I'm the Culinary God

"I plan to make a dish called Osmanthus Abalone with salted egg yolk."

"That’s an old dish. Twenty years ago, I went to Zhongyuan Province city with my master to participate in a culinary competition. I saw an old master make it, and the egg yolk was cooked to look just like osmanthus. At that time, someone had their dish overlap with others, so they switched to salted egg yolk, making it into Golden Sand Abalone, and it turned out surprisingly well."

In the past, local governments often held culinary competitions to increase attractiveness.

During the competitions, the participating chefs were very hardworking, willing to use every trick in the book to win the championship.

Xie Baomin learned a lot of what he saw and heard back then by following Master Gao Daya around as a judge.

Lin Xu smiled and said:

"Since you’ve mentioned it, I’ll just add a dish of Golden Sand Abalone. With two egg yolk dishes, eating them might skyrocket my cholesterol."

He cut some abalone, then crushed some steamed salted egg yolks with a kitchen knife into a paste, and set it aside in a bowl.

With everything ready, he started cooking.

He added water to the pot, a small spoonful each of salt, chicken powder, and pepper, brought it to a boil, and stirred it. Then he poured in the abalone strips to blanch.

The seasoning was added now because abalone can’t come into direct contact with seasonings; otherwise, it might cause uneven flavors.

Adding the seasoning during blanching gives the abalone a base flavor, which makes it taste better when done.

Blanching is a must for abalone dishes.

This step not only removes any fishy smell but also ensures the ingredient is fully cooked before actual cooking.

Moreover, blanching can awaken the umami substances inside the abalone, enhancing both taste and flavor during the actual cooking.

The blanching time doesn’t need to be long; seven or eight seconds is enough to take it out.

Take out the abalone, squeeze out the water, then pour in one-third of the egg yolk liquid.

The egg yolk liquid enhances the abalone with an egg aroma and turns its color golden. This step is crucial whether making Osmanthus Abalone or Golden Sand Abalone.

Stir well so each abalone piece is covered in the yolk.

Heat the pot and add oil. Once heated, add the abalone coated in egg yolk and stir-fry on high heat.

Since the abalone is cooked, it doesn’t need intense frying. Once the egg yolk liquid solidifies and releases its aroma, it’s ready to be taken off the stove.

The golden abalone looks more enticing, and the egg yolk’s aroma makes it even more eye-catching.

Lin Xu tried a piece. Because the abalone had a base flavor from blanching, and the egg yolk seasoning was added, it tasted quite good.

Especially after being cooked in hot oil, its slightly crispy outer layer, along with the rich egg aroma and the intertwined sweet and salty taste, enhanced the dish a lot.

But at this point, the dish was only halfway done.

Lin Xu heated the pot again, added cold oil, properly coated the pot, then poured it out and coated it again to ensure the bottom didn’t stick. Afterward, he added a bit of base oil.

At about 40% oil heat, he poured in the egg yolk liquid and switched to low heat, using a spoon to slowly stir-fry.

The dried and scattered egg yolk liquid looked a lot like dried osmanthus, which is why in the industry, this egg flower technique is collectively called osmanthus.

Osmanthus dishes not only include Osmanthus Abalone, but also Osmanthus Fish Fin, Osmanthus Sea Cucumber, Osmanthus Noodles, Osmanthus Tofu, Osmanthus Shrimp, and more, utilizing the ordinary ingredient of egg yolk to its fullest potential.

There are rules to frying osmanthus; firstly, the heat shouldn’t be high so the egg yolk liquid doesn’t solidify too quickly. It should be slowly heated to form a loose osmanthus state.

Also, one must keep stirring with the spatula constantly, not pausing, or the osmanthus produced would not be as properly shaped or fragrant.

Only egg yolk stir-fried over low heat repeatedly turns out loose and crisp, full of aroma.

When the yolk in the pot turns into osmanthus, Lin Xu added half of the abalone covered in egg yolk, stir-fried on high heat, and served it on a heated plate.

Egg yolk dishes should be served on hot plates.

If served on cold plates, the yolk’s temperature drops rapidly, inevitably causing a slight eggy smell and losing its fresh aroma.

"That’s a great Osmanthus Abalone, your skill is impeccable, junior brother."

Xie Baomin initially thought of giving some pointers, but found his junior brother’s skills as precise and organized as textbook instructions, leaving no room for himself to add.

Lin Xu smiled and said:

"I had it a few times when I was young with my grandma at banquets, left a deep impression."

After speaking, he placed the pot back on the stove, greased it lightly, then added a bit of cooking oil, poured in the mashed salted duck yolk, and started making Golden Sand Abalone.

Golden Sand Abalone, also called Egg Yolk Baked Abalone, is made exactly like the other egg yolk dishes.

First, fry the egg yolks until bubbling, then add white sugar. Once the sugar melts, add the abalone and continue stir-frying to coat the salted yolk evenly on the abalone, and the dish is complete.

For Lin Xu, it’s not difficult at all, because he mastered the perfect level egg yolk baked pumpkin method long ago, and this dish is just replacing pumpkin with abalone.

With the dish done, Lin Xu brought it outside. Upon seeing it, Shen Jiayue’s eyes sparkled like stars:

"Wow, golden legend!"

Though she hadn’t tasted it yet, just the aroma told her it couldn’t be bad.

The rich egg aroma combined with the outstanding texture of the abalone definitely achieves a result where one plus one is greater than two.

Shen Jiayue picked up her chopsticks, impatiently tried a piece, and gave Lin Xu a thumbs up:

"Super delicious, but these little egg flower bits are hard to pick up, Xu-bao, am I eating it wrong?"

Golden Sand Abalone can be eaten directly because the egg yolk paste completely coats the abalone. Osmanthus Abalone is different because it contains many osmanthus-like egg yolk bits that are hard to pick up with chopsticks.

Lin Xu said:

"You can pair it with fried chili rings and eat it wrapped in duck pancakes, that’s how we ate it back home."

Shen Jiayue was curious:

"With duck pancakes? You don’t eat roast duck?"

Lin Xu tasted a bit of the Golden Sand Abalone, laughed, and said:

"We couldn’t afford roast duck. Just having fried Purple Crispy Meat at banquets was lucky."

This led to another gap in Shen Jiayue’s knowledge:

"Fried Purple Crispy Meat? What’s that?"

"It’s a dish that uses pork to mimic roast duck, eaten just like roast duck with scallion and sweet sauce."

"Hmm... Can you make it for me to try?"

"No problem!"

The couple was chatting when Xie Baomin came out from the kitchen with a finished Flavorful Snake dish.

Shen Jiayue was captivated by the spicy aroma and felt she’d be stuffed by day’s end:

"What a fragrant scent, I feel I’ll overeat today... Uh? What kind of meat is this? Eel? It looks like a snake, a bit creepy."

Lin Xu hadn’t expected this girl to also be afraid of snakes, so he lied:

"This is the flower eel that my senior brother bought at a high price, quite rare, so we cooked it like a Flavorful Snake. Try it later, it’ll be delicious!"

Next to him, Xie Baomin couldn’t help but give Lin Xu a thumbs up.

No wonder junior brother gets along so well with his sister-in-law. His ability to lie smoothly is enviable, unlike me, old Xie, who never learned to lie...

Alas! Honest people destined to be neglected!

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This Chapter is 5400 words. There’s a double monthly ticket at the end of the month, you might want to save it until then.