the cold dish

The small fish jelly was a special delicacy. The common practice was to clean the small fish first. For example, his grandmother's practice was to wash the fish, drain the water, stir-fry it with peanut oil, pour it into plain water, add ginger, onions, and peanuts, and boil it over high heat until the soup was milky white. Then, add soybean soy sauce and refined salt to simmer for half an hour. After one night, the fish soup would solidify into a small fish jelly. You can also first put the small fish (recommended fish head, fish bone) into the pot and boil it for 5 - 10 minutes with water and remove the floating foam. Add ginger slices, onion segments, cooking wine, salt and other seasonings to stew for a while. Then pour it into the container and cool it down slightly before putting it into the refrigerator to freeze until the meat is solidified. Another method was to choose small fish, remove the internal organs, scales (when the small white strips were large), gills, and remove the black film in the fish belly, then clean it. After wrapping the small fish with flour (plus eggs) or flour and starch, fry it until both sides are golden yellow, then return to the pot to fry it again to make it crisper. Leave some oil in the pot, fry the scallion, ginger, garlic, and chili, then add water, dark soya sauce, and cooking wine to boil. Then pour in the fried small fish and soybeans that had been soaked for 3 hours in advance, add various seasonings, and simmer for 30 minutes on low heat. After the flavor seeped into the fish meat and soybeans overnight, the production was completed. The fish jelly tasted crystal clear, cool and delicious. The fish jelly was salty and fragrant, and the peanuts with it absorbed the freshness of the fish soup. It was suitable for wine and porridge. Different regions had different names. For example, in Jintan, it was called "small fish peanut". Moreover, some people in Jintan had their ancestral home in Taixing, so this dish might have been passed down from their ancestral home. In some places, it was a home-cooked delicacy, but in some city restaurants, it was a rare luxury. <a href="/?from=ask_words" style="color:red" target="_blank">Read more exciting novels for free</a>

Perhaps it's a mystery novel where the 'dish served cold' is a metaphor for an unexpected plot twist that the characters and readers don't see coming until later in the story. It could involve a crime that has been cold for a while before the investigation heats up.

It often adds an element of revenge or justice delayed. It can heighten the tension and drama in the story.

Well, 'a dish best served cold' usually refers to revenge. It implies that revenge is more satisfying when it's not immediate but carefully planned. The story could be about someone who has been wronged and waits patiently to get back at the offender in a really calculated way.

I'm not aware of any novel specifically named 'a dish best served cold novel', so I can't say who the author is.