[87] - Peony Blossoming Fish, Overbearing Culinary Heart
~ As Usual Every 200 Power Stones = Bonus Chapter
~ Thank You for the Support!
~ Lets Keep Pushing!!
~ 18 Advanced Chapters Available on my Patreon
<><><><><><><><>
Bonus Chapter Soon!
<><><><><><><><>
Leonora Nakiri's stark contrast in behavior also made many people can't help but comment.
Of course, their comments were only about her actions.
Although Leonora's behavior might seem unusual, she was undeniably an incredibly talented woman, very capable—a true powerhouse.
After the judges were all in place, the competition naturally also began.
Yuuki also brought out his Pacific Saury. After being nurtured by him, the quality of this Pacific Saury was ridiculously good.
It was a pity his Small Bait hadn't fished out any Boneless Mackerel Pike from the Toriko world; those would have been the true ideal ingredients.
"The quality of this Pacific Saury is SO high! Can you really buy such Pacific Saury at the market now?"
Senzaemon Nakiri was a bit surprised looking at the Pacific Saury Yuuki brought out. Keep in mind, when fishing boats returned to shore, they sorted their catches.
Those with excellent quality were mostly sold through special channels directly at a much higher price than the market price. So, Yuuki being able to buy such ingredients at the market surprised him.
He had no idea that these Pacific Saury had been nurtured by Yuuki himself. Among those present, only the Polar Star residents knew this.
....
After bringing out the Pacific Saury, Yuuki once again took out the Seven-Star Knives. Although the Seven-Star Knives had appeared many times now, they still excited the audience.
After all, Yuuki's knife work every time looked like art; such knife work, everyone naturally wanted to see more of it.
"Those are the Seven-Star Knives, huh? Although he didn't bring them all out, the sharpness of these knives is really something!" Leonora Nakiri said, looking at the Seven-Star Knives Yuuki brought out.
She had read all of Yuuki's profile long ago.
The details of the Seven-Star Knives were naturally already very clear.
"Yuuki's Seven-Star Knives are VERY special! Besides their sharpness, even their weight is different from normal knives." Alice Nakiri shook her head.
While there's a saying, "A dull knife is more dangerous," an overly sharp knife, when not properly controlled, was similarly very dangerous.
Yuuki's Seven-Star Knives were like this. If one accidentally cut themselves, they would lose at least one or two body parts.
The Polar Star residents also tried to use Yuuki's Seven-Star Knives, but unfortunately, they simply couldn't master them.
The unique weight and extreme sharpness demanded utmost care, making it impossible for them to use the knives freely.
Their own knife skills simply couldn't be exerted.
This set of knives—only Yuuki could handle them. After trying once, they never dared to touch them again.
....
"They're certainly quite something. Speaking of which, Alice, you seem to have quite a soft spot for this Yuuki boy, don't you—" Leonora Nakiri said with a smile.
She already knew about her daughter's thoughts from her husband.
Judging from the information she currently had, Yuuki was practically a jack-of-all-trades.
His character was also very good. She trusted Gin Dojima's judgment.
So, if her daughter could really get together with Yuuki, that would indeed be quite good.
The only problem was that Yuuki had a childhood friend, and he and this childhood friend were very close.
"I do like Yuuki... but there's still Megumi..." Alice Nakiri thought of Megumi Tadokoro and also felt helpless.
She had initially considered Megumi Tadokoro a rival, and as it turned out, her feelings were indeed spot-on.
Megumi Tadokoro's gentle personality—even Alice couldn't bring herself to hate her, let alone other people.
"Then you'll have to give it your all, Alice!" Leonora said with a smile.
She had great confidence in her daughter. Even if Alice Nakiri failed, with Alice's personality, she wouldn't be discouraged.
Although she wasn't often with Alice, she knew her daughter very well.
After all, in the original story, after losing to Soma, Alice Nakiri had directly called Leonora and complained for nine straight hours. Such a move—
—not something just anyone could do.
"I WILL!" Alice Nakiri also quickly nodded.
Hearing this conversation, Gin Dojima felt utterly speechless...
These mother and daughter were openly discussing how to capture this junior of his.
However, he didn't think it was a bad thing. Gin Dojima treated Yuuki almost like his own son; Yuuki being popular with girls also made him happy.
It was fortunate the microphones at the judges' table weren't turned on. Otherwise, if such a conversation got out, probably no one would have their minds on Yuuki and his competition, but would all become spectators of this K-drama.
As for Senzaemon Nakiri, he had tacitly allowed Alice Nakiri's actions.
After all, Yuuki's talent was truly terrifying, and now, this talent had more or less been converted into Culinary skill.
He knew very well that Yuuki was destined to become the Undisputed King of the entire Culinary world.
Such a person—the Nakiri family naturally had to build a good relationship with him.
Although he was the Head of the Nakiri family, he didn't intend to use his granddaughter as a bargaining chip. However, his granddaughter taking the initiative to have feelings for the other party—that was a different story.
So, he was naturally very supportive. Hearing their conversation, he only smiled and didn't say much.
....
Yuuki naturally didn't know what they were discussing. His current focus was entirely on preparing the dish in front of him.
The dish he planned to make was called "Peony Sashimi."
Ideally, "Peony Sashimi" should be made using "Black Carp," but it wasn't a strict requirement. So, this time, Yuuki intended to make "Peony Sashimi."
The Pacific Saury in front of him, thanks to his nurturing, had a high yield of meat. Plus, with a decent quantity, it was enough for this dish.
The Seven-Star Knives became afterimages in Yuuki's hands.
There was no need to use the Raging Bull Blue Dragon Slash or the Arhat Crystal Slash. Yuuki only used the Seven-Star Knives to perform the cutting.
The Seven-Star Flash Severing Knife Dance was re-enacted in Yuuki's hands. Compared to the other two knife-skill Secret Techniques, although the Seven-Star Flash Severing Knife Dance wasn't a Secret Technique, its visual effect was no less impressive.
And it was more than enough to use it for cutting a few Pacific Saury.
However, Yuuki didn't slice the fish too thinly this time. The reason was simple: these fish slices needed to be coated in batter and then deep-fried. If the fish meat was too thin, no texture of the fish itself would remain in the end.
The key element of this "Peony Sashimi" was still the fish itself. If the fish's flavor and texture couldn't be tasted, the dish would be an utter failure.
After slicing the fish, Yuuki marinated them.
The marinating process usually required fifteen minutes, but Yuuki used a special technique to knead, causing the seasoning to quickly permeate the fish.
The fifteen-minute marinating time was shortened to five minutes. After completing the marinating, Yuuki coated the fish meat in batter, then used a stick to lightly tap the batter-coated fish.
This step was mainly for achieving that special texture.
For other Chefs, this process was undoubtedly very tedious. After all, every single slice of fish needed to be struck dozens or even hundreds of times.
Moreover, the force used couldn't be too strong, otherwise, forget about a special texture; the fish would be smashed to bits.
Every single piece of fish required this operation—naturally, it was strenuous physical work.
But Yuuki was different.
His control over strength allowed him to complete the work of others' dozens or hundreds of strikes in just a few.
So, he finished this process very quickly. Finally, it was time for deep-frying. Actually, normally making this dish would also require potatoes.
Steam the potatoes, then mash them into a paste, creating a base for the "Peony Flower." After all, although the deep-fried fish meat resembled flower petals, assembling them into a peony wasn't an easy task.
So, they needed mashed potatoes to fix these fish "petals" in place, eventually creating the image of a peony.
However, Yuuki didn't intend to do this; he could assemble these fish petals directly. When cutting the fish earlier, he had already made some small notches—
These notches would allow him to assemble the pieces like building blocks. And there was no need to worry about someone accidentally knocking it over with their chopsticks; as long as they didn't deliberately stir it, this "Peony Flower" wouldn't fall apart so easily.
Yuuki also prepared some cordyceps flower.
After deep-frying, these could serve as the "flower's pistil"
The plating was completed quickly. For plating, this dish didn't have any strict requirements.
It was completely up to the Chef's creativity.
After Yuuki completed the plating, this dish also looked incredibly grand and magnificent, giving a feeling of supreme elegance.
Finally, Yuuki also prepared some sauce.
These sauces didn't have any strict requirements either. However, the Peony Fish dish, with the changes over time, had many different variations.
Some believed the marinated fish tasted good enough on its own. But others believed that after adding special sauce, the taste would be even better.
And the texture would also change along with the sauce.
However, to ensure both flavors could be experienced, the sauce was separately placed in a small cup.
The moment the sauce was finished, Yuuki's Peony Fish was also complete.
As for Megumi, the Pacific Saury dish she made was a very common preparation:
Lemon-Scented Salt-Grilled Pacific Saury.
Making the dish she was most familiar with, most skilled at—that was the wisest choice.
As for whether the dish would lack novelty, that wasn't important. Facing a strong opponent—trying fancy tricks when you didn't have the skill would simply be stupid.
....
"What an exquisite dish! I almost don't want to ruin it!" Leonora Nakiri said looking at the dish before her.
Such a delicate dish, like a work of art—she felt reluctant to use her chopsticks and destroy it.
"I know this dish. It's 'Peony Fish,' an Imperial dish. However, this method is a bit different. You actually assembled the fish slices without using any external support!" Senzaemon Nakiri knew this dish and had eaten it before.
What surprised him the most was that Yuuki actually assembled the fish slices without using mashed potatoes, mashed Japanese yams, or other ingredients as support.
And it didn't look like it would fall apart at all. It was hard to imagine how this was done.
"That's right, it is indeed 'Peony Fish.' Judges, please, enjoy—" Yuuki nodded.
....
As his words fell, Gin Dojima and Senzaemon Nakiri reached for their chopsticks. As for Leonora Nakiri, although she felt reluctant to destroy this beautiful dish, as a judge, she had to taste it.
With the fish entering their mouths, it was crispy on the outside, tender inside, and that unique texture caused by the previous tapping surprised all three.
However, before they could fully express their surprise, a very special Culinary Heart was directly transmitted into their minds through the dish.
This was an incredibly domineering Culinary Heart, like an Emperor reigning supreme.
"HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE?! Wasn't your Culinary Heart that calming Soul Soothing Esoterica?!" Among the three, Senzaemon Nakiri was without a doubt the most shocked.
He had eaten Yuuki's food imbued with Culinary Heart before and knew his Culinary Heart was the Soul Soothing Esoterica.
Yet the Culinary Heart within this dish was clearly not that. Moreover, it could be said it had absolutely nothing to do with the Soul Soothing Esoterica—
"I don't think there's a rule saying a person can only have one Culinary Heart." Yuuki said with a smile.
The Soul Soothing Esoterica... The reason Yuuki had it was because he fished out the White Snake Entanglement.
However, that wasn't his own unique Culinary Heart.
These past few days, he had made some progress with Culinary Heart!
Perhaps it was because of this dish that made Yuuki understand what his own Culinary Heart truly was.
The peony was the king of flowers. When deciding what dish to make, he had somehow chosen this one. Now it seemed it must be because of his own Culinary Heart that he had selected this dish.
Through this dish, Yuuki had found his own Culinary Heart—reigning supreme in the Culinary world.
This was Yuuki's pursuit, and this dish perfectly expressed his unique Culinary Heart.
"There's indeed no such rule, but one person with two types of Culinary Heart—if word of this got out..." Gin Dojima couldn't help but exclaim.
He himself was a First Class Chef and was also searching for his own Culinary Heart, yet he still didn't have much of a clue. Yuuki, his junior, had already mastered two types of Culinary Heart—
—And more importantly, Yuuki wasn't even a Special Class Chef yet, not even a First Class Chef. This was simply outrageous.
Gin Dojima could only sigh and say Yuuki was truly a monster among monsters.
"Two Culinary Hearts—Unbelievable. Especially this second one. Honestly, it's perfectly suited for you!" Senzaemon Nakiri said with a smile.
Yuuki was destined to reign Supreme in the culinary world.
This was beyond doubt...
After all, the Culinary skills he had already displayed were at the forefront. Once he reached First Class Chef, Yuuki would immediately enter the Special Class level.
And he'd be the only Special Class Chef with two types of Culinary Heart. Wasn't that the definition of "reigning supreme" in the culinary world?
Only such a Culinary Heart would befit Yuuki.
At least, that's how he saw it.
<><><><><><><><>
~ 18 Advanced Chapters Available on my Patreon (Soon +20)!
https://p-atreon.com/dragonnx
(Just remove the hyphen to access Patreon normally.)
<><><><><><><><>
~# Keep the chapters coming — Support with Power Stones!
~# Every 200 Power Stones = 1 Bonus Chapter
~# Add to Library!