The first thing I did was to find out

Chapter 345: Practice More
"The dishes are ready, braised shark's fin."

As Qin Huai brought the last dish, braised shark's fin, to the table, Zhang Zhiyun and Chang Qingqing cheered in unison, almost raising their chopsticks and bowls to shout: Great, let's eat!

The Zhang family is all here.

There were two empty seats at the round dining table. One was next to Zhang Chu, which was obviously reserved for Cao Guixiang, and the other was between Zhang Zhiyun and Chang Qingqing. After Qin Huai put down the dishes, he saw the seats that the latter two had reserved for him. For a moment, he was speechless, and the only thing in his mind was the sentence "You sit at the table for the children".

The thoughtful Zhang Zhiyun even poured a drink for Qinhuai, a famous brand of coconut milk.

This unfortunate child, how could he drink beverages during such a crucial meal today? It is obvious that he usually eats too many delicious dishes and does not know how to enjoy a grand meal.

Seeing that Qin Huai did not sit down, Zhang Zhiyun and Chang Qingqing thought that the seat they had left for Qin Huai was too narrow, so they quickly moved to the side.

Qin Huai sat down helplessly and nodded and smiled at Zhang Zhiyun and Chang Qingqing, who were so excited that they were no different from Huskies and golden retrievers seeing people.

At the same time, Cao Guixiang came out of the kitchen after washing her hands, took off her apron and sat down.

Everyone waited obediently for the chef to take the first bite.

Cao Guixiang did not pick up the chopsticks, but picked up the spoon and scooped a spoonful of the fish belly of the freshly cooked yellow croaker. The fish meat was very soft after being drizzled with oil to tighten the skin, marinated, dried, and steamed. The fish belly burst with one spoonful, and the "soup" comparable to Buddha Jumps Over the Wall flowed out of the fish belly, with a fragrant aroma and golden soup.

All it needs is a special effect similar to that in "The Cooking Master Boy" and a background music of the Great Wall of China, and the onlookers will exclaim, scream and start drooling.

Well, there is no need for special effects and background music. Zhang Zhiyun and Chang Qingqing were already drooling, and even Qin Huai, who had seen the entire cooking process in the kitchen, subconsciously swallowed his saliva when he saw the finished product.

Cao Guixiang scooped the "soup" to Qin Huai.

It is called soup, but in fact there is not much soup at all, it is full of scallops, sea cucumbers, abalone and sea ​​medium. The golden but not thick soup seems to only play the role of color, adding a touch of golden background to the full ingredients, making it more stylish and with its own special effects.

"Come on, Xiao Qin, try the yellow croaker in soup first."

"There's nothing particular about eating this dish. You can eat whatever you want. You can eat the fish meat mixed with other ingredients. You can drink just the soup or not. You can eat it any way you want. If you like, you can even mix it with rice." Cao Guixiang said with a smile, then glanced at Zhang Zhiyun with a warning look, "Yunyun, you can mix it with rice, but you can't scoop out all the soup like last time and leave no one to eat."

After receiving the warning from his grandmother, Zhang Zhiyun nodded repeatedly, saying that his grades had not been very good recently and he dared not do such a thing and would never make the same mistake again. Then he picked up the spoon and excitedly scooped a full spoonful of braised shark's fin and spread it on the rice, then ate the braised shark's fin rice in big mouthfuls.

He still loves braised shark's fin.

Qin Huai started to eat the stuffed yellow croaker. Cao Guixiang only scooped a spoonful for him, but this spoonful was very rich with all the ingredients.

Cao Guixiang took some of the fish meat on the fish's belly, the steamed shark fin and ham covering the fish, the sea cucumber, abalone, dried shrimp, and scallops in the fish's belly, and even the shrimp paste used to seal the fish's mouth.

Since Cao Guixiang said to eat whatever she wanted, Qin Huai ate whatever he wanted.

He picked up the chopsticks and picked up the abalone cubes first.

Abalone cubes are made from fresh abalone. The cubes are not small. Qin Huai dipped the abalone cubes in the soup and put them into his mouth. He found that they tasted really fresh, the kind of salty and fresh.

It is different from the three-piece duck and braised silver carp head I had before. The main feature of these two dishes is freshness, but the freshness is a fusion of mountain and sea delicacies. The yellow croaker in soup is mainly the freshness of the sea, and the taste of the sea is naturally inseparable from saltiness. The abalone is chewy and has a unique flavor when chewed.

Qin Huai took another bite of the diced sea cucumber.

The taste is similar, but the texture is slightly different. Abalone is chewy, and sea cucumber is soft and chewy. In addition, these two ingredients have no taste by themselves, and need to be seasoned and stewed to enhance the freshness and flavor. They taste the same style but have different feelings.

While eating this dish, Qin Huai suddenly understood why the double crab buns needed sea cucumbers to provide the taste.

Because it's really important.

When the taste has reached its peak, at least in some aspect, such as extreme freshness, extreme fragrance, etc., it will be difficult to make a breakthrough in taste. At this time, the taste that has been ignored before will stand out.

The taste is an ultimate enjoyment for the taste buds.

When the food is chewed on the tip of the tongue, the different sensations and flavors that come out of each chew are transmitted to the brain along the tip of the tongue. This wonderful experience is irreplaceable. At this time, people's senses will be magnified, and you will not only be satisfied with the enjoyment of taste, but will want to pursue something else, such as appearance, fragrance, and taste.

Perhaps the concept behind the double crab bun is the same as that of the stuffed yellow croaker in soup. If you can’t offer customers more in terms of taste, then give them different experiences and feelings in other aspects.

Qin Huai also instantly understood why Cao Guixiang told him that there was no set way to eat stuffed yellow croaker and he could eat it however he wanted.

There is no need to have a set way to eat it. When the dish enters your mouth and you start to taste it one by one, you will have the best way to eat it in your mind.

Qin Huai didn't hesitate. He picked up the bowl and the spoon and scooped a full spoonful of food. He didn't care whether every ingredient was covered in the spoon or not. He just put all the ingredients and soup into his mouth.

uh~
What a delicious taste, what a strong scent of the sea.

The salty and fresh taste of seafood is almost summed up in this small spoonful, and the soup composed of clear broth and shrimp oil neutralizes the fishy and salty taste that may be brought by large amounts of seafood.

This dish requires so many ingredients, including abalone, shark fin, sea cucumber, scallops, shrimp, dried shrimp, and ham. It is not just to pile up the ingredients and raise the price, but because all these ingredients are useful.

It needs so many ingredients, so fresh, so rich taste, and so many layers of flavor. The more you chew, the more you will find the aftertaste is endless. Even when all the ingredients are mixed in your mouth and spread on the tip of your tongue, it is difficult for your tongue to distinguish what is there, but this is not important.

It's delicious, its rich layers, its texture, its taste are enough to say it all.

Of course, maybe if it reduces some ingredients, it will have a different flavor, make the individual flavors more prominent, and make the taste less mixed and better. But didn’t Qin Huai only eat this version?
As Cao Guixiang said, as long as your level is high enough and has reached the pinnacle, everything you do makes sense.

Just like the glutinous rice balls stuffed with various fruits made by Jiang Wei Jin, the number of ingredients is ridiculous, right? It doesn’t matter, there must be a reason for it, and there are always great scholars to argue for him.

Qin Huai was so engrossed in the meal that he didn't want to eat any other dishes. He just wanted to savor the yellow croaker in soup again.

But he was a little embarrassed to scoop another spoonful, because Cao Guixiang had just scooped a very large spoonful for him. There was only one yellow croaker on the table, but there were so many people, and this dish was obviously the last dish. If he ate too much, would it be a bit...

Cao Guixiang knew what Qin Huai was thinking at a glance. She didn't give Qin Huai any chance to hesitate. She stood up and snatched Qin Huai's bowl and scooped two more spoonfuls for him.

"Xiao Qin, this wild yellow croaker is hard to buy, so you should eat more." Cao Guixiang said.

Qin Huai took the bowl with an embarrassed smile and buried his head in eating.

Hehe, the yellow croaker in soup is really delicious.

Slip.

Alas, if I had known that the food was so good, I would have brought Luo Luo back. It doesn't matter if I miss two days of classes. Qin Luo has been studying hard and seriously during this period. With this kind of vegetable hanging in front of him, Qin Luo can study with all his strength.

Sure enough, it was because his brother’s cooking skills were not very good over the years that Luo Luo had not been very enthusiastic about learning.

No, you can't blame him. Luoluo has never liked reading since he was young. The main reason is that he doesn't like reading.

"Brother Qinhuai, let's have braised shark's fin."

While Qin Huai was eating and thinking about how to make Qin Luo, the poor student, make a comeback and perform a short drama to slap Qin Luo in the face, Zhang Zhiyun very servilely scooped a spoonful of braised shark's fin for Qin Huai.

"If you don't eat it, Qingqing will finish it. I told her to leave a spoonful for you, but she almost forgot." Zhang Zhiyun did not forget to make false accusations.

Chang Qingqing:?! Backstab me?
"You obviously eat the most, but grandma doesn't allow you to eat the soup of the yellow croaker with rice, but you just want to eat the braised shark's fin with rice." Chang Qingqing was furious and started to complain in a loud voice, "Grandma, Zhang Zhiyun only got 108 points in the monthly math test this time, and I got 112!"

Qin Huai:......

If he remembered correctly, the full score for junior high school math was 120, right? If this was considered a poor score, then Qin Luo's previous math...

Qin Huai glanced at Zhang Zhiyun and Chang Qingqing, and felt that people's joys and sorrows could not be connected. If Qin Luo could get 108 points in math in the third year of junior high school, their family would wake up laughing in their dreams at night. It turned out that eating snacks could not compare to eating a big meal at home.

Cao Guixiang deliberately said with a stern face: "Yunyun has indeed slacked off. Didn't she always score 115 before? Don't forget the bet you made with grandma, how many points do you have to get in the high school entrance examination to eat braised shark's fin rice for three consecutive days? Don't let it fail when the time comes, and you can only watch Qingqing eat braised shark's fin and braised black sea cucumber while you cry." Zhang Zhiyun: QAQ
Zhang Zhiyun whispered to Qin Huai: "Brother Qin Huai, when will you come back next time? When you come back next time, can you tell grandma that you want to eat braised shark's fin? You also like braised shark's fin, right?"

Qin Huai said that Zhang Zhiyun had some plans but not many. He shook his head with a serious expression of regret: "That's hard to say. You know I'm usually in Shan City. I probably won't be back until the end of the year."

Zhang Zhiyun: QAQ!

Zhang Zhiyun ate braised shark fin rice sadly.

After dinner, Zhang Chu took his son and daughter to the neighbor's house to get snacks. The snacks Qin Huai brought back were distributed fairly, one for Zhang Chu and Cao Guixiang, one for Zhang Chiyuan's family, and one for Zhang Siyu's family.

When Zhang Chu was counting the snacks, he found that his neighbor had hidden 2 bags of Four Happiness Glutinous Rice Balls, 1 bag of Sanding Buns and 1 bag of Fermented Rice Bread. The neighbor refused to admit it and said that he had only hidden 1 bag of each. Zhang Chu's claim that he had hidden 2 bags of Four Happiness Glutinous Rice Balls was simply slander.

The two sides argued about this for 5 minutes, and finally the neighbor's grandson confessed that he was too greedy last night, so he got up in the middle of the night and secretly cooked a bag of four-happiness dumplings and ate them all.

The neighbor was furious. He ate all 1 pieces of the four-happiness dumplings by himself. He was not afraid of being stuffed to death. No wonder he took his breakfast away with him in the morning, saying he was afraid of being late for school. It turned out that he could not eat it at all. The neighbor was so angry that he beat his grandson on the spot.

Zhang Chu also contributed bamboo strips from his own garden.

Zhang Zhiyun was explaining to Qin Huai that his father used this bamboo stick to beat him, and it hurt a lot. The quality was also very good, and it didn't break after so many years, so Zhang Chu had never been willing to throw it away.

Qin Huai:......

Qin Huai could only say that he really didn't understand you Zhang family members. How many bamboo sticks were there? He was tempted and wanted to get one.

By the time everyone else left, it was already 9 o'clock in the evening.

Qin Huai felt it was time to start teaching.

I just don’t know whether to cut yam or practice thickening the sauce tonight. All the radishes have been cut in the afternoon, and there is no radish to cut even if I want to.

There were still quite a lot of yams. Qin Huaizhi took a look at the storage room and saw it was full of yams.

Cao Guixiang smiled and asked Qin Huai: "Are you ready?"

"I'm ready, Master! Are we going to practice knife skills or thickening starch tonight?"

"Practice all of them."

Cao Guixiang asked Zhang Chu to carry a box of yam into the kitchen first, and pointed at the yam and said, "Cut the yam first. Don't cut too much at one time. Cut 10 at a time."

"After you've cut it, stir-fry it yourself and thicken it at the end. I'll watch from the side and point out any problems you have, just like when we were practicing knife skills before."

Qin Huai didn't expect that this was the method of practice. This was not just a two-pronged approach of knife skills and thickening, it was a three-pronged approach of knife skills, thickening, and heat control.

If it was yesterday, Qin Huai might have been a little embarrassed to tell Cao Guixiang that his knife skills were not very good, the starch was average, and the heat was even worse. The final product of the fried yam might be like the one in the previous video call, which is hard to describe.

It’s hard to describe when you watch it on a mobile phone, and it’s even harder to describe when you actually watch it, especially when compared with Cao Guixiang’s level.

But now Qin Huai has no such concerns. He has already called his master, so what does he have to worry about?

"Okay, Master." Qin Huai was full of confidence. He tied an apron, walked into the kitchen and started cutting yam.

Compared with cutting radishes, cutting yam is slightly more difficult because the texture of yam is not as suitable for practice as that of radishes.

It’s not a big problem. Qin Huai feels that with his entry-level intermediate knife skills, he can handle most of the problems encountered when cutting yam slices.

Qin Huai quickly cut ten yams and started frying them.

Cao Guixiang did not teach Qin Huai what proportion of starch water to use, but let Qin Huai mix it based on his own feeling.

Qin Huai was still stir-frying yam, and Zhang Chu curiously moved a small stool and sat at the kitchen door to watch.

Stir fry randomly.

There was heat but not too much, at least it wasn't overcooked.

Thicken.

Elegant thickening.

Then continue to stir and fry randomly.

out of the pot.

A plate of fried yam that is definitely not higher than D grade. Okay, D grade might be a bit self-boasting, but Qin Huai feels that it is not as high as E grade, so let's just call it D- grade for now.

Between E+ and D-.

Cao Guixiang took a bite and said nothing more, letting Qin Huai continue frying.

Qin Huai continued his performance, and soon, the second plate of fried yam came out of the pot.

As usual, Cao Guixiang took a bite and said nothing, letting Qin Huai continue.

Qin Huai continued.

The third and fourth plates...

Qinhuai fried plate after plate, and couldn't stop eating it.

After Qin Huai had fried all 10 chopped yams, Cao Guixiang slowly spoke:
"I've seen your problem."

"There are problems with everything from knife skills to heat control to thickening."

"The problem with knife skills is that you don't cut yam often and are not very familiar with it. The problem is more obvious at the beginning, but you can cut it well later when you find the feel for it. You can overcome it with more practice."

"Remember, the purpose of slicing yam is to make it easier to cook. How you slice it depends on how you want to cook it."

"If you feel that there is something wrong with the yam slices during the cooking process, then there must be something wrong with it. Find the direction to correct it and trust your feelings."

"The least problem is with the heat. Master Huang taught you well. Although it looks like you're waving the spatula around randomly when you're frying, the timing of flipping the vegetables is okay. It's not like when you were cutting vegetables before. On the surface, you looked good, but in fact, you were holding the knife wrong. You still need to practice more on the heat."

"As for thickening..." Cao Guixiang showed an expression that was hard to describe, "Just like your knife skills before, forget about thickening."

Qin Huai:......

He thought his cooking was the worst, but it turned out that the worst part was the thickening.

"You imitated my movements and some of my thickening techniques, but this is not a formula and you can't apply everything to it. And you have a lot of basic questions. Next, cut 10 more yams and I will stir-fry them. Watch how I stir-fry and thicken the sauce."

"Lao Zhang, have you talked to the pig farm? Starting tomorrow we'll be delivering fried yams."

"I told you, they were very happy over there, saying that pigs prefer fried yam."

(End of this chapter)