Everyday Life Starting with Food Wars

"This kind of control over temperature is terrifying..."

Next up is Leonora Nakiri.

She suddenly took a breath and opened her mouth, her previously somewhat broken Japanese bursting out in a string: "It's unbelievable! It's just a dish, how can it be done to this extent? Aren't spices supposed to mask the fishy smell? But in this dish, the spices actually bring out the original sweetness of the fish and enhance the charred aroma of the grilling..."

"Moreover, while extracting the oil from the saury, it doesn't destroy the elasticity of the fish itself. When you eat it, one side is crisp and the other is soft, with two different textures alternating in the fish. Every time you chew, you have a different feeling. I've eaten so many dishes in the research institute in Denmark, but none of them made me feel the vitality of the ingredients like this sashimi..."

The entire audience was stunned by her words.

“Mom…you’ve got that old problem again…” Alice covered her face in the audience, her ears turning bright red.

At this moment, Leonora finally stopped her 'verbal outburst' and began to breathe heavily, her cheeks flushed.

She picked up her water glass, took a big gulp, and looked at Hayama Akira: "Hayama Akira, I can taste a lot of spices in this fish, but none of them overpower the flavor of the fish. I think you have a great grasp of flavor."

Hayama Akira humbly nodded and accepted the praise.

Just then.

"Shoot-"

The commander-in-chief, sitting in the very center, had his kimono suddenly ripped open from the shoulder, exposing his muscular upper body.

"His clothes were ripped!"

Kawashima Rei shouted loudly on stage: "Hayama Akira's grilled saury sashimi successfully made the Food Demon King's clothes rip off!"

While everyone was still exclaiming in surprise, the commander-in-chief had already put on a new kimono and sat down.

Senzaemon Nakiri looked at Akira Hayama and slowly said, "The use of spices, the control of heat, and the understanding of the ingredients themselves."

"Very impressive."

The evaluation was brief, but since it came from the commander-in-chief, it was the highest praise one could receive.

Hayama Ryo bowed and returned to his cooking station.

"Next, please have contestant Chen Yuxing present his dish!"

Chen Yuxing also picked up his dish and went upstairs.

He placed the three plates in front of the three judges.

A whole pan-fried saury lies in the center of a white porcelain plate, coated with a bright red chopped chili and fermented black bean sauce, and garnished with emerald green perilla shreds and sesame seeds.

"Pan-fried saury with Hunan flavor." Chen Yuxing put down the dish and bowed slightly, saying, "Please enjoy."

Dojima Gin was the first to pick up his chopsticks and poke the fish skin.

When the chopsticks touched the fish skin, there was a resistance, but as he exerted force, the chopsticks quickly penetrated the shell and sank into the fish meat.

He picked up a piece of fish, dipped it in the sauce, and put it in his mouth.

The first flavor that appears is the sour and spicy taste of chopped chili peppers.

Unlike regular chili peppers, chopped chili peppers have a milder spiciness, like the warmth of sitting around a fire on a winter's day.

Then comes the salty aroma of fermented black beans; the original saltiness of Yangjiang fermented black beans completely disappears after soaking.

Only the savory aroma of fermentation remains, which blends with the oily fragrance of the saury to create a rich, savory flavor.

Finally, the taste of fish emerges.

Pacific saury has firm flesh, and because it is marinated in white wine, the surface of the fish retains moisture and elasticity.

Even after the teeth have gone down, you can still feel the rebound force.

Just as he was about to give his opinion, he suddenly found himself standing on a path lined with small wooden buildings on both sides.

The air was filled with a mixed fragrance, along with the moist scent blowing from the mountain paddy fields.

He walked along the stone slabs, and at the end of the road was a house with its door ajar. Warm light and the sound of pots and pans clattering came out from the crack in the door.

He pushed open the door.

Standing in front of the stove was an old man. He turned around and held a wooden spoon in his hand, scooping fish head soup from the pot.

The old man's face was blurred in the steam, but the movements of his hands were exceptionally clear.

Fry the fish, add the seasonings, sprinkle with perilla leaves, and cover with a lid.

Every step was executed flawlessly.

The old man placed the fish on a plate and pushed it in front of Dojima Gin.

The fish on the plate looked very red and shiny. He picked up a piece of fish and put it in his mouth. The taste was exactly the same as the one he had eaten on the judging panel. He wanted to speak, but before he could make a sound, everything in front of him turned into mist and vanished.

Dojima Gin opened his eyes and saw that only the fish bones remained on the plate.

"Chopped chili peppers are used to suppress the fishy smell of the saury, fermented black beans are used to add layers of flavor, and perilla leaves are used to finish it off."

"Interlocking links."

Dojima Gin paused for a moment, then asked, "May I ask how you managed to fry the fish skin until it's so crispy?"

"It's just marinating the fish and then wiping off the surface moisture."

Chen Yuxing answered truthfully: "Because if the surface of the fish skin gets wet, it won't have this crispy texture."

By this time, Nakiri Leonora had also finished tasting it.

She put down her chopsticks, picked up a handkerchief to wipe her mouth, and then took a deep breath.

The entire audience held their breath and stared at her.

"Oh my god, I have to say this dish is absolutely amazing! First of all, the crispy skin of the fish is so surprising, because it's really hard to get the skin of saury crispy like this. The crispy texture of the skin is just fantastic, while the inside of the fish is so tender. It's unbelievable..."

"I'm really surprised that saury, a fish with a very high fat content, can still retain its texture after being pan-fried and braised. The flavor of perilla in this dish is also incredibly delicious..."

"And is this Hunan cuisine? I've read about Chinese cuisine in the lab before, and the records about Hunan cuisine all focused on spiciness and sourness. But after actually eating this dish, I finally got a real understanding of it. The layers and complexity are truly astonishing. The combination of chopped chili peppers and fermented black beans breaks through the framework of traditional Japanese saury dishes..."

"And this unfamiliar yet irresistible dish is just so amazing..."

Leonora's words poured out like a flood, so much so that you couldn't even hear her breathing. Her face showed an expression that was somewhere between excitement and intoxication, and her hands were gesturing incessantly.

“Mom… your Japanese…” Alice had completely given up. She looked at Nakiri Leonora on the field and slumped into her chair.

Chapter 95: The Champion!

"Thorn-"

The sound of fabric tearing echoed once again in the moonlit sky.

This time, the clothes-ripping incident was even more intense than the one involving Hayama Akira.

Senzaemon Nakiri didn't speak, but simply closed his eyes and let the aroma of the Hunan-style pan-fried saury circulate within his body.

He too was caught in a dreamlike state.

The commander-in-chief found himself walking amidst mountains and rivers.

Suddenly, his feet lost their footing.

I was plunged into a sea of ​​red, made of chopped chili peppers.

He was enveloped in scalding hot chili peppers, but he didn't feel the burning pain; instead, he felt a warmth from them.

Fermented black beans surge beneath the surface of this sea of ​​chopped chili peppers, while the aroma of perilla transforms into a storm that swirls endlessly above the ocean.

In reality, the commander-in-chief slowly opened his eyes.

"The saury has fat and the sour and spicy flavor of chopped chili peppers."

"This is truly a dish full of life."

Senzaemon Nakiri laughed twice and then praised him.

The audience fell silent for a moment after hearing the commander-in-chief's comments.

Then came a burst of applause.

Chen Yuxing stood in front of the judges' panel and bowed slightly to the head judge.

"All right!"

"Now all three judges have tasted the dishes of the two contestants."

Kawashima Rei's voice rang out at the opportune moment. She raised the microphone and excitedly said, "Next, please make your final choice, three judges!"

At the same time, the large screen in the sky above the moon lit up.

The first color to appear is!

red!

"Both dishes were amazing, and to be honest, it was really hard for me to choose."

Dojima Gin's gaze shifted between Hayama Ryo and Chen Yuxing before finally settling on Hayama Ryo: "But if I had to choose one..."

"I was more impressed by the temperature and spices in the seared saury sashimi by Hayama Akira."

"It's a truly ingenious idea to present both the smoky aroma of grilled fish and the sensation of raw sashimi within a single piece of fish."

"So I'm casting my vote for Akira Hayama, the genius in the field of spices."

What appeared on the big screen next was...

blue.

Leonora Nakiri pressed the button representing Chen Yuxing, then took a deep breath.

When the audience saw her inhale, they all subconsciously inhaled as well.

"I must state one thing first."

"That is, although my main research area is molecular gastronomy, it doesn't mean I don't appreciate the beauty of traditional cuisine. On the contrary, it is precisely because I have been exposed to the most cutting-edge molecular gastronomy cuisine for a long time that I cherish these dishes that use the simplest methods to present complex flavors even more..."

"Chen Yuxing's Hunan-style saury reminded me of an experience from many years ago. It was when I was on a research trip to China that I ate a fish head with chopped chili peppers at an ordinary family's house. I still remember that taste vividly. And this saury dish brought back that taste..."

Leonora Nakiri's face flushed halfway through her sentence, and her speech quickened. "Moreover, using Hunan cuisine methods to prepare saury is a very risky choice because saury is very oily and easily clashes with spiciness. However, contestant Chen Yuxing not only resolved this problem but also made the oily ingredients play a bridging role..."

"And the fragrant herbal flavor of the perilla used is simply a stroke of genius, neutralizing all the previous richness and leaving only a refreshing taste that makes you want to keep eating it..."

"Mom...please catch your breath..." Alice Nakiri in the audience stood up anxiously.

Kurokiba Ryo, on the other hand, seemed unfazed by the situation.

Dojima Gin was stunned as he listened from the judges' panel, shaking his head with a wry smile.

The commander-in-chief, expressionless, accepted the new clothes handed to him by the staff and put them on.

"all in all!"

Leonora Nakiri took a breath, then wiped her mouth with a handkerchief, regaining her initial elegant demeanor. "I choose to vote for contestant Chen Yuxing."

"His cooking showed me the infinite possibilities for the future development of traditional cuisine, which is also conducive to the future development of molecular gastronomy."

The current score is...

One to one.

All eyes of the audience were drawn to the last judge—Senzaemon Nakiri.

This time, the commander-in-chief did not press the button.

He picked up a calligraphy brush that was lying to the side, stood up, walked to the pillar next to the judges' table, and wrote a name on it with the brush tip covered in ink.

Chen Yuxing.

"So!!!"

"The final winner of this autumn selection competition is!!!"

"Chen Yuxing, the contestant!!!"

Kawashima Rei's scream came through the microphone, and the entire moonlit sky erupted in cheers.

"Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah!"

"We won! Ah Xing won!"

Upon hearing the final word, Yoshino Yuuki jumped up from her seat, dropping the banner and covering Aoki Daigo and Sato Shoji, who were holding poles nearby.

However, neither of them said anything. They simply picked up the banner and joined Yoshino Yuuki in jumping and cheering.

The other spectators around them started looking at them with strange expressions.