Chapter 387: Chapter 299: The Ultimate Meal Companion, Spicy Mixed Fish Hotpot

This profit margin isn’t the highest he’s ever sold, with the highest reaching dozens of times over.

But as far as ordinary snacks go, this profit is already quite high.

Earning 1.7 euros per piece, selling over a thousand, nearly two thousand pieces, results in over two thousand euros in revenue.

Adding the three-thousand-euro reward from breakfast, he’s already taken in over five thousand euros this morning alone, comparable to a regular person’s income over two months.

Since arriving in Dieppe, in just a few days, he’s made more than he used to in a month at his old spot.

Indeed, tourist cities are money-makers!

"Hey, why does this sausage taste like this, is it luncheon meat sausage? But it’s crunchy fried and quite tasty."

Boss Magna took the sausage and without hesitation took a big bite, chewing on half before realizing it tasted completely different from what he expected.

The sausage itself had a rather ordinary taste, nothing special, but this preparation added a lot of appeal.

Especially the crispy petal-like edges of the curved parts, paired with the spicy seasoning powder, eating them was like munching on meat-flavored chips.

In a few blinks, he’d finished two sausages, still licking the corners of his mouth, contemplating getting another.

The seasoning from Great Xia indeed has a magical, addictive quality.

But remembering the heavy fish offal in his hands, he managed to resist his cravings, saving room for something tastier.

Lin Chen continued for another half hour, selling seven or eight more, and seeing no new customers, he packed up the remaining six sausages from the griddle, adding seasoning, and took them along with the uncooked starch sausages back to the restaurant kitchen.

Just entering the kitchen from the back door, he saw Jonathan sweating profusely while preparing various foods, his entire neck red from the back, clearly in a state of high tension.

"Jonathan! Brought you two Great Xia Sausages to try, eat them hot, won’t hold up your work."

He grabbed two starch sausages, walked over, put one in a paper cup, and brought the other directly to Jonathan’s mouth.

Jonathan, busy with his work, had no energy even to greet, fearful that any distraction might break his rhythm, instinctively opened his mouth and bit the sausage.

Lin Chen didn’t disturb him further, taking the other four to the front hall.

"Helena! Lucinda! Try some snacks from Great Xia, they’re over here, eat them soon, they’re not as good cold."

Just tidying dishes, the two were overjoyed at Lin Chen bringing them food, forgetting about cleaning, rushing over with quick steps.

"Thank you, chef!"

"What’s this? Sausage? Oh, it’s the one Dais was cutting in the kitchen earlier, right? Looks like luncheon meat."

"Something like that, you two keep busy, I’ve got things to do as well."

Not holding them up, the restaurant was already bustling with people, impossible for them to manage alone.

Luckily, it’s self-service, so there’s not much service needed, just some tidying at most, slower is okay.

Seeing the restaurant so busy, he went back to the kitchen to grab some ingredients and returned to the food truck, intending to cook there.

Removed the griddle, poured the leftover oil into a designated container, as it can be reused but not for many days.

Normally two to three days are fine, if frying a lot, maybe a change is needed after a day.

Cleaned the griddle thoroughly, tidied the counter, putting away anything unused, and then nodded in satisfaction at the tidy workstation.

"What do you want to eat?"

Magna, who had been sitting on a plastic stool nearby, playing on his phone, leapt up at the opportunity to respond.

"I don’t know, I’ve never had any of this stuff, just cook whatever’s good."

"Alright."

Lin Chen took several bags of fish offal from the fridge and dumped them into the sink, realizing there was quite a lot.

Just the fish bladders numbered in the dozens, there were many whole fish roes, various fish heads, bones, and tails adding up to over twenty pieces, weighing over five pounds in total.

Fish bones and tails hardly had any edible meat, mainly used for soup, but even the remaining parts were too much for just the two of them.

Thinking it over, he decided to start by cooking some rice.

Dishes with fish head, roe, and bladder are meant to go with rice, no question.

First, he took out the fish roe and bladder, washing them thoroughly, then cut the bladder into small sections and the roe into large chunks to prepare.

Split the fish head down the middle, washing away excess blood, setting it aside separately.

The remaining fish tails and bones just needed a simple wash, as they’d been pre-treated.

Then he chopped some ginger and garlic, sliced green chili peppers, fresh perilla leaves into thick strips, and garlic leaves into long segments.

Once all ingredients were prepared, he boiled water, added ginger slices and cooking wine to remove the fishy smell, blanched the fish roe and bladder, then the bones and tails, and finally the head.

Added a suitable amount of rapeseed oil to a new pot, enough to cover the entire bottom.

When the oil started smoking, sprinkled some sea salt, searing the blanched fish roe and bladder.

"Sizzle"

Hearing this delightful sound, Boss Magna couldn’t help but swallow his saliva.

I don’t know why, every time Lin Chen hears this sound, he thinks the food must be delicious.

During frying, you can’t stir with a spatula, as the cut fish roe is very fragile. Once broken, it will make the whole dish sticky and unpleasant in appearance and texture.

While waiting, you must constantly shake the pan with skill, allowing the fish roe and fish bubbles to rotate on the bottom, ensuring even heat distribution and preventing them from burning.

About two or three minutes later, the bottom of the fish roe and bubbles have visibly changed color.

Lin Chen lightly shook the pan handle, with the ingredients inside making a graceful arc in the air before falling back into the pan.

But this time, the uncooked side was facing down, while the side left exposed had a tempting golden hue.

The air was awash with a rich seafood aroma, mingled with the unique fragrance of rapeseed oil, nearly capturing Boss Magna’s soul.

"Oh my God, it smells so good. How can this oil smell so fragrant?"

When frying sausages earlier, he clearly smelled an enchanting aroma, thinking it was some special seasoning. Not until now did he realize the scent was emanating from the oil! 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

"This is oil extracted from a plant unique to Great Xia, known for its fragrance. Dishes cooked with it are much tastier. It’s hard to buy here; I purchased it from a Great Xia ingredient supplier, and it’s all limited edition."

After flipping, continue frying for over a minute to set the shape, then remove the fish roe and bubbles from the pan for later use.

Pour some oil into the pan again to fry the fish head, using the same technique, frying both sides to golden brown before taking it out.

Lastly, the fish bones and tail.

The difference is, after the fish bones and tail get colored, pour in boiling hot water, letting the high heat dissolve the fats from within the fish bones and tail into the soup, forming a light milky white.

Add a few slices of ginger and shallot white to the fish soup for simmering, to remove any fishiness and enhance flavor.

In another pan, drizzle in a circle of rapeseed oil, heating it until smoking, then adding the chopped ginger and garlic to stir-fry for fragrance.

Add two tablespoons of Pixian Douban Sauce to stir-fry for aroma, then mix in a small block of beef hotpot base to release the beef flavor, along with a dozen garlic cloves, sliced shallots, and chopped chili peppers for stir-frying.

The air’s aroma grew thicker, with the mix of rapeseed oil, Douban sauce, beef, and the scents of ginger, garlic, and onion. This blend, with various levels of spiciness, made Boss Magna sneeze continuously yet couldn’t stop taking deep breaths.

Once the seasoning base was fully aromatic, lay the fried fish head on top, ladle a few spoonfuls of the fish soup from the neighboring pot, and pour in two cans of beer, just enough to cover the fish head.

Cover the pot and quietly wait for ten minutes.

During this time, maintain the fish bone soup boiling at high heat to continue extracting the remaining essence from the bones.

As the stewing time lengthened, the soup’s color would grow whiter and more flavorful.

"How much longer, is it almost done?"

Magna felt he had never been so hungry in his life. His stomach growled non-stop, even slightly caving inward, with a distinct sensation of cramping.

"Almost, maybe twenty minutes?"

"What?!!"

Boss Magna’s expression froze, his eyes filled with disbelief.

Twenty minutes is considered quick?

That’s a whole 1,200 seconds!!

Having been used to Lin Chen’s fast serving speed in the past, suddenly needing to wait so long, Boss Magna felt as if the whole world dimmed, and the flow of everything slowed exceedingly.

"?"

Seeing his heartbroken look, Lin Chen thought for a moment and silently activated the time acceleration function.

A 20% acceleration was not immediately obvious, but it could reduce the waiting time by around four minutes.

During stewing, he didn’t need to operate anything, so he could just sit and rest without worrying about speeding up actions attracting unnecessary attention.

"Play with your phone a bit, twenty minutes will pass quickly~"

"Have you downloaded TikTok? If not, I suggest you get it. Scrolling through it, twenty minutes will fly by."

"Meanwhile, you can follow Lucas’s account~"

Magna nodded absentmindedly, sitting back down, and instinctively followed his advice by opening the Apple Store to start downloading the app.

After seeing the app’s description, not expecting much, thinking it was just a regular social app.

But when opened, a scantily clad woman dancing appeared on the screen.

With voluptuous legs, fair skin, and dazzling eyes.

Just from a brief glance, his eyes sparkled with a dazzling light.

"Hey! This app is quite interesting!"

From Lin Chen’s angle, he could clearly see everything on Magna’s screen, noticing how this guy couldn’t stop giggling at the dancing beauties, he rolled his eyes speechlessly.

Well, it seems like this guy’s account is as good as cultivated.

Apparently, he often looks at beauties on other social apps, directly targeted by precise big data.

So, this is what the real Boss Magna is like!

He didn’t look for long, and found a plastic stool to sit on, scanning the food truck’s interior, wondering if there was any equipment that could be upgraded soon, as it would be optimal to use the newly acquired Food Truck Upgrade Card quickly.