Abnormal Gourmet Chronicle

Since there would be Double Crab Bun made by Zheng Siyuan and Crab Yellow Sauce practice in the afternoon, Qin Huai moved the knife skills practice to noon.

Noon is Cao Guixiang's TV time. As an elderly woman who sleeps little, Cao Guixiang does not have a nap habit. Online courses at noon do not interrupt Cao Guixiang's TV watching. Zhang Chu made a wooden phone stand for Cao Guixiang, allowing her to watch TV while glancing at the phone screen with the corner of her eye, achieving both entertainment and learning simultaneously.

Due to camera angles, Cao Guixiang was filmed in profile, and you could also see Zhang Chu sitting next to her, watching TV while eating sunflower seeds.

Qin Huai was still cutting radishes.

Radish is a very fitting ingredient for practicing knife skills—cheap and low-cost. According to Cao Guoxiang, every beginner in knife skills starts with a time of cutting radishes until they get sick of it. When they no longer need to cut radishes and start on other ingredients, they feel reluctant because they've developed a sentiment for cutting radishes.

Qin Huai hasn't cultivated any sentiment with radishes yet.

In contrast, An Youyou has developed a deep sentiment towards radish cake, besides money, the title of Lady Radish Cake is what An Youyou cannot afford to lose.

Zheng Siyuan was kneading dough.

Not the dough for Double Crab Bun, but for Three Meat Buns and Fermented Rice with Steamed Buns.

Since Little Zheng made his debut, the Three Meat Buns and Fermented Rice with Steamed Buns at Yunzhong Restaurant were mostly entrusted to Zheng Siyuan. The fickle Master Qin had many snacks to make and didn't have much time to spare for these two old loves.

Little Zheng likes it.

Zheng Siyuan originally liked to make just a few snacks over the years; previously, he mostly made flaky pastry, Dingsheng Cake, and fresh meat mooncake, which were the signature snacks at his pastry shop. Now, the three snacks he makes most often have turned into Three Meat Buns, Fermented Rice with Steamed Buns, and fresh meat mooncake, with flaky pastry and Dingsheng Cake falling behind.

"Xiao Qin, you mentioned that Double Crab Bun yesterday and I've been thinking about it all day today, but I couldn't come up with anything," said Cao Guixiang while watching TV, suddenly speaking up, "Making buns with fresh crab yellow and sea cucumbers does not quite fit our cooking philosophy."

Qin Huai was surprised that Cao Guixiang mentioned philosophy and looked up at the phone screen in astonishment: "What do you mean?"

"The ingredient pairing is quite fascinating," said Cao Guixiang. "As stated in The Su Yuan Food List: Any dish should have accompaniments. The long sentence following, I don't quite remember, but the gist is that light dishes should be paired with light flavors, strong dishes with strong flavors, and mild dishes with mild flavors."

"You mentioned Master Huang taught you to make Crab Dumplings, and beforehand, he let you familiarize yourself with the ingredients for a few days. This is a normal part of the culinary learning process. You must first become familiar with the ingredients and know which ones complement each other before forming a cooking philosophy, having ideas, clearer flavor orientation, and making good dishes."

"Food with intense flavors usually suits solo consumption. It's not to say beef and lamb should only be cooked alone; Yuan Mei felt these intensely flavored foods have highlighted strengths but also notable weaknesses, requiring a harmonious blend of five tastes and a thoughtful preparation to leave deliciousness behind and remove flaws. Considering what ingredients they should pair with is unrealistic in such situations as pairing means sacrificing some aspects."

"However, this is merely Yuan Mei's personal opinion; he disliked sea cucumber paired with turtle and crab powder paired with shark fin. Yet, crab powder and shark fin are iconic dishes and those who love them are limitless, making it apparent that there aren't absolute 'can' and 'cannot' in pairing; it largely depends on how the chef handles it."

"However, combining crab yellow and sea cucumber, especially as bun filling, is truly unheard of to me."

"I'm quite a skilled sea cucumber cuisine chef; sea cucumber itself is hard to cook. It lacks flavor, often has a muddy smell, and cannot be solely boiled into a dish with clear broth. The preparation process is extremely tricky."

"You must soak it in clear water to remove mud; to rid it of its fishy smell usually requires much effort, such as boiling it in meat stock three times, then using chicken and meat stock to cook it thoroughly. Moreover, sea cucumber is incredibly tough to cook until tender; I prepare sea cucumber dishes a day in advance during holidays. Even making chilled sea cucumber requires a strong flavored sauce for mixing."

"Pairing such a tough-to-treat, stinky ingredient with fresh crab yellow, I really can't imagine what sort of miraculous pairing it is."

"The chef who created this snack recipe is certainly an expert in flavoring; an ordinary chef would have difficulty handling just one ingredient, let alone achieving 1+1>2."

"Xiao Qin, have you ever cooked sea cucumber dishes?" Cao Guixiang asked Qin Huai.

Qin Huai knew the Double Crab Bun's flavoring was extremely difficult; he had heard it from many. No matter if it was Huang Shengli, Zheng Da, or Zheng Siyuan, upon learning Qin Huai wanted to learn the Double Crab Bun, they first emphasized how challenging it was to make, and that its flavoring was immensely tricky, with the slightest mistake leading to disaster.

Yet, flavoring had always been Qin Huai's best skill. From the start to his Master Level, flavoring was his fastest advanced skill. After reaching Master Level in flavoring, Qin Huai gained many insights into seasoning. Combined with his naturally responsive palate, Qin Huai was quite confident before hearing Cao Guixiang speak this way.