Abnormal Gourmet Chronicle-Chapter 832 - 416: Respecting Teachers and Elders (Part 2)

Chapter 832: Chapter 416: Respecting Teachers and Elders (Part 2)

"There is such a thing, but it’s not going smoothly." Zhao Cheng’an picked up the conversation, "We’re all snack masters, what do we know about industrial production? At first, watching Master Zheng do it well, we thought it was pretty simple, but when Boss Su delved into this idea, he realized Master Zheng is actually quite skilled in this area."

"If it wasn’t discovered that Master Zheng really had some tricks up his sleeve, Master wouldn’t have changed his opinion about him so much. Master used to dislike Master Zheng. He thought he was just driven by money, with no chef’s integrity or dedication, wasting his talent. Master also said something along the lines of..."

"Oh right, he said if one day I become like Master Zheng, neglecting my duties to dive into business, he would break my legs."

Qin Huai: ...You can tell that Master Zhou really disliked Master Zheng, it’s not sarcasm, just pure threat.

"What about now?" Qin Huai asked curiously.

"Now, what Master often says is, can I be like Master Zheng and even when neglecting my duties, still manage to achieve something in snacks. He tells me not to think about traveling all the time, and to focus more on snacks even when traveling."

Qin Huai: 6

Zhou Yan rolled her eyes at Zhao Cheng’an without good humor: "Master wasn’t wrong, if you put more thought into snacks, you wouldn’t be at your current level. You’re just thinking about where to play all day long, last year Central Asia, the year before Southeast Asia, the year before that East Asia, where are you planning to go this year?"

Zhao Cheng’an laughed cheekily: "Across the ocean."

"Sister, you just don’t understand, I’m traveling to make better snacks. What’s that saying again? Read ten thousand books and travel ten thousand miles, I’m making ten thousand kinds of snacks and have to travel ten thousand miles. Xu Cheng was traveling all over the world to eat when he was my age, I’m also traveling all over the world to eat. He is a food critic, I’m a pastry snack master, almost the same."

Zhou Yan was speechless at Zhao Cheng’an’s silly logic, turned to Qin Huai: "Xiao Qin, my White Jade Shrimp Roll will be ready in two or three minutes. I heard from Xiao Tan that you’re good at tasting, so I’d like to trouble you to try a few more bites and see where the problem lies."

"This snack was inspired by the red case White Jade Shrimp Roll, directly putting the corresponding stuffing into the pastry roll, steaming it and then pouring sauce. I’ve altered the recipe many times, but I always feel there’s something wrong with the taste, always missing something."

"To be honest, I’ve asked everyone in Zhiwei Restaurant who can help me taste this dish, including many masters who’ve tried it and offered lots of advice, but I always feel it’s missing something."

"Xiao Qin, you’re new here, I think you can definitely provide a different perspective."

Qin Huai understood Zhou Yan’s request and thought it was quite normal. Researching new dishes as a chef is a painful and lengthy process, when you can’t figure it out, you can only seek help from others, when everyone around is asked, they turn to the newcomers.

"Of course." Qin Huai straightforwardly agreed.

Before the apprentice brought Zhou Yan’s White Jade Shrimp Roll, Master Zhou returned with Su Qian, who had obviously been scolded again.

While Qin Huai and Su Qi were talking, Master Zhou was in the low-temperature area guiding Su Qian to make pastry snacks. Making pastry requires a low-temperature environment, in a sense, the low-temperature area was specially set up for Master Zhou, that’s the prestige of the number one pastry person.

Su Qian was holding a plate of egg tarts, which looked good but were clearly not made by Master Zhou.

Qin Huai had two egg tarts from Master Zhou yesterday and was deeply impressed by them. Apart from the flawless crispy crust and the roasted aromatic tart that looked fabulous, Master Zhou’s egg tarts were first and foremost very fragrant.

It’s the kind of fragrance so dominant that it’s unreasonable, as soon as it’s out of the oven it invades all your taste buds with its aroma, making your heart and every cell in your body scream "I want to eat egg tarts."

The egg tarts Su Qian was holding out, clearly didn’t have that strong aroma.

Seeing Su Qian’s dejected look, Qin Huai felt a bit sorry for him. In terms of talent and effort, Su Qian wasn’t bad, but unfortunately with talent before him, Master Zhou never lacked highly talented and highly hardworking disciples, Su Qian indeed was a bit lacking compared to Master Zhou’s three direct disciples.

Being unskilled is the original sin, who else would get scolded if not you?

"Xiao Qin, try Su Qian’s just-baked egg tarts." Master Zhou said with a blank expression.

Facing Qin Huai with a blank expression, shows Master Zhou is in a particularly bad mood now.

Qin Huai obediently picked up an egg tart, bit into it, and the crust crumbled everywhere. A vigilant apprentice, already on standby, quickly came over with a broom to sweep up the crust from the floor.

Just from that bite, Qin Huai knew why Su Qian got scolded.

This egg tart’s crust really wasn’t well made, Su Qian might be skilled at making pastries, but using this technique on egg tarts seemed a bit out of place.

The amount of crust falling off with one bite was enough to indicate the problem, pastries generally shed crumbs when eaten, but not this exaggeratedly. With Su Qian’s skills, the egg tart crust couldn’t be this way, likely he was too nervous and messed up.

As for the taste...

It’s average, much tastier than the egg tarts sold on the market.

Qin Huai slowly finished the whole egg tart, saying: "I don’t understand pastries fully, but isn’t this crust a bit too loose and dry? Especially paired with the tart filling, it feels scattered in the mouth, the texture isn’t good."

Master Zhou’s expression eased slightly, glanced at Su Qian: "Did you hear that? Even such a basic mistake can occur. Yesterday I thought you made significant progress at Yunzhong Restaurant, after practicing the Three Meat Buns for a while, your steaming skills had vastly improved. But today you show me that you actually learn one thing and forget another, even kneading dough poorly this morning. What, are you a fish in the river, changing places causes acclimatization issues?"

Su Qian was so scolded he didn’t dare to lift his head.

"Did you remember what I told you?"

"I remembered, Master Zhou."

"If you remember, go practice, don’t make apple crisp, lotus cake, and other pastry snacks today, considering your status now, making them is a waste. Just make egg tarts, I’ll see if you can figure out the egg tart first."

"Okay, Master Zhou."

Qin Huai heard Master Zhou say this, knowing that today is a fortunate day for guests who love egg tarts. Although Su Qian might be in a poor state today, resulting in an unsatisfactory egg tart, with his level, making egg tarts...

Guests who love egg tarts are lucky.

After handling Su Qian’s teaching, Master Zhou finally shifted his focus to Qin Huai.

Master Zhou managed to squeeze out a gentle smile, switching back to a kind teacher’s status, asking: "Xiao Qin, how was it just now?"

Qin Huai wanted to say he actually hadn’t seen much, just standing here listening to gossip.

Of course, with Qin Huai’s emotional intelligence, he wouldn’t say that, Qin Huai replied slightly restrained: "Learned a lot, Master Wang makes snacks with personal style, Master Zhou is very... aggressive, Master Zhao is very steady."

Master Zhou chuckled and said: "No need to call them Master, just call their names, you’re peers, no need for these formalities."

"Come, I’ll take you to see something else."

Master Zhou turned to leave after speaking, taking a couple of steps, paused as if he remembered something, added: "You too, Lao San."

Zhao Cheng’an almost cheered, jumping up to follow, walking alongside Qin Huai, whispering: "Xiao Qin, consider yourself lucky today, didn’t expect Master to be in such a good mood today, usually things like this happen maybe once a month!"

"What thing?" Qin Huai didn’t quite understand but started looking forward, after all, Zhao Cheng’an seemed so excited, there must be something exciting to watch.

"Guiding apprentices."

"Guiding apprentices?" Qin Huai didn’t get it, "Isn’t that a good thing? Master Zhou willing to guide ordinary apprentices should make everyone happy."

"Painful yet joyful." Zhao Cheng’an showed a mysterious smile, "Master only does this when he’s in a good mood because after guiding a round, his mood turns bad."

"Sometimes I really want to take a video camera to record what Master says, make a book titled ’Zhou Yu’."

"It would sell really well."

Qin Huai: ...

Your sect is truly... respectful to teachers.