The Spirit of Gourmet

Chapter 289 Qin Lang's Second Dish

Without immediately cutting, Qin Lang skillfully scaled the large yellow croaker, scraped off the slippery liquid from its surface, wiped it clean, and then took out a pair of long chopsticks.

Insert a chopstick along the fish's mouth, slightly deflecting it when it reaches the gill cover, so that the chopstick pierces through the gap in the gill cover, pressing the gills under the chopstick, and then inserting it into the fish's belly from the end of the gill cover.

Use the same method with another chopstick to pierce the fish from the other side.

Keep the two chopsticks parallel, wrap the ends of the chopsticks with a cloth to ensure stability, then slowly rotate them left and right, and then slowly pull them out.

When people saw the fish gills and various internal organs that were being pulled out along with the chopsticks, gasps of surprise rippled through the room.

"You can actually remove the internal organs without breaking open the fish's belly in this way?" Dylan's pupils contracted slightly, and a look of astonishment appeared on her face.

She had never seen Qin Lang cook fish with lamb inside its belly before, and this technique of removing the internal organs without breaking open the fish's belly seemed particularly novel to her.

Her hands couldn't help but mimic Qin Lang's movements, twisting in mid-air as if they were empty space, wishing she had a fish in her hand so she could replicate Qin Lang's actions.

But then, Dylan's eyes widened even more.

After removing the gills and internal organs, Qin Lang began a more difficult operation: removing the fish bones without breaking the fish body.

Qin Lang slowly pierced the fish's mouth with a thin knife about two fingers wide, extending it little by little along the main bone towards the tail of the large yellow croaker.

Meanwhile, Qin Lang kept his hand close to the fish's body, constantly sensing and adjusting the position and direction of the knife.

After separating the fish meat and bones on one side, proceed to the other side of the fish bone. Once both sides are completely separated, use a skillful force to break off the fish tail, and then carefully pull the entire fish bone out little by little from the gill cover on one side.

Even for those who had witnessed Qin Lang's similar actions before, this move still made them involuntarily hold their breath.

Those who hadn't seen it before couldn't help but cover their mouths tightly, afraid of disturbing Qin Lang's cooking and causing him to make a mistake.

Only after the entire fish skeleton was completely pulled out of the fish's belly did heavy breathing sounds come from all over the venue, followed by cheers and applause.

"Is this kid trying to pull another trick like hiding a sheep in the belly of a fish?" Zhuo Hong couldn't help but ask.

“If it were to be another fish-stuffed-sheep dish, Qin Lang probably wouldn’t change the type of fish,” Li Yuantu said slowly. “From the perspective of deboning, the mouth of a yellow croaker is smaller, making it more difficult to debone.”

Qin Lang removed the bone from the gill cover of the yellow croaker because it was difficult to pull out the main bone from the fish's mouth. If the goal was still to hide the sheep inside the fish's belly, there was no need to make such a change.

As if to confirm Li Yuantu's words, Qin Lang scooped out fresh, lively Leap Lake crabs from the aquatic product area next to him.

Seeing this, Li Yuantu's eyes shone with even stronger anticipation.

A fish can hide a sheep inside its belly, so there's no need for crabs.

So what exactly is this dish that is somewhat similar to, yet different from, the one with the fish belly stuffed with lamb?

After placing the Leap Lake Crab into the steamer, Qin Lang then picked up the deboned yellow croaker, thoroughly cleaned its belly with water, stuffed kitchen paper soaked in scallion and ginger water into the fish's belly, allowing the deflated fish to swell up again, added scallions, ginger, peppercorns, salt and cooking wine to a bowl, and marinated it for later use.

Having completed this step, Qin Lang took out a whole chicken from the ingredient box, which was twice the size of an ordinary chicken, and placed it on the table.

Upon seeing this, gasps of surprise erupted from the audience.

Most of the people present had seen Qin Lang's performance in the cooking competition, so when the chicken appeared, everyone recognized its origin.

Premium Chicken!
Just as Qin Lang was about to strike, he suddenly remembered something and turned to look at Li Yuantu beside him. "Mr. Li Yuantu, there shouldn't be any restrictions on using rare ingredients during the assessment, right?"

"Of course not." Li Yuantu laughed heartily. "But since you used premium ingredients, my expectations for this dish are even higher, aren't they?" "I'm sure you won't be disappointed." Qin Lang smiled confidently, quickly prepared the premium chicken, and then added it to the soup pot along with the ham and pork skin.

"Spicy, four hours."

"Chop!" Excitement shone in Lala's eyes.

Is it finally its turn to help?
Flying above the soup pot, Spicy quickly enveloped it with invisible energy, causing the stewing process inside to accelerate continuously.

Qin Lang then took the steamed Yuehu crabs out of the steamer and methodically removed the crab meat, crab roe, and crab paste for later use.

Heat oil in a wok, add scallions and ginger and sauté until fragrant. Then, add the crab shells (after removing the meat) into the wok and use the bottom of a spatula to crush the large pieces of crab shells. Then, add the main bones of the yellow croaker and stir-fry for a few moments.

"Crackling sound~" Spicy sounds came again.

While Qin Lang was completing the other steps, Lala had already finished accelerating the stewing process in the soup pot.

An incredibly rich and fragrant aroma of chicken soup wafted out the moment Qin Lang opened the lid, making everyone present swallow hard.

"Is this the aroma of rare ingredients...?" Jiang Ya sniffed hard, a look of intoxication on her face. "It's hard to imagine just how delicious the food made from such ingredients would be."

“No need to imagine.” Jiang Jun smiled, a look of anticipation appearing on his face. “We’ll be able to taste it soon.”

Patting LaLa's head as encouragement, Qin Lang poured the soup and ingredients from the soup pot into the pot, completely submerging the crab shells and fish bones.

He turned the heat down to low and then began to stir-fry the crab meat.

In a separate pot, heat lard until it melts, then add minced ginger and sauté until fragrant. Next, add crab meat, crab roe, crab paste, green peas, dried scallops, and other ingredients and stir-fry. Season with salt and pepper, and thicken with cornstarch slurry.

Looking at the abundant ingredients in the pot, everyone's mouths, which were already drooling uncontrollably, finally overflowed.

"With so many delicious ingredients, just how delicious will Qin Lang's dish be?" Cao Dongdong couldn't help but mutter to himself.

"I'm going to eat a lot later!"

“It’s not just you, everyone else probably thinks the same way.” Zhao Qian couldn’t help but swallow, summoning her two food spirits. “Bubu, Agate, let’s treat this food-grabbing later as a new form of training!”

"How much we can eat depends on you guys!"

The two food spirits exchanged a glance, their expressions quickly turning serious, their eyes filled with intense fighting spirit.

After the crab meat was cooked and cooled, Qin Lang went to the broth that had been simmering for a long time, filtered out all the ingredients, added a little salt to taste, and put it in the refrigerator to speed up the cooling process.

Once the broth has cooled, it will turn into a broth jelly under the action of the pork skin. Chop it up and mix it evenly with the cooled crab meat.

Take the marinated yellow croaker, pull out the kitchen paper stuffed into its belly, carefully stuff the aspic and crab roe into the fish's belly, and finally seal it with shrimp paste to ensure that the contents do not leak.

Having accomplished all this, Qin Lang took a deep breath.

Next…

The yellow croaker in soup, a dish served at the Manchu Han Imperial Feast, is about to undergo its final step.

(End of this chapter)