Reborn in Japan as a Chef God
Chapter 469 - 468: The Sapporo Gourmet Festival

Chapter 469: Chapter 468: The Sapporo Gourmet Festival

Sound!

Why is there no sound!

After frying the eight or nine dough balls stuffed with filling on the countertop, Xia Yu rubbed his hair, his face filled with distress.

It seemed that the problem was not the degree of filling in the stuffing, but rather that there was a serious problem elsewhere.

Aunt Zhu Qing had already tried several failed attempts and was half full.

"What are you worrying about?"

She rested her elbows on the dining table nearby, her hands propping up her rosy cheeks, watching Xia Yu pace back and forth in thought. She seemed to find it very interesting.

Xia Yu shook his head and cut open a freshly-fried pastry with a knife.

A rich fragrance escaped, but Xia Yu’s attention was fixed on the structure inside the pastry, ignoring the aroma.

Picking up a piece of the crispy beef from the remnants, Xia Yu thought to himself: "This thing is the source of the food’s sound, to put it simply, it’s like the steel ball inside a jingle bell that makes a clear ringing sound when it collides with the inner wall ... "

He calmed down and once again pondered over the core of the golden recipe—

Sound!

When it comes to sound, one cannot ignore the principle behind it.

Making sound was actually part of the plan when mixing the flour. "Baking soda" was a hidden move, a material that allowed the pastry filled with stuffing to rapidly expand when it entered the hot oil. During the expansion, cracks opened wide, oil surged inside and rapidly hardened the interior wall. At the same time, the beef cubes would collide with the inner wall due to pressure changes as the pastry was removed from the oil, rattling around, generating laughter from it.

After thoroughly analyzing it, Xia Yu felt even more determined after each setback.

"Indeed, the golden recipe isn’t easy to master. Even ’Golden Laughter’, which has relatively simple principles, has extremely demanding requirements for details... From the materials to the technical steps, there’s so much to pay attention to."

Xia Yu resolutely grabbed paper and pen to record this failed experience with a serious attitude.

He refused to believe that he couldn’t conquer this challenge!

...

A few days later.

Whack!

Wearing a baseball cap, Dojima Yin, who usually dressed in crisp suits, now sported casual wear. He was on the private golf course on Ookura Mountain, swinging his club and sending the white ball into the hole.

"Haha, I win, Zongwei!"

Dojima Yin bent down to pick up the ball, boasting to Tiqie Zongwei, who was walking toward him.

"You, as the team leader of the competition, really have the leisure to invite me out for golf!" Tiqie Zongwei’s eyes showed his resentment. Anyone would be unhappy to leave behind their delicate wife and their passion for molecular research to play golf and be tormented.

Dojima Yin, in a good mood, glanced toward the villa below the mountain and suddenly said, "That kid has been in Sapporo for two days, and it seems he hasn’t left the villa at all. Maybe take a step outside?"

Upon mentioning this, Tiqie Zongwei couldn’t help but admire him.

"Yeah, he’s only sixteen and his life revolves around just two places—the bedroom and the kitchen. He’s much more diligent than I was at his age." Tiqie Zongwei said with a smile on his face. "Eriina has been called over to help him these past two days without any complaints ..."

Could it be that he’s researching a new recipe?

Dojima Yin and Tiqie Zongwei exchanged glances, curious.

"Right!"

Tiqie Zongwei frowned slightly. "Has Chiyokuro not arrived yet?"

"He’s actually been in Hokkaido for quite some time. He’s hunting for ingredients in the mountains around Asahikawa City and will meet up with us in a few days."

"He’s on the list you submitted to the tournament committee, right?"

"Of course."

"At least five top chefs forming a team... best three out of five matches. As long as we win three matches, it doesn’t matter who we send out to fight," Tiqie Zongwei was quite relaxed. With Saito Chiyokuro, the Far Moon Team was almost guaranteed to be among the top in the first stage.

"We can’t be careless!"

Dojima Yin shook his head. "He’s back!"

"Who?"

"The exiled one ..."

Upon hearing this, Tiqie Zongwei suddenly gripped his golf club tightly, the veins on the back of his hand bulging.

The perspective returns to the villa’s kitchen.

Taking off his apron, Xia Yu looked tired but the upturned corners of his mouth showed he was in good spirits.

"Thank you, Eriina!"

He sincerely thanked the key contributor. "With the help of your Divine Tongue, I was able to make a barely passing dish."

Indeed.

After two days filled with contemplation and longing, the "Golden Open Mouth Smile" was finally out of the oven.

The system rated it at 60% completeness, 60 points.

Tiqie Eriina stared blankly at the golden yellow dough on the plate. The sound had long since faded away, but she was reluctant to eat such an interesting pastry.

"Yu—"

Just then, along with the sound of running footsteps, an exuberant voice came.

That aunt, more vibrant than a young girl herself, approached bearing a fragrant breeze, "Let’s go, let’s go, you promised me two days ago that we’d go out today, you can’t back out now."

Xia Yu was speechless.

He had been so pestered that he had agreed offhandedly.

Having temporarily conquered the "Golden Open Mouth Smile," there was still Indira’s and Dojima Yin’s killing recipes to tackle!

He must add another popular "killing" card to his deck, Xia Yu told himself, otherwise, what would he use to compete with the top chefs from the gourmet world of various countries? Rely on the one-time "Peacock Dance"? Where would he find the ingredients!

However, one cannot be tense all the time.

With the competition starting in three days, Xia Yu also wanted to relax a bit before the back-to-back intense battles.

"Okay then, I’ll change clothes."

Xia Yu nodded lightly.

"But let me say in advance, auntie, give me some normal clothes to wear, don’t make me wear those female knight cosplay outfits of yours. I don’t want to be the center of attention!"

He reminded her three times over, just to be safe.

"Wait a minute!"

When Zhu Qing appeared again after a while, her ancient styled dress was gone, replaced by a tailored women’s suit. Beneath the black jacket was a white blouse adorned with lace around the collar and buttons, pretty without compromising softness, a spitting image of a professional office beauty.

Tiqie Eriina barely perceptible from a distance, turned up the corner of her mouth.

"I’m going to change clothes too!"

And so.

The leaving party grew to three, and somehow Zhu Qing had found out that there was an ongoing food festival nearby Hokkaido Shrine, said to last until mid-October.

The Lin Chef’s duel ground was right there at Hokkaido Shrine.

But the special chefs’ duels were scattered across two large arenas.

From afar, the taxi was forced to stop by the crowds of the festival, and the driver kept apologizing as he looked back.

"Let’s get out—"

Xia Yu paid the fare and got out of the car.

The three of them stood at Dingmu Street in front of the shrine, where the crowd was dense, the street completely clogged with people, and both sides were lined with tightly packed food stalls. As soon as they got out of the car, the scents of Kantou stew, Chinese fried noodles, and octopus balls assailed them.

The sound of gongs and drums.

A large parade procession just happened to pass by, with Kabuki dancers performing gracefully on stages carried by strong men.

In short, the atmosphere was full of festival cheer, along with tourists of various skin colors and a mix of different languages being spoken. It could only be said that during the Legendary Kitchen Utensil Competition, Sapporo had become a veritable city of non-stop celebration.

It had only been a few minutes since the three began walking, each holding a fragrant skewer and a steaming sea bream cake in hand.

"Let’s go over and look—"

The way ahead was blocked, it seemed an argument had sparked onlookers, and reporters were filming inside the crowd. Aunt Zhu Qing got excited, pulled at Xia Yu’s arm, and without caring whether he agreed or not, she dragged him along. Tiqie Eriina, annoyed, hurriedly followed.

Did Lin Chef enjoy being part of the onlooker crowd too?

Xia Yu complained in his mind but was soon drawn in by the content of the argument, pricking up his ears.

"No, that’s not right!"

A young man argued passionately in English, his face flushed as he said, "Creamy Matsutake mushrooms have a milk-like taste and flavor on their own, and one can appreciate their supreme taste just eating them as is. Why add inferior cream and ruin the purity, mixing up the flavors of the dish? I do not agree with your modification! It is a regression, not an evolution!"

The middle-aged man on the opposite side, however, was composed and listened with a smile.

"Inferior cream? Mixed flavors? This is about creating layers of complexity. You are too extreme in your use of Fantasy Ingredients. Do not overly sanctify Fantasy Ingredients!" The middle-aged man shook his head, replying in English as well.

Xia Yu listened and found it interesting.

A street debate?

It seemed to be more than that as they squeezed into the inner circle and saw the young and middle-aged men facing off, with a stall nearby where a smiling old man sat watching from the sidelines.

The old man appeared to be an onlooker, and the stall had a handwritten English sign:

Recipe modification proposals wanted.

Payment offered.