Transmigration: The Little Chef Calls The Shots-Chapter 1444 - 263, Guppy (5)

Who would have thought that among the fish caught from the great river today, there would be one like this? Despite looking flat, it’s delicious when cooked, and there’s one dish in particular that looks best when made with flatfish.

"You sure have an eye for selection! Come on, I’ll make you a ’Peacock Spreading Tail’!"

Peacock Spreading Tail? Just by the sound of it, you can tell it’s going to be delicious.

Xu Muqing excitedly cheered in approval.

True to its name, ’Peacock Spreading Tail’ involves slicing the fish in a decorative pattern, resembling a peacock with its tail fanned out.

Lin Yuan personally began to prepare the flatfish, starting by scaling and gutting it, then she swiftly decapitated and detrailed it with precise cuts. Xu Muqing’s eyes widened in admiration, remarking that Lin Yuan should not just be a chef, but could wield her knife on the battlefield to slay enemies, leaving none in her wake!

"I don’t know about leaving none in the wake of my enemies, but I will certainly leave none on your plate!"

Lin Yuan chuckled, beginning the most demanding part of the filleting process.

With precision, she sliced along the fish’s back, sparing the belly to remain intact. This technique allowed the entire back of the fish to be opened out, turning the flatfish into something resembling an open fan.

Once the fish was skillfully sliced, Lin Yuan put the prepared body and the previously cut head and tail into a larger basin to marinate. She threw in every available seasoning—basically, salt and soy sauce, along with some homemade sauce and, of course, the liquor essential for neutralizing the fishy smell.

Thanks to Lin Yuan’s superb knife skills, resulting in evenly cut thicknesses, the fish didn’t take long to marinate. The two went out to the yard for a tea break, and by the time they returned, the fish was ready.

Before plating the fish, Lin Yuan laid down a bed of finely chopped scallions and ginger on the dish, then placed the marinated fish atop.

Just like women need to dress up before heading out, this fish also needed to be "dressed" to transform into a display-ready peacock. Arranging the sliced fish back along the edge of the plate and setting the intact belly in the center, Lin Yuan carefully arranged each slice to form the peacock’s tail.

Having arranged the body, she then placed the head in the center of the belly and not forgetting the tail, which was positioned below the head, fanning outwards. Now, the Peacock Spreading Tail was all set.

"Wow, that’s so beautiful! I never knew you could make fish look like this! It’s my first time seeing such a thing!"

Xu Muqing couldn’t help drooling over the still-raw Peacock Spreading Tail, amusing Lin Yuan as she worried Xu might actually jump at it and eat it raw. Lin Yuan quickly urged her to take the plate to the main kitchen.

’Peacock Spreading Tail’ is a steamed dish, so all that was needed was to put it in the steamer. Since Lin Yuan’s smaller kitchen was busy with candied lotus roots, she asked Xu Muqing to handle the steaming in the main kitchen.

After glancing at the simmering candied lotus roots in the pot, Lin Yuan went out to the courtyard to drink tea and wait. She expected Xu Muqing to return after delivering the fish, but she didn’t come back whether Lin Yuan waited to the left or to the right. Considering the time, the fish must be ready to come out of the steamer, so Lin Yuan decided to head to the main kitchen herself.

Before she even entered the main kitchen, she was drawn to the cacophony of voices. No wonder Xu Muqing hadn’t returned—she found her surrounded by the other chefs who were all eagerly inquiring about the method for making Peacock Spreading Tail!

Despite Mu Qing being solely fixated on the beauty of the fish earlier and not remembering the cooking method at all, despite everyone’s persistent questioning, she had only a vague understanding, which frustrated the chefs to the point of near exasperation.

Lin Yuan chuckled lightly, the corners of her lips curling up as she clapped her hands and laughed, "Asking her might as well be the same as asking me! Alright, I’ll write down the recipe in detail later, including the method for the osmanthus sugar lotus roots. I’ll have Shopkeeper Liu deliver them to you."

New recipes! The master chefs’ faces flushed with excitement.

"Now, can we serve that fish dish? If we steam it any longer, it won’t be ’Peacock Spreading Tail’ but rather ’Peacock’s Rotten Butt’!"

Hahaha, everyone found Lin Yuan’s not-so-elegant words hilariously amusing. Sun Qian immediately went to one of the large stoves and took out the flounder.

When the fish was taken out of the pot, everyone’s noses couldn’t help but twitch; it smelled truly amazing, carrying that purest, freshest scent of fish.

The beauty of steamed dishes lies precisely in this: they can preserve the rawest flavors of the ingredients to the greatest extent, allowing the dish to return to nature.

"Don’t fight over it, don’t fight! Yuanyuan cooked this fish for me, none of you are allowed to snatch it!" Mu Qing hurried over, shivering with her corpulent frame, as if terrified someone else might steal the fish the moment it left the pot.

Lin Yuan watched her amusingly, "Don’t rush, the fish still needs a bit of garnishing, otherwise, it can’t be called a peacock. Come on, let’s go to the smaller kitchen, I’ve got everything ready."

"Alright!" Mu Qing, indifferent to the heat of the dish, hastily grabbed a piece of rag to carry the plate of fish away.

If plating was like dressing the fish, now was the time to apply makeup and rouge.

Lin Yuan prepared red and green chili peppers, cut them into rings, and placed the red pepper rings on the outermost layer, followed by the green pepper rings in the middle. Once these were all arranged, she sprinkled finely chopped scallions and ginger in the center.

And then came the moment of wonder: in a small pot, she heated some oil and poured it over the ginger. The moment the hot oil touched the scallions and ginger, the entire small kitchen was filled with the aroma of scallions, irresistibly mouthwatering. freewёbnoνel.com

Mu Qing gazed at the fish earnestly, swallowing a large gulp of saliva, and stammered, "Yuanyuan, Yuanyuan, can we, can we eat it now?"

Lin Yuan put the small pot aside, her smile curving her brows, "It’s ready, go ahead and serve it!"

"Ah! Fantastic!"

Overjoyed, Mu Qing let out a loud exclamation, sat down at a small table in the courtyard with the plate of ’Peacock Spreading Tail’. The backyard wasn’t accessible to just anyone, and there was a bit of a distance between the main kitchen and their area, so the two decided to have their meal right there.

Lin Yuan tidied up the small kitchen, then flipped the sugar lotus roots in the pot before coming out to join Mu Qing for their meal.

Despite Mu Qing already drooling with anticipation, she restrained herself in the face of the tempting meal, waiting excitedly for Lin Yuan to arrive before calling her to start eating.