Culinary God in Wilderness

Chapter 369: Chapter 234: Hand-crafting a Water Channel

"Wow, this is actually really good!"

Erica’s eyes sparkled as she stared in disbelief at the crushed crab body in her hand.

She’d never imagined raw crab meat could have such a texture; it was even better than sweet shrimp.

’Why don’t they have something this delicious at Japanese all-you-can-eat buffets?’

"It’s good, but you can only have a taste. We’re in the wild, after all, so there’s no guarantee of food safety. If you really want more, you can find a seafood market and buy some after we get back."

Lin Chen casually tossed away the crushed crab body and broke open the half crab leg still in his hand.

The tips of small crab legs usually don’t have much meat and are hard to get out, so most people don’t eat them. At most, you’d just chew them up to suck out the flavor.

But it was a different story with large sea crabs like this. Even the leg tips had meat, and quite a bit of it.

The only shame was that it wasn’t the crabs’ breeding season. The shells were empty, with no roe or tomalley.

’If there had been, he couldn’t even imagine how delicious it would have been.’

He chopped off two more crab legs. This time, he didn’t crack open the shells but instead placed them directly on the grill rack to be slowly smoked by the charcoal fire.

"Charcoal-grilled crab legs are a pretty common dish in Japanese cuisine. There’s also steaming, boiling, and wine-marinating. They prefer to savor the original flavor of the seafood without over-seasoning it."

"So what dishes do you usually make with crab in the Great Xia?"

"Oh, there are tons," Lin Chen said, lifting his chin proudly as he began counting on his fingers.

"For raw preparations, we mainly have raw marinated crab and soy-marinated crab. Da Xia People generally prefer cooked seafood over sashimi. Some of the more famous and common crab dishes are spicy crab, numbing-and-spicy crab claws, black pepper crab, stir-fried crab with ginger and scallion, typhoon shelter crab, stir-fried crab and rice cakes with garlic, steamed hairy crab, braised hairy crab, crab roe soup dumplings, noodles with crab roe sauce, and fresh shrimp and crab congee..."

He casually reeled off more than a dozen dishes, and the descriptions made even him start to swallow unconsciously.

Although Erica had no idea what any of those dishes tasted like, the fact that even Lin Chen, a chef himself, couldn’t help but swallow proved that the deliciousness of these crab dishes was far beyond her imagination.

’She reflected on how unpopular crab was back home. You might find snow crab or king crab at a buffet or on a seafood restaurant’s menu, but the only preparation was to steam or boil them before serving.’

’That was the affordable way to do it. More high-end preparations were found in Michelin-starred restaurants or Japanese cuisine, which also mainly used those two types of crab. But they would pick the meat out for an appetizer, or maybe batter and deep-fry the legs and claws to be served with other ingredients or sauces.’

She’d never dreamed that crab, such an unpopular ingredient, could be prepared in so many ways in the Great Xia.

’I have to try them if I get the chance!’

While her mind drifted off to some unknown Great Xia restaurant, Lin Chen was facing a dilemma.

’There’s still half a spider crab left. What should I do with it?’

The culantro was all gone, there wasn’t much allspice left—only about a dozen berries—and he had half a piece of wild ginger. Other than that, all he had were bamboo shoots, potatoes, and taro, plus the purslane, chili leaves, and dried chilies sun-drying outside.

He had fresh chilies, but no garlic or oil on hand, so even if he wanted to stir-fry something, he couldn’t.

’Should I make a crab soup?’

’No, that won’t work. The fish head and bones are definitely going to be for soup, and crab soup is nowhere near as good as fish soup. There’s no point in making repetitive dishes. Besides, crab soup isn’t usually drunk on its own; it’s mostly used as a stock to flavor other dishes in place of water.’

After wracking his brain, he couldn’t come up with any decent dish he could make with what he had. In the end, he had to settle for the next best thing: a simple roasted pepper and cold-mixed crab meat salad.

He placed the entire remaining half of the crab on the bamboo grill rack to smoke, letting the meat absorb the aroma of the charcoal. He arranged the green peppers around the crab, not needing to turn them too often, just until their skins were charred.

What followed was a process that required no technical skill: picking the crab meat, peeling the roasted peppers, mashing them, and mixing everything with the crab. He seasoned it with a small amount of dried chili and sea salt.

The charcoal-roasted crab meat had its own rich aroma, which acted as a natural seasoning. Paired with the refreshing roasted peppers and the mild heat of the dried chili flakes, it made for a uniquely flavored cold dish once it had cooled down completely.

While waiting for the crab meat and roasted peppers to cool, he also went behind the shelter to the area below the pineapple patch and picked a basket of oranges. He used a little juice from the unripe oranges as a substitute for vinegar and sugar, adding a touch of oyster sauce for umami. Otherwise, the flavor of the cold dish would have been a bit too thin.

"Using orange juice as a sauce... that’s a Western technique, right? But the roasted peppers and oyster sauce are from Chinese cooking. So, this is a fusion dish, I guess?"

Erica was very self-aware and didn’t eat much, only taking two small bites to taste.

’This was Lin Chen’s own prize, after all. How could she have the nerve to just freeload off him? Wouldn’t that just make his survival challenge harder?’

’As a proper fan, she had at least that much awareness.’

She didn’t touch the Lobster either. It wasn’t anything rare in North America; you could find it in any supermarket. If she really wanted some, she could try her luck in the Mangrove Forest and probably find one.

"I’ll just take a Flying Fish. I’ve never had one before. I’ll take it back, cut it up with that technique you taught me, and try grilling it. Thanks~"

She grabbed a medium-sized Flying Fish, blew Lin Chen a kiss as payment, and departed with a light spring in her step.

"Looks like making a new dish is going to be difficult unless I can find some new ingredients to use as seasonings, or some kind of fat. Otherwise, my options are just too limited."