CHAPTER 464: CHAPTER 157 STEWED RAW KNOCK (PART 2)_2

"Hmm, its life is near its end." Du Xixi narrowed her eyes, speaking in a casual tone, but it seemed the loach felt something as it struggled desperately with all its might, only to be grasped by Du Xixi’s other hand as well. "There, there, I’ll find you some robust brothers to accompany you on your journey shortly."

Loach · Poor thing · (Tearfully): Ah! I’m doomed!

Du Xixi: Should I steam it or fry it? It seems like it would make a good soup too.

2569: ...

***

The loach’s meat is firm. After pondering for a while, Du Xixi decided to make a famous dish called "Braised Fresh Knock."

What is "Braised Fresh Knock"? It involves placing fresh, thick loach on a board and gently tapping it with the back of a knife, then adding fattier-than-lean pork belly and Immortal Eggs. The taste is fresh and flavorful, and as you take a bite, the wonderful flavors of the loach, pork belly, and Immortal Eggs fill your mouth, with a distinct texture sensation, truly a treat for the palate.

However, making Immortal Eggs requires a bit of skill. Du Xixi thought it through and decided to skip using Immortal Eggs for now, contemplating to include them next time if the opportunity arises.

"Ma’am, don’t you need to kill them first?" 2569 asked out of curiosity, observing Du Xixi place the knocked-out loaches directly on the chopping board. Its electronic light screen shook with confusion, and like Du Xixi, it put on a half-length apron.

Even though it might not be involved in handling the loaches, Du Xixi had mentioned that once you step into the kitchen, you should show respect for the kitchen and the ingredients by at least wearing an apron.

With quick fingers, Du Xixi turned the loaches belly up, with the knife blade turned in a way, using the back of the blade to tap the loaches with controlled strength.

"No need, we’ll knock them first, then kill." Du Xixi replied without raising her head, her hands continuing the task without pause. The rhythmic sound of the knife back hitting the loaches and the loaches hitting the board entranced the Robot, making it unconsciously turn on the recording function to capture Du Xixi’s subsequent actions.

The cutting edge was sharp, the back of the knife solid. Du Xixi intentionally controlled her strength, tapping the knife back in a way that only impacted the skin and flesh without damaging the long spine inside.

The tapping outside concluded for the moment. Du Xixi rotated the knife blade downward again with one hand, while the other hand flipped the loosened loaches belly up.

With their soft bellies facing upward, Du Xixi found a soft spot, cut into it with the knife, smoothly slicing towards the loach’s tail, removed the head, and laid it flat. She then stripped away the whole spine, turning the loaches into "long loach slices."

"Wow!" 2569, having seen Du Xixi dispatch plenty of fish and chop lots of chicken and duck, couldn’t help but marvel at her fluent knife skills now with the loach. "Ma’am! I’d like to learn too!"

Du Xixi glanced at it with a smile, washing away the loach’s bloodstains with clean water, whispered softly, "I have no class tomorrow. I’ll teach you with the leftover loaches then."

"Thank you, ma’am!"

Satisfied, 2569 stopped interrupting Du Xixi’s cooking, merely lending a hand during the washing of the loaches, then obediently resumed its "observing" position.

Du Xixi didn’t discard the stripped spines. Instead, she cleaned them, cut them into small pieces, and placed them in a small pot to slowly simmer them for soup. The spine soup only needed a few spring onion sections and ginger slices to bring out its full flavor. When ready to make the "Braised Fresh Knock," the spine broth would come in handy for "braising."

The earlier tapping was only external. Now that the loach’s interior was exposed, Du Xixi began tapping its insides.

With the knife back again, her strength was noticeably stronger this time, and the tapping was very detailed. Almost every inch of the translucent loach meat received a thorough knock from Du Xixi.

extended its electronic light screen forward, using its recording function to capture in great detail the subtle changes in the loach meat. The translucent loach meat, initially sticking to the skin, now seemed to blossom like a flower. Although still on the loach skin, it looked delicate and quite adorable.

With both the inside and outside sufficiently knocked, the "knock" part of "Braised Fresh Knock" was considered complete, albeit still a bit long. Du Xixi neatly cut them into half-palm length pieces and collected them in a clean plate for later use.