Abnormal Gourmet Chronicle

Aside from the perplexing step of frying the sea cucumber, the rest of the filling preparation for the Double Crab Bun lies within Qin Huai's understanding.

It also matches the description provided by Uncle Wang's recipe.

In simple terms, using fresh crab roe for the Double Crab Bun and using crab yellow sauce represent two different cooking philosophies.

Both require a high level of finesse from the chef. The former demands minimizing seasonings to preserve the food's original taste, which is the crab roe flavor. It's about using the least seasonings to cover the fishy taste of sea cucumber and crab roe, while simultaneously giving a new flavor that pairs the sea cucumber with crab roe.

Qin Huai calls this taste concept "bland," using seemingly bland seasonings to highlight the natural taste of the ingredients. In this method, the focus of the Double Crab Bun appears to be on crab roe, but the real challenge lies with the sea cucumber.

Qin Huai has learned and practiced how to use the simplest seasonings to suppress the fishy taste of crab roe, while restoring its original flavor on the Crab Dumplings.

The result was decent, not extraordinary, but at least it didn't flop or disgrace the Crab Dumplings.

However, using minimal seasonings to cover the fishy taste of sea cucumber isn't just a matter of seasoning. Questions about how to treat the sea cucumber arise, such as how to soak it, how many times, for how long, how to cut it, whether to simmer it in high broth or clear water, which sauce to use for seasoning, all are matters to address.

Fortunately, the answers to these questions are already in the recipe given by Uncle Wang; the recipe was written by Master Jing years ago. Xu Nuo, Mr. Xu's younger son, bought Master Jing's recipe at a high price. Back then, Master Jing rewrote the two recipes for Xu Nuo because Wang Gen Sheng needed money urgently to sell the recipe, for convenience Master Jing made extra modifications to the recipe.

The modifications were to write more detailed those originally vague parts or parts that might not be understood by people with lesser skills, making it more like a beginner's guide.

Such a recipe would sell better than the original version, and be sold at a higher price.

Master Jing's intentions are all written in this recipe.

Thanks to this beginner-level guide, the methods of handling sea cucumber that were originally debatable, misunderstood, or might have required guessing, are now clearly explained. Simply follow the recipe—provided you can do it.

This is also why Zheng Siyuan felt it's okay not to make the authentic Double Crab Bun with fresh crab roe after seeing the recipe Uncle Wang gave to Qin Huai, as the difficulty of making authentic Double Crab Bun with fresh crab roe might not be higher than the crab yellow sauce version.

The crab yellow sauce version adopts a completely different style; the more seasonings, the better; the more intense the flavor, the better; the more the spices are emphasized, the better—a large focus on seasoning.

Qin Huai somewhat understands why the crab yellow sauce version is like this, as cooking often matches light with light and rich with rich. Fresh crab roe has the inherent advantage of being fresh and flavorful, so simpler is better.

But crab yellow sauce itself requires large amounts of seasonings and spices to stew. To perfect the taste, texture, and ensure long-term preservation, it also needs thickening with starch. This preparation process has long deviated from the pursuit of natural freshness, becoming fully flavored with spices.

Thus, why not take the rich flavor to its fullest? After all, crab roe and sea cucumber are similar, so the marinade for cold-stirred sea cucumber should be more exaggerated than ordinary seasoning, with exceptionally strong flavors like mustard added as the main element, sea cucumber can handle heavy seasonings.

If these two Double Crab Bun recipes were shown separate to ordinary people without telling them they're the same snack, they would surely think they are recipes for two different buns.

The styles are entirely different, as are the methods and perspectives.

Qin Huai watches Zheng Siyuan prepare the filling.

According to Zheng Siyuan, Master Jing's crab yellow sauce recipe was outdated. Times are changing, and technology is advancing. With modern technology, large amounts of spices aren't needed to ensure sauce preservation, allowing substantial improvements in flavor and style.

Of course, Zheng Siyuan isn't entirely dismissive. Though he believes his master's crab yellow sauce recipe is outdated, he still acknowledges it, insisting that pairing the crab yellow sauce with noodles would be delicious.

Heavy sauces taste great with noodles indeed.

Qin Huai tasted a few bites last night, not having had time to pair it with noodles. He plans to properly study the crab yellow sauce with Zheng Siyuan before starting to eat crab roe with noodles.

At that time, a bowl of noodles topped with three large spoonfuls of sauce, mixed thoroughly to coat every strand of noodle with sauce or crab roe. Paired with some refreshing side dishes, like pickled radish, sour beans, or salted vegetables, and a cup of Dried Tangerine Peel Tea or Xiao Ou Handmade Lemon Tea signature fruit tea, that feeling...

Slurp.

Qin Huai decides to message Ouyang tonight, telling Ouyang to open the milk tea shop earlier, rather than as late as 8 o'clock.

There's an anonymous Master Qin who has to have breakfast before 8, but the milk tea shop opening at 8 severely impacts Master Qin's crab roe noodles eating.

Crab yellow sauce is ready-made, with the highlight of filling adjustment being the sea cucumber.

Zheng Siyuan is extremely careful, even cautious might describe it. If conditions allowed, or if it was necessary, Zheng Siyuan would want to use measuring cups, pipettes, and calibrated scales for precise control to season the sea cucumber filling.