I'm the Culinary God-Chapter 777 - 342: Ren Jie, You’ve Made a Great Achievement! The Fish is Half-cooked, Literary Gathering! [Seeking Monthly Ticket]_3

Chapter 777: Chapter 342: Ren Jie, You’ve Made a Great Achievement! The Fish is Half-cooked, Literary Gathering! [Seeking Monthly Ticket]_3

He blew on it and nibbled away as he walked towards the residential area behind him.

Unlocking the door, Lin Xu popped the last bite of sugar cake into his mouth, chewing it as he made his way to the bedroom. Before he reached the bed, Shen Baobao sat up, her eyes bleary, and said, "It smells so good, what are you eating?"

"Fried sugar cake... Hurry up and get out of bed, I brought two for you. From now on, I’ll eat one every five minutes, and if you get up late, you’ll miss out."

"Stinky Xu, you’re so mean!"

Shen Baobao pouted and began fumbling with her pajamas, her eyes still half-closed.

Lin Xu wiped the grease from his hands, found her clothes for her, then headed to the living room with the sugar cakes.

He planned to sit down for a while, but suddenly he caught a faint scent of freshness coming from the kitchen. He went in and discovered that the Fish seemed to be well-fermented.

These straw-wrapped Fish were placed on a tray.

By now, a thin layer of liquid that smelled both fresh and fishy had seeped out onto the tray, which was likely the result of the fish meat fermenting.

The production of this liquid made Lin Xu think of Fish Sauce.

It seemed that Fish Sauce, often used in Cantonese cuisine, was made from small miscellaneous fish mixed with coarse sea salt and sealed in a jar for fermentation.

If he followed the same method as for the Fish, wouldn’t he also be able to make Fish Sauce?

Lin Xu thought it was worth a try later on.

"Xu, what are you doing in the kitchen?"

Shen Baobao, with a bite of sugar cake from the coffee table, curiously approached the kitchen door.

"Why does this Fish have a strange smell? Has it been fermented properly?"

Lin Xu nodded and said, "It should be ready. I’ll unwrap one later to try... Have you brushed your teeth and washed your face before eating?"

"Right away, right away. I just wanted to taste the saltiness..."

She quickly devoured a sugar cake and then, prodded by Lin Xu, went into the bathroom to brush her teeth and wash up.

After she finished, Lin Xu carried the Fish out of the house while Shen Baobao followed with her sugar cake, eating and wondering about the taste of the Fish.

"In ancient times, people usually treated Fish soup as a hangover cure, probably using its freshness and the acidity from fermentation to sober up, right?"

Lin Xu couldn’t understand why ancient people praised Fish so much.

He planned to make the Silver Shrimp Soup according to the tutorial to taste it for himself and see what the fuss was all about.

Back at the shop, Dundun had finished breakfast, and the kitchen helper in the marinated goods section had cleared away its small plate and dining table.

Upstairs, Uncle Zhou and the others were having breakfast, including Uncle Yu from the next-door supermarket and Old Sun, the angler.

"Wow, Old Sun came today too, huh."

Old Sun was savoring his vegetable and lean meat porridge, slurping a spoonful before he said, "My wife complained I was always fishing and neglecting the family. She got angry and went to our daughter’s house to take care of our grandson. I was too lazy to cook, so after hearing from Old Yu about the breakfast here, I followed him over... This breakfast is really good. Later I’ll pack some vegetable pockets and fried dough to go." 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

Curious, Uncle Yu asked, "What? You’re going fishing again?"

"Yes, I’ve recently been fixated on catching a wild carp in the little creek. It’s already snapped two of my lines, but I’m determined to catch it."

Uncle Yu took a bite of his fried dough twist and said, "I can’t tell if you’re going fishing or feeding the fish. That ten-pound carp probably grew half its weight from the feed you gave it..."

Old Sun didn’t get annoyed and cheerfully accepted his old neighbor’s teasing.

Uncle Zhou glanced at the tray Lin Xu was carrying and curiously asked, "What’s this, Young Lin? It smells a bit fresh and a bit fishy."

Lin Xu replied with a smile, "This is a lost method of curing fish, called Fish."

The elders present all looked puzzled.

"Fish?"

"What’s that?"

"Does it taste good?"

"How do you eat it?"

Lin Xu said, "Usually, it’s used in soup, like the Silver Shrimp Soup."

When this soup’s name was mentioned, a hint of surprise flashed across Aunt Xue’s face. "Silver Shrimp Soup? Isn’t that the name of the dish from Chapter Eleven of *The Plum in the Golden Vase*, where Pan Jinlian provokes Ximen Qing into beating Sun Xue’e? When I read that part, I always wondered what Silver Shrimp Soup actually was—the soup that made Sun Xue’e complain so much she ended up getting beaten... Now, thanks to Young Lin, I can finally find out!"

Her words also piqued Professor Xu’s interest. "Lu You mentioned the word ’Fish’ in his ’Partridge Sky - Lazy to Learn Melon Planting at the Green Gate’: ’Songs fade into the misty distance, the oars creak softly. The wine is like dew and the Fish like flowers. When asked where to return, I smile and point to the boat: here is home.’ So, ’Fish’ refers to cured fish."

The couple had a deep appreciation for literature and art and could casually quote poetry.

Aunt Xue said, "Lu You also wrote in his ’Drunk Song’ about his yearning for delicious food with the line: ’Yellow sparrows are sought for their heads over a thousand miles, while white geese made into Fish are peerless in the world.’ Young Lin, Fish is not just about curing fish, right?"

Lin Xu hadn’t expected the couple to be showing off their literary knowledge so early in the morning and nodded as he said, "Initially, ’Fish’ referred to cured fish, but later, it seems various ingredients could be turned into Fish—not only meats but vegetables too. Everything could be Fish."

Perhaps even today’s salted vegetables and kimchi were descendants of Fish.

Seeing Professor Xu and his wife so interested in this delicacy, he smiled and said, "How about this: for lunch today, I’ll prepare one of the Fish as Silver Shrimp Soup for us to try. If it’s delicious, it’ll become a secret menu item in the shop. If not, we’ll have a laugh at the ancients’ expense."

It was bound to be delicious; after all, it was Perfect Level.

Food rated at this level by the system could make even salted vegetables irresistible.

Hearing this, Professor Xu said with a laugh, "Then I must invite the head professor of Chinese from Beijing University over. He and his wife have done quite some research in this area, so it would be the perfect occasion to try something new. If we could get Mr. Lishan to come as well, that’d be even better. Both are researchers of ancient culture, and perhaps they’d gain new inspiration and insights..."