Culinary God in Wilderness

Chapter 384: Chapter 241: Captivating Grilled Sweet Potato Noodles (Part 2)

HUFF... HUFF...

He blew on it to cool it down, then tentatively took a small bite from the corner.

Once he was sure it wouldn’t burn him, he opened his mouth wide and took a huge bite out of the puffed-up center.

The soft, chewy sweet potato noodle sheet stretched out as he bit down, pulling taut before finally snapping.

The instant it entered his mouth, the unique sourness of the fermented pickled peppers, carried on the steam, hit him full in the face. It was accompanied by the faint, fresh aroma of chili, which exploded on his tongue.

The jalapeños, pickled for three days, still had a hint of crispness on the surface, but they had softened overall. The flesh was filled with a mildly sour juice and a touch of spice.

The texture of the jalapeños was similar to bell peppers—both are thick-fleshed, slightly sweet varieties. But enhanced by the roasted chili flakes and high heat, their spiciness had been kicked up a notch.

The next second, he tasted the wood sorrel.

It was a distinctly different sourness from the pickled peppers. He tilted his head, thinking for a long moment before it hit him: it tasted very similar to the tartness of homemade yogurt.

But the most special part was the noodle sheet itself.

Grilled until it blistered all over, the noodle sheet’s texture had changed dramatically. It was no longer smooth and slippery. Instead, it was much chewier, and every little air pocket had soaked up the savory flavor of the oyster sauce.

Combined with the sour and spicy fillings, the taste was refreshingly tangy and whetted his appetite. A single bite was all it took to completely win him over.

’If only I had some chili oil, it would be perfect. The only thing missing is that fragrant oiliness.’

He also quickly thought of a substitute for the crunch of pickled radish.

Bamboo shoots.

For his third helping, he blanched some diced bamboo shoots and added them, lending a refreshing crunch to the soft, chewy texture.

[Enjoying delicious homemade grilled sweet potato noodle sheets on a Panamanian beach. Happiness +1]

Even after eating three servings of the grilled noodle sheets, Lin Chen wasn’t fully satisfied.

The noodle sheets he made on the stone slate were small; two of them combined were probably only the size of one standard grilled noodle sheet.

It might sound like a lot, but his three servings were really only equivalent to about a bowl and a half—nowhere near enough for a ravenous young man.

Lobster!

Queen Phoenix Conch!

He eagerly pulled out his two prize catches. First, he placed the Queen Phoenix Conch directly on the grill grate and poured a little coconut water into the shell. This would keep the shell from getting too hot and making the meat tough.

As for the Lobster, the Queen Phoenix Conch’s neighbor, he debated for a moment whether to prep it raw or cooked. In the end, he decided to let the "neighbors" keep each other company on the grill.

The main reason for cooking it first was to get the tomalley and roe. They were a natural source of savory flavor, just like crab roe.

Once cooked, he could just pull off the tail and lift the head carapace to get all the tomalley out intact. When raw, it was semi-liquid and tended to get everywhere, making it much less convenient to handle.

It didn’t need long on the grill—ten minutes would be enough.

Conches were strange. The bigger they were, the tougher the meat, unlike abalone, scallops, or Green Mussels, which stayed tender.

So the best way to handle a large conch like this wasn’t to grill or boil it all at once, but to cook it in stages to ensure its texture remained perfect.

Ten minutes was only enough to cook the surface of the meat, causing it to shrink slightly and allowing the slime inside the shell to evaporate. This was the first step to extracting the meat.

The Queen Phoenix Conch’s shell was beautiful enough to be a decoration. Even though he couldn’t take it home, it would make a nice trophy for the shelter, so he didn’t want to use brute force to get the meat out.

Using his tactical knife, he speared the meat and twisted it out. He cut off the inedible tail and guts, tossing them into the fish trap to use as bait later.

After all that work, the seemingly huge conch yielded a piece of meat only half the size of his palm. Luckily, it was quite thick, which offered some small comfort to his wounded heart.

He sliced the conch meat thinly and piled the slices on the grill to cook for two minutes, tossing them constantly to ensure they heated evenly without overcooking and getting tough.

He tried a slice while it was still hot. Just as he’d hoped, it was as tender and springy as abalone, with none of the usual firmness of conch meat.

Next, he picked out the Lobster meat. He lifted the head carapace, scraped out all the tomalley, and put it back into the empty shell. Then he diced the tail meat, tossed it in with the tomalley, and mixed it all together, making sure every fiber of meat was coated in that savory flavor.

When his fourth grilled noodle sheet was ready, it was stuffed far more generously than he’d imagined. He had the distinct feeling it might burst at any moment.

’Good lord, just how amazing is this going to taste?’

Even though he’d already eaten three servings, his mouth watered uncontrollably just thinking about the fillings and ingredients packed inside this one.

The moment his teeth touched the surface of the noodle sheet, he could already feel the distinct shape of the tightly packed chunks of Lobster meat inside.

As his teeth broke through the soft, chewy noodle sheet and sank into the filling, a rich, savory Lobster aroma was the first thing to escape, followed closely by the tartness of the pickled peppers and the savoriness of the oyster sauce.

The fresh Lobster meat was also springy, but with an added crisp tenderness. The tomalley coating pushed the Lobster’s natural flavor to its absolute peak.

Pressed together, the layers of conch slices surprisingly had a texture similar to vegetarian chicken—a unique quality that comes from layering, but without being packed quite so tightly.

Delicious juices burst forth with every chew. For a moment, he couldn’t even tell if they were coming from the Lobster meat, the pickled peppers, or the diced bamboo shoots.

Sour, salty, savory, spicy, crisp, tender, springy, soft.

Multiple flavor profiles and distinct textures exploded in his mouth. Combined with the rich aroma from the charcoal grill, it was an exquisite temptation he’d never experienced before.

’My apologies to Gray, but it looks like he’s finally getting a new dish for his menu.’

He hadn’t really been creating any new dishes lately. This was the perfect opportunity to give Gray a new recipe and offer the restaurant’s regulars something different.

’The only soul of this dish it’s missing is the Sichuan-style red oil. The method for making it isn’t hard; you just need to get the right kind of chilies from a Great Xia supermarket or a supplier.’

’Basically, you infuse an oil with aromatics like green onions, cilantro, and onions, along with a spice packet. Then you pour the scalding oil over a chili powder blend in several batches. Finally, you add a splash of high-proof white liquor for aroma and to act as a preservative.’

’You can search for videos online for the specific process, or if any tourists from Great Xia come to the restaurant, you can have them look it up for you.’

’Once you have this chili oil, it will completely transform everything—cold dishes, hot dishes, noodles, salads, even barbecue. I guarantee you’ll never forget the aroma once you’ve tried it.’

His mouth started watering just thinking about it. He quickly took another huge bite of the lobster-and-conch-filled noodle sheet and chewed, trying to distract himself.

The noodle sheets were small, after all, but he had enough lobster and conch to make four in total.

After eating two in a row, he looked at the remaining two, thought for a bit, and decided to wrap them up to go.

When he arrived at the familiar cave, Erica was just starting a fire to prepare lunch.

Seeing him appear, Erica’s eyes lit up, and she jogged up to him with a smile.

"So, what delicious thing have you got for me?"

"I guarantee it’s something you’ve never had before."

Lin Chen went straight to the fire. He propped up the bamboo grilling grate he’d brought on two branches, then unwrapped the tightly packed banana leaf, revealing the dazzling assortment of ingredients inside.

"What’s this?"

Erica’s eyes immediately fell on the irregular, round, grayish-brown, pancake-like object.

"A crêpe?"

"It’s made from sweet potato starch," Lin Chen explained briefly, then quickly finished assembling one of the grilled noodle sheets.

When the strangely bulging "wrap," skewered on a branch, appeared before her, Erica still couldn’t believe her eyes.

’Sweet potato starch could be made into a flatbread? And you could grill it? And even use it like a tortilla to wrap up vegetables and meat?’

She couldn’t imagine what it tasted like, but judging from the ingredients alone, there was no way it could be bad.

For Lin Chen to go to the trouble of bringing it all this way to make for her on the spot, it must be something incredibly delicious. The kind of delicious that even he couldn’t resist showing off.