Gourmet: From a Stall in Northern Europe-Chapter 220 - 159: Hidden Ingredients – King Crab and Blue Lobster (Part 2)

"We don't believe you can cook well when you can't even handle them. It's better to help Chef Lin."

"Helena is right."

"Wow, okay, okay, I must prove myself today!!"

Instead of getting upset, fire lit up in his eyes, and his hands moved faster.

Lin Chen had already started handling the king crabs, leaving the Blue Lobster for last to avoid affecting the meat texture.

The king crab's shell is extremely hard, almost like a rock. It's difficult for girls to crack it, but the crab legs are relatively easier to handle.

Pressing the crab on the chopping board, he quickly chopped off the four legs on the left side, followed by the ones on the right.

Picking up the crab legs, he cut off the joint parts, leaving only the thigh and the calf, then sliced them horizontally in half.

Without needing him to tell, the four women immediately understood and went to the back kitchen to find some scissors.

Lin Chen moved swiftly, chopping off all five king crab legs with a few quick cuts and tossing them to the women for processing, while he focused on the most troublesome part—the crab body.

Despite the large king crab shell, there isn't much edible inside, only palm-sized crab roe that's worth eating.

Crab roe, crab paste, crab body meat, thigh meat, and calf meat are the four parts that can be extracted from the king crab.

No matter what method you use, the first step is usually steaming or deep-frying.

The spicy dry pot highlights the aroma and spice, starting by frying the crab legs in oil.

Following a method similar to frying snake filet, dust the crab legs with starch before frying them in oil.

Beside it, the wok is seasoned with scallions, ginger, and garlic, enhanced with Pixian Douban Sauce, dissolve two pieces of beef hot pot base, add some beer to boil, reduce the sauce, then toss in the fried crab legs and stir them briefly before serving.

Besides the two made into spicy dry pot, another two are steamed, with the last one used for sashimi.

For seafood that's a bit pricier, steaming is the best way to bring out the natural sweetness of the ingredient.

Unless the guest has specific taste requests, he would usually recommend steaming, or garlic steamed.

One Blue Lobster is also reserved for sashimi, while the rest is prepared similarly to the king crab, split into two flavor profiles, with the dry pot portion mixed in directly for a richer taste.

Compared to the king crab, handling lobster is much simpler.

Twist the big head to the side, pull the tail out with force, then use scissors along the sides of the belly to cut it open.

The main part to eat is the lobster tail, the claw meat is quite tough, and this species has small claws with not much meat, he planned to extract it for the Buddha Jumps Over the Wall.

While the crab legs and lobster tails were slowly cooking in the oil and steam pot, he went to the back kitchen to scoop out a small pot of Buddha Jumps Over the Wall base soup, chop the blanched lobster claw meat, add it in, and bring it to a boil for thirty seconds before plating.

"Oh my, what is this, Buddha Jumps Over the Wall??"

When the golden soup was served, Wang Ziqin immediately recognized where it originated from.

However, the ingredients were different from Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, without dried scallops or shark fins, only small abalone and fish maw, along with flower mushrooms and minced lobster claw.

To be honest, it could only be considered a bowl of nourishing soup, not to the extent of being Buddha Jumps Over the Wall.

"Wait a minute, this soup couldn't be made without hours of simmering, do you have a secret stash, buddy?"

"Hee-hee."

Lin Chen made a victory sign, scooped the crisply fried golden crab legs and lobster tails from the oil with a colander, and tossed them into the spicy base for a quick stir before plating, garnishing with chopped garlic sprouts.

The steamed dishes finished at the same time, drizzled with special steamed fish soy sauce, topped with shredded scallion, and a few ladles of hot oil poured over.

"Sizzling"

"Sizzling"

Sashimi didn't require much skill, just extracting the translucent crab leg meat and lobster tail, soaking them in ice water, causing the fibers on the crab leg meat to stand up, resembling frosty pine needles.

The lobster tail is cut into small thumbnail-sized pieces, paired with classic dipping sauce made from minced garlic, soy sauce, vinegar, chili, and chopped green onion.

Having finished the dishes, he had no intention of lingering, quickly tidying up the station, putting the lid on the oil pot, and wheeling a trolley to the back kitchen.

A few minutes later, he returned with two large stainless steel soup buckets, with a basin on the lid.

"Here are pig trotters and big bone, anyone interested can help themselves. Mix with soy sauce and vinegar or dip in braising sauce, I have other things to do, so I'm leaving."

"?"

"?" 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

"?"

The few at the table stared blankly at the stainless steel basin piled with various meats, filled with tender chicken and pig trotters, big bones, etc., cooked without any seasoning, purely boiled.

While these smelled good, why did it feel like scavenging food from the trash?

"Old Lin, what are you doing with those buckets, are you planning on setting up a stall?"

"Yes, it's still early, and being idle is still idling, might as well earn a bit."

"...Have you been blinded by money?"

Not just him, but everyone else in the restaurant was utterly stunned by Lin Chen's actions.

Especially the four waitresses, who had watched Lin Chen work non-stop from past six in the morning till now without a moment's rest, and he was still planning to work?

The two-hour afternoon nap would have been a great way to recuperate energy, and dinner wasn't busy, so they didn't feel particularly tired at the moment.

But it was different for chefs, their workload is several times heavier than theirs.

Without surprise, Chef Lin hadn't rested in the afternoon but had prepared those two buckets of broth.

Do Great Xia People have such good stamina, working tirelessly from morning till night?

Watching his figure disappear at the door, they couldn't help but feel a strong sense of admiration.

"Well then, I'm gonna help out, you all take your time eating!"

Lucas quickly grabbed his camera bag and hurried after him, having missed the chance to photograph cooking during the day, relying on the evening to capture some footage!

"What is he selling, could it be Buddha Jumps Over the Wall?"

The people at the table exchanged glances, being frequent customers of that guy, itching at the mention of setting up a stall.

What if he's selling something different?

"Why aren't you going to check it out, if not, bring some back to help him lighten the load. And notify the hotel front desk to inform guests and see if there's anyone wanting a late-night snack, so he can sell out quickly and return to rest."

"Why me again??"

"Nonsense, you're the general agent, I don't have any position, Sister Shuqi is a guest, Dreya and Anna are also guests, who else if not you?"

Gazing at the table full of delicious shrimp and crab dishes, Wang Ziqin swallowed, not hesitating much before running away.

If he was quick, maybe he could still get something hot.

"Ding-dong~"

Accompanied by the crisp sound of the wind chime, as soon as he dashed out of the restaurant he saw the red food truck with its lights just turned on.

"Old Lin, what are you selling?"

"Hmm? Why are you out here, of course selling Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, what else? Did you think I'd be up for cooking other food? I'm not a robot that doesn't get tired!"

"Oh~~ Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, Buddha Jumps Over the Wall is great, wait a moment, I'll get the front desk to gather people for you!"

Before he could steady himself, hearing it's Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, Wang Ziqin turned and sprinted, not stopping even for half a second.

"?"

Lucas tilted his head in confusion: "Your hotel's general manager, seems somehow unreliable."

"He's wealthy."

"...You're right."

The two had just set up tables and chairs, heated the broth, and people started running over from the hotel.

"Chef!! I'm here!"

The person was one of the two front desk girls seen when coming downstairs this morning, who hadn't been seen much before. She was probably a colleague who rotated shifts with Elise and the others.

"My colleague is notifying the hotel guests about the dining opening here to avoid missing out and not being able to buy. They sent me ahead to buy two takeaways, is that okay?"

"Sure, you don't have any seafood allergies, right? If so, you might not be able to eat. Today's dish is a seafood broth, your general manager, his wife, and model Miss Dreya are drinking the same tonight."

"What!! Miss Dreya's same seafood broth? I want it, I want it, please pack two...four portions for me!"