Chapter 365 - 193: Linjiang Shanshi Noodles, Who Could Resist This

Chapter 365: Chapter 193: Linjiang Shanshi Noodles, Who Could Resist This

"It’s impressive enough that your brain can remember it. The skill of filleting eel is all about practice. You definitely can’t learn it overnight," Xiao Lei said with a laugh, continuing as he worked.

"For Linjiang Shanshi, you need to choose small eels like these, under 25 grams each, and they need to be uniform in size. The resulting eel shreds will have a more delicate texture. Choosing the right eel is also key."

"Master, are you going to deep-fry these eel bones?" Zhou Yan asked. When he’d eaten Linjiang Shanshi before, the restaurant would also serve a side of crispy fried eel bones, claiming they were from the very eel he had ordered.

It was a complementary dish, similar to how you get the duck carcass for free when you order a roast duck, which they then use to make a sour radish and duck bone soup—all while encouraging you to spend more money on other dishes for the hot pot.

Of course, the eel bones didn’t come with a hidden catch. They were just a complimentary side dish that went well with drinks, and a pretty fragrant one at that. ℯ

"You even know about such a high-class way of eating?" Xiao Lei looked at him, a little surprised.

Zhou Yan stared at him. "I’ve seen a thing or two. But Master, last Chinese New Year, when we went to your place for Linjiang Shanshi, we didn’t get any fried eel bones. Were you secretly hogging them all for yourself?"

Xiao Lei put on a serious face. "Nonsense! How could I do that? I used the eel bones to make a rich stock for cooking the eel shreds."

"Does adding the rich stock make a big difference? Would just using water work?" Zhou Yan asked earnestly.

"To be honest, it doesn’t make a huge difference." Xiao Lei smiled. "This dish is heavily seasoned, and when the eel itself is high-quality, spending three or four hours simmering a stock from the bones is pointless. It just wastes time. The freshly filleted eel shreds will lose their freshness after three hours. It’s putting the cart before the horse."

Hearing this, Zhou Yan also smiled. "Then let’s just fry these eel bones and eat them."

"Sounds good. They’re perfect with drinks," Xiao Lei agreed.

Once the eel shreds were ready, they were placed in a large enamel basin and rinsed several times with clean water until the water ran clear and the shreds looked fresh.

The heads and tails of the eel skeletons were chopped off, and they were also rinsed clean with water.

There was a reason Linjiang Shanshi was expensive. Wild yellow eels were costly to begin with, the preparation was excessively tedious and complex, and the yield was very low.

From a pound of yellow eel, you’d get less than half a pound of eel shreds.

In the time it took just to boil the eel and fillet the shreds, Zhou Yan could have stir-fried three other dishes.

And for Linjiang Shanshi, this was only the ingredient preparation step.

’Even if I learned how to make this dish, I wouldn’t easily add it to my menu.’

’It’s more suited for a specialty shop that focuses only on Linjiang Shanshi. You’d hire people specifically to boil and fillet the eels, and then have a head chef in charge of the final cooking.’

’The flavor would have to be excellent and the price high. As long as you could build a good reputation, you could make a lot of money.’

’It’s not suitable for the menu of my little restaurant, but learning it would mean having a truly special skill.’

’At future family gatherings, there might be debates over who is the god of Twice-Cooked Pork, but when I make Linjiang Shanshi, everyone else would have to step aside. They’d have to beg me if they wanted a taste.’

’Shanyu Zhang is considered a master with a special skill, right?’

’And isn’t he still completely under my master’s thumb?’

"Are you sure you want to deep-fry them? That method uses a lot of oil," Xiao Lei said, preparing to mix the batter and looking to Zhou Yan for confirmation.

Zhou Yan waved his hand dismissively. "Master, who ever heard of a restaurant owner being afraid of using too much oil? You just do your thing."

"Alright then," Xiao Lei replied and began mixing the batter. He explained, "If you want the eel bones to be perfectly crispy, this batter is the key. It’s the same principle as making fried dough..."

He heated the wok and poured in a generous amount of oil. It was nearly half a wok full of rapeseed oil, at least five or six pounds’ worth.

Once the oil temperature rose, he added the batter-coated eel bones.

SIZZLE!

The eel bones sizzled in the wok. The aroma of egg from the batter, mixed with the fragrance of the bones, quickly filled the air as they gradually turned a light yellow.

He scooped the bones out, raised the oil temperature, and fried them a second time.

After repeating this process three times, the eel bones were golden brown and perfectly crisp.

"See? This is what you’re looking for," Xiao Lei said as he removed the bones from the oil and arranged them on two plates.

[An Extremely Good Plate of Fried Eel Bones]

The Identification system gave its assessment.

A rating just shy of "perfect" was already incredibly high.

"Let me try!" Zhou Yan didn’t stand on ceremony. He picked up a bone with his chopsticks, blew on it briefly, and popped it into his mouth.

CRUNCH!

You could tell how crispy it was just from the sound.

After being deep-fried three times, the once-hard eel bones had become exceptionally brittle. Yet, the texture when chewed was delicate. The flavor was unique—savory and fragrant with a hint of numbing spice, growing more aromatic the more he chewed.

"So fragrant! It’s fried perfectly. It’s incredibly crispy and delicate, and the flavor just keeps getting better as you chew," Zhou Yan exclaimed in admiration.

"On a menu, this dish is called ’Dragon Bones.’ So, you tell me if it’s fragrant or not," Xiao Lei said with a smile. He picked one up for himself, chewing it with a loud crunch, and looked at Zhou Yan. "I’m about to start on the eel shreds. Why don’t you make some hand-pulled noodles? About a hundred grams per person. Linjiang Shanshi is best eaten tossed with noodles; that’s the life. We won’t need to make any other dishes for dinner."

"Got it." Zhou Yan nodded. The same thought had already occurred to him, and he started kneading dough for the hand-pulled noodles.

The aroma had already drawn Zhou Momo to the kitchen doorway. She stood on her tiptoes, staring eagerly at the two plates of fried eel bones on the stove, and asked curiously, "Brother, what’s that?"

"They’re fried eel bones," Zhou Yan answered with a smile, still kneading the dough.

"Come on, little one, have a taste." Xiao Lei called out with a smile and picked up an eel bone for Zhou Momo.

"Thank you, Uncle!" Zhou Momo took it with her hand, put it in her mouth, and took a bite. With a soft crunch, her eyes lit up. "Wow, so crispy! And so yummy!"

CRUNCH! CRUNCH!

Like a little kitten, she bit off a piece of the bone, then chewed it into small bits before swallowing. She was clearly enjoying it.