Food Wars, My Dishes Don't Just Shine

On the other side, Erina Nakiri was also busy, skillfully dicing the sea cucumber.

Next, I took out the winning ingredient I found in the ingredient warehouse: celery from Majiagou. Its bright green color, like jade, made it look exceptionally appetizing.

Sea cucumbers, normally they should be dried in the sun, but given the current limited conditions, there isn't enough time to wait for them to dry naturally.

So they chose to take dried sea cucumbers and grind them into powder in a stone mortar.

This can add umami flavor to dishes.

Meanwhile, sea cucumber powder is also widely used in Shandong cuisine.

This is one of the reasons why Shandong cuisine can stand alone as a distinct style, and adding a certain ingredient to a dish will make it incredibly delicious.

"I see. Are they planning to recreate the bowl of porridge they ate at the beach?"

Watching Erina Nakiri's actions and Hisako Shinto carrying the millstone back, Shirabuchi suddenly understood what they were going to do.

"It should be. I still remember the taste of the porridge that day very well. It's the perfect dish to serve as the test dish for this round."

Beside her, Alice Nakiri spoke up.

Thinking of the seafood porridge she had at the beach that day, a glistening drop of saliva appeared on the corner of the girl's mouth, and a look of longing appeared on her face.

"That's a good idea. As long as we can replicate my porridge without making any mistakes, the outcome of this match will be pretty much a foregone conclusion."

"That porridge looks simple, but it's not so easy to make. If you're not careful, it will turn into a mush, and then it will have nothing to do with the topic."

Hearing Bai Yuan's words and thinking about the difficulty of making that porridge, a look of worry appeared in Nakiri Alice's eyes.

Teacher Baiyuan simply made the dish, and they ate it. They were not taught the specific steps by him; he just mentioned it casually during the meal.

In this situation, whether Erina Nakiri and Hisako Shirato can recreate the same flavor as Shirabuchi is a big question mark.

"Alice, I think you should trust Erina and the others. Although they are not as good as you, they are still top-notch experts and won't make mistakes on such trivial matters."

Noticing that Alice Nakiri's gaze was a little strange, Bai Yuan immediately realized what was going on, then turned to look at her face and said seriously.

"It's not that I doubt their abilities, but the specific proportions need to be figured out, and it can't be arranged in a short time."

If the competition lasted a full day, I believe they could replicate it, but the competition is only an hour long, and one failure means no more chances.

Alice Nakiri expressed her concerns.

She didn't doubt that Erina Nakiri could replicate the porridge; her concern was whether she could replicate it within the allotted time.

The competition only lasts an hour, so time is tight and the task is heavy. Logically, we should focus on what we are good at.

"Isn't this the time when Erina's God Tongue needs to come into play?"

Bai Yuan's voice was light and cheerful as he mentioned Erina Nakiri's God Tongue. The flavors that the God Tongue tastes are recorded in the brain like data.

In this way, unimaginable convenience will be gained when recreating dishes.

It's normal that Alice Nakiri lacks extrasensory perception and has no understanding of it, but since Shirai possesses this ability, he felt it necessary to remind her.

Chapter 434 Snail Meat Porridge VS Yellow Millet Seafood Porridge

"What you said isn't entirely without merit..."

Upon hearing Bai Yuan's words, Alice Nakiri responded with a soft "yes," but her expression suddenly became somewhat silent, clearly indicating that she was still unable to let go of her grievances.

The fact that she wasn't born with supernatural abilities was arguably the biggest regret of her life.

"Don't overthink it. Throughout history, there have been many chefs with ordinary talent who have reached the pinnacle."

Moreover, your talent is extraordinary; otherwise, you wouldn't have reached the level of a three-star chef at such a young age. It's just that you're not quite as strong as Erina, but that has absolutely nothing to do with mediocrity.

Seeing the dejected girl, Bai Yuan raised his hand and gently patted her head, comforting her with tender words.

"However, the path for those without talent is destined to be more difficult than the path for those with talent, and the lack of talent cannot be compensated for by hard work; once it's gone, it's gone..."

It doesn't matter now, but problems will definitely arise in the future!

Hearing Bai Yuan's words of comfort, Nakiri Alice lowered her head, her voice low and somber.

Instead of regaining her energy because of his words, she fell into deeper thought.

“You’re not wrong, what’s missing is what’s missing, and there’s nothing you can do if it’s not in your destiny. But I’ve never said that you can’t get extrasensory talents through hard work.”

Seeing the girl's dejected appearance, Bai Yuan suddenly realized that she seemed to have misunderstood something.

After careful consideration, he revealed this astonishing truth.

Talent can be cultivated.

For example, the talent of super taste can be awakened by constantly tasting high-end dishes and analyzing their flavors, once the experience points reach a certain level.

The same applies to other extrasensory abilities; with sufficient training, they can all be awakened.

This is also why many high-star chefs, who were not born with any special talents, later awaken super-sensory abilities.

A person with super-sensory abilities is not necessarily a high-level chef, but a high-level chef is definitely a person with super-sensory abilities.

After all, with culinary skills at that level, no one would believe him if he said his sense of taste was dull or his sense of smell was average; they would just think he was being modest and joking.

"Is everything you're saying true?!"

After hearing Bai Yuan's story, Alice Nakiri, who had been hanging her head, suddenly looked up, her fair and delicate face showing shock mixed with disbelief.

"Of course it's true. When I first started, my talent wasn't as obvious as it is now. I had extrasensory abilities, but they weren't nearly as good as they are now. It was through my continuous efforts that I gradually got to where I am today."

Bai Yuan's words were tinged with emotion.

His growth story wasn't always smooth sailing; he stumbled and struggled most of the time.

Later, his cooking skills improved, and the special training proved effective.

Its already outstanding senses of taste, smell, touch, sight, and hearing were significantly enhanced, and later evolved into extrasensory abilities, which gradually allowed it to make a name for itself in the world of dark cuisine.

Alice Nakiri has accumulated enough experience; all that's left is to calmly reflect and mature.

As for how long this settling process will take, Bai Yuan could not answer.

Everyone's situation is different. The only thing he can be sure of is that he can acquire extrasensory perception later in life.

"If that's the case, then I really have nothing to be upset about."

I will continue to train hard and strive to become a strong person like Brother Bai Yuan one day!

With a great weight lifted from her heart, Alice Nakiri spoke with a resounding voice, carrying an extraordinary determination.

The reason she felt lost was that she couldn't find a direction to move forward. Now that Bai Yuan clearly told her that as long as she worked hard, she could get everything she wanted, how could she not work hard?!

"I believe you can do it, but for now, let's watch Erina and the others' match."

As he spoke, Bai Yuan turned his gaze toward the arena.

At this moment, Erina Nakiri had finished processing the sea cucumber and other ingredients, while Hisako Shinoto had placed the millstone on the competition field, quietly waiting for the soybeans to soak.

the other side.

Dick and Adolf returned from the food storage room with less than pleasant expressions on their faces.

Although the building's food storage has snails, they have been refrigerated for two days, so the taste will be much worse than fresh ones.

But there is nothing we can do about it.

After all, no one uses snail meat in the process, and these shiny French snails have to be air-freighted to keep them fresh, requiring daily replacement, which makes the cost too high.

Ultimately, it's because they need to use snails.

If we don't use the shiny giant snail, we change the other common ingredients every day.

but.

Choosing to give up because of this is not in their nature.

True strength lies in facing challenges head-on. Refrigerated snail meat isn't considered frozen, so its flavor isn't significantly diminished, and it remains a top-quality ingredient. Cooking with such ingredients generally won't result in a significant decline in quality.

However, in this kind of competition, they still want to pursue the ultimate.

After all, the strength of their opponents is undeniable; those who don't strive for the ultimate in cooking would likely find it difficult to compete.

Since the ingredients are not good, their first step in cooking is to process them, at least to bring them to a relatively good condition, so that they have the capital to compete with their opponents.

With that in mind, Dick gently rinsed the snail meat, which had just been taken out of the refrigerator and was still slightly cool, with cold water, and then rubbed it with a little salt and flour for a while before rinsing it thoroughly.

This effectively removes impurities and odors, and makes the meat firmer.

Take a small pot and add chicken broth made from chicken breast to provide a savory base.

Add half a glass of dry white wine, a few bay leaves, a few black peppercorns, a small sprig of thyme, and four cloves of garlic, all smashed together.

After boiling, reduce heat to low and simmer for ten minutes to allow the flavors of the spices to fully release.

This step was done by Dick. Looking at the fragrant soup boiling in front of him, Adolf cut the cleaned snails into thumb-sized pieces and threw them in.

Simmer over low heat at 90 degrees Celsius for 20 minutes.

This low-temperature slow cooking method allows for a two-way exchange of internal flavors.

The concentrated umami flavor in the broth slowly and deeply permeates every fiber of the snail meat, thus compensating for the flavor loss caused by freezing.

After simmering, Dick used a slotted spoon to scoop out the snails and temporarily placed them in a bowl.

Next, turn up the heat to reduce the spice broth in the pot to about 30% of its original volume, creating an extremely rich and flavorful essence.

Pour the broth back into the snail bowl and stir well so that each piece of snail meat is coated with this bright and flavorful coating.

At this point, the snail meat had become incredibly delicious.

In other words, it's ready to eat.

"The snail meat has been processed. How's the porridge going on your end?"

After processing the snail meat, Dick looked at Adolf, who was cooking porridge, and used filtered concentrated spice broth to replace part of the stock used to cook the porridge.

This congee base incorporates the essence of French herbs and snails from the very beginning, resulting in a richer and more complex flavor!

"I've almost finished processing this. Bring me your snail meat; it's time to combine the two."

Adolf's face showed an unusual seriousness. He melted herb butter in a frying pan, then quickly stir-fried the prepared snail meat, which was already coated with the aroma, to coat it with butter and heat it up.

This process must be quick to avoid the snail meat becoming tough due to overcooking or prolonged cooking.

The snail meat must be added to the boiling porridge at just the right moment.

The snail meat, soaked in the savory flavor, blends perfectly with the fragrant rice porridge.