Chapter 37 The Key to Fermented Wine Mantou

After watching the video tutorial once, Qin Huai didn’t believe it and watched it again.

This time, he gained new insights.

He realized that people truly cannot be generalized the same way.

In the video, Jiang Chengde’s movements flowed like a seamless stream of water, his demeanor relaxed and unhurried. Halfway through making the mantou, he even had time to chat with his wife, leave the kitchen to soothe the children, and casually prepare porridge and a few side dishes.

Outside the video, Qin Huai remained highly tense the entire time, his eyes fixed on the dough, not even daring to blink at critical moments. He watched as the dough went through this, that, and the other steps—and then, just like that, it became locust blossom mantou.

Brain: “Got it?”

Hands: “Get lost!”

Qin Huai didn’t give up and watched it again.

He began scratching his head.

He understood that even the most ordinary things could hide profound, unseen techniques.

For example, dough fermentation: in theory, it’s simply the process of allowing yeast to reproduce under certain temperature and humidity conditions, producing gas that causes the dough to expand. But in practice, over more than a hundred years, countless pastry chefs have infused this simple step with specialized techniques born from accumulated wisdom.

What is written in books is one thing; actual practice is another. Watching others do it is one thing; learning it yourself is another.

Back when Qin Huai studied fermented wine mantou, he couldn’t replicate the taste from the recipe. Now, after watching Jiang Chengde’s tutorial, his intuition told him that even if he followed it exactly, he still wouldn’t be able to recreate the mantou in the video.

Such secret techniques are not easy to master.

Many chefs without natural talent, even when guided step by step by masters, still fail to learn them—so relying solely on video tutorials is simply too difficult.

For the first time, Qin Huai somewhat understood Qin Congwen’s inner thoughts over the years.

The same kind of dough-making—both people have hands, both use dough. Under the same conditions, why is the result so vastly different?

Even for the locust blossom mantou tutorial, let alone the most critical step—using a small amount of honey to ferment the dough—which Qin Huai couldn’t fully grasp the subtlety of, even the entire kneading process left him puzzled.

What exactly was that technique? How did those steps—this, that, and the other—result in such perfect dough?

The ingredients were just a mixture of gray flour and buckwheat flour, right?

How could such ingredients produce dough that was so smooth, with such excellent fluffiness, elasticity, extensibility, and moisture—perfectly suited for mantou?

After watching the locust blossom mantou video three times without success, Qin Huai turned to the fermented wine mantou tutorial.

Fermented wine mantou and wine lees mantou were essentially the same food, just different names. Qin Huai had studied it before and was very familiar with the process.

What reassured him somewhat was that Qin Wan’s level was very approachable.

Unlike Jiang Chengde’s hands, Qin Wan’s were those of a standard homemaker. The calluses on her hands were more consistent with embroidery and daily labor. Her fingers were long and slender, her nails rounded—delicate and gentle hands.

Her dough-kneading movements were just like her hands—delicate, gentle, and slow.

“Slow” is a very good quality in teaching.

Only when things are slow can every step be clearly observed, allowing one to sense what is crucial and what is trivial. Qin Wan was very meticulous when making mantou; from start to finish, she never left the workbench area, staying by the dough even during the monotonous fermentation process.

Thanks to such a careful instructor, Qin Huai noticed the key insight behind the century-old secret recipe of Qin Ji Bobo Shop on his first viewing of the tutorial.

Temperature.

Temperature control was almost everywhere throughout the entire process of making fermented wine mantou.

Warm water for kneading the dough, cooling during repeated kneading, maintaining warmth during fermentation, the wet cloth soaked in hot water placed under the board to assist with venting, and even the need to periodically adjust the stove fire with tongs during steaming—all of these highlighted that the key factors were temperature and heat control.

Qin Wan wasn’t exaggerating—fermented wine mantou truly wasn’t a technique that could be learned simply by following a recipe.

In an era without thermometers, humidity meters, gas stoves with precise flame control, measuring cups, scales, or insulation devices, mastering these required countless repetitions and highly refined intuition.

And Qin Huai happened to be a chef with strong intuition.

And he also had access to modern technology.

“No wonder fermented wine mantou has a chance of failure,” Qin Huai muttered. “If even step-by-step teaching doesn’t work, then Qin Wan’s younger brother wasn’t just lacking talent—he probably didn’t put his heart into learning either.”

After finishing the fermented wine mantou tutorial, Qin Huai felt he could do it again.

If locust blossom mantou couldn’t be made, surely he could manage fermented wine mantou after watching the full guide, right?

Compared to Jiang Chengde’s, Qin Wan’s tutorial was incredibly considerate. As expected of someone kind-hearted and skillful.

Qin Huai sprang up from the bed and glanced at the time.

A mere 5 p.m.

Perfect time to make mantou.

What? Going to the shop at this hour counts as overtime?

Qin Huai waved his hand, insisting that was impossible—completely impossible.

How could making mantou be considered overtime? This was clearly self-discipline, self-improvement, and using off-hours to learn new skills.

Full of vigor, Qin Huai grabbed his Complete Guide to Pastries and set off from home toward Yunzhong Cafeteria.

As for why he brought the Complete Guide to Pastries… it was mainly to explain why he had gone home to sleep and rest, yet upon waking suddenly had the urge to make fermented wine mantou—and possibly make a breakthrough that would redeem himself.

No need to ask—just say it was the choice of bedtime reading.

Complete Guide to Pastries—the perfect bedtime companion for children passionate about cooking.

When Qin Huai arrived at Yunzhong Cafeteria, early diners had already begun enjoying standard meals of two meat dishes and two vegetable dishes.

As a rising star that had already surpassed 25% of nearby restaurants in reputation, Yunzhong Cafeteria had, over time, accumulated a group of loyal regulars.

Breakfast regulars were mostly elderly men who went for morning runs. Dinner regulars were residents of this neighborhood and nearby communities.

Because Chen Huihong frequently dined here and often brought pastries to the neighborhood committee as afternoon tea, her loyal “fans” trusted the “Huihong Selection,” believing the cafeteria’s kitchen to be clean, hygienic, and free of inferior ingredients.

Combined with affordable prices and a diverse menu, many residents who either didn’t have a housekeeper—or had lost their previous one and hadn’t found a suitable replacement—had happily put down their cooking tools and started enjoying daily meals at the cafeteria.

These regulars all knew Qin Huai.

Master Xiao Qin—the owner and the backbone of the cafeteria.

He had a stable personality, spoke pleasantly, possessed excellent cooking skills, and was kind to others. His only flaw was that he was a bit lazy—starting work at 4 a.m. and leaving precisely at noon every day. The variety of pastries was extremely limited, and the quantity of mantou made in the afternoon was also small.

Everyone agreed that if Xiao Qin could overcome his laziness, everyone’s stomachs would benefit greatly.

As soon as Qin Huai entered the cafeteria, the diners who were eating and chatting greeted him warmly.

“Master Xiao Qin, here to eat?”

“Master Xiao Qin, will you be selling mung bean cakes tomorrow? It’s been two days since you last sold them, and my little troublemaker at home has been crying nonstop.”

“Master Xiao Qin, want some honeydew? Luoluo told me you like honeydew, so I bought a whole box!”

“Come on, that’s just a group purchase discount—you’re being cheap!”

“Nonsense, am I the kind of person who takes advantage of small discounts?”

“Master Xiao Qin, are you still making locust blossom honey mantou? My relative’s second nephew is a beekeeper. His honey is high quality and mainly for export. They say the April batch is especially rare—I don’t really understand, but I bought a few bottles and found it quite good. I can bring you one!”

Qin Huai stopped and looked at the slightly well-off grandmother in front of him, who was eating jujube cake with winter melon soup, wearing a gold bracelet on her plump wrist.

After a couple of seconds of recollection, he identified her.

Grandma Ding, resident of Building D, Unit 904, in her 60s. She was a retired kindergarten principal. Her family had many children, and during holidays, her grandchildren would all come to visit.

Her eldest granddaughter loved jujube cake, the second granddaughter liked milk buckwheat mantou, the youngest grandson loved locust blossom honey mantou, the eldest grandson preferred mung bean cake, and the youngest granddaughter had recently fallen in love with buckwheat mantou paired with maple syrup and goat milk.

During this time, Qin Huai had been experimenting extensively with buckwheat mantou in various combinations. After running out of locust blossom honey last week, he hadn’t restocked, and it had been a long time since he last made mantou with that flavor.

It seemed that even a kindergarten principal could be forced into creative solutions when trying to satisfy all the grandchildren equally.

Qin Huai smiled and nodded, showing a pleasantly surprised expression.

“Really? Thank you so much, Grandma Ding. I’ve actually been worrying about not being able to find high-quality locust blossom honey recently.”

Grandma Ding: !

The other diners: ?!

“Ding, you’ve overtaken him in a shortcut—you’re cheating!”