Chapter 534 - What Lavish Kebab
Ironhide Bulls were 4th-tier magic beasts due to their iron-like hide and violent nature. They were very aggressive creatures, and would often attack unprovoked, making them one of the most troublesome magic beasts for hunters and mercenaries to deal with.
The Ironhide Bull had powerful defensive properties, so killing one would take a very long time. However, compared to other 4th-tier magic beasts, it had no valuable body parts aside from its flesh and hide, so it had a very low benefit-to-cost ratio.
And yet, there was an Ironhide Bull strapped to the metal bench, causing the bench to shake violently along with its vehement struggles. Mag’s eyelids twitched upon seeing that, and he was worried whether the bull would be able to struggle free from its bindings. It would be very difficult to evade such a huge creature in such a small space.
“Selecting and obtaining premium ingredients is a standard duty of a good chef. It is the prerequisite to cooking a perfect dish, and as a candidate to become the God of Cookery, you should learn about all of the ingredients that you’re going to use and choose the best parts from them.” The system’s voice sounded.
“You’re not asking me to kill this cow, are you? What kind of chef does that nowadays? That’s the butcher’s job!” Mag raised an eyebrow.
“Now, you must learn to kill this Ironhide Bull, then procure the beef required for making kebabs. The cow-slaughtering experience bag has already been released; you may begin learning now.” The system remained unfazed by Mag’s opposition.
Mag took a deep breath to calm himself down. He then looked at the “Pao Ding(1) cow-slaughter method” experience bag in his mind, and a peculiar look appeared on his face.
“I have to admit, you sure can get your hands on a lot of things.” Mag opened the experience bag, and a surge of information flowed into his mind, forcing him to close his eyes so he could absorb the influx of data.
It was said that Pao Ding’s cow-butchering prowess was so extraordinary that he didn’t even need to look at the cow before him to perfectly kill and dissect it.
Mag had thought that Zhuangzi was merely exaggerating in his description of Pao Ding’s skills, but now… he felt as if Zhuangzi had been too modest in his assessment.
This Pao Ding truly was an extraordinary man!
He was able to dissect a cow with his consciousness alone, so there was no need to look at his subject. That wasn’t because Pao Ding was a psychic or had supernatural powers. Instead, it was because he had such a thorough understanding of the structure of a cow’s body that his blade could glide with unerring accuracy between the bones and the flesh, separating the two without even coming into contact with the bones. This kind of technique was truly extraordinary.
The experience bag Mag had just received contained a thorough description of this process. It detailed the entire procedure from draining the cow of blood to dissecting it; everything was presented to him in minute detail. After absorbing everything into his memories, Mag felt as if he had become a vastly experienced butcher.
As he lauded Pao Ding internally, he couldn’t help but recall Mag Alex’s dissection of giant dragons. In his memories, there were certain points overlapping between Pao Ding’s cow-slaughtering method and Alex’s dragon-slaying method. In the eyes of Mag Alex, giant dragons were no longer giant dragons. Instead, they were merely prey with countless openings and weaknesses for him to exploit.
Pao Ding had slaughtered cows incessantly for three years to hone his skills, while Alex had devised his method after slaying countless dragons. Even Mag was rather curious just how many dragons he had slain.
If I have some spare time, I should sift through the cultivation methods and special things in my memories. It would be foolish of me to ignore such a massive treasure trove. I can’t just rely on the system to help me get stronger, Mag thought to himself. He picked up a cleaver from the nearby knife holder before making his way toward the Ironhide Bull.
Slaughtering the Ironhide Bull had been a daunting prospect to him a short while ago, but now, the creature was merely a pile of blood, flesh, and bones in his eyes. All he had to do was to separate the bones and flesh before dissecting them into different ingredients.
The violent Ironhide Bull glowered at Mag, and its eyes had already become crimson. Perhaps its fury was being fueled by its fear. In any case, it was becoming even more violent, and the metal bench began to tremor with even greater ferocity.
However, Mag’s expression remained calm and collected. He raised his cleaver and brought it down upon the Ironhide Bull’s neck in one fast and decisive motion. The Ironhide Bull’s hard skin was easily sliced open by his sharp cleaver, and Mag quickly grabbed the bull’s horns, pressing its head back onto the metal bench. Blood began to gush into the blood basin on the bench, and the frantically struggling bull soon was completely motionless.
After that, Mag was able to easily peel off the bull’s entire hide. Perhaps it was due to his extensive sword training in recent times, but Mag’s control over his cleaver was exemplary as he dissected the bull. Using the experience and memories in his mind, he was able to completely dissect the bull in less than half an hour with his cleaver only coming into contact with bones on a few occasions. The bones that were extracted were placed off to the side and assembled to create a skeletal bull.
I’ve got another skill that could earn me a living now. If the restaurant doesn’t work out for some reason, I can become a butcher. Mag put down his cleaver and nodded with satisfaction at the sight of the portions of beef on the metal bench. He was still quite far away from being able to dissect a cow without even looking, but he was quite pleased with the result considering it was his first attempt.
Contrary to its hard hide, the Ironhide Bull’s flesh was very soft and juicy with superb marbling. Mag’s eyes immediately lit up upon seeing that.
As an avid lover of steak in his past life, Mag was very familiar with all of the renowned types of beef all over the world. The expensive Japanese Kobe beef was widely accepted as the most exceptional in quality, the Australian grain-fed Angus beef was extremely fine, the
Charolais beef produced in Burgundy, France, was more chewy… However, none of those types of beef could hold a candle to the flesh of the Ironhide Bull.
Its color, marbling, and meat quality were clearly superior to anything that he had ever seen. Mag was really looking forward to seeing what it would taste like after being cooked.
Roast beef kebabs used the cow’s rib-eye found on the back of the cow’s neck, over the spine and in front of the ribs.
The rib eye beef had a perfect distribution between lean and fatty parts, and the marbling on the beef was like an artistic masterpiece.
“Using beef of such premium standard to make kebabs… What a lavish kebab.” Mag couldn’t help but cluck his tongue in wonder.
[1] Pao Ding was a cook detailed in one of Zhuangzi’s books, and he was said to have an extraordinary cow-slaughtering method.