Abnormal Gourmet Chronicle
Chapter 346 - 208: Mixed Fruit Filling Research Team

Chapter 346: Chapter 208: Mixed Fruit Filling Research Team

One big failure wouldn’t knock Qin Huai down, but four would.

For four consecutive days, Qin Huai was completely overturned by monumental failures.

He felt like he had solved several obvious issues, but after changing the ratios of the ingredients, new major problems would arise.

This mixed fruit filling recipe is just like a bug-ridden program; you know it theoretically works, but every time you fix one bug, a new one appears.

Qin Huai realized that this wasn’t a simple recipe.

The ingredients for this mixed fruit filling are so numerous that even trying every combination is likely to take until next year.

Every time Zheng Siyuan tasted the rice balls, it was as if he were going to his execution, needing to mentally prepare himself before daring to eat the cooked ones.

As for Zheng Da, he directly retreated to his home, claiming he decided to focus diligently on research at home for a few days and would surprise Qin Huai with results upon emerging.

Zheng Siyuan guessed that his father was probably calling around for help, but Jiang Weijin’s mixed fruit filling recipe was too eccentric, and outside help couldn’t figure it out quickly.

Zheng Da sought help at home, while Qin Huai sought help at Huang Ji.

Tan Wei’an was pulled into the mixed fruit filling research team by Qin Huai.

When Tan Wei’an first received the invitation, he was quite flattered. His culinary skills, among the young generation in Zhiwei Restaurant, were only considered decent, paling in comparison to Qin Huai and Zheng Siyuan.

Now, being invited by these two shining talents, Tan Wei’an eagerly accepted.

On his first day experimenting with the mixed fruit filling, Zheng Siyuan guessed correctly—Tan Wei’an indeed could make it.

Zhiwei Restaurant is teeming with talent, and many seasoned chefs can make mixed fruit filling. It’s popular in mixed fruit mooncakes every Mid-Autumn Festival. Tan Wei’an, having stayed at Zhiwei Restaurant for years, picked up some skills from other master chefs.

Tan Wei’an’s mixed fruit filling recipe came from Master Zhou, the top-ranking chef at Zhiwei Restaurant.

From the first day Tan Wei’an arrived at Huang Ji, Qin Huai noticed that, due to his family’s culinary background, his theoretical knowledge was vast, and he had plenty of excellent recipes at hand, but he lacked the technical skills to execute them.

In theory, Tan Wei’an’s mixed fruit filling was flawless.

The problem was that it wasn’t suitable.

Tan Wei’an admitted that the mixed fruit filling recipe is flexible. Aside from some basic essential candied fruits and nuts, the other nuts can be adjusted to some extent based on quality and price, but only to a certain extent.

Tan Wei’an’s recipe combined only nine types of candied fruits and nuts, while Qin Huai’s had a much longer list.

This problem couldn’t be solved with a formula!

The test designer didn’t follow the usual rules.

On the third day of joining the mixed fruit filling research team, Tan Wei’an suspected that Qin Huai and Zheng Siyuan had pulled him in just to have him try and taste repeatedly.

It’s too unpalatable.

Every time, the unpalatability had a different flavor.

These candied fruits and nuts were fine when eaten individually, but combined, they were horrendously unappetizing.

Tan Wei’an even considered saying he was on a diet and couldn’t eat such high-calorie things, suggesting they recruit someone specifically for tasting.

He thought Huang An Yao would be a good choice.

Young Master might not know how to cook, and not necessarily how to eat, but he could critique, and his critiques came as a set; he suited this grueling task well.

"It’s still not right." Qin Huai took a small bite of the rice ball, savoring the filling, "It’s not as sweet as before, but do you guys feel that after reducing the sugar, the filling tastes worse than the last time?"

Zheng Siyuan and Tan Wei’an nodded in unison.

Under normal circumstances, trial-making should get better and better, but their situation of worsening results with each attempt was rare.

This is something that happens to beginners.

Tan Wei’an looked at himself, then at Qin Huai, then at Zheng Siyuan, and thought there was no way the three of them could be mistaken for beginners.

If he were a beginner, his past years would have been in vain.

Looking at the mixed fruit filling rice ball in the bowl that he dared only to take a small bite of, Tan Wei’an felt his years of work might have been in vain.

Grandpa, I’m sorry—I’ve still managed to make such terrible snacks.

"We’ve altered the proportions of many ingredients successively. Initially, we focused on dried apricots, dried peaches, walnuts, olives, crushed peanuts, and sesame, with other ingredients supplementing. We found the sesame flavor was too overpowering. In the second attempt, we increased the candied fruits’ proportion, which only made it sweeter and greasier."

"Then we tried adjusting several key ingredients, but no matter how we altered them, the taste seemed muddled. Either it was a bland mix without any distinct flavor, only notable sweetness, or individual ingredients stood out too much."

"Since this recipe contains so many ingredients, each must have its role, blending to achieve its effect."

"But..."

"There are too many." Zheng Siyuan interjected, "Whether cooking or making snacks, one of the biggest taboos is using too many ingredients in one thing; it becomes unmanageable. But this filling seems to do just that. If the recipe wasn’t handwritten by Uncle, I’d suspect it was faulty."

"So... is it possible that the recipe truly is flawed?" Tan Wei’an boldly suggested, "Not that I doubt Master Huang’s skills—firstly, I must emphasize, I deeply respect and admire Master Huang. All chefs featured in the ’Chef Record’ are senior to me, especially given Master Huang’s high ranking."