Chapter 555: Chapter 549: Crave-Inducing Golden Crispy Fried Ribbonfish

Seafishing mission, day two.

It seems that Wang Fan has been doing a lot of good deeds and caught the attention of the Dragon King, as he keeps receiving beginner gift packs one after another.

On this single trip, he unlocked leatherjacket fish, yellowfin tuna, giant grouper, leopard coral trout, sharks, and squid. Most astonishingly, he caught 5 ribbonfish with a single hook.

It wasn’t that the hook was particularly large, but rather the first ribbonfish bit the hook, the second one bit the first, and the rest all bit the body of the one in front. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

Seeing this long string of ribbonfish, Wang Fan was quite shocked. He never expected fish to be so united, trying to pull their companion back when it was being caught.

At first, he was touched and wanted to release the ribbonfish back, but Captain Wu decisively stopped him.

"Don’t think that just because they’re strung together these ribbonfish are trying to rescue their buddy. On the contrary, they simply want to eat the one in front," Captain Wu explained.

This reversal left Wang Fan somewhat unsettled, thinking it was a bond of deep friendship, only to find out it’s fratricide?

Captain Wu elaborated, "Ribbonfish are quite ferocious, and they usually stay together with those of the same size. If they encounter smaller ones, they’ll just eat them."

Wang Fan’s gaze towards the ribbonfish changed, now looking at them as ingredients.

No more words needed, time to prepare crispy golden deep-fried ribbonfish!

That being said, despite the fierce look of these ribbonfish heads, their silvery shimmer was quite beautiful, unlike those frozen ones that have been stored for who-knows-how-long.

These 5 ribbonfish were quite decent in size, the largest being the one at the back, which Wang Fan estimated to be over 120 centimeters and 5 fingers wide. Its teeth were deeply embedded in the body of the one in front.

Wang Fan carried the 5 ribbonfish into the cabin, ready to make them into lunch directly.

The first step was to prepare a broth to soak the ribbonfish, which removes the fishy smell while infusing the meat with flavor, enough to leave others craving more.

Wang Fan loved using celery, carrots, and onions as his go-to set for removing fishy odors and adding fragrance. These three ingredients remove the fishy smell while adding a sweet vegetable aroma, essential for home cooking or traveling.

The boat was already stocked with plenty of vegetables, all prepared ahead of time by Captain Shen Teng. After cutting the three vegetables, he added some bay leaves, Sichuan peppercorns, salt, and MSG, then turned on the fire.

Next, he took a bowl, grabbed a bunch of fresh and clean scallions, and broke them into three segments before putting them into the pot. This dish was adapted from Jiangsu and Zhejiang, where they commonly use these small scallions, so Wang Fan didn’t use large ones.

Then he sliced some ginger, crushed it slightly for flavor, and added a bit of Fujian Old Wine and salt to the bowl.

He reached out, pinched the scallions and ginger, and mixed them vigorously, squeezing out some scallion and ginger juices before stopping.

While preparing the scallion and ginger water, the pot of broth on the stove was just finished, and he turned off the heat to let it cool. Wang Fan then began to clean up the ribbonfish.

In this short while, the five ribbonfish had already bid farewell to the universe, saving Wang Fan the trouble of killing them. Ribbonfish do not have scales, but to minimize the fishy smell, the outer skin still needed to be scraped.

The process was simple; one could use a steel wool pad to scrub, but this might damage the meat. Wang Fan, with his obsessive pursuit of culinary perfection, certainly wouldn’t choose this method.

He used a towel, gently wiping off the silver exterior bit by bit to reveal the tender white flesh inside.

The meat cleaned by the towel was undamaged, with the surface appearing extremely smooth, though the few bite marks from their companions were somewhat unsightly.

Wang Fan was very dissatisfied with this outcome, so he resolved to make these ribbonfish taste even better.

He didn’t gut the ribbonfish, but cut straight down at the belly button position.

The part down from the belly button was the best-tasting section of the whole ribbonfish. Not only was the meat more delicious, but it was also purely meat. High-end restaurants would only use the rear section of the fish as their signature dish.

However, wasting is shameful for one, and for another, the five ribbonfish seemed too few. So he planned to use the whole fish.

After cutting the ribbonfish into sections, he gently poked inside with chopsticks to remove the innards, ensuring the fish remained intact during frying.

Fresh ribbonfish were very easy to handle. Just a rinse in cold water was enough to wash away the blood, and the prepared broth had cooled to just the right temperature by then.

He combined the broth with the scallion and ginger water and poured the marinated ribbonfish sections into the bowl.

Seeing Wang Fan finally finishing his work for the moment, Captain Wu couldn’t help but give a thumbs up and praise, "No wonder the things Boss Wang makes are so delicious, every step is so meticulous."

Wang Fan smiled without saying a word; to him, such basic techniques weren’t even worth a ’666’.

"Did you need something from me?"

Captain Wu quickly replied, "A few of the guys just asked if you’d be selling your meal. Over a dozen boats are heading this way already."

Wang Fan shrugged, "I’d love to sell, but haven’t we got a bit of a shortage on ingredients?"

The leopard coral trout was a bit small, barely enough for the three of them, and as for the shark, it was just a novelty catch. Those sharks excrete urea through their skin; one of the few fish that could deter a Huaxia food lover.

Both the squid and ribbonfish were quite few in number; even if people showed up, there wouldn’t be enough to even fill the gaps between their teeth. He was already prepared for the mission to potentially fail.