From Robinson Crusoe

The fried prawns are steaming hot and fragrant. Just looking at the golden color on the plate is a pleasure.

The three kittens cried out, broke away from their mother's control, hung on Chen Zhou's trouser legs, and tried their best to climb up.

Tizi couldn't control his appetite either. His two furry, round front paws, which looked like little buns, kept pressing the ground, and the tip of his tail was shaking slightly.

Faced with the temptation of delicious food, its usually slightly hoarse voice turned into a gentle and delicate begging sound, which made people feel itchy.

The little gray cat on the side was no less capable. It was like a walking gas tank, wagging its tail and rubbing against Chen Zhou's trouser leg. If its size had not allowed it, it would have climbed up the trouser leg into Chen Zhou's arms.

Chen Zhou was so greedy for the freshly fried shrimps that he was unwilling to give the first chance to taste the dish to the cats and dogs.

Regardless of the heat of the shrimp, he picked up one with a hissing breath, and peeled the shell while blowing on the scalding shrimp.

After peeling off the shrimp shells that were fried into golden brown, what appeared in front of Chen Zhou was the white and tender shrimp meat.

Without hesitation, I stuffed the shrimp meat into my mouth. While chewing, I could feel the freshness and smoothness of the shrimp meat, as well as a slight sweetness, the aroma of garlic, the slight saltiness of soy sauce, the sweetness of sugar, and the sourness of vinegar...

Maybe it was because he hadn't eaten food with so many seasonings in a long time, Chen Zhou felt that the shrimp flavor sensed by his taste buds had melted on the tip of his tongue. That long-lost taste was truly unforgettable.

But a shrimp is too small after all, and it went down my stomach in just two bites. All the freshness, fragrance and tenderness disappeared quietly like a dream.

Not satisfied with the meal, Chen Zhou didn't even bother to peel the shell and directly put the whole shrimp with the head removed into his mouth. He "peeled" the shell in his mouth like eating melon seeds while continuing to eat the next one.

If the shrimp shell is stubborn and not easy to peel off from the shrimp meat, he will not care which is the shell and which is the meat, and will just chew them up and swallow them together. Some shrimps are over-fried, and the shrimp shells are crispy, which tastes different.

There was a crunching sound, and a corner of the fried prawns piled high on the plate was missing.

The water in the big iron kettle has boiled, bubbling and steam rising.

Chen Zhou reluctantly put down the shrimp in his hand, wiped his hands with a rag, then picked up a slightly larger silver plate and covered the plate of prawns to prevent the food from getting cold.

Carefully he took off the three kittens hanging from his body, and despite their protests, he picked up a large jar of shellfish that he had prepared, poured them directly into the large iron kettle, and then added two spoonfuls of coarse salt into the kettle.

Having grown up inland, this was his first time cooking scallops, and he made a low-level mistake without realizing it.

For seafood like scallops, if you are steaming them, you cannot put them in cold water. If you are boiling them, you cannot put them in hot water.

Of course, this also depends on whether the scallops are in the shell or not. If the scallops are shelled, there is no problem putting them in the pot with hot water.

This is because scallops will open when heated, and boiling them in hot water with their shells on will affect the taste of the scallops.

Moreover, Chen Zhou's processing of the scallops before cooking them was not very rigorous. Generally, the scallops harvested from the sea would be brushed with a brush before being put into the pot. Simply letting them spit out the sand would not completely remove the sand on the scallops.

When uncleaned shells are impacted by hot water, the sand attached to the surface will fall off into the water and even squeeze into the shell meat, which can easily hurt the teeth when eaten.

But cooking is a skill that only becomes easier with practice.

Chen Zhou is not a lady from a wealthy family who has never done housework. He grew up in his grandmother's house when he was a child. He is familiar with making fire, cooking and frying. Although he does not do it every day, he is not unfamiliar with it.

When the shellfish is cooked and the taste is not right when eating, he will be able to quickly find the problem and make improvements.

Of course, at this moment Chen Zhou didn't know that his boiled abalone and scallop stew had failed. He was taking out the two sea fish he had picked up from the "saltpeter refrigerator", preparing to roast the two fish while the scallops were being boiled.

He originally planned to make a steamed egg with sea urchin. He had heard a classmate talk about this dish, which was to cut a hole in a fresh sea urchin, then wash out the internal organs, leaving only the flesh inside the sea urchin that was similar to fish roe.

Crack the eggs, pour in the egg yolk, egg white, salt, oil and a little water and mix well.

After simple processing, just put the sea urchin in a boiling water steamer and steam it for a while, like steaming egg custard. When the egg inside the sea urchin solidifies into jelly, you can take it out and eat it.

If you like spicy or sour flavors, you can sprinkle some green or red peppers on the eggs, or add a few drops of lemon juice.

This dish is simple to make and requires few ingredients. The only thing you need is that the sea urchin must be fresh, not dead or frozen.

Strictly speaking, the sea urchins Chen Zhou picked up from the beach were not fresh enough.

Of course, this wasn’t the reason he didn’t make the sea urchin steamed egg – the real reason he delayed the dish was that he didn’t have eggs.

When he was going to the beach yesterday, he did remember for a moment that he should go to the pigeon cave to get some pigeon eggs as ingredients, but he was so busy that he forgot about it. He only remembered it last night when he was cutting sea urchins to feed the mice.

By that time, when I was thinking about steaming eggs with sea urchin, the day lily would have gone cold. If I wanted to eat this dish, I could only go to the Pigeon Cave to grab the eggs after I had a good harvest today.

However, Chen Zhou has been to the Pigeon Cave nearly ten times, and the pigeon eggs he has taken out are only a handful. Even if he gets sea urchins, it is still unknown whether he can use pigeon eggs to match them.

Moreover, pigeon eggs are too small, and it takes three or five of them to equal one chicken egg, so the cost-effectiveness is too low.

Chen Zhou’s favorite was the group of large wild geese that roamed in the grass by the river.

If they can be tamed to lay eggs, not only will the eggs be large, but the quantity of eggs will also be guaranteed.

At least in Chen Zhou's understanding, domesticated wild geese, also known as domestic geese, can lay about 150 eggs every year.

If he could catch wild geese on the island, although they do not have as long a history of domestication and breeding as domestic geese, it should be possible for them to lay 60 eggs a year. If he raised three or four geese, 200 eggs a year would be enough.

……

The two sea fish I picked up yesterday were exactly the same, about 40cm long, and much uglier than the common river fish.

The scales of this fish are very small, and it is quite difficult to scrape them off.

Last night, when Chen Zhou was feeding fish meat to mice to test for poison, he also gutted the fish and removed its internal organs.

After being stored in a homemade fresh-keeping box overnight, a layer of frost even formed on the surface of the two fish. They felt a little stiff in the hands, but there was no risk of spoilage.

Take out the fish, place it on a chopping board to thaw slightly, and cut into pieces.

Chen Zhou carefully cut a small triangle on the inside of the fish tail, and then split the fish head with a hand axe to make it more flavorful when marinated later.

He had never cooked sea fish, but he had made braised fish in sauce several times when he was in his hometown. The previous steps were all the processing methods for braised fish in sauce.

After splitting the fish head, he rubbed a layer of fine salt on the fish body, then poured a bottle cap of soy sauce and evenly applied it to the wounds of the fish, including inside the fish head and the fish belly.

Then he pulled out another garlic, preparing to use his meager seasoning to add flavor to the fish, so as not to waste this rare ingredient. (End of this chapter)