Chapter 92
Lu Shiyu picked up the small fish in the basin. Each fish was only about the length of a palm. It would be a bit difficult to cook it into a dish of this size.
If there weren't tadpole-sized fry in the pond and no larger brown fish, she wouldn't have thought that such a small fish was actually an adult fish.
Lu Shiyu turned over the basin and found that most of them were small fish of this size, with no choice.
Lu Shiyu used kitchen scissors to cut open the belly of the small fish, separated the big fish from the small fish in the belly, and then cut open the belly of the fish, cleaned out the internal organs and gills. The fish scales were too small to be removed.
After washing the fish with starch in clean water, put them in a basin and marinate them with green onion, ginger, salt and cooking wine. Mix them evenly and wait for fifteen minutes. After marinating, pour in an appropriate amount of starch and mix until the fish is evenly covered with a thin layer of starch.
While the fish are being pickled, the big fish can be processed. First, some of the partially digested ones need to be removed, and only the complete big fish that have not yet begun to be digested are retained. The number of big fish, which was originally small, has been reduced by most of them, leaving only a basin.
Heat oil in a pan, sprinkle a circle of salt, pour the big fish into the pan, adjust the position to ensure that each fish is attached to the iron pan, fry the fish until it is shaped, then turn it over, and wait until the big fish is fried until both sides are golden brown before serving.
Pour minced ginger, minced garlic and chili into the pot, then add a spoonful of dried chili to stir-fry, pour the fried fish into the pot, add light soy sauce, dark soy sauce and some cooking wine, then add a little bit of water, stir-fry and it is ready to be served.
While frying the fish, the small fish are almost marinated. Pick out the small fish from the basin and discard the green onion and ginger in the marinade. Prepare the batter according to the number of small fish. Pour flour, starch, eggs, five-spice powder, pepper and a little salt into a basin, stir into a paste and add a little cooking oil. Then you can use chopsticks to pick up the small fish and put them into the batter to coat them with a layer of batter.
After the oil in the iron pan is heated to 50%, you can start frying. Pick up the small fish coated with batter and put them into the pan one by one to avoid sticking.
After the fish is fried until golden and crispy, remove it and the dry-fried fish is done.
On the other side, Tang Zeyu also finished cooking. After all the dishes were served, she called the other three to come and eat.
Because Chen Yunliang's special ability can only heal injuries, he is powerless to treat conditions like fever and colds. He can only find a strong antipyretic drug from his bag, take out two pills and feed them to Shaoxing Yang.
Of course there are side effects, but for the exploration team with strong physical fitness, these side effects are just a tickle. It is also thanks to the good health of the members of the exploration team that Chen Yunliang, a quack doctor, can prescribe medicine at will.
"Well, the temperature has started to go down. It's nothing serious. With luck, he'll be well by tomorrow morning."
Chen Yunliang glanced at the thermometer, sprayed it with alcohol to disinfect it, and then put it away.
Shaoxing Yang moved to the dining table with an empty bowl in his hand, his mouth watering at the fragrant fried fish.
Seeing him like this, Yan Hong served him a bowl of rice and handed it to him first.
"Eat if you want to. My saliva is almost dripping into the food."
Shaoxing Yang took the bowl and chopsticks with a silly smile, picked up a fried fish, and bit off half of the fish in one bite.
The moment you bite into it, the first thing you feel is the pleasant "crunch" sound and the crispy taste. The fish skin is fried transparently and crispy while the meat inside is still tough. Under high temperature frying, even the tiny fish bones become crispy. Under the crispy shell, the fish meat close to the bones still retains a firm, tender and slightly moist state. It is not completely dry, but has absorbed the tenderness of the sauce.
The combination of fried fish and seasonings creates a mouth-watering taste. The overall taste is salty and fragrant with a slight spicy flavor, while retaining the freshness of the fish. The crispy skin gives the fried fish a more unique flavor. The layered texture and taste are the soul of fried fish.
Yan Hong picked up a small fried fish that was golden brown all over with her hands.
Because it was fried too crispy, some oil residue fell off the fish when Yan Hong picked it up.
The thin batter covering the small fish becomes extremely crispy and fragrant after being fried at high temperature. When you bite it with your teeth, you can clearly hear a clear and pleasant "click" sound, which is so short that it seems like you are biting off a layer of rock sugar.
The crispiness is not hard and thick, but rather fluffy and crispy with air holes wrapped around the outside of the fish.
Some of the edges of the fish, such as the fins and tail, have been completely fried in hot oil, forming a wonderful golden brown burnt edge.
The taste of these parts is the most prominent, with a charming subtle bitter burnt aroma, a joint product of the Maillard reaction and caramelization reaction. This jointly formed burnt aroma is the core source of the aroma of dry-fried fish.
The marinating that the small fish goes through before frying provides most of the flavor basis. The umami flavor of the small fish itself is further released after being stimulated by frying. The two flavors together constitute the flavor framework.
The small fish is fried until it is completely crispy, and it is impossible to distinguish the skin, meat and bones. It seems as if the fish is integrated with the batter. When you bite into it, you will feel a subtle sense of satisfaction as if even the bones have been chewed up.
The savory and fresh dishes eaten with rice are so delicious that you can't stop eating them. You can eat them one bite after another. Since you don't have to spit out the fish bones, the eating process is particularly enjoyable. The slight sweetness and the faint spicy aroma make you want to stop.
Shaoxing Yang's mouth was full of oil and he couldn't help burping.
After eating, he felt that most of his symptoms had disappeared. He felt so comfortable that he just wanted to fall asleep. At this time, Lu Shiyu suddenly handed him a bowl of soup and asked him to clear his mouth.
"Thank you."
Shaoxing Yang blew at the soup bowl and suddenly saw a few silvery-white fish floating in it.
When Lu Shiyu served him the first bowl, he was afraid that he would choke accidentally, so he only scooped out the soup. When he served the second bowl, Shaoxing Yang realized that there was actually fish in the soup.
However, Shaoxing Yang didn't think much about it. They caught a lot of fish today - although to be precise, it was Lu Shiyu who caught them, so it was not surprising that there was fish in the dishes for dinner.
Seeing that Shaoxing Yang drank the soup after just a pause and even ate the soft fish in the soup, Yan Hong breathed a sigh of relief. If Shaoxing Yang knew what he was drinking, he would make a fuss again.
"Speaking of which, Lu Shiyu," Shaoxing Yang said while chewing the fish, "are we going to keep eating these from now on?"
"Hey, don't you want to eat?"
Lu Shiyu was a little surprised. She thought that the first person to say that she didn’t want to eat would be Yan Hong, who couldn’t accept it at first, but it turned out to be Shaoxing Yang who didn’t want to eat anymore.
"Not really, but didn't Professor Chen give us a lot of food?"
Shaoxing Yang pointed at Lu Shiyu's bag and said, "We already have normal food. Why don't we just eat normal food? Why do we need to eat deformed creatures every day?"
Lu Shiyu explained: "Professor Chen did give us a lot of food, but it's not enough for the five of us to eat all the way."
"If I eat the food Professor Chen gives me for every meal, it won't be long before it's all gone. I'll still have to eat the deformed creatures afterward, so I plan to save those ingredients for when it's inconvenient or I can't find anything to eat."
"I see."
Shaoxing Yang nodded and continued to chew the fish. He glanced at Chen Yunliang who was writing something beside him. When he got closer, he saw that it was full of various nouns that he couldn't understand.
"Are you writing the Book of Heaven?"
Interrupted, Chen Yunliang closed his notebook and glanced at Shao Xingyang speechlessly: "Don't disturb others when they are working, okay, little brat?"
"Who are you calling a brat?" Shao Xingyang yelled in dissatisfaction: "We don't know what kind of job you can do!"
"Researching superpower-enhancing potions, do you understand?"
Chen Yunliang raised his eyebrows, as if to provoke him. Shaoxing Yangyi was provoked and blurted out: "Don't look down on me! A mere enhancement..."
"What are the molar concentration and mole fraction?"
Shaoxing Yang: "..."
"What does this have to do with the potion you just mentioned?!"
"Ha, guess what?"
Shaoxing Yang, who had just finished compulsory education and signed up for the exploration team, naturally didn't know about this. He turned around and hugged Yan Hong, shaking her and crying.
"Yan Hong! He's a bully!"
Chen Yunliang pushed his glasses up: "She doesn't know how to do it either."
Yan Hong: “…”
Yan Hong kicked Shao Xingyang away and said, "You two can fight your own battles, why hurt me by mistake?"
Lu Shiyu sat down next to Tang Zeyu and asked, "Did Yanhong and Shaoxingyang really only complete compulsory education? Why didn't they continue their studies?"
Tang Zeyu watched the three people fighting and drank a mouthful of soup before explaining, "Yan Hong and Shao Xingyang are different from us. Their parents and other relatives didn't make it to the base, so they had to go to the worst orphanage."
After the base was built, the first problem that arose was not the shortage of supplies, but what to do with the large number of children who had lost their parents.
Without a guardian to support them, the burden of raising them naturally fell on the base. The base should be responsible for the socialized upbringing of these children, so a base foster home, an institution similar to an orphanage, was established.
The orphanage does not only accept children without guardians, but all children under the age of 13 can enter. If the guardian of a single-parent family is unable to raise the child alone, the child will be sent there and it will be used as a nursery.
But at the same time, the shortcomings of the nursing home were immediately exposed.
The shortage of funding has made the situation of the orphanage, which already has no source of income, even worse. The children's food, clothing, housing and transportation can only be deducted endlessly. The orphanages in prosperous areas are still okay, but those in remote areas are really helpless. Anyway, as long as the children are still alive and have not starved to death, frozen to death or died of disease, the base will not care how well they are taken care of. The current situation is there. How can the adults who are busy building the base pay attention to whether the children in the orphanage are well fed and clothed?
This has led to many children who have left orphanages going astray. Sadly, these children just want to have enough food to eat.
Lu Shiyu, Tang Zeyu and Chen Yunliang all had relatives in the base. A relative of Lu Shiyu was willing to take her in until she came of age, which saved her from going to an orphanage.
But Yan Hong and Shao Xingyang were not so lucky. In the base where everyone was in danger, even if they were related by blood, they had no obligation to raise someone else's child for free. So they ended up in an orphanage, living and eating with hundreds of other children. Fights over food and clothing were common.
In a harsh environment, it is very difficult to get children to concentrate on their studies. Talking to them about the importance of academics for the future is completely like talking to a cow. Their biggest problem is whether they can have enough to eat tomorrow rather than whether they can find a good job in the future. Distant water cannot quench immediate thirst. The children in the orphanage do not have a high enthusiasm for learning. For them, academic qualifications are not even as good as a hard labor job that earns 4,000 yuan a month.
Therefore, Shaoxing Yang and Yanhong, who grew up in such an environment, naturally gave up continuing their studies and chose to find a job to support themselves on the first day of their adulthood.
Then they were picked up by Tang Zeyu who was passing by and thrown to the registration office of the exploration team.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
