Abnormal Gourmet Chronicle-Chapter 780 - 396: The Canonical Recipe

To seize this rare moment of Zheng Da’s explosive enthusiasm (which actually isn’t that rare, since he just made Double Crab Bun a few days ago), Qin Huai employed a sweet-talking strategy, making Zheng Da lose himself amid the constant cries of Master Zheng.

Master Zheng really has some skills.

Even when it comes to Four Happiness Rolls, which Master Zheng is least skilled at, his level still surpasses many chefs.

Zheng Da felt a bit nervous.

He realized he hadn’t taught a class like this in quite a while, teaching numerous people at once. Zheng Da had never taken on apprentices. Over the years, only two people were truly taught by Zheng Da: one was Zheng Siyuan, and the other was Qin Huai.

All of it was one-on-one teaching.

Zheng Da vaguely remembered the last time he taught one-to-many was 10 years ago, when Dong Shi and Dong Li hadn’t yet been apprentices to Huang Shengli, and Huang Jia hadn’t yet graduated. Huang Shengli was in his prime and often invited to Hangzhou, Huaiyang, and other regions to host culinary seminars.

Whenever Huang Shengli attended a culinary seminar, his apprentices were entrusted to Zheng Da. Of course, Zheng Da couldn’t teach much; his role was more like an aftercare class, where kids would be left with him until their parents came to pick them up.

That sums up Zheng Da’s entire experience with one-to-many guidance, which is essentially no experience.

Zheng Da felt just as nervous the last time he taught Qin Huai how to make Crab Dumplings, rehearsing lines at home all night, contemplating how to teach more eloquently the next day. At that time, he really wanted to take Qin Huai as his apprentice, so he was quite nervous. Now, however, there was no such issue because Qin Huai couldn’t possibly be his apprentice.

It’s truly disheartening.

Zheng Da suddenly felt like not teaching anymore; he wanted to go home, lie down, and check on how the neighbor’s dog is recovering.

Qin Huai sensed Zheng Da’s retreat and promptly spoke up: "Master Zheng, how should the Cloud Pattern Roll be properly folded?"

The question was completely unnecessary, but the words Master Zheng deeply warmed Zheng Da’s heart. In an instant, Zheng Da no longer wanted to go home, opening his mouth to immediately explain Qin Huai’s question, only to realize he couldn’t articulate it clearly with his language skills.

Zheng Da began to regret what he’d been doing in Sanya last month, only thinking about practicing Double Crab Bun, forgetting to practice language as well while there.

"Just... like this, I’ll demonstrate it for everyone first; if there’s anything unclear, feel free to ask," Zheng Da recalled how Huang Shengli used to teach apprentices and decided to borrow heavily from his brother’s teaching methods.

Saying so, Zheng Da dove right into the work.

Qin Huai had already prepared the ingredients, kneaded the dough, and got the chopped scallions and diced ham ready; even the small jug of sesame oil was placed on the culinary table.

Seeing Qin Huai’s preparation, Zheng Da was startled, turning to look around, and after confirming there was indeed nothing else, he asked, "Just these?"

Qin Huai nodded.

"No diced fatty pork?"

Qin Huai then recalled that the version Zheng Da knew was the recipe from Master Jing, which replaced diced ham with diced fatty pork to save cost.

In fact, diced fatty pork isn’t the best choice either; using minced meat with both fat and lean could taste better. However, there was a general lack of oil content in those days, and Four Happiness Rolls were something Master Jing subsidized, not to be delicious, but to allow neighbors to buy tasty snacks at a low price during the New Year and taste the holiday flavor. Diced fatty pork had more oil content, making it feel like better value for money in those days, practically rounding up to a meat dish.

"Four Happiness Rolls need diced fatty pork?" Qin Huai looked puzzled, staring at Zheng Da, "The recipe I got didn’t include diced fatty pork, just diced ham."

Zheng Da froze, then fell into contemplation, thinking for a full two or three minutes before asking Qin Huai, "Your recipe... Nevermind."

"Your recipe calls for diced ham?"

"Yes." Qin Huai affirmed with a nod, "And the recipe has a general method. Yesterday, I made Four Happiness Rolls according to the recipe’s method. However, the text doesn’t seem very clear; there should be many skills and difficulties not written out. I can feel my Four Happiness Rolls definitely have issues, but I don’t know what they are."

With Qin Huai saying it like this, everyone present naturally believed he must have a recipe for Four Happiness Rolls; otherwise, it’d be hard to explain how Qin Huai could make such a spectacular failure version of Four Happiness Rolls yesterday.

Zheng Da didn’t ask further, guessing Zheng Da might have imagined that Cao Guixiang provided the recipe to Qin Huai. With Zheng Da’s emotional intelligence and professional ethics, he certainly wouldn’t ask about such confidential matters involving secret recipes or mentor-to-apprentice handed-down recipes.

"Diced ham?" Zheng Da murmured, staring at the diced ham, "It’s actually diced ham; why didn’t I think of that? I’ve used bacon, pure lean meat, minced meat; right, why didn’t I think of diced ham!"

Zheng Da slapped his thigh in frustration: "Diced ham, yes, it’s diced ham! It should be diced ham!" 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

Then Zheng Da ignored Qin Huai and the others, bowing his head and starting to make Four Happiness Rolls.

Zheng Siyuan gave Qin Huai a confused look, his gaze all like: What’s wrong with my dad? Is he really possessed? Should we take him to the hospital?

Qin Huai gestured reassuringly, indicating that this was perfectly normal.

Four Happiness Rolls had left a profound psychological shadow on Zheng Da, so much so that he avoided making them regularly, stealthily crafting them at home only during the New Year.