Reborn in Japan as a Chef God
Chapter 630 - 629: Before the Mountain Top (Part 2)

Chapter 630: Chapter 629: Before the Mountain Top (Part 2)

Zhu Qing and Saito Chiyokuro’s cooperative creation had gradually taken shape as the cooking time passed, and Xia Yu, no matter how optimistic, could only watch from the sidelines.

He vaguely regretted not having intervened or given guidance in the past few days.

Ah!

Up to now, Xia Yu’s mind was still filled with the shadow of the "Four Divine Seafood Eight Treasure Soul Suppressing Dumplings." This supreme recipe in the field of pastries indeed involved too much knowledge. Kneading and shaping the dough were just the basics. The deeper mystery of balancing yin and yang was something he only partly understood.

In a flash, an hour and a half had passed.

"Dang!"

The sudden sound of the bell startled Xia Yu out of the Chef God Space, and he opened his eyes. "Is the cooking segment over?"

Hearing his murmured question, Jintan Shun laughed heartily from behind. "I truly believe now that you’re very calm, sleeping through such a tense cooking showdown. Impressive—"

He gave a thumbs up.

Tulip, Ishino Harumi, and several nearby guests couldn’t help but laugh.

"It’s not over yet, but someone has finished early—" someone said to Xia Yu. He shook his head to wake up. "Finished early? Which team?"

His heart couldn’t help but tighten as he focused his gaze on the stage.

"Eh!"

He was surprised to see an unexpected team, Qiushan Hong and Shinohara Shigetaro, ascend the stage together to present their culinary creation to the judges.

The camera zoomed in, and when the dishes before the five reviewers appeared on the screen, Xia Yu’s surprise deepened. Like many spectators, he exclaimed—

"Chicken cutlet rice?"

On the judging table were five plates of ordinary chicken cutlet rice.

Thigh meat lay atop white rice grains, garnished with carrot slices and broccoli for decoration. The thick, fragrant teriyaki sauce was poured over half of the rice and chicken cutlets. At first glance, the presentation looked quite appealing, whetting the appetite.

"Our culinary work is... Teriyaki Chicken Cutlet Rice!" Qiushan Hong said calmly into the microphone handed by the female host.

"Hmm, the combination of rice and chicken cutlet is indeed ordinary. It seems you’ve focused the essence of the dish on ’idea,’ haven’t you?" Chief Judge Nuliang said with a low chuckle.

He didn’t rush to taste, but gazed at Qiushan Hong and Shinohara Shigetaro, "Can you first talk about your understanding of the theme ’Highest Good, Like Water’?"

The two chefs exchanged glances.

Shinohara Shigetaro answered, "Accepting all rivers."

He then fell silent.

"Accepting all rivers?" Many foreign guests looked puzzled, needing interpreters to translate the phrase. However, chefs from the Asia-Pacific influenced by Chinese culture had eyes that brightened.

The phrase conveyed a broad and accommodating spirit akin to water’s virtues.

Nuliang nodded, as did Kogawa Shinyiro, serving as the host, even Xia Qing and Tiqie Xianzuowen, the top figures watching the live broadcast, also nodded—this approach to the topic was correct.

"Well then..."

Thus, Chief Judge Nuliang led the other four judges to begin the tasting.

The elderly Nuliang picked up a piece of chicken cutlet coated in teriyaki sauce and brought it close to his nose.

The aroma of the sauce and chicken wafted over, faintly accompanied by the sound of wings flapping.

"I see!" Suddenly understanding something, Nuliang murmured, tearing off half the chicken cutlet. As the flavor of the chicken and sauce surged up his tongue, even with mental preparation, the old man couldn’t help but say, "Floating, floating!"

"I’m floating too!"

The second judge, a red-haired man, immediately put an entire piece of chicken cutlet in his mouth. While chewing, he stuffed several heaps of rice into his mouth, slightly diminishing the floating sensation in his mind. "This chicken meat is by no means ordinary, but rather some fantasy poultry!"

"Hmm, deboned and pierced, marinated with spices for at least 20 minutes. Let me see what spices were used..." the third judge, a monk in a straw hat, said with eyes closed.

"The key lies in the teriyaki sauce!"

Nuliang swallowed the chicken and rice, then fixed his gaze on Qiushan Hong and Shinohara Shigetaro, "I won’t mention the other ingredients used in making the sauce. Can you talk about the secret behind the honey at its core?"

"Secret?"

Qiushan Hong chuckled, "There’s no real secret. This honey was harvested from the beehives in our IGO headquarters’ Miracle Garden. The bees there taste nectar from every flower and plant in the garden, hence the significant ’floating’ flavor."

"And with the meat of the Ten-winged Bird, during the moment you taste it, I’m afraid it’s as if you’ve grown wings and flown around the sky, haven’t you?" he said, observing the judges’ faces, feeling his heart skip a beat.

Starting with Chief Judge Nuliang, the five judges, after tasting a piece of chicken cutlet and a few mouthfuls of rice, chose to put down their chopsticks.

There wasn’t the anticipated fervent eating, and seeing this, Qiushan Hong’s brow twitched. Beside him, Shinohara Shigetaro sighed deeply and asked the judges, "Where are the shortcomings?"

"The vast sky indeed creates a sense of broadmindedness."

Nuliang paused, "However, I only saw the culinary concept of Lin Chef’s ’floating’ but did not see the Special Chef’s mark. This is a cooperative work; such an artistic concept needs to be jointly completed."

"Furthermore..."

"The quality of the cuisine did not reach ’Qilin Level One Star’!"

Shinohara Shigetaro’s eyes showed helplessness.

The Special Chef’s Mark? It was ridiculous to think this kind of culinary heart imprint could coexist in one dish with Lin Chef’s culinary concept.

A simple Chef’s Heart Mark certainly wasn’t enough.

"Too ethereal!" the fourth black-haired female judge, who called herself ’Yanluo,’ said indifferently, "You recklessly used Miracle Hundred Flowers Honey to stew teriyaki sauce. You were a bit reckless. Forbidden Ingredients aren’t so easily mastered or used to create a culinary concept. If you had used some ordinary fantasy honey, the result would have been better."

After she finished speaking, Nuliang nodded to Kogawa Shinyiro.

"Now, let’s score!"

Beep.

The scoreboard above the competition venue instantly popped up with numbers:

"15 points, 16 points, 16 points, 15 points, 18 points!"

"Congratulations! The two chefs’ final score is 80 points!"

points!

This score just barely reached the satisfactory benchmark. Qiushan Hong and Shinohara Shigetaro sighed, feeling regret but not much unwillingness.

"I lost too many points on the Special Chef section," Shinohara reflected.

"I proposed using Miracle Hundred Flowers Honey, but it was still too hasty..." Qiushan Hong patted his shoulder, taking the blame for being eliminated in the second round.

Indeed, knowing the score, they realized advancing to the finals was out of reach.

Nuliang called after Qiushan Hong, "Keep working hard. Using Miracle Hundred Flowers Honey for teriyaki sauce is a brilliant idea. If the mastery were a bit higher, this ’Teriyaki Chicken Cutlet Rice’ would truly be a Qilin-level dish!"

Qiushan Hong humbly thanked him.

The audience watched the team leave the stage, and an uproar arose.

Especially the Japanese audience, who couldn’t believe it.

Qiushan Hong and Shinohara Shigetaro were well-known chefs in the Japan Realm, and since they understood that such powerful chefs were eliminated early, the blow was substantial.

"Lord Qiushan and Minister Shinohara... only scored 80 points?"

"My God!"

The murmuring lasted at least 10 minutes.

Xia Yu and Jintan Shun were conversing.

"Did you see the flaw in their dish?" Jintan Shun asked, starting a topic.

"The culinary concept was sound; the key was handling the ingredients!" Xia Yu’s eyes showed signs of contemplation and realization. Previously, his understanding of Qilin-level cuisine was blurry, just as it was when he first encountered Special Chef dishes, a blank slate.

But now, this blank sheet was gradually filled with insight.

"Yes, handling!"

"For the Special Chef, it’s all about handling. The key test is ’handling’; just like Qilin level isn’t so mysterious, the key also lies in handling!" Jintan Shun explained, "After all, understanding the culinary concept doesn’t mean you can handle countless ingredients."

Dang!

At this moment, another bell tolled.

The two-hour cooking segment was declared over.