Gan Lan wore an agonized expression as she tried the ten special types of fish one by one. Some tasted rotten, some had a strong sour stench, and others had indescribable flavors, even though the fish meat looked exceptionally beautiful and appetizing.
The first eight types of fish tortured Gan Lan to the point of tears. She had no confidence in turning fish with such bizarre flavors into delicious dishes. It was a highly demanding challenge, and she only had three hours.
She felt that her chances in this competition were truly hanging by a thread, but she reminded herself that there were still two types left. She hoped their taste would be better, though she didn’t dare hold too high expectations.
With a trembling hand, she picked up a slice of Yao Yu sashimi. The fish meat looked like pale pink jelly, but its smell was equally suffocating. Holding onto a shred of anticipation, she took a bite and chewed slowly. Perhaps it was because she had already tried eight types of incredibly strong-flavored sashimi beforehand...
Now, she actually felt that this Yao Yu sashimi was somewhat tasty. It tasted like mandarin fish from her original world, except the flavor was even smellier and saltier than fermented mandarin fish. She couldn’t help but spit it out.
Taking a deep look at the Yao Yu, she moved her chopsticks toward the final slice of smelly fish. The meat of this smelly fish was pale gray, looking as if it had been left out for a long time and was already starting to rot.
Gan Lan retracted her chopsticks and closed her eyes to mentally prepare herself. She comforted herself with the thought that the previous types of fish had looked beautiful but tasted exceptionally awful. Although this one looked ugly and nauseating, perhaps it would bring an unexpected surprise.
Even though she thought this way, her hand trembled even more violently as she picked up the smelly fish slice. With an expression of facing certain death, she tossed it directly into her mouth. Before she even started chewing, she spat it out. She looked completely dead inside.
Love Ugly Shellfish, Love Kale: [Hahahaha, the junior is too naive! Although she is truly pitiful, the way her hopeful expression shifted to facing certain death, and then to a look of wanting to just die like this, is simply too vivid. Hahahaha!]
I’m So Stressed: [To the commenter above, are you really a fan of Gan Lan? Can you have some sympathy?! Hahahaha, such a vivid and amusing expression is a rare sight~]
Feiran: [Although it really is a bit tragic, her expression is so vivid and lifelike. So cute ^^]
...
Fortunately, Gan Lan couldn’t see the gloating comments from her audience; otherwise, she might actually pass away on the spot.
It took Gan Lan twenty-five minutes to finish tasting all ten types of special fish. She had five minutes left to make up her mind and choose which one to use for the competition.
Her eyes swept over the water tanks holding the ten types of fish one by one. She didn’t want to choose a single one of them. After trying every special type of fish, she began to doubt life itself. She wondered why such terrifying fish existed, and why there were so many of them!
In the end, she still had to choose the Yao Yu. Yes, the one that tasted similar to mandarin fish but was even smellier, saltier, and harder to accept.
However, she truly wasn’t sure if she could make delicious dishes out of the other nine types. Suddenly, she couldn’t muster any confidence. Today had truly been an eye-opening day.
She kept the Yao Yu, and the other nine water tanks were all sent back to their original places via a conveyor belt. Just as she finished this, the time allotted for this phase of the competition ran out, and the official competition began.
Since she had three hours anyway, Gan Lan sat on a chair to the side and poured herself a glass of water, chugging it down—GULU GULU. She felt as if the assault on her taste buds lingered in her mind. Various complex stenches surrounded her, leaving her feeling depressed.
With her head lowered, she thought about the recipe for stinky mandarin fish from her past life. She was going to make stinky Yao Yu.
Since she had three hours, she could use a refined clear broth to stew the stinky Yao Yu. She figured such a premium broth should be enough to save the Yao Yu.
If it didn’t work, she had no other choice. The sheer power of these species was simply too overwhelming; even she had sustained internal injuries from it.
Gan Lan glanced at the ugly Yao Yu thrashing energetically in the water tank, and her stomach started to feel queasy again.
She began to prepare and clean the ingredients for the refined clear broth. Taking one old hen and a portion of lean pork, she blanched these two ingredients in boiling water. Next, she brought a pot of cold water to a boil, skimmed off the foam, and added an appropriate amount of scallions, ginger, and cooking wine. She then turned the heat down to a simmer, keeping the surface of the broth slightly bubbling. This was to prevent the broth from turning milky white.
With the first step completed, it was time to slaughter the fish herself. This competition truly required the participants to do everything hands-on.
Gan Lan opened the water tank and looked at the lively, seemingly brutal Yao Yu. She pursed her lips. It wasn’t that she had never killed a fish before, but the fish she usually slaughtered looked quite gentle. She truly didn’t know where to start with this Yao Yu.
After some thought, Gan Lan put on gloves and reached both hands into the tank to firmly grab the Yao Yu. It was incredibly slippery. Just as she picked it up, it slipped out of her grasp and splashed back into the tank, splashing water all over her face. She instantly gagged; even the water had been contaminated by the Yao Yu.
Earlier, she could still hold her breath and endure it, but now she really couldn’t. Originally, she had wanted to ask the competition organizers for a mask. However, they stated that if a contestant couldn’t even stand the smell of the fish, they wouldn’t be able to make delicious dishes, nor could they become a qualified Culinary Master. Upon hearing this, Gan Lan felt it made so much sense that she couldn’t even refute it! But on second thought, she realized that the judges weren’t the ones who had to smell it! They had definitely turned off their olfactory sensors in front of the screens and probably even wore masks just to be safe.
The panel of judges watching the competition live on the scene while wearing masks: "..."
Feiran: [Even the way she catches fish is very cute ^^]
Blooming Beauty, Moonlit Grace: [?? Her hair is disheveled, her face is a mess from being splashed with water, her expression looks like she’s on the verge of throwing up, and even her clothes are drenched. She’s a total mess. Is that cute? Hmm... I guess her pitiful little appearance is quite cute~]
Hot Pot Balls: [Captain, are you sick? Do you want a healer to take a look? You’re making me really panic when you act like this!]
...
Meanwhile, in Gan Lan’s competition livestream, aside from a few comments praising her cuteness, the rest of the viewers were laughing uproariously at her disheveled state, showing not a single shred of sympathy.
At the cost of getting completely soaked and having her hair messed up, Gan Lan finally managed to catch the fish and lay it on the cutting board. Before it could thrash around, she quickly grabbed a knife and smacked its head with the flat of the blade, knocking it out cold. Looking at the large Yao Yu lying stiff on the cutting board, she wiped the water from her forehead and breathed a sigh of relief.
Then, suppressing her nausea, she held the fish with one hand and used the back of the knife to scrape off its scales with the other... Five hundred words of a bloody scene were omitted here.
Gan Lan looked with satisfaction at the now thoroughly cleaned Yao Yu lying on the cutting board. Since the Yao Yu was already smelly enough, there was no need to add any stinky tofu. Besides, she didn’t have any stinky tofu to add anyway. Even if she did, adding stinky tofu might truly render the dish entirely inedible to anyone.
The aroma of the old hen broth began to permeate the air, making the smell of the Yao Yu slightly more bearable. She placed the fish in clean water to soak for a while and started preparing the supplementary ingredients for the stinky Yao Yu.
Gan Lan had prepared several types of chili peppers for this: dried chilies, pickled chilies, millet chilies, and beauty chilies. She chopped them all into small segments, cut scallions into sections, minced garlic, and julienned ginger, setting these ingredients aside for later use.
The ordinary old hen broth had finished simmering. She began processing it into a refined clear broth, which would be used as the soup base for the Yao Yu.