The Internal Relationships In The Hope Peak Industrial

Eel, sushi and tempura are collectively known as the "Taste of Edo", and these three cuisines also produced three figures who are known as god-level chefs in Japan: the God of Eel Kenjirou Kanemoto, the God of Sushi Jiro Ono and the God of Tempura, Tetsuya Saotome. This shows the popularity of this dish, and it can also be seen that the preparation of eel rice is quite particular.

The first is the selection of materials, which must be real Japanese river eels, preferably natural Japanese river eels. For example, a famous store that has been passed down for five generations of Kanemoto Kanejiro only uses natural river eels. But they are often out of stock, so the store has to be closed for four to five months a year. This kind of eels has been eaten to the point of extinction, so it is difficult to fish them. If you want to farm them, you can only fish wild eel fry and raise them. The problem is that wild eel fry are not easy to catch, so the yield is very low. Nowadays, most stores basically use sea eels to make up for the fish.

If something is delicious but rare, the price will naturally skyrocket like a rocket. Originally, eel was a vulgar food in Japanese Edo period when the lower class people directly grilled it and ate it with their hands. However, in modern times, it is no longer possible. Ordinary working-class people will only eat once to reward themselves on important days, which has become a luxury.

Secondly, the cooking process is troublesome. Making a real eel rice requires freshly killed and grilled eel. It takes about forty minutes and goes through five processes: raw cutling, skewering, plain grilling, steaming and kabayaki. Specialized eel-making cooks need to practice for many years at each step. There is a saying that three years for killing eels, eight years for skewering eels and a lifetime for roasting eels.

Eels need to be cut alive to be delicious, and how to fix them is also a science. If you kill the eels too slowly, the blood flow will affect the taste. If you kill too fast, the slices will be uneven and the heat will not be consistent when grilled. 

When skewering, the technique must be accurate. You cannot damage the skin and meat, but can only pass through the fat layer between the skin and meat. This is easier said than done. For those who have not practiced skewering, the skewers will look very ugly. Once grilled, they will become twisted and crooked. When grilling eels, there are also unique techniques for grilling the fat without burning the eels.

There are still many things to pay attention to. The Japanese are good at working on details due to their nationality. Even when killing a fish, they are divided into Kanto style, Kansai style, Kyushu style, and Hokkaido style. Nagoya also has eel rice, but it is developed from the Kansai style, creating an eel chazuke rice.

As for the difference, for example, the difference between Kansai and Kanto is whether to cut the fish from the back or from the belly. In Kanto, the back of the fish must be first, probably because the samurai group in the past tabooed "seppuku" (typically involved stabbing oneself in the belly with a short sword, slicing open the stomach and then turning the blade upwards to ensure a fatal wound.) and considered it unlucky.

In restaurants specializing in eel rice, all the cooking techniques revolve around eel and strive for excellence. It is incomparable to ordinary restaurants and izakayas, which don't dare not serve eel rice easily. Naotaka Sakura never even touched eel because he knew he couldn't compete with these restaurants that have spent generations specializing in how to make delicious eels.

Next comes the sauce, that is, the seasoning of the eel. About how to boil the eel bones and body parts into a sauce for seasoning, each store has its own unique secret recipe, which often takes several generations of repeated adjustments.

Kazuya had heard about this for a long time, but although he was a cook and not very greedy, so he had not thought about trying it. But he was also quite interested in eating it because of Haruna. Summer is the best time to eat eel, which is known as "eel rice is the poetry of Japanese summer".

Even though the waiting time was a bit long, Haruna didn't dare to rush. She was worried that it would affect the taste of the eel rice. She had never been so nervous during a competition.

Kazuya looked around and saw the decoration of this store, feeling that the price would definitely not be cheap. Taking advantage of Kanae's time to go to the bathroom to wash her tearful face, he reminded Haruna in a low voice: "Just taste it, don't eat too much." He was afraid that Haruna would become addicted to it and turn Shimazaki Family into bankrupt.

Haruna said in surprise: "But she said I can eat as much as I want." She was a real child and never knew how to be polite.

Yuma was sitting next to them and heard it. He interrupted: "Don't worry, Matsuoka. Shin's family is very rich. His father is a senior cadre of Hope Peak Industrial. They can't be eaten into bankrupt for one meal."

Kazuya asked: "Your father also works at Hope Peak Industrial?"

He felt that it was the truth. Hope Peak Academy was opened by Hope Peak Group, which was probably to provide a good educational environment for the children of employees in the group and improve their sense of belonging. It was regarded as a welfare package.

Yuma never worried about personal privacy. He said casually: "Yes, my father and Shin's dad are the same generation, but he doesn't work so well and may be sent overseas one day."

Kazuya understood a little. It turned out that Yuma and Shin were family friends. Their elders were colleagues and friends. No wonder they had been in the same school from kindergarten to high school.

However, he looked around at the dozens of people at the long table and asked curiously: "Who else here has parents also work at Hope Peak Industrial?"

Yuma answered, "The elders of Takano, Ochi and Nakano Senpai all work in it, as well as that Yukio's."

Kazuya thought that seven of the ten people who were preparing to compete at the beginning had elders working in Hope Peak Industries. But there were seven to eight thousand employees directly under Hope Peak Industrial Group. Plus affiliated companies, they could probably up to twenty to thirty thousand people and be regarded as one of the emerging overlords in the Chubu region. So it was understandable there were so many their children study in Hope Peak Academy.

Yuma couldn't help but feel a little angry when he mention Yukio. These two days, Yukio had been criticizing them, a trio of first-year students. They lived in the same room, so he even gave complaints when they brushed their teeth in the morning. He also always ordered them to do some messy things. 

Yuma gritted my teeth: "Matsuoka, find a chance to teach that bastard Yukio a lesson?"

He didn't mean to hit anyone. Hitting a senior would easily lead to collective hostility in the school. He usually retaliated by gossiping and spreading rumors. Now there was no one in the whole grade who didn't know that Haruka was a big liar and she was not even 1.5 meters tall.

Kazuya also felt that Yukio was annoying and always made trouble over nothing, but now was not the time for internal strife, so he smiled, "Let's talk about it after school starts." But just in case, he asked again: "Yukio's family doesn't have any friendship with your family and Shin's family, right?"

"Yes, his father is not from the same school as my father and Shin's father, and theIR relationship is quite bad."

Kazuya understood. Within the consortium, there are also small factions below the big factions by no means harmonious. The internal fighting is quite fierce. Uchida and Shimazaki should be from the same faction with a relationship of mutual support, while Yukio's family was now their hostile faction, or at least not on a harmonious relationship.

They were chatting here, and Kanae came back. Her mood turned from complexity to excitement. She shouted with a glass of juice: "Cheers to champion!"