Everyday Life Starting with Food Wars

Just then, a very peculiar smell wafted from the other side of the kitchen counter.

The flavor is very hard to describe. At first, it tastes like over-fermented soybean paste with a sour smell. Then comes the sweetness of peanut butter, the fruity acidity of strawberry jam, and finally the unique seafood flavor of squid liver.

These flavors are nothing special on their own, but when mixed together they become somewhat indescribable, making you instinctively want to pinch your nose.

"What...is this smell...?"

"It smells so bad, or rather... oh dear, I really can't describe it... it's just really weird..."

"I feel like this tastes a bit like... that canned herring..."

"Is it really okay to bring something like this up here...?"

Some people in the audience have already started covering their noses.

"This taste..."

The five judges on the judging panel also smelled this indescribable odor.

Upon smelling the scent, Zangmu Zina frowned immediately and instinctively leaned back, trying to get away from it.

Jiro Ono didn't react much. He'd lived to be this old and had seen and eaten all sorts of strange and unusual dishes. He just quietly looked in the direction of Soma Yukihira.

"Haha... It seems this Yukihira Soma has cooked an extraordinary dish." Kinjiro chuckled twice, picked up his water glass, and took a couple of sips.

Teacher Chappell's expression also began to falter; a closer look revealed that the corners of his mouth were twitching.

Senzaemon Nakiri crossed his arms, looking somewhat curious and even expectant of Soma Yukihira's cooking.

Meanwhile, in the audience, on the Polar Star Dormitory side, Daigo Aoki and Shoji Sato's faces had turned ashen. The indescribable smell reminded them of the painful experience of being Soma Yukihira's guinea pigs, and their stomachs were already starting to ache.

“That Soma guy…” Yoshino Yuuki said, covering her nose with one hand, “He probably wouldn’t really… just serve up that kind of awful dish that gave Daigo and Shoji diarrhea last time, would he…”

"I really didn't expect Soma to actually serve this..." Daigo Aoki said with a pained expression, "It's over, this is absolutely over, how could Soma serve up such a culinary disaster..."

Mito Ikumi, standing to the side, looked down with some concern: "Soma-kun must have his own plans..."

“I believe in Chuangzhen.” Chen Yuxing shrugged and said, “He has created quite a few miracles since the start of the semester.”

Meanwhile, Soma Yukihira was completely immersed in his art and paid no attention to the outside world's discussions.

He placed the prepared squid on the cutting board and gently pounded the surface with the back of a knife, causing the squid meat to gradually loosen.

Next, he picked up the old dough and rolled it into a thin pancake with a rolling pin. He brushed a layer of soy sauce on it, placed the prepared squid on it, rolled it up, and cut it into small pieces.

Heat a frying pan and fry the squid noodle rolls one by one until cooked.

"Fuck-"

The pancake and squid sizzled under the high temperature, and soon the pancake was fried to a golden brown and crispy state.

Soma Yukihira picked up the tongs and flipped the dough roll over to continue frying, making sure each side was evenly colored.

When the frying was almost done, he took the sealed jar out of the warm water.

When the lid was opened, an even stronger, indescribable smell wafted out.

The original brownish-red mixture had completely changed; a thin layer of oil floated on the surface, and the color had turned dark brown and become very viscous.

He poured the fermented sauce into a pot and simmered it over low heat. The sauce gradually darkened in color under the high temperature.

As a final step, Soma Yukihira poured all the sauce he had on the fried squid pancake. The sauce slowly flowed down the pancake, covering it completely, and gave off a unique flavor.

He picked up the plates and strode to the judging panel, placing the five plates one by one in front of the judges.

"This is my dish—Yukihira-ryu Special Sauce Squid Pancake!"

Please try it!

The five judges looked down at the dishes in front of them, each with a different expression.

The golden-brown pancake had a crispy, golden-brown surface, inside which was tender white squid meat. However, the dark brown sauce covering it was rather unappetizing.

Kuraki Shigeno looked at the food on the plate, then looked up at Yukihira Soma and asked hesitantly, "Are you sure this food is edible?"

"Of course! This is my masterpiece."

Jiro Ono didn't say anything, but simply picked up his chopsticks, picked up a piece of flatbread, blew on it, and tasted it.

The moment he bit down, Jiro Ono froze on the spot, his eyes slowly widening and then trembling.

"What...is this smell...?"

The first thing you taste is the wheaty aroma of the dough and the crispy bread, followed by the tender texture of the squid meat.

But what truly amazed people was the brown sauce. Although it looked unappetizing, the fermented squid liver produced an exquisite flavor, while the peanut butter and strawberry jam were transformed into something completely different, giving it a taste similar to fish sauce but much more complex.

Jiro Ono ate the food in his mouth, took a deep breath, and quickly picked up a second piece of pancake, dipped it in more sauce, and put it in his mouth to enjoy.

"This is a really interesting way of processing it. To be honest, this is the first time in all these years that I've ever tasted a sauce fermented like this." Jiro Ono put down his chopsticks and looked at Soma Yukihira.

"Oh! You know about this too, sir!" Soma Yukihira's eyes lit up immediately. "By mixing squid liver with peanut butter and strawberry jam, and adding yeast from the sourdough starter for rapid fermentation, the resulting flavor will be very rich and unique. However, you need to be careful with the temperature control."

"Haha, peanut butter and strawberry jam, these two things shouldn't appear in a normal dish at all, let alone put them together. You must have your own unique ideas to choose this dish for a competition like this." Jiro Ono said with a smile.

On the judges' panel, Shigeno Kuraki and Kinjiro exchanged a glance and also chose to taste it.

"Oh!"

After tasting the dish again, Shigeno Kuraki's expression changed from doubt to surprise.

The smell that initially made her frown turned out to be no problem at all after tasting it.

The subtle umami flavor resulting from this special fermentation blends perfectly with the natural taste of the squid.

"Three completely unrelated flavors can actually blend together, plus the chewy texture of squid..."

She closed her eyes and began to savor the moment.

She felt as if she were in a dark ocean, with no light shining down from above, surrounded by dense seaweed and coral, and the icy seawater was making it hard for her to breathe.

Just then, the seabed suddenly split open.

Hot lava gushed out of the crack.

No, quite a lot of lava.

It's melted peanut butter!

Golden peanut butter gushed out from the crevices in the seabed, solidifying into giant pillars of peanut butter the moment it hit the seawater.

Following closely behind, strawberry jam also gushed out from the other side of the crack. The red jam stretched its tentacles wildly in the seawater like a group of frenzied jellyfish, turning everything around it pink.

The once dark seabed was now completely divided into two colors.

Just as Kuraki Shino was about to escape, her foot suddenly got tangled in something.

They are squid tentacles.

Countless black tentacles extended from deeper within, binding her tightly.

"don't want……!"

Kuraki Shino opened her mouth as if to scream, but at the same time she opened her mouth, peanut butter, strawberry jam, and squid tentacles all crawled inside.

Then she woke up.

In reality, Zangmu Zina was panting heavily, and cold sweat was constantly dripping from her forehead.

"You really can't judge a book by its cover..." She looked at the empty plate, a complex emotion welling up inside her.

Senzaemon Nakiri and Professor Chappell also sampled the dish.

“That’s a really bold dish,” Chef Chappelle said. “You’ve completed the fermentation and maturation process, which usually takes a long time, in just one hour. I’m quite curious how you came up with that idea.”

“Yeah, it was my dad and Ah Xing who inspired me.” Soma Yukihira scratched his head: “The prototype of this dish was taught to me by my dad. But back then there was no fermentation process. The mechanism was simply to mix peanut butter, strawberry jam and squid together and eat it. That was real hell.”

"After I drew the question, I thought about replicating and improving it. After discussing it with Ah Xing, we finally found a fermentation method similar to fish sauce and gave it a try."

“It’s definitely a worthy example of 'dark cuisine',” Kinmoto Jiro said, glancing at Ono Jiro. “There are similar things to sushi. Although they look scary, once you’ve tasted them, you can’t forget the flavor. That’s the charm of 'dark cuisine'.”

The audience members were stunned by the judges' comments.

"Really? That dish that looks disgusting actually received such high praise from these people?"

"Is that stuff really that delicious? It's making me want to try it..."

"Is the world crazy or am I crazy? Peanut butter and strawberry jam can actually be mixed together to make a dish."

The people in Polaris Dormitory were also completely astonished.

"Ah Xing... how did Soma do that?" Aoki Daigo swallowed hard and looked at Chen Yuxing: "How come when Shoji and I ate it, it tasted awful and gave us diarrhea all day..."

"Oh, so that's why it's a secret weapon." Chen Yuxing looked at Yukihira Soma below with a smile: "How about Soma makes another one for you guys to try during the celebration tonight?"

"Unbelievable." Marui Zenji, as if his worldview had been reshaped, said with a trembling voice, "This incredible combination can actually..."

On the judging panel, the head judge was the last to finish tasting it.

He sat silently on the judging panel for a moment, then suddenly stood up.

With a rip, the commander-in-chief's kimono completely ripped apart, exploding from top to bottom.

The staff quickly helped the commander-in-chief put on new clothes, thus preventing any explicit content from appearing.

"The CEO's clothes have ripped off again!!!"

Kawashima Rei's voice was already a little hoarse from shouting.

"All eight contestants in the main competition of this autumn selection tournament had their clothes ripped by the head coach. It's just too outrageous!"

Senzaemon Nakiri took a deep breath, put his clothes back on, and sat down again.

"This idea of ​​constantly exploring the unknown..." The Commander-in-Chief looked at Soma Yukihira and smiled: "You really are his son..."

Soma Yukihira was stunned when he heard this.

"Alright, let's begin the voting phase now," Senzaemon Nakiri said, waving his hand.

"Everyone, make your decision."

The five judges began scoring simultaneously.

The vote count began to appear on the big screen.

The current score is!

"Soma Yukihira received two votes from Mr. Jiro Ono and Mr. Kinjiro Kanemoto!"

"Contestant Takmi received two votes from Ms. Zangmu Zinai and Professor Xia Peier!"

"Let's see what the commander-in-chief ultimately chooses!"

Finally, Senzaemon Nakiri wrote down Soma Yukihira's name with a brush.

"The final winner is—Soma Yukihira!!!"

When the final result was announced, the audience was stunned.

"That culinary disaster... actually won?!"

"I have to say, it makes me want to try it too. It's truly an unimaginable dish."

Cheers also erupted from the Polar Star Dormitory.

Daigo Aoki and Shoji Sato suddenly put down their poles and hugged each other, crying and laughing, which caused Yuki Yoshino, who was holding a banner, to be completely covered up.

"Daigo! Shoji! You two!!!" Yoshino Yuuki was so angry that she lifted up the banner and gave the two of them a sharp rap on the head.

Soma Yukihira smiled as he stood on the stage.

"We have failed to provide adequate hospitality!"

On the other side, Takumi stood in front of the cooking counter, looking at the final result and falling silent. He looked down at his hands.

We lost again.

I lost on the topic I was best at.

But it seems he doesn't feel the same resentment as last time.

He looked up at Soma Yukihira, who happened to be looking over at the same time.

"Takumi!"

Soma Yukihira ran over and held out his fist: "Your squid stew is really good! I almost lost!"

Takumi looked at the smiling red-haired guy in front of him. If he didn't know the guy's personality, he would have thought the guy was mocking him. But then he thought of Soma Yukihira's personality and understood.