"He said something about being a Huaiyang cuisine chef, and that the big spoon stir-frying technique is a Shandong technique, which he’s not proficient at. He also said that the chef who provided the recipe is clearly a Shandong chef. I didn’t really understand because if I remember correctly, that chef should be a Sichuan chef."
This touches on Zheng Siyuan’s knowledge blind spot; he’s just a pastry chef and doesn’t really understand their meat cooking techniques.
"That’s beside the point. The key is that yesterday Master Huang said there’s no problem. He also always wanted to research the guo’er with me, as he’s very interested in the filling of this snack."
"With Master Huang’s help this afternoon, I think we should be able to achieve the theoretical effect of the guo’er from the recipe. It’s a rare opportunity; do you want to stay and research together?"
Qin Huai initially agreed to come to Gusu for an exchange and learning experience precisely for the guo’er.
Without an excellent meat chef’s help, it was difficult for Qin Huai to make B-level guo’er.
This snack’s demand for the meat cooking part is too high.
And the game’s system has an interesting way of judging whether the snack was made by Qin Huai. Qin Huai had tried before and concluded that if he personally completed half of the procedures of a snack or the core procedures, the system would determine that the snack was made by him.
This way, he could see the snack’s rating.
This also gave Qin Huai a bit of a shortcut, if part of his preparation wasn’t up to par, he could bring in outside help to raise the snack’s overall level. Just like making Longevity Noodles with the broth from Huang Jia, or making guo’er with the filling from Huang Shengli.
But this was destined to be a shortcut, not a long-term method.
Because the snacks that Qin Huai needed external help with were of high levels, Longevity Noodles were A-level. If Qin Huai’s level of handmade noodles was only B-level and his noodle boiling technique was mediocre, then even if the broth was A-level, the Longevity Noodles wouldn’t reach A-level.
Except for S-level broth.
But making a premium broth is incredibly challenging. Huang Jia is already considered a very good chef, and the broth she brewed could barely reach A-level, perhaps even not. Qin Huai reckoned that only chefs of Huang Shengli’s level could make S-level broth.
Could you actually have such a top-notch master chef assist you?
Maybe once or twice as a favor, collaborating on research, but not in the long run. In Huang Ji, there are only a handful of dishes that require Huang Shengli to personally make the broth, let alone just a bowl of Longevity Noodles.
What level of Longevity Noodles would need Huang Shengli to personally make the broth?
That would have to sell for 999 a bowl, to compete with the 888 golden fried rice.
To manage long-term, or to consistently create high-level dishes, Qin Huai knew he had to rely on himself.
But if he wanted to take a shortcut to quickly complete a task—
Hiring outside help was not a bad method.
Time left for Luo Jun is not much.
Bi fang is already a genuine 92-year-old man, the kind who doesn’t even want to leave the house. If he doesn’t let him try a B-level guo’er and complete a side quest soon, Qin Huai would really have to inherit all his estate.
Facing Qin Huai’s invitation, Zheng Siyuan immediately agreed.
He wanted to practice big spoon stir-frying techniques for the sake of guo’er. Now given the chance to see a successful guo’er, he naturally couldn’t miss it, as this is his future aspiration.
At two in the afternoon, Huang Shengli strolled leisurely into Huang Ji.
Ever since Huang Shengli started his therapy, and after Qin Huai and Zheng Siyuan joined as pastry chefs, he hadn’t visited Huang Ji during lunchtime.
Previously, Huang Shengli would set up a small table in the back kitchen every day because he wasn’t at ease.
And it was hard to be at ease.
Huang Ji was a reputation he built single-handedly; he founded it all by himself. Suddenly retiring temporarily due to illness, his apprentices’ skills weren’t fully honed to take over completely, causing a decline in revenue and a decrease in customer flow.
The restaurant business is cruel like that, especially upscale restaurants. If the signature master chef is absent, diners immediately switch to another place.
This was indeed a critical period for life or death, and if Huang Shengli didn’t sit in the back kitchen every day, he feared that morale would disperse.
But now it’s different. Now the crowd at Huang Ji restaurant has been thinned out.
The lunchtime crowd primarily comes for snacks, while the evening crowd comes for meals. If people initially had doubts, worried that the pastry chef might just be a flash in the pan, those worries eased after the stable sale of almost a week’s worth of snacks, especially with a daily supply of Fermented Rice with Steamed Buns.
Quite a few diners even consider Huang Ji as a Breakfast Shop in the noon, arriving precisely at the time Fermented Rice with Steamed Buns is ready, queue up to buy buns and leave after purchasing.
Trusting in the skills of Qin Huai and Zheng Siyuan, Huang Shengli simply didn’t come in the noon, only presiding in the evenings.
Today, Huang Shengli came with a new teaching plan.
As a renowned gold medal teacher in Gusu, Huang Shengli understands the importance of tailored teaching. Stir-frying greens is a basic course with little need for change, but stir-frying shredded meat is different.
There’s a lot of room for creativity in stir-frying shredded meat.
When necessary, you can even stir-fry minced meat.
Just because he hasn’t taught pastry apprentices doesn’t mean he hasn’t learned the pastry back in the day. This time, Huang Shengli brought excellent pastry-style stir-fried minced meat materials.
With full confidence, Huang Shengli walked into the back kitchen, noticed Zheng Siyuan was also there, and quickly realized they were waiting for him to showcase his skills in making the filling.
Just in time, being closely supervised by doctors these days meant he could only stir-fry a couple of plates of greens, and he hadn’t done anything challenging for a while. It was time to show off a bit and have some fun.