Abnormal Gourmet Chronicle-Chapter 887 - 440: [Rice Cake Level A]

In Jiang Chengde's video tutorial, the most tedious step in making rice cake is mashing glutinous rice and regular rice into rice paste.

This is a labor-intensive task, but it's also a technical one. The rice paste for rice cake needs to be smooth; the smoother it is, the better the texture of the rice cake. For such a simple pastry made with the pure taste of rice and the sweetness of white sugar, texture is a very important factor.

Such a labor-intensive yet technical task becomes simple in the face of modern technology like juicers/blenders.

Set the time, start the machine, and you can make it as smooth as desired.

Qin Huai watched the blender as it furiously mixed the rice paste, marveling at how modern technology had greatly freed the hands of pastry snack masters.

If a modern person took a blender, one that doesn't need charging and has unlimited use, to Jiang Chengde's era, even a master like Jiang Chengde would be dumbfounded and would exclaim at the existence of such a genius tool for making rice paste.

As the glutinous rice and regular rice turned into smooth rice paste, Qin Huai's wandering thoughts about "Rebirth: I was a Chef God in the Last Century" were pulled back, and he carefully added yeast and sugar to the paste, stirring it.

The greatest technique Qin Huai learned from Jiang Chengde's video tutorial is to make no mistakes.

As long as there's no mistake at any step, it's flawless.

It sounds like empty rhetoric, but it's quite difficult to execute. Achieving zero errors requires a high level of control over the snacks, and it's not something that can be done purely by focusing; first, one must know what being error-free truly means.

Luckily, Qin Huai now understands.

Qin Huai stirred the rice paste evenly at a steady pace.

From Tan Wei'an's perspective, this steady pace seemed saturated. When making pastry snacks, especially rice cakes which require large volume and rapid production, speed is crucial. Quick when necessary, slow when needed; to Tan Wei'an, stirring could definitely be faster.

Tan Wei'an should have returned to work long ago, but he wanted to stay and watch the spectacle, curious to see what big act Qin Huai might put on. Master Zhou didn't bother with Tan Wei'an, so Tan Wei'an took the opportunity to stay next to Zhao Cheng'an, watching from the front row.

"What's Qin Huai doing? Why is he moving so slowly?" Tan Wei'an whispered in complaint.

"Shh, keep quiet." Zhao Cheng'an stared at Qin Huai with a serious expression, "Look carefully, did you bring your phone? If you did, take it out and start recording."

Tan Wei'an: ? Do we really need to record this?

Though he was puzzled, Tan Wei'an defied shop rules by keeping his phone in his pocket. Hearing Zhao Cheng'an, he boldly took out his phone and started recording.

The rice cake stirring was completed, and it needed to be covered with cling film for fermentation. In Jiang Chengde's video tutorial, he covered it with gauze, which was more challenging; when a porcelain or wooden bowl is covered with gauze, the chef cannot see the paste's status inside.

With a glass bowl and cling film, it's different. After covering the paste with cling film, Qin Huai didn't walk away, staying by the side to watch and wait.

In the video tutorial, Qin Huai saw what the best fermented rice paste looked like. Though he couldn't see the fermentation process in the tutorial, he could see it now.

Zhao Cheng'an, Tan Wei'an, and Master Zhou stood next to Qin Huai waiting as well. Midway through, Wang Jiayi came by to pass on a message and didn't leave afterward, standing by to wait.

Master Hua came by to ask Qin Huai what noodles he'd eat tomorrow. But when he arrived, he didn't ask and ended up waiting beside him.

Boss Su wanted to discuss next month's meeting with Master Zhou, but Master Zhou refused, leaving Boss Su no choice but to wait for Qin Huai to finish the rice cake, also waiting by the side.

As the rice paste was about to finish fermenting, more people gathered by the side.

Zhou Yan, Master Wang, Master Li, Master Zhao...

Tan Wei'an was directly pushed out, and the recording phone was handed to Zhao Cheng'an, or rather, snatched by Zhao Cheng'an. Zhao Cheng'an feared with his seniority, a couple more masters showing up might push him out too; he had to continue the recording to ensure his place in the front row.

Tan Wei'an: ?

Finally, Qin Huai found the perfect timing.

Fermentation is unlike Fire Control; the crucial moment may only last one or two seconds, even less than a second. The point in fermentation is to find the optimal state, not requiring split-second precision, just seize the moment.

Qin Huai decisively poured the well-fermented rice paste into the pre-prepared mold and steamed it on high heat.

Following Qin Huai's actions, the master chefs around began to exclaim and discuss amongst themselves.

"That rice paste just now looked beautiful, that state, that color. Old Zhao, did you see the paste being poured into the mold? I can't quite describe it; very beautiful, truly beautiful."

"Indeed, I didn't expect Xiao Qin to have a knack for making rice cake. Why didn't Xiao Tan tell us earlier?"

"That's right, Xiao Tan really didn't do well in gathering this intel, failing to mention the key things."

"That rice paste's state is really good, a pity it's just being used for rice cake. If it were used for making rice dumpling, it would be better. Xiao Qin makes Four Happiness dumplings so well, he surely wouldn't be bad at making rice dumpling!"

"Come on, you're just trying to show off your ability to make rice dumpling. For me, such good rice paste should be used to make rice paste cake, which is more challenging and tastes better than rice cake."

"What do you mean? What do you mean rice paste cake is more challenging than rice cake? Isn't your rice paste cake just adding syrup and layering steam? What's challenging about it? I'd say it's not as good as rice cake; rice cake tastes purer, whereas your rice paste cake is sickeningly sweet."