"Those stone fish are no match for this one. Let's not talk about whether they are farmed or not, just look at the head." Li Chao gestured with his hands twice, looking disdainful.
Zhang Qicheng said with a smile: "The one in your hand is bigger, if you want to eat it, eat yours."
Xiang Yang smiled and said, "It's rare to see a stone fish that big. It would be a pity to eat it. There are still many stone fish under this sea. If you want to eat them, I'll go down and catch a few more later."
Zhang Qicheng was still arguing with Li Chao. When he heard what Xiang Yang said, he immediately laughed and said, "Boss Xiang, what are you talking about? Aren't stone fish meant to be eaten? No matter how big it is, just eat it. What's the pity?"
Li Chao was surprised and asked, "Lao Zhang, do you really want to eat?"
Zhang Qicheng snorted, "Why? I can't eat something I sell to others and get bought by them? Or do you think someone of my status is not worthy of eating stone fish?"
Li Chao laughed. "I was afraid that the stone fish would lower your reputation. I thought you had bluefin tuna this morning and caviar. So stone fish suits your taste, too."
"If you think it's cheap, then don't eat it later." Zhang Qicheng groaned a few times and said unhappily: "Xiang Yang, notify the kitchen later, we will add a dish for lunch and cook the stone fish."
Xiang Yang looked at Chen Qingsheng.
Chen Qingsheng said awkwardly: "Boss Zhang, I'm afraid the kitchen can't make this dish."
"No way! Stonefish is very easy to cook. Once the venom glands are removed, it's just like cooking ordinary fish. How can it not be that simple?" Li Chao asked in surprise.
Xiang Yang explained: "We don't have a special chef on the ship, and we take turns cooking. There's no problem with cooking ordinary meals or sea fish, but as for stonefish, this kind of fish is not only ugly in appearance, but also poisonous, so I guess no one would cook it. Well, I do know how to deal with the venom gland, but cooking it is a bit risky."
"So that's how it is." Zhang Qicheng said with a smile, "Stonefish is a bit ugly and is indeed poisonous, but its meat is tender and has no bones. It has high nutritional value, so it is undoubtedly a high-quality food. Generally, the wholesale price of a stonefish weighing one or two kilograms is over 200 yuan per kilogram. Stonefish weighing more than three kilograms are sold individually."
Xiang Yang nodded, "I know all this, but knowing is one thing, not being able to do it is another."
Chen Qingsheng also nodded and said, "Yes, this fish is so ugly that it makes me lose my appetite. We are not professional chefs, so how can we prepare this kind of fish?"
Zhang Qicheng smiled proudly, "You can't, but I can."
"Wow." Li Chao exclaimed, "Old Zhang, you can do it."
"That is."
Zhang Qicheng walked to a water tank, held the edge of the tank with one hand, and turned the entire tank over. A huge rose stone fish immediately fell out of it.
Xiang Yang's eyelids jumped, "Are you sure you don't need a pair of gloves?"
Stonefish, also known as sea scorpion, has spines that can easily penetrate the soles of shoes and pierce into the soles of feet, causing people to quickly become poisoned and suffer severe pain until death.
Zhang Qicheng waved his hand, took out the small knife he carried with him, put the blade on the lighter to warm it up, and then he skillfully used the knife to turn the stone fish over with its belly facing up.
“Bang!”
He grabbed the lid of the water tank and smashed it on the stone fish's head.
No one knew whether the stone fish was knocked unconscious or killed. In any case, after Zhang Qicheng hit it, the stone fish lay on the ground motionless.
Zhang Qicheng looked at Xiang Yang and smiled, "You're greedy, now I'll peel you."
I saw him use a knife to cut open the tail end of the stone fish's belly, and then with a scrape of the knife, he cut off the ugly skin on the stone fish.
Next, Zhang Qicheng used both hands to tear off the entire skin of the stone fish.
Zhang Qicheng picked up the stone fish, fiddled with it in his palm, and then asked Xiang Yang with a smile: "Only the white flesh is left. Can you still imagine that this is an ugly stone fish?"
Xiang Yang shook his head. "If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I really couldn't imagine that under the ugly, bumpy skin of the stonefish, there is actually such white fish meat, just like white snow."
Chen Qingsheng stretched out his hands and asked, "Mr. Zhang, can we cook this fish now?"
"Not yet." Zhang Qicheng shook his head, "We still have to remove the poison glands from its body."
"How do I pick it?"
"Watch me."
Zhang Qicheng used a knife to cut open the stone fish's back, and first took out a black and red object from it. Then he used force to pick out the entire fish bone of the stone fish.
"It's OK. Wash it, then rub it with cooking wine and ginger to remove the fishy smell and then you can cook it. You don't need to add any seasoning when cooking. The better the ingredients, the simpler the cooking method is. Just stew it and everyone will praise it when they eat it." Zhang Qicheng said with a smile.
Chen Qingsheng took the stone fish from Zhang Qicheng and said with a smile, "Boss Zhang, you have already prepared the fish. Let me tell you how to cook it. I will make you a steamed stone fish."
Zhang Qicheng raised his eyebrows and said with a smile: "It's up to you, as long as you don't add salt to it."
Chen Qingsheng cooked the meal himself, and he is quite good at cooking.
Maybe Chen Qingsheng lost face for not knowing how to cook the stone fish, so he was particularly ostentatious when cooking the stone fish, and specially asked someone to bring a big pot from the kitchen to the deck.
He first cut the huge stone fish into diced fish, and then poured the diced fish into the clear water.
"Old Zhou, help me wash the fish, dry it and put it on a plate." Chen Qingsheng asked Zhou Wang to help him. He made some moves with the knife and then cut a dozen scallions into large pieces.
"Be careful, don't cut your hand." Xiang Yang said with a smile.
"No, you can tell at first sight that he's a veteran. If you stop fishing one day, you can come to my hotel and be the head chef." Li Chao said with a smile.
"Mr. Li, please stop making fun of me. I am at most a housewife. How can I be a chef in a five-star hotel? Aren't you scolding me?" Chen Qingsheng said speechlessly.
At this time, Zhou Wang took the fish cubes out of the water and shouted, "Old Chen, the fish cubes are ready."
"Okay." Chen Qingsheng put the diced fish on a plate, sprinkled green onions on the fish to make it look better, then grabbed a handful of shredded ginger that he had prepared on the shore and sprinkled it on the fish. He then poured a little more than a glass of cooking wine into the large plate and was about to sprinkle salt into it.
"Don't do that." Zhang Qicheng quickly stopped him, "Don't sprinkle salt on it. You can't sprinkle salt on this fish."