Reborn in Japan as a Chef God
Chapter 355 - 354: Spinning Porridge

Chapter 355: Chapter 354: Spinning Porridge

"Can he control it?"

Shinohara Shigetaro’s slightly deep voice echoed in the suddenly quiet hall.

Control!

Even non-professional chefs knew the inherent meaning and difficulty of "control."

Theoretically, the temperature of boiling water continues to rise after reaching 100 degrees Celsius, and at the same time, as the water temperature increases, the speed at which the boiling water evaporates also becomes faster!

The key lay in the balance of heat and water volume!

It was a pot of porridge, and if the water boiled away, wouldn’t that just result in a burnt pot and a complete failure?

"Why not use a gentle flame!"

"Yeah, there are still about 3 hours left. If he cooked the porridge with a gentle flame, there would be plenty of time!"

"This, this..."

After the silence, there was a commotion that took a long time to subside.

Not only the chefs in the guest seats were frowning and discussing, but also the students and teachers from Far Moon were talking among themselves. Judging from the whispers filling the hall, most of the comments were of disbelief, and some chefs even doubted whether Xia Yu had given up.

Given up?

This suggestion actually resonated with many people.

After all, under circumstances where time permitted, betting all at once on 18 pounds of "Jile Rice" seemed to the audience undoubtedly capricious.

With safer, more varied responses available, why chose to go out on a limb and take such a gamble?

Even Ichise Hui, Kobayakawa Ryodan, and Tiqie Helinai, who were part of the support group, inevitably felt a twinge of resentment.

"Instructor Xia is always so cool!!"

Yoshino Yuuki’s eyes were firmly fixed on the screen, watching the chef of her age. Yet her gaze, full of admiration and longing, was as if she was looking up at a tall mountain.

In a way, Xia Yu’s actions were very much to the liking of this quirky young girl.

Slap!

An unexpected karate chop landed on the back of Yuji’s head, making her cry out in pain and cover her head, turning to meet Reiko’s reproachful eyes.

"Yuji, you shouldn’t say such things!"

Shen Liangzi said softly, "Instructor Xia is just trying to win in his way and to get through the special gate!"

Upon hearing this, the surrounding Tanaka Hikari and Xingping Chuangzhen,

and even Sen Tian Makoto who knew Xia Yu best, all cast surprised looks.

Shen Liangzi, who gave a big sister-like sense of gentleness and stability, continued with a light laugh, "Think about it, isn’t it true? Ever since he came to Far Moon and started challenging senior Si Yingshi, hasn’t he always followed his path without heeding others?"

Tiqie Helinai sat not far away, biting her thumb, with a complex look in her eyes.

On the screen.

The young chef stood in front of the stove, enduring high temperatures.

"Whosh—"

"Whosh—"

The black pastry stick still inserted in the boiling water in the clay pot stirred and rotated along the inner wall of the pot, dragging a white vortex. If one listened closely, one could hear the sound of rice grains hitting the inner wall gradually weakening.

That was the signal of the rice grains softening and cooking thoroughly!

Under such high-temperature stewing, even ’Jile Rice’ among the Fantasy Ingredients rapidly cooked through.

However, judging from the pace at which Xia Yu was moving in a circular motion with his arm, his pastry stick had not slowed down or stopped in the slightest.

The hall on site fell into silence for about ten minutes.

Qiushan Hong and Shinohara Shigetaro, who were initially confused, both began to understand a bit of the method.

"I see!"

Qiushan Hong exclaimed.

"I get it now—"

Shinohara Shigetaro added timely, immediately drawing the attention of the entire venue.

"Please, Minister Shinohara, explain!" Chiyoda Aichi pursed her lips. There had been 10 minutes of silence before, and it was her negligence as the host controlling the event, but with the judges themselves confused, she, a semi-professional host, couldn’t save the situation.

There was silence for about ten seconds while he composed his thoughts, and then Shinohara Shigetaro looked directly into the camera and slowly said, "’Cooking congee’ is regarded as one of the most basic cooking skills. When you all ’cook congee,’ you definitely use a spoon to stir it, right?"

Upon hearing this, a group of people in the hall nodded.

In front of the live broadcast screen, countless viewers also nodded.

Isn’t that obvious? If you don’t stir the congee, won’t the bottom of the pot burn?

Eh!

With that hint, many professional chefs’ eyes lit up.

"That’s right!"

"Spinning, stirring!"

Shinohara Shigetaro said, "However, unlike the ’stirring’ technique we usually use, at ultra-high cooking temperatures, stirring and spinning cannot stop for a second, otherwise the prolonged contact of the congee with the inner walls of the clay pot, and the excessively high temperatures of the walls will immediately evaporate the water from the congee, scorch the rice grains, and cause the congee to burn at the bottom—"

"Have you noticed? Chef Xia’s spinning, it’s always clockwise, in one direction!"

It was a very basic statement.

This was a principle that any novice in the culinary world could understand.

"Don’t think it’s simple!" Shinohara Shigetaro reminded with a meaningful look, "Stirring, besides preventing the congee from burning at the bottom, has an even more important function, which is to even out the heat of the congee being cooked, the so-called ’uniformity’ of the heat. The essence is hidden in there!"

"A clay pot, in terms of concentrating heat and insulation, is not as good as a sand pot, and the heat is even harder to control, especially when cooking with ultra-high temperatures!"

Heat control!

All present revealed a look of understanding.

"Congee cooked with such high heat is indeed difficult to control!" Yuchuan Ayaka thought to herself. "But heat control is just one aspect. Is he really planning to cook just a pot of plain rice congee?"

Plain rice congee?

Thinking about that possibility made Yuchuan Ayaka want to laugh.

Such a dish wouldn’t be fit for a grand setting; if it was really just plain rice congee, then sorry, no matter how good it tastes, the three strict judges would issue a direct death sentence.

In the midst of whispered gossip, the camera stayed fixed on kitchen number 1 for at least half an hour.

The voices from the hall gradually disappeared, and finally, the atmosphere returned to dead silence.

Xia Yu stood beside the charcoal stove and clay pot, the black facial point stick in his hand drawing circles, never stopping.

Similarly, the white tornado inside the clay pot also never ceased spinning.

However, the color of the tornado had gradually changed from snow white to the shade of condensed milk.

As for the sound of the rice grains washing against the inner walls of the clay pot, it had completely vanished.

There was no doubt that the rice grains were fully cooked.

Under normal circumstances, such a large pot of congee would have been finished, but not only did Xia Yu not stop, but the large charcoal stove remained red hot.

"Eh—"

The entire place was in an uproar.

Because Xia Yu finally put down the facial point stick, but he turned around to fetch charcoal, adding more to intensify the flames.

Then, he moved the bucket to the countertop, and as people wondered what he was doing, he quickly lifted a kettle that was already on the countertop, pouring out two full kettles one after another, and finally obtained a full bucket of hot water.

Whoosh!

Then, under everyone’s watchful eyes, Xia Yu poured an entire bucket of hot water into the clay pot.

"This way, won’t this ruin the taste of the congee?"

"When cooking congee and the water runs low, of course, you can add more water as needed, but it has to be hot water! That way it doesn’t affect the taste!"

Many similar comments were heard.

What followed was a long period of stirring with a stick.

Xia Yu was sweating profusely, but his expression and gaze were more focused and serious than ever before!

Giving up?

Don’t joke!

The camera continued to focus on him for half an hour, and after seeing no further changes, it had no choice but to switch to the kitchens of the other contestants.