Abnormal Gourmet Chronicle
Chapter 100 - 82 Comfort Zone (Extra - for the Moon-grasping Star Alliance Leader!)

Chapter 100: Chapter 82 Comfort Zone (Extra Chapter for the Moon-grasping Star Alliance Leader!)

Qin Huai returned to Yunzhong District just after one in the afternoon.

Once the car was parked in the parking space of the underground parking lot, Luo Jun got out without looking back. He didn’t even call Zhang Shumei to come down to meet him, nor did he ask Qin Huai for the car keys.

He left just like that, determined about something.

"The keys, Mr. Luo, the keys!" Qin Huai hurriedly chased after him.

"Hold on to them yourself." Luo Jun said impatiently, "Next time you need the car, just drive it yourself and don’t bother me."

"Do you want to eat something? It’s still early. I’m planning to go to the restaurant to make some soup and snacks. I haven’t prepared the ingredients for the rice cake in advance, so it’s impossible to make it on such short notice. But I can make fermented rice with steamed buns, crab shell cakes with regular meat filling, sweet crab shell cakes, and pea cakes. What would you like to eat?"

Luo Jun paused.

"Crab shell cakes." Luo Jun said, "I want two pounds, to eat while watching TV late at night!"

"Alright, I’ll make both sweet and savory, give you a pound of each. I’ll send you a message when they’re almost ready, and you can have Aunt Zhang come to pick them up."

"You’re so long-winded, don’t let Xiao Zhang pick them up, otherwise, do you want me to wait there too?" Luo Jun’s tone improved a lot, and he looked a lot less puffed up, walking slowly towards the elevator.

Qin Huai breathed a sigh of relief, he had managed to appease him.

Bi Fang really has a fiery temper.

Qin Huai then called Zhao Rong and learned that Qin Congwen’s health check-up wasn’t over. After informing Zhao Rong that he had safely returned Luo Jun, he headed to the restaurant.

Even though today was theoretically a day off, since everything was handled in advance, he still intended to practice broth making.

Qin Huai had realized that as more tasks were triggered, he didn’t even need to refer to the recipe from his dreams. Simply completing tasks stretched his current skill level quite thin.

The longevity noodles needed top-tier broth, the locust flower buns required exemplary technique across the board, and Qu Jing’s side quest called for high-level Suzhou style pastries to suit her taste.

Tasks were becoming increasingly challenging. If he didn’t keep improving, he’d soon find himself stuck.

It seemed nothing serious would happen if he didn’t complete the task, no direct punishment on him, but...

Qin Huai pouted, he couldn’t just watch the spirits he knew one by one fail and fade away, right?

What if he was truly that last straw, and it snapped due to poor quality? How embarrassing would that be?

At 1:39 in the afternoon, Qin Huai walked into Yunzhong Restaurant through the inner door.

At this time, there weren’t many dining customers in the restaurant. Only a few residents who arrived late and didn’t need to work, as well as the morning joggers and chatters headed by Xu Tuqiang and Grandpa Qian, enjoying air conditioning and idle chats.

But today, Xu Tuqiang wasn’t there, and Grandpa Qian was chatting by the window.

Seeing Qin Huai actually arrived, Grandpa Qian excitedly asked, "Master Qin, aren’t you off today? How come you’re here in the restaurant?"

"Just finished the tasks, and with nothing else to do, I thought I’d drop by to make some snacks and practice. The soup hasn’t been cooked yet today."

Grandpa Qian: !

He always knew that waiting would bring rewards. The old guys who loved air conditioning and chatting would definitely have good luck.

"So, Master Qin, what snacks are you planning to make for practice?" Grandpa Qian almost jumped with excitement.

"Crab shell cakes." Qin Huai said and went to the dressing room to change clothes before entering the kitchen.

The old guy next to Grandpa Qian was so excited that he almost sent a WeChat message to inform his friends of the good news, but was stopped by Grandpa Qian.

"Are you silly? The crab shell cakes taste best right out of the oven. Master Qin only bakes a limited batch each time. If you tell them now, what are we going to eat when they get here?" Grandpa Qian said in a low voice.

"But the few of us here won’t be able to eat them all." Another old guy weakly argued.

"I didn’t say not to tell them. Just wait a bit, tell them when they can only arrive three to five minutes after the cakes are out of the oven."

The elderly men suddenly understood, truly believing Grandpa Qian was wise and resourceful.

Qin Huai changed into his attire and entered the kitchen, preparing the ingredients for the crab shell cakes and beef broth, then messaged Huang Shengli. After confirming Huang Shengli was free, he initiated a video call invitation.

The video was answered, but it wasn’t Huang Shengli; it was Huang Shengli’s closed-door disciple, Dong Shi.

As a chatterbox obsessed with sharing gossip, Dong Shi spoke before Qin Huai could open his mouth.

"Qin Huai, aren’t you off today? How come you’re still making broth?"

"Finished the tasks, so I thought I’d practice a bit." Qin Huai explained simply, "Where’s Master Huang?"

"Master went for a massage. He left his phone with me to keep an eye on things. Go ahead," Dong Shi began munching on sunflower seeds.

Qin Huai nodded, set the phone on a stand, and started working.

Qin Huai had become very skilled at making beef broth, handling the beef, cutting into chunks, soaking in clean water to remove the blood, his actions were practically those of a professional beef broth chef.

"Qin Huai, haven’t you noticed that your talent in meat cooking is pretty decent too?" Dong Shi cracked a seed, "Only slightly worse than mine. Look at how long you’ve been cooking soup, just cutting some beef every day, and your knife skills have improved significantly."

Clearly, Dong Shi had picked up his master’s compliment-training method.

"Oh, how much improvement?" Qin Huai asked.

"Hmm... I started learning cooking at seven, and your knife skills are about at my level before I turned eight."

Qin Huai: ...

He learned the compliment-training method, but not thoroughly enough.

"That’s not what I meant. Our knife skills in meat cooking are crucial, trained from childhood for sure. Your pastry knife skills aren’t as important, good enough is fine. No, what I mean is you casually practice. No... I mean your knife skills..." Dong Shi tried to mitigate, but the more he tried, the worse it got.

"There’s a wedding banquet tonight, go prepare the ingredients, I’ll keep watch," Dong Shi’s brother, Dong Li, forcefully entered the frame.

Dong Li was also a disciple of Huang Shengli. The brothers were taken in by Huang Shengli at the same time, but since Dong Shi was younger, he became the closed-door disciple.

In contrast to Dong Shi’s talkative nature, Dong Li barely spoke, leaving his daily quota of words to his younger brother.

Dong Li sat quietly in front of the phone, silently watching Qin Huai make beef broth.

Only after Qin Huai had put the beef in a pot of cold water, adjusted the fire control, and covered it with a lid, did Dong Li start to comment: "Not bad, the amount of yellow wine added this time is just right."

Knowing Dong Li wasn’t chatty, Qin Huai simply nodded and started making crab shell cakes.

Two kinds of fillings, one with lard and sugar, the other pure meat filling. Throughout the process of making crab shell cakes, Qin Huai checked on the fire control several times, making slight adjustments. Dong Li watched quietly without a word, only speaking when Qin Huai was about to plate the crab shell cakes and put them in the oven.

"I remember crab shell cakes were originally baked on a grill." Dong Li said.

Qin Huai was surprised that Dong Li had an interest in crab shell cakes and nodded: "That’s right, but that was the very old-fashioned way. Nowadays, to meet demand, most use ovens."

"Have you thought about trying it?" Dong Li asked.

"Huh?"

"You’re a pastry chef, baking is your comfort zone. When making broth, many factors beyond fire control can affect the taste. Compared to half a month ago, I think your fire control has actually improved a lot, you might just not have noticed it."

"Don’t mind the nonsense my brother talked about your knife skills, they’re still pretty poor."

"Since pastry is your comfort zone, I suggest you experiment a bit with your fire control skills in your comfort zone."

"Crab shell cakes are quite excellent for that."

"You can give it a try."

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