Intuition and Culinary Heart erupted completely.
That feeling of being in control of everything from the unseen rapidly activated his body. Transforming into a golden figure, Mo Bai carried Little Bai and rushed straight for the Platinum King Crab.
King Crabs belong to deep-sea crab species, mainly distributed in cold waters. Named for their massive size, they enjoy the reputation of being the "King of Crabs." Unlike other edible crabs, their most delicious part is not the roe, paste, or the meat in the carapace, but the six arthropod legs that are muscular and plump due to their constant movement as predators.
The Platinum King Crab lives in the Ice Continent of the Inner World, where the climate is even harsher. To ensure survival, they spend their days repeating the two processes of migration and hunting in groups. The nutrients gained from hunting are naturally allocated to their most important tools for migration: their crab legs.
Its crab legs possess an elastic texture and rich flavor that ordinary King Crabs can hardly match.
The kitchen knife cut through the air, shaving off the hideous spikes on the outer shell in the most concise manner. Immediately following a series of crisp snapping sounds, all six long legs of the Platinum King Crab were dismantled.
With another continuous stream of crisp sounds, the hard shell the Platinum King Crab took pride in was utterly defeated by Little Bai's blade.
The Culinary Skill Purification (Advanced) activated. The cut surfaces where the blade passed revealed white crab meat tinged with orange-red, shimmering with a soft glow.
The grill to the side was already prepared; Mo Bai only needed to light it.
While the flames licked the wire mesh to raise its temperature, Mo Bai quickly threw himself into the production of the next dish: Supreme Fin Soup.
Shark fin is originally cartilage in the fish fin; cartilage naturally cannot have any flavor of its own. Its taste relies entirely on external additions, so a pot of good high-quality stock is the top priority for Supreme Fin Soup.
Poultry—the best ingredient for high-quality stock. It offers a rich soup flavor while remaining refreshing in taste, not making the taster feel greasy due to excessive fat.
"Hmm, already cleaned? That saves me some effort."
The ingredient preparation level of the Yukikawa Shrine's mikos was indeed very superb; even Mo Bai's Intuition could not find a single flaw.
"Chop chop chop chop!"
Switching to a clean cutting board, Mo Bai raised his hand and dropped the knife, chopping the old hen, salted duck, pigeon, and other ingredients into pieces before throwing them into the soup pot and turning on the heat to boil.
Starting another pot, pork leg bones were blanched in cold water and then added to the poultry stock.
The essence of pork leg bones is the marrow. Blanching certainly wastes some of the essence, but it is not a problem. Adding pork leg bones is to further append a thick base flavor to the stock, but the thematic style remains the refreshing flavor of poultry stock.
Finally, apples were cut into blocks, cored, and thrown into the soup pot. Malic acid can effectively prevent the acidification of meat stock.
Stock preparation complete. Mo Bai turned back to look at the wire mesh heated hot by the charcoal fire.
The crab meat, split in half but maintaining the complete crab leg shape, was placed onto the wire mesh using special long chopsticks. The crab leg meat began to emit curling wisps of meaty aroma.
After manipulating the amount of charcoal emitting a fruit wood aroma to regulate the temperature, Mo Bai began to carve the washed white radish.
If the plating is too monotonous, one can only use novelty to salvage it.
Pausing several times in between to control the progress of the crab leg meat, an antique-style White Jade Pavilion boat gradually took shape in Mo Bai's hands.
Grating on some top-quality yuzu zest, he finally dripped on bitter yuzu juice mixed with granular sea salt.
"Char-grilled Platinum King Crab complete!"
"Dish Name: Platinum Jade Qilin Ship."
Placing the serving platter on the low table, Mo Bai lifted the cover. A vast pillar of white light shot through the ceiling of the Pure Room straight into the rolling black clouds.
As the radiance gradually subsided, the dish revealed its appearance.
An exquisite and grand White Jade Pavilion boat appeared vivid and lifelike. Its top-layer bricks and tiles were impressively small sections of Platinum King Crab legs that had been split in half and then rejoined.
"Not bad." The First Emperor nodded.
Mo Bai breathed a sigh of relief and trotted all the way back to the cooking station. After accelerating the soup boiling process by chopping the ingredients into blocks, his high-quality stock was about to undergo its first filtration.
The aroma of crab meat permeated the Pure Room. The First Emperor's cherish-words-like-gold evaluation, along with the ultra-high completion degree of Mo Bai's cooking discerned through scent, made the Great Miko feel slightly at ease.
Skimming off the oil on the soup surface, he then placed minced chicken meat into cheesecloth to absorb excess grease. Subsequently, he took out the stock and added dried scallops and abalone to elevate its delicious flavor.
As the golden high-quality stock began to roll with small bubbles, the inside of the soup pot started to release bursts of golden light.
Holding Little Bai and starting work again, the fine cartilaginous filaments in the fish fin were removed root by root, completely intact.
Changing pots again. The deliciousness of Dream Ingredients far exceeds ordinary ingredients, and the cooking difficulty corresponding to them increases geometrically. Ordinary deodorization methods simply cannot completely remove the fishy smell of the Supreme Walking Shark's fin.
At this moment, the second Dream Ingredient on the Supreme Walking Shark Supreme Fin Soup recipe, the Purple Gold Ginger with an appearance like golden veins of fire, made its entrance.
Immediately after, Mo Bai fished out a bottle of alcohol with blue characters on white paper from his bosom. This was the inspiration given to him by that cup of Oolong Tea.
Vodka with 96% alcohol content, also known as Spirytus.
The consequences of downing this fierce substance in one gulp or taking a light sip are no different.
Using alcohol to remove fishy smells—the excellent wisdom of food-loving people was reflected most vividly at this moment.
Blue flames burned on the surface of the soup. Mo Bai calculated the time accurately and scooped up the shark fin.
The shark fin in the colander was snow-white and crystal clear, root by root, with gem-like brilliance flowing on its surface.
"Perfect!" Seeing this brilliance, Mo Bai understood that this Supreme Fin Soup was only missing the final steps.
The shark fin went into the high-quality stock, the pot lid was covered, and it was simmered on low heat.
The last step was also the most important step; Mo Bai dared not slack off in the slightest.
The protein of the shark fin would continuously precipitate during this process, making the soup viscous. If it stuck to the bottom and scorched, the whole pot of Supreme Fin Soup would be ruined.
Stirring is a good method, but Mo Bai wanted to seal in the fresh aroma of this pot of shark fin as much as possible.
Otherwise, what would he use to move the First Emperor, who had tasted countless delicacies from land and sea?
His only chance of winning lay in the explosion the instant the dish was served and the lid opened.
"Then I can only use the stupid method." Mo Bai put on cotton gloves and grabbed the soup pot. Relying on Intuition and Little Bai's analysis of the ingredients inside the pot, he began to shake it left and right, sometimes fast, sometimes slow, sometimes up, sometimes down.
Inside the pot, unseen by Mo Bai and Little Bai, the effect of Purification (Advanced) continued to activate, and the entire pot dazzled with golden light.
"Preparation complete." The porcelain plate was first filled with poultry stock and abalone sliced into thin sheets rolled into flowers. Mo Bai quickly took the simmered shark fin out of the soup pot with a colander and covered it with the serving cover.
"Dish Name: Winged Supreme Fin Soup."
Mo Bai opened the lid. Umami erupted, turning into rolling waves that swept through the Pure Room. Above the serving plate, golden light condensed into a Supreme Walking Shark with wings on its back, spreading its wings and soaring high into the clouds in the sky amidst brilliant golden light.
However, just as Mo Bai let out a long breath, his pupils constricted slightly as he looked at the scene where the Platinum Jade Qilin Ship on the low table remained intact.
"Very good." The First Emperor evaluated with a smile, rating it a level higher, yet he still had no intention of moving his chopsticks at all. "After a unique style of deodorization, you discarded the high-quality stock used to simmer the shark fin and instead used a more refreshing initial poultry stock that had not been mixed with abalone and dried scallops."
"Was it because you wanted to let Us taste a different kind of freshness?"
"Pity that cooking of this degree is still unable to make Us generate an appetite."
"What!?" Smelling the aroma of the Supreme Fin Soup, the Great Miko, who had just had the thought that it was a sure win, was stunned into losing her voice.
"It's over!"
The instant she lost her voice, the Great Miko was struck with heart-splitting terror.
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