The beginning is only when you become a chef

Chapter 109: Soup of the Century? (Two chapters in one)

These five ingredients were the materials that Xia An had tried his best to select from the limited information that could create the "fluorescence" spell.

Of course, whether it works or not will depend on whether it is made and tested first.

He sent a message on WeChat:

“I need these 5 ingredients.”

Make a list.

Among them, only Candy Coral and Golden Carrot are bronze level.

Sago, golden shrimp and golden salmon roe are all silver grade.

The first two may still be available for ordering through the Late Night Cooks Association's app, but for the last three, Xia An specifically checked the fresh food mall that was registered in Linggui Province, and all of them were displayed as "out of stock" or "to be restocked".

Perhaps there are goods in fantasy resource-rich areas such as Lingyue, Shudi, and Modu, but thinking about having to find someone specifically and owing a favor, it is better to continue to cling to Mrs. Nakiri Masanagi.

He and Nakiri Managi gradually formed a tacit understanding, and the wife of a patient with the late side effects of the Divine Tongue never mentioned the matter of letting Xia An join the Europa International Gourmet Association again.

What Nakiri Managi "exchanged" for these ingredients was the opportunity to taste extra dishes on multiple occasions.

For example, in the first episode of the show, Xia An made her an extra dish of fish noodles, which was an exclusive benefit that the other four judges did not have.

Doodle.

The reply from the account of Nakiri Managi soon popped up on Weixin:

"Hello, Mr. Xia An. I have checked the inventory at the headquarters. Candy corals, golden carrots, and golden shrimps are all out of stock. They will be delivered to you after the inventory is replenished next month."

Apparently, it was Nakiri Masaaki's secretary who was using his power to intimidate others.

Xia An frowned. Three ingredients were out of stock?

Nakiri Managi: "Candy Coral is a popular snack among the upper-class ladies in Obaro. It is a delicious food that can be eaten directly without cooking. It is characterized by its crispy texture and elegant flavor. The association replenishes a batch of goods every month and they are sold out within a few days."

"Although golden shrimp is only a silver-grade ingredient, it lives in low-temperature waters. When it is chased by hunters, it emits a strong light that blinds people and allows them to escape. It is very difficult to catch and is a popular ingredient that is out of stock all year round."

"As for the golden carrot, it is one of the fantasy raw materials for the gourmet world's most advanced recipe, 'Century Soup'. Even though it is only bronze grade, the price of each carrot has been hyped up to nearly gold grade."

Xia An: ? ?

what the hell.

The ultimate recipe: Soup of the Century…

As a time traveler, he is familiar with the stories of Food Wars and Cooking Master Boy, but he is not so familiar with another food manga or TV series "The Prisoner of Food".

However, no matter how unfamiliar he was, as a veteran fan, he had vaguely heard of some famous characters and recipes.

This "Century Soup" is so complicated to make that there are even three versions:
The original version, Granny Setsuno's version, and Komatsu's version.

Chef Komatsu became a famous chef in the food industry by recreating the "Soup of the Century".

of course!

Here comes the problem…

Could this "food world" mentioned by Secretary Managi Nakiri be the captive world of original food?

Thinking of this, Xia An's mouth twitched.

Even if you don't know much about this anime series, you should know that the upper limit of combat power in this world is exaggerated and even collapsed. In the later stage, the planets are cooked and swallowed in one gulp, which is outrageous to the extreme!
Xia An's scalp tingled, and he quickly typed on WeChat to ask:
"Since there is "Century Soup" in the food world, is there also Osomatsu and Granny Setsuno?"

Nakiri Managi: "Komatsu, who is Granny Setsuno?"

“The recipe for the Century Soup was discovered by a group of hunters in a ruined secret realm and ancient ruins.”

"As for the outlook and status of the food industry, I can't tell you, Mr. Xia An, because it would violate the IGO ban!"

"Anyway, once you become Chef Lin, you can access that world through the official channels of IGO."

Forget it.

Xia An has nothing to worry about.

He is not even at the special grade, so how can he dare to dream of reaching Chef Lin’s level.

IGO has such a ban, coupled with the previous episode of NEO's Food Utopia, and the warning from Mr. Lu's old man not to touch it.

Everything shows that don’t even think about crossing the “moat” before you reach the Lin level.

"Three of the five ingredients are out of stock. Looks like we can only start with the remaining two."

Half a day later, the specialist delivered the food box to the door.

Xia An had been waiting for a long time and couldn't wait to open the two boxes.

The first box.

After opening the lid, brilliant golden light burst out.

Then, an incredible smell filled the air.

"Is this the golden salmon roe?" Xia An exclaimed. He took a sip and felt drunk. His head was dizzy. "Just talking about the level of umami, it's no wonder it's a silver-level ingredient!"

He put on disposable gloves, reached into the box of fish eggs weighing about one pound, and scooped out some.

Place the golden fish roe under your eyes and observe them carefully.

They are like golden yellow diamonds, crystal clear, round and full.

Xia An swallowed, knowing that salmon roe could be eaten directly, so he put the roe in his hand into his mouth without hesitation.

hiss~
Immediately, Xia An was restrained.

In the mouth, the rich and fatty aroma of fantasy fish is very intoxicating.

The rich taste of slightly salty and sweet aftertaste, accompanied by the fragrance of the ocean, bursts in your mouth.

The indescribable delicious taste lingers on your lips and teeth for a long time.

After a while, Xia An sighed:

“It’s indeed a high-quality ingredient!”

Xia An's eyes were clear. He picked up a fish roe with his fingers and squeezed it gently in his hand.

"Sure enough, it is much more elastic than ordinary fish roe and fish eggs."

Moreover, as he pinched it, a pool of golden, shining liquid was clearly flowing in the thick egg membrane.

Xia An's eyes couldn't help but focus, thinking that it was no wonder that golden salmon eggs were also called "liquid gold".

Then Xia An picked up a handful of golden fish roe with great interest and scattered them into a bowl of fake Galaxy noodles that he had already prepared but had not eaten many bites of.

This bowl of noodles has a pitch-black soup base and even the noodles are black.

The golden fish roe did not sink to the bottom of the bowl. It was half submerged in the black soup and floated on the surface of the soup.

Okay, the composition is complete!
The background is a black sky, and the golden shining fish eggs are like stars.

Xia An deliberately placed these fish roe from one end of the bowl to the other, like a golden bridge of stars.

Even in a dark environment, the Milky Way is extremely clear in the noodle bowl.

"Where's the taste?"

Xia An didn't seem very happy, but murmured: "If we rashly add a silver-level fantasy ingredient, the structure of the dish will change and need to be reconstructed..."

As he spoke, Xia An picked up his chopsticks and tasted the bowl of half-cold squid ink noodles.

After a while.

Xia An put down his chopsticks and frowned.

“The squid ink noodles and squid ink soup, the freshness of these ingredients is completely overshadowed by the freshness of the salmon roe!”

It's the principle of suppressing one problem but another one pops up.

Since the umami taste of the salmon roe is too "extreme" and too heavy, the other end of the dish is completely unbalanced.

"So, we need to strengthen the squid ink noodles and squid ink soup. At least these two together can compete with the golden salmon roe?"

This is the idea behind the umami trio of "Catfish Noodles". Xia An has had some experience in reconstruction, so he has a lot of confidence.

However, right now, Xia An would like to try another ingredient.

So, open the second fresh-keeping box.

wow——

A burst of deep sea flavor.

Xia An looked closely, his face full of surprise.

In this box, there are several super-large "deep-sea shellfish".

The shell alone has a cross-sectional length of 20 to 30 centimeters.

Xia An tried to grab the top big shell, it felt heavy, and there was obviously something inside. He placed the big shell on the water table and pried it open with a professional knife.

There was a "click" sound.

Suddenly, the room was filled with light.

On the shellfish meat, which is as thick as steak, there are more than a dozen "pearls" emitting dazzling light.

“This is the origin of the name ‘Simibe’.”

Xia An clicked his tongue, picked up two pearl-shaped sago, squinted his eyes and said:

"According to the information, these sago pearls can make a pot of soup extremely thick and delicious after a little cooking."

Thought for a while.

Xia An looked at the shell meat, feeling a little confused:

"What should we do with this shellfish meat?"

Obviously, the shellfish meat and pearl sago of "Sago Scallop" are both silver-level fantasy ingredients.

The last time he made "Fantasy Fish Noodles", he used the fantasy ingredient "Lychee Sturgeon", and Xia An measured the upper limit of his use.

With nine-star cooking skills, you can make dishes that are as close to top quality as you can get.

Using a silver-level ingredient is already his limit.

In other words, if you want to use more than two silver-level ingredients, you must perform some kind of upgrade!
Xia An looked at the three spare attribute points in his hand that he had not yet spent.

Then expand your panel skills and talent bar.

[Skills: Arhat Crystal Slash (Great Mastery)/Ultimate Freshness (Purple)/White Snake Chain Transfer (Beginner)]

[Talent: Drugging (blue)/Thousand Faces (purple)/Heart of the Daddy Chef (Heart of the BC City Fireworks Chef (white)]

What would happen if you put all 3 attribute points into a Chef's Heart talent?
White→Green→Blue
Finally to purple?

what.

The purple quality Chef's Heart is, no matter what, the standard strength of a top-grade chef, right?
Xia An's heartbeat suddenly accelerated:
"Doesn't that mean that I can upgrade to the special grade with just one click in a few minutes?"

But his brain, which had just heated up, quickly cooled down again.

He shook his head, his eyes solemn.

For him, the special bottleneck that has trapped countless nine-star chefs is just a matter of clicking a button.

But the special grade that is "upgraded instantly" like this is probably very fake.

You should know that there are three levels of special grade: lower, middle and upper.

Xia An felt that he had been promoted in an instant, but his accumulation and foundation were seriously insufficient, and there was a high probability that he could not even beat the lower-level special-grade players. He would be the lowest-ranking fish below the lower-level special-grade players.

I would rather be a chicken head than a phoenix tail.

Rather than suffering when ascending, it is better to stay at the peak of nine stars for a while and continue to accumulate experience.

There is no need to doubt the eyesight and taste of the judges of "The Chrysanthemum Eating Contest".

As long as he turns [The Heart of a Nanny’s Kitchen] or [The Heart of a City Fireworks Kitchen] to purple, it will be clear that he has been promoted to the special grade.

The Chef's Heart trait can be considered a passive buff that cannot be concealed at all.

It is something that the chef naturally adds to the dish with every move he makes while cooking.

And once he reaches the special grade, forget about participating in the Fish Pond Competition and he will be forced to withdraw.

What about the extreme goal of winning the championship?
On Liu Shimeng.

I saw the infinite possibilities of extreme seasoning skills.

Xia An must be drooling in his heart.

Since he has the possibility to obtain an ultimate skill by completing the panel goals and then spending some money, he has to work hard at full speed.

The ultimate skill is undoubtedly a profound foundation, and it is still very useful even at the special level.

Therefore, Xia An was determined to get such a golden background card.

"Then spend 2 attribute points and stop when it reaches blue?"

Xia An's eyes wandered around.

Daddy's Kitchen Heart...

The Heart of the Urban Fireworks Kitchen…

Which one should I buy?
After thinking about it, Xia An decided to give the Daddy's Kitchen Heart to him.

the reason is simple.

This chef has a bright future, but his ceiling is scary.

To put it simply, it tastes like dad.

Wouldn’t that be a comparison to Fairy Bei’s “The Taste of Mom”?
So, even a fool knows which one to spend money on first.

【Successfully consumed 2 attribute points.】

[The Heart of the Daddy Kitchen (White) → The Heart of the Daddy Kitchen (Green) → The Heart of the Daddy Kitchen (Blue)]

[Evaluation: The road to becoming a top-class chef is a road of exploration and inquiry, a process of condensing the heart of a chef with personal characteristics. You have already reached the mountainside. If you work harder, you can reach the top of the mountain and see the top-class scenery.]

"really!"

Xia An was secretly worried when he saw the comments, but fortunately he didn't rush into it and directly upgraded the Daddy's Kitchen Heart to purple.

Otherwise, you will be instantly upgraded to the worst, worst, weakest special grade in history.

That's just lying there and letting it go.

The super-superior class has its own super-superior programs and battlefields, the water temperature, and the competition are far beyond the intensity of the nine-star celebrity chefs in "The Chrysanthemum Downstairs Competition".

"Although the nanny's cooking skills are not at the top level."

"But after upgrading two levels in a row, I have blue quality. Let's see if I can handle two silver-level ingredients."

Xia An was eager to try and immediately started to prepare the next dish.

---

Time passed quietly and three days went by.

Totsuki Campus.

「Shiomi Research Institute」

This is the exclusive laboratory of Professor Shiomi Jun, the authority on Totsuki spices.

Saiba Shiroichiro, with his son Soma Yukihira and Tadokoro Megumi, came to see off Jun Shiomi who had packed his luggage and was about to leave for the Chinese food world to participate in the "Kiku Going Down the Hall Contest" program.

The female professor is short, maybe only about 1.5 meters tall, with a baby face and glasses. She has a youthful hairstyle in a high ponytail. Not only does she have a cute attribute, but judging by her appearance, she probably looks about 17 or 18 years old.

Of course, in fact, they are first-year juniors of Dojima Gin and Saiba Shiroichiro, two graduates of the class of 69, in Polaris Dormitory.

Although she claims to be "forever 17 years old", Shiomi Jun is already 34 years old this year.

"Then I'm off!"

The petite Shiomi Jun was dragging a huge suitcase and carrying a large travel bag on her back, as if she was moving internationally.

Seeing this, Soma Yukihira's mouth twitched, and he poked Hayama Ryo's waist beside him:

"Hey, Hayama, does Professor Shiomi have to bring so many things?"

Ryo Hayama is also a first-year student this year, and is suspected of having the [God's Nose]. He was adopted by Jun Shiomi since he was a child, and gradually learned all the spices skills of Jun Shiomi, the Totsuki professor.

If nothing unexpected happens, Ryo Yeyama will be the big mountain that all first-year students have to face in this autumn's trials.

"I have helped the professor remove a lot of unnecessary things." Ye Shanliang said expressionlessly, "What remains are the bottles and jars of spices that she will take to Shenzhou, which are crucial for appearing on the show and those celebrity chef competitions."

"Saiba-senpai."

Tadokoro Kei asked curiously, "How long can Professor Shiomi survive on that show?"

Saiba Chengyilang smiled:

"If nothing unexpected happens, I can survive until the finals."

After saying that, he turned and left.

house.

Soma Yukihira and Ryo Hayama looked at each other, and their eyes seemed to be able to spark sparks.

(End of this chapter)