Gourmet: From a Stall in Northern Europe

"For ease of cleaning."

Lin Chen explained the reason he had mentioned earlier once more to him. John nodded with a hint of understanding: "So, can I have someone soak the crayfish before it’s delivered?"

"That’s a great idea!"

Lin Chen gave him a thumbs up—the purpose of explaining was exactly this. Clearly, this fellow was quite perceptive.

The farm also acts as a supplier. Even though there’s little interest in crayfish now, the situation might change once Lin Chen sets up his stall tomorrow.

If there’s a surge in demand, as a supplier, it’s normal to clean them in advance.

Taking the time now to learn processing techniques makes perfect sense.

Lin Chen was almost done with prepping the ingredients and was ready to heat the oil, so he let John go to the sink to learn how to process the crayfish.

The farm has limited human resources and isn’t a professional supplier, so they can’t handle everything, but at least make him aware, just in case.

Seeing Lin Chen about to start cooking, Marchello and Nagishiro Sho immediately set aside their brushes and scissors, washed their hands, and came over to watch.

Three iron pots were set on the stove; one was half-filled with oil, obviously for deep-frying, though it wasn’t heated—seemed like it was just placed there.

The other two empty pots were fired up; into one, salad oil and pork fat were poured, and into the other, rapeseed oil.

Lin Chen used both hands to rotate the pot, allowing the cold oil to coat the sides to prevent sticking.

These were well-seasoned iron pots and generally non-stick, but he kept the habit of oiling the pots.

The pot with mixed salad oil and pork fat was for making spicy garlic crayfish. He didn’t know which region’s recipe he got from the system, but the steps differed from many online crayfish cooking videos.

No problem though, just follow the recipe, and it won’t go wrong.

The recipe clearly marked a seven-to-three ratio for salad oil and pork fat, not exceeding six-four, and to elevate the oil temperature to around 190 degrees before frying the spices.

The same weight of Sichuan peppercorns and chili flakes was prepped in the frypan. Once the white smoke from the pot dissipated, quickly add the spices and stir to prevent burning.

This step is crucial; the aroma and spiciness hinge upon it.

If the spices are fried well, the dish is half-successful.

The frying process shouldn’t take too long; within three or four seconds after adding to the pot, the spicy aroma exploded, compelling one to sneeze.

At this point, don’t hesitate, immediately pour in some cool water to lower the temperature, preserving the aroma and spiciness, then add 200 grams of spice water—prepared by boiling various spices in advance, saving time and preventing large spice pieces in the crayfish.

Once the liquid in the pot starts to boil slightly, directly add the processed crayfish.

The most notable difference in this recipe is here; the crayfish doesn’t need to be pre-fried, it’s directly stewed in the pot.

After adding crayfish, adjust with more water as needed, ensuring the water is slightly more than the crayfish weight, roughly at a ratio of 1.2 to 1.

If too much water, it will dilute the sauce’s flavor.

If too little, it will result in an overly salty taste.

Likewise, the cooking time for crayfish is also specified. Only by meticulously controlling each step can you achieve perfectly flavored crayfish.

While the crayfish slowly changes color in the water, move to the other pot to sauté a generous amount of mashed garlic.

The garlic mash was prewashed, akin to making garlic sauce, washing removes garlic’s inherent bitterness and enhances sweetness.

He’s making a fusion spicy garlic crayfish; the recipe is purely spicy crayfish, so this garlic flavor is added by himself.

To avoid disrupting the recipe steps, he needs to separately sauté the garlic mash to add later.

The crayfish pot starts to bubble heavily, add two small blocks of beef hot pot base to replace the spicy ingredients and chili oil in the recipe, followed by salt, sugar, chicken essence, and MSG for seasoning.

Sugar should be used liberally so the brewed broth is rich and sweet, at least three times the salt amount.

He replaced half the recipe’s water with beer, unsure of this crayfish’s fishiness, but adding beer seems safer.

After adjusting the base flavors, lay the sautéed garlic mash on top as a lid to let the crayfish absorb flavors from the broth during stewing.

No need to cover, just simmer openly for about ten minutes to let excess moisture naturally evaporate.

Reuse the garlic-sautéed pot without cleaning, add some salad oil for heating, stir-fry scallions, ginger, and garlic for aroma, then add fish heads and bones.

No need to rush the flipping, let them slowly brown—it extracts their richness.

Once browned on one side, then flip, maintaining medium-high heat throughout to prevent sticking and preserve shape for an appealing appearance.

After both sides are browned, push the fish heads and bones to the pot’s side, adding Pixian Douban Sauce, soy sauce, oyster sauce, salt, sugar, chicken essence, MSG, dry perilla, and fresh orange peel to the center.

Originally, dried orange peel was recommended—it has less bitterness and a stronger fragrance—but... beggars can’t be choosers.

Just soak the orange peel in advance, scrape off the inner white part, and it’s good enough.

Stir-fry the sauce until the aroma is fully released, then add hot water to dissolve it. Bring back the fish head and fish bones, turn the heat to the maximum to activate the nutrients and umami from the fish head and bones.

No matter if it’s a red soup or a white soup, hot water is key, and high heat is also crucial. Only with strong enough heat can the fat from the fish head and bones melt into the soup, making it white.

The amount of water for making red soup should be much less than for white soup, just reaching halfway up the fish head is sufficient, and that’s why red fish soup mixed with rice is so satisfying.

Less water means the flavor is concentrated, the taste is strong, making it a perfect match for rice.

Meanwhile, both pots are simmering, and what’s left are the pickled fish and scallion oil fish fillets.

These two aren’t urgent; they can be made in the next round, which is pretty quick.

Marchello and Nagishiro Sho watched quietly without interrupting, just observing the entire cooking process.

Whether it’s the spicy crayfish or the fish head soup, these methods are completely new to them.

Not to mention crayfish, the fish head soup cooking method is beyond their expectations.

In either Western or Japanese cuisine, fish heads in soups appear only during the broth-making process, usually just tossed with other vegetables and spices directly into the water to simmer.

The pan-frying step, however, is understandable to them, similar to the beef bone broth principle: first use an oven to caramelize the surface of bones and vegetables, extract the umami then stew.

But adding so many strange ingredients later on, especially orange peels, is completely beyond their comprehension.

Orange peel, can it be used in soup?

While the two pondered, the crayfish was almost cooked, and the air was filled with the aroma of spicy butter and garlic, making one’s mouth water uncontrollably.

The girls brushing the shrimp couldn’t help but get distracted by the aroma, their empty stomachs rumbling, abandoning their brushes to come watch.

"So fragrant, so fragrant, what is this smell, it’s too good!"

"Are we selling this tomorrow? It’s bound to be a hit!"

Even without tasting it yet, just from the smell, the girls could already foresee the busy scene at the stall tomorrow.

The iron pot was now brimming with golden garlic, and the crayfish had completely turned red, simmering alluringly in the sauce.

Lin Chen grabbed a handful of cucumber strips, threw them in, stirred them to soak in the sauce, and simmered for another three or four minutes before they were ready.

Tonight there’s no time to make hand-cut noodles; after finishing the crayfish, we’ll cook a few packets of instant noodles just for fun, as everyone here has tried the hand-cut noodles, they can imagine the taste.

Soon, the crayfish was taken out, the whole pot was dumped into a large metal basin, and a handful of chopped scallions was sprinkled for garnish.

The fish head only needed about ten minutes to cook before being ready.

Before taking it out, sprinkle some green pepper, red pepper, and garlic leaves, which he has been eating since he was a child.

The green and red peppers are not too spicy, added to the boiling fish soup can enhance freshness and aroma, also partly alleviate greasiness.

Garlic leaves have the same effect and also make the fish soup taste even better.

"Gulp"

Someone swallowed a mouthful of saliva, the sound clearly audible, but no one paid attention because everyone was pretty much the same.

Having been busy from morning till night, everyone had only had a simple lunch, not filling at all.

Now smelling this wonderful aroma, saying they aren’t hungry would be a lie.

The two head chefs voluntarily helped move the two dishes aside; it was clear Lin Chen still had dishes to make, so there was no rush to start eating.

"Making pickled fish should ideally use fish broth and fresh pickles, but today the conditions are limited, so I’ll use a semi-finished soup pack instead; I’ll make the complete version next time, the taste difference isn’t too significant anyway."

He took a pack of pickled fish base from the side, emptied it into the pot, added water, and started simmering; the other pot was simply cleaned and filled with water to boil on high heat.

The preparation of the fish fillet dishes is almost identical, both are water boiled, the only difference is in the soup base and spices.

Once both pots started boiling, the pre-marinated fish fillets were added, making sure they stayed separated to avoid sticking.

Once the water boiled again, simmer for another two to three minutes before taking out.

The pickled fish is simply plated and sprinkled with scallions, while for the other dish, the boiled fish fillets are drained, plated, and the water in the pot discarded, leaving the pot ready for oil.

Lay prepared scallions, ginger, and garlic over the fish fillets, then drizzle with piping hot oil.

"Sizzle"

"Sizzle"

"Sizzle"

Oil is poured three times, completely releasing the aroma of the scallions and ginger garlic, finally topped with a circle of steamed fish soy sauce, and it’s done.