"There are only two carp left now; even for practice, there’s only one shot."
That is to say, if it fails once, there’s only one last fish left to attempt the cooking.
"How can you ensure the heart and fish brain stay alive?" Fu Yu really couldn’t think of a good method at the moment.
After all, once the fish is gutted and put in the hot oil, the heart will surely be cooked in no time if the hot oil enters the abdominal cavity.
And the cooking instructions online summarize everything with just a few simple sentences.
Because of the preparation method of this dish, the aroma struggles to infuse the fish meat, the fish protein is hard to break down, and there could be parasites not killed, so considering taste, health, and nutrition, it’s been gradually fading from people’s view.
Back then, the customers who wanted to try it were just curious to have a taste.
Liu Yunong seemed quite confident: "I heard about this dish before; because I found it intriguing, I inquired a bit more. The fish heart needs to be wrapped with medical cotton over the heart membrane during cooking, and the fish head should be wrapped with white gauze."
"This way, during cooking, you can ensure that the fish brain and heart aren’t harmed."
Liu Yunong explained in great detail, and her calm tone soothed the listener’s mind.
Since Liu Yunong was confident, Fu Yu felt relieved as well.
He stepped forward proactively to assist Liu Yunong but didn’t rashly grab the fish.
The cooking method for this dish is complex, so Liu Yunong certainly wanted to prepare it herself.
While Liu Yunong was scaling and gutting the fish, Fu Yu curiously flipped through a classic old flavor recipe book.
And indeed, there it was, this very dish.
Compared to the overly simplistic online methods, the recipe described the procedure in much more detail.
Each step was meticulously documented.
Fu Yu quickly skimmed through it, and he had a general idea in mind.
...
Liu Yunong seemed confident, full of self-assurance, but inside, she was a bit nervous.
Meanwhile, the kitchen hand was hurriedly preparing the ingredients.
Once the ingredients were ready, Liu Yunong started by cooking the side dishes first.
Bamboo shoots, mushrooms, ham, scallions, and deseeded red chili peppers were all diced.
Ginger was peeled and minced.
These steps were all part of the online cooking recipe.
Liu Yunong followed the instructions while cooking, pondering how to best achieve the perfect result as described in the recipe.
At her level, learning to cook involves understanding each step, never blindly proceeding, but considering the purpose and expected result of each operation.
The clay pot was heated on the stove, with base oil added, and the minced ginger was fried for aroma, followed by a quick stir-frying of the diced bamboo shoots, mushrooms, red chili peppers, ham, and green peas.
When it was almost ready, she added bone soup, refined salt, cooking wine, soy sauce, and monosodium glutamate, bringing it to a boil, then thickened it with a mixture of water and starch.
Lastly, a few drops of sesame oil were added before removing it from the heat for later use.
With all the side ingredients prepared, Liu Yunong personally handled the live fish.
The toughest part of cooking this dish, aside from deep-frying, was the gutting process.
It required opening the fish belly to remove the entrails but not opening the chest cavity, only incising the heart chamber diaphragm.
It seemed simple but was challenging in actual operation.
Without opening the chest cavity, it meant feeling around blindly to perform the task.
If it were disassembling a whole chicken, she could navigate the bone structure by heart.
But the internal structure of a fish? Who would study that?
Fish entrails are usually not even considered scraps; they’re just treated as kitchen waste and discarded.
Truth be told, she was only familiar with the fish gall bladder and fish line—those, she could locate accurately.
Being honest, Liu Yunong wasn’t confident either; after all, as a chef, she wasn’t a deity. No matter how formidable her cooking skills were, she didn’t have X-ray vision!
She scaled and sliced open the fish belly, feeling her way as she carefully removed the organs, anxiously determining the location of the heart.
This step required quick hands.
The online instructions called for carving decorative cuts after gutting.
But Liu Yunong didn’t do that immediately; instead, she gingerly checked the fish heart’s condition.
The moment her fingertip felt a membrane-like texture, she could immediately feel the heart beating.
Liu Yunong let out a silent breath of relief. Fortunately, she didn’t damage the heart.
She washed the fish clean and placed it on the chopping board.
Liu Yunong instructed Fu Yu while carving ripple-like decorative cuts on both sides of the fish: "Heat the oil in the wok, we need it for frying the fish."
Since the fish was to be fried, an ample amount of oil was necessary.
Fu Yu estimated the amount of oil and asked: "Chef, is this amount of oil okay?"
Liu Yunong turned to take a look and nodded: "Yes."
Fu Yu finished pouring the oil and continued to watch Liu Yunong’s cooking with interest.
Liu Yunong completed the carving and tried wrapping the carp’s heart membrane with medical cotton.
The kitchen hand had specially bought the cotton from the pharmacy across the street, fearing it wasn’t clean enough, and sanitized it before use.
Wrapping the fish’s heart membrane with cotton could mitigate the hot oil’s impact on the heart.
Truthfully, she was nervous. After cooking for so many years, she hadn’t felt this way in quite some time.
She cautiously inserted the cotton into the carp’s chest cavity and gradually wrapped the entire heart membrane by feel.
During the process, she could distinctly feel the carp’s heart beating slowly.
However, caution alone doesn’t ensure success.
Liu Yunong managed to wrap the heart membrane entirely by feeling, and because it was covered with cotton, she couldn’t tell if the heart was still beating.
Anyway, she completed this step somehow.
She swiftly wrapped the fish head with white gauze.
She rubbed refined salt and fine starch onto the fish.
Then, she grasped the fish head with one hand and pinched the tail with the other, lowering it into the hot oil for deep frying.
During frying, she deliberately fried the body first, then the tail.
This step made Liu Yunong’s heart race uncontrollably again.
How should she control the timing?
What duration was appropriate?
Various thoughts made Liu Yunong so hurried that she even forgot to carve an "X" shape on the fish tail.
So when the carp was put into the pot, seeing the bubbling oil, her expression changed instantly. It was over; the oil was overheated.
The next moment, the fish tail in her hand suddenly thrashed, startling Liu Yunong. Realizing her mistake, she reacted instinctively, quickly shifting her fingers and pinching the tender flesh at the tail.
She then placed the carp on the chopping board.
She glanced at the indentations on the fish body, as she customarily kept her nails short for cooking, but due to her urgency, she applied too much force, leaving dent marks on the fish tail.
Of course, when it’s time to plate, some garnish could cover it, so it wouldn’t be an issue.
Yet, when Liu Yunong checked if the carp’s mouth was opening or if the tail was twitching, she froze.
"It’s over! Failed..."
At the words, Wang Yulong, who was observing the action over here, hurriedly came over.
"What happened? How did it fail?"
Wang Yulong glanced over and saw that the carp was only fried on one side, and it was very briefly done.
Liu Yunong looked serious, stating solemnly, "During cooking, the tail’s strength was too much. I almost couldn’t hold it, and when I lifted it, I realized the cooking failed. The fish’s mouth didn’t move and was cooked to death by the hot oil!"
The carp was indeed dead!
Thoroughly dead, but it had only been briefly in the oil; it didn’t even have a chance to be flipped.
"No way, I need to see what’s the issue!"
After all, it failed anyway, and this carp was wasted.
Liu Yunong decided to cut open the fish cavity and carefully peeled back the cotton to check.
As she slowly unearthed it, she realized things were worse than she had thought!
The heart membrane was damaged and messily stuck to the fish heart.
No wonder it failed.