Chapter 87 Braised Shark's Fin
Everyone picked up their chopsticks, picked up the shark fins and put them into their mouths.

After being carefully cooked, the shark fin becomes tender, fragrant and smooth. The shark fin moves freely between the mouth and tongue, just like a fish swimming in the sea, bringing endless freshness and fun. Its delicious taste tempts the tongue and teeth to constantly chase it and bite it off.

Cartilage has its own unique elasticity. When you bite it, it brings a slight resistance and rebound at the tip of your teeth. After piercing the cartilage, chew it slowly in your mouth, and the softness of the shark fin itself will be highlighted. It slowly melts between your tongue and mouth, and the fragrant gelatin melts into golden juice in your mouth. Every inch of it is soaked in delicious taste. At this moment, you can no longer feel the shark fin, only the endless golden ocean, allowing people to swim in this wonderful delicacy, and indulge in it both physically and mentally.

Shark fin itself is tasteless; its deliciousness comes from its unique taste and the rich aroma of the other ingredients.

Taoranju's braised shark's fin is made by putting old hens, chicken feet, pig's feet, chicken fat, pork and other ingredients together with shark's fins into a clay pot, and simmering them over a fire for several hours, so that the aroma of pork and chicken can completely penetrate into the shark's fins and blend with the taste of the shark's fins. The gelatin contained in pig's feet and chicken feet complements the taste of the shark's fins, adding a unique and mellow aroma to it.

Finally, pour the prepared sauce on the soft shark fins to fully bring out the delicious flavor hidden in the shark fins.

When you take a bite, you will not only taste the shark fin, but also the countless fragrant flavors that are soaked in the shark fin. Through the magic of time, countless flavors are blended into one. These flavors seem to be non-existent on the surface, but they are everywhere.

“It’s really delicious!”

"As expected of Taoranju, the shark fin is so delicious!"

"Especially, these countless flavors blend harmoniously into the shark fin, as if they have always existed in the shark fin and grown together with it, and there is no sense of strangeness in the taste."

"The most wonderful thing is the texture of shark fin. It is smooth and elastic, and melts instantly in your mouth. The countless flavors contained in it burst out at the moment of melting. It is as if you are in a golden ocean transformed from shark fin, which makes your body and mind tremble."

"Amazing!"

The elders exclaimed loudly.

Elder Li also nodded secretly. This braised shark's fin tasted even better than the one he had last time. It was obvious that the chef of Taoranju had put a lot of effort into it.

Elder Wu should be speechless now.

Even dignitaries who are used to eating delicacies from land and sea would be deeply fascinated by such exquisite dishes.

Elder Wu swallowed the food in his mouth. It was indeed good. The chef's cooking skills were quite impressive.

But it’s not enough, we need to go further.

Elder Wu looked at the three young men and nodded slightly to Chu Xianglong.

Among the three, Chu Xianglong is the oldest and his skills are the most superb. In Elder Wu's opinion, Chu Xianglong is the most likely to become a dragon chef.

However, one Chu Xianglong is not enough. There must be a chef named Long from Guangzhou to ensure his position in the imperial kitchen.

The imperial city is an extremely complicated place, with power struggles everywhere, even in the imperial kitchen.

No one is willing to be a loser, and this is especially true for Wu Cheng.

Chu Xianglong received instructions from Elder Wu and immediately stood up.

This braised shark's fin is indeed a skillful dish, but Guangzhou is too rich and peaceful. It is so rich that restaurants do not need to work hard for survival or worry about saving costs, and it is so peaceful that they will not be convicted for a small mistake.

The dishes made in an environment of abundance and peace have a taste that carries a strong sense of self-satisfaction. Even if the chef’s skills improve, he will only stay in a comfortable place and will not break through to areas that the chef has never touched before.

Now, it’s time for them to teach these Guangzhou chefs a lesson.

Chu Xianglong walked up to the chef of Taoranju and asked, "Can I borrow the kitchen and the extra shark fins?"

"What do you want to do?" asked the chef of Taoranju with a frown. "Nothing, it's just that after eating the braised shark fin you made, I have some new ideas and I want to discuss them with you."

Chu Xianglong spoke modestly and kept a low profile, completely different from Jiang Wei's aggressive attitude.

Although the chef of Taoranju was somewhat dissatisfied, he could not say no in the face of Chu Xianglong's attitude.

Moreover, Chu Xianglong is much younger than him, so as an elder, he still needs to show some magnanimity.

"Yes, please."

The chef of Taoranju said, taking Chu Xianglong to another smaller spare kitchen.

He then brought out the remaining shark fins and said, "These shark fins are loose in shape and will affect the taste if used to make dishes, but these are all that are left."

The shark fins on the plate have only undergone initial processing, are bland and tasteless, and have loose shapes, which not only affects the appearance but also greatly affects the taste.

Taoranju has always thrown away shark fins like this one. If they were served to diners, it would affect Taoranju's reputation.

"That's enough."

Chu Xianglong gently touched the shark fin on the plate and nodded with satisfaction.

He then began to make initial preparations.

The elders who were watching were whispering to each other.

"What does this kid want to do?"

"I don't know. Are we going to use these broken shark fins to cook?"

"Hey, you don't even need to taste it to know that it's definitely not as good as Taoranju's braised shark fin."

Chu Xianglong was seen using a knife to beat the shark fins into pieces. The expensive shark fins soon turned into a pool of soft fish paste under his vigorous beating. He then selected fresh fish meat and did the same thing, mixing the two kinds of paste together and stirring them evenly. He then added starch and various seasonings for flavoring.

When the chef of Taoranju saw him mercilessly smashing the shark fin into mud, he angrily said, "How dare you treat shark fin like this! It has turned into a pool of mud, how can it taste good? You are just fooling around!"

Chu Xianglong replied nonchalantly: "It's better than throwing it away."

"This……"

The chef of Taoranju was choked immediately.

Chu Xianglong then heated up the oil in a wok, and when the oil temperature was right, he put the fish meat and shark fin paste that had been pinched into long strips into the wok, and took it out after frying it until golden brown.

A plate of fried shark fin paste was placed in front of everyone, and Chu Xianglong said, "Please enjoy this fried shark fin."

The elders looked at each other. They were very skeptical about the taste of this dish. How could the shark fin still be delicious after it became like that?
No one has ever dared to treat precious shark fins like this. All chefs are trying their best to present the original shape and taste of shark fins.

It's been pounded into a paste, so the taste must have been ruined. And when it's made like this, who would have known that shark fins were put in it?

In the end, they picked up their chopsticks and put the fried shark fins into their mouths for the sake of Elder Wu.

(End of this chapter)