Quickly, Dong Shi’s spectacular speculation spread to every corner of Huang Ji.
Everyone found it absurd and yet believed it without a doubt. During lunch, Huang Shengli even asked kindly with a smile if Qin Luo had anything she particularly liked to eat.
Qin Luo, thrilled, boldly stated her wish to eat the giant braised pig’s head that Qin Huai posted on his social media.
Huang Shengli praised Qin Luo for her good taste, pointing out she had chosen the most famous dish at Huang Ji. He told her not to rush and wait for two days, allowing Huang An Yao to contact the suppliers to procure the perfect pig head for braised pig’s head, and promised Qin Luo a great dish.
Qin Huai was stunned as he ate his meal; he didn’t get this treatment when he had the braised pig’s head previously.
Master Huang, am I no longer your favorite Xiao Qin?
That afternoon, the neglected Xiao Qin channeled his frustration into practice, angrily stir-frying two woks of cabbage and meat, though he improved, his skill level remained unchanged. Watching this made Dong Shi dizzy, as if foreseeing the miserable dinner where they couldn’t finish the stir-fried cabbage and meat.
To prevent Dong Shi from shivering at the sight of the stir-fried cabbage and meat and wanting to leave, Qin Luo thoughtfully packed two portions to take home for her dinner.
Qin Luo ate happily, picked out all the meat, and left two portions of cabbage for Qin Huai.
When Qin Huai returned home with the stir-fried cabbage and meat, he also brought some chopped meat.
The chopped meat was prepared by Zheng Siyuan.
In terms of knife skills, many chefs in Huang’s Kitchen have better skills than Zheng Siyuan, but the reason Qin Huai specifically asked Zheng Siyuan for help was that he best understood the required status of meat for pure meat-filled dumplings.
Of course, Zheng Da also understood, but Zheng Da certainly wouldn’t want to do such laborious tasks.
Unless Qin Huai was willing to become Zheng Da’s apprentice, that would be a different story.
If Qin Huai chose to apprentice under Zheng Da, not only would he chop the meat, but he would happily fulfill Qin Huai’s request for 30 pounds of meat, 10 pounds chopped into lean chunks, 10 pounds of fat chopped into chunks, and 10 pounds of cartilage chopped without meat chunks, along with gifts of 10 pounds of handmade beef balls, fish balls, and pork balls.
However, he could only keep it up for one day.
Next time, for Zheng Da to accomplish these tasks again, Qin Huai must first leave his current master before re-joining in Zheng Da’s name.
Sorry for the digression, let’s return to the main topic.
The chopped meat from Zheng Siyuan was undoubtedly very suitable for fresh meat-filled dumplings. The status of the meat was perfectly balanced between handmade pork balls and ground meat, neither too firm nor too loose, while excellently locking in the juices.
With just a little seasoning, the meat wrapped into dumplings would certainly taste delicious.
Typically, fresh meat dumplings are the easiest to make.
Pork is a very forgiving ingredient; as long as the meat is fresh, it’s delicious in any form, especially when used for stuffed pastries. Even if not fresh, adding plenty of spices can mask it, and Qin Luo, who loves pork dishes, would eat anything with pork.
Even with the stir-fried cabbage and meat that Qin Huai packed from his afternoon cooking, she happily picked out and ate all the meat.
However, as the Four Happiness dumplings gradually improved overall, Qin Huai realized the fresh meat dumplings weren’t improving as quickly as the others.
The other types of dumplings had quick tutorials, techniques, and methods, but not the fresh meat dumplings.
Watching the instructional video, Qin Huai felt like Jinglixiang was just using a normal approach to making fresh meat dumplings, plain and simple, with no techniques.
If there’s anything different, perhaps it’s his meat was a bit too lean with very little fat. Given the circumstances of that time, fat was the best ingredient, the most demanded hard currency, and the mixed fruit filling winter melon candy made by Jinglixiang was cobbled together by everyone, causing Zheng Da to get hit with a stick by his mother.
The winter melon candy could be patched together, but meat was harder to gather; fresh meat can’t be stored long, and Jinglixiang couldn’t purchase meat with the right balance of fat and lean.
Qin Huai attributed the limited progress of his fresh meat dumplings to lack of practice.
Despite practicing dumplings for a long time, he hadn’t made fresh meat dumplings very often.
Being unfamiliar, he decided to practice more.
Isn’t it just about increasing skill level?
With this mindset, Qin Huai carried a bag of fresh meat down from work to home, not even checking how much homework Qin Luo completed, simply handing over dinner to her before heading to the kitchen to make dumplings.
In the kitchen, Qin Huai meticulously created dumplings in four different shapes.
Even when practicing fresh meat dumplings, they shouldn’t be practiced alone. This type requires tasting alongside three other flavors; though tasty alone, they might not blend well together.
For fresh meat, the seasoning is crucial.
The meat itself provides texture, and the flavor differences depend entirely on seasoning. Qin Huai followed the steps of Jinglixiang’s seasoning from the instructional video, adding salt, soy sauce, sesame oil, starch, and other seasonings in sequence, mixing the meat and continuously blending it.
Chen Huixi was sent home by Chen Huihong at bedtime, then Chen Huihong returned alone to wait for the dumplings, watching her phone while waiting, and asked:
"Xiao Qin, you messaged two hours ago saying there would be a tasting tonight, everyone in the group is asking for the specific time."
Number 1 observer Chen Huihong was very dedicated.
"The dumplings today are sorted by their shapes. Isn’t one portion just four pieces? Is it possible to eat another bowl after finishing one?" asked Number 2 observer Ouyang while holding a bowl of rice.