Culinary God in Wilderness

Chapter 354: Chapter 226: Knifework and Heat Control (Part 2)

He chopped the crab body in half, then quartered it by cutting it into sections with two legs each. The claws were chopped off separately.

Slicing the grouper, slicing the abalone, de-bearding the scallops, cracking open the sea urchin, sectioning the sea urchin roe...

His movements were swift. In just ten minutes, he had finished prepping all the ingredients.

After Erica finished dealing with the black tiger prawns, she kept herself busy, peeling two large potatoes and getting a fire started.

Since she didn’t know what he planned to make, she didn’t dare do too much to help. She just stood quietly to the side, watching his techniques for handling the various ingredients.

Only after the open flames died down did he place four bamboo tubes horizontally over the charcoal embers to heat them.

He poured a little coconut milk into each tube. This prevented them from burning while empty and would also keep the ingredients from sticking when he stir-fried them later.

"Normally, you’d stir-fry with oil—any vegetable oil would do, preferably a neutral one. That’s because the meat congee we make in Great Xia usually has a plain rice porridge base, which doesn’t pair well with the milky flavor of butter."

"But since we’re making mashed potatoes now, you can try stir-frying with butter when you get back. After all, butter and mashed potatoes are a great match."

The coconut milk inside the bamboo tubes slowly began to bubble. He grabbed the pile of shrimp heads and shells, distributed them evenly among the four tubes, and began to stir-fry.

"In a restaurant, you’d never throw away the shrimp heads and shells. The same goes for crab and lobster shells. They’re used to make seafood stock."

"You don’t need to fry them for long. Once they change color, use a spatula to press down on the shells to fully release the flavor from the heads."

"Once you can smell a distinct shrimp aroma, you can add water. Hot water is best, but our options are limited here, so I have to use cold water."

As he spoke, he scooped up icy stream water and poured it into each of the four bamboo tubes.

HISS—

The moment the cold water hit the scorching hot inner walls of the bamboo, it instantly boiled and bubbled.

The essence stir-fried from the shrimp heads and shells dissolved, infusing the water.

"Just stir-frying isn’t enough. You have to simmer them for a while to completely draw out the flavor from the heads and shells."

"In a restaurant, you’d typically use a high-powered blender to pulverize them all before straining. That makes for a much richer stock. But if you do that, you need to stir-fry them with common stock vegetables like onions, celery, and carrots beforehand. I’ve skipped those here."

Once the liquid in the bamboo tubes came to a full boil, it had taken on a pale orange-red hue, with many glistening droplets of oil floating on the surface.

He scooped out the shrimp heads and shells, then tossed in the chopped potatoes and slivers of wild ginger, which were as fine as strands of hair, to stew.

"The ginger is to cut through the fishiness and enhance the freshness. Seafood, you know, can have a bit of a strong smell, and ginger is great at getting rid of that."

The chopped potatoes didn’t need to cook for long. After about ten minutes in the boiling water, they began to break down.

"Since they weren’t grated, the potato chunks would need to stew for much longer to become a mash. But we can speed up the process."

He handed her a thick stick, holding one himself. He began mashing inside the bamboo tube, using this method to accelerate the breakdown of the potato chunks.

Once most of the potatoes were mashed and the liquid had turned cloudy, it was time to stop.

"Now’s the time for the crab. You can’t cook crab for too long, or it’ll lose its freshness and the meat will shrink. The cooking time is generally between five and fifteen minutes, depending on the size of the pieces."

Along with the crab went thin slices of black bolete mushrooms. Although they were a non-toxic wild mushroom and safe to eat, they still needed to be cooked thoroughly to infuse their fragrance into the broth.

"The remaining ingredients—the grouper slices, abalone slices, scallops, sea urchin, bamboo shoots, and diced shrimp—will cook in just a minute. You add them right before serving. Same principle: cooking them too long ruins the texture and flavor."

While waiting for the crab to cook, he crushed a few allspice berries and sprinkled them in evenly, using them as a substitute for black pepper.

When the crab had changed color completely, he waited a few more minutes, then dumped all the remaining ingredients in at once.

By now the broth had become extremely thick, like paste when stirred—the result of the potatoes completely breaking down.

He poured in a little more coconut milk to thin it out and prevent the bottom from burning.

The boiling mashed potatoes were incredibly hot, cooking all the newly added ingredients and changing their color in just a dozen seconds.

Seizing the right moment, he sprinkled a pinch of salt into each tube, stirred quickly to combine, and took them right off the fire.

"It’s ready. Let it cool a bit before you eat."

The few tubes of seafood mashed potatoes had taken only about twenty minutes from start to finish. Although the cooking time was similar, its appearance was leagues better than the hodgepodge mashed potato stew she had made last time.

In her version, the fish had all boiled down into tiny flakes, and the sea urchin had completely dissolved into the mash. If not for its distinctive orange-red color, you probably wouldn’t have even known it was there.

But in Lin Chen’s version, the potatoes hadn’t completely broken down into a paste; you could still see soybean-sized chunks.

The whole slices of various seafood and the pinkish-white diced shrimp were clearly visible. Even the sea urchin had largely maintained its shape.

Finally, he sprinkled in some chopped koyot cilantro and stirred it in. The whole tube of mashed potatoes seemed to come to life. Specks of vibrant green instantly lit up the earthy-yellow base, mixing with the tender white fish, pinkish-white shrimp, and orange-red sea urchin, making it look as exquisite as a work of art.

But the most important part was the aroma!

Even though she hadn’t taken a bite, she could already smell the rich, savory scent unique to fresh seafood.

GULP.

Her eyes were glued to the bamboo tube in front of her. Her throat bobbed, and the sound of her swallowing was so loud that Lin Chen, a meter away, heard it clearly.

Even though she was dying to eat, the memory of being burned last time was still vivid. She could only force down her impulse and wait patiently for the mashed potatoes to cool.

SLURP.

Suddenly, a slurping sound came from Lin Chen’s direction.

"Goodness, aren’t you afraid of burning yourself?"

"Of course I am," Lin Chen said. The bark spoon in his hand scraped a semicircle across the surface of the mash, scooping up the topmost layer. He blew on it a few times before popping it into his mouth.

"But there’s a trick to it. Seafood porridge has to be eaten hot. The moment it cools enough to not burn your mouth, it starts to get fishy. You just have to do what I’m doing and scrape it off the surface in circles."

Erica blinked, thinking Lin Chen was trying to trick her, hoping to see her jump after getting burned.

But then she saw he was actually eating spoonful after spoonful without stopping, showing no signs of being burned. Her resolve finally began to waver.

’Could it be... this weird method actually works?’

She tried to copy him, scraping up the surface layer of the mash and cautiously bringing it to her lips to test it.

It was warm, but not scalding at all.

SLURP~

After bravely putting it in her mouth, she was hit by an incredibly intense shrimp aroma, immediately followed by the sweet freshness of the crab.

Even though there was only a quarter of a crab in her tube, the flavor was far richer than she could have ever imagined.

The rich, smooth mashed potatoes were interspersed with noticeable little chunks of potato. The moment they touched her tongue, they melted away, merging with the savory broth. It was a wonderful sensation that a completely smooth mash could never replicate.

She hurriedly scooped another spoonful, this time with a slice of grouper about two knuckles wide.

The fish was cooked for just the right amount of time. Unlike last time, when hers had broken into countless tiny pieces, this slice held its shape perfectly, and she could even taste a slight, springy firmness as she chewed.

Soft, tender scallops; firm, springy abalone; crisp, delicate shrimp; crunchy diced bamboo shoots... The flavors of countless ingredients had all melted into the mashed potatoes, yet each retained its distinct texture, making every bite a new experience.

"Fuck!"

She suddenly let out a curse, her beautiful eyes wide with shock.

"The ingredients are almost the same, just with some added shrimp and scallops, and you cut them differently. Why does it taste completely different? Is it because of the stock made from the shrimp shells?"

"That’s part of it. You said it yourself—I changed the shape of the ingredients. That’s another crucial point. And on top of that, controlling the heat is extremely important."

"Knife skills and heat control are the soul of Great Xia cuisine."