Abnormal Gourmet Chronicle
Chapter 149 - 127: Scalding

Chapter 149: Chapter 127: Scalding

In the afternoon, Qin Huai and Zheng Siyuan boldly experimented with a slapdash version of guo’er.

It was a great success.

The efficiency was very high.

As long as you approach the snack you’re making without the psychological burden of making dumplings and view it with an open mind, convincing yourself that this is how guo’er should be. The shape doesn’t matter, as long as it resembles a fruit. The color doesn’t matter either, as long as it’s vibrant enough.

With this mindset, the speed becomes quite fast.

After all, wrapping the filling with dough into a ball, brushing some beet juice on for color, this simple step is easy for anyone to get the hang of, even Chen Huihong can do it.

Actually, no, Chen Huihong still can’t because controlling the dough thickness is crucial when wrapping guo’er, so that the filling doesn’t leak, no oil seeps, and the skin isn’t too thick.

These are the basic requirements for wrapping steamed buns.

The slapdash guo’er was a hit at the afternoon tasting and shopping event.

Because guo’er is destined to be a regular on the menu, regardless of whether Qin Huai can make a B-level buff guo’er, this snack will certainly make the list. If he can’t make B-level ones, he’ll practice, whether during the random drops in the afternoon or the regular menu in the morning; it’s all practice, might as well announce it in advance.

Regular customers already have experience with this sort of thing.

In their view, fermented rice with steamed buns made it to the regular menu this way.

First, it kept randomly dropping in the afternoon, and then slowly made its way into the morning regular pool. Many district residents still regret not cherishing the days when fermented rice buns randomly dropped.

How great it was for the random drops, introducing new items unpredictably during afternoon times outside the dining peak, impossible for office workers to all take time off to wait.

If you were lucky to hit a quiet moment, not only could you buy one bag, you could even buy two! Walking through the district with two large bags of fermented rice buns, not only doubled the heads turning but also brought family hero status.

As long as the buns weren’t all eaten in a day, the family’s legend of heroically claiming two large bags of fermented rice buns from Yunzhong Restaurant would circulate for another day.

That’s no longer the case now, those good days won’t return.

Fermented rice buns are now a staple, sold every morning, residents are scrambling, office workers are scrambling, students are also scrambling, even passersby scramble.

Essentially, once the buns are out of the steamer, they’re gone immediately; buying two bags isn’t allowed anymore, even one bag is out of reach. Currently limited, the first batch in the morning is restricted to two per person daily.

Why did the lady with the last name Ding become such a hated figure? Isn’t it just because she always managed to use her connection with locust flower honey to carry a bag of fermented rice buns around the district on a walk?

Carrying a bag on strolls in the district, despite the lingering summer heat with temperatures over 30 degrees, she doesn’t mind the heat.

Consequently, on the first day of the guo’er tasting, while the neighboring district was still hesitating, the residents of Yunzhong District started queuing up in droves to buy.

The entire afternoon, the restaurant had long queues, filled with eager customers waiting to try guo’er.

As luck would have it, Qu Jing, finishing her regular day shift, caught the last batch of guo’er.

And it happened to be the best batch.

The fillings of earlier batches were stir-fried by Qin Huai, and although not disastrous, they were at best mediocre.

Qin Huai was uneasy while stir-frying because he hadn’t touched a wok for years. It’s like your mom who usually disciplines you with a clothes hanger suddenly switches to a rolling pin, the feel is just off.

But the skill of discipline exists, with slight adaptation, a rolling pin can have the same impact as a clothes hanger.

Similarly, Qin Huai’s fire control is genuinely at the intermediate level, and while intermediate isn’t very high, it’s certainly better than basic. Plus, Qin Huai has been practicing fire control every day; with so much practice lately, a disastrous failure is unlikely.

If someone thinks Qin Huai’s stir-fry was a disaster, it must be because they have just tasted Zheng Siyuan’s stir-fry.

Qin Huai practiced making guo’er in the afternoon to hone his fire control and finger skills; he even skipped Master Huang’s online class for this. Master Huang wasn’t too concerned, since Zheng Siyuan had gone over for on-site teaching, a break from the online class was okay, as he happily went fishing.

The earlier batches made with Qin Huai’s filling were sadly at a dismal D-level, at best D+, they couldn’t reach C at all.

While D-level snacks might seem shabby, the guo’er had a good foundation. It’s a B-level foundation made into D-level due to lack of technique, not an ordinary D-level, but a tasty D-level.

Plus, Qin Huai sold them cheap, the size and portion of guo’er were clear, apple-sized, filled with meat, fresh out of the steamer smelled divine, and as a practice tasting random drop, the price was only 10 yuan each, no customers complained.

Of course, the last batch could not be sold this cheap at cost price.

The last batch had filling stir-fried by Zheng Siyuan. Sure enough, even before opening the steamer, Qin Huai saw the grade.

[Apple Dough Ball C-level]

It’s no surprise with Zheng Siyuan, being classically trained is indeed versatile.

If a C-level guo’er only sold for 10 yuan, it wouldn’t do justice to the filling personally fried by Zheng Siyuan.

Qin Huai announced to the customers outside the window: "Ladies and gentlemen, this is the final batch of guo’er. The price for this batch is slightly higher, 25 yuan each, with a total of 35. Please queue up to purchase, Sister Xi, please distribute the numbers, anyone after number 35 need not queue."

A genuine passerby queued up to ask: "Why is this batch so expensive, wasn’t it just selling for 10 yuan?"

No one answered him, everyone swarmed to queue up, and the person who got number 35 was an office worker who boldly took time off after hearing about this afternoon’s imminent regular random drop, nearly crying tears of joy, clutching the number, squatting down, and sobbing.

However, only a small part of the reason he cried was for getting the number, mainly because he saw a message on his phone that he was caught taking time off and got fined 200 yuan.

After the numbers were distributed, it was only then that an unsuccessful customer slowly explained to the real passerby: "This means the last batch of guo’er is worth this price."

"Huh?" The real passerby didn’t get it, weren’t they all selling the same thing, no one’s said the flavor changed.

"New here, are you?" said the unsuccessful number-holder aunt, slightly sorrowful as she looked out of the window, "The one making the guo’er is Master Qin, the boss of this shop, who never sticks to a fixed pricing. Now is his snack practice time, what snack he sells is random, if he’s in a good mood he sells, if not he keeps it for himself."

"His pricing is always erratic, the same product, if made well, sells for a bit more, usually sells cheap, and if made bad it’s given away for free."

"There are free giveaways!" the passerby was delighted.

The aunt barely smiled: "Once you taste the giveaway, you’ll understand the saying ’you get what you pay for’."

"That bowl of duck soup Xiao Ou drank, I’ll never forget it in this lifetime."

Passerby: ?

Although he didn’t get a number, the passerby was curious about the difference between a 25 yuan guo’er and a 10 yuan guo’er and watched others eat in the shop.

The waiter was swiftly packing the guo’er, and as they did, Qu Jing entered.

Qu Jing was a familiar face among the regulars, many elderly recognizing her, greeting her warmly as she came in, those who didn’t get a number too.

"Ah, Dr. Qu, you’re here. Didn’t see you this morning."

"Aunt Huang, I’m on day shift today, so I didn’t come in the morning."

"Xiao Qu, you’re just in time, Master Qin is selling new snacks this afternoon, he said once he’s practiced he’d be selling them regularly in the morning. Earlier they were 10 yuan, now this batch is 25!"

Listening to everyone, Qu Jing quickened her steps to the window, curiously peering in, spotting the oddly colored guo’er.

Qu Jing: ...

Master Qin’s sense of aesthetics is quite peculiar, what is this red and white round thing?

Red fruit?

"Hey, Qu Jing, you came at the right time. I just messaged Mr. Luo, asking him to tell Zhang Shumei to pick up the snacks, since you’re here, you can take it to him," Qin Huai said.

"Sure." Qu Jing nodded, not minding running an errand, "I haven’t seen Mr. Luo today, it’d be good to check up on him."

Qin Huai handed Qu Jing two guo’er.

In the final batch, Qin Huai kept 5 guo’er, one for Ouyang, one for Chen Huihong, one for Luo Jun, and two for Luoluo. The guo’er were large, so Huihui didn’t need one separately, she could nibble on Chen Huihong’s.

Now, with Qu Jing’s timely arrival, Qin Huai relocated one he meant for Qin Luo to Qu Jing.

"By the way, you mentioned at the hospital last time that you wanted to try jujube paste yam flavored sticky rice cake, I’ve been a bit busy lately, but I’ll look into it in a couple of days. I remember your night shift is the day after tomorrow, right? Tell me before you come in the morning the day after tomorrow, I’ll prepare ahead," Qin Huai said.

As Qu Jing took the packed guo’er, she wanted to put them into a larger bag, and while doing so, the guo’er touched her elbow. Even though she was wearing long sleeves and the guo’er was in a paper bag, the heat made Qu Jing withdraw her hand instantly, almost crying out.

"They’re fresh out of the steamer, be careful not to burn yourself," Qin Huai was startled by Qu Jing’s reaction, "Do you need to rinse it with cold water? Surely it’s not burned, is it?"

Qu Jing inhaled sharply, her face mostly hidden by a mask, making it hard to discern her expression, but her actions and eyes showed that she was indeed burned.

Qu Jing shook her head: "No need, it shouldn’t be a burn, it’s just that I have a sensitive pain perception. It’s not boiling water, no way it could burn me. I’m off to deliver the guo’er, I’ll come back for other snacks and dried tangerine peel tea later."

With that, Qu Jing left.

Qin Huai glanced at the others, some were already digging in because they couldn’t wait, inhaling between bites, some overdoing it by doing a tap dance while eating.

Guo’er, fresh out of the steamer, only left to cool for a minute or two, would definitely burn.

But not exaggeratedly so, touching it with an elbow shouldn’t feel like being splashed with boiling water.

"What’s wrong?" Zheng Siyuan noticed Qin Huai in a daze, "Pack up and let’s clock out. I still think there were some issues stir-frying the filling earlier, I want to research it further at home."

"It’s nothing," Qin Huai mumbled, "I’m just thinking, can someone really be this afraid of pain?"

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.