Reborn in Japan as a Chef God
Chapter 326 - 325: Each Showing Their Skills

Chapter 326: Chapter 325: Each Showing Their Skills

"Ichise, go to the icehouse and bring back the biggest block of ice with the cart!"

Xia Yu continued to work on the ’Starry Sea Bream Sashimi’, casually instructing Ichise Hui as he did so.

After an upgrade, the branch’s ingredient storehouse, particularly the freezer dedicated to meats, was now stocked with many large blocks of ice. Of course, these were blocks Xia Yu had previously set aside, practicing sculpture whenever he had free time, ensuring purity without a hint of extraneous odor.

Ice blocks?

Ichise Hui paused briefly in surprise, but almost a month into his internship at Xia’s shop, he had grown accustomed to following Xia Yu’s instructions without question.

"I’ll go too—"

Kobayakawa Ryodan hopped and skipped along behind.

Hearing Xia Yu request ice blocks, Takai and Hasegawa were puzzled.

What kind of dish required ice blocks?

To chill?

All kinds of recipes flickered through the minds of the two of them.

Considering it had to fit the ’Japanese cuisine’ and ’seafood’ themes, they could rule out many possibilities after some thought.

They didn’t ponder too much over the rival’s cooking.

At the level of Takai and Hasegawa, as Super Chefs, they were already sufficiently prepared; now it was time to see how well they could perform. Studying the opponent during a culinary battle was futile; they might as well concentrate fully and push themselves to exceptional performance!

Compared to Takai and Xia Yu, the ingredient box of Hase Ichiro looked rather small.

"Click!"

He flipped open the lid, and inside was a riot of colors.

All vegetables and fruits.

No meat, and definitely no seafood!

"What kind of Japanese dish is Mr. Hase planning to make?!" the members of Polar Star Dormitory craned their necks to see.

The ingredients were provided by IGO and were cleaned before being boxed, but if chefs were particular or had any compulsions, they could certainly take out the ingredients and wash them again.

Hase Ichiro did just that, with the bright and spotless vegetables and fruits before him, he frowned slightly, a look of fastidiousness in his eyes as he earnestly picked out the ingredients and placed them into the sink.

First, a few bright green asparagus.

Then, ostrich fern, pencil asparagus, and ice plant.

These vegetables were all tender, fresh green sprouts. With so many, only the professional chefs present could just manage to recognize the plethora of greens in the ingredient box.

After cleaning the ingredients, Hase Ichiro opened a second box, which contained a small bucket of oil and a small bag of flour.

He picked up the oil and poured it into the already cleaned deep fryer.

The oil bucket had a metallic exterior, and one line of text stood out conspicuously:

"Taibai Sesame Oil."

Muttering the name of the oil, Tiqie Eriina had an epiphany and said, "Mr. Hase plans to make Tempura!"

"It’s Tempura!"

Tanaka Hikari, Sen Tian Makoto, and even Xingping Chuangzhen all realized it as well.

Because ’Taibai Sesame Oil’ was known for being used specifically for frying Tempura.

In Tempura cooking, setting aside the chef’s skill, it was all about the frying oil, batter, and ingredients!

’Taibai Sesame Oil’ wasn’t like the domestic sesame oil with a deeper roast; Taibai oil had a light color and a more delicate taste, with a light texture.

Tiqie Eriina said, "Just talking about the frying oil used for ’Tempura’, rapeseed oil is too bland in style—too muted. Soybean oil has a complicated aftertaste, with bitterness. Peanut oil has a style that is too strong, and corn oil has a similar issue."

"Compared with the other oils, the uniform rich flavor of sesame oil is neither showy nor too mediocre, allowing it to enhance ingredients without dominating and overshadowing the original flavor of the ingredients."

He ignited the flame to heat the oil.

Hase Ichiro then proceeded to mix the batter.

The Tempura batter was crucial, as the quality of the batter directly affected the texture of the food.

Anyone with a bit of cooking knowledge knows that batter includes water, flour, and eggs, but within the realm of Tempura, ’batter’ is also an art that demands meticulous study.

As expected, Hase Ichiro used what Neon people call ’low-gluten flour’.

Low-gluten flour could reduce gluten formation, making the fried batter thin and crisp.

And more!

Hase Ichiro used ice water to make the batter!

This step was similarly aimed at reducing the production of gluten during the mixing process. Even with water at room temperature, when the temperature rises above 30 degrees Celsius, gluten can still easily increase, thereby ruining the texture.

Takai Masashi’s dish was the "Beer Red Pepper Golden Shrimp."

Everyone had already watched the footage of the special grade examination and lost interest in seeing it again, so most eyes were drifting back and forth between Hase and Xia Yu’s cooking stations.

While Hase was busy preparing the batter, Xia Yu was also attending to the sea bream.

After scaling, the fins were cut off.

Once the dorsal fin, ventral fin, and pectoral fins were cut off, it was time to remove the head.

"Tsk!"

With the sharp "Breaking Army Saber," Xia Yu applied a slight force with his right arm, lifted with his left hand, and immediately the whole large head of the fish came off, which he then placed in the corner of the worktop.

The fish head was not needed in his recipe but wasn’t a useless scrap either.

Sea bream heads could still be used to cook many delicious dishes; they couldn’t just be discarded.

Next up was gutting.

Xia Yu had no intention of dawdling. He aimed his knife at the side of the sea bream, and with a swish, before the audience could see clearly, a flash of the blade appeared, and in the blink of an eye, the sea bream lying on the worktop was cut into two pieces!

One cut across the belly.

One cut across the back.

What should have been a two-step process merged into a neat and clean single cut!

Upon seeing this, Mars’s pupils shrank slightly.

"It’s a completely different kind of knife skill!" he declared solemnly.

The rest remained silent.

Xingping Chuangzhen and Tiqie Helinai recognized this "one-cut" technique; indeed, it was different.

At this moment, everyone fell silent because Xia Yu was raising the gleaming "Breaking Army Saber" again. This time, after cutting down, the sea bream on the worktop turned into three pieces, one of which was the middle section still attached to the central bone.

Now it was time for deboning, requiring patience and concentration.

Xia Yu picked up a pair of tweezers, carefully removing the small pin bones from the flesh. Although there weren’t many bones in ocean fish, they were still present.

Finally, he skinned and cut the three large pieces of fish flesh into segments!

As everyone watched Xia Yu meticulously disassemble a "Starry Sea Bream," it became clear; he intended to make sashimi!

"Sashimi, raw fish slices!"

Xingping Chuangzhen’s eyes sparkled as he said, "This type of dish certainly fits the theme of ’seafood’ and ’Japanese cuisine’!"

"Who said that only Japanese cuisine has raw fish slices?"

Mars just replied with an enigmatic smile.

"Uh... "

Xingping Chuangzhen scratched his head, at a loss for words.

"But can sashimi defeat Mr. Takai and Mr. Hase at the same time?" Tanaka Hikari said weakly, her large eyes clearly filled with intense worry.

"If it’s sashimi, it all comes down to the ingredients!"

Ichise Hui had already returned, his trolley parked behind Xia Yu, where a two-meter square block of ice sat, emitting wisps of white mist.

He spoke gravely, "Dealing with the ’Starry Sea Bream’ like this is actually the best choice!"

"The flesh of the Starry Sea Bream is of such a high quality that it’s difficult to blend with other ordinary ingredients in a single dish. Without a well-thought-out recipe, improvising on the spot is nine times out of ten a recipe for disaster!" he asserted confidently.

Mars shot an approving glance at the blonde boy. "You’re truly deserving of being one of the Ten Masters of Far Moon."

"The Starry Sea Bream is naturally suited for raw slices. In the circles of special-grade chefs, this method of preparation is also highly recommended, after all, it’s the most authentic way to enjoy the flavor."

Upon hearing this.

It was Yoshino Yuuki who mustered the courage to ask, "So, can Instructor Xia’s ’Starry Sea Bream Sashimi’ defeat Mr. Takai and Mr. Hase?"

This question left Mars deep in thought for a long time.

He shook his head.

"In a special-grade cooking battle, ingredients are indeed an important factor affecting the outcome, but they’re not the key."

"It’s hard to say, really hard to say!" Mars said, shaking his head.