Chapter 121
The program team was so moved by the mooncakes Ruan Tang sent over that they gave them a half-day vacation. They then set up a new task the next afternoon — they had to make four different dishes using the same main ingredient. All the groups had to agree on what ingredients they’d use. No two groups could use the same main ingredient. Once they’ve completed the task, they would be given a tarpaulin.
According to the weather forecast, there will be heavy rain tomorrow. If they had no tarpaulin, their wooden house would probably become like caves with a waterfall at its mouth.
This task wasn’t at all difficult for the five chefs. But because they had to secure the ingredients themselves, this task became a bit challenging.
Actually, Ruan Tang and He Yun Chen had already obtained tarpaulins before, but there was nothing wrong with having an extra one. In any case it was always best to be prepared, so they accepted the task happily.
Of course, the best ingredient was pork. But the wild boars in the Aquamarine planet weren’t easy to catch, and they had no idea where they were hiding. It would take a lot of trouble to catch them. Ruan Tang simply chose fish instead.
One would be fried, another would be made into a sweet and sour dish. Next was soy-braised and finally, the last would be spicy. Four completely different flavors.
As for catching the fish, this task, of course, fell onto He Yun Chen. With large strides, he headed towards the stream.
The way He Yun Chen caught fish was different from how Ruan Tang did it. Ruan Tang would just catch the guileless fish that approached him, while He Yun Chen caught the fish quickly, accurately and ruthlessly. Ruan Tang simply saw that held the basin in one hand while the other hand plunged into the water and then immediately came out with a fish. If Ruan Tang didn’t know any better, he would have thought the fish voluntarily swam into his hand.
Since He Yun Chen had gone fishing, he inevitably got wet. His clothes now clung tightly to his body, leaving his model-like inverted triangle figure exposed. Even his eight abdominal muscles was indistinctly visible, making all the young girls’ hearts explode. The live chat went wild, blocking the entire screen.
After handing over the plastic basin containing the fishes to Ruan Tang, He Yun Chen went back to the cabin to change clothes, blocking out the viewers’ burning gazes.
The audience can only regretfully withdraw their scorching gazes and focus on Ruan Tang. In any case, Ruan Tang himself was handsome enough to also be considered a male god.
The first thing Ruan Tang was going to make was Jian Ba Yu. As the name implied, the fish must be removed from the bones without destroying its shape. It will then be pan fried over a low fire to ensure the tenderness of the fish and to retain its shape. In was a difficult dish that required a lot of skill.
The fishes caught in the stream weren’t small. They were nice and plump. And because there was no pollution in the stream, the fishes weren’t very fishy either and thus, there was no need for Ruan Tang to process them much.
After Ruan Tang scraped off the fish scales, he opened the fish belly and removed the guts. He slowly wiped away the black membrane inside using his fingertips. The reason why he needed to use his fingertips instead of scraping it with a knife was because he was afraid of destroying the smooth appearance of the fish.
He then chopped off the head and tail portions, dividing the fish into three parts to process them in order. He split the fish body in half from the spine and carefully removed the fish bones. He put the fish belly back together and cut it into pieces. The texture of the fish can be clearly seen from the cross section. This way the pan-fried fish will look great. The cut fish head was cut and spread open. Three cuts were made upward from the gills to divide the fish head into four thin pieces. The fish lips though were still attached. The fish tail was processed the same way. Two cuts were made to make three thin pieces but the tail part was still attached.
He fried the fish pieces, the fish head and fish tail one by one. He fried only the skin sides in order to keep the fish intact. After the fish skin was fried to golden color, the fish became firmer and not so easily broken, so that subsequent processing will be much easier.
He spread the fried fish on a plate, then placed some shiitake mushroom, scallion and ginger slices. He then heated up a pot of water, then placed the plate of fish on his handmade wooden stand and started steaming on low heat. He start a new pot of water to boil the removed fish bones into soup. He added soy sauce, cooking wine and a little vinegar as seasoning. When the fish had been steamed, he poured the redish fish broth sauce into the plate and used high heat to let the fish absorb the sauce.
When the fried fish was plated, it was in its beautiful and intact state. The fish was firm yet tender, delicious to the utmost, and totally free of any bones. Those who were afraid of being stabbed by the fish bones could enjoy this delicacy without any reservations.
[There is a fake cat at home: Oh my god, what kind of mystical fish is this? How can it be so delicious?]
[Dust margin Dust margin: Yeah, obviously there weren’t any special seasonings so why is it so tasty?]
[Mu Yange: So delicious! My Tang Tang’s culinary skills are simply amazing. Male god, will you marry me!]
Next, Ruan Tang was going to make sweet and sour fish, which was also known as the famous West Lake in Vinegar fish. Although both dishes were sour and sweet flavored, the method was completely different from that of Squirrel Perch’s.
After removing the guts from the fish belly, Ruan Tang cut off the fish head and made beautiful flower cuts on the fish’s body. This was not only for the sake of beauty, but also so that the fish would more easily absorb the flavor.
He covered both the fish head and body in flour and then deep-fried it until it was partially cooked. He then used the hot oil to make the sauce. He added water, vinegar, sugar, and water starch. He then poured it evenly over the fish, coating the fish with a smooth and shiny sweet and sour sauce.
The hot oil thoroughly heated the semi-cooked fish. In this way, the fish was cooked while ensuring its fresh and tender quality. The knife flowers that were cut onto the fish before also allowed the sweet and sour sauce to fully permeate into the meat. Lastly, the sweet and sour sauce was bright red and extremely delicious. People couldn’t stop eating. The audience totally fell in love with this dish.
[Ye Liuyu: Tender, hot, delicious!]
[Inexplicably following you: delicious, delicious, and delicious.]
[Genuine Devil: I like this sweet and sour taste!]
The third dish was red braised fish. This was a relatively common method of cooking, but Ruan Tang’s control of the heat was very accurate. His skill with temperature control made the fish taste better. He cooked it twice over high heat before lowering it. In this way, not only was the fish skin completely intact, the flesh of the fish was smooth and as soft and tender as tofu. Together with the rich and tasty soy-based sauce, it was truly an incomparable delicacy.
[Curly: Wow, I feel like I can finish off three bowls of white rice with this fish!]
[Ghost Star Twins: Yeah, it’s so tender! It’s just braised fish, but this is the best I’ve ever had!]
The fourth dish was the spicy Boiled Fish Fillet. This was a dish that Ruan Tang had made before during his live broadcast. Although the audience had already eaten it many times before, they still weren’t sick of it.
With their task completed, they easily obtained the tarpaulin given by the program team. The Boiled Fish Fillet was quick and easy to make, so Ruan Tang exchanged it for a small bag of rice.
He hasn’t eaten rice for so long, since he came to the Aquamarine Planet. He really missed it. Today’s dishes were all very tasty and nothing would be better than eating it with rice.
Maybe it was just his imagination but he always felt that the white rice cooked with firewood produced a soft, glutinous and aromatic rice — more delicious than rice cooked with an electric rice cooker.
Ruan Tang and He Yun Chen both enjoyed and had their fill of a delicious meal together.
Compared to having a large group of people crowding together to eat, occasionally spending time together with just the two of them was also quite nice.
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