Full and satisfied.
Both mother and daughter felt they hadn't had enough.
Perhaps they ate a bit too quickly, or perhaps the Flame Dumplings were cooked directly over an open flame, making them very hot.
As a result, Leonora's forehead broke out in beads of sweat after she finished eating, slowly dripping down her cheeks, as if injecting soul into this Flame Dumplings dish.
Seeing this, Sosuke enthusiastically took a clean handkerchief and handed it to her.
"Thank you."
Leonora was slightly taken aback.
Then she took the handkerchief from his hand and wiped her sweat.
Immediately after, she stared deeply at Sosuke, then smiled and said, "Sosuke, these Flame Dumplings are crispy and delicious on the outside, and soft and charming on the inside. No matter how you eat them, they're amazing! Alice and I both love them very much!"
After giving her praise, Leonora handed back the handkerchief she had used to wipe her fragrant sweat.
"Mm, it's good that you like them."
Taking back the handkerchief, Sosuke simply chuckled.
...
"Alice, I wonder if you've understood from this Flame Dumplings dish?
"Any dish has two most important attributes: one is flavor, and the other is texture."
"Most people are familiar with flavor, but texture is often overlooked."
"In fact, texture is just as important as flavor."
"Imagine a fried chicken leg with a soft, mushy skin, a plate of Shredded Pork with Fish Flavor where the lean meat is as coarse as sawdust, a piece of stewed spare ribs that you can't chew no matter how hard you try..."
"For dishes of this quality, even if they have the best flavor, it would be very difficult to compensate."
"If you observe carefully, you'll find that Sosuke's culinary skills always pursue various cooking techniques, which, though complex, are all exquisite."
"He emphasizes using unexpected methods to prepare even ordinary ingredients, to create dishes where texture and flavor are highly unified."
"In short, there's a lot you can learn from him!"
After calming down slightly, Leonora couldn't help but turn to look at her daughter, speaking earnestly.
Ever since coming to Totsuki Culinary Academy, she could feel some changes in Alice herself; she was no longer as confident or as vain.
One must know that as a former genius in the field of Molecular Cuisine across Northern Europe, she regarded these new technological dishes as especially important and was quite confident in her own abilities.
But now, these Molecular Cuisine dishes gradually felt less superior in her heart.
When they were supposed to lose to traditional dishes,
They would still lose!
...
"Highly unified texture and flavor?"
"Can every cooking technique maximize the effect of ingredients?"
Alice's eyes couldn't help but flash after hearing this.
Then, she secretly glanced at Sosuke out of the corner of her eye.
For some reason, when she learned that Erina was actually working part-time at the Izakaya, her initial reaction was shock, but what followed was envy and jealousy.
After all, being able to stay by Sosuke's side in this way, even if she did nothing every day but watch him cook, listen to what he said and did daily, would be a very happy thing.
And in this world, indeed, only his cooking could completely surpass Molecular Cuisine!
Yes.
For example:
These Flame Dumplings.
Using fire to instantly dry out all excess moisture, making the dumpling skin crispier and more delicious.
Such a heaven-defying method, she probably wouldn't have thought of it in her entire life.
...
As another young lady of the Nakiri family, Alice actually never had a "protagonist's halo."
Her performance at the Practical Training was quite impressive, but after the Autumn Elections, she completely fell to the level of a second-rate chef.
Because of her lack of understanding of commoners, she deviated from the cooking theme and lost to Sōma.
Then she lost to the new Elite Ten and was almost expelled.
Clearly, from her various experiences at Totsuki, she can definitely be considered a girl full of tragic color.
From Sosuke's perspective, he felt that Alice and Erina had some similar flaws.
Both were so-called empiricists.
They had great potential and strong talent, but because their early development was too smooth, their own successful experiences limited their development.
As for Erina, she was brainwashed by Nakiri Azami, filling her mind with the distinction between noble cuisine and commoner cuisine, and the idea that dishes, like people, should be divided into different classes.
This rigid culinary philosophy naturally turned her into a tsundere and a fanatic.
All day long.
She was either criticizing this or that.
Anyway, as long as it couldn't satisfy the God Tongue and conflicted with her values, she would criticize it and completely deny it.
This situation gradually began to change only after she met Sosuke.
And Alice Nakiri was too obsessed with the power of high-tech, believing that all dishes could be purely built up by new technologies.
As a result, her understanding of many things remained stagnant, or even completely lost its direction, leaving her at a loss.
...
The city at night tore off its tender veil for people.
Those elite business people in society began to clink glasses, while the corporate slaves, after a day of suppression, only wanted to indulge their desires and release their stress.
Often, two or three men could decide the night's destination through eye contact, but mostly there were three choices:
Nightclubs.
Hostess bars.
Izakaya.
These three places all belonged to nightlife and had many similarities.
But for true gourmets, the three were absolutely distinct, similar to the popular 'Nikai' (second party) and'Sankai' (third party) in Japan; it was still drinking, but how to drink was completely different.
At this moment, after the second renovation and upgrade, the Izakaya's operating hours finally saw a change:
From the original 7 PM to midnight, it was extended to 2 AM.
As regular customers like Anne, Akanegakubo Momo, Leonora Nakiri, and Alice left, this Izakaya finally closed for the day.
"Ding-dong!"
"Host, successfully signed in once."
"Ding-dong!"
"Congratulations, Host, for successfully obtaining the special recipe black-boned chicken rice, the recipe Dengying Beef, and ingredients: Black-Boned Chicken * 10."
Dengying Beef is a gourmet dish from DZ City, Sichuan.
The use of the word "Dengying" (lamp shadow) to describe this beef is enough to show how thin the slices of meat are; they can be so thin that light can pass through them, like the screen in a shadow play.
Legend has it that this dish was created by Jia Zhongming, a literati of the Ming Dynasty. Jia Zhongming was from Yueyang and once served as an official in the capital, but due to his homesickness, he often stayed in his hometown of Yueyang.
He discovered that the local beef was tender, so he created a special preparation method.
He would slice the beef thinly, dry it, then hang it on bamboo poles under lamplight to roast, then use the illumination of the lamp.
This way, the color of the beef slices would produce a special lamp shadow effect.
Of course, the modern Dengying Beef.
Its preparation is much more complex, requiring slices from the hind leg tendon of a cow.
Then it goes through processes such as marinating, drying, baking, steaming, frying, and stir-frying.
The finished beef is as thin as transparent paper, yet firm in texture, chewy, spicy and fragrant, with a date-red color, stimulating the appetite from its appearance alone.
It must be said that during the production process, this dish requires extremely high mastery of heat control, knife skills, and cooking techniques.
Only experienced chefs can create it.
...
Next.
Is the special recipe, black-boned chicken rice.
The so-called Black-Boned Chicken should originate from Indonesia, and its fibrous pigmentation is due to genetic mutation.
This modern chicken is entirely black, even its bones and internal organs are black; only its blood remains dark red.
Under certain lighting, its feathers can change from pure black to emerald green, hence it is also known as: "The Lamborghini of the chicken world."
black-boned chicken rice, the emphasis is actually on the word "rice."
And the magical thing about this special recipe is that it is a dish of plain white rice.
In the 'cooking master boy' storyline, the review once described it as: "What a solemn and magnificent sweetness, as if surging waves are sweeping in, yet incredibly colorful, as if you can hear the sound of blood rushing through your body!"
To put it simply, the method is to stuff all this rice into the Black-Boned Chicken.
Then use various spices, medicinal herbs, etc., to stew the black chicken, and finally only eat the small amount of rice inside the chicken's belly.
"Black-Boned Chicken?"
"If I remember correctly, in the original work, this was an ominous chicken!"
Sosuke, having obtained two recipes and 10 Black-Boned Chickens, was naturally delighted.
However, he also didn't forget to slightly complain about the fear, panic, and rejection people had towards Black-Boned Chicken in the original 'cooking master boy'.
...
"So amazing."
"Operating for an extra 2 hours."
"The customer flow received by the Izakaya actually exceeded 500 people!"
At the same time, Kuguchi Sonoka, who was busy organizing the Izakaya's various bills for the day, finally muttered to herself with a look of astonishment.
Oh my god!
If it were a five-star hotel.
It wouldn't be surprising to host 500 people every day.
But Sosuke's Izakaya, first of all, is not large in scale, and secondly, it has only been open for a little over two months.
Although even important figures like WGO Executive Anne and Special Executive Mana Nakiri have fallen at Sosuke's feet and submitted to him because of his cooking.
But according to the rules set by the WGO Gourmet Organization, Sosuke's personal information and all information about this Izakaya have not yet been updated in 'THE · BOOK', nor has it been rated as a star-rated restaurant!
Therefore, the reputation of his Izakaya is not particularly dazzling or brilliant in the entire culinary world.
Kuguchi Sonoka unconsciously stared blankly at Sosuke.
She began to think to herself, if he was willing to make some high-end dishes, willing to operate a five-star hotel, or even take over an entire resort like Gin Dojima.
Then, his achievements would probably be even more terrifying, right?
...
To reward Erina and Kikuchi.
After tidying up some of the Izakaya's clutter, Sosuke personally made rice-free fried rice.
First were the ingredients; he prepared cauliflower, broccoli, shiitake mushrooms, coconut oil... In short, there wasn't a single grain of rice.
Next, after the ingredients were ready, he washed the cauliflower.
Then he picked up a sharp chef's knife and quickly chopped the cauliflower into small pieces.
Thud!
Thud!
Thud!
The sound of the chef's knife colliding with the cutting board was like a beautiful melody.
And seeing Sosuke quickly chopping cauliflower, Kuguchi Sonoka, who had just finished her work, was instantly bewildered.
A chef's progress has always relied on accumulation, but it seems this rule does not apply to Sosuke.
He is a strange person; you can never know when he will suddenly make rapid progress!
Afterward, the carrot, broccoli, and shiitake mushrooms were chopped into small pieces separately. Coconut oil was poured into the pan, and the broccoli and shiitake mushrooms were stir-fried until cooked. Then a little more coconut oil was added, and the crushed cauliflower was poured in and stir-fried, adding a little mushroom water in between for freshness.
Finally, the cauliflower was poured back into the pan, black pepper and salt were added. Once the vegetables were cooked, onions were added, then eggs were added and stir-fried evenly before serving.
...
"Erina, Kikuchi."
"This is my last dish tonight, rice-free fried rice. Come and eat quickly; it's a reward for you two for staying with me until 2 AM tonight."
Soon, three bowls of golden cauliflower fried rice were placed in front of Erina and the others.
Although not a single grain of rice was used, it couldn't really be called fried rice.
But the aroma emanating from this rice-free fried rice dish was exceptionally rich, giving a strange, novel feeling.
Erina, just by glancing at it out of the corner of her eye, found it incredible.
"Hmm?"
"Using cauliflower instead of rice?"
She seemed to understand something and observed more carefully.
The tiny cauliflower granules looked like rice, and even with a light sniff, they smelled very similar to ordinary rice!
It is well known that among common staple foods, oil pancakes have 403 kcal, fried dough sticks have 388 kcal, Whole Wheat Bread has 246 kcal, and fried rice has 188 kcal...
Compared this way, the calories in fried rice are relatively low.
Of course, comparing the same volume of rice and "cauliflower rice," the calories in rice are 10 times that of "cauliflower rice."
Therefore, choosing white cauliflower, while its color and texture are closest to rice, is also the most effective for fat reduction and best reflects health.
...
"It's not a very creative dish, is it?"
"At least it's much plainer than that Flame Dumplings just now."
"However, having this relatively low-calorie late-night snack around 2 AM is quite suitable."
After speaking, Erina Nakiri quickly picked up a small spoon, gently scooped a small mouthful of cauliflower fried rice, and savored it carefully.
Although many of the ingredients used were vegetables, including long beans, carrot, and cauliflower, etc.
Their nutritional value was also exceptionally high, and their colors—red, green, and white—were vibrant and bright when combined, stimulating the appetite.
"Mmm~"
"These granular cauliflower pieces taste exactly like rice."
"Especially with every bite, the taste buds on the entire tongue are instantly enveloped by an inexpressible feeling of happiness!"
"As I savor its flavor, my mind actually goes blank, and even the restless God Tongue gradually finds satisfaction and calms down."
"No!"
"That's not right!"
"This enticing cauliflower aroma..." (End of Chapter)
------------------------
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