Chapter 50: Abalone and Truffle Meat Patty

Li Xiao looked up and saw the unsatisfied expressions on his three dorm mates’ faces, so he asked,

"If that wasn’t enough, I can have the kitchen make another serving?"

The three of them waved their hands frantically. Huang Zhiyuan quickly cut in, saying,

"Brother Li, there are still so many dishes to come. If we fill up on soup, it’ll be a waste."

Hearing this, Li Xiao thought about it and agreed.

If they got full on liquid, they probably wouldn’t be able to eat what came next.

Just as they finished speaking, the door to the room was pushed open again.

Clearly, Jiuhe Garden paid great attention to the pacing of its service.

Since they served individual portions, the kitchen didn’t just bring out all the dishes at once.

The waitress in the room, Taotao, seemed to be the key figure in this process.

She would gauge how quickly the guests were eating and only notify the kitchen to send out the next dish once they were nearly finished with the previous one.

The second dish to be served was: Abalone Truffle Meat Patty.

To be fair, the chefs at Jiuhe Garden paid a great deal of attention to plating.

After all, with prices like these, it would be outrageous if they couldn’t even get the plating right.

A meat patty, about the size of a palm, rested quietly on a small, celadon-colored porcelain dish. At its center sat a small abalone that had been scored with a decorative pattern.

It was a standard seven-head abalone, not large, but prepared with extreme care.

The shell had been removed beforehand, and the innards were cleaned out completely. The abalone was flipped over, carefully scored, and placed face-up, resembling a blooming chrysanthemum.

The meat patty was pinkish in color, with many dark brown specks mixed into its interior and scattered on its surface—obviously, the so-called truffle particles.

Beneath the patty was a layer of light golden sauce, and it was garnished with a few specks of vibrant green scallion.

The dish was served with a golden knife and fork, clearly intended for cutting the small abalone.

Li Xiao didn’t bother putting on airs. It was just a seven-head abalone, after all. Instead of picking up the knife and fork, he simply used his chopsticks to pick up the abalone and pop it into his mouth.

The next moment, his eyes lit up. At the same time, the system’s notification sounded in his ears.

[Congratulations, you have unlocked the 7th entry in your Atlas.]

[The gourmet entry you unlocked is: Abalone Truffle Meat Patty.]

[Dish Rating: 81/100 [Good]]

[As the dish rating is ’Good,’ you will receive a 3x reward multiplier.]

[Congratulations, you have received a cash reward of 400,000.]

[Congratulations, you have received a reward: Meat Patty Production Recipe.]

[Congratulations, you have received a reward: Truffle Selection Guide.]

[Note 1: All rewards are automatically made legal and legitimate. There is no need to worry about their origin.]

[Note 2: Reward values vary based on the dish’s rating.]

The next moment, Li Xiao noticed his phone screen light up.

[Your savings account ending in 7700...]

Li Xiao was a little surprised. In his opinion, the abalone he had just eaten was quite delicious.

He had originally thought the dish would score over 90, but it had unexpectedly only just managed to reach the ’Good’ tier.

The abalone was very fresh. A rich, savory flavor instantly filled his mouth, making him feel as if he were by the sea, a gentle, pleasant sea breeze brushing against his face.

Before being steamed, the abalone had likely been soaked in rice wine for a period, which gave the meat a faint, delicate fragrance.

This not only removed any slight fishiness but also added the unique aroma of the rice wine to the abalone.

The high-temperature steaming would have instantly evaporated the alcohol, leaving behind only the delicate fragrance of rice wine without any taste of alcohol.

The abalone was topped with a sprinkle of shaved truffle. Its distinct, rich aroma—characteristic of black truffles—elevated the otherwise simple flavor of steamed abalone, making it rich and complex, with a powerful sense of depth.

The abalone was cooked perfectly. The meat was springy to the bite but hadn’t been steamed so long as to become tough and difficult to chew.

After swallowing the whole abalone, Li Xiao’s confusion only deepened.

’Logically, based on the quality of this abalone, it should be even a notch above the fish maw chicken soup I just had.’

’Logically, even if it didn’t reach an ’Excellent’ rating, it shouldn’t have just barely scraped by with ’Good’.’

’No, wait.’ The next moment, Li Xiao quickly realized something. The dish was called Abalone Truffle Meat Patty. The abalone and truffle were actually just supporting elements; the meat patty was the main star.

His gaze shifted to the meat patty below.

’Could the meat patty be the problem, the reason this dish only scored 81 points?’

Without hesitation, he picked up a piece of the meat patty and put it in his mouth.

The meat patty, coated in the golden sauce, entered his mouth, and its soft, tender texture instantly conquered his tongue.

The sensation of the patty on his tongue was marvelous. The muscle fibers had been completely broken down. Logically, the patty should have been mushy and lacked any texture.

However, that wasn’t the case with this one. After being minced, the meat had been repeatedly slammed.

The chef had added a small amount of egg white and a suitable amount of starch, so after the repeated slamming, the meat developed a springy, almost gelatinous quality.

At the same time, the egg white and starch helped lock in the juices. The result wasn’t mushy at all; instead, it was incredibly soft and delicate, while the gelatinous quality and the protein gave it a slight, supple resilience.

The choice of pork was also very appropriate: pork belly with a thirty-seventy fat-to-lean ratio.

A bit of egg white and various seasonings were added to the minced pork belly, then mixed continuously with shaved truffle and bits of dried tangerine peel.

Once the meat paste became gelatinous, it was repeatedly slammed to firm up its texture.

A meat patty made this way has a smooth and delicate mouthfeel, but instead of being mushy, it has a slight elasticity.

Furthermore, the chef had also taken into account that the meat patty and the abalone required different cooking times.

Therefore, when the meat patty was almost cooked through, the scored abalone was placed on top, sprinkled with another layer of shaved truffle, and then steamed further.

However, Li Xiao’s brow soon furrowed slightly.

He now understood why the system’s rating for this dish was as low as 81.

The abalone was fine, and there was nothing wrong with the choice of pork or even the preparation process. The problem lay with the truffles inside the meat patty.

Had he not received the system’s reward, he might not have been able to figure out the exact reason.

But after receiving the ’Truffle Selection Guide’ from the system, a vast amount of information and memories about truffles had vividly surfaced in his mind, as if he had personally selected and eaten many truffles in the past.

What surprised him was that the truffles sprinkled on the surface of the patty and the truffles used inside it were not the same type.

The truffles used on the surface of the meat patty and abalone were likely black truffles from the Bena Plateau in the Provence region of France—the world’s number one truffle, extremely expensive but also the most highly acclaimed.

The ones used inside the meat patty, however, were black truffles from the Camille Prairie in New Zealand. That stuff was even a bit inferior to the truffles native to Xia Country.