The first thing I did was to find out

Chapter 209: Fruit Filling Research Team
One big rollover won't bring down Qinhuai, but four will.

For four consecutive days, Qinhuai suffered historic rollovers.

It made him feel like he had solved a few big, obvious problems, but changing the proportions of the ingredients would only lead to new big problems.

This mincemeat recipe is like a buggy program: you know it works in theory, but when you fix one bug, new ones appear.

Qin Huai realized that this was not a simple recipe.

There are so many ingredients in this fruit filling that even if we use the exhaustive method to try them all, it will probably take until next year.

Every time Zheng Siyuan tasted glutinous rice balls, he felt like he was going to be executed. He had to prepare himself mentally before he dared to eat the cooked glutinous rice balls.

As for Zheng Da, he went into seclusion at home, saying that he decided to concentrate on research at home for a few days. Once the research results came out, he would come out and give Qin Huai a surprise.

Zheng Siyuan guessed that his father had probably called someone for help, but Jiang Wei Jin's recipe for the fruit filling was a bit too weird, and it would take some time for the outside help to figure it out.

Zheng Da looked for external aid behind closed doors, while Qin Huai looked for external aid at Huang Ji.

Tan Weian was pulled into the fruit filling research team by Qin Huai.

When Tan Weian first received the invitation, he was very flattered. His cooking skills were only considered okay among the younger generation of Zhiweiju. When compared with Qin Huai and Zheng Siyuan, he was directly set off as a mediocre talent.

Now that two geniuses shining with golden light have invited him to form a team, Tan Weian of course decisively accepted it.

When Zheng Siyuan tried making fruit filling on the first day, he guessed correctly that Tan Weian really knew how to make fruit filling.

Zhiweiju is a place where talented people gather, and there are many masters who can make fruit fillings. Fruit filling mooncakes are also very popular during the Mid-Autumn Festival. Tan Wei'an has been in Zhiweiju for so many years, and has learned some skills from other master chefs.

Tan Weian’s various fruit fillings were borrowed from the number one chef at Zhiweiju, Chef Zhou.

Qin Huai discovered from the first day Tan Weian came to Huang Ji that, due to his family background, he had a wealth of theoretical knowledge and had many very good recipes, but his skills were limited and he could not make them.

There is nothing wrong with Tan Weian’s minced fruit filling in theory.

The problem is the mismatch.

Tan Weian admitted that the recipe for the fruit filling is flexible. Apart from a few basic and important candied fruits and nuts, the rest of the nuts can be changed to a certain extent based on the quality and price of the nuts, but that is only to a certain extent.

Tan Weian's recipe only has nine ingredients including candied fruits and nuts, but Qin Huai's recipe has a much longer list than his.

There is no formula for this type of question!

The teacher who sets the questions does not follow the routine.

On the third day of joining the fruit filling research team, Tan Weian suspected that Qin Huai and Zheng Siyuan pulled him into this team just to let him try more.

Too bad to eat.

It tastes different every time.

These candied fruits and nuts are delicious when eaten alone, but why do they taste so bad when combined together?

Tan Weian wanted to say that he was trying to lose weight recently and couldn't eat such high-calorie food, so he applied to have another person who was specifically responsible for food tasting join the team.

He thinks Huang Anyao is a good one.

Although the young master can’t cook and may not necessarily eat, he can comment on it and his comments are very complete, which makes him very suitable for this tough job.

"It's still not right." Qin Huai took a bite of the glutinous rice dumpling and tasted the filling carefully. "It's not as sweet as before, but do you think the filling tastes worse after reducing the amount of sugar than last time?"

Zheng Siyuan and Tan Weian nodded in unison.

Under normal circumstances, the more you try, the better it gets. It is rare for the food to become less and less tasty as they did.

This is what happens to beginners.

Tan Weian looked at himself, Qin Huai, and Zheng Siyuan, and felt that there was no way the three of them could be considered beginners.

If he was a beginner, all these years of work would have been in vain.

Looking at the fruit-filled dumplings in the bowl, of which he only dared to take a small bite, Tan Weian felt that all his years of work had been in vain.

Grandpa, I'm sorry that I ended up making such a disgusting snack.

"We have changed the proportions of many ingredients. At first, we used dried apricots, dried peaches, walnuts, olives, crushed peanuts and sesame seeds as the main ingredients, and other ingredients as supplements. We found that the taste of sesame seeds was too strong, so we increased the proportion of preserved fruits in the second attempt, and the sweetness was even sweeter."

"Then we tried changing a few of the main ingredients, but no matter how we changed them, the taste was always mixed. Either they were mixed together and there was no clear taste, only a distinct sweetness, or some individual ingredients were too dominant."

"Since there are so many ingredients in this recipe, each ingredient must have its own function, and mixing them together can bring out its effect."

"But……"

"Too many." Zheng Siyuan continued, "Whether it's cooking or making snacks, the most taboo in the past is to add too many ingredients to one thing, because it's too much and you can't chew it. But this filling is just the opposite. If the recipe wasn't written by my uncle himself, I would suspect that there is something wrong with the recipe."

"So... is it possible that there is something wrong with the recipe?" Tan Weian said boldly, "It's not that I don't trust Master Huang's cooking skills. First of all, I want to emphasize that I respect and admire Master Huang very much. The chefs who can be listed in the famous chef list are all my respected predecessors, not to mention that Master Huang is ranked so high."

"But, after all, Chef Huang is a famous chef."

"Besides, this recipe is from decades ago. After so many years, Master Huang may not remember all of it. Maybe he remembered it wrong and there aren't so many ingredients?"

"I have been wanting to say this for the past two days. Although the name of Baiguojian is Baiguojian, the name often only represents a meaning and blessing, not that there are really a hundred ingredients. Hundred is a very auspicious number, symbolizing abundance and abundance. We have many chefs at Zhiweiju who can make Baiguojian, but never Baiguojian with so many ingredients."

Tan Weian looked at Qin Huai and Zheng Siyuan eagerly, hoping that the two could stop the loss in time, pull back from the brink, change their minds, return to the right path, and not do anything heretical again.

He has a serious recipe for minced fruit filling, so let’s make the real thing!
Zheng Siyuan and Qin Huai pondered for a moment.

"That makes sense." Qin Huai nodded. "After so many years, it is impossible for Master Huang to remember every recipe. But since he was able to write it down, it means he is sure of having them, so the original recipe must have more ingredients than not."

"Indeed." Zheng Siyuan agreed very much. "If the original recipe had more ingredients, it means we are going in the wrong direction. We can't handle the existing ingredients, and adding more will only make things worse."

"I went home yesterday and was thinking, with so many nuts and dried fruits mixed together, not only do the flavors get mixed up, but many of the nuts taste a bit too similar and you can't really tell them apart."

"If you can't even taste it, what's the point of adding so many ingredients?"

"So I have been thinking about whether Master's recipe is to achieve a subtle balance among the ingredients, presenting the effect of being straight yet curved, clever yet clumsy, and eloquent yet silent."

Tan Weian:?

Aren't we discussing cooking? Why did someone mention Laozi?
Has the discussion of cooking reached this level now?

Qin Huai clapped his hands and said, "I think it must be in this direction. We'll try again later...ah, time is up. I have to practice the heat. We'll try again tomorrow."

Tan Wei'an also wanted to slip away: "I want to go..."

"Go ahead, I'll try again." Zheng Siyuan nodded. After Guo'er's baptism, Zheng Siyuan is now very receptive to all kinds of strange snack recipes, not to mention that this recipe for the fruit filling is his master's recipe.

Now Zheng Siyuan, like Qin Huai, firmly believes that there is nothing wrong with the recipe itself, and the problem with the filling they made is their own.

Tan Wei’an: …

Are all Huang Ji’s pastry chefs so stubborn?

How could there be someone in this world who is more stubborn than his junior brother?
Let’s put aside the facts...there is no need to put aside the facts. The facts are right in the bowl. Do Qin Huai and Zheng Siyuan really believe in this strange recipe?
Is this the gap between him and a genius?

Only a genius could see something from this prescription, but he could see nothing at all.

Tan Weian didn't understand, so he could only say, "I'll go cut the nuts and preserved fruits."

Huang Shengli led Qin Huai to practice the fire as usual.

Qin Huai is still practicing stir-frying meat, all kinds of stir-frying meat. Since he has to set aside part of the afternoon to practice making fruit fillings, he stir-frys less meat, and the Huangji employees also have less stir-frying meat in their evening meals.

What followed was a lot more unpalatable dumplings stuffed with various fruits.

Normally, if such unpalatable dumplings were fed to pigs as swill, the pigs would spit twice. But there are always fearless people in Huangji, from chefs to waiters, who want to taste how unpalatable it is every day.

Yesterday, the dumplings were in short supply and there were not enough for everyone to taste.

So much so that a very outrageous rumor spread that Qin Huai had been researching glutinous rice balls during this period and that they were very delicious, attracting everyone at Huangji to rush to taste them.

Many diners are looking forward to Huang Ji’s new tangyuan to be released soon to try Chef Qin’s latest masterpiece.

Among these diners was Gong Liang.

Yes, Gong Liang has never eaten the fruit-filled dumplings made by Qin Huai. Every night when Qin Huai went home to practice, he would specially pick out the fruit-filled dumplings and send the four-happiness dumplings made with only three dumplings to the neighbors.

It tastes so bad that it's not worth trying.

Gong Liang didn't really remember what the glutinous rice balls with fruit filling tasted like. This taste was a beautiful memory for him. Qin Huai was afraid that eating one glutinous rice ball would directly shatter Gong Liang's memory.

That would be a real sin.

Qin Huai is frying meat.

His progress in the past few days was the same as before, not much, but steady.

Xu Cheng is still in Gusu and has not left. It seems that he will not stop until he has finished eating all the snacks that Qin Huai can make.

There are many people lining up at Huang Ji now, and sometimes the traffic jam starts at 10 o'clock. Xu Cheng rarely comes to eat dim sum at noon, but comes to sit in the private room at night to cook for himself. Qin Huai also makes a few dim sums by himself after practice every day before leaving.

Qin Huai was thinking about what kind of snacks to make later, while pondering how to maintain a perfect balance among so many ingredients. He was also frying meat at the same time. He lost his concentration for a moment and it went wrong.

"Thinking about mincemeat?" Huang Shengli asked with a smile, "It's not a good habit to be distracted while cooking."

"I'm sorry, Master Huang, I won't do it again next time." Qin Huai quickly admitted his mistake.

Huang Shengli waved his hand: "I don't mean to blame you. It's normal to be absent-minded when the fruit fillings are like this these days."

Qin Huai felt that Huang Shengli's attack power had improved recently.

"Master Huang, did Master Jing really use so many ingredients to make his fruit filling?" Qin Huai asked.

Huang Shengli said with certainty: "Yes, I helped Master prepare the ingredients. I was also very surprised at that time so I was deeply impressed. I remember that I seemed to have asked Master the same question, but it has been so many years, so I can't remember Master's answer clearly, but it must be a reasonable answer."

"Is Master Jing's fruit filling really as delicious as Mr. Gong and his wife said?" Qin Huai asked.

"Although Gong Liang is a man who talks a lot of nonsense all day long and is best at exaggerating 1 point to 11 points, he is not as exaggerated as my master's craftsmanship."

"When I was young, I thought my master was omnipotent. He was proficient in both red and white cases, and was a master of Huaiyang and Suzhou cuisine. Although there were many dishes and dim sum that he rarely cooked, or even only cooked once, I knew that he was actually good at other cuisines as well."

"He actually knows how to cook Cantonese, Sichuan, Hunan, Shandong and Anhui cuisines. And I believe that the master must be very proficient in Shandong cuisine, otherwise he wouldn't be able to cook Shandong cuisine. It's just that due to geographical factors, he only cooks Suzhou cuisine and Huaiyang cuisine in Gusu."

"The glutinous rice balls with various fruit fillings may be just one of the many kinds of snacks that the chef is proficient in. He doesn't care about it and just makes it occasionally when he thinks of it, but it must be delicious."

"Xiao Qin, if you feel that you can't make the recipe for hundreds of fruit fillings, don't be discouraged. Even a genius will encounter mountains that he can't climb."

"When we were young, your Master Zheng and I both thought we were geniuses, but the facts prove that there are still many mountains in front of us that are difficult to climb."

"Sometimes it's good to have a little setback. Don't get stuck in a rut."

"Your Master Zheng called the owner of Zhiweiju yesterday to try to get in touch with Master Zhou and ask for help. After I gave him the recipe, Master Zhou scolded me and told me not to use such a weird thing to fool him."

"Don't be too hard on yourself. Let your Master Zheng study it carefully at home for a few days."

Qin Huai understood that Huang Shengli meant for him to not make things difficult for himself, but just make things difficult for Zheng Da.

Qin Huai continued to fry the meat.

The next day, when Qin Huai was practicing making the fruit filling, he took the initiative to suggest not practicing this outrageous recipe first and try Tan Weian's reliable recipe.

Hearing Qin Huai say this, Tan Weian almost cried with joy, thinking that Qin Huai had finally figured it out.

Zheng Siyuan didn't understand why, but he did it anyway.

Tan Weian’s recipe is indeed a good one. There is nothing wrong with the fruit filling. It tastes normal and delicious. It will definitely be good if used to make mooncakes.

The only downside is that it looks a bit weird when wrapped in the glutinous rice balls, so that needs to be fixed.

Tan Weian, who finally had a normal-tasting glutinous rice dumpling stuffed with various fruits, was already crying. He said excitedly, "Now should we just figure out how to modify this recipe?"

Great! The Minced Fruit Research Team is finally getting down to business!
This is normal research!
Qin Huai was eating the passable glutinous rice balls stuffed with various fruits: "It seems that there is no problem with our level. The various fruits stuffing is delicious, and it can also be delicious when wrapped in glutinous rice balls."

"Siyuan, let's use this recipe as a reference and think about Master Jing's recipe according to its matching ideas."

Zheng Siyuan nodded: "I think it's okay."

Tan Wei’an: …

You guys are such a %*@! /&!
Tired, let’s destroy it, Tan Weian wants to quit the team.

He can't bear this hardship any more, so could he send his dear junior brother Guli to help him for two days?

Junior brother, it’s not that I’m shirking my responsibilities. It’s mainly because I want to lose weight and stop eating sweets during this period.

(End of this chapter)