Huang An Yao was still engrossed in eating eel segments.
Gong Liang was also eating the dishes, but when Qin Huai said this, he immediately realized he was so mesmerized by the homestyle dishes in front of him that he neglected Master Qin.
He’s truly awful, Master Qin has worked tirelessly these days to make the Four Happiness glutinous rice balls for him, and now, with them in front of him, he doesn’t even cherish them.
To prove that he still cared about the Four Happiness glutinous rice balls, Gong Liang immediately served himself six pieces, filling the bowl to the brim.
When Gong Liang was scooping the rice balls, he didn’t think much of it. After all, he had eaten many of these blind box rice balls recently and had grown accustomed to them. Once he finished scooping a bowl, Huang Shengli quickly followed suit and scooped himself a bowl,
Zheng Da saw this and realized he was falling behind. This wouldn’t do, so he quickly scooped himself a bowl and didn’t forget to scoop a bowl for Zheng Siyuan.
In an instant, more than half of the rice balls in the pot were gone.
Guo Mingzhu initially didn’t want to eat rice balls that much, but seeing everyone else eating, she also served herself a bowl, albeit with a smaller portion of just two pieces.
Guo Mingzhu took a bite of the first one.
"Hey, the first one is the mixed fruit filling." Guo Mingzhu said with a laugh, facing Gong Liang, "Old Gong, do you remember, the last time we gathered to eat these Four Happiness glutinous rice balls was at your birthday."
"You craved meat and wanted the meat fillings, while Zheng Da wanted the mixed fruit filling. Both of you ate three big bowls each, but you ended up with a bunch of mixed fruit filling, and he ended up with a bunch of meat fillings. Huang Shengli laughed so hard he almost choked on a rice ball and had to be taken to the hospital."
"In the blink of an eye, so many years have passed, and the children in our families have grown so much, but except for Si Qin, none have married." Guo Mingzhu said, looking at Gong Baozhu.
Mom, must you learn from Uncle Zheng and start pressing for marriages in a setting ?
What a mistake, if only I’d made my brother take a day off work to come eat here.
Gong Liang smiled quietly and took a bite of a rice ball, filled with meat.
Gong Liang was taken aback.
He hadn’t thought much of it, but as he bit into the rice ball and his tongue touched the savory meat filling, he seemed to suddenly remember a lot.
Memories, bonds, youth, they seemed to latch onto the rice ball, rushing down his esophagus into his stomach, spreading throughout his body, and finally converging into fragments of memory in his mind.
Gong Liang felt like he had been unusually sentimental recently. Was it because he got to know Wang Gen Sheng? Why was he constantly reminiscing about the past?
When Qin Huai saw the slight pause in Gong Liang’s expression, he knew there was something going on, so he quickly moved next to Zheng Siyuan to whisper and asked him to relay his words to Zheng Da.
Zheng Siyuan turned his head and whispered to his father: "Dad, Qin Huai asked me to ask you when the Qianhua Gongdeng Bun will be served? He just ate two rice balls and is getting full."
He realized he had made a mistake, focusing on making the Qianhua Gongdeng Bun a spectacular finale and forgetting that everyone has a limited appetite.
Zheng Da looked around at everyone eating rice balls except for Huang An Yao and instantly grasped the seriousness of the situation.
Rice balls fill you up easily, eating one or two peas at a time, without even realizing it, you feel full.
Zheng Da quickly shouted, "There’s still a dessert we haven’t served yet, I almost forgot, I’ll go check right now."
Zheng Da rushed into the kitchen, not even bothering to plate the dish, carrying the steaming basket directly to the table. Fortunately, the dining table was big enough, with some adjusting, they managed to place the steaming basket in the center.
A flash of white light shone, and a beam of golden light shot out from the steaming basket, blinding everyone, with a familiar and exhilarating melody resonating in their ears. Listening closely, it was unexpectedly the theme from the "Master of Chinese Cuisine" show!
Simultaneously, a bold black subtitle rolled out from beneath the steaming basket.
Qianhua Gongdeng Bun!
The above was Zheng Da’s imagined scene.
Back in the day, our Master Zheng also watched "Master of Chinese Cuisine," accompanied by his sons and daughters.
The actual scene was, as Zheng Da lifted the lid, Huang An Yao and Gong Baozhu immediately let out an "Oh wow" sound of inexperienced wonder.
The sound was very loud.
The Qianhua Gongdeng Bun in the steaming basket indeed deserved such praise.
The Qianhua Gongdeng Bun is about showing off skills; the taste is hard to innovate on, but the shape can indeed create wonders.
The shape of the Qianhua Bun is relatively uniform and fixed, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be changed at all.
As long as you’re bored enough, as long as the chef has enough time, and as long as the chef himself wants to show off badly enough, you can add enough intricate patterns on the edges. Dried fruits used for decoration can be carved first and then added.
The Qianhua Gongdeng Bun had eight edges, which couldn’t be changed. But small patterns could be added on the edges, provided they were those that looked inconspicuous from afar but were surprising up close.
Zheng Da added them all.
He spent an entire morning meticulously crafting the Qianhua Gongdeng Bun, saying he added everything possible, any more addition and it wouldn’t be a Qianhua Gongdeng Bun anymore.
Therefore, what originally appeared simple at first glance, but was complex upon closer inspection, looked immensely complex at first glance now.
Huang Shengli was dumbfounded.
He’d been cooking all morning, only knowing Zheng Da was fussing over the Qianhua Gongdeng Bun nearby, but unaware of what exactly Zheng had concocted.
Huang Shengli’s look at Zheng Da was full of: Planning to enter the next Chef Record competition?
Practicing making dumplings, taking Boat shaped pastry practice, so you’re starting with the Qianhua Gongdeng Bun?
Zheng Da practically elevated the Qianhua Gongdeng Bun to an unmatched height.
Huang Shengli was dumbfounded, Gong Liang was mesmerized, and even Qin Huai seemed stupefied.
Qin Huai had seen the previous version of the Qianhua Gongdeng Bun.
How can I put this, the version update was quite large.
The update was so vast, Qin Huai was somewhat concerned that Zheng might have overdone it, potentially messing up a task that was accomplishable.
Could it be that Gong Liang wouldn’t recognize this Qianhua Gongdeng Bun?
Qin Huai sneaked a peek at Gong Liang and found him completely dumbfounded, as if he were witnessing something astonishing.
Zheng Da was very pleased with everyone’s reaction, this was the feedback he, as Master Zheng, should receive!
With a hint of pride, Zheng Da said, "I haven’t shaped snacks in a while, today everyone is here together, and Qin Xiao is dining at my home for the first time. A little demonstration, everyone come and taste how my Qianhua Gongdeng Bun turned out."
"Don’t hold back, let me tell you, those snacks that are good-looking on the outside are usually superficial; to have a good shape and taste great, that’s what makes a good snack."
Zheng Da’s words brought Gong Liang back to his senses, and he instinctively praised, "If this is just a small show of skill, then there’s not much point in any other snack nowadays. Zheng Da, you rascal have been keeping it under wraps all these years, not making this great snack. What, afraid I’d pester you to cook every day?"
Zheng Da almost couldn’t help but laugh out loud, "Not at all, I just knew too much, and in the past few years, didn’t think of it."
Zheng Siyuan picked up a Qianhua Gongdeng Bun and examined it carefully, discovering that there were indeed no technical issues to be found, nor any issues with the shape.
The peanut brittle filling was sweet without being cloying, although with the same filling, the sweetness in the Qianhua Gongdeng Bun was slightly reduced compared to the Four Happiness glutinous rice balls, better complementing the soft dough.
The bun skin, needless to say, was soft and full of wheat aroma, not like other intricate snacks where the dough could feel slightly tough but was instead a very normal and delicious bun skin.
This is a testament to the skill of a pastry chef.
Many times, for the sake of shape, some pastry chefs would sacrifice taste to achieve perfection in form, which is what we call looking good but not tasting good.
The Qianhua Gongdeng Bun Zheng Da made today was, without a doubt, both good-looking and delicious.
"Qin Huai, what do you think my dad’s thought process is? If he’d made snacks earlier, he’d be a master of pastry by now. If he’d spent half the effort he did today making the Qianhua Gongdeng Bun on the Mixed Fruit Filling, he wouldn’t have ended up making a sunflower seed and peanut filling." Zheng Siyuan criticized while eating.
Qin Huai expressed that it’s not the same, showing off once is pure showing off, doing it all the time requires practice.
Qin Huai opened his mouth to come up with some nonsense when a game notification sounded in his head.
"Ding! Congratulations to the player for completing the side quest [Gong Liang’s Desire], and obtaining the quest rewards: [Gong Liang’s memory], [Gong Liang’s Affirmation]."
Qin Huai looked toward Gong Liang.
Gong Liang had already taken his first bite of the bun.
Judging by his posture, his tears were almost about to flow from sheer flavor.
Our Mr. Gong is also a man of emotion.
One moment of emotion, and any gap can be exploited.