Food Wars, My Dishes Don't Just Shine

　Aren't you locals?

　Upon hearing Bai Yuan's question, the man glanced at him with some surprise, clearly not expecting that someone would actually be unaware of this matter.

　This is the Fujian Youth Chef Competition, a tradition that has continued for thirty years!

　"Yes, we just came from out of town."

　Bai Yuan remained calm, but his inner surprise grew stronger. The others living around him were also intrigued and all turned their gazes toward the man.

　"A tradition of more than thirty years..."

　Erina Nakiri murmured softly, her gaze falling on Megumi Tadokoro, who looked slightly bewildered on the stage, unsure of what to say.

　I don't know whether to call this luck good or bad.

　"Congratulations to Hui for drawing the dessert theme! The last time we drew this theme was three years ago in the second semi-final."

　The host's voice was full of passion, brimming with barely concealed excitement. He then explained to Bai Yuan and the other bewildered viewers:

　"According to tradition, the contestants who draw the dessert theme need to create a dish that can satisfy the entire audience, and the audience will vote to select the winner."

　Those who make it to the Young Chefs Competition and become spectators are all well-known figures in the culinary world, and their standards for food are extremely high. Satisfying these discerning palates is no easy task.

　"The entire audience is the judge..."

　Ryoko Sakaki frowned, her gaze sweeping across the venue. There were at least a thousand people in the audience.

　In other words, the contestants need to make 1,000 desserts in just two hours!

　This is undoubtedly a huge challenge.

　"How is that even possible! You have only two hours to accommodate a thousand guests. Even a god couldn't do it!"

　Yoshino Yuuki couldn't help but complain.

　No wonder this is called a hidden tradition; if every dish were this difficult, the contestants wouldn't even need to compete.

　"If it's stir-frying, it's indeed a bit difficult, but desserts are different. Desserts only require grasping five elements: texture, flavor, appearance, and creativity."

　Even if you only make one cake, you can break it down into a thousand small desserts. Although the portions are smaller, this is still a viable solution.

　However, since it's a competition, such shortcuts shouldn't be allowed. That means there are strict requirements regarding the weight of each dessert.

　Bai Yuan's voice was calm and steady. As soon as he finished speaking, the large screen in the sky immediately displayed the detailed rules of this round of the competition:

　1. Each serving of dessert must weigh no less than 20 grams.

　Grams.

　2. Each dessert must be a complete dessert, and there should be no significant differences between desserts.

　3. The cooking time is 2 hours. Contestants are advised to make the most of their time and complete the cooking within the allotted time.

　"You really drew a torturous theme. The last contestant who completed this theme couldn't even lift his arm afterward."

　Looking at the content on the big screen, Zhu Yan couldn't help but complain, her face full of helplessness.

　If I had known this would happen, I would have let her draw the answer; maybe she would have gotten an easier theme.

　"To prepare meals for a thousand people in two hours, the first step is to avoid complicated procedures, and then optimize the production process..."

　Megumi Tadokoro bit her finger, her eyes fixed on the big screen, her brain racing as she pondered the best solution to this topic.

　Zhu Yan's expression returned to calm.

　"The most difficult part of this theme is not choosing a dessert to make, but being able to choose only ten types of ingredients from the dozens provided by the organizers, while also preventing your competitors from taking away the ingredients you need."

　Developing a dessert that can be quickly prepared yet satisfy the audience under various constraints is the real challenge.

　Bai Yuan's voice rang out, revealing the true difficulty of this match.

　Because the cooking rules are so strict, many people subconsciously overlook a crucial premise—the competition doesn't allow for the arbitrary use of ingredients; cooking must be done within a limited set of ingredients. This further increases the difficulty.

　Soon, as arranged by the organizers, staff members pushed carts full of dessert-related ingredients to the competition venue.

　Flour, potato starch, white sugar, brown sugar, eggs, butter, milk, chocolate...

　A variety of basic ingredients for making desserts were neatly arranged on the table for both contestants to choose from.

　The moment Zhu Yan saw the ingredients, she swiftly grabbed the eggs as her first food. Tadokoro Megumi was a beat slower, but she also quickly snatched the milk. Seeing this, Zhu Yan immediately grabbed the flour, while Tadokoro Megumi also took the yellow candy at the same time.

　Just a few minutes later, ten ingredients for desserts were placed in front of both Tadokoro Megumi and Zhu Yan, thus concluding the ingredient selection process.

　"Ingredient selection complete."

　Contestant Zhu Yan chose eggs, flour, potato starch, sugar, honey, red beans, sesame seeds, peanuts, mung beans, and maltose.

　Contestant Megumi Tadokoro received milk, white sugar, sweet potato, yellow sugar cubes, ginger, taro, dried tangerine peel, glutinous rice flour, tapioca starch, and osmanthus.

　Each player must choose three anchored ingredients and then attempt to steal three of their opponent's ingredients.

　The host briefly read out the ingredients chosen by Zhu Yan and Tadokoro Megumi, and the competition quickly moved on to the next stage—anchoring and capturing ingredients.

　What exactly does Xiaohui plan to make with these ingredients?

　Because there was no clear connection between the ingredients, Yoshino Yuuki pondered for a long time but could not come to a conclusion, and her brows furrowed slightly.

　"Milk, sugar, starch... if she had all these ingredients at once, she might be planning to make fried milk. This kind of dish can be made in large quantities at once, and most importantly, it tastes good. You just need to fry it all until it's thoroughly cooked, which is perfect for this theme!"

　Ryoko Sakaki shared her guess. Beside her, Miyoko Hojo nodded, seemingly in agreement.

　On the playing field.

　“I anchored my diet to eggs, flour, and potato starch.”

　Zhu Yan's voice was strong and clear; these three ingredients were the core of her dish. Other ingredients could be adjusted, but these three could never be changed.

　“I’m anchoring my choices to yellow sugar cubes, dried tangerine peel, and osmanthus.”

　The moment Zhu Yan finished speaking, a hint of surprise flashed in Tadokoro Megumi's eyes. She then changed the ingredients she had originally planned to include and chose these three instead.

　"Each contestant shall choose three items from the remaining seven items of the other contestant's ingredients to seize."

　"I choose milk, glutinous rice flour, and tapioca starch."

　Zhu Yan didn't hold back. After seeing the ingredients Tadokoro Megumi chose, she guessed her cooking direction and decisively took away all the milk and two kinds of starch.

　"I choose red beans, honey, and mung beans."

　Upon discovering that her starch had been taken away and that the opponent's starch was already anchored, Tadokoro Megumi felt a pang of unease, but quickly adjusted her strategy and snatched the red beans and green beans back.

　"Both sides have selected their ingredients, and the competition is now in its final countdown. Contestants, please make good use of your time to create dishes that will satisfy the audience."

　Zhu Yan's brows furrowed slightly, but she maintained her composure on the surface.

　Although Tadokoro Megumi took away the ingredients she originally planned to use, there were substitutes available, so it should be said that she had anticipated this.

　"Megumi from the world of culinary disasters..."

　Despite her verbal disdain for Tadokoro Megumi, Zhu Yan remained wary of this so-called dark cuisine world after witnessing Nakiri Alice's cooking yesterday.

　She didn't want to capsize in a ditch.

　As the only daughter of the Zhu family, a renowned culinary family, Zhu Yan is extremely skilled at cooking various meat dishes, while she can only be considered an expert in desserts.

　However, the moment she saw the ingredients, she knew she was going to win.

　She originally planned to make snow-white red bean paste, but now the red beans and mung beans, which are the core of the filling, have been taken away by Tadokoro Megumi, leaving only sesame and peanuts.

　The only solution right now is to improve the cooking.

　Eggs, flour, and potato starch are key to making the outer layer of the snow-white red bean paste, while she has a variety of options for the core filling.

　This is also why Zhu Yan isn't worried about Tadokoro Megumi taking away her ingredients.

　Because no matter what Tadokoro Megumi chooses, she can use the remaining ingredients to complete this dish!

　"Xiao Hui is in a bad situation now."

　Bai Yuan's voice rang out. He naturally saw through Zhu Yan's intentions at a glance, but he couldn't step forward to warn her. Moreover, this was an open scheme from the start.

　No matter what ingredients you choose to take away, I can still cook the dishes I want. Such superb culinary skills are enough to prove that this young girl's abilities are extraordinary.

　"Xiao Hui will definitely be fine! She's the hardest working one among us!"

　Yoshino Yuuki stared intently at the arena, her hands clenched so tightly they turned white, as if she herself were the one competing on the field.

　"Are they making snow-white red bean paste? The one you made for us last time. But isn't that dish very complicated to make? So complicated that many restaurants don't want to make it. Will this really satisfy so many people in the audience...?"

　Erina Nakiri also spoke, her eyes filled with doubt.

　At this moment, Zhu Yan was preparing the filling while simultaneously whipping the egg whites with an electric mixer. Her intentions couldn't be clearer.

　"In Northeast China, even if chefs know how to make snow-white red bean paste and crispy yellow vegetables, they rarely appear on the menu because the process is complicated and troublesome."

　Liu Yu, who had been silent all along, spoke up next to Erina Nakiri.

　She had lived in Northeast China for a period of time and knew that apart from a few old shops, very few restaurants were willing to make snow-white bean paste.

　"Making only a few at a time is of course troublesome."

　However, if it reaches a certain scale and evolves into an assembly line operation, with the assistance of machines, this dish becomes much simpler.

　Moreover, the rules do not explicitly state that desserts must be made for a thousand people.

　Bai Yuan's voice rang out again, tinged with helplessness, revealing the biggest trap in the dessert theme.

　"There's no rule that you have to make enough desserts for a thousand people?!"

　Mito Ikumi's somewhat surprised voice came through. She had been eavesdropping on Shirabuchi and Nakiri Erina's conversation, and upon hearing this conclusion, she couldn't help but feel puzzled.

　Isn't this a tradition of the Fujian Youth Chef Competition? Let all the audience members act as judges to decide whose dish is more delicious.

　"I see! On the surface, it does seem like all the audience members are judges, but in reality, it's enough to satisfy more than half of the guests."

　Erina Nakiri wasn't stupid; after a little thought, she understood what Shirai meant. She then lamented that her thinking had been restricted, and that it had taken her so long to understand.

　"That's right. As long as more than half of the people think one contestant's dish is more delicious, even if the remaining audience chooses the other contestant, they still lose."

　Alice Nakiri's voice rang out, pointing out the biggest trap in the dessert theme.

　The conventional wisdom is that to win, you must prepare a thousand dishes for the judges to compare. But in reality, if you are confident enough in your cooking, five hundred and one dishes are enough.

　"I wonder if Xiaohui can think of this."

　After listening to Erina and Alice's analysis, Yoshino Yuuki and Sakaki Ryoko also realized what was going on, and their faces showed worry.

　"This method won't work for Xiaohui."