The pufferfish in Yuan Zhou's hand looked silly and adorable. It didn't understand the situation it was in at all. It blinked its eyes and wagged its tail slightly.
"Yuan, your skill in catching fish is pretty good," Zhou Shijie praised.
"Basic operation," Lee Yanyi said with strict requirements.
"It's just this basic operation. Many chefs can't even reach it. Once others catch the fish, the fish will bulge up," Zhou Shijie said.
"You have to practice to be steady, accurate, ruthless, and fast," Lee Yanyi nodded and said.
While Zhou Shijie and Lee Yanyi were discussing Yuan Zhou's fishing skill, Wuhai was much more attentive at the side. He stared at the pufferfish in Yuan Zhou's hand and uttered two words.
"Wait to eat," Wuhai said without even blinking his eyes.
Yuan Zhou, on the other hand, concentrated on dealing with the pufferfish in front of him.
The color of the pufferfish in his hand was gorgeous. Moreover, it was in the most suitable season and was extremely poisonous. Yuan Zhou concentrated on holding the fish in his left hand and the knife in his right hand.
"Shua". With a flash of silver light, Yuan Zhou held the pufferfish's tail upside down and directly cut open the fish's stomach. Then, he turned his hand and poured out all the internal organs and blood in the fish's stomach.
Yuan Zhou's hand was extremely steady. The knife only cut open the pufferfish's skin and flesh and didn't hurt the internal organs at all. Therefore, the blood flowed out very quickly when it was poured out.
As the pufferfish's blood was extremely poisonous, Yuan Zhou's hand and knife were both clean and not stained with any trace of blood.
Moreover, when he poured out the internal organs, Yuan Zhou even used the tip of the knife to pick out the pufferfish's liver directly.
As this was a wild pufferfish, its liver was much smaller than that of the farmed ones.
After pouring out the internal organs, Yuan Zhou turned his left hand and cut open the back of the pufferfish again. This time, the knife was cut on the pufferfish's back.
The two cuts faintly resonated with each other. Yuan Zhou used the tip of the knife to press on the cut pufferfish's skin and directly peeled it down, taking out the intact pufferfish's skin.
The pufferfish skin and other unwanted organs were separated and placed on a small plate. Then, it was time to deal with the pufferfish's eyes.
When Yuan Zhou was dealing with the pufferfish's eyes, he couldn't use a knife to pick it up at first, and it was even broken. But now, Yuan Zhou's hand was steady and the knife was quick. With a light pick, the pufferfish's eyeballs were picked out.
This was also placed together with the internal organs. These required special treatment, and Yuan Zhou would never let them come into contact with other things.
Even the kitchen knife used to deal with the pufferfish, as well as the utensils and pots, were all brand new.
"Hua La La", Yuan Zhou turned on the faucet and rinsed the fish with running water until it was clean and translucent with a faint white luster.
"Shua". Yuan Zhou drew the knife in his hand and straightened out the direction before he started to slice the fish on the chopping board.
While Yuan Zhou was slicing the fish, he also started to heat the oil. This time, Yuan Zhou used soybean oil. Generally speaking, many chefs in high-end restaurants didn't like to use soybean oil.
The reason was very simple. After the soybean oil was boiled, there would always be a fishy smell of beans. However, Yuan Zhou didn't need to worry about this problem.
Because the soybean oil was boiled by Yuan Zhou himself, the quantity was very small. Now, all the soybean oil had been poured into the heated iron pot.
With the diamond-shaped knife, Yuan Zhou sliced the fish quickly. At the same time, Yuan Zhou also placed the shape of a blooming lotus in the bowl.
The plate full of pufferfish was divided into two by Yuan Zhou, one big and one small, and then he directly put them into the freezer at the side to freeze them.
The pufferfish was sliced very cleanly. The pufferfish in Yuan Zhou's hand was only left with a skeleton.
"Duo Duo". Yuan Zhou chopped it twice and then poured out the blood from the spinal cord. After rinsing it again, he started to scoop out the other fish and continued to process it.
Yuan Zhou handled it very skillfully. After he sliced the fish unhurriedly, the oil in the pot just happened to emit smoke.
"Zi La La". Yuan Zhou threw two pieces of snow-white pufferfish liver into the pot. The scalding oil directly enveloped the snow-white liver and the oil in the pot also started to boil.
Of course, after Yuan Zhou was done, he also put the liver into two plates, one big and one small.
"Why did he put the liver into such a small plate?" Lee Yanyi asked curiously.
"I'm not sure." Zhou Shijie shook his head.
"He might be taking food away for me. I have a cat at home." Wu Hai stroked his own mustaches and said primly.
"Get lost. You have a cat at home. I have a dog at home. It's a very big dog." Lee Yanyi said angrily.
"Cats eat fish and dogs eat meat." Wu Hai looked at Lee Yanyi as if he was looking at an idiot.
"…" Lee Yanyi covered his forehead and didn't want to say anything.
"We will probably be able to eat it soon. We will know by then." Zhou Shijie tried to smooth things over with a smile.
Actually, it wasn't strange for Wu Hai to think so. The small plate was really too small. It couldn't even be called a plate, but a saucer. There were probably only three pieces of pufferfish in it.
At the side, Yuan Zhou wasn't affected at all. He had already started to cook the soup. The ingredients for cooking the soup were the pufferfish bones, the cleaned fish skin and the liver that had turned golden after being fried.
As the soup had been cooked for a while, a faint freshness had already started to pervade the restaurant, gently arousing people's appetite.
"There are two dishes in total for today's pufferfish tasting. One is the pufferfish slices and the other is the pufferfish bone soup. Besides that, there's also a serving of white seeds and the reed root soup for detoxification." After Yuan Zhou finished cooking, he started to wash his hands and explained the dishes for today.
"Although I don't think the reed root soup is necessary, it's still better to prepare it." Yuan Zhou said confidently.
"Of course it's not necessary. But can I try it and see how it tastes?" Wu Hai looked at Yuan Zhou expectantly.
"No need. You aren't poisoned." Yuan Zhou refused straightforwardly.
"Then let me change the question. Is that small plate prepared for me?" As Wu Hai had other thoughts, he quickly threw away Yuan Zhou's refusal and changed the topic.
"No. You will know very soon." Yuan Zhou shook his head and said.
While speaking, Yuan Zhou turned his head and took a look at the soup that was cooking behind him. Then, he took out a small bowl and scooped the soup into it.
In the white bowl, the soup was milky in color and there was even a piece of pufferfish skin floating on the surface. It had already been stewed to the point that it had become gelatinous. It looked so sticky and even translucent.
"In the pufferfish chef test, the chef will eat the pufferfish cooked by himself. I will eat it first. Please wait for a moment," Yuan Zhou said earnestly.
"Please leave the matter of testing the poison to me, who has a thick skin and strong resistance to poison." Wu Hai straightaway stood up and said earnestly.
The serious expression on Wu Hai's face made others unable to tell whether he was really doing it for the food or for Yuan Zhou.
"No need. This is the responsibility of a chef who prepares pufferfish." Yuan Zhou also refused straightforwardly.
What Yuan Zhou said was indeed correct. In the pufferfish test, the last part was to eat the pufferfish cooked by himself. Because of this rule, some chefs who wanted to fish in troubled waters didn't even dare to take the test.
After all, pufferfish poisoning was no joke. However, the salary of the chef who prepared the pufferfish was twice that of an ordinary chef.
After Yuan Zhou said that, he drank up the soup in the bowl in one gulp before Zhou Shijie and Lee Yanyi could say anything. Meanwhile, he prepared to start the introduction.
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