The story begins in Food Wars, when Alice took him home.

Leonora Nakiri pondered the state of the cooked loach meat, somewhat confused about what Megumi Tadokoro was planning.

On the other side, contestant Liu Yu's operation was quite conventional: after killing the loach, he removed its internal organs and then flattened it with a knife to make it more flavorful.

Megumi Tadokoro didn't do this step because her loaches were small, and flattening them would affect the texture, making it difficult to taste the richness.

After flattening the cleaned loach, Liu Yu chopped some ginger, garlic, and scallions.

Finally, prepare some dried chilies that have been moistened with rice wine. This will prevent them from burning easily when stir-frying and will bring out more aroma.

Heat the pan, add oil, coat the pan with oil, and then pour it out.

The purpose of this step is to sear the pan before adding cold oil. This prevents the food from sticking to the pan, which is a very useful little trick.

Place the prepared loach belly-down into the pot, then rhythmically rotate the pot. The most important thing to note for this dish is to prevent it from sticking to the pot, otherwise it will be ruined.

Everything done before was for the sake of a non-stick pan, and now it was no exception. Liu Yu felt the loach in the pan, watching its belly gradually turn golden brown, and suddenly tensed his body, using the strength of his waist, abdomen, and wrists to successfully flip the pan perfectly.

This action instantly caused a sensation. Audiences bought tickets specifically to see this, to witness the chefs' superb culinary skills!

"Holy crap! That wok tossing is amazing! It's been swung so big for a whole month, and not a single loach has fallen in!"

"Not to mention falling down, even every single loach flipped over. It's truly amazing skill."

In the audience, some Chinese people recognized the technique Liu Yu used and couldn't help but exclaim in admiration.

Tossing a wok is not uncommon in the culinary world, but this is the first time they have ever seen someone toss a wok so perfectly; the precision is almost unbelievable!

"That's a brilliant move."

"This is the kind of match I want to see!"

Many Japanese people cheered excitedly.

Although flipping a wok isn't a popular skill in their country, they would still be thrilled to see such an impressive technique.

On the other side, Liu Yu, after tossing the wok, quietly watched the inside of the pot, waiting for the water in the loach to be released, making its surface dry and crispy.

This is also the essence of stir-fried dishes.

“Smells so good.”

"It has a pure loach aroma. The aroma comes out because of the loss of moisture. I never thought that loach could smell so good."

As time went by, a rich aroma of loach meat gradually filled the air. It was a complex fragrance that made people swallow their saliva and show their cravings when they smelled it for the first time.

"It's not just the aroma of stir-fried loach, but also the rich aroma of mushrooms. They're cooking mushroom soup over there, or more accurately, a soup made with delicacies from land and sea."

In the audience, Hisako Aragaki took over the seat that originally belonged to Alice Nakiri, and couldn't help but mutter to herself as she smelled the alluring fragrance in the air.

"Many delicacies from the mountains, including shiitake mushrooms, wood ear mushrooms, enoki mushrooms, bamboo shoots, monkey head mushrooms, morel mushrooms, and cordyceps flowers, are available, and all of these ingredients are dried."

Smelling the rich aroma in the air, Bai Yuan began to analyze the flavor of the soup. That rich and mellow flavor could only be achieved by cooking dried ingredients!

"To cook loach with a variety of mountain delicacies and create a dish of mountain and sea delicacies is a very novel idea. Xiao Hui has also grown up."

With a sigh of relief, Bai Yuan's voice was filled with emotion. This cooking method was very novel and was definitely the result of Tadokoro Megumi's travels during this period.

To have achieved this level on his own shows how hard Tadokoro Megumi has worked during this time, and he is starting to look forward to the taste of the dishes.

Let's go upstairs and order some to try later.

With admiration in his eyes, Bai Yuan made a decision. Based on the materials the other party had shown him, he had already guessed Tadokoro Megumi's thoughts.

I briefly envisioned it in my mind and thought it was feasible. I plan to study it in more depth when I get back and see if I can make an even better dish.

As the saying goes, teaching and learning go hand in hand. He taught Tadokoro and the others the basics, and they used their own ideas to develop dishes, thus giving him new and trendy cooking techniques in return.

This is undoubtedly progress.

"Stewed loach with mountain delicacies, is this the dish she wanted to make? Combining all the delicacies from the mountains and the sea into one dish, ultimately presenting an unparalleled deliciousness."

Upon hearing Bai Yuan's words, the girls around him also focused their attention on Tadokoro Megumi. It turned out that she had been researching this all this time, which was a truly unique idea.

"What's that fries for? It can't be used to wash down soup, can it..."

Yoshino Yuuki voiced her question: if Tadokoro Megumi is going to make braised loach with mountain delicacies, then what is the tempura paste for?

"Tempura batter is, of course, used for frying tempura."

Bai Yuan slowly spoke, revealing the answer.

"Fried tempura?!"

"How can it be!!"

"That is to say, after being cooked in soup, the loach's flesh becomes so soft and tender that it falls apart at the slightest touch, making it impossible to coat it with batter and fry it into tempura."

Upon hearing Bai Yuan's words, the girls around him immediately started discussing, none of them believing that this could be made into tempura, chattering endlessly.

"So you guys are still too green."

Xiaohui chose these small loaches so that they could absorb the flavor quickly, thus reducing the cooking time and preventing the loach meat from becoming completely mushy.

Of course, if you fry it directly, there is still a risk that it will spoil during the frying process.

To avoid this risk, she uses a deep-frying method to solidify the soft, tender exterior of the loach, and then frys it using a tempura-style method. This not only results in a richer flavor but also creates many layers of texture.

As Bai Yuan said, after the loach was flavorful and had absorbed the broth, Tadokoro Megumi used a slotted spoon to scoop it out and then fried it.

This process is quite complicated. The loach is only put into the pot when its surface turns slightly golden. Then, tempura batter is sprinkled into the boiling oil, so that the surface of the loach is coated with a crispy and thin layer. A loach tempura dish is then complete.

To preserve the integrity and flavor of the loach, not too many can be fried at the same time, and the heat must be carefully controlled, so Megumi Tadokoro uses three pots simultaneously.

She had to fry the loaches in batches to ensure that each pot of loach was cooked to the same degree.

While she was frying the loach, Liu Yu had already finished stir-frying the loach, and an enticing aroma filled the air, tempting everyone's mouths.

"I'm done. I used our local dry-frying method, combined with the characteristics of loach, to create this dish: Dry-fried Loach. Please enjoy."

As they spoke, Liu Yu brought the dishes to the judges' table. Each of the three small plates contained a portion of stir-fried loach, and the presentation was exquisite, giving it a high-end look.

"Chinese cooking methods, Western plating."

After glancing at the dishes projected on the big screen, Bai Yuan gave his evaluation.

Liu Yu's dish uses the dry-frying cooking technique of Chinese cuisine. The loaches are stacked together on the plate, creating a unique and charming presentation, which is typical of Western cuisine.

It's so good that you can't find any fault with it.

"Gudu."

"It looks pretty good, the presentation is quite beautiful, but for food, the most important thing is the taste. Now let me see how it tastes..."

Picking up her chopsticks, Leonora Nakiri took a piece of loach and put it in her mouth. Suddenly, her eyes widened, and she covered her face with one hand, savoring the taste.

After being stir-fried at high temperatures, the loach's skin becomes incredibly crispy, and you can feel that pleasant "crunch" sound when you chew it.

It's worth mentioning that although the outer skin is crispy, the loach meat still retains a tender texture. This contrast between the crispy outside and tender inside creates a rich and delightful taste experience.

"The dry-frying technique in China first appeared in Sichuan cuisine. Small ingredients that are not coated with batter are marinated with seasonings and then quickly stir-fried in oil that is 80% hot until the outside is golden brown. Then, ingredients and seasonings are added to make the dish."

This is a dish that truly tests a chef's skill. A skilled chef can perfectly blend the flavors of the ingredients, creating a harmonious whole.

If the technique isn't good, the flavors won't penetrate, and the dish will essentially be a failure.

Dojima Gin's voice rang out in the hall as he spoke, picking up a piece of stir-fried loach from in front of him and putting it into his mouth, chewing and savoring it carefully.

"Your stir-fried loach is very good; it's dry, fragrant, crispy, and slightly spicy."

Loach is an ingredient that absorbs sauces very well; it absorbs the flavor of any seasoning perfectly, combining it with its own natural freshness to create an unparalleled taste!

Senzaemon Nakiri nodded in agreement. Although it was a fairly common stir-fried dish, to achieve this level of quality was definitely top-grade.

Another point worth mentioning is that the stir-fried dish perfectly showcases the deliciousness of the loach, and its spiciness and the freshness of the loach complement each other very well.

Just then, Leonora Nakiri suddenly stood up from her seat, attracting the attention of many people, after all, she was a great beauty.

"Looks like it's about to happen, Mom's clothes will burst open."

Standing beside Erina Nakiri, and looking at Leonora Nakiri, whose expression was extremely excited, Alice Nakiri spoke slowly and deliberately.

"Eh?!"

"In front of everyone!?"

"real or fake."

"That won't work."

Upon hearing Alice Nakiri's words, the audience erupted in cheers, with countless eyes fixed on Leonora Nakiri.

Of course, the girls sitting next to Bai Yuan reacted the most, their faces slightly flushed as they watched this scene, their voices filled with disbelief.

It's hard to imagine how much damage a beautiful mature woman's reputation would suffer if she suddenly ripped off her clothes in public, leaving her only in her underwear.

"What are you thinking? Nora's 'clothes ripped off' refers to..."

Seeing their expressions, Bai Yuan was speechless. He was just about to explain that Nakiri Leonora's clothes-ripping was not what they thought, but she took the initiative and started ripping her clothes first.

"This is an excellent loach dish. It incorporates a generous amount of chili peppers and Sichuan peppercorns, along with ginger, garlic, and other seasonings, perfectly highlighting the loach's freshness..."

At this moment, Leonora Nakiri seemed to be shining all over as she opened her arms and began to describe the merits of the loach dish in front of her.

"Whenever Nora tastes a delicious dish, she can fluently say a few words about her feelings."

As Nakiri Leonora shone brightly on the judges' panel, Shirabuchi's voice rang out, causing Yoshino Yuuki and the others to subtly change their expressions.

"What's there to say, just a few words..."

"Isn't this incredibly talkative?!"

Watching Nakiri Leonora continue relentlessly without any sign of stopping, Yoshino Yuuki and the others couldn't help but mentally complain.

"Stir-fried dishes really go well with loach."

As Senzaemon Nakiri put the stir-fried loach into his mouth with his chopsticks, this thought involuntarily popped into his mind, but that was all.

"My dish is finished too, mountain delicacies loach tempura."

Just then, Tadokoro Megumi stepped forward with firm steps and placed her dish in front of Nakiri Senzaemon first, causing him to look up and see who the little girl was.

"Mountain delicacy loach tempura? I saw you cooking it with broth earlier. Loach is an ingredient that can absorb a lot of broth, you want to take advantage of that, right?"

Looking at the tempura in front of her, Senzaemon Nakiri didn't rush to taste it. Instead, she looked at Megumi Tadokoro and explained why she was doing so.

"I don't know how you fried it so perfectly, but it looks really good. It's like real tempura, not like a loach that's been boiled in a soup pot for more than ten minutes!"

Beside her, Leonora sat down and couldn't help but exclaim as she looked at the dish in front of her, "This is just too good to be true!"