Culinary God in Wilderness

Chapter 271: Chapter 190: Spiny Lobster, Making a Splash

"Oh, by the way, a little correction. The Devil Fish you mentioned is scientifically called a manta ray. It’s a type of ray—the largest kind, actually."

"They can typically reach a size of seven to eight meters and weigh up to three tons. They have a pair of devil-like horns on their heads, and a creature that large wouldn’t be found in shallow water."

"Other rays are much smaller, usually not exceeding 2.5 meters. Their weight can range from a few kilograms to over a hundred. They typically live in shallow coastal waters and often swim near the beaches."

"They’re cartilaginous fish, meaning they have no bones. Their meat is tender and nutritious—a top-quality ingredient on par with Lobster and king crab."

Lin Chen explained this earnestly to Erica, worried her reckless nature might get her into some kind of trouble.

"Also, there’s another thing to note. ’Devil Fish’ is actually a general term for two types of creatures."

Andre chimed in at just the right moment. "Besides manta rays and other rays, there’s another very similar-looking creature called a stingray. They look almost identical to some types of rays and love to hide in the sand in shallow water. The difference is, their tails usually have a few venomous barbs."

"Telling them apart from rays is actually simple. Stingrays are mostly round or diamond-shaped, have longer, pointed tails, and they swim in a wave-like motion."

"Rays, on the other hand, are fan- or diamond-shaped. Their tails aren’t as long, and they have two vestigial fins next to the tail. Most rays don’t have venomous barbs. They swim by rocking their bodies from side to side—it’s a very clear distinction."

Lin Chen nodded to himself in admiration. ’Before I had my encyclopedia of sea fish, all my information came from the internet. It was nowhere near as detailed as what Andre knows.’

’If he hadn’t explained how to tell stingrays and rays apart, I’m not sure I could have.’

"So you’re saying, rays rock side-to-side, and stingrays move in a wave-like motion, right?"

Erica stood there for a moment, digesting the information, and quickly grasped the key points.

She held a combat knife in a reverse grip, her face alight with anticipation.

"I hope I run into one. Then we’ll have meat to eat later!"

"Aren’t you worried about being poisoned?"

"What’s there to worry about? We’ve got Lin here, don’t we?" Erica moved as if to pat Lin Chen’s shoulder, but as she raised her hand, she remembered him telling her to keep her distance, so she smoothly changed the gesture to a thumbs-up.

"I just have to not get stung by their tail barbs, right? That’s simple. Let’s see what’s faster, my knife or them flicking their tails!"

She might not have known the specific differences between the three types of fish, but she had a general idea of where the barb was: usually underneath the tail, around the so-called butt area.

As long as she attacked from above, there was no way she could get hit by the barb underneath. So, she wasn’t worried in the slightest.

The only thing to watch out for was not to step on one.

With the necessary precautions explained, the three of them split up and began to search the Mangrove Forest.

Without his encyclopedia of marine fish, Lin Chen didn’t dare try to catch any fish he couldn’t identify. Besides, he didn’t have a net or a fishing spear, so it wasn’t like he could catch them anyway.

His main targets were the palm-sized American Oysters and the scallops hidden in the sand and mud.

Besides oysters, scallops were the tastiest shellfish in this area. Moreover, they held a certain status in culinary cultures all over the world and were recognized as one of the most delicious types of shellfish.

In comparison, methods for preparing oysters seemed somewhat limited. It was really only in Great Xia cuisine that a wide variety of preparations had been developed.

In Western cuisine, they were basically eaten raw, or at most, battered and deep-fried.

In his years in North America, he at least had never seen oysters prepared any other way in restaurants.

But scallops, unlike Green Mussels and oysters, don’t breed in large quantities on shallow reefs. They usually live in groups on the seabed and can move freely through the ocean.

Any that appeared on the shore were most likely just unlucky individuals washed in by the tide.

He searched the area for over ten minutes, digging up about twenty palm-sized oysters, picking up seven or eight Purple Sea Urchins, and four scallops.

Just as he bent down and pulled a plump sea cucumber out from between the roots of a mangrove tree, a splash of green a few meters away suddenly caught his eye.

Getting closer, he saw it was a large cluster of grape-like seaweed, floating quietly in the water and swaying gently with the ripples.

"Sea grapes!"

His eyes lit up. He hurried over, lifted the entire large cluster of sea grapes, and stuffed it into the basket on his back.

The sea grapes were a color very similar to kelp—a deep, inky green. Their overall shape resembled a bunch of grapes, with tiny orbs clustered around a main stem.

’As he recalled, this stuff wasn’t even available back home a few years ago. Then, out of nowhere, it suddenly blew up in Japanese restaurants and hot pot places.’

’The flavor itself wasn’t anything special—mostly salty with a hint of umami, like seaweed. The main appeal was the texture, how the little beads popped in your mouth.’

’He’d later learned the reason they were so salty was that they had to be preserved in saltwater for shipping to mimic the ocean’s salinity. Most restaurant owners didn’t know this and just used them straight out of the package without even a rinse.’

’Soaking them in cool, fresh water for a bit before eating would reduce the saltiness, making them much more palatable and even enhancing their natural sweetness.’

’Normally, he would probably find them too salty to be worth the effort.’