I'm the Culinary God-Chapter 529 - 262 Shen Guofu: This fish slice looks undercooked, I need to use Wuliangye to disinfect it! [Seeking Monthly Ticket]_2
But the best method is still to smash it.
Use an Iron Mace to smash the fish into a mince. This allows the umami substances within the fish to fully release, making the Fish Jerky delicious, savory, and thus tastier. Besides making Fish Jerky, this Fish Mince can also be used to make Fish Balls, Fish Soup, and other delicacies.
"Boss, are you planning to make Fish Balls?" Zhu Yong asked curiously, seeing Lin Xu handling the fish and approaching him.
"I’m planning to make some Fish Jerky. Isn’t Building 15 known for fish dishes? Is this how Fish Balls are made?"
"Yes. In addition to smashing, you can also choose to scrape the Fish Mince."
Scrape?
Upon hearing this word, Lin Xu immediately understood.
It’s just like making Chicken Meatball—using a kitchen knife to continuously scrape the flesh. The resulting mince is fluffy and soft, arguably yielding better results than smashing. But there’s too much fish prepared today. If I choose to scrape, it wouldn’t be finished even by nightfall. Smashing is more straightforward and simple.
Fish flesh is tender, far less tough than beef or pork, and a piece can be loosened with just a few strikes.
By the time the seafood stall owner brought the small crucian carp, dozens of pounds of fish had already been turned into Fish Mince by Lin Xu using the Mad Demon Mace Skill. He didn’t have the Skill for making beef or pork balls, nor did he understand the technique for smashing fish. But what he had was strength. Plus, having just drunk three bottles of Sprite, he needed some exercise, so he went all out and smashed with vigor. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂
And sure enough, after this bout of exertion, the stuffed and bloated feeling from drinking the Sprite was greatly relieved.
Life really is about exercise!
"Boss, the crucian carp are here. How should I prepare them?" the assistant asked, entering the kitchen carrying a bag full of crucian carp.
Lin Xu thought about the Fish Jerky he had eaten before and instructed him, "Remove the scales, make an incision along the back to open the fish up, then clean out the innards, and remove the head."
If making salted fish or large dried fish, the fish head would naturally be kept. After all, even if not eaten directly, it could be used to stew soup or make something else. But for these snack-sized Fish Jerky, the head part doesn’t have much flesh—it’s all bones, and it’s easy to hit your teeth on them when eating, so it’s better to remove it. This also makes roasting more convenient.
The assistant acknowledged and went to the sink to clean the fish.
Meanwhile, Lin Xu scraped all the smashed Fish Mince into a bowl. He added Scallion and Ginger water, Light Soy Sauce, salt, sugar, pepper powder, Five-Spice Powder, oyster sauce, and other seasonings. After stirring the seasonings evenly, he began the half-hour process of kneading and pounding, working the Fish Mince until it became fully sticky and gelatinized.
After finishing these steps, he portioned the Fish Mince into small bowls and began to create different flavors. The seasonings just added were the basic ones; to obtain different flavors of jerky, a second round of seasoning was necessary.
For example, a spicy flavor required cooked and ground dried chili and Sichuan peppercorns; a fragrant spicy flavor needed soybean powder and dried chili; cumin flavor needed more Cumin Powder; and tomato flavor needed Tomato sauce.
Only by doing this would the resulting jerky present different tastes. They would then be even more delicious and diverse.
After mixing all the flavored seasonings into the Fish Mince, Lin Xu covered the bowls with plastic wrap and had a few idle kitchen assistants take them to the cold storage to marinate.
To make this kind of jerky, the meat must be thoroughly marinated before roasting. Only then would the jerky taste good. If roasted right after adding seasonings, the resulting jerky would lack flavor, and both texture and taste would suffer greatly.
"The Fish Jerky looks good. Tomorrow, I’ll make some too."
The entire process of making Fish Jerky is very similar to making Fish Balls. As a chef from Building 15, Zhu Yong was already well-acquainted with this method. Seeing Lin Xu do this, he also planned to make some to try.
He’d give some to Lu Lu to eat before *she* (his ’boss lady’ Lu Lu) could unleash her ’venom’ on him, then see how that violent brute would still dare to beat him up.
While he was musing, he received a WeChat message:
"I want Sweet and Sour Pork for dinner tonight. Don’t forget to make it, or I’ll let you experience the Upper Hook I’ve been practicing recently."
Zhu Yong: "..."
Here we go again. Always so fierce. If I didn’t genuinely love you, I’d definitely let you feel the fury in the Zhu family bloodline!
「In the private room upstairs.」
Geng Lele looked at Lu Lu’s chat screen and asked curiously, "Lu sis, why do you always treat Yong bro like this? Last time Qian bro said that Yong bro shudders every time he sees your messages. Don’t scare him into getting sick, okay?"
Lu Lu took a sip of her Sour Plum Soup and then said with a smile, "Every time I see Weeping Willow so meek and submissive when I bully him, I just want to grab his face and kiss him hard. This is the first time in my life I’ve met a man who indulges me and treats me so well. I’m terrified he’ll stop liking me one day, so I can’t help but be a bit harsh with him."
"Tsk tsk tsk, that sounds just like a romance novel."
Geng Lele couldn’t understand these kinds of emotional entanglements. In her opinion, such trivial matters weren’t even as interesting as a calculus problem. But seeing the happy look on Lu Lu’s face, she raised her drink and said, "I just hope Yong bro isn’t attending your wedding in a wheelchair..."
"How could that be? I’m actually very gentle."
Geng Lele: "..."
Sis, do you have some kind of misunderstanding about the word ’gentle’? In our circle, your intimidation factor surpasses even Big Sis Tiantian’s, you know? Gentle... More like the ruthless ’gentleness’ of autumn winds sweeping away fallen leaves, right?
「In the kitchen.」
After Lin Xu finished with the Fish Jerky, the assistant and two kitchen helpers had also finished cleaning the crucian carp. Each crucian carp was split open from the back, its belly thoroughly cleaned out, and its head removed. Viewed from above, splayed open like that, each fish resembled a butterfly with its wings spread.
