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

If it were just simple tempura, it would be acceptable.

The key is this mountain delicacy loach tempura. The loach inside had been cooked in the soup for quite a long time! Logically, it should have been incredibly tender!

Chapter 217 The battle is over, I am the champion!

"I see. It's because of the deep-frying method, which uses extremely high oil temperatures to re-fix the loach meat that has become soft and mushy from stewing, right?"

Picking up the golden-yellow mud loach tempura and examining it closely, Senzaemon Nakiri's voice rang out, revealing the key to its perfect appearance.

"That's right. It is precisely by using this method that we can make tempura with such a perfect shape while cooking the meat until it is very tender."

Dojima Gin stroked his chin, agreeing with Nakiri Senzaemon's deduction. The audience, hearing their conversation, all wore expressions of "I see."

"It looks perfect, a very standard tempura presentation, it has a comforting quality, but when it comes to food, the most important thing is how it tastes..."

As they were talking, Leonora Nakiri also picked up a piece of wild loach tempura from the plate. It was golden and crispy, and her chopsticks sank into it before she put it in her mouth.

"Click."

The crisp texture collided with my teeth, making a clear, ringing sound, followed by the tender yet firm loach meat.

The combination of these two textures creates a dual experience of crispness and tenderness.

This tastes absolutely amazing!

Leonora Nakiri had barely sat down, not even warmed her seat, when she stood up again, her hands clasped to her chest, her whole being seemingly radiating light.

"It's happening again, Mom's clothes are being torn off."

Alice Nakiri's voice rang out, and as she had said, after savoring the taste on her tongue, Leonora Nakiri activated her "clothes-tearing mode."

"This dish is truly excellent. It cleverly uses a variety of mountain delicacies to cook a pot of mountain delicacy soup, and then adds loach to complete all the elements of a mountain and sea delicacy."

The loaches used are of a smaller size, so that they can absorb the flavor quickly.

After marinating, the loaches are placed in a net bag, hot oil is poured over them to quickly set their shape, and finally they are put into the pot and coated with a thin tempura batter. The taste…”

With her arms outstretched and facing forward as if displaying her magnanimity, Leonora Nakiri spoke eloquently, analyzing Megumi Tadokoro's cooking method solely based on the taste, and explaining it in detail.

"The delicious flavors of various mushrooms, wild vegetables and other mountain delicacies intertwine, bringing together the best of the entire mountain forest, and creating a rich and layered flavor in the soup base."

The loach used is a small, delicate variety. After only a short simmer, it absorbs the essence of the broth, resulting in tender meat infused with the aroma of the wild mountains!

At this moment, Dojima Gin also commented that the loach's texture became exceptionally delicate after being stewed, and it also absorbed the essence of the mountain delicacy soup.

This results in the loach having a crispy texture when you first bite into it, followed by a burst of juicy flavor, full of the fresh taste of mountain delicacies.

"This is something only fresh loach can do. Loach can absorb the broth to the maximum extent while ensuring that its meat does not fall apart."

Taking advantage of this characteristic, the loach, which has absorbed the broth, is drizzled with hot oil to set its shape, and then fried into tempura.

In this way, both delicacies from the mountains and seafood are firmly locked in!

"Shh!"

Senzaemon Nakiri opened his eyes, his clothes ripped open – this was a genuine Nakiri family "clothes-bursting" incident, a very high compliment to the deliciousness of the dish!

"It's finally here! The Commander-in-Chief's clothes are ripped off!"

Upon seeing this, the audience erupted in cheers. The head coach had once again ripped off his clothes, proving in front of everyone that the contestant's cooking was absolutely delicious!

"Hey, hey, hey, something's not right."

Seeing what was happening before her eyes, Liu Yu could no longer remain calm and couldn't help but shout in her heart. She then took two steps forward and came to the judges' side.

"Can I try some?"

"Give me one too, and Liu Yu's stir-fried loach, I want to try it too."

Mustering her courage, Liu Yu jogged over to Tadokoro Megumi and spoke to her, but before she could answer, Bai Yuan's voice rang in their ears.

"Teacher Bai Yuan?!"

"when."

Faced with Bai Yuan's sudden appearance, the two were briefly thrown into confusion, but fortunately, they were both seasoned veterans and quickly regained their composure.

"Okay, but I'll stop here for now. Please wait a moment while I prepare the rest of the ingredients."

As she spoke, Megumi Tadokoro jogged back to the kitchen counter. Since the mountain delicacy soup was already cooked, she only needed about ten minutes to make a new loach tempura.

"I have some left over."

Liu Yu put all the remaining stir-fried loach into a plate, held it up and presented it to Bai Yuan, her eyes full of anticipation.

"Well, let me try it."

Bai Yuan nodded slightly, picked up Liu Yu's stir-fried loach with his chopsticks, and felt the unique flavor rise in his mouth, slowly releasing as he chewed.

"The stir-frying was overcooked, resulting in the loach having very little moisture inside."

Later, chili peppers, Sichuan peppercorns, and other seasonings were added to enhance the aroma. Although these were fully absorbed, the unique texture of the loach was lost.

As he chewed deeper and realized the flaws in her cooking, Bai Yuan let out a long breath and looked at Liu Yu, pointing out the shortcomings of her dish: the heat was too high.

While it was indeed dry-fried, it's understandable that she used more time to fry the loach to make it more flavorful. And she did succeed; the downside was that the heat completely evaporated the moisture from the loach.

This is undoubtedly a big problem!

"Was it fried for too long...?"

Upon hearing Bai Yuan's words, Liu Yu fell into deep thought. This timing was the result of numerous experiments and deliberations, perfectly capturing the crispness and aroma of the loach.

"That's right, because the spices you added later were also dry. When two dry ingredients are layered together, it will only become drier in the end."

If you use braising oil instead of peanut oil when stir-frying, the situation will be much better, but it's only a temporary solution and doesn't address the root cause; the chef still needs to control the process.

Bai Yuan nodded without the slightest hesitation. For him, right was right and wrong was wrong, and there were no excuses.

If you want to fry it drier, you need to find a way to increase the moisture in the loach during the frying process. Of course, the best way is to strictly control the time.

"I understand, I will correct it when I get back."

If Liu Yu were to receive guidance from Bai Yuan normally, she would be very happy, and even feel like she was the chosen one, since she was the only one who received such praise.

But this is a competition, and for the opponent to directly point out her weaknesses is tantamount to sentencing her to death.

"Teacher Bai Yuan, I've finished frying it."

At the same time, Tadokoro Megumi also fried the mountain delicacy loach tempura and slowly walked over from not far away, handing the dish to Shiroyuki for him to taste.

"Ah."

Bai Yuan nodded without saying much. He simply picked up the mountain delicacy loach tempura, dipped it in the tempura sauce, and then put it in his mouth to chew and savor it.

"Crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, bursting with juice. This dish makes good use of the loach's characteristics, allowing it to absorb the broth while the tempura creates a sealing effect, locking in the flavor."

Of course, the most important thing is that the idea is really good. How did you come up with it?

While tasting Tadokoro Megumi's cooking, Shirobuchi couldn't stop nodding, then looked at the shy girl, wanting to know what she had been through recently.

"Actually, I went to Gunma Prefecture..."

Seeing that Shirai was curious about her experiences during this time, Tadokoro Megumi's face immediately lit up with excitement, and she then began to talk at length about her trip to Gunma Prefecture.

The people around listened patiently, equally curious about why Tadokoro Megumi was able to research such cuisine. After hearing the story full of twists and turns, everyone's faces showed surprise.

"You've visited every loach restaurant in Gunma? That must have been exhausting."

He patted Tadokoro Megumi's head, his eyes filled with heartache.

It must be tough for a young girl who has just started high school to be learning cooking, finding a place to live, and having her own kitchen to cook all by herself.

"Actually, it's not too bad. I visit a few restaurants a day to learn from the cooking experience of those amazing chefs, and finally take the essence and discard the dross to complete this dish."

Tadokoro Megumi flashed a bright smile. The moment she saw Shiro's pained expression, she felt that everything she had done was worth it!

"This is indeed a good method to improve your cooking by pooling ideas and learning from others. However, your cooking also has some obvious flaws. I wonder if you have noticed them."

He showered her with compliments, making Tadokoro Megumi quite pleased with herself. However, Shiro suddenly changed the subject.

"shortcoming…"

Upon hearing Bai Yuan's words, Tadokoro Megumi fell into deep thought. She hadn't found any flaws in the dishes, though she had noticed them before but corrected them in time.

"That's right, that's the drawback."

Actually, you did a great job in most areas, which is definitely something to be praised for.

Have you noticed that your dishes taste too uniform? For high-end cuisine in competitions, what matters is the first bite – an incredibly strong flavor, or in other words, a lack of impact.

Of course, you made some adjustments to the sauce, giving this tempura a strong savory flavor. However, tempura itself already possesses this savory characteristic, so the two don't combine well to create a truly memorable effect.

When talking about shortcomings, Bai Yuan's expression suddenly turned stern.

For everyday meals, people usually start to enjoy the food around the third bite and then finish the rest. This is to ensure that customers never get tired of the food.

But this is a competition, and the judges usually don't eat too much food, so you have to bring out all the deliciousness in the first bite to win people over.

Of course, besides this biggest drawback, there are also quite a few minor flaws.

However, as students, these were all trivial matters, so Bai Yuan naturally wouldn't bring them up, lest Tadokoro Megumi become overly ambitious.

"The impact of the flavor, that's something I didn't consider."

Since I finished researching the main dish, I didn't have time to work on the sauce, so I just used the savory tempura sauce as a substitute.

Megumi Tadokoro explained that there were only seven days left until the finals, and after she finished researching the mountain delicacies loach tempura, there was simply not enough time left to research the sauce.

To avoid creating something that's neither fish nor fowl and would affect the original flavor of his cuisine, he chose to respect the classics.

"Your decision is not a big problem. If it were me, I would have made the same choice."

The goal isn't to achieve greatness, but simply to avoid mistakes. Choosing a traditional sauce, while not a perfect match for the wild loach tempura, will still bring out about 80% of its flavor. Rather than entrusting your fate to an unknown sauce, opt for a universally appealing one that goes with everything.

Shirobuchi was not surprised by Tadokoro Megumi's answer.

If time was limited, then doing so was indeed the best option, and it could be considered a very smart move.

"Now let the judges announce the final results. And Xiaoyu, try this dish, and you'll probably know what you're missing."

As they spoke, Bai Yuan accepted the dish from Tadokoro Megumi, then looked at Liu Yu, wanting her to taste it, as food could manipulate people's hearts.

"After being shaped by being poured with hot oil, a thin golden shell forms on the surface of the loach. Underneath the golden shell is a surging, yet wondrous feeling of being able to withstand the pressure and swim upstream in a rushing waterfall."

This feeling of going against the tide in adversity is just too…!!

With his fingers pressed against his chest, Liu Yu felt a surge of emotion as the mountain delicacy, loach tempura, entered his mouth. He raised his head and shouted loudly before collapsing to the ground.