Chapter 362: Chapter 274: Nowhere Near Enough to Eat, Bullfrog Procurement Plan

"Using crab blood instead of tofu in a dish?"

Jonathan was utterly bewildered, completely incredulous.

He had thought Lin Chen’s cooking methods would be unique, but he didn’t expect them to be this unique.

Using the blood of other animals could be justified, at least there are related dishes.

But crab blood, what the heck is that?!

Who in their right mind would think of using this to cook?

"The original recipe used the blood of lake crabs from Great Xia, but those crabs are too small, and you’d need at least a hundred to gather enough blood for a dish of tofu."

"Due to regional issues here, and to save time, we’ve replaced it with king crab, which is a bit lazy, haha."

The subsequent preparation process wasn’t particularly special; the special part was using crab blood to make tofu.

When a plate of golden, shiny tofu covered in crab meat sauce appeared on camera, no one could mentally link it to an entire king crab.

In their impression, when king crab is served, it should usually just have a few crab legs, with the joints thoughtfully cut open for easy consumption.

The remaining crab meat would then be extracted to make a salad or snacks.

To take the entire crab’s meat, shred it, and boil it into a crab meat sauce just to accompany a plate of tofu... oh no, it’s not just ordinary tofu.

If this plate of crab roe tofu belongs in the realm of high-end dishes, then perhaps low-end ones truly do use crab meat with regular tofu?

For a moment, they were unsure which approach was more absurd.

Anyway, for these foreigners, both methods seemed quite unbelievable.

After taking a few close-up shots of the crab roe tofu, Lucas fixed his camera in place and started distributing the tofu to everyone.

He wasn’t the same as he used to be; just filming the cooking process wasn’t enough, he also needed to capture the diners’ reactions to the dishes, to make a complete video.

Of course, their faces wouldn’t be shown in the footage; the shots were limited to below the neck, focusing mainly on the crab roe tofu.

John originally wanted to observe closely, but upon noticing how everyone barely dared to breathe, he figured munching on the hot, sizzling fried bullfrogs there would just disturb their work.

If he chose to watch the cooking process, the bullfrogs would get cold, and cold fried food loses flavor significantly, which he couldn’t tolerate. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

After all, the video would be uploaded to Lucas’s social media, and he could watch the full video later.

Realizing this, he didn’t hesitate and went early with his fragrant fried bullfrogs and icy cola to sit by the kitchenette area in the dining room, enjoying his meal in peace.

Once he had polished off the remaining few hefty bullfrogs on his plate, he gulped down his icy cola in one go.

"Burp~~~~"

He let out a long burp, leaning back in his chair, fully satisfied.

"Ah, that was great. Who knew eating bullfrogs would be such an awesome experience, with so much tender meat. If I had known bullfrogs were this delicious... oh well, it’s not too late to find out now, considering I don’t cook."

Feeling full and content, he began pondering how many bullfrogs and blackfish there were on the farm, and whether there were any other troublesome creatures like them, preferably those with plenty of meat and large numbers.

"Damn it, I remember we spent a fortune earlier this year eradicating a batch of bullfrogs and blackfish, so there might not be many left now. Maybe I should section off a place to raise them?"

As he thought of this, John regretted it deeply.

If he had known they were so tasty then and started capturing and raising them, the numbers would have exceeded tens of thousands by now.

He clearly remembered at the beginning of the year, his employees bragging to him with figures of capturing tens of thousands of blackfish and thousands of pounds of bullfrogs.

Thinking back now, that was all literally bags and bags of cash!!

Blackfish was better because they breed regardless of the season, though their numbers are limited by the food available.

Bullfrogs were different, as they mainly breed in the summer and are less active in other seasons, even hibernating when it gets cold.

Now, with summer just starting, if he could seize the opportunity, he’d have a large batch of young bullfrogs by September or October!

He never thought frogs could be farmed and knew nothing about raising them.

But based on concepts of raising other creatures, they’d likely need several months to mature.

"If I continue supplying bullfrogs as ingredients during this period, their numbers might not suffice."

"This won’t do. I must quickly start acquiring bullfrogs and blackfish from other farms. It’s better to buy them ready-made rather than raise them myself, considering no one else knows their true value."

Being the largest local farm, he naturally had contact with other small farms and farm owners in the surrounding area.

The challenges he faced were the same ones other farm owners would face, perhaps even more difficult.

Just as he was holding his phone and calling the farmers one by one to purchase bullfrogs and blackfish, Elsa came out holding a small bowl of crab tofu.

Seeing him on the phone, she carefully walked over to put down the bowl, gestured for him to eat, and then tiptoed away.

John looked up in surprise at her back, finding himself becoming increasingly fond of this young girl.

Before, he only thought this young waitress was shy, quiet, and not fond of speaking, seeming to only be heard during work. He never expected her to be so considerate, even specially bringing out some food for him to taste.

There was not much meat from the whole king crab, and with so many people around, getting a small half-bowl was already quite good.

He quickly hung up the call, set aside work, picked up the spoon, and took a spoonful of crab tofu to examine carefully.

The sauce on the tofu surface seemed thick but was actually very smooth, a bit like the texture of melted ice cream.

The semi-transparent sauce was full of red and white strands of crab meat and some unknown yellow granules, looking very appealing.

Bringing it closer to his nose, the aroma of this spoonful of crab tofu was very mild, with a distinct fresh smell of crab, a complete contrast to the strong fragrance of the spicy hot pot he had tasted earlier.

It seemed that besides king crab meat, no other ingredient’s smell could be detected in this bowl of crab meat tofu.

A sauce made purely from crab meat?

He thought the overly thick crab meat sauce might have masked the flavor of other ingredients, and it should be paired with tofu to eat together.

Without thinking much, he directly put a spoonful into his mouth, gently pressed it with his tongue, and the tender tofu immediately melted.

Just when he thought he would taste the familiar flavor of tofu, a rich aroma of crab meat spread out, quickly blending with the surrounding salty and sweet crab paste, making the crab flavor more intense, as if he had eaten a whole crab with one bite.

"Hmm??"

He looked down at the tofu in the bowl in confusion.

"What’s going on, isn’t tofu supposed to have a mild flavor? Why didn’t I taste it?"

Not convinced, John scooped another piece of tofu, this time deliberately avoiding extra crab paste, preparing to taste the tofu on its own.

He wasn’t foolish; since this seemingly ordinary tofu was used to entertain the president, there must be hidden secrets.

Maybe it was these few seemingly common pieces of tofu!

In French cuisine, there is a common but challenging cooking technique called molecular gastronomy, which processes ingredients in special ways to ultimately create different shapes, making the food appear and taste entirely different.

Perhaps this tofu was made using molecular gastronomy?

After tasting the tofu on its own, he first nodded in satisfaction, then his eyes showed more intense confusion.

This tofu was indeed molecular gastronomy, with only a strong crab aroma and not a hint of beany smell, definitely made with king crab.

But the problem is...crab meat is red and white in color, and its muscle fibers, even when crushed, cannot be turned into such a tofu-like texture.

Moreover, from the start of filming to the finished product being served, it took just over half an hour in total.

Molecular gastronomy is labor-intensive cuisine, and the kitchen door was open, so he did not hear the sound of a blender, confirming that this process was not used.

Without crushing the crab meat, how could it be made into a tofu shape?

Without thinking too much, he gave up on trying to figure it out.

Because he knew with his brain and limited culinary knowledge, it was impossible to understand.

No need to add unnecessary troubles for himself.

He gobbled up the remaining crab tofu in a few bites, savoring its light yet extremely delicious flavor, licking the bowl a few times, stopping only when the crab paste at the bottom was completely gone.

He had always thought that Great Xia Cuisine was full of strong flavors like fried chicken fillet or spicy hot pot. This light and delicate crab tofu completely overturned his perception.

Turns out dishes that appear to have little flavor can taste so good!

"Are you finished? How did it taste?"

Lin Chen, just finished filming, came out from the kitchen, wiping the water droplets off his hands, and seeing his bowl licked clean, asked deliberately.

John inevitably gave a round of compliments, lifting his spirits and washing away most of his fatigue.

As a chef, regardless of rank, if diners are satisfied with their food, it brings a sense of achievement and pride.

"If you’re full, let’s head out. The earlier we go, the earlier we’ll return. Some guests come early; there were times they arrived at four to have dinner, while some came late, around six or seven. Hard to say."

"Alright, let’s take my car, it’s more convenient."

After spending a good two hours fishing outside, John finally began to worry about whether the farm workers were overwhelmed. He quickly got Lin Chen into his pickup, hitting the gas to leave.