Abnormal Gourmet Chronicle
Chapter 64 - 57: The Crux of the Problem (Seeking monthly ticket!)

Chapter 64: Chapter 57: The Crux of the Problem (Seeking monthly ticket!)

A week later, Zheng Da extended the hotel stay for another week.

Two weeks later, Zheng Siyuan thought it was time for his dad to consider buying a house nearby, staying in a hotel every day was really troublesome.

If it weren’t for Qin Huai repeatedly emphasizing to Chen Huihong that Zheng Da and Zheng Siyuan were really not the new pastry chefs at Yunzhong Restaurant, the hiring could not stop and must continue, Chen Huihong would have already called her brother to withdraw the recruitment notice.

In the kitchen, Zheng Da and Zheng Siyuan were still puzzled by the just-steamed locust flower buns, while outside the kitchen, Qin Huai was already slacking off.

Calling it slacking off is not quite accurate, because Qin Huai did have something important to do here.

The community’s visit to Luo Jun was scheduled for the day after tomorrow.

Reportedly, it was because Dr. Qu was on a business trip outside the city recently, and without Dr. Qu and Chen Huihong leading the way, the community committee colleagues found it hard to engage directly with Luo Jun, causing the visit to be delayed repeatedly.

The other elderly folks had long been visited, and the official account articles had been written, but everyone was still mentally preparing to visit Luo Jun.

"The day after tomorrow at 10 in the morning, Sister Hong asked me to inform you. Qin Huai, you’d better prepare yourself and bring more fresh buns, snacks, steamed buns, cold tea, and maybe some nice fruits. Our community’s Old Luo is a photographer. He’ll be taking photos, so remember to pose a bit when handing things over, to make it look good," Ouyang instructed.

Qin Huai nodded, not really paying attention.

If Ouyang hadn’t come to find him today, he would have almost forgotten he still had side tasks to attend to.

If making buckwheat buns earlier was like an obsession, then making locust flower buns this time was like struggling with magic skills, almost on the verge of betraying the Evil Sect.

Qin Huai glanced at Zheng Da and Zheng Siyuan in the kitchen.

Hmm, these two are still in the obsession stage.

One locust flower bun drove three pastry chefs crazy, S-level buns are just extraordinary.

"Got it, I’ll prepare more," Qin Huai said, "There’s something I want to ask you."

Ouyang made a gesture as if to say he was all ears.

"Sister Hong suddenly found my mom a few days ago and recommended many private high schools for Luoluo, both in Guangdong Province and here."

"Ah, isn’t Luoluo’s household registration in Guangdong Province? Can she attend high school here?" Ouyang’s focus shifted instantly.

"International schools, the most expensive one costs 600,000 a year. Without considering tuition fees, she definitely can attend," Qin Huai replied.

Ouyang took a sharp intake of breath.

Qin Huai: ...

You rich kid, pretending to be poor. Running a store for a year would be enough for Luoluo to attend 10 years of high school, she could reach grade 10.

"How did Sister Hong know my mom was stressed about Luoluo’s high school situation, did you tell her?" Qin Huai asked.

"I don’t know!" Ouyang looked innocent, "I didn’t even know about this, I saw Luoluo happily eating and thought she did well in the high school entrance exam."

"So, did Auntie make up her mind? Is Luoluo going back home for high school or staying here for the international school?"

"Of course, she’s going back home," Qin Huai said, "My mom already finds private school tuition too expensive, let alone international schools. The tuition fee for one year at an international school is enough for Luoluo’s tutoring classes until she bleeds."

"Plus, my mom watched too much Meteor Garden when she was younger. She always feels that even now, if the restaurant has a decent monthly income, she and my dad can grit their teeth and spend their savings to send Luoluo to an international school, our kind of ordinary family child would definitely be bullied there. Luoluo is strong, and if she fights back, one against three, injuring others, we’d have to pay for damages."

"Of course, the most crucial point is that attending an international high school means going abroad later, which costs even more. You know my parents’ temper and character, they always feel the restaurant was left by my biological parents, it’s my asset, and the money for Luoluo’s education should come from them."

Ouyang seized the key point: "The summer vacation is more than half over, isn’t Luoluo going back to school soon."

"Not just Luoluo needs to go back, my mom will have to return too. I’ve already told Sister Hong to help me post recruitment information, to hire a few more general workers."

"Can’t talk to you anymore, I have to go make buns," Qin Huai got up and walked towards the kitchen.

Ouyang was still immersed in the sadness that his meal buddy would soon return to school and after some sadness decided to order two cups of hand-squeezed lemon tea.

Soon, there’ll be none left to drink, sigh.

In the kitchen, Zheng Siyuan and Zheng Da had already started making a new batch of locust flower buns.

After washing his hands, Qin Huai returned to the cooking station and scooped two spoons of honey from the jar. Looking at the honey jar almost empty again, Qin Huai felt it was time to contact Grandma Ding and ask her to have her in-law procure a few more jars.

This locust flower honey is really of good quality.

Qin Huai dissolved the honey in warm water.

During this period, the trio had researched everything they could, even the fermentation principle of honey that Qin Huai and Zheng Siyuan understood thoroughly.

Honey itself doesn’t have fermentation ability because it lacks some chemicals yeast needs. But it magically contains some microorganisms, which can grow and reproduce in honey, fermenting under the right conditions.

More interesting is these microorganisms utilize the starch in the dough to grow and reproduce, thus preventing the dough from fermenting. Therefore, fermenting dough with honey is very difficult, requiring very strict temperature and humidity conditions, while balancing the amount of honey.

Low temperature, the dough doesn’t ferment, high temperature, the dough over-ferments. Short fermentation time, the dough is dry and hard, long fermentation time gives you a surprise occasionally.

In a way, honey fermentation is even harder to handle than the client’s demand for colorful black or iridescent white.

But one thing is undeniable, under such harsh conditions, teamed with certain ingredients and methods, honey fermentation can produce very delicious pastries.

Locust flower buns are one of them.

During two weeks of existential doubt, Zheng Da didn’t doubt the feasibility of honey fermentation. He changed the dough, used pure white flour, cornmeal, and sorghum flour to make locust flower buns, each tasted much worse than those made with Qin Huai’s recipe.

This convinced Zheng Da and Zheng Siyuan that Qin Huai’s recipe was indeed a secret family recipe.

Their locust flower buns didn’t work, not because of the buns, but because of themselves.

Qin Huai stirred the honey water, his thoughts wandering away.

Honey fermentation is really a demanding princess.

This doesn’t work, that doesn’t work, not even a slight mishap can occur.

Where on earth is the problem?

Qin Huai looked at the honey, could it be the quality of Grandma Ding’s locust flower honey is too good causing issues?

The flour is mixed with buckwheat; could the honey also need to be mixed with inferior honey?

Qin Huai chuckled at his own idea.

What problem could honey have...

Wait, why couldn’t honey have a problem?

Grandma Ding’s in-law’s relatives specialize in selling honey, marketed as mature honey, products that can pass quality inspections.

These honeys are all heated at 60°C for liquefaction.

Qin Huai was stunned.

Right, why didn’t he think of this?

The honey is processed!

If he wanted to completely restore the locust flower buns’ making process, he would need to restore the locust flower buns’ raw materials as much as possible. How could Jiang Chengde’s era have processed honey available?

The locust flower honey Jiang Chengde used must have been naturally matured, pure and unprocessed.

It wouldn’t look this good, nor would it be filtered this cleanly.

Qin Huai hastily took out his phone.

"Hello, Grandma Ding, this is Xiao Qin, yes, the Xiao Qin from Yunzhong Restaurant."

"Yes, yes, I especially noted your phone number last time, saying I might need to buy locust flower honey again in the future."

"Yes, I want to buy locust flower honey. I want to ask if you could get pure, unprocessed wild locust flower honey, or not necessarily wild but certainly pure and unprocessed."

"You’ll ask your in-law? Thank you so much, it’s a bit urgent on my side."

"You’ll get back to me tonight? If possible, try to get it to me the day after tomorrow, that’s great, thank you so much!"

"You didn’t buy any Fermented Rice with Steamed Buns this morning, and your family wants buns tonight. No problem, come over in two hours; the Fermented Rice with Steamed Buns will be ready by then."

"You’re welcome, you’re welcome, I should be the one thanking you!"