I'm the Culinary God

After the water starch goes into the pot, grab a handful of chopped garlic chives and sprinkle them in, stirring a bit, while turning down the heat.

At this moment, the vinegar sauce becomes much thicker, with strong aromas of vinegar, broth, garlic chives, etc., all very rich.

Stir a few times in the pot with a spoon to fully blend the flavors, then let it bubble in the pot over low heat.

For the Vinegar Fried Crucian Carp, the broth must be hot enough, so it cannot be taken off the stove; it needs to be kept hot.

The oil pot is now up to eighty percent heat.

Lin Xu starts the third round of frying.

Qiu Zhenhua finishes deboning the fish and comes over to take a look at the vinegar sauce in the pot:

"The vinegar is not sour enough."

"I’ll add a bit of edge vinegar when pouring the sauce later, because there are a lot of fish today; if we add all the vinegar at once, it may evaporate."

Lin Xu explains, then holds a fish and puts it into the oil pot for the third fry.

While frying, he doesn’t forget to instruct the helper beside him:

"Get the hot plates ready."

For this kind of dish, the plate must be hot. This way, after serving, the diners will enjoy a flavorful, sour aroma. Otherwise, if the plate is cold, the temperature of the fish will drop on the way to the banquet hall, and the fishy smell in the meat may come back out.

Why do restaurants like to marinate fish in advance? It’s to prevent the fish from tasting fishy and causing a mishap.

The difficulty with this Vinegar Fried Crucian Carp is that it can’t be marinated and needs to be eaten in its original flavor. A little carelessness can bring out the fishy taste, so regular Huaiyang restaurants generally don’t make this dish.

Even if they do, they add a marinating step in the process.

This time, you cannot fry them all together; you have to do it one by one, as each fish takes less than thirty seconds to fry, and frying two at once might overcook them.

Once the fish is in the pot, it is quickly taken out.

Lin Xu places it on the plate, then uses a spatula to scoop a large spoonful of rice vinegar and drizzle it along the edge of the pot into the vinegar sauce, then rotates the pot with his left hand, mixing the rice vinegar with the vinegar sauce.

With his right hand, he takes a ladle from the oil pot next to him and pours a large spoonful of hot oil into the vinegar sauce.

As the hot oil goes in, the sour aroma of vinegar, the flavor of the broth, and the scent of garlic chives all surge up together.

Lin Xu picks up the pot and turns around; at this moment, Qiu Zhenhua is giving the fish a third crisp skin treatment, using a clean kitchen towel to cover the fish and pressing it, trying to crack the fish meat as much as possible.

After doing this quickly, he removes the towel, while Lin Xu also has the pot right there. Without any pause, he scoops a ladle of the still-sizzling vinegar sauce and pours it onto the fish.

"Szzzz..."

A burst of sour aroma rises up, and the Vinegar Fried Crucian Carp is finally completely done.

Qiu Zhenhua covers the plate lid and says to the kitchen helper beside him:

"Quick, serve the dish!"

The kitchen helper runs out, handing it off to the waiter, who quickly takes it upstairs to serve.

Lin Xu puts the wok back on the stove with the low flame, continuing to fry the next one.

Qiu Zhenhua stands to the side with a towel waiting to give the fish a crisp skin treatment.

Making this dish requires racing against time; you can’t even have a moment of distraction, otherwise the quality of the dish will suffer.

While busy, Qiu Zhenhua says:

"In the old grand restaurants, making this dish required two agile waiters to serve together, one carrying the fish at the front, and another following with the vinegar sauce. The moment the dish hit the table, the one in the back would pour the sauce, making the fish sizzle with aroma... This serving style was called running sauce."

Lin Xu is well aware of this.

Running sauce means running while pouring sauce, and it requires the waiters to be highly skilled.

They not only have to run fast and steadily, but when pouring the sauce, they must use one bowl to cover the fish head, body, and tail all at once, without spilling a drop of sauce anywhere but on the fish.

This level of skill isn’t something just any waiter can manage.

Moreover, a qualified waiter not only knows how to pour sauce but also understands food and drink pairings, can spout auspicious words on the fly, and remembers all the regulars’ preferences and personalities, much more impressive than today’s servers.

Unfortunately, in modern society, such talent isn’t destined for waiting tables, and the so-called running sauce now only exists in culinary writings and similar stories.

In reality, it’s rare to see two waiters sprinting to serve a dish, shouting as they run:

"Fish~ coming~ through~~~~"

"Vinegar~ Fried~ Crucian~ Carp~~~~"

Lin Xu looks at Qiu Zhenhua and asks:

"Did the Fishing Platform ever try running sauce?"

"We tried, scared the foreigners, and ended up writing apologies."

If even the Fishing Platform can’t revive this tradition, it’s probably gone for good. But that’s fine; in modern society, efficiency comes first. If a single dish requires so many people bustling about, forget about making a profit, breaking even would be a blessing.

After finishing all the fish, Lin Xu wipes his hands and goes upstairs with Qiu Zhentao to join the feast.

Although by now the dishes on the table might mostly be gone, attending a feast is also about joining the fun, aside from eating.

Moreover, not eating at a feast always leaves one feeling like they’ve missed out on a lot.

Upon arriving upstairs, the entire banquet hall is filled with the sour fragrance of Vinegar Fried Crucian Carp, and the guests at the engagement banquet see Lin Xu enter and immediately praise him:

"This crucian carp is really delicious."

"Amazing, Xiaoxu, it’s the first time I’ve had such tasty crucian carp."

"It’s a pity with just one or two bites, it’s gone. This dish should be enjoyed by each person having a whole one."

"Will you add this dish to the restaurant menu? If you do, I’ll come back to try it no matter the cost. Never imagined even the fish bones could be crispy and fragrant."

"I originally thought Squirrel Guaiyu was the peak, but Vinegar Fried Crucian Carp has broken through the ceiling."

"Great skill, you should record a video later. Even if we can’t learn it, we can at least save it."

"..."

Lin Xu responds to everyone one by one, then goes to Shen Jiayue’s side, looking at Grandma Shen and asking:

"Grandma, how’s the fish?"

"Delicious, so delicious. You must be tired after all this, right? Sit down and eat, my dear grandson-in-law."

Shen Jiayue quickly fetches chopsticks for Lin Xu, and also moves a small covered bowl over from in front of her:

"I was afraid you wouldn’t get any, so I saved some for you... This fish is so delicious; when can we eat it again? Just a few bites aren’t enough."

Lin Xu tastes the fish, finding it sour, fragrant, and delicious, with crispy fish meat.

When just out of the pot, the fish’s temperature is very high, as is the vinegar sauce, so the high temperature vinegar softens the high temperature fish bones, resulting in this aromatic, crispy texture in the mouth.

With the sour and slightly sweet flavor, it is indescribable.

As he eats the fish, Dundun jumps down from Grandma Shen’s lap, tidies its little sweater, then strides over to Chen Yan.

Since Auntie is getting engaged, I, the cat, will also present a small gift...

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This Chapter has 5200 words, asking for monthly tickets, brothers!