Gourmet: From a Stall in Northern Europe

Chapter 454 - 366: Top-Grade Oysters with Signature Garlic Sauce

These boxes use the simplest plastic mesh box structure because Lin Chen requested that they all be shucked.

Thus, after processing to ensure that no broken oyster shells or foreign objects mix into the oyster meat, a cleaning step is necessary.

And after washing, it is impossible to dry them and then re-box, as that would take too long and could cause damage or deformation to the oyster meat.

If it were usual times, paper boxes or foam boxes might be chosen for transportation, but with these processed raw oysters, only plastic boxes can be used to avoid liquid splashing and wetting the box during transport, affecting handling.

A thin layer of cling film is thoughtfully placed over each layer of oysters to prevent dust and foreign objects from contaminating the oyster meat.

Chen Dongliang lifted a layer of the film, revealing the crystal-clear, gem-like, dazzling milky white oyster meat, with brown and black fringed markings at the edges.

The oyster meat is overall plump and swollen, with delicate and smooth texture at the edges, the surface shining with a glossy sheen.

Though he had seen many oysters, it was the first time in his life to see such top-quality ones.

"Wow, such big oysters, how satisfying would it be to eat them?"

He gestured with his hand, noticing that the oyster meat was almost half the size of his palm, which was incredible!

The grilled oysters seen at roadside barbecue stalls had shells barely larger than a thumb, let alone the oyster meat, which was almost the size of a fingernail.

Ten of those small oysters combined would probably only match the size of half the current one.

The most important is that he heard oysters are named so because they can be eaten raw, like jelly, sweet and fresh.

But the usual oysters are all frozen and can’t be eaten raw, looking unappetizing.

However, these large oysters in front of him actually gave him an unprecedented impulse to try eating raw.

Besides cucumbers and tomatoes, he never had the desire to eat any meat raw.

"Strange, what’s happening to me?"

Old Chen puzzled, tilted his head, and sniffed the oyster’s scent, finding only a faint sea breeze without any odor.

But thinking is one thing, with so many eyes watching on-site, he didn’t dare to try.

Just as the thought crossed his mind, a hand reached out from the right, familiarly grabbing an oyster and fiddled with it under the sunlight, seemingly observing something.

Two or three seconds later, Raphael skillfully swiped a knife across, lifting the plump oyster meat and gulping it down in the public view.

"Mm, the taste is not bad, freshness is high, the texture is crisp, tender, bouncy, deliciously sweet, indeed a number zero Gillardeau quality."

Raphael nodded in satisfaction, casually tossing the oyster shell into the trash, and grabbed another, swiping the knife easily to cut through the adductor muscle, handing it over to Chen Dongliang with a gesture to eat.

Although not his direct boss, Raphael was his boss’s boss, essentially a big boss.

No matter whether he dared to eat or not, wanted to eat or not, could eat or not, at this moment he didn’t have the courage to refuse, hastily taking it with both hands.

"Thank you, thank you..."

Without much hesitation, he grabbed it and stuffed it into his mouth, eyes drifting, not daring to make eye contact with Raphael.

"Hmm?"

Unexpectedly, there was no strange taste; the fresh oyster meat was like a piece of tender tofu, melting immediately with a gentle bite, enveloping a slight salty and sweet taste of seaweed.

Besides that, there was no other taste, indeed like eating seafood-flavored jelly was not wrong.

But to say it was so delicious... anyway, he didn’t find it particularly tasty.

It would taste better grilled with garlic sauce.

Raphael seemed not to care about asking him how it tasted since there was a language barrier, which would be pointless anyway.

He only captured a subtle change in expression on the man’s face, a slight, seemingly subconscious gesture of indifference.

This discovery made Raphael even more curious about the taste of grilled oysters, directly grabbing an oyster from the box and placing it on the grill.

Four tables were evenly distributed around two grills, one side piled with oyster boxes, the other with large brown paper boxes for packing, disposable tableware, and a large basin of golden garlic sauce.

Raphael didn’t see the garlic sauce’s preparation process last night as he had no idea that Lin Chen was secretly working in the middle of the night.

As the oysters slowly heated on the grill, he took a spoon from his sleeve, scooped half a spoonful of garlic paste with garlic oil, and tasted it, noticing a significant difference from the garlic butter in Western cuisine.

Garlic butter seasoning is simple; it emphasizes the creamy aroma of butter and the fragrance of garlic, adding at most a little sea salt and parsley.

This golden garlic paste, however, carried a noticeable salty and fresh taste, so fresh that it gave him an illusion of eating seafood.

The flavor includes a slight sweetness that emerges gradually as you chew, blending with the garlic paste’s inherent sweetness, creating a superb balance.

Thin strands of slight spiciness play a "finishing touch" role, appropriately stimulating this sauce’s sharpness, not merely being simply salty and sweet, making one have an impulse to eat more and more.

"Frying garlic with Thai pepper together? No, no, the Thai pepper must have been added later, otherwise, the color wouldn’t be so vibrant."

"This familiar salty fresh taste, could it be soy sauce? But soy sauce is a dark brown color, and the sauce would turn dark if added, yet this garlic paste oil is purely golden without any soy sauce hue, strange."

"What seasoning did this kid add to produce such a taste?"

The golden garlic oil is not particularly challenging; you simply mix the oil and minced garlic together and fry them until golden. The only difficult part lies in the seasoning.

The Great Xia seasonings he could think of right now to enhance flavor are only chicken powder and MSG.

But the taste of these two magic powders is too easily identifiable; a taste and you can tell.

Although some of these were added to the garlic oil, the flavor isn’t strong, and the source of that taste is clearly not artificially synthesized—it seems more like an extract from some natural food.

"Could it be fish sauce?"

"No, fish sauce has a distinct fermented odor."

"Damn sly kid, keeping the seasoning recipe a secret from me! Just working for free, huh?"

"Just wait, if he doesn’t tell me the formula after the stall closes, hmph, I’ll just refuse to leave!"

He angrily glanced at Nagishiro Sho a few meters away, standing behind the grill. The other was expressionlessly placing oysters on the grill, seemingly completely uninterested in the garlic sauce.

Raphael’s eyes narrowed slightly.

"This guy doesn’t seem right; could it be he’s already obtained the formula?"

"It must be so!"

"It’s seafood, one of his areas of expertise, there’s no reason he would be so calm."

Seemingly noticing Raphael’s gaze, Nagishiro Sho didn’t look up, his lips curved upwards as he somehow conjured a fan and gently fanned the grill.

With the fan’s sway, the steam above the grill visibly distorted.

"Hey!"

Beside him, Zhao Shun gave him a thumbs up, "As expected of a head chef, grilling is so professional, even prepared a fan."

Although Nagishiro Sho didn’t understand what he said, he could guess from his tone and expression that this guy was complimenting him, so he spoke in broken Chinese.

"Where, where~"

Zhao Shun was stunned, blurting out instinctively.

"Damn? Awesome, awesome!"

"Being polite, being polite."

"??????"

"Did I speak incorrectly?"

"No, no, all good, all good! Red bean Nidstcountry!"

"Ah~"

Upon hearing "Nidstcountry," Nagishiro Sho finally relaxed, knowing he didn’t use the wrong words.

He had learned these phrases by watching online videos, saying that whenever a Great Xia person praises you, saying these would be fine.

Originally, he was worried it might be false or obscene words, but it turned out to be useful after all.

"Pfft..."

Lin Chen, in the car, laughed until he almost couldn’t breathe. Sometimes, he regretted his sensitive hearing, resulting from enhanced senses that were too sharp, automatically picking up sounds nearby.

If he concentrated entirely on the task at hand, he could dampen external information, but he was uneasy about leaving Old Chen and Xiao Zhao, who didn’t speak foreign languages, to work alone with people.

By listening, if something troublesome arises, he can promptly call out and help.

As he watched the oyster meat on the grill gradually shrink and expand, with bubbles boiling more densely inside, he quickly scooped up a generous amount of minced garlic to spread on them, appropriately cooling them down.

If you want grilled oysters to taste good, keeping them from drying out is key; you must preserve the oyster meat’s juices.

Especially high-grade oysters like these; if overcooked, they’ll lose that grade’s texture and flavor, rendering them as wasted.

As a spoon of garlic sauce is spread on, numerous tiny bubbles immediately burst out from the hot oyster shells, and then slowly calmed down.

The creamy, chubby oyster meat looked as if covered with a golden quilt, revealing a chubby belly on the side—looking adorable and tempting, one could almost want to gobble it all up.

Lin Chen was currently grilling these twenty-four oysters specifically for Angelica and the driver. Regardless of their role, even if just the driver came, he’d grill them something to taste.

Just like Daniel, who delivered supplies in the morning, as long as the work is well done, one gets to eat.

As the saying goes, King Yama is easy to deal with but his minions are tough—a social method unique to Great Xia people.

"Speaking of which, it seems I haven’t seen Daniel in the last couple of days. I wonder how he evaluates Old Chen and Xiao Zhao’s culinary skills. Looks like I’ll have to ask him tomorrow."

Ever since those two took over the kitchen, they’ve been handling the orders; Lin Chen himself uses John’s Farm’s ingredients and hadn’t gone to the kitchen in the morning.

"Hmm, wait, where’s that old guy Magna? Still hasn’t come? That’s odd..."