Everyday Life Starting with Food Wars

The staff laid out the five ingredient lists on the cart in order, each list showing the ingredients he needed. The refrigerator and dry goods basket were also neatly arranged. He quickly checked them one by one, and after confirming that nothing was missing, he gestured to the judges.

"The first match!"

Chapter 12 Seafood Rice and Beef

"The first match!"

Kawashima Rei waved her arm, pointing to the left passage, "Spanish Cuisine Research Society, José López Ruz!"

A boy with dark brown curly hair walked up. He wasn't tall, but he had broad shoulders. His apron was embroidered with the Spanish flag and a paella frying pan. He stood in front of the counter, picked up the olive oil bottle, shook it, and looked at the color of the oil against the light. Then he nodded in satisfaction.

"On the other side—Polar Star Dormitory, Chen Yuxing!"

When Chen Yuxing walked onto the stage, everyone in the Polaris Dormitory row of the audience stood up and applauded. Aoki Daigo took off his jacket and swung it around like a helicopter propeller.

"The theme of this competition is seafood rice! Time limit: 60 minutes!"

Jose wasted no time. He picked up a live black sea bream, slammed it onto the cutting board, grabbed a long, thin knife, found the right spot behind the gills, and made a cut.

The knife tip precisely severed the junction of the carotid artery and vein, and fish blood gushed out. He caught it in a basin, the whole process clean and efficient. After bleeding the fish, he threw it into ice water to cool it down, and then turned to process the squid and shrimp.

Chen Yuxing didn't rush to kill the fish. He first took out a flat, double-handled iron pot from the ingredient box, heated it on the stove, and then picked up a whole bright red lobster. He held it up to the light to check the transparency of the tail to confirm its freshness. Then he started processing it. He first used scissors to cut the lobster head and body together, carefully removed the roe from the head and put it in a small bowl, chopped the lobster meat into thumb-sized pieces, and kept the shells for later use.

What is he doing?

Someone in the audience asked in a low voice.

"Why do you cook seafood rice without first frying the spices and then directly processing the lobster? What's the correct order?"

Jose had already heated the olive oil, and then added minced garlic and diced onions to the pan. With a sizzle, the entire stadium was filled with the aroma of garlic. He waited until the onions were translucent, then added the chopped squid rings and stir-fried them quickly. He took the squid off the heat as soon as it changed color, and then poured Spanish short-grain rice into the same pan. This type of rice absorbs broth better than long-grain rice and is a special variety for making paella.

The rice was stir-fried in oil for two minutes, and each grain was coated with a shiny oil film.

Jose placed the previously stir-fried squid and chopped shrimp on top of the rice, then poured in fish broth and sprinkled a few strands of saffron.

The orange-red filaments slowly release their color in the hot soup, gradually turning the whole pot of rice golden yellow.

Chen Yuxing started frying the rice.

But he simply threw the shrimp heads, shells, and roe that he had saved from processing the lobsters into the pot, added a little peanut oil, and slowly sautéed them over low heat.

As the shrimp heads and shells gradually turned red in the hot oil, the shrimp roe melted into the oil, and the oil in the entire pot turned a bright orange-red.

"This is for making shrimp oil."

Marui Zenji adjusted his glasses in the audience, saying, "The shrimp oil made from freshly fried shrimp heads and shrimp roe is at least two levels fresher than the shrimp oil provided on-site."

After sautéing the shrimp oil, he removed and discarded the shrimp heads and shells, then added minced garlic and a little bit of dried chili flakes to sauté until fragrant.

As soon as the garlic aroma comes out, immediately pour in the rice and stir-fry.

He didn't use Spanish short-grain rice, but Thai jasmine rice.

This type of rice has longer, thinner grains than Spanish rice, and each grain is also harder.

"Using Thai fragrant rice to make seafood rice?"

Some audience members began to question, "Thai rice doesn't absorb broth as well as Spanish rice, so won't it be too dry after cooking? Besides, paella is a traditional Spanish dish, so using Thai rice is like changing the foundation."

Chen Yuxing ignored these words. He stir-fried the rice in the shrimp oil until it became slightly translucent. He then put the shrimp, scallops, and the previously chopped lobster meat into the pot, poured in the fish broth, and sprinkled saffron. The amount of broth was noticeably less than what Jose had.

This is because Thai rice doesn't absorb water as well as Spanish rice, and it tends to collapse if there's too much broth.

The most crucial step is controlling the heat. In José, it's cooked over medium heat, with steam steadily rising from the sides of the pot. A thin layer of crispy rice forms on the bottom of the pot, and the essence of Spanish paella lies in this crispy rice, called socarrat in Spanish. It's the key to testing the chef's skill in controlling the heat.

Chen Yuxing added another layer to the heat control. He first brought the soup to a boil over high heat, scooped up a little soup with a spoon to taste the saltiness, and then turned the heat to medium to cook the rice. After cooking for about ten minutes, when the rice grains began to float to the surface from the bottom of the pot, he suddenly turned the heat to the highest setting.

"He's going to burn!"

Someone in the audience screamed in terror.

The broth in the pot quickly evaporated over high heat, and tiny bubbles began to appear on the surface of the rice grains. Then, Chen Yuxing put his ear close to the pot, listened for two seconds, and turned off the heat.

"It's not burnt?"

Daigo Aoki's eyes widened.

The rice at the bottom of the pot wasn't burnt; instead, it formed a uniform golden-yellow crispy crust. He then placed a few unpeeled prawns and whole crab claws on top of the rice, drizzled some of the shrimp oil he had saved earlier, and covered the pot to simmer for three minutes with the residual heat.

When the iron pot was placed on the judging panel, the residual heat at the bottom of the pot was still making the crispy rice crust sizzle.

Jose's seafood paella was served first. After tasting it, the judges nodded in praise. The short-grain rice had absorbed the fish broth, making it soft, sticky, and delicious. The socarrat at the bottom of the pot was crispy and fragrant. The squid was springy and the shrimp was sweet. The head judge, with gray hair, took a bite and commented, "The cooking time is perfect, and the seasoning is even. This socarrat is one of the best I've ever had at Totsuki."

Then Chen Yuxing's seafood rice was served.

The color of the rice in the pot is different from that of Jose's. It is not the traditional golden yellow of saffron, but a unique orange-red color coated with shrimp oil. The umami flavor of crustaceans mixed with the aroma of garlic and saffron rises from the pot, and the rice grains are distinct, with a glossy surface coated with shrimp oil.

The crispy rice at the bottom of the pot is a pale gold color, and the shells of shrimp and crabs stick out from the side of the pot, making the whole dish look much more rustic.

The head judge scooped up a spoonful of rice, and raised an eyebrow as he put a grain of rice into his mouth.

Thai jasmine rice is harder than Spanish rice, and its sweetness is released slowly when chewed, rather than becoming soft and mushy all at once.

The umami flavor of shrimp oil coats every grain of rice. That umami is the unique, intense sweetness of crustaceans, which, combined with the base flavor of fish broth, creates a deeper dimension in the mouth.

Then he picked up a piece of crispy rice crust. The rice crust was crispy but not burnt. When he bit into it, there was a crunch, and the aroma of the burnt rice and the fresh aroma of the shrimp oil burst out at the same time.

"You divide the cooking time into three stages."

The head judge put down his spoon and looked at Chen Yuxing. "Bring the soup to a boil over high heat, cook the rice over medium heat, and then reduce the sauce over high heat for the last ten seconds—why do it this way?"

"Thai fragrant rice has a lower moisture content and a higher starch structure than Spanish rice. Ordinary constant medium heat cannot achieve the precise timing of both rice grain elasticity and crispy rice crust. The temperature of the bottom of the pot will rise instantly and then drop rapidly at the moment of reducing the sauce over high heat, just in time for the rice crust to reach the ideal caramelization while the rice core still retains a bit of chewiness."

The head judge was silent for a few seconds before picking up the scoring board.

Chen Yuxing won the first match with a score of 4:1.

Before Kawashima Rei could announce the start of the second round, staff had already pushed a refrigerated cart into the venue through the side door. The opponent in the second round, Henri Grondin, was a tall, thin man with blond hair and a deep-set face. He had the aloof arrogance typical of French chefs. He was the ace of the French Culinary Research Society. On the cart was a whole piece of beef sealed in a vacuum package. The meat was dark red and had extremely fine muscle texture.

"Second round! The theme is beef! Time: 60 minutes!"

Without a word, Henry opened the vacuum packaging and took out a whole tenderloin—the most quintessential part of the filet mignon. He placed the beef on the cutting board, gently pressed it with the back of his knife to check its elasticity, and then began to trim it. He cut off the edges, leaving only the neatest cylindrical core of meat.

"He reduced two kilograms of fillet to less than one kilogram of meat core."

Marui Zenji gasped, "Only the very core essence is taken."

Then he threw the scraps into the broth for making the sauce, tied the whole piece of meat tightly with cotton thread to shape it, evenly rubbed the surface with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, and put it into a frying pan to sear over high heat. The butter melted into golden foam in the hot pan, and he poured the butter foam onto the surface of the beef spoonful by spoonful.

This is the aroser technique in French cuisine, where butter is continuously poured over the meat to create a uniform, crispy crust while locking in the juices.

The beef Chen Yuxing took out wasn't filet mignon; he picked out a whole piece of beef shoulder, which was a size larger than Henry's filet mignon, and the muscle fibers were visibly much coarser and tougher.

Henry saw the piece of beef shoulder, his spoon didn't stop, but the corners of his mouth turned up slightly.

"Sear the beef shoulder?"

People in the audience who had just watched Yukihira Soma soften beef shoulder with onion enzymes at noon began to discuss, “Beef shoulder has a high lean meat ratio and coarse fibers, making it difficult to soften when pan-fried. It must be marinated or slow-cooked. Did he choose this cut of meat to imitate Yukihira’s method this morning? But Food Wars does not allow pre-preparation. Just marinating the onions alone takes at least twenty minutes. He simply doesn’t have that time.”

Chen Yuxing didn't cut the meat. He placed the whole piece of beef shoulder on the cutting board, pressed down on the side of the meat with his fingers to feel the direction of the muscle texture. After pressing, he pressed it several times from different angles. Then he picked up a kitchen knife and began to cut the beef into thick slices along the direction of the muscle texture.

The cutting method is completely different from ordinary cross-cutting.

He cuts at an angle, with the blade at approximately a 45-degree angle to the muscle fibers. Each slice of meat is cut diagonally along the fibers. This cutting method results in a longer cross-section than a regular horizontal cut, allowing the fine diagonal lines of muscle fibers to be clearly seen under light.

Henry had already started frying the filet mignon. The aroma of caramelized butter mixed with the rich scent of beef fat filled the entire arena. His technique for pouring butter was extremely smooth, with each spoonful precisely placed on the same spot on the meat, gradually forming a dark brown crust on the surface.

Chen Yuxing placed the sliced ​​beef shoulder on the cutting board and gently pounded it twice with a meat tenderizer.

The force was just enough to create shallow hammer marks on the surface of the meat slices, loosening the fibers slightly but not breaking them completely. After pounding, the thickness of the meat slices shrank from two fingers to one and a half fingers. Then he flipped the meat slices over, sprinkled a layer of salt and black pepper evenly on the surface, and prepared to fry the meat.

The oil he poured into the frying pan made the head judge on the judging panel squint.

"Did he mix sesame oil into the olive oil?"

The proportion of sesame oil is very low, accounting for only about 10% of the total oil, but the aroma is incredibly distinctive, wafting all the way to the last row of the audience seats as soon as it is heated.

Once the oil is about 60% hot, add the sliced ​​meat to the pan and fry only one side.

He placed each piece of meat into the pan with the grain side down and seared it over high heat for about a minute and a half, until the bottom side turned brownish-red while the top side remained the original dark red of raw meat. Then he lifted the whole pan away from the heat source.

He only fried one side.

Ryoko Sakaki covered her mouth, "How can the meat cook like this?"

At this point, Chen Yuxing poured out most of the remaining oil from the pot and added two spoonfuls of the sauce he had prepared earlier—soy sauce, mirin, rice vinegar, minced garlic, and tomato puree made from cherry tomatoes picked from the Jixingliao fields. The sauce boiled in the hot pot, and he placed the beef slices back into the pot with the charred side up and the raw side down, ensuring the sauce covered the raw side of the meat. He simmered it over low heat for less than two minutes.

After turning off the heat, he sprinkled a small pinch of Sichuan peppercorns on the meat. They were whole Sichuan peppercorns, which he had previously roasted with salt. The peppercorns were uniform in size and had a refreshing, numbing aroma.

When plating, he arranged the beef slices in a fan shape, with the brown side facing up, and sprinkled them with bright green Sichuan peppercorns and freshly chopped scallions. A small dish of scallion oil noodles was placed next to the plate.

The noodles, tossed with the leftover juices from frying the beef and sesame oil, were steaming hot and glistening on the plate.

When Henry brought the pan-fried filet mignon to the judging panel, the head judge first inspected the crust of the meat. The filet mignon had an even and complete caramelized crust, and a crisp sound could be heard when it was lightly tapped with a fork. When it was cut open, the cross-section was a textbook-perfect medium-rare, with a brownish-brown outer layer that transitioned to pink inwards, and a deep rose color in the very center. The juices seeped out along the cut, and the whole piece of meat looked as fresh and plump as if it had just been cut from the butcher shop.

The judges nodded in approval after tasting it.

The tenderloin itself is extremely tender, with the rich aroma of butter and the spiciness of black pepper perfectly complementing each other. It is also very juicy, and when you chew it, you can feel the unique sensation of top-quality beef melting on your tongue.

"There were no mistakes. The basic skills, the timing of cooking, and the seasoning were all top-notch."

The head judge put down his knife and fork. "Perfect filet mignon."

Then it was Chen Yuxing's turn; he brought the plate up.

The head judge used a fork to cut off a piece of beef shoulder. The resistance when cutting with the fork was obviously greater than that of filet mignon, but when he put the meat in his mouth and took his first bite, he froze.

The beef shoulder isn't as tender as the tenderloin, but the moment you bite into the slice, the elasticity released along the diagonal cut makes you instinctively chew it a couple more times. The way the slice bounces back between your teeth is so satisfying that you can't help but want to chew it a few more times.

The single charred surface creates two distinctly different textures.

The pan-fried side has a crispy crust, infused with the aroma of sesame oil and Sichuan peppercorns; the side simmered in sauce is tender and flavorful, with the sweet and sour taste of tomato puree and the richness of the sauce seeping into the meat. The two textures alternate within the same piece of meat, making it not just tender, but a delightful combination of crisp and soft layers that swirl and tumble in your mouth.

How did you do that?

The head judge asked, "Beef shoulder has coarse and tough fibers, and it's impossible to achieve both a crispy and tender texture using the ordinary single-slice pan-frying method."

"Slice diagonally, at a 45-degree angle along the muscle fibers. The resulting slice will be one-third longer than the cross-section. While one side is searing until crispy, the other side can be simmered in sauce at the same time. The meat tenderizer only slightly loosens the fibers, without breaking or crushing them, ensuring that the simmering side can still absorb the sauce. The purpose of searing only one side is to give the meat slices both the crispiness of searing and the tenderness of simmering."

The head judge was silent for about five seconds, then he picked up the scoring card, and the four judges next to him also showed their cards.

5-0, a complete victory, Chen Yuxing wins another game.

Chapter 13 Squid

Kawashima Rei stood on the stage, her voice even more excited than the previous two rounds: "The third round! Theme—Squid! Takumi Aldini from the Italian Culinary Research Association versus Chen Yuxing from Polar Star Dormitory! Sixty minutes limit!"

When Takumi Aldini walked up from the right aisle, the audience's reaction was noticeably more enthusiastic than in the previous two rounds, after all, he wasn't the kind of challenger who was only somewhat famous within his own research club.

The Aldini brothers' names spread quite widely in the first year, especially Takumi, who quickly established himself in the Italian cuisine research club.

His chubby brother, Isami, was sitting in the first row of the audience, holding up a handwritten support sign with a crookedly drawn cartoon squid holding a fork.

After Takumi went up to the stage, he didn't rush to the cooking station. Instead, he walked straight to Chen Yuxing and stood there.

He was a little shorter than Chen Yuxing, his blond hair gleamed under the spotlight, and his brows were slightly furrowed, his expression both provocative and serious.

"I've finally waited for you."

Takumi slung his knife bag over his shoulder. "You got an A in Professor Chappell's class, and I wanted to compete with you then. Later, you got an A+ and made egg rolls using the Chinese cooking technique of slicing the pan. I heard about it in the next classroom. From that day on, I've been waiting for an opportunity to stand on the same stage as you."

Chen Yuxing placed the knife case on the counter and looked up at him: "Now you have a chance."

"So this time I will go all out."

Takumi pulled a slender boning knife from his knife bag; the blade gleamed silver-blue under the light.

"Squid—there's a famous Italian dish called squid ink risotto, but this time I chose stuffed squid. The squid tentacles are chopped up, mixed with breadcrumbs, Parmesan cheese, herbs, and olive oil to make a filling, which is then stuffed back into the squid tube and stewed with white wine and tomato broth. This is how the Aldini family makes it; when we had a restaurant in Venice, this dish was our signature dish."

He paused for a moment after he finished speaking, staring into Chen Yuxing's eyes. There was something very pure in those blue eyes, the kind of excitement that comes from waiting for a long time and finally getting an opportunity.

"I want to see you give it your all, so please, don't hold back."

Chen Yuxing nodded: "Okay."

Takmi didn't say anything more, turned around and strode towards his cooking station. His brother Isami waved vigorously at him from the stands, but he didn't respond with a straight face, though a small red mark appeared on his ears.

The moment Kawashima Rei announced the start of the competition, Takumi had already scooped six fresh squid from the tank. The squid were seafood directly supplied by Far Moon. Each one was about the length of a hand, with a translucent pinkish-white body, shiny black eyes, and tentacles that were still wriggling. He pressed the first squid onto the cutting board and used the tip of his knife to cut into the junction of the squid's head and body. With a quick scoop and pull, he pulled out the transparent cartilage and internal organs in one go. After processing the internal organs, he turned the squid over and scraped off the thin membrane inside the tube with the back of his knife. His movements were so smooth that it was as if he had done this process countless times.

He didn't throw away the tentacles, but quickly chopped them into rice-grain-sized pieces with a knife. The Parmesan cheese was freshly grated, and the breadcrumbs were made by himself from the Italian crispy bread he baked yesterday. He also added some pine nuts and chopped parsley leaves. The olive oil used was extra virgin from Tuscany. When he poured it into the bowl and mixed it well, the oil combined the richness of the cheese, the oily aroma of the pine nuts, and the crispness of the parsley. After preparing the filling, he stuffed each squid tube full and sealed the opening with bamboo skewers like sewing clothes.

Heat olive oil in a frying pan, sauté minced garlic until fragrant, and then place the sealed squid tubes one by one into the pan.

Takumi used tongs to flip the squid back and forth, making sure each side was seared into a light golden brown.