In the following days, the members of the mixed fruit filling research team gathered again in the afternoon at Huang’s Kitchen to restart their research on the mixed fruit filling.
They even gained a new member – Zheng Da.
Zheng Da, upon hearing that his idea wasn’t wrong, but he just couldn’t be bothered to delve deeper, thus abandoning it halfway, felt so regretful that he couldn’t sleep all night. The next day, with dark circles under his eyes, he declared at Huang’s Kitchen that he wanted to join the mixed fruit filling research team.
He hadn’t kept up with the progress before, but this time he was determined to catch up!
Under Zheng Da’s leadership, the research on the mixed fruit filling advanced rapidly.
If they were galloping on horses before, now they had boarded a plane, upgrading to technology.
Almost every day, the aroma of mixed fruit filling wafted through Huang’s Kitchen. The chefs at Huang’s Kitchen, who initially turned pale at the smell, were now enthralled.
Now not only did the mixed fruit filling taste delicious, but even its aroma had become pleasant.
Once, it was sweet and greasy, a hellish explosion, making anyone who smelled it tremble with fear, desperate to escape. Those who didn’t want to taste it would never try, while the fearless fought to grab it, comparing as they ate, and voting on which glutinous rice ball was the worst.
Now, they didn’t have that trouble anymore.
Everything was delicious.
Once winter melon candy became the absolute star, the standard answer was established. As long as the sweetness was controlled, the mixed fruit filling wouldn’t taste bad. Subsequent tweaks would only determine how delicious it was and in which direction it tasted good.
But as the mixed fruit filling started to taste good, challenges arose.
How to make an already tasty mixed fruit filling even more delicious became a major issue.
Zheng Siyuan and his father, Zheng Da, nearly turned against each other in the kitchen over the mixed fruit filling. Neither could convince the other. The father had his thoughts, and the son had his own ideas. Neither could prove the other wrong or themselves right.
Both were stubborn, each insisting on testing their method, leaving Tan Wei’an caught in the middle, torn between them.
At times, he sided with Old Master Zheng, confident that his idea was flawless.
Other times, he supported Little Zheng’s idea, sure that the mixed fruit filling produced using his thought process would be even tastier.
When asked if Tan Wei’an had any ideas, he could only admit he didn’t have any.
What idea could he have? He was the most idle member of the mixed fruit filling research team.
Initially, Tan Wei’an thought Qin Huai and Zheng Siyuan dragged him in to be a taste tester. After a few days of eating, he realized he didn’t even get the chance to taste test.
The chefs in Huang’s Kitchen were nuts, each competing to be more bizarre than the last, and Qin Huai’s house had an even crazier one, all experts in taste testing.
Later, Tan Wei’an thought Zheng Siyuan and Qin Huai brought him in to help out, which he was quite happy about. With so many chefs around, the fact that Master Qin and Master Xiao Zheng chose him meant they saw potential in him.
After helping out for a while, Qin Huai’s interest shifted to other snacks, and the team disbanded.
Just as Tan Wei’an thought this little team had become history, it reformed, and he even made some contribution – he provided Master Zhou’s recipe.
This recipe was crucial, laying the foundation for the main ingredients of the mixed fruit filling.
After all this time, floating around, Tan Wei’an realized he was still that idle member, just one with a good family background and his own equipment.
Now, with the two masters clashing like gods, how dare the idle member speak up? He could only continue to be idle.
At this point, someone might ask, Tan Wei’an is idle, but Qin Huai is not. With Zheng Siyuan and Zheng Da almost coming to blows over the mixed fruit filling, did Qin Huai have no reaction at all?
He was on the side, frying meat filling while watching intently.
Watching alongside him were Huang Shengli and Dong Shi, who was fearlessly seeking gossip.
Huang Shengli was the most enthusiastic onlooker.
When Zheng Da, unable to articulate, relied on his superior culinary skills to make mixed fruit filling that always outshone Zheng Siyuan’s – his theory test might score low, but his practical skills were top-notch, allowing him to compete evenly with his son – Huang Shengli listened attentively, eager to record it all with a voice recorder.
"Dad, give up on the sunflower seeds. Although they’re popular, they’re too ordinary. If mixed fruit filling is to use sunflower seeds as the main ingredient, why make mixed fruit filling at all? We could just make sunflower seed filling snacks; there are so many already, we don’t need mixed fruit filling."
"Pairing sunflower seeds with peanuts, don’t you feel like many snack names are already popping into your head? If we use such complex ingredients, going through elaborate steps just to make a mixed fruit glutinous rice ball that highlights the taste of sunflower seeds and peanuts, why not make other simpler snacks? They’re also delicious and feature the flavor of sunflower seeds and peanuts."
"I think your approach is a cautious and conservative shortcut, Dad. You just want to make delicious mixed fruit filling glutinous rice balls quickly, so you chose your best combination."
Faced with Zheng Siyuan’s aggressive argument, Zheng Da could only counter with one sentence, "Mine tastes good."
"Your deliciousness is temporary, and the potential of your method is far less than almond."
Huang Shengli, watching on the side, almost burst out laughing, while Qin Huai also watched, managing both his observation and frying duties, nearly flipping the meat out of the pan.