The first thing I did was to find out

Chapter 166 Good Tongue

After Qin Huai finished eating the crab roe steamed buns, he realized that he might have underestimated this snack.

He quietly ate two of the three crab roe steamed buns, leaving the other one for Huang Anyao who was begging for help everywhere, and then said:
"Master Zheng, can you show me again?"

"No problem!" Zheng Da was very happy.

He was not very good at speaking, and his superb skills coupled with his lack of language would make his already not-so-impressive production process seem even more ordinary. Zheng Da was so happy that Qin Huai had the awareness to just watch without asking any questions that he immediately prepared all the materials and began to demonstrate.

Same process as before, peel the live shrimp, remove the meat and chop it.

Take the crab meat.

Add Shaoxing wine, salt and other seasonings and mix well.

While Zheng Da was mixing the stuffing, Qin Huai asked, "Master Zheng, how do you control the seasoning of this stuffing?"

Qin Huai knew that Zheng Da probably couldn't explain it clearly, because when he was making snacks at Qin's breakfast shop before, Qin Congwen had asked him this question, and he couldn't explain it either.

Qin Huai knows that preparing the filling is a process that relies heavily on feeling, just like the traditional Chinese recipes that describe the amount of each seasoning are basically a small spoonful, a little, or an appropriate amount. Unlike the recipes found online today that can be accurate to grams, these little and appropriate amounts are actually just a feeling.

In an ordinary family, if one day a child suddenly wants to learn how to cook and asks his parents how much salt to put in making braised pork, the parents will definitely say half a spoonful.

As for whether this small half spoon is 1/3 spoon or 1/4 spoon, or other precise amounts, it depends on your own performance.

The taste of cooking is tasted out.

Some people have no talent for this and may have to try many times before they can feel what the right amount is. But some people are born with a keen sense of taste and can roughly judge whether a certain seasoning is too much or too little just by tasting it once. They can adjust it themselves the next time and develop a stable taste of their own over time.

There are actually only a few masters like Huang Shengli who can explain things clearly, analyze things in detail and point out exactly where the problem lies.

There are not many famous teachers these days.

Of course, there are very few masters like Zheng Da who cannot explain things clearly.

Although most normal masters may not be able to explain things clearly, they can still say something.

However, Qin Huai had said before that he could actually understand Zheng Da’s teaching style, especially the sentence “You can feel it, you know this feeling, right?”

Qin Huai didn’t know whether the third person watching could feel it, but he could really feel it.

Zheng Da's answer was as Qin Huai expected.

"This is... is... actually, this is about... how to control the seasoning... the seasoning is actually... let's put it this way... actually..."

It can be heard that Zheng Da really wants to provide some precise language guidance, but his ability is limited and this track is not suitable for him.

After hesitating for a long time, Zheng Da finally chose to answer in the way he was most familiar with.

“You have to find the feel.”

“It’s normal to get it wrong when you first start making it. This kind of delicate seasoning cannot be taught. You can only roughly see a standard range of quantities. Once you get your hands dirty and taste the steamed siu mai, you’ll understand where the problem lies.”

“Generally speaking, the simpler the ingredients and the fewer the types of seasonings, the more difficult it is to season them. If there is a slight problem with any of the seasonings, it will affect the final taste, and at this time, the chef needs to have a sensitive tongue.”

After Zheng Da finished his standard answer, he still said something useful. These useful words encouraged him, and even without waiting for Qin Huai to respond, Zheng Da happily continued to speak.

"Alas, Xiao Qin, you are still delayed."

"Just now you asked me how my master taught me and my senior brother. I mentioned a little bit but didn't finish. For a chef, the most important thing is not strength or understanding, but the tongue."

"If you don't have enough strength, you can practice. If you don't have good comprehension, you can just increase your knowledge. Comprehension is something that cannot be explained. Even a dull person can get wise one day, and even a very smart person can get stuck at some point. But the tongue is really important. If a chef doesn't have a good tongue that can taste food, it's hard for him to make great progress."

"Don't think I'm not good at speaking when I'm talking to you. Sometimes it's not that I can't explain it, but these things are hard to explain."

“Many things cannot be learned by words, but by taste.”

"The reason why my master accepted me and my senior brother as his apprentices was because we both had good tongues. You can't imagine how my master conducted the audition. Out of ten plates of boiled shrimp, one was not boiled. It had a little bit of seasoning added that normal people could hardly taste."

"Eat one dish after another, drink some water in between, and decide which dish you want to add condiments to will advance."

"The second round is the sauce for the boiled shrimp. There are 2 sauces, and the recipe of one is different from the other 10, but the difference is not big. Each person can only taste each sauce twice, and those who say it is correct will advance."

"This is the threshold screening. You can't imagine how exciting it was back then. Well, it's just that the times are different. If we were to hold a similar cooking competition now, the first round would be to let each chef taste the food, and those with poor tongue skills would be eliminated. Then they would compare other basic skills, knife skills, and various categories, and finally decide the chef with the strongest overall strength. It would definitely be exciting!"

Zheng Da spoke excitedly, and although the topic became more and more off-topic, Qin Huai listened with great interest.

"Then what are the criteria for judging a good tongue?" Qin Huai asked curiously.

"There is no standard." Zheng Da said, "A good tongue is a good tongue. If you give him a dish, he can taste the flavor without saying anything."

"There are many more kinds of condiments now. In the early days, decades ago, some people would deliberately mix and grind the condiments to keep their secret recipes secret. But this can only protect against ordinary competitors. A good chef can know what is in a dish with just one bite, and can even guess the proportions after eating it several times."

"I remember my master told us that the real secret recipe is not how well the ingredients are matched, but the technique and cooking skills. That is the unique skill that others cannot steal."

"What about my tongue?" Qin Huai asked.

"Nothing to say." Zheng Da said bluntly.

"You must have a good tongue."

is it?

Qin Huai still had some doubts. According to the game system rating, his cooking skills were advanced.

Qin Huai knew that advanced was already a very good grade. His advanced seasoning was enough to handle most dim sum, even some difficult dim sum, and this advanced was not the highest grade.

Above the advanced level is the master level. To upgrade to the master level, you need a full one million experience points. If the upgrade is allowed, it means there are other levels above the master level.

Looking at it this way, it seems that high-end is not that high-end.

Seeing that Qin Huai seemed a little unconvinced by what he said, Zheng Da smiled and said nothing.

Zheng Da and Qin Huai didn't have much contact. In terms of frequency and time, his relationship with Qin Huai was far less than that between Zheng Siyuan and Huang Shengli. But Zheng Da thought he knew Qin Huai better, and he always supported Huang Shengli's idea of ​​bringing Qin Huai to the world and letting the world meet Qin Huai.

Zheng Da felt that Qin Huai was a little too un-genius for a genius.

Zheng Da has been a self-aware genius since childhood.

He was very talented in cooking and was also good at business. It was because he knew too much that he was a genius that he became arrogant. When the state-owned restaurant did not recognize him as a plain pastry chef and made Huang Shengli the master chef, but did not allow him to be the master chef, he resigned in anger and went into business.

A normal genius, if not looking down on others, should at least be accustomed to being the center of attention and being far superior to his peers.

Qinhuai is just the opposite.

He is obviously a genius, and even among geniuses he is considered to be extremely gifted and rare. From childhood to adulthood he has always been far ahead of others and has been the center of attention, but he seems to have no self-awareness at all.

Some children are born sensitive and have low self-esteem. Because of their growing environment, they always anticipate the worst. Even though they have good abilities, they still feel that they are not good enough and often give up before things even begin.

But Qin Huai's character is not like that.

Huang Shengli didn't understand, but Zheng Da understood a little.

There was a time when he was like this. When he first started working in a state-owned restaurant, he found that even if his level was far superior to that of his peers, he could never reach the level of his master.

At that time he was very frightened and uneasy, even suffering from internal friction, anxiety, and self-blame. He felt that he was nothing special, not a genius, but just an ordinary mediocre person.

Zheng Da felt that Qin Huai's situation was a little different from his time. He always thought that he was very good, but suddenly encountered an insurmountable hurdle. He couldn't accept it for a while, so he had a brief emotional breakdown.

Qin Huai's mentality and state are obviously much better than they were at that time. It's like Qin Huai had encountered an insurmountable obstacle before he discovered that he was a genius. He couldn't cross it for many years afterwards. He was used to having a high mountain in front of him, so he had a very wrong perception of himself.

Zheng Da really wanted to ask Qin Huai, do you have a master secretly behind my back?

Who is that master? Tell me his name, I will go to battle with him. How does he teach his apprentice? How can you undermine the self-confidence of your apprentice like this? Isn't this misleading?

Do you know how to teach an apprentice? If you don't know, change someone else. I'll teach you. I know!
Zheng Da kept talking about some interesting nonsense which went off topic while making crab roe steamed buns.

While Zheng Da was making crab roe steamed buns, Qin Huai ate the steamed buns that were reserved for Huang Anyao.

A little hungry.

Qin Huai feels that watching the production process and tasting the results is more helpful for learning.

And in order for Huang Anyao to catch the second batch, he no longer sent WeChat messages to beg everywhere. Instead, he sent WeChat messages to confirm again and again when the crab roe steamed buns would be out of the pot and whether he could catch the most delicious ones.

After two batches of crab roe steamed dumplings were made, the afternoon teaching was coming to an end.

Qin Huai didn't have time to try it himself. Since he was going to make crab roe steamed buns, the whole process of preparing the ingredients had to be done by the chef himself. Qin Huai had not made shrimp-stuffed dim sum very often, and crab meat and crab roe were even more of a blind spot for him. If you are not familiar with the ingredients, you need to get in touch with them more.

In a long string of nonsense, Zheng Da repeatedly emphasized the teaching-related content, which is that when making crab roe steamed buns, the chef must prepare the ingredients by hand.

The preparation process is not troublesome, it is nothing more than taking out shrimp meat, crab meat and crab roe.

Only by preparing the ingredients yourself can you become familiar with them, establish connections with them, and season them better in the shortest possible time.

Qin Huai felt that what Zheng Da said made a lot of sense.

I even think that Zheng Da's teaching level is acceptable.

The teacher's personal level is here. Whether he can teach is the teacher's business, and whether he can learn depends on the student's ability.

Huang Shengli’s teaching materials have detailed explanations, while Zheng Da’s teaching materials do not have explanations. They are both teaching materials and can be learned as long as students have enough understanding.

"Thank you, Master Zheng, you have worked hard today. I would like to trouble you to come early tomorrow afternoon. I will go back and learn what you have learned today, and start making crab roe steamed buns after lunch tomorrow. If there is anything wrong in the process, please point it out in time." Qin Huai expressed his thoughts after class.

"No trouble, no trouble." Zheng Da said cheerfully, "If you have any questions when you go back, feel free to ask me. If there is any part of the house that makes you uncomfortable, just tell me at any time. Next time you are short of furniture, don't tell Gong Liang, just tell me directly. I am renting this house and I will furnish it for you."

Qin Huai got off work happily. Although he did not do anything in the afternoon and only ate 6 crab roe steamed buns, he still worked hard.

After get off work, Qin Huai went to the bone-setting shop for routine bone-setting, and then went home to rest.

While Qin Huai was having his bones fixed, Gong Liang received the news that Zheng Da had made two batches of crab roe steamed buns for Qin Huai's teaching this afternoon.

Gong Liang felt like the sky was falling.

The longevity noodles he had in the morning made him happy and he relaxed his guard, thinking that he had caught a big prize by eating them in the morning, but he didn't expect that there would be an even bigger one in the afternoon.

What a mistake!
Zheng Da has a really dirty heart!
Make a feint to the east and attack in the west, play tactics with him, play military tactics with him!

Isn’t he a childhood friend? Isn’t he an angel investor? Almost everyone in Huang Ji’s kitchen got a share, but he, as the original shareholder of Huang Ji, didn’t get any!

He hasn’t eaten crab roe steamed buns for a whole year!

Zheng Da is such a piece of shit. He clearly knows that I like to eat crab roe steamed buns the most, but he rarely cooks for me without even asking me to do so.

Gong Liang wanted to contact Qin Huai, hinting at it and hinting at the fact that he hadn't eaten crab roe steamed buns for a whole year.

By the way, he also revealed his glorious record of eating crab roe steamed buns made by Master Jing for a month in a row, proving that he is the most authoritative taster of crab roe steamed buns and no one knows crab roe steamed buns better than him.

nobody!
If Qin Huai needed a gourmet who could sit at the kitchen door to give him reference during teaching and eat some crab roe steamed buns made by Zheng Da, Gong Liang would definitely be the best candidate.

Although he can neither speak nor write.

But he will eat.

He can tell whether it tastes good or not just by tasting it!

Gong Liang wanted to send a message to Qin Huai.

But after thinking about it, I held back.

As a gold medal salesman, Gong Liang knows very well that he should stop when he is ahead, not be too persistent, and do different things for different relationships.

His relationship with Qin Huai has not yet reached the point where he can cling to her.

Master Xiao Qin is a very nice person. He even let him sit at the door of the kitchen to eat longevity noodles. Such a good relationship cannot be ruined by his eagerness for quick success. Just be patient with it.

Gong Liang felt that based on his understanding of Zheng Da, he would definitely not make so many crab roe steamed buns tomorrow after making so many today.

He didn’t get to eat it this time because he underestimated his enemy. Next time he must eat while sitting at the kitchen door!
Then on the afternoon of the next day, Gong Liang got the news that Qin Huai had made a batch of crab roe steamed buns, and Zheng Da had made another batch of crab roe steamed buns.

According to insiders, Qin Huai's crab roe steamed buns have failed to some extent, which is normal. If Qin Huai succeeded in making crab roe steamed buns the first time he learned how to make them, Gong Liang would have to consider whether to buy the house next door to the one Qin Huai rented and move in.

But Zheng Da’s crab roe steamed buns performed well.

Everyone who has eaten it says it’s good.

This news made Gong Liang a little uneasy.

No, why doesn’t Zheng Da follow the routine?
I don’t care who you are, just don’t get off Zheng Da. Can you please make crab roe steamed buns for two more days?

On the third day, Gong Liang did not leave after having lunch at Huang's. He waited until most of the guests had left, then he moved a small stool and sat at the door of the kitchen.

Huang Ji Everyone: ...

The day has finally come.

You can't just move a small stool and sit in the kitchen.

Today, Qin Huai will do it first, followed by Zheng Da.

After yesterday’s failure, Qinhuai has a better understanding of the difficulty of seasoning crab roe steamed buns.

His accident yesterday was no ordinary accident.

It was a huge rollover.

Let's put it this way, if Qin Luo ate the crab roe steamed buns made yesterday, he would definitely stare with wide eyes and ask loudly who made this? !

This is definitely not my brother's craftsmanship. Who is slandering my brother's reputation? Stand up. I, Qin Luo, will fight him to the death!

Fortunately, the crab roe steamed buns were not made in the Yunzhong Canteen, otherwise it would have been really embarrassing.

Qin Huai finally understood why most chefs would rather use the second method, which is several times more troublesome, to make crab roe dumplings, and would never touch the first method.

too difficult.

This car flipped over really badly.

That's not the kind of steamed buns that people eat.

When Qin Huai was eating the steamed buns he made yesterday, he even had the idea of ​​adding some pepper if it really didn’t work.

Although it is lazy and opportunistic, and it will also cover up the original flavor of the shrimp and crab meat, adding some pepper will at least not be so unpalatable.

Spices are truly a great invention.

Qin Huai also deeply realized why Zheng Da said that he must have a good tongue.

A good tongue indeed.

After taking one bite, I discovered at least 10 small problems and 8 big problems.

What you eat is not steamed buns at all; the way you eat is the problem.

What I eat is the book of wrong answers.

Qin Huai secretly glanced at the task target at the kitchen door.

Why is Gong Liang here?

Why did he come at such a critical moment?

I'll make crab roe steamed buns later. If it fails like yesterday, Gong Liang's favorability will probably go to zero after taking one bite of the crab roe steamed buns.

The death of Master Xiao Qin.

Qin Huai took a deep breath.

I must go all out today.

Set a small goal.

This time, I could only find 6 minor problems and 5 major ones, okay?

My friend and I are going to travel around the world tomorrow, so I probably won’t be able to update. I also have to go out later today, so I don’t have time to write tomorrow’s update.

Please take leave first.


(End of this chapter)