Culinary God in Wilderness

Chapter 250: Chapter 183: Dark Clouds Overhead, Emergency Construction

There had to be some smart people among the contestants heading to the Dalian Mountain Range. They would know that the more people there were, the faster supplies would dwindle, so many of them would likely choose to set up temporary camp at the foot of the mountains or on the slopes, rather than trying to cross them.

If possible, it was best to first capture a small deer worth a lot of points before moving on. That way, they could quickly build a lead over the other contestants.

Meanwhile, the production team began to secretly release the second round of prey.

「The White Whale.」

Gray, who had just finished the dinner service, emerged from the back kitchen with huge, dark circles under his eyes, a laptop cradled in his arms.

He had wanted to find a place to sit, but the restaurant was packed to the gills. People were even standing packed against the walls, leaving no room to move.

He sighed, a mix of gratification and speechlessness. He had no choice but to place his laptop on the freshly wiped counter by the cash register and start working while standing.

"Are you ready?"

Max looked at him with concern. "Old friend, you look exhausted. Haven’t been getting much sleep lately, have you?"

"What can I do? It’s peak season."

With practiced ease, Gray clicked on a link in his bookmarks and started searching for video clips related to Lin.

Max leaned in, holding up his phone. "Lin mainly made two dishes today: a cold-tossed jellyfish salad, and coconut milk-stewed Green Mussels—or rather, a shellfish dish."

While giving Gray a general overview, he helped him quickly find the timestamps in the video related to the cooking, skipping the unimportant parts to save whatever time they could.

After quickly reviewing the highlights of the day, Gray secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

"This cold-tossed jellyfish is pretty novel, but no one here eats it, and it’s not sold anywhere, right? We probably can’t get it in stock for now. I’ll talk to the local fishermen and the wholesalers later."

"The coconut milk-stewed seafood is a bit similar to how you make creamy clam chowder, but it’s not a soup. It’s more like an appetizer. I could try adapting it using my method for creamy seafood pasta."

"But that ’coyote cilantro’ he kept mentioning... a citrusy aroma mixed with the strong scent of cilantro? I can’t imagine what that would taste like. I’ll try mixing cilantro with orange zest tomorrow."

"Oh, right," Max said, as if suddenly remembering something. "During dinner just now, he also caught a fresh squid. The way he cut it was completely different from the usual squid rings. He cut it vertically, skewered it on a branch, and roasted it over the fire."

"He also said it would taste even better sprinkled with chili powder and cumin powder. Those ingredients should be easy to get, right? See if you can try it out tomorrow."

"Grilled squid? Cut vertically?"

Gray paused, not quite understanding what "cut vertically" meant.

Max raised his arm. "Let’s say my fist is the squid. Normally, you’d cut it like this, right? And you’d get whole, round squid rings?"

"Cutting it vertically is like this, but you don’t cut all the way through, just the surface."

"You can do that?"

Gray’s eyes lit up with understanding, and he nodded in agreement. "We have a good supply of squid, so we can try it tomorrow. The video of him grilling the squid should be up by morning, right? I’ll watch it then. No rush on this one."

Right now, the restaurant had more than enough dishes for dinner and afternoon tea, but there wasn’t much variety when it came to late-night snacks to go with drinks.

They just had the usuals like fried chicken wings, french fries, and onion rings, all of which were already part of the main menu.

Ever since the new season of the show started, the restaurant’s closing time had been forcibly extended from 9 p.m. to midnight.

’It’s boring to just drink while watching the show. If possible, I feel it’s better to offer some snacks to go with the drinks.’

On one hand, the customers would be more satisfied. On the other, the restaurant could earn extra income.

Compared to main courses, snacks were quicker and easier to prepare, and the costs were lower. Even if he was the only one working overtime, he could handle it.

’The three dishes I just saw would actually be perfect for the late-night menu.’

They weren’t filling, but they gave you something to nibble on. Plus, the protein helps with alcohol, greatly reducing the chances of customers getting drunk.

You have to understand, there are strict regulations about drinking in North America. It’s not a situation where customers can drink as much as they want.

Over here, servers and chefs need to get a "Smart Serve" certificate, which is basically a license to serve alcohol.

The certification test covers things like how often you can serve a customer an alcoholic beverage within a certain time frame, and requires you to constantly monitor a customer’s condition, expression, and so on to judge their level of intoxication.

If a customer shows clear signs of becoming intoxicated, the server has the right to refuse to serve them any more alcohol.

This is because the law here states that if a customer gets into any kind of accident on their way home after getting drunk, the restaurant or bar that served them is held liable. So, to avoid that liability, you need this certification.

But alcohol is a huge source of profit, so it’s a real headache if you can’t sell it. That’s why most bar menus are full of fried food.

The fried protein stays in the stomach longer, which slows the rate at which alcohol is absorbed into the bloodstream, indirectly slowing down the process of getting drunk.

Coincidentally, Lin Chen chose a shelter in a coastal area this time, which meant there would be a lot of seafood dishes.

Under wilderness conditions, it’s almost impossible to make complex main courses. He would most likely focus on snacks, which happened to be exactly what the White Whale needed right now to fill the gap in its late-night menu.