Reborn in Japan as a Chef God
Chapter 374 - 373: Probing

Chapter 374: Chapter 373: Probing

Soul!

Soul!

Infuse the dish with soul!

When Xia Yu pushed the cart back to the courtyard, his mind was still pondering.

"Fierce Ice Fresh Sea Bream Mountain" was a recipe with a high degree of risk, where the danger referred to frostbite.

After passing the special grade assessment, he had raised his culinary skill level from LV35 to LV36 and received one Talent Point, which he allocated to the culinary technique "Arhat Crystal Slash." Having maxed out this technique, the completion level of "Fierce Ice Fresh Sea Bream Mountain" was undoubtedly set to rise another notch.

But Xia Yu kept a trick up his sleeve.

Why, while facing only the second non-human judge, had he chosen the high-risk "Fierce Ice Fresh Sea Bream Mountain," which had a high chance of causing frostbitten palms?

The reason was simple.

He felt he had found a loophole where he could "cut corners."

The most straightforward evidence was that Yuchuan Meisha, when making soy sauce soup ramen earlier, used packaged instant noodles commonly found in supermarkets instead of handmade ones.

Without a doubt.

This type of noodle was far inferior to handmade noodles. Outside of Yuchuan Temple, if Yuchuan Meisha used such materials in any culinary duel, she would probably not be able to escape the fate of failure. The critics in the outside world, those gourmets and professional chefs, were unimaginably picky about ingredients, tolerating not the slightest flaw!

However, this very noodle dish with severe flaws was easily accepted by that strange old woman!

And it had suppressed his "Soul-Calming Noodles"!

This was what triggered Xia Yu’s deep contemplation.

Perhaps, in Yuchuan Temple, ingredients were not the key.

The aesthetic of the delicacy, or rather the soul, was what satisfied the non-human existences.

Speculation needed confirmation, so Xia Yu decided to go with the "Fierce Ice Fresh Sea Bream Mountain" recipe!

"Ice block?"

The sound of the cart’s wheels carried far in the quiet monastery.

When Xia Yu emerged from the night, the remaining four judges and Yuchuan Meisha, who were already busy with their own cooking at the kitchen station, all shot him a surprised glance.

A new environment always brings surprises.

If he were at Xia’s shop, taking out a block of ice, the customers or apprentices would know what he was going to do next.

Without further explanation,

He hoisted the ice block onto the kitchen counter. It wasn’t large, about one meter square.

Taking out the "Wenqu Saber," Xia Yu started carving with intense focus. His meticulous sculpting skills had improved significantly in the past month, as if he had subtly integrated the ’one slash’ essence of the "Fierce Bull Azure Dragon Slash." With just a few swift cuts, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

Starlight flitted by.

The cuts were too clean, too fast, and since the "Wenqu Saber" was already small, it only left momentary flashes of starlight in the night. Before the real blade light could bloom, the little knife had already penetrated the ice.

"Crack, crack, crack..."

Soon, under the astonished gazes of the judges and both the Yuchuan Abbot and Yuchuan Meisha, the whole block of ice suddenly fractured and fell apart!

An avalanche!

Chunks of ice fell away on their own, and, in the end, an embryonic form of an ice sculpture of a turtle was presented on the kitchen counter.

The cool moonlight spilled into the courtyard.

Before the young chef lay scattered ice blocks, and the embryonic Mystic Turtle, raising its head high as if it had acquired some kind of profound spirit, its surface shimmering with silver moonlight, presented a potent visual impact.

Across the kitchen counter.

Yuchuan Meisha’s mouth hung open, her preparations unintentionally brought to a halt.

She was also preparing sashimi.

A large tuna that had its head removed, leaving only the body, was placed on the cutting board before her. Yuchuan Meisha had already completed scaling, gilling, and deboning, stopping at the final slicing stage.

There was a reason tuna was known as the king of sashimi.

Yuchuan Meisha had chosen the most expensive kind of tuna, the bluefin, and she planned to take only the meat from the belly, near the head, known as the "toro."

The meat from this part of the tuna is tender, pink, and melts in the mouth with a rich, fatty flavor.

Once again, their paths crossed!

What they were preparing to present was both sashimi, raw fish slices!

Therefore, when Xia Yu began carving an ice sculpture and then brought a large sea bream onto the kitchen counter to decapitate, descale, and remove the fins, and then cut the body into three pieces and remove the main bone, Yuchuan Meisha was even more astonished.

"Are you also planning to make sashimi?" she couldn’t help but ask.

The four non-human judges, including the Yuchuan Abbot, watched Xia Yu’s busy work without blinking.

"Yes!"

Xia Yu smiled slightly, "However, I prefer to call my dish ’Fish Kuai’!"

"Fish Kuai?"

Yuchuan Meisha tilted her head.

"Unfortunately..." Xia Yu glanced at the judges’ seats and shook his head.

"Unfortunately what?"

The red-clothed woman who looked dissatisfied with Xia Yu asked.

"Nothing!"

Already harboring the thought of cutting corners, Xia Yu secretly smiled to himself, pitying these ghosts for missing out on his culinary delights. He decided to focus more on the ambiance of the dish, that is, to weave a world of gourmet food with his culinary spirit, endowing the dish with a soul.

This was something on a spiritual level.

So, for the "Fierce Ice Fresh Carving Mountain," there had to be significant reductions in technical skills such as knife work.

Nevertheless, when Xia Yu switched from the Wenqu Saber to the Fierce Bull Green Dragon Slash and started to rapidly slice the fish, it still elicited a chorus of hisses from the audience.

"This knife skill!"

Lord Li of the first seat, witnessing the fish slices as thin as threads drifting down like snowflakes onto the back of the Mystical Turtle Ice Sculpture, swallowed hard and commented in awe, "Terrifying! Did Kamakura ever have a chef with such frightening knife skills in the past? No, it would be difficult to find one even in Kanagawa!"

The fourth seat was empty.

The monk in the third seat and the long-haired judge with a smoking pipe in the fifth seat exchanged solemn looks.

Meanwhile, in the darkness unseen by Xia Yu, a group of spectators was keenly observing the clandestine culinary battle.

"Is this guy really only sixteen years old? I think he’s the reincarnation of some demonic star!"

"Psh, demonic star, reincarnation!"

"It looks delicious, but I still want to try Meisha’s cooking more! Her dishes truly satisfy our cravings!"

The whispers in the shadows went unheard.

Done!

After setting down the Fierce Bull Green Dragon Slash, Xia Yu gazed at the sea bream slices covering the Mystical Turtle Ice Sculpture and nodded.

There was a layer of fine sweat on his forehead.

The evening breeze of summer blew by, the sweat evaporated, and a cool sensation spread throughout his body. Xia Yu didn’t bother to wipe his face; he firmly lifted the entire ice sculpture onto the table. Yuchuan Meisha, who was already waiting, curiously asked:

"Is this ice sculpture used to lock in the ’freshness’ of the fish slices?"

"Hmm, you could say it’s an indispensable prop for a magician. Without it, the crucial component for the ’Time Freezing’ magic would be missing!" Xia Yu said in his riddle-like adolescently dramatic speech.

"Eh!"

Having said that, Xia Yu glanced at the transparent ice dish in her hand.

The dish was also filled with blocks of ice.

Strangely, slices of pink tuna sashimi were standing erect on the ice cubes, each backed by a green leaf, instantly enriching the color palette of the ice dish.

The wind brought a hint of freshness, the scent of lemon!

Xia Yu’s gaze investigated, and then his eyes revealed a look of enlightenment. It turns out that between the leaves and the fish slices, there was a thin slice of lemon, easily overlooked.

Lemon and seafood, a perfect match!