The first thing I did was to find out

Chapter 54 Would you consider becoming a disciple?

When Zheng Da said he wanted to help, he really meant it.

The kitchen has basically all kinds of ingredients for making snacks, and fillings such as red bean fillings, mung bean fillings, and coconut fillings that can be stored in advance are also placed in the freezer.

Zheng Da took a quick walk around the kitchen, familiarized himself with the ingredients and kitchen utensils, then rolled up his sleeves and started working.

The first one I made was shortbread.

In Zheng Da's words, the signature pastry of his son Zheng Siyuan is the crispy biscuits. Sometimes when his son needs his father to take over for something, Zheng Da will go over and make some.

Of course, if Zheng Da asks Zheng Siyuan for something, such as encouraging him to skip work to go on a blind date, he will do it seriously. How serious it is depends on how likely Zheng Siyuan's blind date is to be successful.

Zheng Da was not very serious today.

The main reason was that he couldn't concentrate. He had to watch Qin Huai making locust flower steamed buns while making the snacks in his hands. He had to do two things at once and it was good enough if he didn't get distracted.

Qin Luo held the plate of four-happiness dumplings and ate while watching.

It’s really new to see two dim sum chefs making dim sum in the kitchen at the same time.

"Luoluo, are you eating four-happiness dumplings?" Zheng Da could not only make them while watching, but also care about what Qin Luo was eating.

"Yes, my brother made it. Uncle Zheng, do you want to eat it? I can share some with you." Qin Luo nodded.

Zheng Da shook his head to refuse. It was not like he had never eaten before, so there was no need to snatch the food from the little girl.

"But the ingredients of your four-happiness dumplings are very beautiful. Is this also your family's recipe?"

Zheng Da stared at Qin Huai's hands kneading the dough. He kept kneading the dough while chatting with Qin Luo at the same time, trying three things at once to the extreme.

"It's my brother's recipe." Qin Luo said, "My brother said the recipes on the Internet didn't taste good, so he researched it himself."

Zheng Da paused while kneading the dough and asked, "Xiao Qin, which school of dim sum did you learn?"

Now it was Qin Huai's turn to knead the dough. He paused and asked in his soul, "What kind of desserts are there?"

Zheng Da:?
Zheng Da was confused.

"Yes... the major schools include Beijing style, Suzhou style, and Guangdong style, and the sub-schools include Ning style, Sichuan style, Tianjin style, Shanghai style, and Yang style..." Zheng Da said a bunch of words, and seeing that Qin Huai was still looking at him with a confused expression, he raised his voice, "You don't know?!"

"I know there is Beijing-style mung bean cake. I saw it when I was searching for recipes online," said Qin Huai.

Zheng Da was completely confused now. He couldn't say a word for a long time. After a long while, he finally said, "Your father is too rude."

"Teach me a little bit."

Even if the family's craftsmanship has fallen into disuse and you can only open a community canteen in a small...high-end community, you can't just teach them nothing but the craftsmanship. If you don't know anything, you'll be like a green hand. When you go out to exchange ideas with chefs, you'll be laughed at by others.

Zheng Da looked around the kitchen and then at the decoration of the lobby.

No, it’s not lonely at all, with this location, this area, and this decoration.

It’s more than enough to open a restaurant.

"Uncle Zheng, this has nothing to do with my dad." Qin Luo spoke up for Qin Congwen, "My dad runs a breakfast shop and only knows how to make steamed buns, siu mai, and wontons. He can't even make steamed buns properly, so he can't teach my brother."

Zheng Da breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed that his family's craft had been lost and he had no choice but to seek a master outside. "Who is your master?"

Qin Huai was silent for a while, then slowly uttered four words: "Dim sum collection?"

Zheng Da:?
The commentator Qin Luo spoke again: "My brother didn't become a disciple. When my brother was in high school, I said that he could go to Hangzhou to become a disciple and learn skills. My father thought that the college entrance examination was more important and didn't let my brother go."

"We have a dim sum book at home, and my brother basically makes dim sum by looking up the recipes in it. If it's not in the dim sum book, he searches online."

Zheng Da: ...

Zheng Da took a deep breath and felt that he should calm down.

Haha, this dough kneading technique, this fermentation level, the degree of doneness of the pastry, this technique, this strength, this skill, is actually a purely unconventional method!

No, this is not even a wild path. Generally speaking, a wild path means that one has not properly learned from a master, but has learned a little from here and there. This person has not even learned from a master, but relies entirely on...

A complete collection of snacks?!
Since when did chefs also have martial arts secrets? ? ?
The chef in every good family learns how to make pastries by reading recipes instead of relying on the master’s instruction.
What about the basic skills? Do you also need to read recipes to learn the basic skills? !
Zheng Da forced a smile: "Luoluo, can you tell me in detail how your brother learned to make dim sum over the years?" Qin Luo nodded for the sake of the dozens of boxes of dim sum that had not yet arrived, and started talking from the time when he was not yet born and Qin Huai was still kneading dough in the orphanage.
.
An hour later, Zheng Da was numb.

Although his hands did not stop moving, after finishing the shortbread, he started making Dingsheng cakes, and after Dingsheng cakes, he had fresh meat mooncakes scheduled, but his heart had stopped.

Zheng Da wanted to ask Qin Huai, if you could learn your craft by kneading dough in an orphanage without a teacher, and buy a dim sum encyclopedia at a flea market in elementary school, then what about the basic skills you learned when you were a child, the knife skills you practiced, the burns, the sweat you shed, the hardships you endured, and the beatings you received?
Zheng Da suddenly remembered that when his master was still around, he often told them that a true genius only needed the master to introduce him to the world, and the rest depended entirely on hard work and talent. The two brothers had more than enough hard work, but their talent was slightly lacking. They could be considered gifted, but there was still a gap between them and a true genius.

Zheng Da always thought that it was the repressive education from his master. He had lived for so many years, but he had seen only a handful of pastry chefs with better talents than himself. His son Zheng Siyuan was one of them. Zhiweiju had a few good talents, but the rest were not good enough.

So unlike his senior brother who opened a restaurant and recruited many apprentices, Zheng Da was very picky in choosing people. He looked down on those who wanted to become his apprentices, and those he liked looked down on him, so over the years he only passed on his skills to his son.

Zheng Da looked at Qin Huai and felt that he could be the master who led him into the door.

What, you said Qin Huai has already entered?
It’s okay, you can go in again.

Zheng Da rubbed his hands, his mind no longer on the locust flower steamed buns, and looked at Qin Huai.

"Xiao Qin." Zheng Da's voice was so friendly that he felt a little hypocritical.

"What do you think of me?"

Qin Huai:?
Zheng Da cleared his throat. "You, Uncle Zheng, are quite wealthy. You don't charge for apprenticeship gifts when you accept disciples, and you don't need to give gifts to the master during the three festivals. On the contrary, the master will give a big red envelope every Chinese New Year, at least three times more than what he gives to my nephews!"

"In terms of fame, before I started my own business, I was considered a well-known plain-food chef in Suzhou. I was featured on the show "Taste of China," so I can be considered to have made a name for myself."

"The most important thing is that I have never accepted an apprentice. Siyuan is my son and does not count as an apprentice. My senior brother and I have many apprentices, who can form a football team if we add them up. I am very dedicated to my apprentices. Once I accept one, I will train him carefully, teach him everything I know, and devote all my resources to him!"

"Would you like to consider becoming my disciple? I think it's better to do it today than today, so why not do it this afternoon? I'll ask my assistant to prepare it, and I'll give you a big red envelope."

Now it was Qin Huai's turn to be confused.

Qin Luo next to him was also confused.

Since the promised dozens of boxes of snacks have not yet arrived, Qin Luo has reason to suspect that the Zheng Bo Zheng Da in front of him might be an unconventional liar.

If Zheng Da’s assets could not be found online and the photo of the chairman on their company’s official website was indeed him, Qin Huai would have suspected that the man in front of him was a liar.

The kitchen fell into deathly silence.

In order to appear less embarrassed, Qin Huai coughed twice, took a look at the dough that was still fermenting, and said with some embarrassment: "Apprenticeship... Master Zheng, I'm sorry, I haven't considered it."

"Do you have any idea about the locust flower buns here?"

The turn was abrupt, but Zheng Da thought it was good.

Yes, these days you can’t just rely on words to recruit disciples. Skills that come from words are not skills. Only what you can actually produce is real skill!
Zheng Da felt that it was time to prove his skills with locust flower steamed buns!

Zheng Da began to concentrate on studying the locust flower steamed buns, temporarily putting aside the shortbread, Dingsheng cake and fresh meat mooncakes.

Diners outside: ???
No, why haven’t the dim sum this morning come out of the oven? Is the new dim sum chef not good enough?
An hour later, the locust flower buns were ready.

Zheng Da chewed the locust flower bun with a serious expression.

His current idea is the same as Qin Huai's. He can't find any obvious technical problems, but the steamed buns he made obviously do not meet Qin Huai's technology.

Simply put, there is no problem.

Zheng Da thought for 10 minutes and took out his cell phone.

"Hey, Siyuan. Have you finished making the dim sum? Finished, right? Haven't sold them all yet? It doesn't matter, you can ask your sister to help you sell them. Now book a flight and come to the place I sent you."

"I'm not trying to trick you into going on a blind date out of town."

"It's about the snacks, and it's related to your junior brother."

"It's not you Huang...it's me! The disciple I want to accept!"

"Oh, it's hard to explain in a few words, but it's very important. It's really not a blind date, it's really about snacks! Really, Dad won't lie to you!"

"Come on!"

(End of this chapter)