Shortly after 8 a.m., employees of Huang’s Kitchen began arriving for work.
It wasn’t that Huang Ji adjusted the working hours, but rather everyone adjusted their meal times, all rushing over on empty stomachs to eat.
When Huang An Yao arrived at 8:30, he thought he would be the first one there. Little did he know, the kitchen was already bustling, with almost everyone holding a bowl of noodles.
The hand-rolled noodles were wonderfully chewy, and the soup was the broth Huang Ji had kept for years, prepared by Huang Shengli’s second apprentice, Bao Xiong.
Bao Xiong wasn’t very familiar with Qin Huai, and they hadn’t communicated much. Among Huang Shengli’s disciples, his skills in preparing broth were quite good. The Huang Ji Restaurant didn’t have many dishes that required high-quality broth, so the demand wasn’t high; hence, making the broth didn’t require Master Huang Jia to personally handle it.
If a dish truly demanded high-quality broth, Huang Jia or Huang Shengli would prepare it themselves in advance.
Nonetheless, the broth made by Bao Xiong was still far superior to Qin Huai’s, as evidenced by the grade of the Longevity Noodles.
[Longevity Noodles B-level]
Previously, using broth prepared by Zheng Da, Qin Huai’s Longevity Noodles had never reached higher than C+. The difference between B- and C+ seems small, yet the difference in quality between B-level and C-level is substantial.
Qin Huai himself wasn’t exactly sure whether the B-level Longevity Noodles were because Bao Xiong’s broth was so good, lifting the grade, or due to his own diligent practice in fire control, progressing from Basic to Intermediate, thus lifting the grade.
It’s not hard to see from video tutorials and dish details that the reason for failing with Longevity Noodles is primarily fire control.
This crucial factor not only applies to the broth preparation but also to the noodle cooking.
The Longevity Noodles, which should have reached an S-level grade, ended up as an A-level due to improper cooking.
To ensure consistency, every bowl of Longevity Noodles was personally cooked by Qin Huai. Unlike Zheng Siyuan’s wontons, which were self-service, everyone was a chef, so the level of cooking wontons was certainly not bad.
Most people in the kitchen were eating noodles.
Only after finishing the noodles did they go to cook wontons.
There was no choice; after all, Qin Huai had made new things again.
If, on the first night of the welcoming banquet, when Qin Huai claimed he knew over 120 types of snacks, some were astonished but others were skeptical, thinking many of those 120 must be just a count of variations.
After all, with snacks, changing the filling could be considered a new snack. Even for a tiny Crab Shell Cake, there are six or seven different fillings. Reaching 120 using this method wouldn’t be difficult.
But today, no one would question it.
He was too comprehensive; Qin Huai, as a breakfast chef, was simply too comprehensive.
The buns were amazing, the dumplings were amazing, and even the noodles were amazing!
The key is, it’s not one of those bowls with a rich array of toppings, deceptively looking like an explosion of 18 different ingredients. It was just a simple bowl of hand-rolled noodles, with chicken broth as the base and shiitake mushrooms and greens as toppings.
The simpler the snack, the more it reveals the chef’s skill.
Not to mention that the employees of Huang Ji have had plenty of chicken soup noodles before.
In the years when Huang Shengli was still a frontline chef, the kitchen of Huang Ji was as busy as a battlefield every day. Sometimes they were too busy to sit and relax, cooking a big pot of chicken soup noodles with leftover broth and adding a bit of side dishes was also a lavish staff meal.
It was only because they had eaten it before and could make comparisons that they truly realized Qin Huai’s pastry skills were top-notch.
The soup remained the same, and even if his noodle-cooking skills weren’t better than the majority present, it was still delicious.
Hand-rolled noodles are simply awesome.
Huang An Yao held a bowl of freshly cooked Longevity Noodles, finding a small stool in the corner and gulping down nearly half a bowl before remembering if he should add some side dishes.
Huang An Yao glanced at them: dried radish, kimchi, pickled vegetables, pickled mustard, and sour beans.
Never mind, they didn’t match.
He gulped two more mouthfuls of noodle broth and continued eating.
After breakfast service ended, Qin Huai began making mantou as usual: kneading the dough, letting it rise, kneading and shaping, second fermentation, all according to procedure.
On this production line called Huang Ji Snacks, the most outstanding craftsman methodically worked, without any of yesterday’s panic or tension.
The production line Master Qin had already realized that panic and tension were useless.
There’s no way to finish it, simply no way.
Finding time to clock out was all he should focus on.
While Qin Huai was making snacks, Huang Jia was secretly observing him, slightly relieved to see that Qin Huai adapted so quickly.
Yesterday, although Huang Shengli didn’t criticize him, he did ask why there were so many varieties of Qin Huai’s snacks. Huang Jia knew it was his own oversight. Whether or not Qin Huai understood, or even if he didn’t care, it was something Huang Jia felt responsible to apologize for.
Huang Jia decided to prepare a special lunch for Qin Huai over the next few days.
Huang Shengli’s signature dishes, the Three Course Duck and Braised Silver Carp Head, weren’t fully mastered by Huang Jia, nor was the Sizzling Fried Eel outstanding enough to impress, but Huang Jia had his signature dishes.
Huaiyang cuisine has a famous Three Heads Banquet, a key milestone from eating to satisfaction, pursuing flavor and uniqueness.
Two of the Three Heads Banquet dishes were already tasted by Qin Huai at the welcoming banquet: the Crab Meat Meatballs and the Braised Silver Carp Head.
The dish Qin Huai hasn’t tried is also one of Huang Ji’s signatures and still remains on the menu.