Abnormal Gourmet Chronicle
Chapter 39 - 37 The Key to Fermented Rice with Steamed Buns

Chapter 39: Chapter 37 The Key to Fermented Rice with Steamed Buns

After watching the video tutorial once, Qin Huai, refusing to give up, watched it again.

This time, he gained new insights.

He realized that people couldn’t be generalized.

The Jiang Chengde in the video moved with grace and ease, casually chatted with his wife midway through making buns, left the kitchen to soothe a child, and even managed to brew some rice porridge and chop some small dishes in the meantime.

Outside the video, he was in a state of high tension the entire time, eyes fixed on the dough, not daring to blink at critical moments. He watched in front of his eyes as the dough turned this way, that way, this way again, and became locust flower buns.

Brain: Have you got it?

Hand: Go away!

Qin Huai, undeterred, watched it again.

Qin Huai began to scratch his head.

He knew that every seemingly ordinary thing might conceal an unseen ultimate skill.

Take yeast, for instance; theoretically, it’s the process of allowing yeast to fully reproduce and emit gas under certain temperature and humidity conditions, causing the dough to rise. However, in practice, the wisdom of countless pastry chefs over centuries can always introduce some special techniques to this simple little step.

What’s written in books is one thing; actual practice is another. Watching others do it is one thing; learning it yourself is another.

Back when Qin Huai was researching Rice Wine Steamed Buns, he couldn’t replicate the taste from the recipe by following the method in the recipe. Now watching Jiang Chengde’s video tutorial, his intuition tells him that even following the video’s method won’t reproduce the buns in the video.

Ultimate skills aren’t so easy to learn.

Many chefs who weren’t particularly talented couldn’t learn even with hands-on teaching from master chefs, so relying on just watching a video to learn is quite challenging.

For the first time, Qin Huai had a little understanding of Qin Congwen’s inner activities over the years.

Both making pastries, you have hands, I have hands, this is dough, that is dough. In the same environment, how could the kneaded dough differ so greatly?

As for the tutorial for the locust flower buns, let’s not even mention the most crucial step: the step where a small amount of honey is used to ferment the dough; Qin Huai didn’t quite grasp the mysterious essence of it, nor did he fully understand the kneading of the dough throughout the process.

What kind of technique is this exactly? How could after doing this, that, and that to the dough make it so perfect?

Weren’t the raw materials a mix of gray flour and buckwheat flour?

How could using these raw materials possibly knead a dough that is so smooth, with such good fluffiness, elasticity, extensibility, and moisture perfectly suited for buns?

After watching the locust flower bun video tutorial three times with no results, Qin Huai began studying the video tutorial for Rice Wine Buns.

The Rice Wine Buns and Rice Lees Buns are actually the same food, just with different names. Qin Huai had studied it before and was very familiar with the production process.

What comforted him a bit was that Qin Wan’s level was very approachable.

Unlike Jiang Chengde’s hands, Qin Wan’s hands were those of a typical housewife, with thin calluses more like they were formed by embroidery and labor, and her fingers were long with round nails, making them a pair of beautiful delicate soft hands.

Her kneading actions were as delicate, soft, and slow as her hands.

Slow was an excellent point in the teaching process.

Going slowly allowed one to clearly see each step of her actions, slowly to feel what was crucial and what could be considered insignificant. Qin Wan paid great attention when making buns, staying close to the chopping board from start to finish, even during the dull fermentation process.

Thanks to this meticulous teacher, Qin Huai discovered the subtlety of the century-old family secret recipe from Qin’s Steamed Bun Shop for Rice Wine Buns when watching the teaching video for the first time.

Temperature.

The control of temperature almost ran through the entire production process of Rice Wine Buns.

From the warm water for mixing the dough, cooling it repeatedly during kneading, keeping it warm during the yeast process, damp cloth soaked in hot water under the board during degassing, even needing to adjust the stove fire with tongs when steaming—all of these highlighted how crucial temperature and fire control were for making good Rice Wine Buns.

Qin Wan didn’t speak angry words, Rice Wine Buns weren’t a technique that could be stolen with just a recipe.

In the era without thermometers, humidity detectors, more convenient gas stoves for controlling the fire, measuring cups, scale markers, or insulation devices, mastering these relied on the chef’s countless practices and precise instincts.

And Qin Huai happened to be a chef with great intuition.

And he had very comprehensive modern technology.

"No wonder there’s a certain chance of failure in making Rice Wine Buns," Qin Huai murmured, unable to resist complaining, "If teaching hands-on couldn’t teach it, then not only did Qin Wan’s little brother have little talent, but he also didn’t put his heart into learning."

After watching the Wine Buns tutorial, Qin Huai felt competent again.

Couldn’t make locust flower buns, and couldn’t make Wine Buns after seeing the complete tutorial?

Qin Wan’s video tutorial compared to Jiang Chengde’s was so considerate, true to being a representation of beauty and kindness.

Qin Huai bounced up from the bed like a carp and looked at the time.

Mere 5 PM.

Just the right time for making buns.

What? You say that going to the shop to make buns at this time is considered overtime?

Qin Huai waved it off, saying it’s impossible, entirely impossible.

How could making buns be considered overtime? This was clearly self-discipline, self-improvement, learning new skills after work.

Qin Huai, full of confidence and carrying "Snack Encyclopedia," set off from home to Yunzhong Restaurant.

As for why Qin Huai brought "Snack Encyclopedia"... it’s mainly to explain why he had suddenly got the idea to make Rice Wine Buns after waking up from what was supposed to be a rest, aiming to make a remarkable impact and clear his previous shame.

Don’t ask; if asked, it’s because he chose a good bed-time read.

"Snack Encyclopedia," the irreplaceable choice for culinary-loving kids before bedtime.

By the time Qin Huai arrived at Yunzhong Restaurant, the early diners had already started on their standard two meat, two vegetable set meals.

As a rising star that has surpassed 25% of the neighborhood’s restaurants in reputation, Yunzhong Restaurant had also gathered a group of enthusiastic regular diners during its opening period.

Breakfast regulars were mainly elders who went jogging in the morning, and dinner regulars were residents from the home district and several nearby districts.

Because Chen Huihong often visited Yunzhong Restaurant for meals and would frequently take complete snacks to the community office for afternoon tea. Chen Huihong’s loyal fans firmly believed in Huihong’s recommendation, trusting that the kitchen of Yunzhong Restaurant was absolutely clean, hygienic, and didn’t use inferior ingredients.

Moreover, with the affordable prices and diverse dishes for lunch and dinner, many homeowners, who didn’t hire a domestic helper or were in between helpers, put down their spatulas and started enjoying the happiness of eating at the restaurant daily.

These regulars all knew Qin Huai.

Master Qin, after all, was the owner and the stabilizing needle of the sea for Yunzhong Restaurant.

A young fellow with a stable personality, pleasant to talk to, exceptional in culinary skills, and a kind person—the only drawback was being too lazy, beginning work at 4 AM and precisely clocking out at noon. The variety of snacks was extremely limited, and the number of buns made in the afternoon was also quite small.

Everyone expressed that if Master Qin could overcome his laziness, their appetites would be much better.

As soon as Qin Huai entered the restaurant, the diners eating and chatting greeted him one after another.

"Master Qin, here for a meal?"

"Master Qin, will you sell Green Bean Cake tomorrow? You haven’t sold it for two days, and my little devil at home is crying awfully."

"Master Qin, want some melon? Luoluo told me you love melon. I especially bought a box!"

"Come on, obviously you got a cheap group purchase box and took advantage of it."

"Nonsense, am I such a person who covets cheapness!"

"Master Qin, still making locust flower honey buns? My in-law’s second nephew is into beekeeping, the honey is of high quality and primarily for export. He said April’s batch was rare. I don’t understand that stuff, but after buying a few bottles, I found it quite good. I’ll bring you a bottle!"

Qin Huai paused, looking at the slightly wealthy grandma eating jujube cake with winter melon soup, wearing a gold bracelet on her plump hand.

Qin Huai searched for about two seconds and recovered the information on this grandma.

Grandma Ding, a resident of 904 on Building D, in her 60s, was a kindergarten principal before retirement. With many children in her family, her grandchildren and great-grandchildren would come to her house on holidays to play.

Her eldest granddaughter loved jujube cake, her second granddaughter favored milk buckwheat buns, her youngest grandson enjoyed locust flower honey buns, her eldest great-grandson adored Green Bean Cake, and her youngest great-granddaughter loved the buckwheat bun combination with maple syrup and goat milk from a couple of days ago.

Recently, as Qin Huai zealously made buckwheat buns, trying various combinations, he had run out of locust flower honey last week and hadn’t acquired more, resulting in a long hiatus of locust flower honey-flavored buns.

It seems that even a kindergarten principal could be forced to resort to extraordinary measures by a little grandson because of preferential treatment.

Qin Huai smiled and nodded, showing a look of surprise: "Really? Grandma Ding, thank you so much, I was recently worrying about finding high-quality locust flower honey."

Grandma Ding: !

All the diners: ?!

The Ding family member took a shortcut, you cheat!

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