not as useful as actually peeling shrimp and crab for four or five days.

Real knowledge comes from practice.

For the employees in Huang Ji’s kitchen, these days were also very magical.

You won't be able to see Zheng Da and Huang Shengli during the morning and noon hours.

Zheng Da didn't want to get up early unless it was necessary, and even if he got up, he didn't want to go to the kitchen before noon.

Huang Shengli was able to get up, but he didn't want to come to the kitchen. In the morning he either drank tea or did physical therapy.

The two brothers usually have to wait until 2pm to meet at the top of Huang Ji’s kitchen.

Then they started quarreling as soon as they met.

Whoever wins the argument will teach.

Huang Shengli usually has a good and smiling personality, speaks softly and rarely loses his temper, but when he really gets into an argument, he is very skilled and has never been at a disadvantage. Every time, Huang Shengli wins the argument and Zheng Da is completely defeated.

Zheng Da could only watch teaching qualification-related videos for an hour every day to learn how to be a qualified teacher, and then make crab roe steamed buns.

The kitchen is wonderful, and the entrance to the kitchen is not bad either.

Gong Liang bought a comfortable chair instead of a small stool. He would carry the chair to the back kitchen door every day to eat crab roe steamed buns. Occasionally he would make a few phone calls to deal with work matters, which made passers-by ask, "Are all the capitalists who are financially free so idle?"
Not only do the bosses in TV dramas not work or do their work every day, but they only care about dating. The middle-aged bosses in your real life also do not work or do their work every day, but only care about waiting for snacks.

Are crab roe steamed buns really that delicious?

Well, yes.

If you really are not at work, it is still worth a visit. Gong Liang has a house in the community opposite and he has been living there recently, so it is very close.

This wonderful life of students working as laborers, masters quarreling, and onlookers bringing their own small stools lasted for 6 days.

It wasn't that Qin Huai stopped working as a laborer from the 7th day.

He still had to continue working as a helper. Although he had already started trying to prepare the fillings for the crab roe steamed buns, he was fully responsible for handling the ingredients.

Mainly, a very important thing happened on the 7th day.

Something that has little to do with crab roe siu mai, but has a huge relationship with many other dim sum.

Qinhuai’s dough has been upgraded.

Advanced facial!

Qin Huai traveled to Suzhou and practiced the heat and seasoning for a while. Finally, his hard work paid off and he successfully advanced from the intermediate to the advanced level in making dough.

Isn’t this a form of progress?

Qin Huai realized that his dough had improved when he was kneading the dough for his last batch of fermented glutinous rice steamed buns.

This upgrade feels very mysterious.

The feeling of upgrading from intermediate level to advanced level is more obvious than that of upgrading from beginner level to intermediate level. It’s not exaggerated to the point where you feel like your Ren and Du meridians are opened up instantly and you comprehend peerless magic skills, but you do feel more when kneading the dough.

The dough in your hands is more obedient and easier to handle.

Qin Huai had made a major breakthrough in making dough, and he thought it was time to celebrate.

But how to celebrate?
What he practices every afternoon now is making crab roe steamed buns. The least important thing about making crab roe steamed buns is to make the dough.

Using high-quality leavened dough to knead the skin of crab roe siu mai can even create a feeling of a hero being unused.

How about doing something else?

What to do? For whom?
Huang Jiadiao’s chicken broth seems to be pretty good today.

It smelled especially good, and Qin Huai couldn't help but drink half a bowl to taste it when he passed by just now. Huang Jia thought Qin Huai was hungry because he didn't eat enough in the morning, so he asked Qin Huai if he wanted him to cook two dishes for Qin Huai to eat first.

Qin Huai felt that the communal meals that Huang's employees had for lunch every day were a bit too monotonous.

Come to think of it, the waiters in the lobby and private rooms have not yet eaten the breakfast he made.

Qinhuai prepares breakfast every day according to the number of kitchen staff. Occasionally, the foreman will arrive early for something and can have a bite, but ordinary waiters have definitely never had it.

This is totally unacceptable. We have been colleagues for such a long time, but I have never tasted my own cooking.

Although Qin Huai didn't remember what the waiters looked like, he couldn't even remember the name of the waiter in his own cafeteria, but.

He wanted to show off his high-end hair.

The newly upgraded dough is not shown to everyone like a walk in the night in brocade clothes.

If you guys don't eat it, how can I show off in a low-key manner that my cooking skills have improved?
Qin Huai quickly finished the last batch of fermented rice steamed buns, quietly moved to Huang Jia, who had just finished stir-frying three shredded vegetables, and asked:
"Brother Jia, who is responsible for the staff meal today?"

"Dong Li is in charge. What's going on? Are you hungry? Tell me if you want to eat anything. I have a few dishes here. I'll cook them for you when I'm free."

"No, no." Qin Huai waved his hands repeatedly, "I want to be responsible."

Huang Jia paused as he looked at the list: "You?"

"Yes!" Qin Huai said sincerely, "To be honest, Brother Jia, I have been dealing with too many shrimps and crabs recently. I really want to make dim sum. The fixed amount of dim sum every day is simply not enough for me to make."

"And I really want to make noodles. I didn't get enough of the small amount I made this morning, so I want to continue making them at noon."

"I think everyone would not mind having chicken noodle soup for lunch?"

Huang Jia: …

Are all of you dim sum chefs a little perverted?
He always thought that it was outrageous enough that Zheng Siyuan had to go back to make snacks after a blind date, but he didn't expect Qin Huai to be just as bad.

What could Huang Jia say? He wanted to eat chicken noodle soup, too.

Who can resist a bowl of Qinhuai’s homemade chicken noodle soup, steaming hot, chewy, fragrant, and topped with mushrooms and vegetables?
It would be better if Qin Huai could let him cook the noodles instead of cooking them himself.

"I'll talk to Dong Shi." Huang Jia said. Seeing Qin Huai excitedly turning around and leaving, he couldn't help but call him.

"That..." Huang Jia didn't know what to say for a moment, "Qin Huai, don't be too stressed."

"The crab roe siu mai we had the first two times were nothing. Your cooking skills are still obvious to everyone."

Qin Huai still didn't understand why Huang Jia suddenly started to comfort him for no apparent reason, but since it was words of comfort, it was well-intentioned, so he nodded to accept it.

"I don't feel any pressure." Qin Huai said, "I just suddenly wanted to make pastries."

“The kind of pastry that has a heavy proportion of noodles.”

(End of this chapter)