Chapter 803 - 362: Arrival at the First Stop—Nassau (2)

Chapter 803: Chapter 362: Arrival at the First Stop—Nassau (2)

Then he made a shallow cut along the fish’s belly, carefully removing the organs intact. The process was clean and swift, without damaging the fish meat at all.

Lin Yu’an watched with extreme focus, memorizing every detail. Fish cutting is a craft crucial for future voyages.

"Alright, now it’s your turn." Mike pointed at the cleaned fish body. "The final step, fillet the meat. Follow this sideline, from head to tail, one cut down, keeping close to the central spine, feeling the friction between the knife tip and the bone. Come on, give it a try."

Lin Yu’an picked up the long and thin Yanagi knife. Having handled numerous prey before, he was well acquainted with the structure of muscles and bones.

His technique was steady, precise, and fierce, without any hesitation. The knife edge scraped against the fish bone, making a "rustling" sound, and he sliced from the fish head all the way to the tail, then flipped his wrist!

A whole large and complete fillet of mackerel, with beautiful marbled patterns, was flawlessly sliced off!

[Whoa! This knife skill! God Lin, you call this your first time?!]

[So smooth! I feel like I’m watching a top-tier Japanese restaurant’s fish filleting show!]

[No surprise, after all, Anzi has handled bears, wolves, and deer... The body structure is all related!]

Riven and Mike were dumbfounded too. They initially thought Lin Yu’an would cut it messily, not expecting him to achieve perfection with just one cut.

Lin Yu’an didn’t pause and treated the other side in the same manner.

In the end, two huge fillets of mackerel, weighing over a dozen pounds, like gigantic pink jewels, were neatly placed on the chopping board.

"Alright, now..." Lin Yu’an was just about to pack the fillets.

"Hold on, Lin." But Mike suddenly stopped him, showing a mysterious smile.

He took out a clean Western chef’s knife and expertly sliced off a small piece of meat from the firmest part at the tail of the fillet.

Then, with a highly professional technique, against the muscle texture, he swiftly sliced out three fish sashimi slices as thin as cicada wings.

"Here," He used the tip of a dining knife to present the three translucent fish sashimi slices to Lin Yu’an and Riven, "before the main meal, taste the appetizer first. It’s the sailor’s tradition, tasting the most original flavor of the sea."

[Here it comes! Live tasting session!]

[Wow, Captain Mike’s knife skill is also so professional!]

Lin Yu’an looked at the slice that still held the warmth of life and, without hesitation, put it directly into his mouth.

The fish meat had a very peculiar texture, extremely bouncy and even a bit crisp, you could feel the clear fibers when biting down. But the taste was quite light, with a subtle salty fresh flavor, not the rich sweetness imagined.

"Very interesting texture," Lin Yu’an commented, "very chewy, but seems not much flavor."

"Exactly right!" Riven tasted a slice too, and immediately took over the conversation with a gourmet’s tone, starting to educate Lin Yu’an and the viewers in the live stream.

"Lin, what you’re tasting now is fish meat in its state before rigor mortis after death. We call this the ’active’ texture."

"Its characteristic is the ultimate ’bounce’ and ’crisp’, some people especially love this texture."

She paused and continued explaining, "However, for flavor-type fish like mackerel, this is not its tastiest state. Its essence, namely the umami substances, are still dormant in the muscle cells now."

Meanwhile, Mike was beside her, carefully vacuum-sealing the remaining two large fish fillets, then completely submerging them into the fridge box filled with ice saltwater.

"Alright," Mike closed the lid, clapped his hands with satisfaction, then faced the camera, joining the topic with his daughter, starting the "culinary education".

"Riven is right, we put the remaining parts into the ice saltwater, leaving them comfortably for at least four to five hours for ’low-temperature curing’.

"The enzymes in the fish meat will start acting like countless little chefs, decomposing the rigid muscle fibers, making the texture extraordinarily smooth."

"At the same time, the most important umami substance—inosinic acid, will be generated in large amounts during this process, enhancing the fish meat’s flavor, making it rich and sweet."

He glanced at the time, an expectant smile forming on his face, "When we slice it for tasting after a few hours... Lin, you will find it has completely turned into another kind of food!"

"That’s truly the top flavor belonging to mackerel, also the taste we love the most in Florida."

[Learned a lot! Turns out sashimi isn’t fresher the better! There’s so much to it!]

[Low-temperature curing? Seems like the same principle as matured steak!]

[Darn it! Not only does the host show us scenery and extreme sports, now he’s tempting us late at night! I’m already hungry!]

This vivid and professional explanation made Lin Yu’an and the viewers in the live stream all suddenly enlightened.

Right then, Lin Yu’an pointed at the remaining gigantic fish skeleton and head on the chopping board, still with some leftover meat due to knife technique, and asked, "What about these things?"

Mike took a glance at the distance from shore shown on the GPS, and casually waved his hand, "These are all pure natural degradable, just throw them back into the sea, let the little fellows underwater also share with us."

"Wait," Lin Yu’an stopped him, taking a small spoon towards the attached meat on the fish skeleton unable to be perfectly sliced off due to technique, and said, "I think it’s too wasteful to just throw it away."