Abnormal Gourmet Chronicle

"Is this right?" Zheng Siyuan asked directly, "Using the crab yellow paste from the Double Crab Bun to make Crab Yellow Noodles, or using the paste studied from Crab Yellow Noodles to make the Double Crab Bun, is that right?"

"I don't see any issue with it." Qin Huai said after tasting the crab yellow paste, smacking his lips once, and then thinking for a few seconds with lowered eyes before tasting it again. "The current situation is you've tasted the Double Crab Bun version with crab yellow paste, but you don't think that's the best version. I haven't tasted the authentic one, so I don't know what the best is."

"Master Zheng has tasted the best Double Crab Bun, but can't describe it; Master Huang has also tasted it, but he barely remembers it."

"In summary, we have the recipe now and know it can be better, but we don't know what better tastes like."

Zheng Siyuan listened quietly, his instincts telling him that Qin Huai was about to say something mind-blowing to him.

"Although I haven't had an authentic delicious Double Crab Bun, I have eaten delicious Crab Dumplings, and yesterday I had delicious Crab Yellow Noodles, both of which are snacks."

"You've also said before that the filling of Double Crab Bun should never be made like a red-cooked dish because there's an essential difference between red cooking and pastry cooking. Since we want to distinguish them, it indicates we want to make it more in line with the flavor of pastry snacks, more suitable for pastry snacks."

"The process of creating new snacks is essentially about drawing inspiration from other snacks, learning methods, and even imitating them."

"Now, learning from Crab Dumplings is not feasible as they require fresh crab yellow, but Crab Yellow Noodles are quite suitable."

"We have reference points, so why not use Crab Yellow Noodles as the standard for judging whether the crab yellow paste is suitable for Double Crab Bun?"

"You also mentioned before that Master Zheng likes to use his crab yellow paste to make Crab Yellow Noodles, and this crab yellow paste was originally the paste for Double Crab Bun. Master Zheng uses it to make Crab Yellow Noodles, which shows he thinks the noodles taste good that way and also shows that there's certainly something in common between these two snacks."

"That's how I learned new snacks before. Whether it's Three Meat Buns, Five Fillings Bun, or Four Happiness Dumplings, Sweet Triangle, it's about first consulting the Snack Encyclopedia. If the recipe doesn't work, then think of other methods. But what methods can I come up with? Nothing more than imitating previously made snacks or imitating others' snacks."

"I believe as long as we can make a crab yellow paste that is extremely suitable for Crab Yellow Noodles, we are not far from one that suits Double Crab Bun."

After saying these words, Qin Huai looked earnestly at Zheng Siyuan, his face full of 'Trust me, this method really works, really!'

Zheng Siyuan: ...

Zheng Siyuan felt that even though he'd had a hard time trying to understand Qin Huai's quirky methods, he still didn't understand Qin Huai.

Weren't you back then… some years ago… weren't you…

Is this eccentric approach a bit too eccentric?

Well, Qin Huai was indeed quite eccentric before.

But, didn't he… hadn't he learned?

He took online courses, learned from offline teachings, with more than one teacher.

How can he still be this eccentric?

The key point is, his eccentricity is rather reasonable.

Zheng Siyuan wanted to slightly tilt his head back, so his surprise wouldn't be so easily seen.

Dad, Uncle, I'm sorry, even though you taught me all these years, I think Qin Huai's words just now weren't entirely unreasonable. Sometimes eccentric methods can be quite... quite ingenious.

"So... should I continue frying?" Zheng Siyuan asked with uncertainty.

"Yes." Qin Huai nodded firmly, "Trust me, follow this idea with the crab yellow paste, and you will definitely get results!"

.

10 minutes later.

Whether or not Zheng Siyuan produced results, Ouyang didn't know. Ouyang only knew that if he didn't get to eat Crab Yellow Noodles soon, his fruit tea would be finished.

2-liter fruit tea.

While making a cup of Coconut No.1 for his good buddy, Ouyang didn't forget to pour one for himself. Originally, it was for drinking when he got tired of the Crab Yellow Noodles, but he hadn't even started eating the noodles, and the drink was almost gone.

"Sigh." Ouyang heaved a deep sigh.

"Sigh." Xu Tuqiang at Table 9 also sighed deeply.

Grandpa Qian looked at Xu Tuqiang speechlessly, "Xu Tuqiang, what's up with you this morning? Sighing all the time, you hardly ate any breakfast, just drank a bowl of soy milk. It's just that Wang Gen Sheng had Crab Yellow Noodles with Chen Huihong yesterday afternoon, is it really that serious? Haven't you had Crab Yellow Noodles before? Back in Gusu when we couldn't get Huang's Pastry, you never missed eating. We all took the bus to eat, you took a taxi."

"Exactly, Old Xu, you've sighed over a dozen times this morning. People would think you're lamenting over your stocks if they didn't know better."

Xu Tuqiang: ...

"Exactly, exactly, Wang Laogen and Master Qin have always been close, it's not new to you. When Master Qin first came, Wang Laogen was already enjoying the special Crab Shell Cake meals, never saw you sighing like this then."

"What do you know?" Xu Tuqiang said, feeling frustrated, thinking about when he'd ever get to enjoy the specials with this group of people who seemed to lack aspiration.

"Wang Laogen's relationship with Master Qin was good before, but was it this close? When did he ever eat specials with Chen Huihong? Didn't he always have just... regular specials?"

"Crab Yellow Noodles, eh! Didn't you see the pictures he posted on WeChat Moments yesterday? Didn't see his food review? When did Wang Laogen ever tell a lie? He praised those Crab Yellow Noodles to the skies, which means they were at least 0.5 times better than he described, given his writing skills, I can't even begin to say, nowhere as good as mine. If I went to eat, trust me, my review would surely..."

Before Xu Tuqiang could finish his impassioned speech (although no one was really listening, everyone was busy on their phones), a server at the counter stuck their head out and loudly announced, "The limited-time new Crab Yellow Noodles made by Master Qin and Master Xiao Zheng are now on sale for a special of 138 per serving, even before we could put up the sign!"

The next second, whether chatting, drinking tea, drinking soy milk, drinking mung bean soup, playing on phones, arguing, daydreaming, or accurately heading to the bathroom, everyone moved at once, almost in a flash, there was no one left in their seats.

Ouyang, being well prepared and a sturdy young man, even managed to be the third in line.

Ouyang looked at Grandpa Qian and Xu Tuqiang in front of him, starting to think if he had been slacking at the gym at night and whether he needed to extend his workout time or add more sessions.

Grandpa Qian was extremely excited, finally having awaited the breakfast benefits of the early-morning running grandmas and grandpas!

Grandpa Qian eagerly asked, "Is there a limit on the purchase?"

The server smiled and shook their head, "No purchase limit."

"However, Master Qin said the Crab Yellow Noodles cannot be taken away or delivered, they must be eaten on-site."

"Dine-in is good, dine-in is good," Grandpa Qian said repeatedly, "Give me one serving."

Behind him, Xu Tuqiang shouted, "I want two servings!"

Grandpa Qian: "?You can eat that much?"

Wasting food at Yunzhong Restaurant, especially wasting food made by Master Qin, would be enforced with justice.

Xu Tuqiang proudly said, "Haha, I haven't had breakfast, just drank a bowl of soy milk, as I've been in a bad mood this morning."

Grandpa Qian: ...

The Crab Yellow Noodles at the counter were already mixed and ready for taking after scanning the payment QR code, extremely fast to serve. Just as Xu Tuqiang took out his phone to scan the code, Ouyang had already paid his money.

"Five bowls first!" Ouyang waved his hand, indicating that he also hadn't had breakfast and needed five bowls to fill up.

The grandpas and grandmas nearby: ...

With no purchase limit on Crab Yellow Noodles, no one could really say anything. Besides, Ouyang was already an insider, he could eat as many bowls as he liked, it didn't matter if they couldn't have them, as long as he could eat them.

So, everyone could only gaze at him with envy, admiring the young lad's big appetite, just deciding to have five bowls of Crab Yellow Noodles on a whim.

Having already gotten their noodles, Grandpa Qian and Xu Tuqiang eagerly carried their noodles back to Table 9. Although the Crab Yellow Noodles were already mixed, they just felt the need to stir them again before twirling the fork into the noodles coated with crab yellow, a big mouthful of it.

"Mmm." Xu Tuqiang let out the utmost praise, as if hurriedly trying to say something urgent, chewing quickly, then struggling to swallow the food that almost choked him.

"Such scrumptious Crab Yellow Noodles, and Wang Gen Sheng wrote a review like that. Can he even write a review?!"

"Didn't he practice writing while being an accountant back in the day?"

"It requires me, let me tell you, I'll show him what a true review for Crab Yellow Noodles ought to be!"

"Remember to like it on my Moments."