Reborn in Japan as a Chef God
Chapter 84: Silver Cod Green Tea Meatballs (Part 1)

Chapter 84: Chapter 84: Silver Cod Green Tea Meatballs (Part 1)

The discussions in the audience seating area at the venue lasted a good ten minutes.

Dojima Yin, Shinohara Shigetaro, and Liangzi Lina also sat in their seats, eyes closed, in silence for over ten minutes.

When the last hint of aftertaste had faded, Dojima Yin was the first to open his eyes.

"Impossible to evaluate!"

Dojima Yin began, "This dish has far surpassed two-star quality!"

"What’s your name?" The head chef of Far Moon Resort asked, his eyes fixed on the female chef.

"Yuchuan Meisha."

The female chef, who appeared to be of college-graduating age, replied with a beaming smile.

"Come to Far Moon Resort," Dojima Yin said as he fished a business card out of his suit pocket and handed it to Yuchuan Meisha. "We would like to hire you with a high salary!"

However, Yuchuan Meisha did not move. She apologetically said, "I’m sorry, Mr. Dojima, but I’m not considering becoming a professional chef for now."

"You’re not considering becoming a professional chef?"

This time, the entire hall was shocked.

This girl doesn’t yet consider herself a professional chef?

Many one-star chefs and prospective one-star chefs in the audience began to frown, their eyes taking on a slightly menacing look.

Hey, hey, Miss, you’ve already passed the two-star evaluation. If you don’t count as a professional chef, then what are we?

Feeling the change in the room’s atmosphere, Yuchuan Meisha realized her misstep and quickly waved her hands, "I, I help at home, my family needs me, so I can’t become a real professional chef attending to customers, satisfying their appetites."

"So that’s how it is." Dojima Yin nodded with a smile, "Then please hold on to my business card, and if you ever change your mind, feel free to contact me anytime."

"Okay." Yuchuan Meisha carefully kept Dojima Yin’s business card.

Shinohara Shigetaro watched as Dojima Yin poached an IGO chef right in front of him and only then interjected, "Miss Yuchuan, have you been able to communicate with ingredients since you were little?"

"It’s been since I can remember..."

Yuchuan Meisha looked troubled, "At first, I didn’t know how to deal with them. The live ingredients my father bought, like fish and shrimp, I would secretly release them until the year before I went to college. That’s when I finally understood how to turn them into my cooking."

Liangzi Lina, on the other hand, stared at Yuchuan Meisha unwaveringly, her eyes complex, "That’s because you have tamed them."

"So, the ingredients in your cooking are alive, they have a spirit!" Shinohara Shigetaro looked deeply at her, envious of her natural-born talent.

"Every slice of sashimi I ate felt like I was eating an entire fresh cod."

Shinohara Shigetaro couldn’t help but pat his stomach.

Still feeling hollow inside, a small plate of raw fish clearly wasn’t enough to share among the three.

Although he was really hungry, he felt an unprecedented level of satisfaction on a spiritual level, with no desire to eat at all, as if he had overeaten and wouldn’t feel hungry for several days and nights.

"No wonder she said before, after tasting her cooking, other foods would taste bland!" Shinohara Shigetaro suddenly realized, "With the appetite already satisfied, the taste buds might indeed reject other foods."

Shinohara internally assessed and his confidence in Xia Yu wavered slightly.

If he didn’t present that kind of radiant cooking...

"I suggest you continue with the three-star assessment!" Liangzi Lina suddenly said.

"A consecutive assessment? Is that possible?"

Yuchuan Meisha was taken aback.

"Of course, if we were to score, you would’ve passed the two-star assessment with full marks. We’re about to host a three-star assessment, and you’ll be the second chef to participate in the assessment," Liangzi Lina nodded affirmatively, then with a significant look, she glanced at Xia Yu waiting beside the judges’ seating area.

Xia Yu, on the other hand, showed no reaction, but Tiqie Eriina in the audience seats knit her brows.

She was the first chef to apply for the three-star assessment today.

And now a second female chef had surfaced, making Tiqie Eriina instantly feel an oppressive pressure.

Her rival’s talent was clearly no weaker than hers!

Moreover, Tiqie Eriina, with a woman’s sixth sense, could tell that the upcoming three-star assessment would be very interesting. Perhaps a third assessor might even appear.

...

Yuchuan Meisha, under the watchful eyes of everyone present, left the judges’ panel and headed to the rest area with ease.

"Hey, hey!"

Xia Yu finally got a chance to speak. As he started talking, not just the judges, but countless pairs of eyes in the venue were on him. Even with nerves of steel, Xia Yu’s heartbeat quickened slightly at that moment.

"This is my cooking!"

He placed the plate on the judges’ panel.

"Meatballs?" Dojima Yin pointed at the plate, where three fist-sized meatballs were arranged.

"It’s a traditional Chinese delicacy, Lion’s Head," responded Xia Yu calmly.

"Lion’s Head?"

Most of the chefs looked perplexed.

"Lion’s Head is a traditional dish from the Huaiyang cuisine, with methods dating back to the Sui Dynasty, originally named ’Sunflower Chopped Meat’. According to the traditional method, it’s prepared with sixty percent fatty meat and forty percent lean meat, along with ingredients like green onions, ginger, and eggs, chopped up into minced meat to form fist-sized meatballs, which can be steamed or braised. It’s fatty but not greasy..."

Xia Yu simply took it upon himself to explain.

Dojima Yin nodded, "This Chinese cuisine has a very free-form approach, doesn’t it?"

"You could say that. You can add shrimp, crab meat, or even replace the main ingredient of pork belly with something else, just like these Silver Cod Lion’s Head meatballs I’ve made!"

"I discarded pork, opting for the most tender part of cod, skinned and deboned, cut into dices..."

Before he could finish, Dojima Yin interrupted him with a wave of his hand.

"You don’t need to explain it now. Let us taste it and then give our feedback," said Dojima Yin, picking up his chopsticks.

Shinohara Shigetaro and Liangzi Lina, not seeming to have any great expectations for his dish, said nothing more and also reached for their chopsticks.

They took a large meatball to their mouth and bit into it.

"This tastes quite good..."

Dojima Yin chewed with surprise, initially indifferent but as the dish made its way into his mouth, he sat up straight, "Was this baked in an oven? The temperature control is perfect, full marks! Eh, what a crispy texture. What is this ingredient mixed in with the fish? It feels familiar, this firm and crisp texture really adds to the meatball’s chewiness. Besides that, there’s a hint of onion and egg flavor. How did you achieve this texture? The more I chew, the tastier it gets. Hmm, my appetite is awakened again..."

Musing to himself, Dojima Yin swallowed the food in his mouth, his eyes reflecting a trace of seriousness as he carefully observed the large cod meatball in front of him.

Tea and mint flavors on the tip of his tongue stimulated more saliva to flow.

The red salmon roe on top of the Lion’s Head was intact. Seeing this, Dojima Yin opened his mouth wide and took almost half of the Lion’s Head with his second bite, swallowing it down.

Um!

He widened his eyes instantly!

The taste intensified, the salmon roe granules seemed to hop and dance joyfully on his tongue.

A powerful freshness assaulted his mouth instantaneously. It wasn’t just the freshness of cod; another fish’s flavor, no less delicious than that of silver cod, was making its presence known to the taste buds of this special-grade chef.

"Little silver fish!"

Crack.

The chopsticks in Dojima Yin’s hand suddenly snapped.

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(PS: This Chapter is being released early. It will be featured on the Sanjiang recommendation this afternoon. If you have time, go to the PC version of the old site and cast your Sanjiang votes~ And don’t forget about the recommendation tickets~)