The first thing I did was to find out

Chapter 346 New Ideas for Mastering
Qin Huai watched Cao Guixiang cut yam quietly.

Cao Guixiang cut quickly and simply, cutting yam was no different from cutting radish. Qin Huai felt that Cao Guixiang did not hesitate or think, she just cut the yam based on her feeling, the knife was so fast that you could see the afterimage, and she cut a yam in the blink of an eye.

Qin Huai glanced at the yam slices. They were evenly thick, as if they were copied and pasted, and thinner than the ones he had just cut.

"When you are skilled enough in knife skills, you can cut quickly like I did just now. But fast does not mean good. Many chefs pursue speed, thinking that the faster they are, the better their knife skills are, and they often make many mistakes. In fact, the time you spend cutting these few times will not affect your work that day, and being slower will not affect the final product."

After saying that, Cao Guixiang started to cut a new yam. This time her speed was much more normal than the last time, and was almost the same as Qin Huai's speed in cutting yam.

Cao Guixiang cut the knife very steadily, slowly but rhythmically, and with great detail, so detailed that Qin Huai felt he could see where Cao Guixiang applied force with each cut.

How does the blade look like, what is the angle, what is the wrist like, how to use the arm to exert force. Cao Guixiang is not cutting vegetables at all, she is teaching, very detailed face-to-face teaching.

"You see, oftentimes only when you cut slowly can you notice the details. Just now when I was cutting very quickly, you couldn't see clearly how I made each cut. As a bystander, you can't see clearly, and as a person cutting vegetables, you can't fully understand it either. But if you cut slowly, you have a higher margin of error and have time to get the feel for it."

As she spoke, Cao Guixiang finished cutting another yam.

"It's not slow, right?" Cao Guixiang asked with a smile.

Qin Huai nodded heavily.

At this moment, Qin Huai realized that Cao Guixiang and Huang Shengli were teachers with two different styles.

Huang Shengli is a rare gold medal teacher with clear language expression and rich teaching experience. He focuses more on detailed explanations when teaching. He likes to watch how Qin Huai does it and then point out the problems in time. He will only demonstrate once after Qin Huai has repeated the same problem many times.

Cao Guixiang’s teaching method is actually very similar, but her language expression is not as good as Huang Shengli’s, so she prefers to demonstrate with actual operations while speaking.

Cao Guixiang liked to let Qin Huai do it several times first to expose all the problems, and then correct them in a targeted manner.

Both styles of teachers are famous teachers, and both use very traditional teaching methods.

Qin Huai watched Cao Guixiang cut 10 yams and then started to fry them.

When stir-frying for the first time, Cao Guixiang used her own style. Her movements were simple and not fancy. She just swung the spatula as it should be done, without any unnecessary movements.

When thickening the sauce at the end, it is not a fancy thickening process, but a very plain and normal thickening process.

"To learn how to thicken, you must first learn how to mix starch water. Why do I say your thickening method has a big problem? Because you were doing it wrong from the beginning."

"The skill of thickening sauce requires a lot of knowledge in the starch water. What kind of starch to choose, how to mix it, whether to make it thick or thin, what the proportion is, and whether to mix and match, all of these need to be decided by the chef himself, which really tests the chef's overall grasp and judgment of the dish."

"Of course, as a plain-food chef, you don't need to be so proficient. In the document I gave you, the dishes that require thickening are marked with how to mix the starch water. You just need to follow the recipe."

"Now I'm going to tell you how to mix the starch water for stir-fried yam. When you learn the recipe, you can't just learn the recipe, you also need to think about it. When you understand why this dish needs to be thickened with starch water in this ratio, you will have truly learned how to thicken it."

After saying that, Cao Guixiang slowly mixed the starch water in front of Qin Huai, talking about the proportions while mixing, and then started to stir-fry the yam again.

This time, Cao Guixiang imitated Qin Huai's movements when frying the yam. She seemed a little flustered and didn't know how to use the stir-fry tool, but the final product was still very good.

Qin Huai:......

Is it like this every time he cooks?
When he was at Huang Ji, how did the chefs resist laughing when watching him cook?
"You can see that the movements do not affect the final product. The purpose of practicing the heat and flipping the spatula is to ensure that the food is heated evenly. Although your stir-frying movements look strange and I don't know where you learned them from, your purpose is very clear. You know the purpose of waving the spatula."

"So I think your foundation is very good and there won't be any big problems."

"Of course, it would be better if you could correct the movements a little bit. Who did you learn these moves from?"

Qin Huai:......

I don’t know, maybe it’s just talent.

Qin Huai fried the yam all night long.

Taking 10 yams as a unit, he fried 10 and Cao Guixiang fried 10, and they repeated the process. The yams fried by the two people were almost worlds apart. You don’t even need to eat them. Just by looking at the appearance, you can tell which one is fried by Qin Huai and which one is fried by Cao Guixiang.

Zhang Chu was outside, carrying a small stool to watch. As he watched, he started eating. He took a bite of the food made by Qin Huai, then a bite of the food made by Cao Guixiang, and occasionally muttered his comments:

"There's a big difference between the dishes that Xiao Qin cooks and the dim sum that he makes."

Sometimes when he spoke too loudly and Cao Guixiang heard him, she would roll her eyes at him and whisper, "Eat your fried yam."

Qin Huai had no idea about Zhang Chu's obvious behavior of pulling down others. People only feel hurt when they can compare. Cao Guixiang's fried yam and Jiang Chengde's locust flower steamed buns are similar in Qin Huai's opinion, but Jiang Chengde's locust flower steamed buns are basically incomprehensible, while Cao Guixiang's fried yam is the part that Cao Guixiang tried her best to make him understand.

That night in my dream, Qin Huai fried yam all night long.

In this dream, the rabbit that rules the earth especially loves to eat yam, and he must eat fried yam. His requirements are very high, and he requires each slice of yam to be cut into uniform thickness, cooked at just the right temperature, and thickened properly.

In the past, Qin Huai only had to cut radishes in his dreams, but this time he had to practice everything from cutting to frying to thickening. Those dead rabbits were very picky, saying that the heat was not good, and then that the thickening was not good. Some even said that the yam was not cut well and they didn't want to eat it after just one look.

I was sweating profusely while frying yam for Qin Huai in my dream. When I woke up, my forehead was covered with sweat. After changing my clothes and washing up, I forgot to comb my hair and went out with a messy hair.

When Qin Huai got up, Cao Guixiang and Zhang Chu had already woken up, and breakfast was already on the table. There was a set of three-piece buns, fermented rice steamed buns, and four-happiness dumplings, as well as three fried eggs and soy milk cooked by Cao Guixiang.

Seeing Qin Huai like this, Cao Guixiang smiled and asked, "It looks like you fried yam all night in your dream last night."

Qin Huai was shocked: "Am I talking in my sleep again?"

Today he woke up from being tired from frying yam, not from yelling.

"That's not the case." Cao Guixiang used her eyes to signal Qin Huai to come to the living room to eat after washing up. "I guessed it from your appearance." Zhang Chu explained while chewing a bun, "It's normal. This is how I got through my apprenticeship. When I first learned carpentry from my master, I was working in my dreams. I woke up every day more tired than when I went to bed."

"Your Master Cao... your master is even more exaggerated. When she was learning cooking, she dreamed every night that she was scolded by her master. In fact, her master never scolded anyone. But she cried in her dreams when she didn't cry during the day. She woke up crying every day."

"At that time, her neighbors were saying that her master looked kind, but was actually very vicious. He scolded the little girl so much that she would cry at home every night, and her eyes would be swollen when she woke up the next morning."

Qin Huai knew that Zhang Chu and Cao Guixiang were trying to comfort him, and he had to admit that their comfort was very useful. The experience of those who had been through it was always much better and more effective than talk on paper.

Qin Huai finished washing up and sat at the dining table: "Master, I know, are you still stir-frying yam today?"

"Of course, I originally planned to have you practice thickening for two days and knife skills for three days, but now it seems that there is no need to practice them separately. You can just practice them together."

"Once you have cut the yam, you will be ready for the second stage of knife skills. After you go back, if you are interested, you can continue to cut yam or radish slices. When the radish slices are translucent, come back and learn the next stage."

Cao Guixiang kindly reminded: "However, this training method is not targeted and may not be completed in 5 days."

Qin Huai was full of confidence: "Don't worry, Master. I will work hard and try to finish the training in 5 days. If I go back a few days later, my sister Luoluo will cry again."

Qin Luo's monthly exam results came out last month, and she had made progress. During the holiday, Qin Huai promised Qin Luo that he would make her something delicious as long as she made progress in the exam. Qin Luo was probably counting on this delicious treat these days.

If Qin Huai had returned a few days later, Qin Luo's world would have collapsed again.

As for what delicious food to make, Qin Huai had already thought about it - he asked Cao Guixiang to help him chop the meat filling, and he would make a plus version of the four-happiness glutinous rice balls for Qin Luo.

In this way, Qin Huai fried the yam for a full 5 days.

He felt that every time he came to Cao Guixiang's house for further study, he would have a big meal first to taste the sweetness, and then start practicing. At the beginning, the intensity of the practice was not high, but on the second day, he began to enter the devil training mode. He practiced as soon as he opened his eyes every day, practicing day and night, returning to the youthful days of the third year of high school and the hundred-day sprint to prepare for the college entrance examination.

Of course, there is also time for rest during the practice. The time when Cao Guixiang cooks is the time when Qin Huai rests.

Rest, but not completely rest, because Qin Huai would keep watching from the side to see how Cao Guixiang cooked.

During the devilish training, Cao Guixiang did not have enough time to cook a delicious meal every day. Basically, she would cook one big dish with three home-cooked dishes.

Learning to cook is a standard physical job, whether it is cutting vegetables or cooking, it is very labor-intensive. In a sense, frying yam for a day is not much different from moving bricks for a day. Every day at mealtime, Qin Huai's appetite is opened, and he can't wait to eat eight bowls of rice.

And every time this happened, Cao Guixiang would watch from the side with a smile, and help Qin Huai pick up food from time to time.

Five days flew by.

Qin Huai was so busy frying yam that he almost forgot what year it was. He didn't remember what day it was or what day of the week it was. He only knew what time it was and whether he should fry yam, watch the dishes being cooked, or eat.

As for what it feels like...

The masters of the sensation school believe that feeling is no longer very important. When the amount of practice reaches a certain level, people can no longer feel anything.

On the fifth day, Dong Shi shared with Qin Huai the news that Wang Jun was in a daze. He did not sneak out to date his girlfriend during the lunch break, and Qin Huai did not even read the breaking news that he had broken up with her.

After seeing it, he just replied with the word "sad", showing his perfunctory attitude.

I'm so tired. I'm numb from exhaustion. I'm so tired that I don't even have the energy to read gossip.

Qin Huai felt sincere admiration for the chefs when he thought about how many years it took for them to lay the foundation. This was not a life for a human being. Compared to this kind of life, getting up at 2 a.m. every day to make breakfast was nothing.

Of course, Qin Huai couldn't get up at 2 a.m. every day to make breakfast - he really couldn't get up.

"Let's stop here for today. We'll take a half-day break tomorrow. Lao Shi is coming to our house for dinner, so it's a good opportunity for you to meet him, Xiao Qin. The prices of seafood there are quite reasonable. If you are interested in buying something from him, I can introduce you to him."

At 5:11 pm on the fifth day of stir-frying yam, Cao Guixiang stopped Qin Huai's training for the day.

Qin Huai, who had been frying yam for 5 days and was a little dizzy, didn't remember who Lao Shi was at first, and just asked in confusion:
"Huh? No practice tomorrow?"

Cao Guixiang was amused by Qin Huai's question: "It seems that you really want to practice. What's the matter? Have you found the feeling? How about frying 20 more today and then rest after that?"

Qin Huai shook his already very sore arms, thought about it seriously, and nodded.

He really wanted to continue playing for a while, even though he hadn't opened the game panel for two or three days. But his intuition told him that his enthusiasm was about to escalate.

His proficiency in cooking has never been improved so quickly as in the past few days.

When he was at Huang Ji before, Qin Huai would not necessarily improve his skill in cooking vegetables for an afternoon. But in these five days, Qin Huai felt that his skill in cooking was improving every day. He was obviously practicing knife skills and thickening, but he felt that the most obvious improvement was in the cooking skill.

This is really outrageous. Qin Huai doesn’t know why, it’s like this every time.

He wanted to improve his proficiency in cooking the stuffing by brushing it, he wanted to improve his proficiency in cooking the stuffing by brushing it, and ....

Qin Huai didn't know whether it was his problem or the game system's problem.

According to this idea, when he wants to improve his fingering proficiency, he cannot do so, but has to improve his dough.

Thinking of this, Qin Huai said to himself silently in his heart.

I want to practice thickening!

Heat, do you understand? I want to practice thickening!
Qin Huai picked up the kitchen knife and started cutting the yam.

(End of this chapter)