Reborn in Japan as a Chef God
Chapter 354 - 353: Reckless Actions

Chapter 354: Chapter 353: Reckless Actions

Gasps.

In kitchen number one, several half-sphere cameras tucked into corners all focused their lenses on the closely observed young man.

"A stick!"

Xia Yu seemed to have found a pitch-black stick from some corner.

The stick appeared to be made of metal; it gleamed slightly with a metallic luster in the light of the charcoal oven.

The key was that after Xia Yu took out the stick, he quickly washed it on the kitchen counter, dried it with a cloth, then turned back to the large charcoal oven to check on the "Jile Rice" bobbing up and down in the boiling water...

Whoosh—

Suddenly, a black shadow flashed, and more than half of the three-foot-long black stick disappeared into the boiling water.

The gathering hall went from gasps to dead silence.

Viewers watching the live broadcast were probably choking on this scene.

Online, an old man using a VPN to watch the broadcast was taken aback.

"...That’s a pastry rolling pin, right?"

Xia Qing had returned to his ancestral home in Shu from the Capital City. In front of him was a dark red desk made of yellow rosewood with some age to it; there lay a new laptop computer, with scarcely a few software icons on the desktop—so much so that even the web browser was still the original system default.

He stared at the computer, his furrowed eyebrows gradually relaxing in thought, seemingly understanding the significance behind his grandson’s action.

"So that’s it, haha!" Xia Qing laughed heartily in his study, his face brimming with gratification.

"It seems that book was truly given to the right person..."

On the screen.

Xia Yu, with a focused expression, grasped the black stick, his fingers, wrist, and arm of his right hand constantly rotating around the inner wall of the clay pot.

Rotating!

Rotate!

The black stick began to move faster and faster.

The "Jile Rice" in the pot swirled like a white waterfall, mingling with the boiling clear water, swhooshing by.

"This, this isn’t the same pastry rolling pin he used last time he cooked noodles?"

Qiushan Hong and Shinohara Shigetaro were stunned.

A month before in the Xia Family branch kitchen, the Far Moon General and the Governor of Tokyo, who had also witnessed Xia Yu prepare the "Soul-Calming Noodles" and "Galaxy Noodles," wore an astounded expression.

Among the Far Moon student team, Ichise Hui, Kobayakawa Ryodan, and Tiqie Helinai, even stood up involuntarily, mouths agape, looking up at the huge screen hanging above the hall. The stick used by the young chef and the technique he was displaying looked so familiar in their eyes.

Soon, inside the clay pot, a whirlpool gradually appeared in the close-up shot.

At the whirlpool’s center, a tornado made of rice and water stuck tightly to the rough walls of the pot, howling as it spun, emitting piercing friction noises!

The White Dragon!

"Round!"

Qiushan Hong exhaled and said.

Shinohara Shigetaro glanced at him, nodded, and added, "That’s right! Chef Xia is ’drawing circles’!"

The dialogue was so familiar.

A month ago, they had said it, and now facing the camera for the Special Level exam, they had to say it again.

But these are different times.

Back then, Xia Yu’s techniques of "spinning" and "drawing circles" satisfied Qiushan Hong, passing through his Special Level Candidate review, and thereafter, he was allowed early access to the world of Special Level chefs.

But now, the theme wasn’t pastry, but "Jile Rice"! Cooking with Fantasy Ingredients!

The emotions of these two judges may be best described as chaotic.

Using pastry dough techniques elsewhere...

Wasn’t this nonsense?

"Um, what does ’drawing circles’ mean?" Chiyoda Aichi tentatively asked.

"Pay attention to the movement of his arms—"

"And the stick—"

Shinohara Shigetaro raised his hand, pointing towards the screen.

Upon hearing this, Yuchuan Ayaka looked up, the stick and the young man’s arms reflecting in her eyes, possessing an indescribable grace.

His hands were very steady.

Like the conductor of an orchestra with his baton.

Thump, thump!

For some reason, Yuchuan Ayaka’s heartbeat suddenly accelerated. It was as if through the screen, through the visuals, she could hear the deep, reverberating storm that was swirling in the kitchen at that moment!

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh...

The wind picked up!

Not only the water and rice inside the earthenware pot, but as the young man stirred with his stick and hand, a white tornado formed within the pot.

"Roar—"

From somewhere within the earthen jar, a vague white dragon’s head emerged, emitting a menacing roar.

Yuchuan Ayaka shuddered, her eyes reflecting a surge of apprehension.

"Get down!"

At this moment, the young man’s lips barely moved as he whispered a command, his right hand gripping the black stick, and with a swift stir, the white dragon let out a reluctant whimper and retreated back into the earthenware pot.

At that instant, the rough, clumsy, and rustic earthen pot, in Yuchuan Ayaka’s eyes, had become the ultimate treasure for imprisoning the evil dragon!

"Boom!"

Suddenly, raging flames burst forth from beneath the large charcoal stove under the earthen pot,

The frantic fire serpent, following the pot’s outer wall as if burning its way up to the rim, turned the entire clay-colored jar a vivid orange-red hue in the firelight!

Inside the pot, the white tornado and the red flames outside complemented each other, dazzlingly.

And in Yuchuan Ayaka’s eyes, the fire serpent and the White Dragon were locked in a fierce battle!

White Dragon.

Fire Serpent.

Incredibly, the Fire Serpent seemed to have the upper hand! Unbelievable!

She was so astounded that she couldn’t help but rub her eyes, looking again at the scene on the screen, where everything returned to normal, as though the flames and the appearance of the dragon had been nothing but her own wild speculation.

Qiushan Hong and Shinohara Shigetaro simply said "draw a circle" and ceased their commentary.

Chiyoda Aichi signaled with her eyes for the judges to continue.

"Cough!"

Shinohara Shigetaro gave a slight cough, somewhat embarrassed.

He could hardly tell the audience that the young chef was performing a pastry chef’s technique—besides, the stick was no ordinary object; it was a pastry chef’s rolling pin, regarded as one’s life in the profession, and now it had become the key to the young chef’s culinary creation!

But what exactly was the young chef preparing?

Even Shinohara Shigetaro was perplexed.

"I’ll explain..."

Qiushan Hong took over the hot potato, and Chiyoda Aichi immediately turned her sparkling gaze on him.

"The cooking technique used by Chef Xia is essentially a pastry making skill."

As soon as these words left his mouth, expressions among the audience turned intriguing.

Pastry?

Wait, what does this dish have to do with ’Jile Rice’, are you kidding me?!

A confused audience turned their eyes to Qiushan Hong, and the atmosphere tensed.

Qiushan Hong maintained an innocent expression.

"A pastry chef’s ability to draw a large and deep circle... Anyway, from this circle, you can tell the extent of his skill," Qiushan Hong struggled under the weight of the audience’s stares, had to take a deep breath, and disclosed, "If I’m not mistaken, Chef Xia plans to use pastry-making techniques to cook a pot of porridge!"

Porridge!

The entire audience erupted into a murmur.

Stirring madly with a stick to cook porridge?

"Porridge!"

Hearing Qiushan Hong say this, a spark of insight suddenly flashed through Shinohara Shigetaro’s mind.

"Wait—"

"Activate the detector, measure the temperature on the outside and inside walls of the earthen pot!"

He immediately issued the instruction.

Shortly, precise values appeared on the screen:

Outer wall—160 degrees Celsius.

Inner wall—120 degrees Celsius.

Temperatures at the base of the pot, directly above the dense part of the charcoal stove’s flame, even reached as high as 200 degrees Celsius.

And the temperatures were still rising.

"No wonder he used an earthen pot instead of a clay pot!"

Shock was evident in Shinohara Shigetaro’s eyes.

"Compared to a clay pot, an earthen pot might not be as good at retaining heat and warmth, but it excels in heat resistance!"

"With such continuous high-temperature cooking, the vessel must resist heat, or it is likely to burst!" Shinohara Shigetaro said, his complexion slightly changing, "100 degrees is the boiling point of water, and if the water’s temperature keeps rising from that point, it will become steam and rapidly evaporate!"

"Can he, can he control it?"