"It’s so delicious, absolutely friend-less, I never paid much attention before to how these berries could remove gaminess. A spur-of-the-moment addition made them even better than lemon. I should have stored more before the snowfall. It’s pretty hard to collect them now. Guys, I’ll take another bite for you all!"
While eating, Lin Yang explained to his audience. As he relished his meal, he could accurately describe the flavors of the food, making his audience feel like their own lunch was less appetizing.
"The inhuman host has come online, making the viewers insatiably envious."
"Damn, I’m eating hotpot at Haidilao, and watching Master Lin’s live stream makes the meat in front of me less appetizing."
"This cold-water salmon isn’t exactly a rare species, right? Is it really that good? I feel like the host is playing with us."
"Bro, you don’t get it. With these ingredients, it’s all about freshness. Caught from their native places, stored in cold chains, and even if it’s delivered to our tables, it’s been over a week. It can’t taste the same."
"The freshest way to eat, really makes me want a taste."
In no time, Lin Yang had devoured half a plate of fish sashimi in front of him.
He paused for half a minute, then quickly picked up a large clump of pink, fatty fish roe.
Cold-water fish and warm-water fish differ in breeding habits. This season, the cold-water salmon they caught had eggs. He didn’t have time to slightly ferment them with salt; he only quickly washed away the sticky mucus with water, sprinkled some berry juice and salt, and started eating.
"Guys, this is cold-water salmon roe, each egg is plump. We’ve simply rinsed them already, now I’ll try them for all of us."
Lin Yang scooped up a spoonful and swallowed it right away.
His tongue pushed the roe against the roof of his mouth. The eggs burst one by one under the pressure, filling his mouth with delicious juices.
This flavor was even purer than the juices from the sashimi, no wonder some foreigners go crazy for caviar. This stuff is delicious even without much processing.
"Huff huff, there are no words to describe it, just one word, ’fresh,’ let me have another spoonful." Lin Yang dug out another spoonful and stuffed it into his mouth, nearly humming with satisfaction.
There isn’t much roe in one fish, and there’s even less after it’s cleaned.
He polished it off quickly, like Zhu Bajie eating ginseng fruit, focusing entirely on the food and not even glancing at the viewers’ comments.
"Inhuman, really inhuman."
"Bro, I guess we can’t hang out anymore. That’s so cruel of you, host."
"Wuu wuu wuu, I want to eat roe too, those pink, appetizing ones."
"Didn’t find fresh roe, but I found imported caviar on Tmall, damn, took a deep breath and placed an order. Ever since I started watching the host’s streams, I feel the pressure on my wallet increasing daily. At this rate, how am I supposed to diet?"
Contentedly, Lin Yang smacked his lips and glanced at the comments, "The appetizer is done; coming next are the lichen hand rolls."
"This thing actually tastes quite ordinary, not particularly delicious, but it provides me with enough dietary fiber. Enough said. I’ll finish this hand roll then serve the main dish. The clean snow water in the clay pot is almost boiling; we can eat while adding the ingredients for the soup base."
"I’ll use two mushrooms for enhancing the umami flavor. We don’t have many mushrooms left, so we’ll need to save them. The fish heads and bones left over from the sashimi I made earlier will go into the snow water to make the soup. I’ll also add a swan leg to enrich the base with fat and flavor. Once it boils again, our fresh fish hotpot will be ready to start."
As Lin Yang explained, he put the few ingredients he had into the pot. The water, which had been boiling, quickly calmed down again.
Aside from salt, there were no condiments like soy sauce, vinegar, or cooking wine that Chinese cuisine usually requires, but the authentic ingredients themselves provided plenty of flavors.
As the temperature rose again, the water in the pot began to bubble, and the aroma of the soup base gradually emerged.
Lin Yang closed his eyes and took a deep breath, "Wow, I haven’t even put in the fish slices yet and I can already smell the delicious aroma from the soup. I’m already getting impatient. Let’s try one slice and see how it tastes."
The next second, he swished a thin slice of fish in the clay pot for a few seconds. After the fish changed color, he took it out and put it directly into his mouth without even blowing on it.
The slice of fish entered his mouth.
Silky, tender, soft, chewy—the fish presented a unique flavor, perfect.
"I’m not just making this up, brothers, this is the tastiest fish hotpot I’ve ever eaten. The fish slices, about seventy to eighty percent cooked, have an amazing texture," Lin Yang said as he eagerly swished another piece of fish.
The viewers in the live broadcast room felt saliva secreting uncontrollably in their mouths, even those who had just eaten felt their appetites being whetted again.
"Could it really be that delicious? Knowing the host as I do, he never exaggerates, brothers. I must try it if I ever get the chance."
"That’s too much, just an hour after lunch and I feel hungry again."
"Is there any place that offers a similar broth and ingredients? Guys, let’s meet up. Damn this streamer, he’s too much."
"Wait until we finish the meat, then savor another mouthful of the delicious soup. Just thinking about it feels satisfying. I really want to eat it."
"You’re making it worse upstairs, don’t encourage him!"
The next second, Lin Yang scooped up a bit of soup with a wooden spoon, gently blew on it, and took a sip. "Haha, you guys are right, it tastes incredible. Eating meat and drinking soup, a double enjoyment!"
A feast of fresh fish hotpot left him smacking his lips in complete satisfaction. After finishing half the fish, he still felt slightly unsatisfied.
However, combined with the sashimi he had earlier, a whole fish had already filled his stomach; he was actually at least eighty percent full.
The food variety was simple, but the cold climate caused Lin Yang to involuntarily increase his portion sizes while surviving in the wilderness.
Feeling almost full, and not wanting to waste the delicious soup from the hotpot, he scooped out the swan leg to cool slightly at his side, then drank the enriched broth from a coarse ceramic bowl in one gulp.