Reborn in Japan as a Chef God
Chapter 193 - 192: Strange Cuisine

Chapter 193: Chapter 192: Strange Cuisine

With twenty minutes remaining, students submitted their work one after another.

Tiqie Helinai, as one of the Elite Ten, had ample work experience and was even more suited than Xia Yu for the role of a guest lecturer.

Under the scrutiny of her "Divine Tongue," the flaws in the students’ dishes were pointed out one by one.

On a normal day, if she encountered flaws that she could not tolerate, Tiqie Helinai would certainly give a frustrated "fail" mark. But with Xia Yu’s reminder, she could only hold her nose and sample the students’ culinary creations.

Ding.

Soon, the last second on the timer also passed.

The successful students curiously gathered around Xia Yu’s cooking station, while the failures either squatted in the corner with their heads down or dragged their heavy footsteps out of the classroom, their expressions grim, preparing to head home.

"Time’s up!"

Xia Yu opened her eyes.

Click. Turning off the stove, Xia Yu looked up and surveyed the classroom. Dozens of students surrounded the area, while Yashan Liang, Shen Liangzi, and Tiqie Helinai, among others, were pushed to the outskirts.

With a gentle smile and turning to the table, she laid out a bamboo mat. Xia Yu then wrapped a cloth around the handles of the clay pot and carefully brought the steaming dish to the presentation table.

"Yashan, this is my dish," Xia Yu said.

Without beating around the bush, since it wasn’t a "glowing" dish, she briskly lifted the lid!

Boom!

It was like the cover of a magical pot had been opened, and billows of white steam instantly veiled half of Xia Yu’s body.

Through the misty smoke, the whole Crucian Carp and its broth were faintly visible!

"This..."

A group of students stared wide-eyed. Some had already taken out their phones to record or take photos. In the camera’s view, against the backdrop of the white steam, the soup in the pot appeared like pure, pristine white snow!

Both Yashan Liang and Tiqie Helinai focused on the Crucian Carp and its broth in the pot, inhaling a cool breath.

How could it be!

The most common cooking step had made the broth so clear!

"It’s the already cooked transparent strips of white carrot that make the soup so crystal clear!" Tiqie Helinai immediately discovered the secret of the broth. Biting on her thumb, her teeth grazed her nail, her eyes shining with an excitement she didn’t quite understand herself, "So beautiful! Such a pure pot of soup! But why do I so want to eat it!"

It was a conflicted feeling.

Despite the beauty of the pot of soup that shouldn’t be disturbed, the layers of rich fragrance that wafted out left not just Helinai but all the surrounding students swallowing hard, their eyes clearly filled with the hue of appetite.

"Wait—"

Xia Yu turned back to her cooking station to get a few slices of green onion, and sprinkled them over the fish.

Because it had been fried, the whole Crucian Carp retained its complete shape in the pot, from the viewpoint of Yashan Liang, Tiqie Helinai, and others, the fish seemed to maintain a tail-flicking, leaping posture, and the clear broth flowing over its body was just like Lake Ashi, where it had once lived.

Placing three small white bowls for serving the soup on the table, Xia Yu used a ladle to fill each bowl with the broth, then gestured for Yashan Liang, Shen Liangzi, and Helinai to help themselves.

"No need to eat the fish flesh; all of the fish’s flavor is in the soup!" he shrugged.

Yashan Liang took a bowl of the soup and stared down intently at the almost transparent liquid in the bowl, thinking to himself, "Aside from the amazement when first uncovering the lid, the soup seems to have become ordinary after being served."

"How could such ’ordinary,’ ’everyday’ cooking possibly defeat my killer dish!"

Rainbow Trout Sashimi was Yashan Liang’s breakaway creation; he had fused nearly all of his strengths, like the concepts of ’subtraction’ and ’emphasis’ of spices, into a single dish.

Therefore, Yashan Liang didn’t think he would lose.

Because, from the techniques of cooking to the potential details hidden in the dish, Xia Yu’s approach was so casual and simple.

After careful recollection, besides the initial surprise of knife skills, Yashan Liang realized he had completely forgotten the scene where Xia Yu prepared the fish soup.

It was too ordinary, too simple.

Shen Liangzi and Tiqie Helinai didn’t have as much mental activity as Yashan Liang; they each took a small bowl of the soup, sniffed it, scooped up a full spoonful with a porcelain spoon, blew on it to cool it down, and drank it in one gulp.

Huh?!

The still-hot fish soup rushed over their tongues and down their throats, and both girls involuntarily let out slight hums.

"What’s going on!"

Before they knew it, the soup had reached their stomachs, leaving their minds blank.

Eriina paused for a few seconds, in disbelief, then scooped up another spoonful of broth and drank it down.

The ’Divine Tongue’ wasn’t in the state of confusion that occurs when tasting glowing dishes; instead, she couldn’t taste anything unique or distinctive. Eriina found it unbelievable, "How can it be blank, nothing there! I can’t taste anything!"

The knife skills, no imagery.

The heat control, no imagery.

Even the seasoning process, no informative fragments took shape.

The pale little hands holding the bowl trembled slightly. Eriina took a deep breath; since the day she could remember, the ’Divine Tongue’ had encountered such an awkward scene fewer than ten times.

The ’Divine Tongue’ was a god-given, divine-level talent that only malfunctioned when encountering very mysterious dishes, like the glowing ones.

But now, the state of the ’Divine Tongue’ was not a malfunction, but rather a dullness, unable to taste anything at all!

Frustration!

Eriina was like a ruffled cat, spoon after spoon, devouring the soup in the bowl at an astonishing speed, completely ignoring the stunned gazes of the surrounding students.

Shen Liangzi’s condition was quite similar; her cheeks were flushed, she kept drinking non-stop, her face showing a blank expression.

Catching sight of these two tasters’ demeanor, Yashan Liang’s heart skipped a beat.

Was there a big secret hidden in the dish?

Swallowing laboriously, Yashan Liang finally started, taking a small sip of the broth, after which the vigilance and confidence in his eyes collapsed in an instant.

There was nothing there, but he just wanted to eat!

Giving up on the spoon, Yashan Liang brought his lips to the edge of the bowl, tilted his neck, and guzzled the soup down, emptying a bowl in just a few seconds.

His stomach was warm and cozy.

He finally remembered something.

Seasonality, right?

Drinking a bowl of steaming fresh fish soup was like being tightly enveloped by the gentle sunshine of early spring.

The classroom was supposed to be cool, the students still wearing their winter uniforms, with some girls wearing trendy, slim-fit cardigans over their shirts, indicating that the weather was still a bit cold.

However, deep in Yashan Liang’s heart, there was an urge to strip off his clothes and go swimming in Lake Ashi outside.

Suppressing this urge, Yashan Liang passed over his empty bowl and wiped the water from the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand, "Please, I must have another bowl—"

"I want more too—"

Eriina and Shen Liangzi eagerly passed their own empty bowls forward.

There wasn’t much fish soup in the pot to begin with; after Xia Yu served each of them another bowl, the clay pot was nearly empty.

"All done!"

Left in the pot was one whole Crucian Carp that had not been touched. Xia Yu glanced around at the other students and smiled, "Everyone, disperse. Go back to the hotel and rest early. There are tasks in the afternoon. Good luck to you all."