10: Chapter 10: Review of the Divine Tongue 10: Chapter 10: Review of the Divine Tongue Editor: Dragon Boat Translation ‘Clothing burst open.’
Upon careful reflection, it was only during the autumn selection phase in the original story that the Far Moon Commander frequently experienced this phenomenon.
Whenever he ate something delicious, his clothes would explode.
This might sound mundane, but at the autumn selection, wasn’t everyone a genius?
Each dish contained the years of culinary dedication from its creator.
Xia Yu couldn’t fathom how his magical mapo tofu, which he had only tinkered with for a few days, could cause Tiqie Xianzuowen’s clothes to explode.
Maybe it wasn’t quite like that.
After tasting too many failed dishes recently and having his tongue and mouth feeling spicy all day, his taste system was numb.
Perhaps he had missed a delicious dish?
“A dish scoring 70 points…” Xia Yu suddenly became very curious about this dish.
Tiqie Xianzuowen silently pulled his clothes back together.
”The color, aroma, taste, heat, spiciness, and lastly the ‘crisp’ sensation created by the minced soybeans, all harmonize very well…
This is also the best mapo tofu I’ve ever had.
What’s its name?” Tiqie Xianzuowen asked, his gaze fixed firmly on Xia Yu.
“Magical mapo tofu,” Xia Yu replied humbly.
“Actually, I haven’t been researching the recipe for long and couldn’t fully capture the essence of this dish.
There are too many flaws.”
”It indeed has a magical and indescribable flavor!” Tiqie Xianzuowen nodded.
“Eriina, you should try it too!” He turned to look at his granddaughter.
The Divine Tongue flatly refused, turning her head away with a haughty demeanor, like a little golden peacock.
“Don’t let your temper make you miss out on a delicacy.
This is a rare experience.
Tasting various delicacies can also allow you to absorb the culinary skills they contain, improving yourself,” Tiqie Xianzuowen said solemnly.
Tiqie Eriina was always stubborn with others, but she couldn’t be tough with her grandfather, the Demon King of the culinary world.
With a face full of reluctance and inner conflict, she picked up chopsticks.
Seeing her hesitating and unable to pick up a piece of tofu for a long time, Xia Yu couldn’t help but tease, “Miss, that’s not how you use chopsticks.
Do you want me to get you a spoon?”
Her nasal sound expressed her dissatisfaction.
Upon hearing this, Tiqie Eriina immediately picked up a piece of jade-like tofu and sent it into her mouth.
Her movements and speed were top-notch.
As the tofu entered her mouth, the hot spiciness, like an explosive, erupted in her mouth.
Tiqie Eriina’s eyes widened as she bent over, coughing, her pretty face flushed.
Realizing her impropriety, she straightened up, only to find the tofu had quietly slipped down her throat.
Whether she liked it or not, the ‘Divine Tongue’ did its job at that moment.
The ingredients used in this dish—tofu, soybeans, Sichuan pepper, chili paste, sesame oil, even the most basic oil and salt, and the negligibly small amounts of sugar and five-spice—were all vividly present in Tiqie Eriina’s mind.
Moreover, these ingredients replayed the cooking steps in her mind.
She saw a young figure at the kitchen counter, furrowing brows and sometimes enlightened with understanding.
Shaking her head to drive away the images, Tiqie Eriina couldn’t help but exhale a hot breath, her cheeks flushed as if she had gone through intense exercise.
While picking up a second piece of tofu, she ordered Xia Yu without turning her head.
Knowing the temperament of the ‘Divine Tongue,’ Xia Yu didn’t argue with her.
He shook his head, returned to the shop, fetched a cup of clean, pure water, and placed it on the low table.
“Cold, enjoy slowly,” Xia Yu stepped aside.
Then came the bizarre scene, with the top genius chef of Far Moon Middle School, one of the Ten Elites, devouring the remaining mapo tofu with absolutely no decorum.
She tilted her head back and emptied a glass of cold water, then handed the empty glass to Xia Yu, “Another one!”
Xia Yu responded with a smile, quickly returning with a second glass of water for the ‘Divine Tongue.’
Exhaling a long breath, Tiqie Eriina felt the explosives-like spiciness in her mouth and body finally fading, and she sighed with relief while still savoring the taste.
Her mouth and tongue were still numb.
The ‘Divine Tongue’ was very sensitive.
After eating this dish, Tiqie Eriina knew that anything else she’d eat today would likely taste bland.
This was the dominance of Sichuan cuisine, and this plate of mapo tofu was particularly so.
The combination of heat and spiciness was truly explosive in the mouth…
Yet, this dish wasn’t only domineering; it also had smoothness and tenderness.
The smoothness was from the tofu.
The tender texture came from the minced soybeans.
“Domineering and gentle…” Tiqie Eriina murmured, feeling slightly hot, starting to sweat, and instinctively unbuttoned the high collar of her uniform, revealing the delicate white skin of her neck.
She finally noticed a pair of eyes that had been on her the whole time and couldn’t help but raise her brows and glare back.
Although the gaze was clean and purely appreciative, Tiqie Eriina, never scrutinized so closely by a peer, felt secretly annoyed, yet also experienced a faint embarrassment she was reluctant to admit.
“What are you doing?” she glared and asked.
“How’s my cooking?” Xia Yu asked.
Noticing the eagerness in his eyes, Tiqie Eriina was about to harshly criticize, but she suddenly remembered the presence of two venerable old men nearby, and her lips moved, eventually muttering, “…Passable.”
”What does passable mean?” Xia Yu also widened his eyes.
“It just barely passes!”
Spurred by Xia Yu’s gaze, Tiqie Eriina also became spirited, crossing her arms with an indifferent look.
“What’s barely passable about it?”
”First, with the minced soybeans, the flavor you got was just right, but you over-fried it by two seconds, making the texture too hard and weakening its ‘crisp’ quality.”
”Then, when stir-frying the minced garlic, soybeans, and fermented bean paste, and adding soy sauce, salt, and sugar, you added the broth at the wrong time.
You added it one second too early, and the red oil wasn’t fully emerged.”
”Next is the tofu stir-frying.
You’re definitely a novice; although the tofu wasn’t broken up, it was unevenly heated.
Others wouldn’t notice, but with my Divine Tongue, no detail escapes!”
Tiqie Eriina rattled off her tasting evaluation like dumping beans from a bamboo tube.
Xia Yu’s expression remained unchanged, looking like a student as he listened.
Tiqie Eriina was about to continue but caught sight of his demeanor, slightly raised the corners of her mouth, and deliberately assumed a mockingly arrogant posture.
“You’re completely a novice!”
”Do you know how to thicken sauces?
That’s a basic skill for a chef, while you’re just cooking by the book without understanding the essence of thickening.
You’ve wasted the excellent tofu and the already-prepared broth.
This dish, due to your lack of thickening skills, hasn’t truly ‘marinated’…”
”Otherwise, it would be a must-try dish!”