I'm the Culinary God-Chapter 535 - 264: Low EQ: Nearly Backstabbed by Father-in-Law; High EQ: Father-in-Law Helps Me Show Off! [Seeking Monthly Ticket]_2
"I’m not sure. My father-in-law was the one preparing it. It’s probably a big carp or something similar that weighs a few dozen pounds."
Lin Xu didn’t bother changing his clothes either. He simply took off his apron, gathered his personal items, said goodbye to everyone, and left the TV station.
He sped all the way to West Fourth Ring Road.
When he parked his car in front of the villa, he noticed his father-in-law’s Bentley, his sister-in-law’s Porsche 911, and Shen Baobao’s BMW X1 were all in the parking spots by the entrance.
Along the roadside, other vehicles like Range Rovers, BMW 7 Series, and Maybachs were also parked.
Did the relatives come this early?
Lin Xu locked his car and walked into the villa.
As soon as he walked through the courtyard gate, Shen Baobao approached him, an exasperated look on her face. "Xu Bao," she said, "we might not be able to have the All Fish Banquet today."
"Why?"
"Because my dad bought a crocodile... He even swore to me and Chen Yan that anything with the word ’fish’ in its name is a fish, and that it would still count as an All Fish Banquet."
Lin Xu: "..."
We agreed on an All Fish Banquet, and you bring back a crocodile? Are you planning to backstab me, dear Father-in-law? Good thing I’ve mastered the recipes for an All Crocodile Banquet; otherwise, today would have been a huge embarrassment.
He smiled at Shen Baobao and said, "Dad is right. Crocodiles are fish too, and if it’s a fish, it can be cooked. Have you forgotten when I took you to Building Eighteen to freeload a meal? We ate a lot of dishes made with crocodile that day, didn’t we?"
Shen Jiayue: "!!!!!!"
My Xu Bao really is the best!
In her excitement, she couldn’t help but ask, "But that day, you just kept me company eating out front. You didn’t even go into the kitchen to learn. Can you really make it?"
"Of course. Cooking crocodile isn’t that difficult. Come on, take me to see the ingredients Dad prepared."
The two walked into the kitchen through the side door.
As soon as they entered, they saw a nearly two-meter-long crocodile laid out on the workbench.
The crocodile had already been butchered. Next to it, a large stainless steel basin held its innards.
From another part of the kitchen, they could still hear Chen Yan and her father, Chen Yuejin, trying to convince Shen Guofu that a crocodile isn’t a fish.
"Aunt Liu got a fright when they first brought it in," Shen Baobao said. "It’s such a huge crocodile, Xu Bao, can you really cook it?"
"I can, but I’ll need your help."
Hearing she could participate in preparing the crocodile, Shen Baobao immediately wanted to go upstairs and change into her chef’s uniform.
Indeed, ever since she and Chen Yan had learned to make aspic, the girl had come to see herself as a true chef. She didn’t just have chef’s uniforms at their shop; she kept them at both her family’s home and Lin Xu’s, complete with chef’s hats, always looking ready to dash into the kitchen and save the day.
"Just tell me, Xu Bao, what do you need me to do?"
"Boil some water. We need to scald the crocodile’s outer Scale Armor with boiling water to clean it off before we can butcher it... What about the crocodile blood? That’s precious stuff! Dad didn’t throw it away, did he?"
Every part of a crocodile is a treasure. Although the outermost Scale Armor can’t be eaten, it can be used in medicine.
Other parts, like the crocodile head, crocodile claw, crocodile steak, Crocodile Belly, crocodile skin, crocodile tail, crocodile liver, and crocodile intestine, can all be used in cooking. Even the crocodile bones are excellent for making soup.
The crocodile blood can also be used to make steamed blood rice, which invigorates *qi* and replenishes blood.
"I don’t know. I’ll go ask Dad and change my clothes while I’m at it."
Without my chef’s uniform, I feel like a Saint facing an enemy without their Holy Clothes—a bit short on confidence.
As Shen Baobao skipped happily through the living room to change into her "Bronze Holy Armor," she couldn’t resist showing off a bit. "Xu Bao’s here!" she announced. "He’s going to make us an All Crocodile Banquet! Oh, Dad, Xu Bao wanted to ask, did you keep the crocodile blood when it was butchered?"
"Crocodile blood is edible?" Shen Guofu walked into the kitchen as he spoke, his eyes filled with the dismay of someone who’d missed out on a fortune. "I had no idea! The butchers asked if I wanted it, but I figured it wasn’t good for anything, so I said no. Looks like I slipped up..."
I only asked for the innards and completely forgot about the crocodile blood...
"Xu, so the crocodile blood really is edible, then?" 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺
"It is, but if you didn’t get it, don’t worry about it. This crocodile will be more than enough."
Lin Xu turned on the kitchen’s large water boiler and also put a large pot of water on the stove to heat.
Blanching such a massive crocodile thoroughly wasn’t going to be easy. Even though the villa’s kitchen was large and spacious, processing a creature this size was still proving to be a bit of a tight squeeze.
"This was the largest farmed crocodile in the entire aquatic market, weighing 46.85 kilograms (just over 103 pounds)! It almost didn’t fit in the Bentley’s trunk..."
Tsk, tsk. When will Father-in-law ever get over this obsession with ’bigger is better’? Crocodiles aren’t necessarily tastier the bigger they are. It’s best to choose one weighing 20 to 30 kilograms (approximately 44 to 66 pounds). A crocodile that size is substantial yet still has tender meat; that’s when they’re at their most delicious. Any larger, and the meat starts to get tough, significantly affecting the texture and taste.
When the water boiled, Lin Xu found an enormous basin in the kitchen. He, his father-in-law Shen Guofu, and his uncle-in-law Chen Yuejin together lifted the crocodile into it.
Then, they unwrapped the tape from the crocodile’s mouth and the wires binding its limbs.
These had been applied during slaughter to prevent accidents. But now, with the crocodile thoroughly dead and its innards removed, the bindings were no longer necessary.
Once the water was boiling, they poured it over the crocodile.
Soon, the tough Scale Armor began to loosen and fall away.
Lin Xu lifted the crocodile’s tail out of the hot water, rested it on the edge of the basin, and began scrubbing off the Scale Armor with a steel brush. Shen Jiayue and Chen Yan, now changed into their chef’s uniforms and hats, held the tail firmly to prevent it from slipping back into the basin.
