Time flew by quickly. An hour passed, and most of the students had returned to the classroom, busy at their respective cooking stations.
Everyone was bustling about energetically, and there was no need to worry about the room being filled with choking smoke, because the classroom was well-equipped. Exhaust fans lined the ceiling, and the smoke from the cooking couldn’t disperse.
While the students struggled through a difficult hour, Xia Yu spent an entire day in the Chef God Space.
When he returned his focus to the real world, various aromas flooded his senses. Xia Yu was bored; he wasn’t interested in watching the students prepare their dishes. Instead, he found a piece of paper and pen, scribbling away and theorizing the perfect spice structure for the "Magic Mapo Tofu" recipe.
Six components came together, turning into seven.
The quantities of ingredients like Sichuan pepper powder, bean paste, and even ’soybean minced meat’ needed to be recalculated and precise to the gram. Xia Yu had a hunch that if he could apply the refined recipe to the mini exam at Chiyoda Shrine in six days, then he would stand a chance against those trainees. Otherwise, he would be the first to fall behind and be eliminated as cannon fodder.
Xia Yu took a deep breath.
He turned back to carefully review the task details.
Rewards: 5 Talent Points, Culinary Skill "Seven-star Breaking Army Rapid Cutting"!
Seven-star Breaking Army Rapid Cutting was a culinary skill Xia Yu was eager to master. This skill, combined with the purple kitchenware [Seven Stars Knife·Breaking Army] that he had already acquired, would be like adding wings to a tiger. Not only would it greatly increase efficiency in handling ingredients, but it could also bring his knife skills to near ’perfection’!
Perfect knife skills.
Perfect heat control.
Then, if the seasoning was perfect as well...
Xia Yu felt that even without using the ’Chef’s Heart’ of heavenly imagination, but rather approaching cooking with a calm mind, he might still achieve near-special grade quality.
The ’Chef’s Heart’ was something necessary for a special-grade chef, but not essential for a dish.
Time passed by as he settled into calculations and theories.
He was awakened by the sound of an argument.
Two charming girls, one with blonde hair, the other with silver, stood prettily in front of the table, glaring at each other like two rams butting heads, both wearing expressions of stubborn fury.
"I was the first to finish!" Tiqie Helinai said coldly.
Tiqie Ailisha wouldn’t budge.
In every sense, these cousins couldn’t see eye to eye. Tiqie Ailisha’s return to Far Moon had the ultimate goal of using Tiqie Helinai as a stepping stone to secure a position among the ’Ten Masters of Far Moon.’
And Helinai, naturally, was not thrilled about challengers. Even if the challenger was her cousin.
Xia Yu chuckled, waving them to place their dishes on the table simultaneously, then spread his hands, "See, problem solved, you’re both first, tied for first!"
Tiqie Ailisha made a face at him.
This little girl was truly spirited. Although she had more of a queenly aura outwardly, her conduct paired with this aura had a strong cuteness in contrast.
Tiqie Helinai just crossed her arms proudly and did not comment on Xia Yu’s mediation.
"Whose should I taste first?" Xia Yu was in a dilemma.
To the right, was the dish from that tsundere Helinai, very refined. Little fish the size of fingers were coated in a golden fried crust, accompanied by a seasonal vegetable and fruit arrangement. Just a whiff from a distance sent the fragrant fish scent mingling with the rich freshness of the produce straight to the senses, making Xia Yu feel as if he were floating.
And it wasn’t just fried fish tempura; there were fresh bamboo shoots, asparagus, cauliflower, even tempura made with cherry blossom leaves.
"A tempura platter of Japanese cuisine?" Xia Yu murmured.
"Yes, just tempura," Helinai said, lifting her chin slightly, "In spring, the best vegetables and fruits for making tempura are these fresh bamboo shoots, asparagus, cauliflower."
"But what about the fish?" Xia Yu frowned, picking up a piece of fried fish tempura with his chopsticks, "The task content is fish dishes!"
"You’ll know once you taste it!" Helinai’s lips curved slightly.
Xia Yu didn’t ask further, popping the tempura from his chopsticks into his mouth, chewing it, and couldn’t help but say, "It’s quite bland! You didn’t add any seasoning?"
"Try another assorted tempura."
Xia Yu picked up his chopsticks again, skimming over the fresh bamboo shoots, asparagus, cauliflower, and cherry blossom leaves, finally choosing a small piece of asparagus, crunching into it with a bite.
His eyes widened instantly.
Asparagus was a spring vegetable, native to Western Europe, North Africa, and West Asia. It was a close cousin to leeks, onions, and garlic, so even if one hadn’t tasted asparagus before, imagining its flavor wasn’t hard.
As he bit through the asparagus, the tempura crust, mainly composed of eggs and cake flour, shattered.
It was like opening a valve, a burst of fresh aroma filled his mouth and nose. With each chew, there was a delightful crunch, very chewy, while the original fish hadn’t been swallowed, mingling with the asparagus, refreshingly soft, causing Xia Yu’s body to tingle, struggling to suppress the sensation in his heart and not letting himself get out of control from the tsundere’s "trickery."
With such a mild assessment from his mouth, Xia Yu kept picking up piece after piece with his chopsticks, polishing off the small plate of dishes within a few minutes.
"What are those tiny fish?" Xia Yu stared at the empty plate.
"Smelt, native fish of Neon, usually only caught in winter, living in cold waters..."
Tiqie Helinai’s voice carried an unnoticeable glee, her speaking pace much faster than usual, like a little girl showing off her skills.
"But, I was very lucky. At the Taoyuan Platform fish market, I met an angler who just returned from Fuji Mountain Lake. He had a small amount of fresh smelt, and I bought them all, then you ate them all..."
"Smelt is not a spring fish but is very suitable for tempura." Tiqie Helinai’s eyes gleamed with delight but her face remained composed, "So, for my tempura platter, the core of creating a ’Spring Seasonal’ flavor was on these asparagus, fresh bamboo shoots, cauliflower, and other vegetables or fruits!"
She did not hide the fact that her ingredients were purchased.
Because buying was fundamentally the main method of sourcing ingredients.
After hearing this, Xia Yu didn’t hold back either. Unlike the tsundere, who was obviously pleased yet tried hard to maintain a stern face, he straightforwardly gave a thumbs up, "Ingenious idea! Playing to strengths and avoiding weaknesses! I like it!"
"Thank you for the compliment."
Tiqie Helinai flicked her blond hair over her shoulder, and the smile on her lips was about to break through.
Just then, a gentle voice suddenly found a gap to interject:
"Hey, don’t forget about me!"
Tiqie Ailisha’s forehead bulged with veins, showing strong dissatisfaction.
On Xia Yu’s left, her dish was equally beautiful and exquisite.
Speaking of which, molecular cuisine was a very trendy concept, gaining fame overseas in recent years. It seemed the IGO headquarters even had experts in molecular gastronomy, actively promoting this culinary concept.
In essence, molecular gastronomy applied chemical and physical theories to cooking, restructuring the molecular structure of food, turning solid ingredients into foam and liquids into jelly-like forms.
Moreover, molecular gastronomy was closely tied to modern instruments.
Instruments were the kitchenware for molecular chefs.
Tiqie Ailisha’s molecular dish was so beautiful that even her rival, Tiqie Helinai, couldn’t help but glance with amazement and glittering eyes.
The nori base was topped with a layer resembling caviar, clear and flawless. Through this fine layer, you could see the fish meat cut into small pieces inside.
There were five pieces of similar "sushi," each topped with "caviar" in different light shades of orange, orange-yellow, milky white, black-red, and red.
Five different colors, perfect visual effect!