Days as a Spiritual Mentor in American Comics-Chapter 4655 - 3733: The Mercury Era (16)

The process of Shiller researching a new recipe was not going smoothly. He initially thought his cooking skills were quite good, and he had watched quite a few corresponding videos on short video apps, but when it came to actual operation, it was a completely different story from what was in the videos.

The handling and cooking of poultry are tasks that look simple but are difficult in practice. It's relatively easy to make it edible, but making it delicious is more challenging. This is true for chicken, and even more so for goose and duck. These two types of poultry are even harder to prepare.

Ducks have less fat, leaner meat, and thinner skin. Any slight mishandling can make them turn out very poorly. Geese have a peculiar taste that can be quite fishy if not handled properly, and not everyone can get used to eating it.

The main problem is that Americans don't eat much of these two types of poultry. An authentic old American, a Stars and Stripes person like Captain America, is naturally the same. To ensure he can get used to it, the meat cannot have any off flavors, but at the same time, it has to be aromatic and flavorful, which is practically a hell-level difficulty.

Actually, these are all still manageable, as Shiller has some experience with handling poultry. What stalled him was the final step, which was how to retain the crispy skin while making the meat tender and juicy during the roasting and grilling process.

If the heat is too high, the skin gets crispy, but the meat becomes dry; if the meat is juicy, the skin will be soft and not crispy enough. From improving the breed of geese to the structure of the oven, Shiller tried everything, but nothing worked. He was starting to suspect if the feng shui in America was just not good.

The oven he used was a homemade brick oven, built next to the kitchen on the first floor of the sanatorium. Besides having a backyard, the hotel also had a side yard, which was actually a side passage leading from the backyard to the front yard. The previous owner of the hotel had sealed this passage, using it only to store sundries. After Shiller bought the hotel, he cleared out the sundries and opened a door from the kitchen leading to this side yard. Thus, he had both an indoor and an outdoor kitchen.

The indoor kitchen was primarily used for making simple dishes, including Western dishes and cold dishes; outdoors, Shiller built a rustic stove, specifically for stir-frying. This time, he built a roasting oven beside the rustic stove, for roasting duck and goose.

In fact, those professional electric ovens for roasting duck and goose can be bought in America, but Shiller believed that the best-tasting roast goose he had ever had was made in a homemade oven, not just grilled, but truly roasted with actual fire, and the taste was just exceptional. So Shiller preferred to build his own oven rather than buy a ready-made one.

Even though the owner of that place generously taught Shiller how to build the oven, and Shiller indeed made an identical one as instructed, he just couldn't replicate that particular taste.

Many people think Chinese cuisine is difficult to learn because it states quantities as "appropriate" or "to taste," while Westerners are particularly fond of measuring right down to the gram, so success rates in their cooking might be higher. But this is basically limited to basic dishes; anything more advanced doesn't work that way.

Shiller went to the restaurant he frequently visited and recorded every move the owner made in roasting goose, down to the exact milligram of every ingredient. It's safe to say everything was identical to the other person, but he just couldn't produce that same taste.

Upon observation, Shiller found that although the ovens had the same structure, the fire itself was remarkably unstable. Even if the wood used was the same and the timing of adding firewood was identical, the flames produced were completely different. Whether it turned out good or bad seemed entirely reliant on luck, which also resulted in different outcomes.

To improve the success rate, one needed to practice extensively and learn the temperament of one's own oven and also adapt flexibly during the roasting process. Often it came down to intuition, where precise recipes were hard to talk about.

Most of the preliminary work is now done, leaving only the task of constant practice and adjusting the details of each step. This was destined to take some time.

The problem is that Steve's birthday is coming up soon, and there really isn't much time left. Since empirical methods weren't working, Shiller had no choice but to choose a more scientific approach. He called Peter and Stark over.

The three stood in front of the oven in the side yard, and Shiller explained to them how it operated, then also demonstrated with a duck.

During the process of cooking the duck, Stark was already getting a bit impatient. He said, "This stuff smells great already. What more are you pursuing? Are you trying to make all the dishes we bring taste like dung?"

"That doesn't need my help," Shiller said with a smirk. "And don't flatter yourselves; dung doesn't explode. What I mean is, if the skin isn't crispy, it means there's an issue with the heat. You guys need to help me figure out how to improve this oven."

"Hold on a moment," Peter said. "I don't care whether the skin is crispy or not. I'm really hungry, Doctor. This stuff smells incredible. Is it done? Can I eat it?"

Peter kept peeking into the oven, swallowing continuously, clearly very hungry. Stark also cleared his throat and said, "To continue our culinary endeavor, Peter went over to Nick yesterday and got another Spider Totem power. You know how hungry he was when he first became Spider Man. We have to at least feed this fine young lad well..."

Shiller knew that it was just an excuse for him to eat but was too embarrassed to admit it. He added some firewood to the oven and said, "Don't rush; it'll be ready soon. But I must declare, this is not the final version and does not represent my full culinary skills."

"You're giving us too much credit, Doctor. As you put it, our taste buds, already corroded by corn syrup and industrial flavorings, can't really discern any subtle differences in taste. For us, the level of deliciousness has an upper limit. No matter how good you make it, we might not be able to tell much of a difference."

"Have you considered that I also have to eat it?" Shiller said, crossing his arms and leaning against the stove. "There won't be that much stuff that night that we dare eat, and even fewer things that we can eat. If I don't make something tasty, do I just starve all night long?"

Peter was silent for a moment. His raspberry pie had made some progress recently, evolving from crematorium to crime scene. It's unclear if he was overfilling the filling or what, but several times the jam inside had burst out, making it look like the poor pie had been disemboweled. If there were police in the baking world, he might have already been jailed on charges of first-degree murder.

"I'm almost there," Stark said, patting his chest with a thump, "I've managed to fry the burger buns already, and I'm adjusting the cheese recipe. It won't be long until I can assemble them..."

"Tony, haven't you overlooked the most important question?" Peter pulled up a small stool and sat in front of the grill, staring eagerly at the roasting duck inside, then said, "What about the beef?"

"What?"

"The beef patty. Have you tried making the beef patty?"

"What's there to try?" Stark said a bit baffled, "I've seen those food trucks cook the patties, isn't it just shaping the meat into a ball and pressing it onto the grill until it's medium well?"

"What kind of beef are you planning to use? The frozen kind from the supermarket?" Shiller said while mixing sauces on the counter beside him, "What's the fat-to-lean ratio? What kind of butter are you using? How does Steve like it cooked?" freёweɓnovel.com

"Oh my God!" Stark began to lament again, "I feel like if it weren't for you guys, I wouldn't have so many problems!"

"There's no way around it," Peter said, rubbing his face, "Everyone likes Steve, and everyone wants to make his 100th birthday special, so we're all trying our best to make him happy. Even Natasha started learning to cook. If we don't put in some effort, we'll definitely be outshined."

"That's what you call competitiveness," Shiller said, "But you can't say I started it. You know what? The bacon Clint's using for that bacon risotto he's making is cured by himself, and the applewood used for smoking it was flown in directly from his hometown! And the recipe was passed down from his grandmother!"

Stark turned to face the wall and started banging his head against it, saying, "I'm starting to regret choosing the simplest cheese burger. But I don't even know what special dishes come from my hometown..."

"Weren't you born in Long Island?" Shiller asked, "Why not make the civilized world's Long Island Iced Tea or maybe a seafood barbecue?"

"The things you mentioned aren't any harder than a cheese burger," Stark sighed, "Besides, I don't even like those things. The seafood restaurants in Long Island are ridiculously priced. Last time I stopped by there to pick up a crab to go, when I saw the bill, I felt like telling them to toss the crab back into the sea."

"Speaking of which, did you guys know about Clint and Natasha's story?" Stark seemed to remember something suddenly and rubbed his hands together in excitement, saying, "There's definitely something between them."

Shiller and Peter leaned in. Stark boasted gleefully, "I bet you didn't know that the reason Natasha decided to fully commit to S.H.I.E.L.D. was because of Hawkeye. The time they were involved precedes even Natasha and me."

"So what exactly happened back then?" Shiller asked curiously. He remembered quite well that when he first arrived in the Marvel universe, he hadn't actually met Black Widow. The first S.H.I.E.L.D. agent he met was Coulson, and at that time, Black Widow's whereabouts were unknown. Could it be she was getting close to Hawkeye back then?

But that was too early; Stark hadn't even become Iron Man yet. So it's more likely to have been a bit later, which would have been when Natasha infiltrated Stark Building as Stark's personal assistant. However, during that time, Shiller and Stark weren't that close yet, so he didn't know exactly what went down between them.

"You know that Natasha once pretended to be a regular person and even got hired as my personal secretary, right?"

"Of course, and then you two..."

"Don't bring that up!" Stark interjected, "I was drunk, and I didn't know she was Black Widow. She's still using that incident to tarnish my reputation..."

"Alright, alright, go on."

"From what I know, Natasha was driving home after work, apparently passing by Fifth Avenue. For some reason, Clint had been mistaken by the police for a jewelry thief and was running from them. He got into Natasha's car and was quite taken with her after that. Natasha noticed his skills and wanted to use him to deal with Iron Man, so just like she seduced me, she did the same to him. That kid really gave me quite a bit of trouble."

"What did he do?" Shiller's face showed a smile. Back then, Shiller had just arrived in the Marvel world and hadn't found his footing yet. It was also a particularly eventful time, with many major storylines happening simultaneously. Even if he knew a particular plot should occur around that time, he couldn't be everywhere at once to witness it all.

Some plots aren't as important, but missing out on Iron Man's misfortunes would undoubtedly be a major loss. But that's alright, since there's always someone who experienced it to tell the tale, right?

Stark clearly also noticed Shiller's intent on enjoying the drama, so he snorted coldly and clammed up. Just then, the duck finished roasting, and Shiller pulled the entire bird from the oven, took it to the kitchen with Peter, and even locked the door between the kitchen and the yard.

"Hey!" Stark called out, climbing through a window, "Save me some! You two jerks!"