The beginning is only when you become a chef

Chapter 104 Future Themes (Two-in-One Chapter)

"Master, please don't laugh at me later."

Hojo Miyoko looked at Xia An with trepidation.

When Master Xia An came back, it was like a surprise exam. Alice and Erina passed the test, and now it was her turn. Hojo Miyoko took a few deep breaths to calm her heartbeat, and then she started cooking.

Cooking skills are very tangible things. No matter how much you talk about it, you still have to demonstrate it with dishes.

Let Midoriko get busy first.

Xia An this.

He unexpectedly found that the panel popped up information for him:
[Information about the cuisine "Molecular Cuisine" has been obtained. ]

[You have successfully recorded 'Molecular Cuisine' (Beginner) on the panel. ]

what.

Xia An expanded the cuisine column.

Before, there was only Xiaocheng’s Cantonese cuisine.

Now, there is a new molecular cuisine for beginners at the lowest level.

In fact, Xia An's nine-star cooking rating was achieved by cheating. He defeated Xiang Shilin in the "Late Night Food Battle" organized by the Late Night Cooks Association and was directly promoted to the nine-star level.

If it is a normal process, go to the China Chefs and Gourmet Association and take the exam.

The quality of "Minor Cantonese Cuisine" is still far from the condition of nine-star rating②, which is for any cuisine to reach [Perfection].

Of course, paleo recipes and dishes are categorized as classics, not any one cuisine area.

"I think I learned this molecular cuisine from Alice."

Xia An felt amused.

Alice explained and demonstrated the molecular cuisine "spherification technology" to him in detail. Who would have thought that as a master, she could secretly get some information about the cuisine from her disciple.

But well...

Xia An glanced at the experience information stored in his body.

[Available cooking experience: 41000]

A smile appeared on his lips, and he said silently in his heart: "I was in Jinguan City in Shu. I only set up a stall for one night and earned a full 4 experience points."

You know, "Fantasy Fish Noodle" uses two fantasy fish products: striped salmon and lychee sturgeon.

100 grams of salmon meat / two thousand yuan.

Lychee sturgeon is a silver-grade ingredient, and its price has simply increased several times to 100 yuan per grams.

So that's the case.

If the loss reaches ten times the operating target, wouldn't that be like losing money with your eyes closed?
Oh yes, both kinds of fantasy fishery products were provided by the Jinguancheng Culture and Tourism Bureau, not purchased by Xia An?

But this time, Xia An actually found a loophole in the panel's business objectives.

Apparently no matter who provides the ingredients.

Whether Xia An purchased it himself or it was given to him by someone else.

Any consumption will be included in the cost of distribution!

"Existence is reasonable." Xia An thought to himself, "Losing money to the Cultural and Tourism Bureau is also a loss, right?"

He seemed to feel that he had found another way.

Perhaps, he won't have to worry about fantasy ingredients in the future. If the local cultural and tourism bureaus intend to invite him to set up stalls at night markets to promote the tourism industry, the condition of providing ingredients must be written into the cooperation agreement.

Tsk tsk.

Squandering other people's fantasy ingredients.

Burn other people’s money and gain cooking experience ten times faster!

So, after his mentality changed, Xia An looked at the 4 experience points he had earned by setting up a stall in one night, and suddenly he felt like he had made a fortune and could spend it freely.

And these 4 experience points.

He first spent 2 yuan on Xiaocheng's Cantonese cuisine, upgrading it to Dacheng.

Next, it is a question of whether or not to upgrade the mastery of molecular cuisine.

Xia An took a look.

It takes a total of 2 experience points to upgrade molecular cuisine from [Beginner] to [Advanced].

The gap is 5,000 experience points, which is not much. Xia An only needs to spend some time and continue to study the other recipe book of "Great Galaxy Noodles" in his hand. With some results, it will be easy to get experience points by restoring ancient dishes.

"Let's take it easy."

After pondering in his heart, Xia An decided to see what the theme of the second episode of "The Chrysanthemum Goes Downstairs Contest" is.

The show is broadcast once a week.

Two days later, director Gao Shengqi will send text messages to all celebrity chefs to inform them of the topic.

The celebrity chefs will then have about a week to prepare and present their dishes on the show and live broadcast during prime time next Saturday night.

Xia An continued to watch with interest as Hojo Miyoko cooked her "exam answer sheet".

About half an hour later.

Holding the flamethrower, she carefully sprayed the dumplings in the frying pan with the color of flames.

"Master, this is all I can do."

Soon, Hojo Midori stopped, wiped the sweat off her face, and looked nervous.

Obvious.

Xia An's "Flame Soup Dumplings" has been reproduced by his beautiful apprentice again!
But Hojo Miyoko's skills are obviously weaker than Nakiri Erina's.

If we say that the Fantasy Fish Noodles made by Erina is an all-round super weakened version of Xia An's original version, and there is nothing wrong with it, it is quite reasonable.

Then, Hojo Miyoko's "Flame Dumplings" seems to have many problems.

After all, Miyoko doesn't have a divine tongue.

You can’t try to replicate something and then evaluate it yourself and quickly correct any mistakes.

After tasting it, Xia An was quite surprised:
"Miyoko, I remember that when you first came here, your fire control skills were not so strong, right?"

The purple-haired disciple quickly replied:
"At that time, I only had some basic knowledge of heat control and pan flipping, and I had achieved a small level of success."

Xia An nodded in praise, pointing at the dumplings in the frying pan that had a hint of flame:

"Now I can say that your fire power is heading towards perfection. With a little effort, it won't be difficult to break through to perfection."

Pause.

Xia An said with a sigh:

"Besides, your seasoning skills were only at the entry level before? Now you have reached a small level!"

Upon hearing this, Hojo Midori herself was surprised.

I felt incredible that I had made such progress in just less than a month during this summer vacation.

She held her breath, nervously picked up a flame soup dumpling and ate it herself.

"pat-"

The chopsticks fell to the ground.

The purple-haired girl covered her mouth, rarely showing excitement and trance.

Seeing this, Alice and Erina looked at each other.

I have already mastered the heat and the skill of flipping the wok, and now I am going to add the seasoning.

Wouldn’t that mean this “senior sister” has been promoted to a three-star chef?

The two of them, without any prior agreement, picked up their chopsticks and started to taste the food.

Especially Alice.

She acted even more nervous than Shigeo Midori.

After eating a fake version of the flame soup dumpling, Alice pursed her lips, with a hint of panic in her eyes:
"Eh, is it true?"

Erina nodded: "My divine tongue tells me that this seasoning skill is already top-notch among the first-year students at Totsuki!"

As she spoke, the golden-haired Erina developed a sense of evilness and observed Alice's changing expression.

Seizing the opportunity again, he sneered:
"How about it, how does it feel to be quickly caught up by others?"

Originally, Hojo Miyoko's cooking skills were only two stars, but now they have three stars, which is no worse than Alice who has also made progress through further studies.

Alice was very unconvinced and said:

"You think you have plenty of time?"

"Hey, you just got to the four-star culinary level, and you're one of the top ten Totsuki this year, shouldn't you be more nervous than me?"

Hearing this, an unnatural look flashed across Erina's face.

But how could she, who was so proud, admit that she already felt the pressure of the pursuers approaching from behind?

"Miyoko is making rapid progress, but I'm even faster than her!"

the other side.

As Xia An watched Hojo Midori bending down to pick up the chopsticks, he had already thought of the scene of her dominating the "Autumn Audition" after school started.

With her three-star cooking skills, she is certain to make it to the semi-finals and will also be highly competitive in the knockout rounds.

Tsk, it looks like this year's "Autumn Selection" is going to stray drastically from the original storyline.

correct.

According to the divisions, who will Hojo Miyoko replace in fourth place?

But there is no other way. If he is a famous character, the worst that can be done is to compensate him with a chance to come to Shenzhou to learn from a master... well, to be a working slave.

---

Two days later. Lijiang City Airport.

Xia An held his daughter's hand and waved to several female disciples who were dragging suitcases:
"keep in touch."

"Text me when you get home safely."

Lan Xiaoxi was also very reluctant and waved her short arms vigorously:
"Miyoko-sister, Alice-sister, Erina-sister, please come play with Xixi again~"

The little girl gets along very well with the other girls. Even Erina, who has a tsundere personality, takes care of Lan Xiaoxi everywhere. Of course, Lan Xiaoxi is also very smart, well-behaved, sensible, and likable.

"Xiao Xi, do you remember the hair-tying technique that your sister taught you?"

Midori squatted in front of Lan Xiaoxi.

"Remember!" Xiaoxi said sweetly.

Hearing this, Midori hugged her, stood up and bowed to Xia An:

"Master! I will definitely prove the results of my training in the autumn selection!"

The father and daughter watched the three girls disappear at the boarding gate.

Xia An lowered his head, rubbed his daughter's head hard and said:

"Lan Xiaoxi, I'll ask your mother how to deal with your schooling problem."

Lan Xiaoxi hugged Xia An's thighs tightly in an instant, and her little face, which was about to cry, changed color:

"I want to stay with my father. I don't want to go back to the Magic City!"

In fact, Lan Qingya had discussed this issue with Xia An two days ago.

Xia An is busy.

Lan Qingya is even busier.

Look, he is no longer in the country now, but is participating in a food competition abroad as an exchange student.

Then Xia An will have to continue taking care of the child and place him in the kindergarten in Lijiang City.

He pretended to look down at his phone to tease his daughter, but he was actually reading the WeChat message that Director Gao Shengqi had sent him when he was driving his female disciples to the airport.

Gao Shengqi: "(Bao fist) Boss Xia, the theme of the next show is "Future". I hope you can prepare well. I look forward to your wonderful performance next Saturday!"

Xia An: ? ?

future?

This theme is obviously conceptual.

Much more abstract than the previous "Face".

With a slight movement in his mind, Xia An always felt that he was being "targeted".

In the future, isn’t it the opposite of ancient dishes and ancient recipes?

of course!

If we can continue to come up with fantasy dishes such as "Flame Soup Dumplings" and "Fantasy Fish Noodles", it should also be in line with the theme.

After all, in the eyes of the public and the food industry, fantasy ingredients and fantasy dishes are bound to be the trend of the future.

"This will make the topic more broad." Xia An thought silently on the way home, "As long as the concept of 'futurism' can be presented in the dishes, it will be in line with the theme."

He couldn't help but glance at the panel again.

Watch [Beginner] master the molecular cuisine.

My thoughts gradually became wild and imaginative.

Ok…

Continue to explore the potential of the ancient recipe "Big Galaxy Noodles"?

If you use molecular cooking to cook Galaxy noodles...

The two important parts of this ancient dish are: squid ink and white shining pearl powder.

However, based on the experience of the previous life, many UP hosts who tried to recreate this dish failed, because the cuttlefish ink would completely cover the luster of the pearls.

Moreover, pearl powder itself does not emit light on its own. The reason why pearls emit light is that they reflect light, which makes them appear to be glowing visually.

Therefore, if you rigidly follow the original method of turning off the lights and using pearl powder in the noodle bowl to create fluorescence and stars, you will inevitably fail.

"If you use a fantasy ingredient that glows, replace the pearl powder."

"What if squid ink, including the noodles themselves, can be replaced with fantasy ingredients?"

……

And at the same time.

"Huh, I have notified all the contestants one by one."

Gao Shengqi wiped the sweat off his forehead and cast a helpless glance at the program crew in the small conference room.

Also present, in addition to the senior executives of the program team, were bigwigs such as Liu Heng, Liu Bo, and Director Li of the Jinguancheng Culture and Tourism Bureau.

I saw many people drinking water, their mouths were dry and their faces were flushed.

It seems that there was an argument in the meeting just now.

After the meeting.

The departing senior executives are still discussing:
“The theme of ‘The Future’ fits the narrative of the food industry in recent years very well.”

"But I think this topic is not good for Boss Xia."

"Him? Well, he is the ace of our show, but paleo dishes and paleo recipes don't fit the theme. I hope he can continue to present improved fantasy dishes."

……

Xia An just returned home.

The mobile phone's WeChat ID kept beeping with multiple new messages.

Liu Shimeng: "(Chuckling) The theme of the next issue is "The Future". Boss Xia, you are worried about this, right?"

Chalmé: "On the theme of "Future", there is no doubt that it is a no-holds-barred fight of fantasy dishes. I can already see the smoke of war!"

Shinomiya Kojiro: "(This message is machine translated) In the next issue of the "Future" theme, Professor Shiomi Jun and I will strangle you together!"

The corners of his mouth twitched, and he only replied to Liu Shimeng's message.

"A headache? I guess. How about you? Have you decided what dishes you want to make?"

Liu Shimeng: "In the last episode, I made a fake small noodle bowl tower, trying hard to recreate the dishes of my ancestors. This time, I want to show you, Boss Xia, my attainments in fantasy cooking!"

"Boss Xia, how about we have a private food battle bet?"

Xia An became interested and replied, "What bet?"

Liu Shimeng: "If you continue to get full marks and win first place this time, I will give you a handwritten copy of the recipe for the Chameleon Noodle Bowl Tower!"

Xia An clicked his tongue.

The difficulty of reproducing this recipe is probably at the strongest level below gold.

You have to know that Liu Shimeng has superb seasoning skills, but she can only restore a fraction of it.

Xia An: "Can you change to another recipe? I don't want the recipe of your ancestor's school."

Liu Shimeng: "Ah, this? What recipe does Boss Xia want?"

Xia An: "The recipe of the chef in the dark cuisine world."

Liu Shimeng: "There are indeed a few complete ones, but there are even more incomplete ones. Boss Xia, can you give me a specific example?"

Xia An: "It contains recipes for the unique skills of Bull Blue Dragon Slash and Seven Stars Breaking the Army Swiftly Cutting."

He did not hide his covetousness.

In today's Chinese food world.

Shudi Juxialou, Guangzhou Yangquan Restaurant, Modou Longzhen Restaurant, and the Imperial Capital Library are the places most likely to house such unique recipes.

There has been no news from Liu Shimeng for the time being. She must have gone to look for Liu and Ju's recipe collection downstairs.

"Boss Xia!"

At this time, Lu Jiaxin brought the worker Su Yan to the door.

The three female disciples left.

Xia An felt that his home would be lonely, so he simply asked two members of his team to bring their luggage and move in.

After putting away the luggage, Lu Jiaxin rubbed her brows and sighed:

"Recently, cultural and tourism bureaus and departments across the country have been calling me non-stop!"

"Is it that exaggerated?" Xia An was surprised.

Lu Jiaxin rolled her eyes slightly: "I am just telling the truth, without any exaggeration! Look!"

As she spoke, she squeezed over and showed the background of Douyin's official account and the emails in her mailbox.

It is filled with business inquiry letters.

"Our company intends to sign Mr. Xia as the brand spokesperson..."

"The ancient capital of the Six Dynasties sincerely invites Boss Xia to come..."

"Hello, I am the director of the Magic City Nine-Star Chef program team..."

Lu Jiaxin selected a few emails and read out the titles.

Wow, Xia An raised his eyebrows.

There is also the "Nine Star Chef" program team, who are poaching people so blatantly and rudely from next door.

Ok? !

Suddenly, Xia An found a special email with a star:
"NEO sincerely invites you, Mr. Xia An, to join us."

(End of this chapter)