Qin Huai was baffled, deeply shaken.
"What if we exclude the younger generation?" Qin Huai pressed, "Compared to pastry chefs nationwide, what level is Zheng Siyuan at?"
Wang Jun thought seriously for a moment, "He should also be considered top-tier."
"Brother Zheng is currently in an upward phase as a pastry chef, not yet at his peak, but actually, there is a severe gap in the domestic pastry chef domain now. There are many skilled veteran chefs, mostly concentrated at Zhiwei Restaurant. With age, their energy is limited, making it impossible for them to be overly involved in snack making, focusing instead on teaching apprentices."
"There are very few midcareer chefs with distinguished skills; as far as I know, those who are famous don’t match Brother Zheng in craftsmanship."
"I heard from my master and senior brother before that Uncle Zheng back then didn’t want to make snacks but went into the business, not merely because being a pastry chef didn’t earn much, but partly because he felt there wasn’t much future for pastry chefs."
"Currently, most high-end restaurants don’t place much importance on pastry work; those with notable pastry skills are few and far between. Coupled with the changing overall environment, unless from a family of chefs, very few are willing to apprentice from childhood and practice foundational skills, though the demand for fundamental skills in pastry is very high; both meat cooking and pastry require these skills."
"Actually, pastry is far lesser compared to meat cooking; you can see it even from culinary competitions. Although there aren’t many culinary contests domestically, there are always a few every year with prize money up to tens of thousands, even possibly over a hundred thousand."
"In these comprehensive culinary contests, pastry chefs are at a disadvantage. Ordinarily, culinary competitions should separate meat cooking from pastry, but there hasn’t been a dedicated pastry chef contest for many years domestically."
"You can see it from restaurants too; there are many renowned ones for meat cooking. For instance, FJ has Jubao Building, Gusu has Huang Ji, Huaiyang cuisine has Chengfang Inn, Shu has Wu Family Restaurant, and Beiping has even more, like Babaozhai, Yonghe Inn, Ruyi Restaurant, Shunde Building, Tongde House, all basically old brands handed down from the Republic era. Yet for pastry, truly renowned, memorable ones, honestly, there’s only Zhiwei Restaurant."
Listening to Wang Jun, Qin Huai felt he could add something; he was familiar with the old brands from the Republic era as he’d seen them in dreams.
"I know this; there was once a Taifeng Building in Beiping, though it seems it closed many years ago," Qin Huai remarked.
This left Wang Jun dumbfounded, "Was there such a restaurant?"
Qin Huai nodded solemnly; it was the crazy lady’s selection.
Qin Huai didn’t delve deeper into this topic, "So the current scenario is that there are skilled pastry chefs, but they’re quite elderly; while their skills are good, they can’t keep up physically and mostly don’t work on the frontline. There is a gap, and Zheng Siyuan, as a leading figure of the younger generation in the industry, can be considered top-level."
Qin Huai did a quick self-assessment.
First off, Zheng Siyuan’s level is definitely higher than his; there’s no doubt about it. Zheng Siyuan’s fresh meat mooncake is akin to a buff dish that could hammer Qin Huai’s fermented rice with steamed buns into the ground.
But Qin Huai genuinely believed that he wasn’t far behind Zheng Siyuan, probably just a fine line apart, mainly because his knife skills and fire control were lacking, and his finger skill wasn’t too good either.
The knife skills were fine since pastry didn’t need much of that. As Qin Huai made more types of snacks, of increasing difficulty, he increasingly realized that fire control was an indispensable fundamental skill in pastry making; to become an excellent pastry chef, it wasn’t enough just to steam buns well or bake crab shell cakes nicely.
For snacks that are relatively high in difficulty, the filling is of utmost importance.
Qin Huai felt that if his fire control reached a level similar to Zheng Siyuan’s, his level should match or even surpass Zheng Siyuan’s a little.
By proportional exchange, wouldn’t he then be at the top level in the industry?
Of course, top level for him in this interrupted industry, the best is the best, and next to the best can also be counted as the best.
But no matter how you say it, it’s top level!
After all, it’s a top level where a Five Fillings Bun sells for 65 and sells explosively.
He really is so impressive.
"Could it be that I’m truly a genius?!" murmured Qin Huai.
As an honest person, he sometimes truly wants to go against you geniuses.
The employee lunch was made personally by Huang Jia.
Thanks to Qin Huai, today at noon, the Huang Ji kitchen staff responsible for meat cooking had a relatively easy workload; the customers ordered few stir-fried dishes, all rushing for snacks.
A light workload meant everyone didn’t have much to do; Huang Jia, being the head chef, finished work by 1 PM. Seeing the pastry section mashing fermented rice so vigorously it almost left afterimages, with Qin Huai kneading dough looking increasingly lifeless, it was rare for Huang Jia to finish his work so early and he felt very guilty.
He felt he had an unavoidable responsibility for Qin Huai being so busy today. If Qin Huai had sent him the order last night and he had slightly advised him against it, Qin Huai wouldn’t have ended up like a dough-kneading sage today.
Huang Jia knew he should have advised him.
But for a moment last night, he was more curious about the standard of the snacks on Qin Huai’s list. He was even a bit curious about what 120 kinds of snacks Qin Huai could make.
He didn’t expect that this small private desire almost led Qin Huai to work himself to a dead end.
Feeling quite guilty, Huang Jia voluntarily took on the task of making employee lunch, cooking a special meal for Qin Huai so he could enjoy Squirrel Mandarin Fish, Wensi Tofu, Sizzling Fried Eel, and authentic Yangzhou Fried Rice during the lunch break.