I'm the Culinary God

"Is this the new version of the Wrangler? Why does it look kind of ugly?"

Shen Jiayue, holding Dundun, looked at the cars in the dealership, feeling they were quite different from the rugged, exposed rivet design she remembered.

The current Wrangler has smoother lines; although the front still looks fierce, it’s like a muscleman in heavy makeup, looking awkward.

Chen Yan said:

"This soft line style is trendy now. Among all SUVs, only the Mercedes G-Class still has hard lines; other cars are pressured by the market to shift to softer lines, even Land Rover isn’t as rugged as before."

That’s indeed true, but Shen Jiayue couldn’t shake off a sense of shattered ideals.

The Wrangler comes in two configurations: Rubicon and Sahara. The Sahara is suited for desert traversing, and Rubicon is fit for mountainous terrain, with different setups for each.

Chen Yan operated on the principle that her dad’s money is no money at all and directly bought the Wrangler’s anniversary edition.

As for the car’s color, according to her preference, it would definitely be white or bright yellow, fitting the bold personality of an off-road vehicle.

But since it’s for Ren Jie’s commuting, such bright colors were off the table.

She chose a very low-key dark gray, with all configurations maxed out, adding all optional parts.

Since Old Chen is paying, why not spend freely?

If you’re going to fleece your dad, you better do it thoroughly, or you’ll regret it for three years.

Once the car was chosen, Chen Yuejin from the company’s finance came over to settle the payment and start the formalities.

Soon, Chen Yan was driving the temporarily plated Wrangler, along with Shen Jiayue in her Continental GT, leaving the dealership.

At the roadside, Shen Jiayue waved to Chen Yan:

"Yan Bao, you’re driving the new car, you go first."

But Chen Yan refused repeatedly:

"No, these past few days I keep hitting red lights while driving; it’s so unlucky, completely failing to carry forward the good luck from the engagement day."

Shen Jiayue laughed heartily:

"It means you overspent your luck that day, it’s a pity you wasted all the good fortune on claw machines and scratch lottery tickets, missing the chance to turn things around."

With that, she closed the car window, pulling the sleeping Dundun in the passenger seat, and headed onto the highway towards Yingchun Street on the North Fourth Ring.

At the shop, the initially dry and hard fish belly had become tender and soft after nearly two hours of soaking in warm oil.

This is because in the low-temperature fat, the collagen fiber crystals in the fish belly dissolve, turning the fish belly from an orderly crystal structure into a disorderly non-crystalline structure.

This can squeeze out the moisture inside the fish belly, while also causing the volume to shrink.

Dried abalone or similar gelatinous ingredients undergo three changes throughout the preparation process: first is soaking in warm water or warm oil, melting the collagen fiber crystals and softening the ingredients.

Once the oil temperature exceeds 100 degrees, the collagen in the ingredients begins to transform into elastin, which means it changes from a gelatinous structure to a loose one.

Typically, Cantonese-style dishes using fish maw focus on the texture of this second form.

Soft, smooth, and tender, perfect for cooking with abalone sauce, stock, and other ingredients.

At a temperature of 180 degrees, expansion becomes more dramatic, and the originally loose structure rapidly expands, forming many pores inside, becoming honeycomb-like or sponge-like.

The desired effect for abalone is this.

Lin Xu used a skimmer to stir in the oil pot, checking the softness of the fish maw.

It’s crucial to ensure there’s no hard core left inside the fish maw before proceeding; otherwise, the preparation of fish maw will fail.

After observing for a while and confirming there is no hard core, he prepared the wok on the adjacent stove.

He poured lard into the wok, heated it on high until six-tenths of the oil temperature, then switched to medium heat, trying to keep the oil temperature as stable as possible.

Next, using a skimmer, he scooped out all the fish maw from the nearby pot, let the oil drip off a bit, and threw it all into the six-tenths hot oil.

Once in, the fish maw in the pot quickly inflated like frying shrimp crackers, while Lin Xu stirred with the skimmer, ensuring the fish maw was fully submerged in hot oil, and turned the flame of the nearby stove to maximum.

The properly expanded abalone needs to be cooked for eight to nine in hot oil to avoid unexpanded gelatin inside and to remove excess fat.

Although abalone is made using oil preparation, when used in dishes, abalone should not contain any grease.

Otherwise, it loses the fresh, soft yet crisp texture and becomes greasy and unpalatable.

Shortly, the originally inconspicuous fish maw in the pot swelled up three or four times its size. When it was about right, Lin Xu used a skimmer to scoop it out and put it into the adjacent oil pot.

The oil temperature at eighty-nine percent cannot be used for frying for too long.

The expanded abalone needs to be submerged for seven to eight seconds, then quickly scooped out and immersed in cold water to prevent color change due to heat.

Moreover, putting it in cold water at this point can also enhance the crisp texture of the abalone.

Abalone is a fascinating ingredient—soft and tender, yet crisp, fluffy yet chewy—leaving a lasting impression on anyone who tastes it.

At high-end Central Plains banquets, this dish is used as the first course to immediately stimulate the appetite and put guests in the eating mood.

Ma Zhiqiang leaned over to take a look and curiously asked:

"Back home, when making abalone, they’d specially wash it with flour, but since we’re deep-frying it ourselves, we don’t need to, right?"