The first thing I did was to find out

Chapter 108 Strike
Zheng Siyuan is a man of action.

Chen Yingjun is also a man of action.

The next day, the two action-oriented people met in the Yunzhong Canteen.

The house that Zheng Da bought for Zheng Siyuan in the neighborhood next door was fully furnished, so he could just move in with his luggage. After Zheng Siyuan finished packing up his new home, he went straight to Yunzhong Canteen to find Qin Huai.

It was not for work, but to ask what Qinhuai’s so-called big order was. It was not clearly stated in the WeChat message. By the way, I also wanted to help Huang Shengli and Zheng Da see how good Qinhuai’s on-site soup was.

When Zheng Siyuan arrived, Chen Yingjun, Chen Huihong and Qin Huai were gathered at a table drinking soup. There were no old men and women chatting in the cafeteria. Everyone knew that Qin Huai was going to discuss business today and went back one after another.

"Siyuan, you're here." Qin Huai saw Zheng Siyuan coming and quickly stood up, "Shall I get you a bowl of soup?"

Zheng Siyuan nodded, Qin Huai went to the kitchen to get the soup, and Chen Huihong greeted Zheng Siyuan warmly.

"Master Zheng, long time no see. I couldn't believe it when Xiao Qin said you were coming over to talk. We are all waiting for you to come over! This is my brother, Chen Yingjun. If you don't mind, you can call him Brother Jun."

Chen Yingjun stood up immediately: "Master Zheng, I am your loyal fan! I asked my assistant to go to your pastry shop in Gusu to buy some. I don't know if you remember that I asked him to buy 40 kilograms of shortbread at one time!"

Zheng Siyuan: …

"I have an impression." Zheng Siyuan nodded with difficulty.

It's hard not to be impressed.

The three of them exchanged a few pleasantries. Chen Huihong, as the middleman, briefly introduced the specific content of the big order, and Qin Huai came to the table with the soup.

Zheng Siyuan picked up the soup and stirred it with a spoon, as if to see if the soup was clear, and then took a sip.

"Your cooking time has improved a lot. The soup actually tastes better than it looks in the video." Zheng Siyuan is always generous with his compliments. "The foam is skimmed off very well, but the high heat was used a little too long, so the soup is not clear enough. Even if the soup is not clear, the cleanliness of the soup is one of the key factors that determine the taste and flavor."

"But it's much better than the chicken soup you made before."

Chen Yingjun was a little confused, obviously not understanding why Master Zheng started teaching as soon as he drank the soup.

Zheng Siyuan simply said a few words, put down the bowl and looked at Chen Yingjun with a serious face: "Mr. Chen, I have understood your request just now. I want to ask, do you have any specific requirements for the dim sum in the third-tier dim sum gift box?"

"No, I fully believe in the craftsmanship of both of you, Master Zheng and Master Qin." Chen Yingjun almost wrote the words "I am a rare good client" on his face.

"Since the gift boxes are divided into three grades, how about putting basic snacks in the lowest grade box, lotus cakes in the mid-range one, and noodles in the high-end one?" Zheng Siyuan suggested.

"Mian Guoer?" Chen Yingjun's face showed the same confusion as Chen Huihong's yesterday.

"It's a kind of dessert that comes in many shapes and sizes. I'm going to make it today. If you don't mind, you can wait here for a few hours. But the noodles I know how to make are the most basic ones."

"Today... let's make apples." Zheng Siyuan was ready to start working, proving with practical actions that he is indeed a man of action.

Chen Yingjun looked at Chen Huihong somewhat dazedly. Chen Huihong gave him a look, indicating that he should not ask and should just wait for the food. Otherwise, why did she call him here today?
Chen Yingjun understood.

The two men moved their chairs to the window and watched from outside while Qin Huai and Zheng Siyuan changed their clothes and went into the kitchen to start working.

Qin Huai had prepared all the ingredients, and Zheng Siyuan made a list for Qin Huai last night.

Zheng Siyuan began to knead the dough, and Qin Huai moved a small stool and sat beside him to watch.

"To be honest, I really don't recommend you to learn how to make noodle fruit now." Zheng Siyuan said, "If Luoluo wants to eat it, I will make it for her a few times. After she eats it, she will find that noodle fruit is just like that, and the novelty will soon wear off."

"Ah, noodles are not delicious?" Qin Huai was shocked.

"It's not that it doesn't taste good, it's just that my dad and I didn't cook it well." Zheng Siyuan said.

The dough quickly took shape under his hands, and he was seen kneading the dough vigorously and repeatedly with skillful techniques. He rubbed the dough more than kneading it, and it was obvious at a glance that it was a fixed process.

"Noodles require imagination," said Zheng Siyuan.

"I know. You said that yesterday." Qin Huai nodded. "Its shape is changeable. How exquisite and beautiful it can be depends mainly on the chef's imagination and artistic aesthetics."

"It's not just about the shape." Zheng Siyuan shook his head, "It's the same with the taste. Whether the noodle fruit tastes amazing actually tests the chef's imagination."

Qin Huai:?
"Take the simplest apple as an example. A successful noodle fruit should look like an apple at first glance, look like an apple inside when cut open, taste like an apple when eaten, and smell like an apple. Only then will it be qualified."

“But the appearance is easy to replicate, and the fragrance can be achieved, but the taste is hard to guarantee.”

"If you want apple noodles to taste like apples, you have to mix applesauce or apple juice into the noodles, but will the applesauce still taste like apples after steaming?"

"If you simply knead apples into the dough, will the filling be the color of the inside of the apple when you cut it open?"

"If it's made with traditional date paste, how does it taste like apples?"

"It's the same with apples, bananas, and walnuts. Not to mention kiwis, peaches, and lychees..."

"The difficulty with traditional fruit and vegetable noodles is the taste."

"That's even more difficult. Green bamboos herald spring, phoenixes fly, and fish leap over the dragon's gate. How can you make noodles taste like fish? What should a phoenix taste like? How can you make such noodles taste reasonable and amazing to diners? This depends entirely on the chef's imagination and creativity."

"So I said that my father and I are not good at making noodles. We can only use the formula left by our master. My father makes it the same way as our master, and I do the same way as my father makes it."

"In Master Huang's words, if a school can only pass down its skills in this way, each generation will be inferior to the previous one, and more and more skills will be lost, and eventually the school will decline."

Qin Huai was a little confused.

This is beyond the scope. This is completely beyond the scope.

Such profound things are not something that someone like him should think about.

“Even if the chef is familiar with the formula, it is difficult for him to control the swelling degree of the dough during the distillation process. In addition, in order to shape it better, the dough must be kneaded a little harder, which affects the taste. Whether it can be compensated in the subsequent production process also tests the chef’s imagination.”

"According to the formula left by my master, the filling of our apple dough fruit is date paste mixed with yam paste and apple juice. It can taste the apple flavor without affecting the overall feeling."

Zheng Siyuan started mixing the stuffing.

"Normally, if you want to replicate the taste of dates, it's easiest to just use date paste as the filling."

Qin Huai said he learned it.

After the filling is prepared, Zheng Siyuan pinches the dough into small balls, rolls it into thick skins, and starts wrapping the filling.

Not only did he make the dough himself, he also gave half of the dough to Qin Huai.

"Wrap it into a round shape, into an apple shape. You can use your imagination to make it the way you think an apple should look like." Zheng Siyuan said, "If you want to practice your skills, simply wrapping it is also very useful."

Qin Huai held the dough and realized for the first time that he really had no imagination.

Hey, what does an apple look like?

Round. Is it round?

Seeing Qin Huai holding the dough in a daze, Zheng Siyuan smiled and demonstrated it in front of him.

Without using any additional tools, just simply wrap, knead and roll it with your right hand, then poke two points with your little finger to shape it slightly, and a small dough that doesn't look much like an apple is born.

“Whether the dough before steaming can become the expected shape after steaming does not require imagination, but depends on experience.”

Qin Huai followed suit, wrapping, kneading and rolling it, and poking two points with his little finger to shape it slightly.

A dough that didn’t quite look like an apple, but was very similar to the small dough that Zheng Siyuan had just made, was born.

Zheng Siyuan:?
The two continued to wrap.

In the middle of the process, Zheng Siyuan even took the time to rub out the apple stem, which can be said to be very well done in terms of details.

Steam in a pot.

Qin Huai was still standing by the pot, closely watching the movement of the dough in the pot.

Zheng Siyuan stood aside and looked at Qin Huai with a complicated expression.

"You really... haven't learned it before?" Zheng Siyuan was beginning to doubt his life.

"No, I didn't know what noodle fruit was before. I only found out about it from reading a novel when I was in college."

Zheng Siyuan is a bit autistic.

He kind of wanted to book a plane ticket back since the pastry shop hadn't started decorating yet.

"Do you know how long it takes for a normal chef to master the skills, even if it's just imitating others?"

"How long?" Qin Huai asked curiously.

"2 to 3 years."

Zheng Siyuan looked at Qin Huai without saying a word.

But it seemed like you only took 2 to 3 minutes.

Although he has not yet graduated, he does not look like a beginner at all.

Zheng Siyuan seemed to understand why his father wanted to take Qin Huai as his apprentice so much. Even though he knew there was no hope, he still did not give up and bought an apartment in the next neighborhood.

He kind of thought about it, too.

Although Qin Huai has no creativity, his ability to imitate is a bit too strong.

The noodles are out of the pot.

After steaming, the dough fruit swelled up a whole circle. It originally had no shape of an apple, but now it looks somewhat like an apple at first glance.

"Now there is only one last step left, coloring." Zheng Siyuan put away the thought of taking in an apprentice and continued explaining.

"Natural pigments are used to color the dough. Generally, cocoa powder is used for brown, beets are used for red, and spinach juice is used for green. Of course, purple yams, purple sweet potatoes, carrots, and yellow fruits can also be used for coloring."

“Again, it all depends on the chef’s imagination.”

"As for whether you can mix the right color, it requires a lot of experimentation. Of course, I have the fixed formula left by my master."

Zheng Siyuan used beet juice to mix a bowl of fixed formula colors, divided half a bowl for Qinhuai, and picked up the brush: "There are many ways to color. The brush is more delicate, and you can also apply it with your hands. If necessary, you can soak the whole dough in it or even roll it in a circle."

Zheng Siyuan began to color the dough, and Qin Huai knew that this was the time to truly test the art student's skills.

So does Qin Huai have the skills of an art student?

No, if he had, he would have earned the 10 yuan himself.

Qin Huai held a dough fruit in one hand and a brush in the other, with half a bowl of beet juice in front of him.

After pondering for a moment, Qin Huai quietly moved two steps towards Zheng Siyuan and looked over to see how he was brushing.

Zheng Siyuan: …

Zheng Siyuan brushed once, Qin Huai brushed once.

He dipped it in beet juice and Qin Huai dipped it in beet juice.

Chen Yingjun, who was watching outside, noticed it and muttered, "Why is Master Qin always imitating Master Zheng? He does whatever Master Zheng does."

"Don't worry about it." Chen Huihong meant that you should mind your own business as a chef.

After a while, an apple that was so realistic that it looked real was born in Zheng Siyuan's hands.

After a period of time and two seconds, an apple that was so realistic that it looked like a real apple was born in Qin Huai's hands.

Zheng Siyuan: ...?
Qin Huai:!
Although the styling is different, the result is good.

Zheng Siyuan looked at Qin Huai: "You really haven't learned it?"

“No.” Qin Huai shook his head. “But I don’t know why, it feels so smooth. I rarely feel so smooth when learning to cook.”

Zheng Siyuan put Guoer down, went to wash his hands, and glanced at his cell phone.

His father Zheng Da sent him a WeChat message an hour ago.

Dad: Siyuan, how is the situation? Has Xiao Qin been hit hard? Just make the apple-shaped fruit that you are best at, and let him learn while you do it. Let him have a comparison and let him know that fingering cannot be mastered in one day. Now the most urgent task is to practice the timing.

Dad: Don’t aim too high, don’t think about performing one move at a time. Getting the timing right is more important than anything else. You can practice the fingering techniques slowly later.

Dad: How is it? Has he been hit hard?

Zheng Siyuan replied silently.

Zheng Siyuan: No, he is quite happy.

Zheng Siyuan: I was a little shocked.

Zheng Siyuan: [Picture]

Zheng Siyuan: Dad, guess which of these two apples is his and which one is mine?
dad:???

(End of this chapter)