Food Wars!: Delicious Food of the Heavens

"What is this red sauce?"

"It's amazing! Now all I can think about is eating the second one, and I'm going to keep eating them non-stop!"

There were only five or six slices of roasted meat on the plate, and the judges, whose taste buds were stimulated, couldn't help but speed up their work.

Even if the beautiful woman in the kimono had intended to savor the dish, the tangy aroma caused her to devour it within a minute.

Even after putting down their chopsticks, the judges were still immersed in the lingering aroma of the dish they had just eaten.

"Mito-san, could you tell me what the red sauce was that night?"

Upon hearing the bald judge's words, the other two judges also looked at Mito Ikumi with curious eyes.

"Yes, Mito-san, could you please answer our question?"

"When enjoying this kind of flavorful grilled meat, it's theoretically easy to feel greasy..."

"Why is it that after eating the grilled meat with this sauce, I not only didn't feel greasy at all, but I even felt like my appetite was stimulated? After eating one slice, my appetite was greatly increased, and my chopsticks seemed to be out of control. I couldn't help but want to eat a second slice immediately, and I didn't feel greasy at all."

"Mito-san, could you tell us how this sauce is made?"

The bald judge pinched his chin, his face full of reminiscence, with a hint of uncertain doubt.

"I can only taste that it's made from a certain type of fruit, but I can't be sure which one."

"And...it seems there's more than one type of fruit?"

"That's right! You're tasting correctly; there is indeed more than one type of fruit."

Facing the probing gazes of the three judges, Mito Ikumi smiled and gave her answer.

"This sauce is a fruit-flavored barbecue sauce that I carefully blended using hawthorn as the main ingredient, along with pineapple and mango."

"As for its effect of stimulating appetite and cutting through greasiness, I think it goes without saying, as the three judges have already experienced it firsthand."

"hawthorn?!"

The judges were quite surprised by the answer, and the bald judge even slammed his hand on the table, revealing a look of sudden realization.

"No wonder I couldn't taste it; this fruit isn't a common ingredient in Japanese cuisine."

"Mito-san, is that why you thought of using this fruit in barbecue sauce?"

Faced with the curious gaze of the bald judge, Mito Ikumi hesitated for a moment before slowly speaking.

"Actually... I initially got this inspiration from someone else, and then I studied it at home."

"Hawthorn has a mild sour taste and can help stimulate appetite and aid digestion."

"When I learned about this, I immediately thought, could we apply the properties of this fruit to meat dishes to address the problem that meat dishes, while having a strong impact, are prone to being greasy?"

Mito Ikumi looked at the empty plate on the judges' table, which only had a little bit of meat juice left.

"This dish is the result of my research over the past few months."

Mito Ikumi picked up the bowl of red sauce and began to explain in more detail.

"In fact, I used a lot of fresh hawthorn berries ground into a paste in the sauce."

"Moreover, when I was making the marinade for the beef, I ground dried hawthorn into powder and added it to the blended compound spice powder."

"This not only softens the beef fibers, making the grilled meat more tender, but also ensures that the flavor of hawthorn is consistently present, serving as an appetizer and a palate cleanser."

"Of course, this sauce is actually more than just that."

As she spoke, Mito Ikumi used her chopsticks to take a little sauce from the bowl and spread it evenly on the plate.

"Please look."

The three judges followed the direction of the chopsticks and noticed that, in addition to most of the red jam, the spread-out sauce also contained some yellow granules and orange-yellow fruit puree.

"Actually, it's not just hawthorn; I also added a small amount of freshly squeezed pineapple juice to the sauces and marinades, which also helps to soften the meat and reduce the greasiness," Mito Ikumi continued to explain.

"However, pineapple has a stronger and sharper sour taste, so I am more careful when adding it. I not only choose a pineapple variety with a relatively mild sour taste, but also add only a very small amount."

"Exquisite!"

"As expected of Mito-san."

The judges suddenly realized what was going on and began to praise Mito Ikumi.

"I see, the yellow bits in the sauce are from freshly squeezed pineapple, right?"

"And what is this orange-yellow fruit puree?" The bald judge used the tip of his chopsticks to pick up a small piece of yellow fruit puree from the sauce and asked Mito Ikumi.

"It's a mango."

"mango?"

Facing the judges' surprised gazes, Mito Ikumi calmly offered her explanation.

"Both hawthorn and pineapple are primarily sour fruits. If they are not balanced, the final sauce will be too sour."

"Therefore, I added ripe mangoes. The sweetness of the mangoes not only adjusts the sweet and sour balance of the sauce, but the addition of mango puree also makes the sauce have a thicker and smoother texture."

"I'm very confident in pairing this sweet and sour sauce with juicy grilled meat."

When she said those words, Mito Ikumi's face was full of a confident smile.

The three judges were also infected by Mito Ikumi's confidence and applauded, their eyes filled with undisguised admiration.

"As expected of Mito-san, thank you for your cooking; it was a wonderful experience for our taste buds!"

"Thank you for your compliment!"

Mito Ikumi bowed slightly to the judges.

"The judges were eating so deliciously!"

"And the judges gave it very high marks!"

"This is it, Mito Ikumi will definitely beat that transfer student."

Faint murmurs emanated from the audience, but Mito Ikumi ignored them and walked straight back to her cooking station.

"That's amazing!"

Lin Yu suddenly spoke as Mito Ikumi passed by him.

"I can smell that aroma too; that grilled meat smells really good."

"It must taste incredibly delicious!"

Lin Yu subconsciously licked his lips, recalling the fragrance from just now.

Even though the judges' seats were some distance from where he was standing, he could still smell the rich aroma.

Although he disliked Mito Ikumi's temper, Lin Yu wouldn't lie to his taste buds and appetite; at that moment, he was genuinely craving it.

"Of course, you don't need to tell me that."

Upon hearing Lin Yu's words, Mito Ikumi couldn't help but raise the corners of her mouth and let out a soft snort, her voice filled with arrogant pride.

"Stop dawdling there, hurry up and serve the food."

"Lin Yu, I'm ready to enjoy watching you fall."

"No, what you're saying..."

Lin Yu gave a helpless wry smile, "This makes it seem like I'm destined to lose."

"Yeah, what else?"

Mito Ikumi looked at Lin Yu with an arrogant expression and said something that made Lin Yu frown.

"Mito-kun, chefs ultimately compete on the quality of their cooking, not on their eloquence or who can talk the best," Lin Yu retorted without any politeness.

"Who says I'm only good at talking!"

Mito Ikumi also noticed Lin Yu's furrowed brows and impatient expression, but she just smiled and didn't say anything more.

Then, Mito Ikumi took out a covered plate from under her cooking counter.

"Don't say I've forgotten you, come and have a taste."

Mito Ikumi handed the plate to Lin Yu and gestured for him to take it.

"I agree with what you just said. Ultimately, it's the food that determines the winner between chefs."

Mito Ikumi looked directly into Lin Yu's eyes, her expression very serious. "In that case, come and try it for yourself, and you'll be convinced."