Even though it was a hot sumr day, when Chen Mo opened the lid of the pot, the rising steam was still quite imnse.
A gentle breeze blew, and the steam was carried into the crowd.
In an instant, the custors waiting to eat fish, along with the urban express reporter brought in by Liu Yang, all subconsciously closed their eyes slightly, taking deep breaths, trying to inhale the savory aroma into their stomachs to satisfy themselves.
"It slls so good; I can’t even imagine how satisfying it would be to take a bite!"
"Luckily, I’m naturally suspicious; I stopped by after just passing the toll station. Otherwise, I would’ve missed such a fish!"
"Wow, this is what they an when they say there are experts among the people. This little taste can’t be replicated even by big restaurants."
"The aroma! How long has it been since I slled such a strong fish fragrance? Nowadays, fish don’t even have a fishy taste anymore."
Chen Mo alone watched the diners opposite inhale deeply, finding it really funny, almost like a bunch of addicts who hadn’t tasted good fish before, right?
If the fish stopped here, it definitely wouldn’t be Chen Mo’s true level.
The reporter lady waved her hand, and the photographer behind her zood in for a close-up.
The soft and tender big carp was scooped out by Chen Mo into bowls with a large scoop, with the head and tail lifted and the middle sinking, forming a U-shape.
Then Chen Mo cranked up the heat once again.
The broth in the pot began to boil once more.
Logically, at this mont, Chen Mo should have followed the original recipe, which was to crank up the heat to braise the fish skin while the fish was still in the pot.
But Chen Mo had thought carefully about this issue just now.
Big pots with powerful stoves are different from small pots with small stoves; not only is the firepower very strong, but the ingredients added at once are many.
With just ten minutes of simring over dium or low heat, quite a bit of fish skin could be braised off. So, if he continued to cook with high heat now, would the fish fall apart?
To ensure nothing went wrong, Chen Mo still chose to use a more reliable thod for cooking.
This was also his first attempt at improvising based on his understanding of cooking after leaving the food truck.
With high heat, the broth in the pot seed to boil to explosion, visibly reducing at an astonishing speed, leaving only rings of fat around the edges of the pot.
However, Chen Mo scooped them down with high-temperature fish soup.
This fat was crucial for the fish soup’s umami flavor; it would be a waste to leave it on the pot’s edges.
With the broth in the pot boiling vigorously, it reduced by at least half, and Chen Mo used a scoop to scoop it up and pour it back into the pot. The sauce-colored fish soup, in the photographer’s lens, looked as elegant as cuisine on the tip of the tongue.
"The consistency is about right; it’s ti now."
Seeing Chen Mo turn off the heat, Shi Lei brought over chopped cilantro and tried to stand in the fra.
Unfortunately, as soon as he moved, the photographer slightly tilted the cara away, leaving Chen Mo speechless, "Why are you squeezing out?"
Shi Lei gave an awkward laugh and returned to his spot.
Quickly pinching so cilantro to sprinkle into each bowl, he then ladled the soup evenly over them.
The collision of heat and cilantro, the re-fusion of fish soup and fish at, made all the diners present drool with anticipation.
But there was no way around it. The dish had a queue number; the car owners received their braised fish one by one in the order they had registered.
"Really not bad, we can see our charming food truck brother, after a busy bout, successfully made twenty fish. I’d like to ask our brother, how many fish do we have left here?"
Chen Mo calculated briefly.
The fish in Old Wang’s compartnt was worth about 50,000, assuming each fish was two catties for 100 Yuan, that’s at least 500!
With the food truck earlier, adding the current ones, it wasn’t clear until he calculated it—it was quite shocking.
"There are probably another four hundred or so left undone," he said.
The journalist lady’s pupils shook in surprise instantly, "Four hundred! Oh my goodness! Our little brother here is trying to help the crowd by making over five hundred fish by himself!"
"Not only that, but the car owners who bought braised fish on-site have already started eating. Let’s interview them and see how it tastes."
The voice recorder was randomly shoved in front of a car owner.
This guy was originally bored from traffic jams, so he was among the first to rush to the food truck. After getting the fish, he eagerly started to eat.
Seeing the recorder approaching, the little brother cautiously took a step back and turned slightly, protecting his bowl without waiting for the lady journalist’s question, and said, "Don’t think that just because you’re a reporter, I’ll let you eat!"
The journalist lady was initially stunned, then couldn’t help but laugh, "It seems this fish is really delicious; let’s see what other car owners say."
Approaching a girl standing by the roadside eating slowly, "Hello, do you think this fish is well made?"
"It’s delicious." The girl said with her mouth full of fish, "There are very few bones, and the braised aroma is sothing I’ve never tasted before. The fish is particularly fresh and tender, with a rich fish flavor! Gosh, I don’t even know how to describe it, but it’s super delicious, our little brother’s skills are top-notch!"
Thumbs up, the journalist lady smiled and moved on to interview more car owners.
Chen Mo cleaned the pot, as Shi Lei ca over and said, "It’s not feasible; at this speed, we still won’t finish. I see this pot is quite big; why don’t you make more at once?"
This pot was indeed large, with a diater of at least 1.5 ters, and quite deep. If you dared, cooking forty to fifty at once wouldn’t be a problem.
"Let’s make more this ti." Chen Mo glanced at the basin as Shi Lei had already washed forty to fifty more fish.
Earlier, it was due to trying for the first ti without the food truck’s help, and feeling unsure, that he made fewer.
Now, seeing everyone’s positive reaction.
Chen Mo had gained a preliminary understanding of his skills, and after serving the fish, he noticed sothing.
Before cleaning the pot, Chen Mo tasted the remaining broth. Without the final step of boiling the fish skin with high heat, the broth could thicken but lacked rich flavors.
It tasted a bit... thin.
It’s a hard feeling to describe, unlike the experience from making it in the food truck earlier, which was rich and lingered in the mouth even after eating, like...
When eating, it was fragrant and fresh, but after eating, it felt bizarrely incomplete.
"Is there a possibility..."
Chen Mo suddenly had a bold idea.
Since today, he was helping out of goodwill; there was no need to worry about making money.
"Brother Si Shi, help get another fish."
"What? Do you want to eat too?"
Chen Mo gave him a sideways glance, can’t I eat?
"It’s not for ; I have a new idea I want to try."
Shi Lei imdiately beca serious.
Back when he was learning to cook, his ntor said that getting into cooking was easy, and making dishes taste better than average was also easy.
But to reach mastery and finesse, relying only on years of learning and practice wasn’t enough; ultimately, it depended on "enlightennt"!
And so-called enlightennt is the occasional burst of inspiration in making exquisite dishes, monts that are fleeting.
If you grab it, you grab it.
If not, it might just slip by.
Shi Lei sensed that Chen Mo was in such a state now, not daring to delay a bit, he quickly ran to the fish truck and cut the line to get in.
"Give two fish!"
And then he added.
"Put it on Boss Xiao Chen’s tab!"
Chen Mo: ???
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