AGN -Chapter 274 A-grade Four Joy Tangyuan

Soak in starch water twice.

When Qin Huai heard Cao Guixiang say this, he fell into deep thought.

Soaking meat in starch water is a very common cooking technique, but it is rarely used in white-flour pastry work. That’s because this method is usually meant to make meat more tender and smooth, and is typically used in frying or stir-frying.

When Qin Huai made meat-filled pastries, he usually focused on making the filling more compact so it could better lock in juices.

Qin Huai thought quietly for several minutes. Throughout his entire thinking process, Cao Guixiang said nothing—she simply stood by with a smile, waiting for him to finish.

“Excuse me, for soaking in starch water twice, how long each time should it be soaked?” Qin Huai asked.

“I don’t know,” Cao Guixiang shook her head. “I don’t know how to make Four Joy Tangyuan, so I can’t accurately tell you the timing or proportions. But I think this is a very good way to improve the texture and flavor of the meat—much better than adding dried scallop water.”

“Dried scallop water is good for enhancing umami, but it’s not suitable for Four Joy Tangyuan. In Four Joy Tangyuan, the meat filling plays more of a connecting and balancing role. It doesn’t need to be overly prominent in freshness or flavor.”

Hearing this, Qin Huai immediately understood that although Cao Guixiang didn’t know how to make Four Joy Tangyuan, she was definitely a culinary master.

She truly understood Four Joy Tangyuan.

“Alright, thank you for the advice. I’ll try it now.”

When it came to improving recipes, Qin Huai was very action-oriented. Once he was convinced that Cao Guixiang’s method would work, he immediately set aside the meat filling he had just prepared and looked for some chopped meat.

Today Aunt Wang wasn’t around—she had gone back to her hometown for New Year’s greetings—so the main person in charge of chopping meat was the village chief’s son-in-law.

The next batch of meat hadn’t been finished yet, so Qin Huai had to start wrapping tangyuan first. Before doing that, he went outside to check whether Qin Luo was still arguing with Zhang Zhiyun. If they were done, he would send the kid back inside to do practice papers.

The tutoring teachers’ assignments still hadn’t been completed.

Qin Huai went outside, but Cao Guixiang had no intention of leaving. She walked around the kitchen, observing each finished filling with her eyes but not touching anything. Finally, she glanced at the meat-chopping workers from afar and approached an aunt wearing sleeves while cutting candied fruits.

“Miss, do you have spare sleeves?” Cao Guixiang asked.

The aunt cutting candied fruits didn’t recognize her and assumed she was a new helper and a relative close to Qin Huai, so she warmly handed her a pair of floral sleeves.

“Yes, and there are aprons too. Over there, I’ll get one for you!”

Two minutes later, Cao Guixiang, now wearing a red apron and floral sleeves, had fully blended into the kitchen. Like any middle-aged housewife who naturally integrates into a busy kitchen, she had found herself a “job” during the New Year rush in Qin’s large kitchen.

When Qin Huai returned after assigning Qin Luo her study tasks, he was stunned to see Cao Guixiang’s outfit.

“Cao… Grandma Cao, you—this is…”

“I’m here to help,” Cao Guixiang said with a smile, picking up a large meat cleaver from the rack and walking to the cutting board.

The meat-chopping team naturally made space for her. Since Aunt Wang wasn’t around today, everyone assumed Cao Guixiang was a newly recruited helper brought in by Qin Huai.

The village chief’s son-in-law even enthusiastically explained the task: “This meat needs to be chopped first, then minced. You need strength. And… wait, let me check if there are any other requirements.”

He fumbled and began searching his phone.

Cao Guixiang answered for him: “It needs to be in a state between firm and loose. The filling shouldn’t be too tightly bound with juice, but it also shouldn’t be too loose. It doesn’t need the springy texture of meatballs, nor should it be as soft as a flattened meat patty.”

“Yes, yes! Exactly that!” the man quickly agreed, even though he wasn’t entirely sure himself anymore.

When Qin Huai returned, Cao Guixiang smiled at him.

“Idle hands are the devil’s workshop. My husband is chatting with your Party Secretary Qin anyway. I saw you were a bit busy here, so I volunteered to help with the meat chopping. You don’t mind, do you, Little Qin Chef?”

“Of course not, of course not,” Qin Huai replied repeatedly, then stood still and watched how she worked.

Before starting, Cao Guixiang first selected the meat.

The advantage of working in a rural village was that ingredient quality and freshness were guaranteed. In a place like Huangji Restaurant, if Huang Anyao wanted meat of this quality from suppliers, he would likely have to pay extra and call ahead, emphasizing the importance of the banquet. Even then, it wasn’t guaranteed he would get the best batch.

But in Qin Village—especially during the New Year—if Qin Huai wanted it, a pig selected in the morning could be slaughtered and delivered to the kitchen the same day. Within an hour, it would become meat filling for tangyuan.

Everything in Qin’s kitchen came from carefully selected villagers.

Cao Guixiang chose several lean cuts—almost no fat, excellent color and marbling, clearly premium meat suitable for stir-frying.

She diced the meat.

At first glance, she looked like an ordinary elderly housewife. But the moment she picked up the knife, her entire aura changed. Her cuts were sharp and powerful, and every strike carried precision. The village chief’s son-in-law suddenly looked like an amateur apprentice slacking off beside her.

Soon, the lean meat was cut into evenly sized cubes so uniform they were hard to distinguish.

Everyone watching was stunned.

The son-in-law panicked, feeling his role as meat-chopping lead might be taken away.

“Is she also a vendor of hand-pounded beef balls?!”

“Where is her shop? Her skills look even better than Aunt Wang’s!”

Qin Huai: “…6.”

Cao Guixiang didn’t stop. Cutting the meat into cubes was only the first step—the real challenge was turning them into semi-minced meat.

The concept was similar to the “finely chopped, coarsely minced” method used in crab roe lion’s head meatballs, except that those required a rougher texture achieved with heavy chopping.

But Four Joy Tangyuan meat filling didn’t need that level of roughness. It had to be minced very finely, close to a paste, and then chopped again more delicately.

Cao Guixiang kept saying she didn’t know how to make Four Joy Tangyuan, but you couldn’t tell from her actions at all.

Her technique was so standard it looked like she had been secretly making Four Joy Tangyuan at home for years.

She even had the leisure to chat with Qin Huai.

“Little Qin Chef, I heard from Party Secretary Qin that your pastry skills are self-taught,” she said.

“More or less. When I was in elementary school, I bought a book called Complete Guide to Pastries at a flea market. I learned many early recipes from it.”

“Later, I also received guidance from many masters in Suzhou. Chef Huang Shengli from Huangji Restaurant and Chef Zheng Da taught me a lot. I learned Four Joy Tangyuan from Chef Zheng.”

Cao Guixiang nodded. That sounded reasonable—first relying on natural talent to get started, then improving under masters. Otherwise, self-learning alone reaching this level would be too abnormal.

Even more abnormal than she had been in her own youth.

“So your master is…?”

“I don’t really have one,” Qin Huai said. “Chef Huang and Chef Zheng are sort of half-masters, but I never formally apprenticed under anyone.”

He added a bit awkwardly, “Actually, I know Chef Zheng really wanted to take me as his disciple, but I didn’t feel like I was suited for that kind of path. I always felt…”

“A lack of fate between master and disciple?” Cao Guixiang smiled.

Seeing Qin Huai smile too, she took it as agreement.

“That’s normal. I don’t know if chefs still take apprentices like in my time. Back then, when I apprenticed, my master was like half a parent—sometimes even more important than my biological parents.”

“Apprenticeship depends on fate. So does choosing a master. If it’s not meant to be, there’s no need to force it. Forced fruit is never sweet. If necessary, being an unofficial disciple is also fine.”

While speaking, Cao Guixiang finished mincing the meat.

She set the bowl down and put away the knife.

“You can divide it into portions and try it multiple times.”

“I do have a master, but I have no disciples. I’m not deliberately refusing to tell you how long to soak it or how much water to use—it’s just that I truly don’t know how this method applies specifically to white-flour pastries.”

“I’ve never taught disciples, so I don’t really know how to teach either. You’ll have to try it yourself, and I’ll just watch.”

Qin Huai took the basin. “You’re already very good at teaching.”

From the knife skills he had just witnessed, Qin Huai had already concluded in his mind that Cao Guixiang’s culinary skill might even surpass Huang Shengli.

Huang Shengli would not be able to, under such vague instructions, chat casually while simultaneously chopping out a type of meat filling he didn’t fully understand—yet one that was perfectly suited for pastries.

Looking at the bowl of filling, Qin Huai felt as if he had seen his “dream filling.”

Who understands this feeling?! He had just fallen in love at first sight with a bowl of meat filling.

What a beautiful filling, what a lovely color, what delicate knife work, what exquisite texture.

Who would have thought that such an ordinary, slightly plump old lady could possess such extraordinary knife skills?

This knife skill had to be master-level!

No—possibly even above master level, but Qin Huai himself was too inexperienced to know what lies above master level.

Following Cao Guixiang’s instructions, Qin Huai divided the meat filling into portions and began soaking it in starch water.

“Soaking in starch water” is a very vague instruction.

At first, Qin Huai thought that besides soaking, there might be other techniques involved—like kneading the meat in starch water so it fully absorbed it.

But there wasn’t. It was literally just soaking.

Letting the meat “take a bath” in starch water.

For caution, Qin Huai first tried soaking one batch for five minutes.

No noticeable effect.

He glanced at Cao Guixiang. Seeing that she said nothing, he proceeded with a second soak.

Another five minutes.

Still no obvious change.

Since Cao Guixiang still didn’t comment, Qin Huai could only move on to seasoning the filling.

The meat filling for Four Joy Tangyuan was very simple, requiring minimal seasoning. It aimed for the pure, original taste of pork—simple and rustic.

Qin Huai began mixing it normally.

Stirring.

Working hard to stir.

And then… huh?

Why was this filling… so obedient?

To borrow Zheng Da’s words, why did this filling suddenly feel like it had a soul?

During mixing, it was so cooperative. When kneading, the texture felt noticeably better.

This meant that when it was later wrapped into tangyuan and cooked, the texture would be smoother and more pleasant to eat.

Could soaking in starch water twice really have such a miraculous effect?

Starch water was terrifyingly powerful!

Seeing that Qin Huai had already discovered the subtlety behind it, Cao Guixiang said nothing more. She glanced at the time and thought she could go out and listen to some gossip before heading back.

Her family lived in the city, and it still took time to return.

Seeing that she was about to leave, Qin Huai quickly called out:

“Auntie Cao… no, Master Cao, could you wait a bit longer? Let me cook two full batches of Four Joy Tangyuan for you to taste before you go.”

Cao Guixiang stopped. “Alright.”

Qin Huai quickly wrapped the tangyuan and boiled them in one pot.

Only eight pieces in total—it cooked very quickly. While waiting, he also continued wrapping more, glancing at the pot between each one, slightly nervous and distracted.

Cao Guixiang stood by, watching with interest, occasionally mimicking the wrapping motion in the air as if learning on the spot.

The tangyuan were ready.

Qin Huai froze.

He held the finished tangyuan in his hand but didn’t put them down immediately.

He couldn’t believe his eyes.

He even felt like imitating Qin Luo and Zhang Zhiyun—clinging to Cao Guixiang’s leg and crying:

“Master Cao, please don’t leave! Please stay a few more days! I’m begging you!”

【Four Joy Tangyuan – A Grade】

A grade already?

So fast? So suddenly? No warning at all—it just… became A-grade?

Just by soaking the meat twice in starch water?

At that moment, Qin Huai felt like there were two little voices in his head.

One was screaming: Are you stupid? This has nothing to do with starch water—it’s mainly because of Cao Guixiang’s knife work!

The other was yelling: Are you stupid? Why are you still standing there? There aren’t even any chairs in the kitchen? Can’t you see Master Cao is still standing? Hurry and bring a chair! Tea! Serve tea!

“Little Qin Chef, are the tangyuan ready?” Cao Guixiang asked.

Qin Huai quickly scooped them up while replying, “Master Cao, just call me Qin Huai.”

“Hey, He Cheng, quickly bring a chair for Master Cao!”

He placed the two bowls of tangyuan down to cool and rushed to pour tea.

Sigh. Today the village secretary was away, so the tea wasn’t good—what a mistake. He should have learned tea-making from the others at Huangji Restaurant.

At this moment, Qin Huai truly understood what it meant to lack a skill when it was needed most.

“Master Cao, you must be thirsty. Have some tea to soothe your throat.”

He respectfully handed her the cup.

Cao Guixiang was a bit confused by his sudden enthusiasm, but she was used to people reacting like this. She took the cup and politely drank more than half.

Qin Huai took out his phone, wearing his signature humble “Little Qin Chef” smile.

“Master Cao, can we add each other on WeChat?”

“If I encounter any problems making pastries in the future, can I ask you there?”

“Of course,” Cao Guixiang nodded readily. “Ask anytime. This old woman doesn’t have much to do after retirement anyway. I remember Party Secretary Qin said your family lives in Quxian?”

“Quxian is close to the city. After New Year, come visit when you have time. You can also come to my house and discuss the molds with my husband.”

“Today you’re hosting us, so when you come to the city, we’ll host you in return. I’ll cook you a full table of my specialties so you can try my cooking.”

“Definitely! Master Cao, before I come to the city, I’ll definitely message you in advance on WeChat!”