Food Wars!: Delicious Food of the Heavens

The scene just now made the many students in the classroom, who had relaxed somewhat because of Ando's initial words, start to hold their breath again.

"Didn't Professor Ando say that his judging standards are very lenient?"

"Does his so-called leniency mean allowing unlimited rework? What kind of leniency is that?"

"Alright, shut up!"

"Hurry up and continue cooking. Be careful this time, lest you end up like that unlucky guy."

After a flurry of murmurs, all the students in the classroom quickly got back to cooking and began preparing their dishes.

Having learned their lesson earlier, this time, all the students looked serious and were no longer as relaxed as before; their movements also slowed down considerably.

Clearly, they all intended to handle each cooking step carefully, preferring to go slower rather than end up like that unlucky guy who rushed out a substandard dish and earned himself a scolding.

......

From the very beginning of the project, Lin Yu handled the ingredients in a calm and methodical manner.

Although he heard Professor Ando scolding the unlucky guy, neither the incident nor the somewhat tense atmosphere in the classroom had any impact on Lin Yu.

Lin Yu maintained his own rhythm from beginning to end. The sound of his sword striking the ground was crisp, clean, and rhythmic, without any deviation. He never changed the frequency from the very beginning.

"Wow! What Professor Ando just said really startled me!"

Hearing Soma Yukihira's voice coming from the cooking station next door, Lin Yu kept working and glanced at the side out of the corner of his eye.

Soma Yukihira had stopped preparing the ingredients, and a large pile of chopped ingredients was placed in front of him.

Seeing Yukihira Sosuke looking at him with a grin, Lin Yu chuckled.

"Come on! I know how bad your cooking is."

"With your abilities, why would you worry about this?"

"Hehe, don't say that, Lin Yu."

Soma Yukihira rubbed his nose. "I just heard Professor Ando say that his judging criteria are very lenient. I really thought I could just make a simple fried rice and pass this assignment."

"I thought that with your personality, you wouldn't care at all what the mentor said," Lin Yu said.

"You can't say that. After all, if you can relax, everyone would want to relax a little."

"Ha, I can't be bothered with you!"

Lin Yu dismissed Soma Yukihira's words with an attitude of "I don't believe it," treating them as a joke.

Soma Yukihira wasn't angry at Lin Yu's attitude; he chuckled and ruffled his hair.

"Just kidding, just trying to lighten the mood."

Lin Yu glanced around at the ingredients that Yukihira Soma had prepared.

Eggs, bacon, onions, carrots, shrimp, minced meat, chopped green onions...

All the ingredients were diced into small, colorful pieces and arranged in different bowls.

"Are you starting?" Lin Yu asked. "After seeing what happened to that guy just now, aren't you planning to prepare for a little longer?"

"cut!"

Soma Yukihira chuckled.

"In my family's restaurant, if we're afraid of getting bad reviews from customers, we won't dare to serve our dishes."

"A shop like that absolutely cannot survive!"

"A person like that doesn't deserve to call themselves a chef at all!"

Hearing Yukihira Soma's spirited words, Lin Yu murmured to himself:

"To say something I shouldn't have... that's really typical of Yukihira!"

Soma Yukihira took off his ever-present white headscarf from his arm and tied it tightly around his forehead.

"This time, I'm going to bring out the most popular fried rice from the [Yukihira Restaurant] menu and give that sleep-deprived Professor Ando a real treat."

"A delicious plate of fried rice can instantly pull you out of a listless state and back into a state of full energy!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Yukihira Soma heated oil in a wok, added eggs after the oil was hot, and quickly stir-fried them for a few seconds. While the eggs were still semi-solid, he added the side dishes to the wok and stir-fried them together.

At this moment, no other student had attempted to submit their dish. In the somewhat quiet classroom, the lively activity on Soma Yukihira's side stood out, attracting many curious glances.

But Soma Yukihira ignored the scrutinizing gazes; at that moment, his entire focus was on the wok in front of him.

After the side dishes were stir-fried until fragrant, Soma Yukihira immediately added the rice and stir-fried it continuously over high heat.

As the rich aroma began to waft from the pot, Soma Yukihira quickly seasoned it and sprinkled in chopped green onions.

With a few final, vigorous tossing motions, all the side dishes and rice were evenly mixed together in the swirling motions.

The rice, glistening with oil, is evenly mixed with countless small pieces of side dishes, creating a rich and colorful dish.

A strong aroma wafted from the pot, causing several students nearby to frequently turn their heads to look at Soma Yukihira.

"Done! Take it out of the pot!"

Soma Yukihira carried the freshly cooked fried rice to the podium.

In the classroom, many students' eyes were fixed on Soma Yukihira, wanting to see how this transfer student would behave in the face of their teacher, Ando, ​​who had just lost his temper.

"Master Ando, ​​I've submitted my dish! Please review it!"

Upon hearing Soma Yukihira's words, Ando raised his head, which had been bowed.

Ando picked up a spoon, gently stirred the fried rice in the plate, nodded as he looked at its color, then leaned closer to smell the aroma emanating from it, his expression showing satisfaction.

"not bad."

"certainly!"

Ando's tone was very calm, but given Yukihira Soma's personality, such a lukewarm compliment still made him very happy.

"This is a signature dish on the menu of my restaurant, Yukihira!"

"It's the most ordered fried rice dish of all... no, even if you broaden the scope to the entire menu, it's still the number one ordered dish."

"As an aside, this is also the dish I'm most skilled at making, bar none!"

"I've named it: [Yukihira-ryu Mixed Fried Rice]!"

"The main ingredients will include..."

Faced with Soma Yukihira's excited expression and a long, boastful introduction, Ando, ​​as the mentor, remained calm, his face as listless as ever.

"Alright, student, I know you're very talkative, you can stop your introduction now."

"After all, fried rice will taste worse if it gets cold, which will negatively impact your judging."

After Yukihira Soma continued rambling on for a while, Ando finally couldn't stand it anymore and interrupted him.

He was genuinely scared now; the other person's mouth could just keep talking forever.

"Oh, I'm sorry."

Soma Yukihira was immediately a little embarrassed.

"Master Ando, ​​please enjoy!"

Ando scooped up a spoonful of the colorful fried rice and put it in his mouth.

After being stir-fried, the aroma of the rice is fully released, and it has a perfect balance of softness and firmness, with a rich and delicious flavor.

Eggs, bacon, and shrimp, after being stir-fried in hot oil, release their own aromas, which coat the rice grains, adding a savory and rich base flavor to this fried rice.

The presence of various vegetables is also very strong.

It's not just the mild texture of the vegetables that makes the whole plate of fried rice even milder when you put it in your mouth.

The unique freshness and slight sweetness of the vegetables also blended into the rice, creating a flavor balance with the oily ingredients such as bacon in the fried rice.

The harmonious combination of various ingredients and different flavors makes this flavorful fried rice not greasy at all.

As Ando chewed, the expression on his face relaxed.

This scene was also noticed by the students who had been watching closely in the classroom.

"Ando's expression changed!"

"It looks like this transfer student will be the first to pass the assessment, right?"

"Damn it, this transfer student stole the spotlight."

"That's right, this mere transfer student is far too arrogant!"

A murmur of discussion arose in the classroom, but everyone suppressed their voices, seemingly out of consideration for Professor Ando's presence on the podium, making it impossible to discern who was speaking.

Ando put down his spoon and looked at the red-haired student in front of him.

"What's your name?"

"Reporting to Professor Ando, ​​my name is Soma Yukihira."

Ando nodded.

"Well, while there are some areas where you could do better, this level is already quite good for a first-year student."

"Soma Yukihira, 80 points."

"I have determined that you have passed."

"Alright, you can go now."

After saying that, Ando looked around the classroom. "Everyone, hurry up! Let's finish this assignment as soon as possible. I need to go back to the hotel to catch up on some sleep!"

"Please wait a moment, Professor Ando."

Just as Ando was about to lie back down on the table, Soma Yukihira stopped him.

Looking at Soma Yukihira still standing in front of him, Ando frowned slightly.

"What are you still doing standing here?"

Upon hearing Ando's words, Soma Yukihira shook his head and looked at Ando with a serious expression.

"Professor Ando, ​​I'd like to ask why you only gave my cooking a score of 80. What was the specific reason for deducting 20 points?"

"And what you just said, [that there are some areas that can be done better], could you specifically refer to those areas?"

Soma Yukihira's pleading gaze was very sincere, but in the face of such a gaze, Ando only glanced at him expressionlessly, a hidden sharpness gleaming deep in his eyes.

"Go down!"

"I'm here for this joint training program simply to serve as an examiner."

"I don't provide explanations or guidance here."

After saying that, Ando ignored Yukihira Soma and lay back down on the table.

"this......"

Soma Yukihira was getting a little anxious.

But looking at Ando lying down, and recalling the "morning grumpiness" look in Ando's eyes just now, even though he was anxious, Soma Yukihira could only suppress his thoughts.

But for Soma Yukihira, who loves cooking, it's a different story when someone tells him that his cooking can be improved, but they don't tell him exactly how to improve.

This feeling was as if there was a hungry kitten scratching wildly inside him, even more unbearable than being scratched in the heart.

"Could it be done better?"

"What aspects could be improved?"

Even after Soma Yukihira carried the tray back to his work station, he was still talking about the matter, seemingly lost in thought.

Lin Yu, who was standing to the side, was getting so annoyed by Yukihira Soma's incessant muttering to himself that he finally couldn't stand it anymore.

"It smells good!"

Upon hearing Lin Yu's words, Soma Yukihira suddenly woke up, looked at Lin Yu, and was overjoyed.

"Lin Yu, you know?"

"Are you saying that the fragrance wasn't good enough?"

"Please, tell me about it!"

Soma Yukihira's gaze was fixed intently on Lin Yu, his face full of anticipation, hoping that Lin Yu could answer his questions.

"Don't crowd over here, go back to your own seat!"

Soma Yukihira even excitedly moved closer to Lin Yu, only to be pushed back by Lin Yu with a look of disgust.

"Do you want to hear more?"

"you say!"

Soma Yukihira immediately adopted a well-behaved look, his expression becoming very serious.

Lin Yu sighed and said in a calm tone:

"The lack of aroma is likely due to the temperature and timing of adding the oil and ingredients, as well as the heating temperature during stir-frying."

Soma Yukihira asked doubtfully, "But you only watched the whole cooking process, right? No... you were just doing your own thing, so you might not have watched the whole process."

"How did you know that you haven't even eaten yet?"

"Smell and sight are both acceptable." Lin Yu said while continuing to process the ingredients.

"If you don't believe me, why don't you let me try your fried rice?"

"Of course I believe it!"

As he spoke, Soma Yukihira quickly placed the plate of fried rice he had cooked in front of Lin Yu.

Lin Yu picked up a spoon, scooped up a spoonful of fried rice, and put it in his mouth.

The fried rice was still hot at this point, with fluffy, oily grains and a variety of flavorful side dishes.

Despite using a variety of ingredients, the flavors of the different ingredients are perfectly balanced and harmonious, all revolving around the theme of "rice," with multiple flavors enveloping each tiny grain of rice.

And countless grains of rice, enveloped in flavor, come together to form a rich and fragrant river!

The top notes are the aroma of meat and oil, the middle notes are the aroma of rice, and the base notes are the sweetness of vegetables.

Its flavor is harmonious and makes it a dish you can never get tired of.

This flavor... is so comforting!

It has to be said that this is Yukihira's best dish, honed over time and irrigated with sweat in his own restaurant.

but......

Although this dish is full of Soma Yukihira's passion, there are still some areas where his skills are lacking.

"How is it, Lin Yu?"

Soma Yukihira looked at Lin Yu with anticipation.

"Master Ando said my dish only scored 80 points. Could you tell me exactly what I did wrong?"

Lin Yu put down his spoon and met Yukihira Soma's expectant gaze.

"Then I'll give a brief explanation."

"First of all, the ingredients were put into the pan too early. At that point, the oil temperature in the pan was not hot enough."

"The aroma of the oils hasn't been fully released, and the same problem exists with bacon and vegetables; due to the temperature, the aroma of these ingredients hasn't been fully developed!"

"If this step is done well, both the aroma of the fried rice and the flavor of the ingredients coating the rice grains will be elevated to a higher level."