Chapter 209: Still quite strong
Zhao Xiaojing put the dough in place, gave the seat in front of the panel to Yun Yongyuan, and stood aside watching with interest.
She learned how to knead dough from Dong Mei, and learned it from Hou Guihua in the cafeteria. Later, when she was making sweet soup, she was taught some basic techniques by the system.
Although the system is powerful, the skills required to make sugar water are very basic, so she is not proficient in this area. Her techniques are indeed still basic, and it can be said that she has not learned it formally and systematically.
Now that she has Yun Yongyuan, a formal culinary student, to guide her, it is naturally great, and she is happy to learn.
"It's indeed faster and more skillful than mine." Zhao Xiaojing said after watching for a long time.
After Yun Yongyuan picked up the dough, he first kneaded it a few times with the base of his palms, pushing and pulling it forward and back in a large area. Then he began to fold and flatten the dough again and again in small areas. In less than a minute, the dough had become visibly smooth.
"This is the method that the flour chef uses to make buns and steamed buns. You see, the area kneaded at the beginning is large, which will cause the gluten to be pulled repeatedly. The more you knead the dough, the tighter it will become, because the gluten structure becomes denser." Yun Yongyuan dipped his hand in flour sprinkled when kneading the dough, pointed at the dough and began to explain on the spot.
"After kneading it a few times, the dough becomes smaller. Now flatten it in a small area and fold it inward repeatedly. After a few times, the dough will be smooth. Your technique is acceptable, but it requires a lot of force and takes a long time, which is a form of brute force. However, most people can't knead it well with your method, as it easily causes lumps. This shows that even with brute force, you have your own way, and you are quite strong."
"Pfft!" Lu Hongwen was amused by Yun Yongyuan's words. "This is the first time I've heard someone talk about Sister Jingzi like that. Hahaha. Sister Jingzi, there will be a day when you have to use brute force! Senior Brother Yun, if you can talk more, please tell me more about your techniques!"
Zhao Xiaojing was amused by being laughed at. When she heard the second half of Lu Hongwen's sentence, she immediately nodded and said, "Senior Brother Yun, please teach me more!"
Yun Yongyuan originally thought that girls were concerned about their reputation and that excessive denial would hurt their feelings, so he deliberately said a few words of encouragement. Seeing that Zhao Xiaojing didn't mind, he immediately felt relieved.
"Okay, there's another way..."
Yun Yongyuan taught them two more moves seriously. The three of them kneaded the dough and put it on the board to rise while chatting. Zhao Xiaojing started chopping the stuffing with a horseshoe knife. The rest of the people were not idle either. They all started preparing dinner in advance.
When Chen Huiping and Wang Jiandang arrived at the restaurant on time at 4:30, several people had already prepared all the dishes for dinner and were sitting in the hall waiting eagerly. Zhao Xiaojing had also put the soup dumplings in the steamer.
"Aunt Chen, Uncle Wang! Please sit down. You've arrived just in time. The soup dumplings are already in the steamer!" Su Yuchen quickly stood up and greeted them. The rest of the people also stood up, offering their seats and pouring water.
"Xiao Su, these are the Xinsheng sugar-coated apples, they are crispy and sweet. I have a lot of them at home, so I'll share some with you." Chen Huiping still came with a bag of big, red apples.
Su Yuchen knew it was useless to refuse, so she reluctantly accepted, "Aunt Chen, I won't be polite to you, and next time you come, don't be polite to us.
Mirror is here to ask for your help and suggestions. We are very happy that you can come. If you bring anything else, we won’t dare to ask you to cook something delicious.”
"This was given to your Uncle Wang by someone else. They're doing favors. My house is always full of fruit, and it'll go bad if we don't finish it. There are so many of you here, why don't you share it? It won't be a waste, right?"
"Your Aunt Chen is right! In previous years when you didn't come, we had no choice but to drive half an hour every day to deliver it to relatives! Since you came, I have saved on gas! We have to thank you, it's not just a courtesy." Wang Jiandang quickly agreed.
As she spoke, Zhao Xiaojing brought over the steamer. It was a large steamer used for steaming dumplings. After putting the soup dumplings in it, the dumplings looked particularly small and exquisite. She steamed a total of 18 dumplings in one pot.
"This half is water chestnut soup dumplings, and this half is shepherd's purse soup dumplings. The second pot is already steaming. You guys can eat first."
The soup dumplings just out of the pot emit hot white mist. As soon as they are served on the table, everyone can immediately feel the heat. The white half is made of water chestnut, and the other half with a faint green color is made of shepherd's purse.
"Oh, there are shepherd's purse soup dumplings!" Wang Jiandang looked at the steamer with surprise, and his voice became three points higher.
"My wild vegetable stomach is acting up again. I can't walk when I see wild vegetables! Didn't we just eat shepherd's purse yesterday?" Chen Huiping curled her lips at Wang Jiandang.
"That's different. This is shepherd's purse made by Xiao Zhao!" Wang Jiandang said as he pulled out his chopsticks. Seeing that everyone was eager to eat but didn't pick up anything with their chopsticks, he quickly greeted them.
"Eat, eat, eat! Why are you being so polite? We're all family, why are you waiting for us?"
"Eat, eat. Xiao Zhao and Xiao Su, you can sit down too! We can just squeeze in." The largest table in the restaurant is for six people. After Chen Huiping and his wife came, there were two extra people. Chen Huiping was busy moving stools, but Lu Hongwen had already stood up and moved two more over.
"You guys eat first, I have to watch the pot, it's still steaming! Thank you, Aunt Chen and Uncle Wang!" Zhao Xiaojing got the message and was thinking about what wild vegetables were available in this season. Seeing this, she waved her hand quickly, took the fruit bag from Su Yuchen's hand, thanked the two of them, and walked towards the kitchen.
"Eat first, eat first!" Su Yuchen sat down, took out a pair of chopsticks and greeted everyone. Then everyone carefully stretched out their chopsticks towards the steamer.
As the heat dissipated, the soup dumplings finally revealed their original appearance. The steamed, almost transparent skin of the soup dumplings was bulging with round bellies. Everyone was afraid that they would break if they picked them up, so as soon as the chopsticks touched the soup dumplings, they quickly reached out their bowls to the steamer to catch them.
People have different ways of picking up soup dumplings. Some hold the dumpling by the belly button and lift it gently, some extend the chopsticks to the bottom of the dumpling and slowly support it, and some directly pick it up from the middle.
Everyone at the table was so nervous that they were slow to pick up the dumplings. But after they were picked up by chopsticks, they just shook slightly and fell down. They deformed on the chopsticks due to the force, but remained intact from beginning to end.
"Hey, young man, you can't eat like that! If you swallow it whole, you won't be able to taste it and it will burn your tongue!"
Wang Jiandang hurriedly spoke out to stop him.
However, Wu Kaile on the opposite side had already stuffed the entire soup dumpling into his mouth, then he widened his eyes and gasped continuously. He grimaced in pain and endured the heat while chewing a few bites quickly. He swallowed it with difficulty, and then picked up the cold boiled water in front of him and drank it in one gulp.
"Open the window first, drink the soup later, and eat it all up!" Wang Jiandang said with a helpless smile.
Wu Kaile glanced at Wang Jiandang with grievance, still dreading the burn. After drinking the water, he fanned his mouth with his hand. "Uncle Wang, what do you mean?"
"It's about how to eat soup dumplings! First, bite the skin, then suck the soup inside. After drinking the soup, eat the whole thing including the skin and filling." Chen Huiping continued to explain.
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