Chapter 150: Five Extremes Blowfish!
Translator: AstralGhost Editor: Kurisu
Bei Feng's heart was filled with anticipation towards the dish the old man was going to bring out.
Even so, the chopsticks in his hand did not stop at all. In a very short time, all the food on the table had been wiped clean.
Half an hour passed, and the old man finally reappeared with five dishes. They were all heavily lidded, and not a whiff of aroma was released.
"Please have a taste! This is my Five Extremes Blowfish! I'll give you a word of warning before you start eating. All the blowfish here are wild blowfish, and we have never tasted it beforehand too."
Fan Fang Ming whisked off the lid on one of the dishes and gestured dramatically towards the blowfish, urging him to dig in.
Bei Feng looked excitedly at the dishes of food in front of him. Each one seemed to be perfect in color, aroma, and taste, and his appetite was greatly whetted.
Even though the old man said that the blowfish had not even been tasted before (to test for poison), he was not the least bit afraid of it!
Carefully extending his chopsticks forward, Bei Feng lightly pinched at a piece of slightly gold-hued spiced blowfish skin. Then, he put the bit of blowfish skin into his mouth.
Since ancient times, there was a tradition and a saying that as long as one was willing to bet one's life against a blowfish, they can experience a heavenly taste. The blowfish was actually not a venomous creature. But, in order to deal with the cruel environment it was living in, it ended up incorporating the poisonous substances from its surroundings into its body.
A single gram of blowfish poison was sufficient to kill 100 people!
The risks and unique tastes attached to eating this creature made it so that the one who had never dared to taste a blowfish was not fit to be called a gormandizer!
The number of people who died while eating blowfish every year was not low at all. Apparently, there was even an unspoken rule that the chef who prepared the blowfish must take a bite of the blowfish in front of his customer first before allowing the customer to consume it, so as to assure the latter.
"Kacha!"
A crisp, crunchy sound could be heard in the silent dining room as Bei Feng bit down on the blowfish skin. The fragrant and crusty skin of the fried blowfish was perfectly blended with the spice and salt to form an incredibly pleasant taste. The thin blowfish skin was crunchy on the outside, but the inside surface was still tender and smooth. This alone spoke volumes about the ability of the chef to control fire!
Fan Fang Ming nodded internally as he observed Bei Feng's expression. Then, he began to introduce the dishes as Bei Feng ate. "Blowfish are mostly cooked using the braising method and the steaming method. In order to bring the ultimate tasting experience for my customers, I've made a few improvements to these cooking methods and created this Five Extremes Blowfish!
The Five Extremes Blowfish is made up of a green onion quick-boiled blowfish soup, a spicy salted blowfish skin dish, a mayonnaise steamed blowfish guts dish, a blowfish soup noodle dish, and a bowl of nourishing blowfish wine! This course is made up of these five dishes, and each dish presents a completely different taste and texture!
Furthermore, the unique taste of the blowfish can be truly brought out with these methods! The green onion blowfish soup was cooked very lightly to bring out the freshness and supreme quality of the blowfish meat, while the spicy salted blowfish skin dish emphasizes the gelatinous texture of the blowfish skin. The mayonnaise steamed blowfish guts was specially prepared so that the smooth and exquisite taste of the guts could be highlighted and, at the same time, to retain the freshness while losing the fishy taste. The noodles from the blowfish soup noodle were handmade using the soup from the green onion blowfish soup dish. It can be considered a wheat-based dish. Finally, the nourishing blowfish wine was made by immersing the blowfish's testicles into a top quality wine!"
Bei Feng only nodded but did not reply. All his attention was now on experiencing the peerlessly delicious blowfish.
"Thank you for your warm reception. But, although your culinary skills could be considered top-notch among the best chefs, the ingredients you are using are really too poor. That has brought down the level of the dishes by a great deal."
When he had finally finished tasting each dish, Bei Feng put down his chopsticks and looked at the old man seriously.
"Bullsh*t! The ingredients in my restaurant are the best among the best! If you don't give me a proper explanation today, my restaurant will no longer welcome you!"
Fan Fang Ming was immediately enraged. The ingredients were all chosen by him personally. Being doubted like this was the same as saying that his judgment of ingredients was bad!
"Hold on a moment," Bei Feng turned and left the Mountain Delicacies Pavilion. Once he was out of view, he took out a piece of Dark Jade Snowy Dragon King meat and placed it on a clean plate.
Then, carrying the plate of meat, he returned to the dining room and passed it to Fan Fang Ming without a word.
"Hmph! Truly not knowing the immensity of heaven and earth... it's just the antics of a boastful child. I'd like to see what tricks you can pull out of your sleeve!"
Fan Fang Ming snorted coldly. He didn't expect much of the meat Bei Feng had taken out. What sort of ingredients had he not cooked before?
To think a mere bratty junior dared to doubt his skills and eye for ingredients!
Already irritated, he merely took a glance at the piece of meat on the plate with a careless attitude. But just that one glance was enough to stun him. "What sort of animal meat is this? I've actually never seen it before!"
A situation like this was completely inconceivable for a top-tier chef! Throughout his decades-long career, whether it be a creature which flew in the sky, ran on the ground, or swam in the seas, while he could not claim to know every single one, the number of creatures he had seen or had worked with was not something that normal people could compare with!
The piece of meat on the plate was not big. It was only about 1 jin or so in weight. It appeared rather pinkish, and the patterns on the meat were vivid, like those on large marbles. Numerous fine hair-thin veins could be seen on the flesh, with light-azure blood within it.
A faint, almost imperceptible fragrance which couldn't be detected by regular people could be smelled from the meat.
To reach the heights of a top-tier chef, almost 70 percent of it depended on heaven's will, while the remaining 30 percent depended on the individual's efforts and will!
For a top-tier chef, it was imperative that their sense of smell must exceed regular people's!
Because of this faint fragrance which seemed capable of snatching away the souls of weak-willed individuals, Fan Fang Ming immediately pushed aside the thought of associating this meat with any of the creatures he had come across before!
He ran his fingers lightly over the meat, and a strange frosty chill which seemed to come from the meat itself traveled up it.
Fan Fang Ming had been examining the meat with a slightly flushed face for a full five, six minutes, but he was still unable to determine its origin. He could not even guess the species of the animal it belonged to!
"What sort of meat is this?"
Fan Fang Ming finally lifted his head and asked.
"Fish," Bei Feng took a sip of tea and smiled lightly as he said.
Fan Fang Ming looked puzzled for a moment before blurting out, "No way! How could this meat come from a fish?"
Bei Feng did not reply immediately. He looked at the old geezer for a moment before he gestured to the plate, "Want to give it a try?"
Fan Fang Ming's face lit up and he hurried away with the plate in hand. "Haha, I finally got to see that old fellow being defeated by a piece of meat! He's always strutting around with a jolly smile, but that old fellow is actually more arrogant than anybody else!" Zheng Xuan was cackling with glee.
Bei Feng smiled lightly in response. He wasn't that bored to take out his Grade 5 meat just to make fun of the old geezer. He simply saw that the old geezer's culinary skills were truly not bad, so he decided to let him try cooking the Dark Jade Snowy Dragon King meat.
'I wonder how large the gap will be between the dish I made with the Dark Jade Snowy Dragon King meat, and the one the old geezer can produce?' Bei Feng mused silently.
The moment Fan Fang Ming got back into the kitchen, he began working on the mysterious piece of meat immediately.
"Since the patterns on this meat are so distinct, I'll try blanching it," Fan Fang Ming observed the texture of the meat and decided. [1]
"Shua! Shua!"
Fan Fang Ming grabbed a sharp knife and started to slice the meat up with great speed. Among the shadows of the knife, one could only see pieces of meat as thin as a cicada's wing dropping onto the chopping board. The blade itself could not even be seen!
After that, Fan Fang Ming started working on the broth. Apart from the high requirements of the meat for the blanching, the broth used for dipping the meat was also extremely important!
The stove was started and the heat was turned to the maximum. Then, a whole hen was dropped into boiling water, along with large amounts of mushrooms and other fungi ingredients. The entire kitchen was stocked full of precious ingredients from all corners of the earth. A section of cow's backbone was smashed into pieces using the side of Fan Fang Ming's chopper, wrapped in gauze and added in as well.
Finally, the soup was drained and filtered three times to remove the dregs from the fungi ingredients. Even the bubbles were cleaned away. Soon, a pure, thick, and milky white broth without any impurities was ready.
Although the broth did not take long to prepare, it was actually a secret family recipe, and was only slightly inferior to those soups made with hundred-year-old precious ingredients!
An intoxicating fragrance soon wafted out from the kitchen, tempting the appetites of all who smelled it.