Reborn in Japan as a Chef God
Chapter 252 - 251: Improved Seafood Paella (Part 1)

Chapter 252: Chapter 251: Improved Seafood Paella (Part 1)

Feng Zhizi left.

Niho Fuyuka also took Eriina away.

Xia Yu returned to the kitchen and saw the clean bowls and plates neatly stacked in the cupboard. He couldn’t help but nod silently.

He had figured it out; for the shop’s waiters, he might as well let students from Far Moon come and work part-time for a month each, equivalent to working outside of school. Besides a fixed salary, Xia Yu would also teach them cooking skills and experience.

This way, there was no need to worry about a shortage of manpower.

"I’ll visit Far Moon this weekend to discuss it with Old Man Tiqie Xianzuowen," Xia Yu thought. The students would definitely be willing, and if the higher-ups at Far Moon agreed, everything would work out.

The kitchen was spotless, and with no customers at the midnight slot, Xia Yu had nothing to do but practice his culinary skills.

The 10 pounds of ’Jet-Black Rice’ Liangzi Lina helped buy was only half a pound used at White Seagull High School, the rest still sealed in the ingredient storage box.

The Fantasy Ingredients were yet to be unlocked, and communication with the Chef God Space and the system couldn’t provide the corresponding Fantasy Ingredients for him to practice with, so to make a true "Valencia Baaiya," he had to do it in reality.

"With the evolved Bursting Flame, the taste of the seafood rice should be even more explosive, right?"

During the day, at White Seagull High School’s experimental dish, Xia Yu didn’t try using [Bursting Flame] and [Spice Inequality] culinary techniques; he simply imitated the original recipe.

Since he had successfully mimicked the original Special Grade Cuisine, it meant he had mastered the recipe.

Next, it was time for modification!

Small tweaks couldn’t be called "improvement" because "improvement" was based on practical results. Once he made a dish of higher quality than the original recipe, then "improvement" would be established.

Sitting like a customer at the bar, Xia Yu had a notebook in front of him. He furrowed his brow, biting the pen cap lightly as his gaze focused on a list of spices on the paper.

"The spices used are saffron, paprika, chicken powder, and fish powder."

The pen tip skimmed over saffron. The taste of this spice was roughly similar worldwide.

"Paprika..."

Xia Yu murmured.

This paprika wasn’t the chili powder found in Chinese spices. The full name was Spanish sweet paprika, made by peeling and drying sweet red peppers and then grinding them into powder, seasoned with chili powder, so it had only a mild spiciness, with a flavor that was gentle yet lively.

The key was in the blend of paprika and chili powder!

The proportion of which was worth pondering.

Like Chinese Five-Spice Powder, which uses cardamom, cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon, and star anise, adding more or less of any spice would affect the final taste of the Five-Spice Powder.

In the world of spices, meticulous precision was essential.

Now Xia Yu was trying to gain control over all the spice variables in "Valencia Baaiya," using [Spice Inequality] to see if he could further optimize the structure.

"Right, chicken powder and fish powder!"

His eyes showed a serious expression.

Xia Yu was one hundred percent sure that the chicken and fish powder used by Dojima Yin in his seafood rice were all handmade.

Because the quality of chicken powder and fish powder as seasonings could easily be distinguished by even a slightly experienced chef, just by tasting a tiny bit.

Additionally, chicken powder and chicken essence shouldn’t be confused.

Chicken powder was more often used to add fragrance to dishes; being healthier and more natural, chefs treated it as an artificial seasoning.

The same applied to fish powder.

Thinking of this, Xia Yu went to the kitchen and found a well-sealed jar of chicken powder and a jar of fish powder from the cupboard.

Most of these jars and cans were left by the old man.

"Click."

Twisting open a lid, Xia Yu’s expression changed slightly.

As his physical qualities improved, his senses enhanced, and his sense of smell became keen, Xia Yu found many things he used to overlook.

Waves of natural aromas seemed to brew like tides in the kitchen. Xia Yu licked his lips, twisted open another lid containing chicken powder, and instantly, the two aromas collided in the kitchen, giving Xia Yu a sense of being in an explosive whirlpool, causing goosebumps to rise on his skin.

"Whew—"

With the lids closed, Xia Yu could finally take a breath.

"Although I don’t know what quality these seasoning powders are, they’ll suffice for me." Xia Yu patted his heated forehead.

Recollecting the old man’s various teachings, his mind became a muddle.

The old man must have been Special Grade; perhaps he was even a rare Lin Chef.

His mastery of ’Chef’s Mind’ was effortless. In all those years, Xia Yu had never encountered ’Chef’s Mind’ in the dishes he tasted, perhaps because he hadn’t reached the level of tasting the chef’s intentions.

Food’s Profound Meaning!

The term mysteriously popped into his head again.

After comprehending the ’Chef’s Mind’ and advancing to Lin Chef, one must understand the Food’s Profound Meaning. Could the mystery surrounding the old man be related to this profound meaning?

He pondered for a fixed moment, having no leads, Xia Yu shook his head, sketching and drawing on the paper, attempting to reorganize the spice structure of "Valencia Baaiya."

a.m.

Brimming with excitement, holding the spice formula, Xia Yu dove into the kitchen, beginning practical exercises.

First, he made the broth.

He tossed celery, leeks, onions, tomatoes, carrots, and other vegetables into the pot of clear water, not needing them to be delicate, just large chunks, which were better for absorbing grease.

Due to ingredient limitations, Xia Yu decided to use chicken broth. Dojima Yin’s recipe offered two broth options, and chicken broth was one of them.

But the broth here was made from chicken bones, not chicken meat, because chicken bones had very little fat.

Next, it was about heating the skillet and first sautéing the ingredients.

’Baaiya’ was a kind of skillet, but since Xia’s shop didn’t have one, Xia Yu simply opened the cupboard, retrieved an early-acquired blue-quality skillet (glow probability +10%) forgotten in a corner, and set it on the stove.

Scallops, shelled shrimp, chunks of anago, and so forth, he sautéed these. Once the broth boiled, he ladled a few scoops of it into the skillet.

Then, he added ’Jet-Black Rice’!

Using a transparent measuring cup, Xia Yu carefully measured this fantasy ingredient, ’Jet-Black Rice.’

"Sizzle..."

The moment Jet-Black Rice touched the skillet, a thick white smoke immediately spread throughout the kitchen.

During the stewing process came the crucial step of adding spices!

"10 grams of paprika, 3 grams of saffron, 15 grams of rosemary, 2 bay leaves..."

Muttering to himself, Xia Yu turned to the kitchen counter behind him, fetching a Western-style vegetable already cut into pieces; this was the ’Jet-Black Rice’ CP pairing, artichoke, which was indispensable.

"Artichoke, 50 grams!"

With high heat throughout, the stew only needed about 20 minutes.

Click.

Turning off the stove valve, Xia Yu took a deep breath, glanced at the oven, but decided against using it.

After a moment of hesitation, Xia Yu made up his mind, fetched a large sheet of tin foil, fiddled with it for a while, and finally folded it into a pocket shape, securing it to a big plate.

Pour the semi-finished products from the skillet into the foil and seal the opening with tape.

The charcoal stove maintained a strong heat all night, Xia Yu added some fresh charcoal, and with a bag of seafood rice, he placed it on the iron mesh of the charcoal stove, then turned on the fan.

minutes later.

He took the foil-wrapped seafood rice bag out, placing it on a plate.

Xia Yu gazed at the finished product before him, his heartbeat quickening, and he spoke to himself with anticipation: "Will it work?"