Gourmet: From a Stall in Northern Europe

Chapter 434 - 346: After Intestines Come Pig Brains—Triple Terror

The smell could be tolerated by pinching one’s nose, but combined with the visual impact, the feeling of nausea was instantly magnified to the extreme.

Su and Nicole, who hadn’t had much experience in the kitchen, collapsed instantly, bending over and retching with their mouths covered.

Even from ten meters away, just catching a glimpse of the contents of the intestines, and imagining it in their minds, their defenses crumbled instantly.

Even Raphael and Nagishiro Sho, who were close by, turned utterly pale, their mouths twitching uncontrollably.

It was bearable initially, but...

Those damned women, why did they have to gag so loudly!!!

Lin Chen was unfazed, his hands moving quickly, stripping off the thick fat lining the insides of the intestines.

Without these white greasy things, the plain intestines weren’t so bad.

Just thicker than the casing of a sausage.

This thought helped them feel a lot better.

Having survived the toughest part, the rest of the process was manageable.

Lin Chen quickly cleaned the intestines, blanched them, and tossed them into a pressure cooker with some green onions, ginger, soy sauce, and cooking wine, leaving them to cook on their own.

But it wasn’t over.

Seeing the visibly relieved expressions of the group, he chuckled, opened the refrigerator door, and took out a basin...

Filled with bloody pig brains.

He deliberately tilted the basin outward to allow everyone a clearer view.

"Ugh!!!!"

Instantly, several of them collapsed, even the head chefs weren’t exempt, leaving only Lucas and John still standing.

If the intestines’ main assault was the smell, then the visual impact of the brains was unparalleled.

Especially when the brains hadn’t been processed, covered with a thin membrane of blood vessels, each clearly visible, like a spider web wrapping the terrifying brain inside.

Coupled with the brains themselves, twisted like pink blood vessels, resembling blood-colored flesh tubes, and the constant mental reminder that this was a freshly excavated brain, their stomachs churned uncontrollably.

"Why haven’t you reacted at all?"

John stared at Lucas curiously, "Back in the day, I was just like them. It took me a whole month to adapt."

"Then you must’ve been weak."

Lucas refrained from filming; pig brains were too grisly and horrific, posting any footage might lead to negative consequences.

Faced with John’s curious gaze, the corners of his mouth curved into a mysterious smile.

"When I first arrived in Great Xia, due to language barriers, I accidentally ordered a pig brain dish at a restaurant."

"You know, the most magical thing about Great Xia cuisine is that they can transform ingredients into dishes where you can’t recognize their original appearance at all."

"Back then, I ordered pig brain mapo tofu, reportedly one of the most popular dishes at the restaurant. The chopped pig brain mixed with tofu was indistinguishable, drenched in red oil and chili; eating it was like savoring meaty tofu -- simply delightful."

"Can you believe I licked the plate clean!"

"Later, when I showed the photo to my classmates in Great Xia, they told me it was pig brain."

"Once you’ve eaten it, why be afraid? As long as it’s delicious, it’s all good~"

John’s face contorted, a single word squeezing through his teeth.

"...Freak."

"Meaty tofu?"

Upon hearing this description, Raphael imagined that sensation in his head, feeling somewhat relieved.

It wasn’t his weak mental fortitude that was to blame, it was just that the Western culinary market was like this — the slaughter line and restaurant line are strictly separated; the restaurant kitchen only sees the processed, segmented ingredient parts, never the live source.

Let alone animal brains, even intestines are rarely seen.

Although he had visited slaughterhouses or butcher shops before, this was the first time seeing a brain up close.

Moreover, having been engulfed by the durian smell all the way here, then bombarded by the intestines, the dual visual-scent assault finally broke his defenses.

"How do you plan to cook these brains?"

After getting past the retching phase, he wiped his mouth, forced himself to refocus on Lin Chen’s hands.

Seeing the bloody pig brains again, his pupils shuddered deeply, yet he held his ground and did not avert his gaze.

Nagishiro Sho was slightly better off and was only affected by the smell of the intestines.

His Divine Nose became a deadly double-edged sword in such situations, perceiving the smells more vividly than normal people.

"Chef, do you want to try them ’naturally’?"

"Do you Great Xia People eat them naturally?"

"No."

"Then why ask me to eat them naturally?"

"Just saying, since I’ve seen you test dishes by boiling them in clear water."

"Makes sense. But can you really eat pig brains boiled in clear water? Will there be any off flavors?"

"Chef, you don’t actually want to use this thing to develop a new dish, do you? No customer will be willing to eat it! I was just joking with you!!"

Lin Chen was speechless, and quickly explained, "Pig brain is usually cooked with heavy-flavored seasonings in our place, like red oil and spicy, hot pot, or mapo tofu, using the taste of the seasonings to cover up the slight odor of the pig brain itself."

"To those who haven’t eaten it, it may seem like an odor, but to us who love eating it, it’s the source of the pig brain’s deliciousness."

Saying this, he shook a toothpick out of the jar beside him, and without any particular movement, he casually poked it into the pig brain and stirred a few times, then rolled upwards horizontally.

The thin vascular membrane on the surface of the pig brain actually wrapped together with the toothpick like cling film, revealing the pinkish, tender brain underneath.

Without the vascular membrane, the brain flower doesn’t look as bloody as before, but its shape is still a bit strange.

After challenging the brain flower, the remaining parts like heart, liver, lung, and kidney seem much more normal.

Besides those major organs, Lin Chen also took quite a few special parts.

Like pig trachea, beef trachea, pig nose, pig ears, duck esophagus, chicken feet, and duck feet, etc.

Raphael hadn’t eaten any of these parts, but Nagishiro Sho had eaten quite a few when he came for dinner with Marchello before.

Seeing these parts again, the taste from memory instantly awakened.

He slapped his thigh hard, and regretfully said, "Right, how could I forget these parts can be cooked, damn it."

"You’ve eaten them all?" Raphael looked at him suspiciously.

Nagishiro Sho shook his head, "I’ve eaten some, pig nose, pig ears, most of the internal organs, never seen those white blood vessels, and is duck’s esophagus actually edible?"

"It can be eaten," Lin Chen smiled mysteriously, "Not only can it be eaten, it tastes quite good~"

After he cleaned up the vast majority of the ingredients, he threw them all into the big pot to simmer, using the old broth stored in the freezer from before.

During this process, the pressure cooker had started steaming, continuously spraying aroma-filled soy sauce scents around.

Besides this, there was also an indescribably odd meat smell.

Everyone knew that pig intestine was being cooked in the pot, yet surprisingly it didn’t smell at all, not only did they not feel repulsed, but a faint curiosity arose instead.

Could such a stinky thing really be processed into a state without any smell?

Would it still smell bad when eaten?

Got to admit, humans are indeed rather foolish by nature.

Earlier, it made them almost vomit yesterday’s breakfast, now upon smelling the fragrance they feel fine again.

While Lin Chen was busy dealing with various peculiar parts, tourists began returning by sightseeing vehicle, carrying baskets of harvest like when several people returned earlier.

Seeing so many people gathered around the dining car, the tourists thought Lin Chen had started serving lunch again and crowded around.

"What’s the Head Chef cooking delicious for lunch, smells really nice?"

"It’s not ready yet? When can we have it?"

"Hey, why do I suddenly seem to smell something stinky?"

After getting closer, those tourists with sharp noses immediately frowned and instinctively followed the direction of the smell, the closer they got, the more pungent it became, forcing them to pinch their noses and back away repeatedly.

"Oh my God, it’s incredibly smelly!"

"Did someone poop here? Why is it so smelly!"

"Hey, hey, hey, if you don’t understand, stop talking nonsense," Lucas walked over dissatisfiedly, pulling out a large durian from under the table from a plastic bag to show everyone.

"This is called durian, a tropical fruit, nicknamed the queen of fruits, rich in nutritional value, similar in taste to chocolate among fruits, sweet and glutinous, melts in your mouth, although the taste is a bit strong, it’s fragrant when eaten!"

This thing had been sitting here for almost an hour, he was already drooling, and decided to open it then!

Seeing the durian, Nagishiro Sho and even Raphael, who had gotten used to the smell, remembered this.

Compared to the innards, fruits were far less challenging, and they eagerly came over to see what fresh durian actually looked like.

Opening the durian didn’t even require Lin Chen to act; Lucas could handle it himself.

He casually grabbed a knife and hacked into the spiky group, twisting the blade.

Crunch.

The durian shell cracked open a thin slit.

Pulling the slit apart gently from both sides with his hands, the spiky shell split in two, revealing the hidden plump golden-yellow flesh inside.

Lucas took a few meal boxes from the dining car to place the fruit, pried out the pulp, and continued cutting, twisting, and prying to pick out the flesh.

The speed and skill were no different from a fruit-selling clerk.

In a few blinks, six strips of oval-shaped plump pulp were all taken out, leaving behind random spiky empty shells.

Such a big fruit actually has a hollow inside packed full of pulp?

"Does one durian yield six pieces of meat?"

Raphael curiously picked up a box and sniffed.

Not to say, when close, the stinky smell magically weakened quite a bit, replaced by a rich sweet fragrance.

"Not necessarily six pieces, it ranges from four to six, it depends on the bumps on the durian shell to judge. I don’t know much about this, but Lin picked a six-piece one, the remaining two should be as well."

"Okay, okay, stop researching, buddy’s drooling!"