Chapter 515 - 349: This Is My Turf, I’m Tired of It Already

Chapter 515: Chapter 349: This Is My Turf, I’m Tired of It Already

She was being completely honest about that.

As someone born in the United States, even though she had Korean blood running through her veins, she didn’t feel a strong sense of belonging to South Korea.

The biggest reason she had wanted to return to South Korea was to debut as an idol.

After her career prospects were limited and things weren’t going well, she honestly had no interest in staying in South Korea. Her only remaining attachment was to her friends.

As for Korean food, besides the hundreds of types of kimchi, it was basically just various stone-pot soups, spicy stir-fries, and barbecue.

The national dish, gimbap?

That was adapted from Japanese sushi.

Another national dish, ramyeon?

Sorry, but that was also invented by the Japanese.

The Korean-style fried chicken that was so popular with young people now?

Invented by Americans.

Not to mention things like dumplings, fried rice, and savory pancakes, which all came from the neighboring Great Xia.

So, when Lin Chen said that Korean cooking methods and flavors were monotonous, not only did she not deny it, she wholeheartedly agreed.

She picked up a slice of abalone coated in chili sauce and popped it into her mouth. The unique chewiness of the abalone was still there, not lost due to the thin slicing, and it even had an added crisp tenderness.

Unlike the hard crunch of conch meat, the thin slice of abalone didn’t make a crunching sound when chewed. It was simply crisp and tender, and as she chewed, she could taste the abalone’s unique, savory flavor.

Paired with the diluted chili sauce, it didn’t mask the abalone’s original flavor at all. Instead, it highlighted its umami freshness.

"It’s getting late, so let’s just have a little taste. We’ll save the rest for tomorrow. Do you want to eat the lobster tomorrow morning or now?"

"Let’s eat it now. It probably won’t live long out of the water, right? It would be a waste if it died after we went through all the trouble of catching it. Seafood has to be eaten fresh."

Lin Chen nodded, took his combat knife, and plunged it into the gap between the lobster’s head and body. Then, he took a branch chopstick, aimed for the center of the tail on the underside, and thrust it straight in before pulling it out.

A clear stream of water flowed out from the hole in the tail. With its nerves severed, the lobster didn’t react at all. Its tail drooped, unable to cause any more trouble.

He fashioned a simple grill rack from six branches and some wire. He stuck two pairs of branches into the ground on either side, crossing them to form X-shapes. Then he laid two more branches horizontally across the forks of the X’s to complete the rack.

He split the lobster in half lengthwise and placed one half, head included, flat on the grill to slowly roast over the high heat of the charcoal.

The shell acted as an insulator, limiting the temperature the meat was exposed to. This prevented it from getting scorched too quickly and instead created an oven-like effect, allowing the meat near the shell to cook evenly.

Just a dozen or so seconds after he placed it on the grill, the meat where it touched the shell was already starting to turn white.

By now, Lin Chen had already removed the meat from the other half of the lobster, cut it into knuckle-sized pieces, and piled them back into the empty shell, which served as a container.

The fresh lobster meat looked translucent, its surface shimmering with a crystal-like luster.

"Have you ever had lobster this fresh?"

"No," Jin Meiyan shook her head, staring eagerly at the pile of lobster meat and secretly swallowing. "I’ve only ever had lobster ramyeon and lobster sashimi in Busan, but those were from lobsters kept in tanks. I’ve never tried one eaten right after being pulled from the sea."

"Then you should hurry and try it. I guarantee it’ll change your whole impression of lobster meat."

Lobster is a symbol of luxury in South Korea. Ordinary people don’t usually order it, especially not sashimi.

In her memory, lobster sashimi had a strange taste. It wasn’t like the soft, chewy texture of sweet shrimp. It had a lot of sinew, and while it was soft, there was also a fibrousness that was hard to chew through. If you chewed it for too long, it would get gummy and even a bit nauseating, so you just had to force it down.

She had only eaten it once—or to be precise, she’d only had one bite. The rest she’d thrown into her pot of ramyeon to cook.

If Lin Chen hadn’t recommended this lobster sashimi, she wouldn’t have even wanted to touch it.

She picked out the smallest piece, brought it to her nose, and sniffed. There was no particular smell, just the faint scent of the ocean.

After a glance at Lin Chen, she boldly popped it into her mouth. She was even prepared to swallow it immediately if the texture was weird.

The moment the cool lobster meat entered her mouth, her tongue was first to perceive its unique, soft texture.

This was followed by a faint sweetness that grew with every chew.

After chewing seven or eight times, the sweetness intensified. There was almost no sense of sinew; instead, it felt a bit like eating a jumbo sweet shrimp.

A flash of surprise appeared in her eyes. She looked at Lin Chen in disbelief. "It’s so sweet and soft! How can it taste like this? It’s completely different from what I had before!"

"I remember lobster meat having a lot of sinew. Why doesn’t this have that unchewable texture?"

"It’s actually simple. The sinew is mostly a matter of how you cut it. But whether it tastes good or not still depends on its freshness."

Lin Chen used his chopsticks to spread the piled lobster meat out in the shell. Only then did she slowly realize that the meat wasn’t just simply cut into chunks. Instead, every single cut had been made across the densest part of the muscle grain.

"A lobster’s tail meat is the only large muscle group it uses for daily activities, so it’s normal for it to have a lot of muscle and sinew. In Great Xia, we have strict standards for a chef’s knife skills, including specific cutting techniques for different types of meat."

"For meats with a lot of grain, like beef and lamb, we use a cross-cut, cutting against the grain to tenderize the meat. For meats with less grain, like pork, fish, and chicken, we cut vertically, with the grain. That way, the meat doesn’t fall apart and retains more of its juices."

"Lobster meat is actually divided into two layers, an outer layer and an inner layer. The outer layer has less muscle grain, so it doesn’t matter how you cut it. The inner layer is a muscle group with a clearly defined grain, like a bodybuilder’s physique. You have to cut against the grain here to eliminate that sinewy texture."

"Of course, besides the cutting technique, the sinew also depends on the species. The ones with claws are actually a type of large, clawed lobster, while true lobsters are the ones without claws. Of the hundreds of lobster species in the world, only a few are suitable for sashimi. The rest are best eaten cooked."

Jin Meiyan nodded, only half-understanding. She didn’t quite grasp what "cutting with the grain" or "cutting against the grain" meant, but she picked up two key points from what Lin Chen said.

The lobster sashimi restaurant she went to before used the wrong species of lobster, and on top of that, the chef didn’t know how to cut it properly.

’I spent so much money on that lobster, and the experience was terrible. What a total rip-off!!’

After removing the head, the tail of the forearm-length lobster was about the size of a palm. It was only half a tail, and Lin Chen just had a small taste before putting down his chopsticks to flip the other tail on the grill.

"Oppa, you should have some more. I feel bad eating it all myself."

"It’s fine, you eat it. Don’t forget, this is my territory. I can eat this all the time, for free. I’m actually sick of it."

’Oh, right. I almost forgot this is Oppa’s territory.’

’He’s a good person with great character—gentle, thoughtful, and caring. He’s an amazing cook, knows how to survive and hunt in the wild, and can even edit videos to be a vlogger. Most importantly, he owns this huge piece of land.’

’No matter how I think about it, I don’t believe I’ll ever meet a man more outstanding than Lin Chen.’

She popped the last few pieces of lobster into her mouth and chewed slowly. Her gaze rested quietly on Lin Chen’s profile as he focused on the grilling lobster tail. The more she looked, the more she found him to be quite handsome.

For a moment, she even had the urge to ask Lin Chen what his relationship with Erica was and how far it had progressed.

But her reserved Asian nature held her back from asking so directly. She was afraid of the blow of being rejected, or even worse, that they might not even be able to be friends anymore.

How could she have any appetite for a late-night snack? Her mind was completely preoccupied with figuring out a way to fish for information.

She touched the GoPro clipped to her collar. ’It’s probably not appropriate to do this on camera.’

’Luckily, this isn’t a 24-hour reality show. We can probably stop recording after we finish the lobster. Better to save the battery when we can.’

The halved lobster tail cooked quickly. In just five or six minutes, the spiky parts of the shell were already showing many charred marks.

He speared the meat with a chopstick and pulled the whole piece out. Visible steam rose from it, and juices dripped down continuously.

This time, she didn’t want to eat it all by herself; it would make her look so selfish when it was edited into the video. As soon as Lin Chen handed it to her, she immediately took it, bit off half, and handed it back.

"You eat it, Oppa. You swam with me for so long, you need to replenish your energy. I’m counting on you to protect me for the next few days."

Lin Chen didn’t stand on ceremony. He took it and stuffed the whole piece into his mouth, chewing heartily.

Seeing him eat the lobster she had bitten without hesitation, the corners of Jin Meiyan’s mouth curved up secretly. With her mind still on her plan, she gave a wave and ducked into her grass hut.

"I’m dead tired from swimming. Good night, Oppa~"

"Huh? Good night."

Lin Chen was taken aback. He had just been about to ask if her clothes were already dry after only a dozen or so minutes by the fire, but she had already disappeared into the hut, so he could only offer a casual reply.

Since she had gone to bed, there was no need to keep filming. He immediately took off his camera and turned it off to save power.

After stashing the GoPro in the side pocket of his backpack, he returned to the fire, planning to wait for his clothes to dry before going to sleep.

With the combined effect of his body heat and the open flame, it wouldn’t take too long—about half an hour to dry. The only tricky part was his underwear.

He glanced at the soles of Jin Meiyan’s shoes, who was already lying down flat. After a moment’s hesitation, he decided to deal with it later.

As he stood by the fire, he was also thinking about something.

The wilderness survival experience would definitely be an important part of his business chain in the future. But if he continued to use the number of likes as the selection criterion, there was a high probability that future participants would be influencers or vloggers like Jin Meiyan.

While that would quickly increase his number of followers, he honestly felt it wasn’t the right approach.