The first thing I did was to find out

Chapter 332 Thickening
In the kitchen of Yunzhong Canteen, Tan Weian became the protagonist for the first time.

After a hard day's work and having eaten two large bowls of crab roe rice and a portion of crab roe noodles, Master Tan was ready to go. If conditions allowed, he would even want to roll up his sleeves to show his seriousness and try the crab roe sauce recommended to him by Xiao Qin and Xiao Zheng.

Master Tan glanced at Xiao Qin and Xiao Zheng standing on both sides of him, and straightened his back involuntarily.

Chef Tan, who owns a treasure bag and has loved crab roe rice since he was a child, knows very well that crab roe sauce is very important to the taste of crab roe rice.

Whether crab roe sauce is delicious or not, the selection of ingredients is very important.

The best crab roe sauce should be made with fresh and plump crab roe, which is carefully boiled, stir-fried and seasoned to make it orange-golden in color, shiny, with large and plump crab roe. It is actually delicious without too many complex and unnecessary flavors, without the fishy smell of crab roe, while still being full of crab aroma.

Now the selection of ingredients is not good enough.

There is no fresh crab roe, only high-quality crab roe sauce.

The project of secondary processing of crab roe sauce involves some of Master Tan’s blind spots in knowledge.

But it doesn’t matter, Master Tan has confidence in himself.

Master Tan patted his chest in his heart, silently expressing who he was. He was a professional crab roe rice cooker, with a recipe and craftsmanship passed down from his ancestors. He had also made a lot of crab roe sauce himself over the years, although none of them were as good as his grandfather's, but... he had made a lot.

It's just secondary processing, a minor issue.

Master Tan began to make crab roe sauce according to his own ancestral recipe.

Master Tan encountered the first problem. He found that secondary processing and making crab roe sauce with fresh crab roe were really completely different.

Master Tan discovered that there were also differences during the cooking process.

Chef Tan found that seasoning was extremely difficult.

Master Tan found that he seemed to have overturned the car.

Master Tan didn’t think the problem was serious, and said that he was just not very experienced and didn’t perform well just now, so he simply gave up and ignored this pot and started again.

Master Tan started all over again.

Master Tan encountered the same problem again.

Master Tan worked hard to overcome the difficulties.

Master Tan failed to conquer it.

Master Tan overturned the car again.

Master Tan couldn't find an excuse.

Master Tan began to doubt his life.

Master Tan began to think about how Zheng Siyuan had managed to process the crab sauce and still make it taste normal. Is it reasonable to process the crab sauce again? Is it too difficult? How to control the heat? How to season it again?

No, how did Zheng Siyuan do it?
Is he a pervert like Qin Huai?

That's right, they are all perverts.

Master Tan kept to himself.

Qin Huai and Zheng Siyuan watched Tan Weian's two failed creations, tasting and commenting on them.

"See, I told you, even though I didn't control the heat well, I could clearly see just now that you can't use such a high heat. The crab roe sauce has already been boiled in oil once, so you have to use a low heat to boil it again." Qin Huai pointed.

Zheng Siyuan nodded in agreement: "That's right, the recipe is the recipe, and the practice is the practice. My father and my uncle have said that the key to whether an apprentice can become a master lies in whether he knows how to adapt, and whether he has the ability to deal with problems and the strength to solve problems."

"What would you do if it were you?" Zheng Siyuan asked.

Qin Huai took another sip and said, "I'm not qualified to comment on the cooking time, but the seasoning...if it were me, I wouldn't use such heavy ingredients."

"We don't use fresh crab roe, but the finished crab roe sauce. The original crab roe sauce has already done the step of removing the fishy smell. In theory, cooking wine and spices don't need to be added, but this crab roe sauce does add very little, and the taste itself is very close to fresh crab roe sauce."

"The second cooking and stir-frying will make the crab paste thicker and slightly change the taste. If it were me, I would spend a little more time thickening it."

Zheng Siyuan nodded again: "I think so too, so I have been making crab sauce repeatedly these days, and the real step to practice is actually thickening. But Tan Weian obviously didn't realize this. The two times he thickened the sauce just now were very basic. It is obvious that he didn't find the core of the problem, nor did he think it through and work it out carefully."

After saying that, Zheng Siyuan even shook his head in disappointment.

Standing between the two, Tan Wei'an could not only hear their conversation but also see their facial expressions: ...

No, can you guys please have a little respect for me, even though the crab sauce I made today is a little...

Okay, but you can't just curse me like that in front of me, you should at least turn your back...

Forget it, what I mean is, can you guys go home and nag me on WeChat again? I, Tan Weian, also want to...

Qin Huai interrupted Tan Weian's crazy complaints: "Speaking of thickening, I talked a lot about thickening with Master Cao at noon today. Master Cao is also very good at thickening. She recommended that we use diluted starch water to thicken it thinly once to see what the crab sauce looks like."

"If the effect is ideal, for example, the original crab flavor of the crab sauce is not affected, and it tastes thick as crab sauce should be, try this thickening method, thickening twice."

After hearing this, Tan Weian stopped complaining in his heart. He just opened his eyes wide with an incredible expression: "Thicken twice. Thicken crab sauce twice? This is not cooking. Besides, thickening twice when cooking is rare, right?"

Zheng Siyuan did not speak immediately, but lowered his head to think for a while, and under the gaze of Tan Weian, who was looking at him with a look of "this is too outrageous, this is too contrary to the decision of our ancestors", he slowly said: "I think I understand what Master Cao means."

Tan Weian:?

Do you understand again?

"We are going to make double crab buns. Buns are different from crab roe noodles and rice. The stuffing of buns is made from the finished crab roe sauce, which is then wrapped into the raw dough and steamed again. It has a secondary cooking process."

"That's why my dad said that the taste of the double crab buns is wrong, because it shouldn't be a dish. If it tastes like a dish, it means the idea is wrong. What we want to make is a steamed dim sum, which should taste like pastry. Stir-fried pork and green peppers taste good only when they are stir-fried in a pan. If you wrap the stir-fried pork and green peppers in buns and steam them again, it won't taste the same."

"The crab roe sauce we make now is actually for mixing with noodles and rice. This is the idea of ​​finding the right crab roe sauce flavor, but it is not the ultimate goal."

"That's why in Tan Weian's recipe, the crab roe sauce for crab buns and the crab roe sauce for rice are not the same."

Qin Huai nodded frantically: “Yes, Master Cao means the same thing.”

At this point, Tan Weian finally understood and reacted.

"So... this is what you just said about flexibility. It's not that I have to learn to be flexible with these recipes, but different recipes should be used flexibly for different snacks."

"No, you two should understand this principle. Then what you just said...did you say it to me on purpose?" Tan Weian looked at Qin Huai and Zheng Siyuan in surprise.

Zheng Siyuan had no expression on his face, and his eyes were blank. It was obvious that he had not heard what Tan Weian said at all. He had already started thinking about how to thicken the crab roe sauce twice to make it suitable for the double crab buns.

Qin Huai looked at Tan Weian with a smile in his eyes, and even showed a bit of relief in his expression.

"Of course, you contributed so many prescriptions yesterday. If the two of us only studied your prescriptions without you, and in the end you were the only one who didn't understand anything, then you would be at a big loss."

The team cannot be without Tan Weian. Without Tan Weian's treasure bag, Qin Huai and Zheng Siyuan will have to take many detours.

Hearing Qin Huai say this, Tan Weian was even a little moved.

How to say it, he himself didn't mind taking out some recipes from his treasure bag and giving them to Qin Huai and Zheng Siyuan to help them research new snacks.

After all, Qin Huai and Zheng Siyuan were much better than him, and they were willing to take him with them when they were studying dim sum, sharing recipes with him and telling him techniques. They studied together, and it was completely because he couldn't learn it, and he had a poor understanding, not because Qin Huai and Zheng Siyuan were hiding their secrets.

Qin Huai and Zheng Siyuan also have no responsibility or obligation to make sure he learns, understands, masters and comprehends everything.

These four words "practice more dishes" will be carried out throughout the career of every pastry chef.

Masters all teach in the same way. If the apprentice cannot learn, it must be the apprentice's problem. There may be a very good master who is very patient and willing to teach all the skills and techniques to the apprentice step by step, but such a good master is actually rare. Because most masters have more than one apprentice, if this apprentice cannot learn, there will naturally be other apprentices who can learn. Unless this apprentice is a grandson or son like Tan Weian.

Tan Weian had only enjoyed similar treatment when his grandfather, Master Tan, was still alive.

Now I am actually enjoying it with two friends.

For a moment, Tan Weian's eyes became moist.

He was overwhelmed with emotions and felt that tears were about to burst out of his eyes. The inexplicable emotion and more complex emotions suppressed in his chest were about to burst out. Some of the sensational words that he usually didn't want to say, and now he didn't know how to say them, were on the tip of his lips and he was almost saying them out loud.

Now he just wanted to take out his cell phone, take out his treasure bag, show it to his two good friends, and tell them to pick any recipe they liked.

Tan Weian moved his lips.

"You guys are really..."

"So thickening twice means thickening once when the oil is boiled for the first time, and thickening again when water is added after stir-frying and boiling again?" Zheng Siyuan didn't even look at Tan Weian from beginning to end. After thinking about it, he looked up and stared at Qin Huai and asked.

"That's what Master Cao meant, but Master Cao has never made crab sauce. She is just very good at thickening so she gave advice based on her experience."

"She suggested that we try the first method first, thickening the sauce only once, pouring the starch along the edge of the pot quickly and cleanly."

"Having said that, after all, I'm not very good at thickening the sauce, so you'll have to do it." Qin Huai felt a little embarrassed and wanted to scratch his head at the end, but he had to hold it back since they were in the kitchen.

Every time when it comes to testing whether the chef is a hexagonal warrior, Qin Huai, who is extremely biased in his studies, feels a little embarrassed.

After all, his current cooking skills are still at the stage of practicing knife skills, and thickening, which can be considered a skill, is a bit too beyond his scope.

Zheng Siyuan once again showed a thoughtful expression and murmured, "I think I understand a little bit, but... it should be quite difficult. I can give it a try."

"Let me prepare the starch water first."

"I'll get you some Krabby Patty!"

The two men moved.

Tan Weian, who was still standing there, said: …

Am I not the protagonist today?
Can you guys take care of the protagonist?

My emotions are just building up and the touching words are on the tip of my tongue, could you at least let me finish?

Oh, what was I just about to say?

Qin Huai and Zheng Siyuan already had a good understanding when it came to studying dim sum. After all, they had already mastered many difficult dim sums and knew each other very well.

Qin Huai directly brought a high stool, left a distance of several meters and sat down, watching Zheng Siyuan making crab roe sauce from a distance, while Tan Weian stood beside him and watched together.

Zheng Siyuan was doing Qinhuai while explaining to Tan Weian.

"After some research by Zheng Siyuan and I, we found that the double crab buns are different from ordinary crab roe buns. Ordinary crab roe buns may not require such high requirements for crab roe sauce. They only need to be thickened slightly so that the crab roe sauce will not have too strong a taste due to evaporation of water during the steaming process."

"There is another very important member in the stuffing of double crab buns - sea cucumber. Sea cucumber not only plays a role in nourishing, raising the price and improving the taste of double crab buns, but it is also the culprit that affects the overall taste and the fundamental factor that causes failure."

"Sea cucumber itself has no taste, but having no taste is actually a kind of taste. The crab roe sauce should not only contain it, but also match it. This will cause the double crab bun to be like a dish once it turns over, because the combination of crab roe and sea cucumber sounds like a dish."

"What we need to do is to use the red case thinking to process the fillings, and use the white case thinking to make the dim sum, and finally make a dim sum with a unique flavor."

Tan Weian seemed to understand. He only heard two words from Qin Huai's words.

Show off your skills.

"Why would they use crab roe and sea cucumber to make buns?" Tan Weian couldn't help but sigh, "This is too willful."

Qin Huai looked at Tan Weian deeply and said, "If nothing unexpected happens, the creator of the Double Crab Bun should be your great grandfather, and it was your great grandfather who sold the recipe later."

Tan Weian immediately changed his words: "It turns out that my great-grandfather was so creative. That makes sense. My grandfather also told me that my great-grandfather had his own ideas and insights on making snacks. The only problem was that we were too poor at that time, and my great-grandfather loved to spend money, so most of the good recipes were sold out."

"But I should actually thank my great-grandfather. If it weren't for my great-grandfather's love of spending money, my family wouldn't have any shares in Zhiweiju."

Qin Huai:?
"Your family owns shares in Zhiweiju?" Qin Huai was surprised.

"Yes." Tan Weian nodded, "But it's very rare, less than 10%. So several of my senior brothers can leave Zhiweiju to venture out and develop, but I can't. Even if I want to go, other restaurants won't accept me. They will definitely think I'm going there to steal their skills."

Qin Huai: I am so sorry, Mr. Tan.

Ah no, Shareholder Tan.

While the two were talking, Zheng Siyuan had already reached the stage of thickening the crab roe sauce.

Cao Guixiang said that this thin starching process must be done quickly and skillfully. It may look intimidating at first glance, and it really is. The more fancy the movements, the more beautiful the starching will be.

Qin Huai didn't understand because he didn't know how to thicken the sauce.

However, he felt that Zheng Siyuan's movements were not very fancy, but this could not be entirely blamed on Zheng Siyuan. He might not be able to perform those exaggerated and fancy movements.

The crab sauce is ready.

"How is it?" Qin Huai went upstairs with a spoon.

"I don't know. I feel like I can't achieve the effect that your Master Cao wants." Zheng Siyuan said as he scooped up some crab sauce, didn't blow it, and held the spoon quietly waiting for it to cool.

Qin Huai couldn't wait any longer, so he blew it quickly for a while and began to taste it.

Well.

The taste of crab roe sauce.

Cao Guixiang is right, thickening the crab roe sauce is very important.

All the steps have not changed, only the thickening step has been changed. The crab roe sauce in front is no longer suitable for mixing with rice or noodles.

Qin Huai felt that it was more suitable to be poured into the pot and cooked with tofu to make a pot of crab roe tofu.

Is this the legendary method of using the red dough approach to prepare the filling? Now all that’s left is to use the white dough approach to make the dim sum.

Soon, the crab roe sauce in Zheng Siyuan's spoon reached the right temperature, and he took a sip.

“This idea should be correct,” Zheng Siyuan said, “but my ability to thicken the sauce is not good enough.”

Qin Huai asked Tan Weian: "Does anyone at Zhiweiju have better skills in thickening than Zheng Siyuan?"

Tan Weian shook his head frantically.

Zheng Siyuan is already a leader among the younger generation of white-cooked dishes and an absolute hexagonal warrior among white-cooked chefs. His level of thickening skills is already amazing. Which white-cooked chef would have nothing better to do at home and practice thickening?

Although the thickening skills of normal white-cooked chefs are not as bad as Qin Huai’s, they are not much better either.

"It's impossible to find a chef who can make white-cooked dishes better than Zheng Siyuan among people like us, unless he specializes in cooking red-cooked dishes," Tan Weian said, "or we can capture Master Zheng."

"Boss Su and Chef Zhou both said that Chef Zheng is a chef with a very good foundation in cooking. It's just that he is too unfocused and not dedicated to his job. Otherwise, his level would definitely not be inferior to Chef Zhou's."

Qin Huai nodded thoughtfully.

(End of this chapter)