Abnormal Gourmet Chronicle-Chapter 770 - 390: Shaking (Part 2)

The final result was probably a youth-sized mini version of lotus root powder balls.

"Wait a moment, I’ll cook the lotus root powder balls first." Qin Huai said, without any hesitation, he put all the prepared lotus root powder balls into a pot to cook.

Cooking lotus root powder balls is quite simple, similar to cooking dumplings. Wait for the lotus root powder balls to rise to the surface when they’re ready.

After putting the lotus root powder balls into the pot, Qin Huai went to serve the noodles.

Qin Huai picked up the chicken noodle soup and glanced at it. He noticed that Zheng Siyuan had put one egg in his bowl, but two in his own.

It was clear that Zheng Siyuan was a bit hungry today.

Qin Huai slurped up the noodles, and to be honest, the chicken noodle soup was indeed the best when made at Huang Ji (Yunzhong Restaurant didn’t have such good broth).

Zang Liang’s soup-making skills weren’t as good as Huang Jia’s, and Cao Guixiang’s were too good. Using her broth for chicken noodle soup seemed a bit of a waste to Qin Huai. Only Huang Jia’s broth could achieve a perfect balance with Qin Huai’s homemade noodles, making the chicken noodle soup incredibly well-matched and evenly balanced.

Zheng Siyuan also silently ate his noodles, his eyes fixed on the pot with the lotus root powder balls. When they started to float, he reminded, "The lotus root powder balls are ready."

Qin Huai quickly put down his bowl and began scooping up the lotus root powder balls, ladled two big spoonfuls of soup into the bowl, then added a bit of honey and white sugar for simple seasoning and sprinkled a pinch of dried osmanthus flowers.

Done.

[Lotus Root Powder Balls B-level]

With Qin Huai’s current skills, making B-level snacks could be easily handled; as long as nothing goes wrong, he could consistently make B-level snacks.

This lotus root powder ball was essentially a highly simplified version, with very simple production methods. Only the shaking and boiling steps tested the technique, so it wasn’t surprising that he made a B-level result.

Still, he was a bit troubled.

Because Qin Huai knew clearly the gap between B-level and A-level snacks was huge, and it wasn’t about appearance. The fact that his lotus root powder balls were only B-level indicated problems elsewhere, and they were obvious ones.

Qin Huai wanted to scratch his head.

He thought besides not shaking properly which made the balls less smooth, elegant, and visually appealing, there wasn’t a significant issue. The color also looked good, with a transparent border and a color between gray and tea brown, and the soup yellowish due to a bit of honey.

It could be said it resembled the lotus root powder balls seen in video tutorials.

Freshly cooked lotus root powder balls were surely hot, so Qin Huai didn’t start eating them first. Instead, he finished slurping the chicken noodle soup, gulped down the last bit of chicken soup, and then set the bowl aside to study the lotus root powder balls.

The method to study was simple: tasting would reveal the issue. Qin Huai had faith in his palate.

Qin Huai scooped up a lotus root powder ball and put it in his mouth, planning to chew carefully. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

Then he chewed and swallowed.

Too small.

Sure enough, practice makes knowledge; it was only during the actual tasting that Qin Huai understood why Master Jing intentionally made the lotus root powder balls smaller, but not that small. If they were too small, there wasn’t much to enjoy; a couple of chews and they were gone, missing out on the joy of chewing, which is how the deliciousness of lotus root powder reveals itself.

The second spoonful, Qin Huai scooped up two at once and put them in his mouth.

Hmm, very chewy.

Sweet.

This simplified lotus root powder ball filling was very simple, just white sugar, lard, and a hint of dried osmanthus flowers, providing a unique fragrance and osmanthus taste, with white sugar for sweetness, and lard to keep the filling from being dry and more smooth.

A simple but reasonable combination.

The layer of lotus root powder on the outside was chewy with a bouncy texture; the more you chewed, the more you could taste the unique sweetness of the lotus root powder, which needed white sugar to amplify. Otherwise, it tasted bland on its own.

This time, chewing a bit longer, Qin Huai noticed something was slightly off.

But he couldn’t pinpoint exactly what was wrong, as he had never tasted lotus root powder balls before. He just felt something hadn’t been done right, thinking these lotus root powder balls could be more delicious, more delicate, and refreshing, with lingering aroma.

Qin Huai ate several more lotus root powder balls, and the longer he chewed, the more the feeling intensified. He seemed to understand why these lotus root powder balls were only B-level; they certainly could only be B-level. Qin Huai had a hint of an A-level idea; he suspected the problem lay with the lotus root powder, specifically in the boiling and rolling steps, but he wasn’t sure about the exact issue.

This is the disadvantage of mere imitation without a master’s guidance; even if problems are discovered in the process, it’s hard to solve them because the imitator might not be conscious of where the problem lies.

"Siyuan, do you want to try? I feel like there’s something off." Qin Huai handed the lotus root powder balls to Zheng Siyuan. The 20 or so balls he cooked had all been put into one bowl.

Zheng Siyuan took the lotus root powder balls, scooped up two, and began eating.

After eating seven or eight, Zheng Siyuan put down the bowl and said, "Do you feel like the lotus root powder coating is missing something?"

"Yes, yes, yes." Qin Huai nodded eagerly, feeling that Zheng Siyuan really understood him, having noticed this too.

"I saw the process when you made the lotus root powder balls. There was no problem with the boiling; the timing was spot-on, in and out of the pot quickly, just rolled them in boiling water once.

"But your shaking process had issues."

"Shaking the balls requires technique. You need to use the wrist, but not solely rely on it, as it can be very tiring over time."

"The lotus root powder must evenly coat the balls, it has to be shaken well, so the balls become smooth. If the shape falters, it indicates uneven coating during shaking, and since the boiling time is constant, unevenness leads to uneven heating of the powder on the ball’s surface."

"Using this method, the balls need several rounds of boiling. Each round of uneven heating results in texture issues, leading to inconsistency during chewing. Some parts may feel very chewy, others a little less, and since the lotus root powder balls’ taste comes from chewing, it affects the flavor."

"Thus, this method makes the balls tastier than other methods but simultaneously more challenging, with the core aspect not in the filling or soup, but the shaking process."

Zheng Siyuan finished speaking.

The guidance was clear, language smooth, with no stumbling or excess words.

Qin Huai was fully convinced.

Master Qin immediately switched back to the role of Master Xiao Qin, humbly seeking advice from Master Xiao Zheng: "Is the shaking technique something unique or just practice makes perfect?"

"Practice makes perfect," Zheng Siyuan said confidently. "You basically had no issue with your lotus root powder ball-making process; you just weren’t very familiar with the shaking step. Practicing more will help, just find a feel for it. Isn’t feeling your forte?"

"Practice shaking a few during snack-making moments, and within, at most, half a month, I believe there won’t be any issues."

Qin Huai nodded, indicating he understood; Master Xiao Zheng’s explanation was spot-on.

It looks like A-level lotus root powder balls are coming soon, but it can’t be rushed; practice needs time, nor can practice be constant as it would strain the hand.

Qin Huai looked curiously at Zheng Siyuan: "How do you know so much about lotus root powder balls? Rather, how do you know so much about the making of these lotus root powder balls?"

"Because I love eating them," Zheng Siyuan said frankly. "As a kid, lotus root powder balls were my favorite, no matter what the filling, as long as it was made this way."

"But my dad was lazy. He found constantly shaking them boring, and thought they were too simple without any challenge, so he seldom made them."

"Then why didn’t you make them yourself?" Qin Huai asked.

"I did," Zheng Siyuan said straightforwardly. "I make them every day. Every night after work, I make myself a batch of lotus root powder balls."

Qin Huai: ?!

"Various fillings, do you want to try? If you do, come over tonight, and I’ll make you a bowl too."

"If you’re interested in other fillings for the lotus root powder balls, feel free to ask me any time. Oh, also, your lotus root powder balls are too small; eating them too small isn’t very satisfying either."

"Do you make lotus root powder balls every morning? If you do, I won’t make wontons; I’ll just have lotus root powder balls and chicken noodle soup in the morning."

Qin Huai understood the implication and agreed: "Alright, I’ll make lotus root powder balls every morning from now on."