Chapter 1348: Your Crayfish
“Thirteen-spice?” Tony frowned. What kind of flavor was that? This was the first time he had heard about such a flavor after spending all these years on Demon Islands.
It must be just an alternative description, Tony consoled himself in his heart. Every demon tribe had a different understanding of cooking. They could even have different names for the same cooking methods.
“What is this prawn?” Tony watched Mag scoop up a greenish-black big prawn that had a pair of glaring eyes from the big pond. Its big pincers were still waving in the air, and it weighed more than 1 kg each, which was more than double the size of the king mantis shrimp on Phi Phi Island. They had never seen such a strange prawn with this color. Even other prawns around its size were green, so why was it black?
“How is it? Isn’t this crayfish big and fleshy.” Steve couldn’t help but comment smugly after seeing Tony’s expression.
Compared to Tony, he was an amateur when it came to commenting about food. But this time, he wanted Tony to recognize his taste. The crayfish was going to beat the abyss roast pork trotters that he had suffered for five days for.
Tony shook his head slightly as he commented, “This prawn’s shell is greenish-black, so it has to be very hard and inconvenient to eat. Even if the chef wants to process it, it would definitely hurt the meat in the process. Hence, it isn’t a great ingredient—”
Dong… dong… dong…
Before Tony could finish speaking, crayfish that had their backs opened and deveined were tossed into the metal basin at the side, making a series of crisp sounds. Every sound felt like a slap to Tony’s face.
Seeing the flash of the cleaver and not being able to see the cleaver itself, the tough shell was already open, but the meat wasn’t hurt at all. Tony couldn’t help standing up with his mouth open with amazement. These cutting skills… were simply incredible!
“Sit down, sit down. It’s only part of normal procedures.” Steve pressed the shocked Tony back down into his seat with a smile.
“I’ve to admit that this boss’ knife skills are very exceptional. However, cutting skills are just the basic skill of a chef. The most crucial factor that decides how the food tastes after it is cooked is the cooking techniques.” Tony schooled his expression. The majority of the demon chefs’ cooking techniques were very rough. It was rare to see such delicate cutting skills, so he had lost control of his expression.
Three big basins of crayfish were quickly processed. Mag picked up a white wine urn at the side and removed the cork. A rich alcohol fragrance dissipated out instantly. He poured a small spoonful of it out, and poured it over the crayfish which were still moving. He then added in a bunch of sliced ginger, and left them aside with a cover on.
Many wine lovers couldn’t help taking in a few deep breaths of the wine’s fragrance. Their eyes lit up as they looked at the wine urn next to Mag’s hand.
“This is not-for-sale.” Mag shook his head. He had already guessed their thoughts.
“This is the step of marination to get rid of the fishy smell. Some demon chefs would also use alcohol to get rid of the smell, and it’s rather effective, but I can’t identify what wine it is. Its fragrance is very special, and it smells rather strong. It should be a liquor.” Tony closed his eyes to sense the wine’s fragrance, but he still couldn’t identify what wine it was.
“Excuse me, what crayfish’s flavor would you like to order?” Jane came up to ask Tony and Steve.
“I will have one crayfish for each of the three flavors and a big mug of beer,” Steve answered before turning the number card over, and pushing it over to Tony. “Take a look at which flavor you would like to have.”
“The menu is so simple?” Tony was still wondering why there wasn’t a menu in this restaurant earlier. He didn’t expect that the menu was already simplified and printed on the number card. Furthermore, there were only three crayfish’s flavors and an alcohol drink called beer available for orders. He said to Jane, “I want one of everything on the menu.”
“Alright, please wait a minute.” Jane nodded and proceeded to the next table.
“I didn’t expect the service standard on Carapace Island has already risen to such a standard, and the uniform’s style is very special too,” Tony said in surprise as he looked at Jane’s back. During his last visit, the demon servers were all yelling while providing their services, and that gave him a very bad impression.
“Unfortunately, only this restaurant has improved after three years.” Steve shrugged.
“Oh. There’s even a beautiful succubus lady.” Tony’s gaze landed on Angela, who was standing at the restaurant’s door. Her exquisite figure and seductive face made it hard for people to remove their gazes from her. They most probably couldn’t find another succubus who was as beautiful as her on the entire Demon Islands.
Many demons couldn’t help appraising her secretly too. The red-light district would be bustling if such a beautiful succubus lady were to appear there.
Mag also threw a glance at Angela. His greatest challenge that night was to turn the customers’ attention from the beautiful succubus lady to the crayfish.
He heated up the wok with a big fire before pouring in the cooking oil. Then, he added in all kinds of spices to stir-fry in their respective orders. The three stoves were in operation at the same time, and crayfish with three different flavors were tossing around in the three woks.
“Thirteen-spice should be a kind of spice, right? This name sounds rather weird,” Tony said after he analyzed. The chefs nowadays liked to create some gimmicks for their dishes.
“Nope. Thirteen-spice is simply 13 types of spices. Of course, the spices currently in it have already exceeded that number.” Mag shook his head in disagreement. He could sense a familiar feeling from this customer. He should be a food critic like he once had been himself.
“…” Tony.
He had been shot down.
Steve snickered. This was his first time watching Tony suffer a setback. It was indeed right for him to come today.
Mag moved in between the three woks, and the greenish-black crayfish that were tossing about in the woks had slowly turned red. Three distinctly different aromas had begun to spread out too.
“This aroma… I actually can’t identify what kinds of spices were added in, but they smell so nice!” Tony, who was sitting rather close to the three woks, murmured in surprise and astonishment as his eyes widened.
The red-hot crayfish were covered by the beer that was poured in, and then covered with a lid. The fire was turned up to boil the beer before simmering it with a medium fire. When it was the right time to remove the lid, Mag turned up the fire to reduce the gravy, and the freshness of crayfish merged together with all the different tastes of the spices, becoming increasingly rich.
The customers were already familiar with the spicy crayfish and the garlic crayfish that was released that afternoon. However, the thirteen-spice crayfish which was just introduced that night had become every customer’s focus.
The rich and complicated aroma and the layers that the aroma presented had shocked everyone.
“Your crayfish.” Jane came over with a tray and placed all six plates in front of Tony and Steve.
“Gulp.” Tony couldn’t help swallowing his saliva. Looking at the spicy crayfish that was coated with red oil, the garlic crayfish that was covered by minced garlic, and the thirteen-spice crayfish that had a unique aroma, he had trouble choosing which one of them to start from.