Chapter 120: Chapter 119: Hand-Grabbed Lamb Ribs

He took a bite of the lamb offal with his chopsticks, followed by a sip of the steaming hot lamb soup, feeling the warmth slide down his throat and into his stomach.

"Haaa..."

Lin Chen let out a long breath, feeling his whole body warm up.

Seeing how much he was enjoying it, Andre followed suit, sprinkling in some salt and then scooping some of the bright red lamb-fat chili oil into his soup.

Spiciness in North America is typically a sour-and-spicy heat, with Buffalo City’s spicy chicken wings being the most classic example.

Although they’re marinated with chili powder, vinegar, and other seasonings, the actual flavor isn’t much different from something marinated with Tabasco sauce.

Then there’s smoked paprika. That stuff is also widely used, but it has almost no heat, providing only aroma and a faint smoky flavor.

The most common types of chili powder in restaurants here are paprika and smoked paprika.

He had been curious the first time he encountered them. A quick search online revealed—holy cow—that they weren’t really made from chili peppers at all, but from sweet peppers, specifically the colorful bell peppers.

They are made into different powders by sun-drying or smoking and grinding the peppers. The flavor profile is predominantly fruity, and it’s the most popular type of "chili powder" among Westerners, having spread from Hungary.

Even the hottest "hot paprika" is a lightweight compared to standard Asian chili powder.

But that doesn’t mean Westerners don’t eat spicy food. People from places like Mexico and its neighboring countries rank among the world’s best when it comes to handling heat.

It’s just that among the people he’d personally encountered, the proportion who ate spicy food didn’t exceed thirty percent.

After one mouthful of the spicy lamb soup, Andre’s wrinkled face visibly turned red.

"COUGH, COUGH... HUFF~!"

He coughed lightly a couple of times, which seemed to help.

A brilliant gleam lit up his cloudy pupils. His astonished gaze shifted incredulously from the bowl of offal soup in his hands to the pot of lamb-fat chili oil.

"Oh my god, what a stimulating flavor! But there’s no denying it’s really... awesome! Yes, that’s the word, awesome!"

"The spiciness is right at the threshold of what I can handle. It’s not uncomfortable, but it’s enough to shock my frozen taste buds back to life. After just one sip, I feel like I’m about to start sweating!"

"The most crucial part is that it’s made with lamb fat, so it blends perfectly into the lamb soup. My mouth is filled with the rich aftertaste of the lamb fat and the aroma of the chili."

"You know, I used to just throw all the lean meat, fat, and bones into a pot to boil, then stuff it straight into my mouth. The first bite is always great, but it gets overwhelming after three. You get that disgusting, greasy feeling of a mouth full of fat."

Lin Chen nodded in agreement. "That’s why, to improve the texture and taste, the ancestors of us Da Xia People tried everything to refine their recipes, which is how we have such a variety of delicacies today."

"By the way, you haven’t tried the lamb intestine yet, have you? Want to give it a go?"

At the mention of this, the smile on Andre’s face froze.

He had been deliberately avoiding the lamb intestine, trying all the other offal first. To his surprise, they were easier to stomach than he had imagined.

But the moment he thought about lamb intestine being the place where a sheep stores its excrement, he couldn’t help but gag instinctively.

’What’s the difference between this and eating shit?’

"Watch."

Lin Chen picked up two small pieces of lamb intestine with his chopsticks, dipped them in the chili oil, and popped them into his mouth right in front of Andre, a satisfied smile gracing his lips.

"Don’t worry, there’s no strange taste. It’s an important source of fat. You’re a master with thirty years of wilderness survival experience. Don’t tell me you’re afraid to eat animal organs?"

"The audience is watching, you know."

"..." The corner of Andre’s mouth twitched. He nodded silently, then forced two words through his gritted teeth. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

"I’ll eat."

’For the show’s ratings, for the fame, I have to eat this lamb intestine today!’

’Even if I don’t get the million US Dollars in the end, I can still make money if I build up enough of a fanbase.’

He scooped up a piece of the intestine with his spoon and brought it closer to sniff. Even though he knew it was impossible for there to be any strange smell, he did it anyway, just to overcome his own intense resistance.

"Hfff... hfff..."

Taking two deep breaths, he didn’t hesitate. He closed his eyes, shoved it into his mouth, and began chewing vigorously.

Two seconds later.

"Urgh..."

As the initial dry heave subsided, Andre’s expression slowly grew strange.

’This flavor... it’s more palatable than I imagined?’

In the past thirty years, he had eaten countless disgusting things.

Live grubs, mud-caked earthworms, powdery moths, spiders that burst in your mouth, and so on.

Compared to those, the taste of the lamb intestine could even be called quite delicious.

Oh, no—it was Lin Chen’s lamb intestine that was delicious.

Having broken through his final mental barrier, Andre began to devour the delicacy, taking two bites of offal for every sip of soup. Despite the frozen landscape, he was soon sweating from his forehead.

"Delicious! This is so delicious! The more I eat, the better it tastes!"

His bowl of offal soup was quickly polished off. Without Lin Chen needing to do a thing, he immediately ladled himself another full bowl, sprinkled a light layer of salt with practiced ease, and then dug out a spoonful of lamb-fat chili oil to mix in.

Lin Chen just smiled without a word. He quickly finished his own food, peeled the potatoes he had taken out earlier, diced them into thumbnail-sized cubes, and tossed them into the soup pot, placing it back over the fire to heat.

"Lamb soup and lamb meat have to be eaten piping hot. As soon as the temperature drops even a little, the gaminess of the lamb becomes much more pronounced."

He tossed in a pinch of salt to build a flavor base for the soup, which would help the potatoes become more flavorful as they cooked.

Then, he fished out a few plump lamb ribs and placed them in Andre’s bowl.

"Try this. It’s a popular way of eating in the northern parts of Great Xia—hand-pulled lamb ribs. It’s basically plain lamb ribs boiled in water. The key is to use a good cut of meat and pair it with a special dipping sauce made from chive flowers. We don’t have that here, though, so just dip it in the lamb-fat chili oil."

The lamb ribs looked similar to the herb-crusted lamb chops sold in Western restaurants—a large chunk of meat attached to the end of a rib bone. The difference was that herb-crusted chops are pure lean meat, while these hand-pulled ribs were a mix of fat and lean, and even included a piece of skin.

Andre, who was now thoroughly enjoying even the offal, didn’t hesitate for a second. He mumbled a thank you, grabbed a rib, and shoved it into his mouth.

Having been stewed for over an hour, the rib meat was so tender it fell right off the bone. A gentle tug with his teeth was enough to pull it all off.

The skin had a gelatinous, Jell-O-like texture with a hint of elasticity, a completely different kind of springiness from the tough chewiness of the intestine.

Moreover, the layer of fat between the skin and the meat had rendered down completely, melting the instant it touched his tongue.

Most importantly, the lean meat on the rib was also exceptionally soft, tender, and juicy, requiring almost no effort to eat.

In just two short minutes, his second bowl of offal was completely gone.

Andre sucked the rib bone clean, casually tossed it outside the enclosure, and was about to ladle a third helping when Lin Chen stopped him.

"Here, try this. I bet you’ve never had it before, have you?"