Everyday Life Starting with Food Wars

He took the microphone, cleared his throat, and grinned, saying, "My name is Yukihira Soma. My family owns a small restaurant. I came to Totsuki Culinary Academy with only one goal—to become stronger. As for what that blonde young lady said earlier..."

He glanced at Erina Nakiri standing below the stage, grinning and revealing a set of white teeth: "I'm certainly not an elite, nor a genius, but when it comes to cooking, it's not about your family background. To be honest, I think this academy itself is just a stepping stone. I don't think I'll lose to a bunch of guys who have never faced customers before, so now that I'm here, I'm going to take first place."

He paused, then said, "So, whether you're directly promoted from the elementary school or something else, I don't care."

After he finished speaking, he handed the microphone to Chen Yuxing.

The students below the stage continued to shout and curse, and even Erina Nakiri's expression grew colder.

Chen Yuxing took the microphone, thought for a moment, and said, "My name is Chen Yuxing, and I also run a small restaurant. I don't have any grand ambitions; I just want to cook good food. I came to Far Moon because an uncle told me I could learn something here, so I came."

He was a bit taller than Soma Yukihira, and he stood on the podium looking very casual, more like he was chatting with a neighbor than giving a speech at an opening ceremony.

“That Nakiri student just said that transfer students are no good, and I don’t think she’s wrong, since we did transfer in.”

Erina Nakiri, sitting in the audience, raised an eyebrow. What was this? Giving in?

Chen Yuxing continued, "But whether it works or not is pointless to argue about it verbally; we'll find out at the dinner table."

After he finished speaking, he bowed, handed the microphone back, and then turned to Soma Yukihira and said, "Let's go."

Soma Yukihira paused for a moment, then burst into laughter and followed him off the stage.

"Your last sentence was pretty sharp." The two returned to their seats, and Soma Yukihira patted him on the shoulder. "We'll see how it goes at the dinner table. That's a good saying."

Chen Yuxing smiled but didn't say anything.

He wasn't intentionally trying to offend anyone; he was just stating the truth.

In his view, the person who cooks should ultimately let the food speak for itself; empty talk is meaningless.

After the ceremony ended, a notification sound rang in Chen Yuxing's mind.

"Mission Complete: Passed the entrance exam. Reward: Unlocked new recipe - Three-Egg Shumai."

Then a flood of information rushed into my mind, and all the details about the Three Eggs Shumai were clearly imprinted in my memory.

Add egg liquid to the flour and knead it into dough. This will make the dough golden and translucent, and the texture will be more chewy than ordinary shumai wrappers.

The filling is made of minced pork and shrimp, wrapped with crab roe, and the topping is not ordinary crab roe, but chopped preserved egg white.

Three eggs in one – chicken egg, preserved egg, and crab roe.

After going through the recipe in his mind, Chen Yuxing frowned inwardly.

It looks simple, but the ratio of egg to dough is particularly difficult to adjust. Too much egg liquid will make the dough hard, and too little will not work.

The crab roe in the filling is prone to bursting during steaming, so the heat and time must be precisely controlled.

As he was pondering this, someone suddenly patted him on the shoulder.

It is Yukihira Soma.

"Chen Yuxing, where did you put your luggage?"

"It's still being stored at the entrance." Chen Yuxing was busy looking for the auditorium and hadn't had time to go to the dormitory yet.

"Then we need to hurry." Soma Yukihira pointed to the notice posted at the entrance of the auditorium. "The people from the academic affairs office just said that the first class will start in twenty minutes, and being late will result in elimination."

Chen Yuxing was stunned. Wasn't today the first day of school? Why were they already having classes?

“That seems to be typical of Totsuki Academy.” Soma Yukihira didn’t think much of it. “I just heard that the instructor is a teacher named Chappell, nicknamed ‘The Chef Who Can’t Smile.’ I heard that he eliminated half of the students in the first class.”

The two quickly ran to find a temporary luggage storage area and put their things away.

Chen Yuxing, carrying the knife case, ran towards the teaching building with Yukihira Soma.

I had just run into the classroom when the bell rang.

A tall, thin man stood on the platform, dressed in a white chef's uniform, his face as stiff as a block of frozen butter, without a trace of a smile.

Chappelle, the French cuisine instructor at Totsuki Academy, was a name that all the students present had heard of.

His class dropout rate was unusually high, sometimes even dropping two-thirds of the students in a single class, simply because "you are not qualified to stand in my kitchen."

"sit."

Chappelle glanced at the students below, her voice low and deep, as if it came from underground.

"Today's dish is beef stew in Burgundy red wine. It's a French home-style dish, but it's not easy to make well. Each of you go to the ingredient section to get the ingredients, in pairs. I only have one instruction for you—make this dish well."

After saying that, he leaned against the podium, his eyes fixed on the students like an eagle.

Soma Yukihira was the first to stand up: "Chen Yuxing, shall we be a team?"

But then Chappell spoke up again: "Groups will be formed according to student ID numbers; no free grouping is allowed."

Soma Yukihira's student ID number was not in the same range as Chen Yuxing's, so the two had to find each other separately.

Chen Yuxing searched for his corresponding number and then saw a girl who had been huddled in a corner slowly stand up.

She was short, with two braids, and looked timid, like a kitten whose tail might be stepped on at any moment.

"Um... my name is Tadokoro Megumi..." the girl said softly. "Nice to meet you, Chen Yuxing..."

Chen Yuxing glanced at her and nodded: "Let's go, let's get the ingredients first."

When the two went to the ingredients area, other groups were already fighting over beef.

Chen Yuxing picked out a piece of beef shoulder, which was mostly lean with little fat and had clear marbling.

They also took red wine, onions, carrots, bacon, and a bunch of herbs.

Tadokoro Megumi followed beside him, and judging from the way he handled things, she was someone who often cooked.

"Do you cook at home too?" Tadokoro asked cautiously.

"I own a restaurant," Chen Yuxing said, arranging the ingredients. "And you?"

“I… my family owns a hotel, and I helped out in the kitchen,” Tadokoro Megumi said, her voice even softer. “But I’m not very good at French cuisine…”

"It's nothing." Chen Yuxing said calmly. "The core of this dish is just a few steps: pan-fry the beef, stir-fry the vegetables, and stew with red wine. You just need to chop the vegetables."

Tadokoro nodded vigorously.

The two returned to the workbench. Chen Yuxing put on an apron and cut the beef into pieces about the size of a fist.

Then he picked up the kitchen knife.

The moment his hand touched the knife, his entire aura changed.

The lazy young man from the ceremony is gone, replaced by a chef with sharp eyes, a straight back, and fingers as steady as steel.

Tadokoro Megumi watched from the side, almost forgetting to breathe.

Chen Yuxing placed the knife on the beef and made a cut. The edge was smooth, without any pulling or roughness.

Then he turned around and turned on the stove. He put oil in the frying pan and heated it until it was slightly smoking, then put the beef pieces in one by one.

"Sizzle—!"

The aroma of the beef exploded the moment it hit the pot.

When he flipped the meat, he flicked his wrist, and all the beef turned over at the same time, without missing a single piece.

The pan-fried beef is taken out; its surface is golden brown, sealing in the juices.

Next comes the bacon, cut into small cubes, fried until crispy, and then removed from the pan.

Onions and carrots are also stir-fried in the same pan, absorbing the meat and bacon oil, and the aroma gradually intensifies.

Megumi Tadokoro was chopping mushrooms nearby. Her knife skills were actually quite good, but her hands were shaking a little from nervousness.

"Don't shake it." Chen Yuxing didn't even turn his head. "Just cut the mushrooms evenly, no need to go too fast."

Tadokoro took a deep breath and steadied her hand.

After preparing all the side dishes, Chen Yuxing took a stew pot and put in the beef, bacon, stir-fried vegetables, and mushrooms. Then he poured in a whole bottle of red wine, covering the ingredients. He added a few spoonfuls of beef broth, a bunch of herbs, and put the lid on.

"Turn the heat down to low and simmer for two hours," he said.

Meanwhile, the other groups were still in a flurry of activity, some not even having started frying the beef yet.

Tadokoro glanced at the timer, then at Chen Yuxing.

"Um... Chen Yuxing..."

"Ok?"

"Did you... study French cuisine before?"

"No," Chen Yuxing shook his head. "My family runs a Chinese restaurant."

“But your technique just now was even more precise than those in our class who have specialized in French cuisine,” Tadokoro Megumi whispered. “Especially the way you flipped the beef; an ordinary person couldn’t do that so steadily.”

Chen Yuxing thought for a moment and said, "There are similar steps in Chinese cuisine. When making braised pork, you also need to fry it. If you have the basic skills, you can handle any dish."

During the two-hour stewing process, Chen Yuxing kept his eyes on the pot lid, occasionally adjusting the heat and occasionally lifting the lid to turn the beef over.

Tadokoro Megumi noticed that he had a habit of always bending down to smell the beef before turning it over, and then adjusting the heat.

"What are you smelling?" she couldn't help but ask.

"The evaporation of red wine."

Chen Yuxing replied, "If the heat is too high, the red wine will turn sour; if the heat is too low, it won't be cooked through. You have to adjust it according to the degree of alcohol evaporation."

Tadokoro was stunned. Her teacher had talked about a similar principle in class before, but that teacher, Chappell, talked about the "ideal temperature in theory," while Chen Yuxing judged it directly by smell.

Two hours later, Chen Yuxing lifted the lid of the pot.

A rich aroma of red wine, mixed with the fragrance of meat and the sweetness of vegetables, wafted from the stew pot. Tadokoro Megumi, who was standing next to it, took a sip and felt like she was about to collapse.

The beef was completely tender; it separated easily with a gentle touch of chopsticks, revealing tender pink fibers inside, bursting with juice.

The broth is thick and dark brownish-red, with a thin layer of oil floating on the surface, gleaming with an enticing sheen.

Chen Yuxing took out the stewed beef, arranged each piece on a plate, poured the broth over it, and garnished it with a few blanched carrots and asparagus.

"finished."

He wiped his hands and said to Tadokoro Megumi, "Take it over there."

Megumi Tadokoro stared wide-eyed at the beef stew in Burgundy on the plate.

She wasn't unfamiliar with how others made this dish, but the aroma of this plate was far more enticing than anything she had ever seen in textbooks or restaurants.

The two carried the dishes to Chappell.

Chappelle glanced at the dish, her expression unchanged, picked up a fork and knife, cut a small piece of beef, forked it, and put it in her mouth.

He chewed for about five seconds.

Then it suddenly stopped.

The other students in the classroom secretly looked over and saw Chapel standing there with the piece of beef in her mouth, as if someone had pressed the pause button on her.

After a long while, he slowly swallowed it.

"What did you use to fry this beef?" he asked Chen Yuxing.

"Mix olive oil and butter in equal parts," Chen Yuxing said. "Butter adds aroma, and olive oil prevents the butter from burning."

Chappelle fell silent again, glancing down at the remaining beef on her plate.

"Where's the red wine?"

“It’s from Burgundy, and the label says Pinot Noir. I decanted it for 30 minutes before stewing to soften the tannins and prevent it from becoming astringent.”

Chappelle's eyes finally changed.

He stared at Chen Yuxing, a hint of surprise flashing in his usually indifferent eyes.

"You did it?"

“I made it with Tadokoro Megumi.” Chen Yuxing pointed to the girl next to him who looked like she was curled up in a ball. “She was in charge of chopping and preparing the vegetables.”

Tadokoro Megumi blushed instantly after hearing his words.

"No... I just helped chop the mushrooms..."

Chappelle cut another piece of beef, this time eating very slowly, as if analyzing some precise scientific phenomenon.

"I'll give this dish to A."

A commotion broke out in the classroom.

“But it’s not because you’re skilled.” Chappelle put down her knife and fork and looked at Chen Yuxing. “It’s because you used a technique that most French chefs wouldn’t notice during the stewing process—after stewing for ninety minutes, you opened the lid about a finger’s width.”