Mysterious Journey
Chapter 440 (ˉ﹃ˉ) ?(ˉ﹃ˉ?)
Frankly speaking, besides the slightly terrible presentation, the "Stargazy Pie" is not entirely a dark dish.
At least, this batch in Hogwarts Castle is not the soulless, disgusting garbage.
As a chef with a professional bottom line, Erina would not deliberately ruin precious ingredients in order to punish others—in fact, if you don't consider the appearance, this pie called stargazypie actually tastes quite good.
Compared with the roughest original version, the "Stargazy Pie" produced by the Hogwarts kitchen has been optimized in many cooking details, and Erina believes that it will definitely not be bad in taste and texture.
The first is the treatment of the fishy smell, which is the easiest place to be ignored in most British dishes.
After removing the fish bones and internal organs, the house elves picked out the fishy lines of each big black carp, and washed and soaked them many times with warm ginger water to remove the fishy smell that most affected the eating experience to the greatest extent.
Different from the backward British practice at the moment, Erina uses the cooking techniques of British Michelin restaurants decades later.
If you lift the top layer of dough, you can see that from the tail to the head of the fish, it is cut into separate layers with a horizontal knife, but from the whole point of view, the fish skin and meat still maintain their integrity in shape and have not become fragmented.
After the shrimp and scallops are chopped, the filling made of clear water, lake salt, egg white, ginger and green onion juice, and sesame oil is filled in the gaps of the fish, and each piece of fish is rolled inward into small rolls, forming a shape similar to a hinged fish.
As for the subsequent steps, there is not much difference. Sprinkle the remaining coriander and onion crumbs in the kitchen in the gaps, then spread the fried and oiled bacon and eggs, wrap them in the dough brushed with egg liquid, and bake them directly to complete.
"Eh, what are you all doing, try it quickly."
Erina looked around the silent Hogwarts Hall with a smile on her face, and walked briskly through the corridor towards the empty table next to the faculty seats, muttering softly in a voice that everyone could hear clearly.
"Shrimp and tomato spaghetti, pan-fried mustard lamb chops, pan-fried big scallops, Wellington roast beef, cheese chicken chops, Parma ham, sirloin steak, Burgundy beef stew, Scotch eggs, Swiss chicken wings, smoked salmon, borscht, cream of mushroom soup, Caesar salad, garlic scallops..."
In the quiet hall, the girl's singing-like voice echoed. Almost every step she took, a new dish name appeared. Delicious dishes gradually appeared in everyone's minds with Erina's voice.
Whether they have eaten it or not, in the overwhelming bombing of dish names, they can always cover several kinds of food they have seen—according to thousands of years of ancient experience, there are no picky eaters in this world, only people who are not hungry yet.
This is... a demon, right?!
All the teachers and students looked at Erina with extremely complicated eyes. Although their eyes still expressed resistance, their bodies, which had been hungry all afternoon, honestly made sounds of hunger.
At this moment, they finally understood what the power of the Hogwarts chef is. It is a terrifying existence that can make people wander on the edge of life and death even without using magic.
Gulu~
Gulu~ Gulu~
Gradually, there was a slight swallowing sound and sporadic stomach growls in the Hogwarts Hall.
"Forget it, let's try it first."
Draco Malfoy gritted his teeth, bravely picked up a knife and fork under the gaze of more than a dozen dead fish eyes, and cut off a piece of "Stargazy Pie" and stuffed it into his mouth. No matter what, he couldn't waste the food cooked by the big sister, and... he was really hungry, so he had to try it no matter how bad it tasted.
Wait...
This taste...
Malfoy, who had eaten the "Stargazy Pie" with the idea of going to justice generously, was suddenly stunned, and a look of confusion and happiness appeared on his tender boyish face. It was too delicious!
The unique tender meat of the Hogwarts big black carp is interspersed with the aroma of fried eggs and the solidity of bacon. The bones of each piece of fish have been carefully removed. A bite is full of delicious and fragrant fish, and the rich aroma bursts out instantly. With a little seasoning of green onion and ginger juice, a warm current gradually flows through the body...
wrong! There's more than just fish, bacon, eggs and dough in it.
There are some more, richer things, just like the colorful and layered pastoral under the starry sky!
Draco Malfoy suddenly opened his eyes, while savoring the wonderful taste of the previous bite, he opened the gap on the pie with a knife and fork, and looked carefully at the inside of the "Stargazy Pie" through the gap.
Under the golden-brown egg pie, each fish body is like a rolled-up page, and the gaps are filled with chopped onion, shrimp, and scallops. In addition, there are scattered diced carrots, full corn kernels, and green chopped green onions and coriander in the thin cheese layer between the fish...
"Oh my God, this, this... is simply a work of art!"
Draco Malfoy's eyes gradually widened, his throat rolled, and he swallowed heavily again.
Then, without any hesitation, the boy directly dropped the knife and fork in his hand, and simply brought the whole plate of fish heads in front of him, stretched out his hands and directly picked up the large piece of "Stargazy Pie", and ate it in big mouthfuls.
Gulu~
The Slytherin students who were still a little hesitant glanced at the little Malfoy who was eating so fragrantly, swallowed again involuntarily, looked at each other, and also picked up knives and forks to try tentatively—as the academy whose common room is just under the water, the Slytherin students are not so resistant to dead fish eyes.
"Delicious! So delicious! It's just great!"
"This taste, this texture, you won't get tired of eating it for a month!"
"So delicious! How can it be so delicious?!"
"I didn't expect those big fish swimming outside the common room to be so delicious?!"
"Slurp... munch, munch..."
Soon, the entire Slytherin College long table became the first place to be captured.
In the complicated eyes of students from the other three colleges, the group of heavy-flavored Slytherin little wizards quickly began to compete for the "dead-eyed fish head cakes" on the table, and a terrible fanatic happiness appeared on everyone's faces.
Even those terrible dead fish heads that were once unpopular have become the most popular part.
Crack, crack, crack...
The fish heads looking up at the sky were easily broken off, and the crispy fish heads, which were crispy on the outside and tender on the inside after being fried, were mixed with a textured fish pie, which was the most top-notch and appropriate crispy seasoning, just filling the too soft defect of the fish pie.
Witnessing the fanatical atmosphere of the neighboring Slytherin College, the will of the students of the other three colleges, who were silently looking at the "Stargazy Pie" in front of them, began to gradually waver—not to mention the series of dish names that Erina was still reciting, just the lively dining atmosphere next to them made people a little hungry.
"Look... those Slytherins, they..."
"Don't be blinded by illusions, their tastes have always been strange..."
"But... it looks really delicious?"
"Why don't we try it too, I'm so hungry..."
"No, no, no, I will never eat this thing! It's too scary, I'll have nightmares at night!"
"Wow! This tastes really good!"
"No matter what you say, I just don't have any appetite when I look at those eyes..."
"Then give me your share, it's a waste if you don't eat it anyway."
"..."
In less than a minute, the atmosphere in the entire Hogwarts Hall became active again.
All in all, if you can overcome the more than a dozen dead fish eyes staring at you, and the slightly cracked fish lips, and muster the courage to cut a piece of pie and taste it, it is indeed a very delicious fish pie.
Although there are still a few children who are sticking to their final stubbornness, as most people fall, this large-scale true fragrance atmosphere will sooner or later infect everyone, and joining the "true fragrance" camp... is only a matter of time.
Standing next to the faculty seat at the cooking table, Erina glanced at the happy hall with satisfaction, lowered her head and looked at the ingredients in her hand, and a meaningful smile appeared on the corner of her mouth—the bait has been bitten, and what follows is the hell of fire.
Only by experiencing hope and being full of longing for beauty can one understand what true despair and helplessness are...
After all, life is ups and downs...