Gourmet Style Beast Taming - Chapter 227:

Chapter 227: Chapter 227 Peony

Translator: 549690339 |

In the aftermath of the anomaly that occurred at the pier, Qin Lang, who had returned to his hotel, remained completely oblivious.

He was currently busy with his preparations. Having received all the ingredients needed for his practice dish, he orderly placed each one of them on the counter of his independent kitchen.

“Gurulu?”

What dish are we making?

After examining carefully, Dan Bao couldn’t help but ask curiously, as it noticed the fish ingredient used this time was something they had not used before.

/”This time…” Qin Lang knocked out the still-jumping grass carp and put it on the cutting board, “this time, we are making Peony Fish Fillet.”

When he heard the task was to cook a dish related to flowers using fish ingredients, the first dish that popped into his mind was this one.

The peony is an outstanding flower, brightening up the capital when it’s in bloom.

The Peony Fish Fillet dish perfectly meets the requirements of Miss Tang Mi.

However, cooking this dish is not easy.

As a classic non-spicy dish from Szechuan cuisine that’s featured in state banquets, the Peony Fish Fillet is indeed a dish with a high failure rate.

Peony Fish Fillet?

The eyes of Dan Bao and Spicy instantly lit up.

They didn’t know how difficult it was to cook this dish.

But they knew this was a new dish for them.

They were eager to taste it!

“Shall we get started?” Qin Lang laughed, suddenly remembering something, “The Peony Fish Fillet is quite appealing. We can also film a new gourmet video at the same time.”

Both of them nodded enthusiastically, as they were already fond of eating on camera, there was no objection from them.

Shortly after, Qin Lang began his cooking process.

He removed the head of the grass carp and filleted the fish body along its spine. After skillfully removing the fish bones and skin, Qin Lang placed one piece of fish filet on the chopping board and kept the other on standby.

Next, it was time to showcase his knife skills.

With his fast knife work, Qin Lang swiftly sliced into the fish, rapidly cutting the chunk of fish into thin, wide slices. Each slice glowed like crystal under the light, showing a slight transparent quality.

Although Dan Bao and Spicy had witnessed Qin Lang’s knife work countless times, their faces still showed pride each time they saw it.

This is our Spirit Chef!

Even though they were food spirits, they still couldn’t see his limit.

Shortly, in Dan Bao and Spicy’s eyes, a whole chunk of fish was sliced into three-millimeter-thick slices, followed by the second chunk of fish meat.

A high-quality grass carp can easily exceed sixty centimeters in length, and after removing the head and tail, half a fish can easily be cut into more than a hundred slices. A whole fish can yield more than two hundred slices.

Such a large quantity of fish slices, even forming seven to eight layers of petal­like big peonies, can be arranged into four pieces.

After slicing, the fish slices were put into ice and saltwater, with added scallion, ginger, and cooking wine for soaking and marinating.

The purpose is not just for removing fishy smell, but also for letting the fish meat contract under the low temperature to improve its texture, thus preparing it for further cooking steps.

This requires a waiting time of… over an hour.

“Spicy, over to you.” Qin Lang looked at the eager Spicy, “Full speed ahead!”

“Chaka!”

Understood!

With a look of excitement on its face, Spicy took a deep breath before releasing an invisible power from its body. This power enveloped the fish meat soaked in the ice and salt water, hastening the marination and treatment process.

After reaching two stars, Spicy could double the duration of its cooking acceleration ability, where it now maxes out at 50 minutes.

Adding the time taken during the application process and the time Qin Lang spent preparing other steps, the fillets quickly reached the required marination time.

Marinated fish fillets, in order to make them even more crispy during the frying process, need to be coated with cornstarch. This is followed by tapping them, one of the two most complex steps in the whole process of cooking the Peony Fish Fillet.

Each starch-coated fillet was lightly tapped with a wooden stick. Under an appropriate level of force, the fillets gradually became thinner and spread out as if they were being flattened.

With intentional force guiding the process, the spread-out fillets assumed a feather shape, and were finally slightly trimmed with kitchen scissors.

This step required a fair amount of experience; even Qin Lang messed up two or three pieces before he found the feeling he had when he first cooked the dish.

“Gurulu!”

I want to do that too!

Seeing a complete fan-shaped fish fillet take shape in Qin Lang’s hands, Dan Bao couldn’t help but itch to try it as well.

It seems not that difficult, right?

Maybe employing Thought Waves, I too could do it?

“You can give it a shot.”

Qin Lang handed it a wooden stick, the encouragement clear in his gaze.

Beating more than two hundred fish fillets himself? How long would that take?

But with Dan Bao’s help, the task becomes much easier. Under multi-task circumstances, one Dan Bao could do the job of several others.

“Chaka!”

I also want to come!

Seeing Dan Bao pitch in, Spicy wanted to join too.

With a Spirit Chef supervising the process, Cooking Acceleration couldn’t be used.

But it could help to beat the fish fillets!

Though it couldn’t control the wooden stick, it could grip it with its mouth!

“All right, you two give it a try.”

Qin Lang balanced a bowl of water, handed another wooden stick to Spicy, and then began to demonstrate at a slower pace how to beat the fillet without tearing it apart.

After a while, the two little ones got the hang of it.

“Dut dut dut ”

A series of muffled banging noises echoed in the kitchen.

Now, Dan Bao already had a delicate control of the Thought Waves. After seven failures, it finally, perfectly, beat a thin, fan-shaped fish fillet.

Just as it was cheering, Spicy’s attempt ended in failure.

Trying to control the force by gripping the stick in its mouth was a bit of an overreach.

Dropping the stick in frustation, it flew over to Qin Lang, wanting some comfort.

“Everyone has their strengths.” Qin Lang tousled Spicy’s head, “There will be other places you can help later.”

“Chaka!”

Okay!

A spark lit up Spicy’s eyes.

There will be places that require Cooking Acceleration?

Its excitement only lasted for a second.

As Dan Bao got more skilled, it wasn’t content to just beat one piece, it gradually tried to beat two pieces, then three pieces and even more at the same time.

By the time Dan Bao could handle ten pieces simultaneously, Qin Lang, satisfied, set down his wooden stick.

Now that’s what you call freedom for your hands! (Tactically leaning backwards.jpg)

With such a powerful helper, a process that originally required a lot of time was completed in just over an hour, and it also served as a combat skill training exercise for Dan Bao.

“Two Birds with One Stone”

The ruined fillets were set aside, and each remaining piece of fish was perfectly fan-shaped, almost like individual flower petals.

At this point, the cooking of the Peony Fish Fillet was halfway done.

Next up, was another incredibly tedious step in the cooking process of the Peony Fish Fillet — frying.

To achieve the elegance of a peony flower, the oil-frying step is essential.

Qin Lang needed to fry each piece of fish fillet into slightly curled petals, adjusting the level of curliness for different layers to present a better looking final product.

To do this, he had to —

Drop them into the pot one by one.

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Easter Egg for the end of this chapter:

[Peony Fish Fillet]