Chapter 115 Fish Sauce

At six o'clock the next morning, Heidi's cook delivered seafood, vegetables, and rice as promised. The fish and shrimp in the wooden barrels were lively and bouncing, and the vegetable leaves were still covered with morning dew. Everything was extremely fresh. The rice was also crystal clear and exuded a rich rice fragrance.

"As expected of a noble with a restaurant at home, I wonder how many gold coins this meal must have cost," Jiang You muttered. "As expected, if you want to recreate the most delicious recipe, you need money!"

The seafood porridge was also very nutritious, perfect for Heidi, who was now starting to feel better. It was also a staple dish that would look great in a restaurant, so Jiangyou included it in the twelve recipes she provided to the restaurant each year. She called Heidi's cook into the kitchen and showed him how to make it.

With the help of skilled workers, cooking is a very easy task. When the seafood porridge is bubbling on the stove, Jiangyou asked the chef to watch the fire while he went to prepare the small fish for making fish sauce.

People living by the sea have the tradition of making fish sauce. Chaoshan fish sauce, Fujian shrimp oil, and crab sauce are all similar things. Fish, shrimp, and crabs are marinated with salt and put into jars for long-term fermentation. After half a year or a year, all the fish and seafood have turned into water and sauce, and then it is ready.

Fishermen from the Guangdong and Fujian areas later brought fish sauce to Southeast Asia, which led to the evolution of different flavors such as Thai and Vietnamese, but the cooking methods are similar.

This kind of fish sauce has a very strong umami, salty and fishy taste. People who can't stand it will find it particularly fishy, ​​while people who like it will love it. It can be said that this is a very extreme sauce whether you like it or not.

Jiangyou's method is meticulous and meticulous. She scales and guts a small sea fish, washes and drains it, rubs it repeatedly with coarse salt, kills any bacteria with magic, and then mixes it with the coarse salt. She then layers the mixture into the crucible of time, stirs it thoroughly, covers it, leaves a gap for air to escape, and sets the timer for accelerated fermentation.

According to traditional methods, the mixture must be opened and stirred once a day for 1-2 months. Jiangyou sets the time according to the proportion, and after stirring nearly sixty times, he covers the lid and lets time continue its magic.

Fish sauce typically takes more than six months to ferment. Once fermentation is complete, the fish flesh will have largely dissolved in the fermented liquid, giving off a rich fishy aroma. It then needs to be filtered through gauze to remove any debris and bones. The clear amber liquid is then sealed in a clean, airtight glass bottle for easy use.

While the ingredients and cooking methods differ slightly, fish sauce and soy sauce are essentially the same; one uses fish, the other uses beans. Both protein-rich ingredients, with time and bacteria, will break down into delicious amino acids.

The Crucible of Time was the ultimate fermentation artifact. In the blink of an eye, six months had passed in the cauldron, and with a ding, the fish sauce was brewed.

She didn't bring a filling machine this time, but she did have a large collection of glass jars. With expert skill, Jiangyou filtered the liquid and filled the sterilized glass jars. He then affixed a handwritten label with a disinfection magic circle on the back, sealed the jars, and the job was done.

There was still some fish sauce left in the crucible. Jiang You used magic to test it, confirming it was non-toxic, sterile and safe to eat. He then added a little soul fire to taste it and said, "Hmm, strong, this is the taste!"

They had Chaoshan seafood porridge for breakfast. While seafood porridge is naturally sweet and fresh, some people like to add a little fish sauce to enhance the flavor. Jiang You poured the last bit of fish sauce onto a few small plates, letting Andrei and the others taste it as well.

When she cleaned the crucible, packed up all the props and equipment and returned to the kitchen, the seafood porridge was just out of the pot.

The cook was adding celery, coriander and chopped green onions into the pot as she instructed. The rich aroma of porridge had attracted several diners who had just woken up - Annina, Andrei and Jericho were already looking around at the kitchen door.

Not long after, Heidi arrived just in time for lunch. She had completed her morning exercises of Ba Duan Jin and a walk, and had hurriedly washed up. A rosy glow had crept into her thin face, and she looked not only in high spirits but also with a voracious appetite.

"It smells so good! Even better than the yam porridge before!" Heidi murmured.

"That's right, because we use only the best seafood. No one is allergic to shrimps and crabs, right?" Jiang You asked. Seeing them shaking their heads, he felt relieved. The chef brought the huge casserole to the table and began to diligently serve seafood porridge to everyone present.

Jiang You brought out the fish sauce: "This is a new sauce I made, called fish sauce. It's made from fish, so the flavor is stronger. You can try adding a little to the porridge to see if you like it."

Everyone carefully tried it. Andre thought it was delicious with or without fish sauce, while Annina and Heidi preferred the version without fish sauce.

Jericho was indeed a cat. After taking a bite, his eyes lit up and he ate up all the fish sauce on the table. He drank three bowls of porridge angrily until his belly was full. Then he collapsed in the chair and burped beautifully.

After breakfast, everyone got back to their work. Annina had to go to church, and Jiangyou and Heidi were going to Dream Garden Restaurant. As for Andrei, he hadn't waited for the King's summons yet, so he had nothing to do and decided to join Jiangyou as a handyman.

Heidi: These two are a little bit sparkly and sweet...hiss, but she loves to watch them!

As Andre's follower, Jericho naturally had to go with him. It wasn't because he could have a meal of curry prawns and Tom Yum Goong soup at noon after going there, meow~

Two carriages drove one after the other from the Dresden mansion to Heidi's Dream Garden restaurant. To allow Jiangyou to better teach the new dishes, Dream Garden was closed to the public today. All the chefs and waiters were already waiting in the gleamingly clean kitchen; the manager and foreman stood guard at the main door, constantly glancing out toward the street.

"Are you here?"

"not yet."

"I heard we're getting a new boss?"

"No, our boss is still Miss Heidi, but we have a new major shareholder. I heard that shareholder will bring twelve new dishes to our restaurant every year."

"...Shareholders, what does that mean?"

"You ask me, who should I ask? Anyway, that's what the eldest lady said, so just treat her as the second boss!"

"Hush! I see the carriage, everyone take your positions and get ready!"

All the waiters immediately lined up in two neat rows in front of the door, waiting to welcome their eldest daughter, who was loved by the master of the house, into the store. Then, they saw their eldest daughter walking in with a skeleton on her arm.

...Hmm? A skeleton?