The first thing I did was to find out

Chapter 296 Professional
Cornmeal is a type of noodle that is difficult for ordinary chefs to handle.

Cornmeal is even more difficult for beginners, because it is difficult to form a ball when kneading. The purer the cornmeal, the harder it is to form a ball, which can be seen from the steamed bread made by Hui Niang with moldy cornmeal in Chen Huihong's first life.

Forget about shaping the steamed bread, just knead it into an irregular ball and put it in the pot to steam it.

If the chef can overcome the hurdle of kneading the dough with his superb skills, he will encounter a new and more challenging problem in the subsequent production process - it tastes bad.

People who often watch TV dramas are familiar with this. In TV dramas, the protagonist is so poor that he can only eat steamed bread to highlight the hardship of life. Cornmeal has a rough texture. Even if it is ground very finely, it is not the kind of cornmeal that is ground with corn cobs. It is hard to swallow. The real cornmeal eaten during famine has a bad taste and makes your throat hurt.

Not only does it make your throat sore, it also tastes dry and hard, making it difficult for your teeth to chew.

Normal cornmeal available on the market now is basically mixed with white flour. Cornmeal mixed with white flour can improve its bad taste, make the dough fluffy and easy to shape, taste sweeter than pure white flour, and have a strong corn aroma.

Of course, the cornmeal steamed bread sold in the market that tastes sweet when you take a bite is most likely to have extra sugar added.

To sum up, considering the original characteristics of cornmeal, how to make cornmeal dumplings that have the flavor of cornmeal and are delicious, and how much white flour to add becomes the key to the production.

Qin Huai considered very carefully for seven or eight minutes before starting to knead the dough.

Thanks to the previous experience of making buckwheat steamed buns, Qin Huai has a deep understanding of mixing white flour. Corn flour and buckwheat are coarse grains with similar advantages and disadvantages. The disadvantages are that the taste is very poor, difficult to shape, and difficult to swallow. The advantages are that coarse grains are good for the body (at least many people think so), have their own unique flavor, and are suitable for people with special tastes. In addition, corn flour has its own sweetness, which is more acceptable to eat than buckwheat steamed buns.

Qin Huai carefully mixed the white flour and then began to knead the dough.

When kneading the dough, you need to use great strength. Not the kind of strength that you use cleverly, but great strength in the true sense. At the same time, use cleverness to knead the dough thoroughly and soften it so that the dough can be as soft as white flour.

Zang Liang has returned to Zang Mu to help him. Although the vegetarian dishes that Zang Mu is responsible for are all simple in appearance, they are all delicious dishes with hidden secrets. Basically, every dish is cooked with broth and the production steps are complicated.

Zang Mu is also a chef who is extremely focused during the cooking process and basically does not look anywhere else during the whole process.

On the contrary, Tong Deyan, who exuded an aura that said "keep away from strangers", glanced at Qin Huai a few times while he was making snacks.

Qin Huai didn't notice it either.

All his attention was on the pickled vegetable dumplings.

The texture of the pickled vegetable dumplings can be changed by mixing white flour, but the taste is hard to change, as the taste is entirely provided by the pickled vegetables. The pickled vegetables prepared by the restaurant are of average quality, or normal, and not the kind that will make you gasp at first sight.

The pickled vegetable dumplings will probably taste pretty normal in the end.

Soon, a pot of pickled vegetable dumplings that looked normal came out of the pot.

Qin Huai made 4 pickled vegetable dumplings, each about half the size of an adult's fist. At Mr. Han's request, they should be solid dough dumplings. Han Guishan's original description was that each pickled vegetable dumpling was about half the size of an adult's fist, but now Qin Huai didn't dare to make them bigger or more, fearing that Mr. Han would eat several more and end up in the hospital.

It is not a good thing to send your sponsor to the hospital the day before your birthday party.

Seeing the pickled vegetable dumplings coming out of the pot, Han Guishan, who had been sitting in a chair playing with his mobile phone for a while, stood up excitedly and went straight to the pot.

Open the lid.

Steam filled the air.

The four pickled vegetable dumplings are neatly shaped, look good, and have a smooth surface. You can tell at a glance that they are not dry, hard, or rough. They are lying obediently in the steamer.

Qin Huai is full of confidence.

He was not bragging. Ordinary chefs, even those who were better than him, might not be able to make pickled vegetable dumplings so beautifully.

Not every chef has rich experience in making buckwheat buns. Many white-flour chefs who are good at making white bread are at a loss when it comes to making pure whole grains. Every profession has its own specialty. Mr. Han's pickled vegetable dumplings can be regarded as a collision with Qin Huai's corresponding profession some time ago.

Qin Huai looked at Han Guishan, waiting for his eyes to light up.

Waited for one second, two seconds, three seconds...

It never lights up.

Qin Huai:?
Bad contact?

Han Guishan chewed silently. Not only did his eyes not light up, but his brows also furrowed as he chewed.

It can be seen that President Han is very satisfied with all the snacks today, except the pickled vegetable dumplings.

"Mr. Han, is there any problem with the taste? You can tell me if there is anything that needs to be improved. There is still time. I will have time to make a batch for you after the birthday party tomorrow." Qin Huai asked.

Han Guishan swallowed the pickled vegetable dumpling in his mouth, shook his head and waved his hands, indicating that it was not Qin Huai's fault: "It's delicious."

"It's really delicious. When I was a kid, I would have laughed out loud if I could have eaten such delicious pickled vegetable dumplings."

"It's just..." Han Guishan frowned, "It's not the taste I want. In fact, I don't know what it tastes like. I ate it when I was very young and I have forgotten it. Anyway... it's not this taste."

Qin Huai: ...?
So, what is the smell? Speak up, Mr. Han, speak up!

Is it inevitable that all Party A in the world will be dissatisfied with this plan but unable to propose any modification suggestions?
Han Guishan finished a pickled vegetable dumpling in silence, then sat back disappointedly, not eating the rest, waiting to eat other dishes.

Zang Mu's dishes are already in the final stages of preparation.

Zang Liang keenly smelled the scent of gossip, abandoned his master and sneaked to Qin Huai's side, whispering: "What's wrong? Is there something wrong with the food?"

"The dishes are fine. We have already tested tomorrow's dishes." Qin Huai pointed at the pickled vegetable dumplings. "President Han wanted to eat pickled vegetable dumplings. I tried making them, but they didn't seem to suit President Han's taste."

"Can you eat it? If you can, please help me taste it." For a moment, Qin Huai even doubted his own skills in cooking coarse grains.

This shouldn’t happen. He is the little prince of buckwheat noodles. He shouldn’t have fallen over on cornmeal.

Zang Liang tried the food very actively. He grabbed a pickled vegetable ball and stuffed it into his mouth, then chewed it vigorously.

Pickled vegetable dumplings are made of unleavened dough and are much harder to chew than normal noodles. Diners who like chewy noodles may like them, while those who don’t may find them too tiring and straining to chew.

Zang Liang obviously didn't like this kind of chewy food and chewed it for a long time before swallowing it.

After swallowing it, Zang Liang gave a fair evaluation: "Not bad."

"Although it doesn't taste good, it's just a dough made of cornmeal and pickled vegetables. It's already delicious enough to be made like this. The texture is not too rough, it has the sweetness of cornmeal and the salty and spicy taste of pickled vegetables. It can be eaten as an ordinary snack. How delicious can this snack be?"

Hearing Zang Liang say this, Qin Huai just felt warm in his heart.

"I'll give one to my master to try."

After Qin Huai nodded in agreement, Zang Liang picked up another pickled vegetable dumpling and ran to Zang Mu's side, and said something cheerfully, which Qin Huai thought was something like: Master, come and help Qin Huai taste this pickled vegetable dumpling. Before Zang Mu could make a move, Zang Liang stuffed the pickled vegetable dumpling directly into his master's mouth, almost choking him to death.

Zang Mu could only chew frantically while keeping an eye on the fire. Then he couldn't swallow it, so he asked Zang Liang to bring him a glass of water.

It wasn't that the pickled vegetable dumplings were too hard to swallow, it was that the bite Zang Mu took was a little too big. After all, the pickled vegetable dumplings were right in front of his mouth, and it was really hard to resist taking a big bite.

After Zang Mu finished the first bite of the pickled vegetable dumpling, he whispered a few words to Zang Liang, indicating that Zang Liang should just put the pickled vegetable dumpling on the empty plate beside him, as he would eat it by himself without needing to be fed.

Zang Liang put the dumplings down and ran towards Qin Huai happily again. He lowered his voice and covered his mouth, which was very rare for him, and said to Qin Huai: "My master said that your pickled vegetable dumplings are very good. It is difficult to make them tastier than this."

"He told you not to pay attention to what Mr. Han said. Some clients are like that. They like to make random comments and give others trouble. Just ignore them."

Qin Huai:......

It seems that the taciturn Zang Mu is a chef with a very interesting story.

How many difficult clients must he have met while catering to be able to say such experienced and comforting words?

Not far away, Tong Deyan, who had just put the dishes on a plate and taken them out of the pot, looked up and glanced at Zang Liang who was whispering, and frowned.

Tong Deyan's dishes were the first to come out of the pot.

Qin Huai vaguely remembered that there would be big dishes like pork elbow at tomorrow's birthday party, but there was not enough time to try the dishes this afternoon. Tong Deyan only arrived in City A in the afternoon and had not prepared the dishes in advance, so he couldn't make dishes that required long-term stewing or braising.

During lunch, Chen Gong mentioned that after the meal, Qin Huai and Zang Liang could go back to do their own things, but Tong Deyan needed to stay in the kitchen of the Imperial Kitchen to continue preparing food.

Tong Deyan is the chef of Beiping Babaozhai. Han Guishan tasted his cooking when he went to Beiping and was very satisfied and confident in Tong Deyan's cooking. The food tasting this afternoon was actually prepared for Qin Huai and Zang Mu. Bringing Tong Deyan was simply because he was afraid that the eccentric Master Tong would be unhappy and think that Mr. Han looked down on him and didn't invite him to the food tasting.

It can only be said that Tong Deyan's bad temper is indeed well-known in the industry, and even pure foodies like Han Guishan know it.

Tong Deyan made four dishes, including sweet and sour carp, sea cucumber with scallions, braised prawns and fried crispy dumplings. Among them, the fried crispy dumplings are a very famous Shandong dish, and it is also the dish that Tong Deyan had just stir-fried.

These four dishes were basically cooked at the same time, so they could be tasted together. Qin Huai had reason to suspect that Tong Deyan chose these four dishes just to prove his excellent timing skills.

The card is really good.

Being able to time banquet dishes well is also a plus.

I don't know how many banquets Tong Deyan has prepared to be able to time it so accurately. Chen Gong made the right choice to choose Tong Deyan as the chef, and the value of the gold medal assistant is still increasing.

Qin Huai looked at the four freshly cooked dishes from afar and showed an expression that showed he wanted to eat them.

He really wants to eat.

When I was at Huang Ji, I had a lot of delicious dishes, but they were mostly Huaiyang cuisine. Huang Shengli also knew some Shandong cuisine, but it was definitely not as good as Tong Deyan, a master who specializes in Shandong cuisine.

When Qin Huai was at Cao Guixiang's house, he ate authentic Tan family dishes, but what he ate most was actually home-cooked meals.

Among the four dishes made by Tong Deyan, except for the scallion-fried sea cucumber and the braised prawns Qinhuai, which I had eaten at Cao Guixiang's house, I had never seen the other two dishes, let alone eaten them.

Chen Gong looked at Qin Huai's expression from afar and guessed that Qin Huai also wanted to try it. He was about to tell Han Guishan about it, and then walked forward considerately to invite Qin Huai and Han Guishan to taste it together, but Tong Deyan took action first.

Tong Deyan didn't care about the dish he had just made. He walked straight towards Qin Huai and came to the plate of pickled vegetable dumplings.

"I want to try it too." Tong Deyan said expressionlessly, his tone was calm and without any ups and downs.

Qin Huai inexplicably heard a hint of dissatisfaction from the calm tone of voice, saying that you are forming your own clique without me.

Qin Huai:?
Was it so obvious that they were forming a small group just now? Tong Deyan noticed it from such a distance.

"Eat whatever you want." Qin Huai said quickly, "Do you want some steamed buns? Do you want some steamed buns? Do you want some glutinous rice balls... no, do you want some four-happiness glutinous rice balls?"

Hearing Qin Huai's enthusiastic invitation, Tong Deyan's expression relaxed a lot. Although there was no visible change, it was obvious that he was in a much better mood.

"Eat." Tong Deyan said.

Qin Huai took out the fermented glutinous rice steamed buns, three-spice buns and four-happiness dumplings that he had hidden and gave them to Tong Deyan. They were all warm and edible.

"Um...Master Tong, can I try the dish you just made?" Qin Huai asked.

Tong Deyan had already started eating the pickled vegetable dumplings and said vaguely, "You should ask President Han about this."

It can be seen that Tong Deyan is a professional banquet chef.

Qin Huai walked towards Han Guishan and asked directly. Han Guishan was eating the fried crispy dishes with great enthusiasm and had no mouth to answer Qin Huai's question. He simply stuffed a pair of chopsticks into his hand and gave him a bowl, indicating that Qin Huai could eat as much as he wanted.

After handing out chopsticks and bowls to Qin Huai, Han Guishan also gave a pair to Chen Gong. The three of them stood in a row and started eating.

Han Guishan and Qin Huai ate happily together. When they had some free time, they talked about what was delicious. Chen Gong seemed so reserved next to them, like a worker.

He is indeed a worker.

Zang Liang was stunned watching from the side, and felt that Han Guishan and Qin Huai would become brothers in the next second.

Zang Liang was stunned. He wanted to complain directly to Tong Deyan. He opened his mouth but held it back. He walked to Zang Mu and whispered, "Master."

"Is this how food tasting works? Can the chef eat with the boss?"

Zang Mu said calmly: "Mr. Han doesn't mind."

Then Zang Mu looked up and silently glanced at Qin Huai and Han Guishan, and found that Han Guishan was already handing Qin Huai a bone plate so that Qin Huai could spit out the shrimp skin.

Qin Huai took the bone plate and bowl back and took out a fermented rice steamed bun and handed it to Han Guishan, asking Mr. Han to eat slowly, as the fermented rice steamed bun tasted better with side dishes.

"Qin Huai... probably doesn't understand."

"Didn't Tan Weian say that? He is a pure wild person."

"Besides, he runs a community canteen and is the boss, so he doesn't need to know these things."

"Zang Liang, come back here! You are not allowed to go over there to eat!"

(End of this chapter)