Chapter 181 - 134: Elegance is in the Bones
Tonight’s dinner consisted of one main dish, braised fish chunks, and a side of stir-fried cabbage with pork cracklings.
The star of the show, of course, was the braised fish chunks!
[A Decent Portion of Braised Fish Chunks]
A line from the Identification flashed before Zhou Yan’s eyes.
It was a far cry from the perfect Huo Xiang Carp.
But for his first time cooking carp—using a braising method he had never practiced before—achieving a "Decent" result was something Zhou Yan was quite satisfied with.
What did this mean?
’I’m not just some helpless scrub who can only rely on the system anymore!’
Once he truly mastered a dish, he could fully integrate the experience he’d accumulated filming in kitchens in his past life. Adding that to Comrade Zhou’s two and a half years of culinary training, he was now able to adapt and create new styles of dishes.
Take these "Decent" braised fish chunks, for example!
A dish of this level, with its complex preparation and high standards for the quality of the fish, wouldn’t be added to the menu until it at least reached an "Excellent" rating. He wasn’t about to make trouble for himself.
But it was perfectly fine for showing off his skills at a family meal and giving them a change of pace.
This progress gave Zhou Yan a great sense of accomplishment and excitement.
A bowl of rice for each person had already been placed on the table. Faced with such a perfect rice-pairing dish, no one could resist getting their staple food ready first.
This love and devotion to their staple food was something ingrained in their very bones.
"Should I rinse the fish in some rice water for you? It might be a little spicy," Zhou Yan asked, looking at Zhou Momo.
Zhou Momo nodded. "Yes!"
Smiling, Zhou Yan went back into the kitchen, poured a bowl of rice water, and placed it in front of Zhou Momo.
Mrs. Zhao picked out a piece of meat from the fish’s belly, swished it through the rice water for her, and placed it in her bowl. "If it’s too spicy, just eat a little," she reminded her. "And be careful of the bones."
"Okay." The little one nodded, already leaning in for a bite.
Unlike crispy fried fish, the coating on this one was soft and easy to bite through. The meat inside was tender and just a little spicy, but so fragrant. It was delicious!
She took a small bite of fish, pushed the bone out with her lips, and immediately followed it with a big mouthful of rice.
A bite of fish, a bite of rice—she was eating with great enjoyment.
Mrs. Zhao also picked up her chopsticks, selected a piece of fish, and took a bite.
Whoa!
Numbing, spicy, savory, and fragrant! The flavor exploded on the tip of her tongue.
The flour-coated fish chunks had been flash-fried to set their shape, then slowly softened as they simmered. Now, drenched in the thick sauce, they trembled when lifted with chopsticks, threatening to break apart and fall back onto the plate if you weren’t careful.
With one bite, the once-crispy coating, now soaked soft with sauce, gave way to exceptionally tender and smooth fish that practically slid into your mouth with a slurp.
The tang of the pickled radish, the unique zesty heat of pickled ginger and peppers, the spice of the dried chilies, and the numbing sensation of the Sichuan peppercorns all blended together perfectly. It was absolutely incredible!
"Delicious! It’s so melt-in-your-mouth tender, and the fish is so fresh. It’s not the least bit inferior to the Huo Xiang Carp!" Mrs. Zhao gave it the highest praise.
"Yeah, and when you dip it in the sauce, it’s so spicy and fragrant! The flavor is just out of this world!" Zhao Hong nodded enthusiastically in agreement.
"The texture of wild carp really is something else. It’s been cooked for so long, but it’s not mushy or falling apart. And it’s cooked so well," Comrade Zhou praised as well. He was certainly in luck, getting to eat wild carp thanks to his youngest girl.
Everyone had a second helping of rice at dinner that night.
They even used the leftover sauce to mix with their rice.
That was the highest form of praise.
"Old Zhou, let’s see if you can catch a carp this big next time," Mrs. Zhao said to Comrade Zhou with a laugh. "Whether or not we get to eat braised fish chunks again is all up to you."
"Alright, I’ll do my best next time," Comrade Zhou said, nodding with a fair bit of confidence.
"But I’m not wasting all this good oil unless it’s on a wild carp of this quality," Zhou Yan added with a grin.
It was fine for Comrade Zhou to buy some quality crucian carp from the market to make Huo Xiang Carp for customers. But if he brought back a farmed carp, Zhou Yan really didn’t want to waste the oil and effort.
Just as everyone was finishing up dinner, the brother and sister pair, Huang Ying and Huang Bing, arrived.
The moment Huang Ying stepped into the restaurant, she was sniffing the air. "It smells amazing! What did you make? It smells like fish, but it’s not Huo Xiang Carp, is it?"
"Goodness me, you have a sharp nose. Momo caught a big five-jin, eight-liang carp this afternoon," Zhao Tieying said with a smile as she cleared the bowls. "Zhou Yan made braised fish chunks. If you’d gotten here five minutes earlier, you could’ve had a piece."
"Holy moly! A five-jin carp? Where’d you catch it?" Huang Bing asked, looking at Zhou Momo in shock. "Can you take me with you next time?"
"Five minutes! It’s all Huang Bing’s fault for having to use the toilet before we left! I can’t believe we missed out on braised wild carp..." Huang Ying lamented, shaking her fist and giving Huang Bing a light punch.
Huang Bing dodged it easily and turned back to Zhou Momo. "I have a friend who likes to fish, but he’s never actually caught anything. Could you please teach him how you caught a five-jin, eight-liang carp?"
"It was just like this." Zhou Momo grabbed a chopstick to demonstrate. "Like this, you throw it in, and then it just sank all of a sudden, and then I pulled it up."
Huang Bing fell silent and glanced at Zhou Miao, who was standing nearby.
After a moment of silence, Zhou Miao nodded. "She’s not wrong."
See? What fisherman wouldn’t be left speechless by that?
"Was the braised fish good? When are you putting it on the menu?" Huang Ying sidled up to Zhou Yan, her face full of anticipation and her eyes betraying a deep craving for good food.
"It’s pretty good," Zhou Yan said with a smile, "but I think I could use some more practice on it. It also requires very high-quality fish, so it probably won’t be on the menu anytime soon. It’s more of an off-menu special."