In the kitchen of Yunzhong Restaurant, Tan Wei’an took the spotlight for the first ti.
After a long day, Master Tan, who had devoured two large bowls of crab roe rice and a serving of crab roe noodles, was ready to go. If conditions allowed, he might even roll up his sleeves to show his seriousness, as he tasted the crab roe sauce recomnded by Xiao Qin and Little Zheng.
Master Tan glanced at Xiao Qin and Little Zheng standing on either side of him and subconsciously straightened his back.
With his Treasure Bag and a lifelong love for crab roe rice, Master Tan knew well that the crab roe sauce was crucial for a delicious crab roe rice.
The quality of the crab roe sauce depends greatly on the selection of ingredients.
A top-grade crab roe sauce should be made from fresh, plump crab roe, carefully simred, stir-fried, and seasoned to achieve a golden orange color, looking shiny with large chunks of plump crab roe. It should be delicious without excess complexity, lacking in the fishy taste of crab while being fragrantly crab-flavored.
Currently, the selection of ingredients was inadequate.
Without fresh crab roe, only high-quality crab roe sauce was available.
The project of secondary processing crab roe sauce delved into Master Tan’s area of ignorance.
However, no worries, Master Tan was confident in himself.
In his mind, Master Tan patted his chest as if silently affirming who he was—a professional crab roe rice eater with ancestral recipes and skills. Over the years, he had personally made a lot of crab roe sauces, though none as good as his grandfather’s... but he had made plenty.
It’s just secondary processing, a small issue.
Master Tan began making crab roe sauce following his family’s ancestral recipe.
Master Tan encountered the first problem, realizing that secondary processing and making crab roe sauce with fresh crab roe were entirely different.
Master Tan noticed that simring was discomforting.
Master Tan found seasoning as difficult as climbing a mountain.
Master Tan realized he might have failed.
However, Master Tan felt the problem wasn’t significant, believing his hands were rusty and he hadn’t perford well; so he decided to ignore the failed batch and start over.
Master Tan started from scratch.
Master Tan encountered the exact sa problems again.
Master Tan strived to overco the obstacles.
Master Tan failed to overco.
Master Tan failed again.
Master Tan couldn’t find an excuse.
Master Tan began doubting his life.
Master Tan started pondering how Zheng Siyuan managed to process the crab roe sauce and still make it taste normal. Was secondary processing of crab roe sauce reasonable? Wasn’t this challenge too difficult? How to control the Fire Control? How to make the secondary seasoning?
How did Zheng Siyuan do it?
Were he and Qin Huai both abnormal?
Well, they were both abnormal.
Master Tan silently closed himself off.
Qin Huai and Zheng Siyuan watched Tan Wei’an’s two failures with great interest, tasting and comnting as they did.
"See, I told you, although my Fire Control isn’t great, I clearly saw that you shouldn’t simr it at such high heat. The crab roe sauce has already been oiled once, simring again must be done at low heat and slow simr," Qin Huai advised.
Zheng Siyuan nodded in agreent: "That’s right, the recipe is the recipe, and practice is practice. Both my dad and my Uncle have said that whether a disciple can graduate depends on understanding adaptation, having the ability to handle issues, and providing solutions."
"What would you do if it were you?" Zheng Siyuan asked.
Qin Huai took another small taste: "I’m not qualified to comnt on Fire Control, but seasoning... If it were , I wouldn’t use such heavy seasoning."
"We are not using fresh crab roe; we directly use the finished crab roe sauce, which originally takes care of the deodorizing step. In theory, ingredients like wine and spices don’t need to be added, but this crab roe sauce indeed has very few additions; its taste is very close to fresh crab roe sauce."
"Secondary simring and frying will cause the crab roe sauce to thicken, with subtle changes in taste. If it were , I would pay more attention to thickening."
Zheng Siyuan nodded again: "I agree with that, so over the last few days, I’ve repeatedly made crab roe sauce, but the real practice was actually thickening. However, it’s clear that Tan Wei’an didn’t realize this; his two attempts at thickening were very basic, clearly missing the core issue without deep thought or ticulous attention."
After speaking, Zheng Siyuan even shook his head slightly disappointed.
Standing between them, not only could Tan Wei’an hear their conversation clearly, but he could also see their expressions:...
No, couldn’t you at least show a bit of respect? Although the crab roe sauce I made today was indeed a bit...
Fine, but couldn’t you at least not criticize so directly to my face? You should at least turn around...
No, what I an is couldn’t you wait until you’re ho and then crit via ssaging? I’m Tan Wei’an after all...
Qin Huai interrupted Tan Wei’an’s inner rant: "Speaking of thickening, I chatted quite a bit with Master Cao today about thickening techniques. Master Cao is also very skilled at thickening and recomnded that we first lightly thicken with diluted starch water to see the crab roe sauce status."
"If the result is ideal, without affecting the crab flavor and maintains the expected richness of crab roe sauce, then try this thickening thod—twice before and after."
Once hearing this, Tan Wei’an no longer ranted inwardly. He opened his eyes wide in disbelief: "Thickening twice, making crab roe sauce with thickening twice? This isn’t cooking. Moreover, it’s rare to see dishes being thickened twice, isn’t it?"
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