Reborn in Japan as a Chef God
Chapter 538 - 537: Three Against Two?

Chapter 538: Chapter 537: Three Against Two?

Tiqie Ji prepared two Forbidden Ingredients for the culinary battle, truly capturing the initiative.

What about the preparation of the other contestant?

The audience was expectant.

At this moment, Xia Yu opened his box, and the atmosphere in the venue instantly solidified.

Whoosh—

A surge of treasure energy.

The instant the lid was lifted, the white light lingered for a long time, enveloping the young man in its brilliance, blurring his silhouette.

"What is this?!"

Some shielded their eyes, but many strained to keep them open, braving the sunlight-like glare. Even if tears streamed from their eyes, they remained unblinkingly focused on the box.

The smile vanished from Tiqie Ji’s face.

"This kind of light..." His expression changed, and he struggled to think of any ingredient with a luminous effect. Tiqie Ji’s heart sank, "Could it be that besides ’Gem Meat’ and egg mixture, he has a third Forbidden Ingredient at his command?!"

With this thought, Ghost Father, his opponent, could not help but show a trace of shock on his face.

In the guest seating area.

Jintan Shun and Tulip exchanged looks and smiled.

"I was wondering!" Jintan Shun chuckled softly, his tone playful, "No wonder he purchased a third Forbidden Ingredient before the competition. So, it was meant for the culinary battle after all..."

Saying this, the mercenary frowned.

"But the timing is too tight!" Jintan Shun’s eyes were filled with intense skepticism, "Can you truly grasp the mastery of a Forbidden Ingredient from scratch in just two or three days?"

"It’s rather unlikely..."

Tulip chuckled softly, "But since he dares to reveal ’Star Rice’ in a culinary battle, he must be confident. Let’s just watch and see!"

"Confident? Speaking of which, even you, Tulip, haven’t fully mastered ’Star Rice’, right?"

Jintan Shun still shook his head.

While they conversed, the young chef at the cooking station plunged his hands into the sealed ingredient box and held up a handful of rice grains emanating a faint white light.

"Rice?"

"What kind of rice is this? Could there be another kind of rice more mysterious than ’Jile Rice’, ’Strawberry Rice’, or ’Jet Black Rice’?"

"It’s just too beautiful, each grain like a tiny gem, unquestionably a Forbidden Ingredient!"

Ordinary audience members discussed, and the professional chefs in the guest seats murmured among themselves.

At this time, laughter came from the judges’ table.

"So it’s ’Star Rice’!"

One of the eight Lin Giants of the Gourmet Association, known as the ’Burning Purple Rose’, the purple-haired chef Andrea, narrowed her eyes, "Like stars that dazzle, each grain is a miniature star. To handle ’Star Rice’, one must be careful and attentive, to wash and cook each grain individually—only then can it be called the most basic level of ’mastery’ and ’application’."

Beside her, the masked Sta spoke in a deep voice, "Yes, ’Star Rice’ is as rare and precious as ’Merck’s Stars’, but unlike spices, this main ingredient is incredibly difficult to handle!"

"The challenge lies in the cooking timing!"

"If you cook each grain individually, how are you going to control the timing?"

Upon hearing this, the venue fell silent; everyone pondered.

Indeed.

Not to mention washing them individually, but how to cook each grain separately was the question.

The two judges from IGO, Luther and Adelaide, exchanged serious looks.

"This is an extremely delicate ingredient, delicious but not easy to cook." Agricultural research authority Luther sighed, his gaze flickering, "IGO started researching ’Star Rice’ as far back as ten years ago. However, it is too fragile, and our research project has yet to make any progress. I’m afraid that for the next ten years, the large-scale cultivation of this Taboo Rice will remain nothing but a pipe dream."

The judges offered their opinions one by one.

Xia Yu listened quietly and, seeing everyone’s attention return to him, he couldn’t help but smile and then turned to inspect the other two ingredient boxes.

In one box was about 1 jin of "Gem Meat".

Another, similar to the box where Tiqie Ji stored "Merck’s Stars", had approximately eight to nine tenths of its space filled with sponge padding, and the entire inside of the box was kept at a lower temperature. When opened, mist billowed out, revealing a glass bottle containing a viscous golden liquid which sparkled under the lights of the venue.

Witnessing this scene.

Tiqie Ji’s pupils contracted, "He’s prepared ’Star Rice’... He’s also brought ’Gem Meat’ and mysterious egg yolk... That makes three Forbidden Ingredients, has this kid gone mad?!"

A trace of hidden horror flashed in his eyes.

"Impossible!" Tiqie Ji shook his head internally, vehemently rejecting that terrifying thought, "Even if he’s taking an important step towards becoming a Qilin Chef, he would only be able to control one Taboo Resonance Ingredient. Using a Resonance Ingredient to conquer and harness another Forbidden Ingredient is already the limit, how could he possibly conquer a third one? It’s not just about managing, it’s downright impossible!"

"To blindly stack ingredients together, thinking three versus two, could he overpower me in terms of ingredients? Ignorant, arrogant!"

His expression turned frosty, Tiqie Ji took a few deep breaths to stabilize his emotions, managing not to be thrown off balance by Xia Yu’s extravagant array of ingredients.

Not just Tiqie Ji, but even the five Qilin-level Judges were visibly shaken, speechless for a long time.

"The cooking segment begins!"

At precisely eleven o’clock in the morning, the director on the floor gestured to Chiyoda Aichi and Dubian Yuuki. Consequently, the female host announced with a trembling voice that an international culinary battle had officially begun!

After all, Tiqie Ji was part of Far Moon’s 69th ’Golden Generation’ of elite chefs who had accumulated countless culinary battle experiences during his high school days.

Ding!

Once the bell rang out again, Tiqie Ji immediately cast aside any stray thoughts from his mind and entered a state of combat.

He pulled out a Western-style chef’s knife while, with his left hand, he retrieved a small bottle of liquid nitrogen prepared before the match from underneath the kitchen counter—hissing, his left hand pressed the spray valve, and instantly a thick white fog enveloped the Forbidden Snake Meat on the cutting board.

The temperature of the air around the cooking station plummeted.

Using liquid nitrogen spray on the meat?

It was unexpected—right from the start of the culinary battle, it was like unleashing a nuclear high-energy strike—leaving the audience with their eyes bulging and expressions of disarray.

"Even though the meat is already thawed, why use liquid nitrogen to freeze it?"

"That’s not right!"

Hearing the commotion, Chiyoda Aichi looked towards the judges’ seats with an inquisitive gaze.

Luther, a Lin Chef from Germany and authority in the IGO research community, praised, "This is exactly the right way to handle ’Demon Big Snake Meat’!"

"You must understand, even with beef prior to slicing it into thin strips or pieces, to achieve more precise cuts, the whole piece can be wrapped and frozen until it is firm and retains its shape before cutting."

"I’ve said before, cutting this kind of Taboo Snake Meat is a major challenge due to its extremely active cells. The tissues resist fiercely during slicing, and the resulting cuts of meat are naturally severely deformed. But with liquid nitrogen freezing, cell activity is reduced, the meat hardens, and the shape is stabilized, making subsequent cutting much easier and less prone to mistakes."

People couldn’t help but marvel.

Mastering Forbidden Ingredients was all about the details.

But back to Tiqie Ji, after one spray of the liquid nitrogen bottle, he felt the snake meat on the cutting board but didn’t immediately begin cutting. Frowning, he took an onion, diced it, and placed a flat pan on the stove. He began by lightly sautéing the onion in olive oil.

Of course, the auxiliary ingredients Tiqie Ji prepared alongside the snake meat and Taboo Spices were also extraordinary. The onions were "Wine God Onions," which Beiye Shu had once used to master the "Jile Rice" during a special grade exam.

The Wine God Onion contained a very high concentration of alcohol; hence, during the sautéing process, the milky white onion dices rapidly emitted vapor, with each piece faintly surrounded by elusive flames.

Soon, a rich scent of alcohol inherent to the ingredients mixed with the melted butter.

Click!

Suddenly, Tiqie Ji stopped the fire, intently watching the pan whose temperature had plummeted, seemingly capturing a crucial moment. At the same time, his other hand reached for the glass bottle containing the Taboo Spices.

"Sizzle sizzle..."

Specks of golden powder sprinkled into the pan.

Against a backdrop of white onion dice and butter, the golden specks seemed to create a canvas of sparkling crystals, twinkling.

Abruptly, Tiqie Ji stirred with a wooden spatula, whoosh, like a magic trick, the entire pot of sauce turned golden. Seeing this, Tiqie Ji visibly relaxed, his forehead slightly sweating, eyes gleaming with a hint of pride, "Getting past this crucial step, mastering ’Merck’s Stars’ is no longer a problem!"

With that thought in mind, Tiqie Ji relaxed his body and mind, raising his head to look across the stage.

"Huh?!"

His face bore an expression as if he’d seen a ghost.

Tiqie Ji’s eyes widened.