Food Wars!: Delicious Food of the Heavens

Soma Yukihira loves cooking.

Therefore, in order to improve his cooking skills, Soma Yukihira likes to ask others for advice and never cares about gains or losses.

Even if others are unwilling to say it, Soma Yukihira will only feel a little disappointed, but he will never be discouraged.

For example, right now.

Seeing that Lin Yu had pointed out the shortcomings of his cooking, Soma Yukihira was not discouraged at all. Instead, he was excited and nodded repeatedly.

At the same time, he took out paper and pen and wrote down Lin Yu's words in a flash.

Lin Yu nodded upon seeing this.

Although the movement was very subtle, the slight upturn of his lips still revealed Lin Yu's satisfaction with Yukihira Soma, his "temporary student".

After all, it's inevitable that anyone will make mistakes during the cooking process.

Even Lin Yu wouldn't dare say that he would never make a mistake in every cooking session.

Making mistakes is not terrible, as long as you know your mistakes and can correct them.

In comparison, a strong thirst for knowledge and a positive attitude are even more important; these are the key qualities that enable a person to go far and achieve great things.

"Also, there's too much water in the rice and ingredients!" Lin Yu continued.

"Fried rice is not the same as stewed rice. A key characteristic of fried rice is its dry yet fluffy texture!"

"The rice must be soft yet chewy, but not soggy, otherwise it will lose its delicious texture as fried rice."

"A truly high-quality fried rice, regardless of its seasoning, will make diners feel that chewing this fried rice is a sensory enjoyment simply because of its dry and fluffy texture."

Lin Yu looked at Yukihira Soma, "And Yukihira, your problem is that you haven't perfected the texture of fried rice yet."

To be more precise, there's too much water in your fried rice.

Soma Yukihira suddenly felt a headache coming on, scratching his head. "What should I do?"

"I'm guessing you didn't dry the vegetables with kitchen paper after washing them?"

"Kitchen paper?"

Soma Yukihira was immediately a little embarrassed. "My family's restaurant doesn't use this, so... I didn't think of it just now."

Lin Yu continued, "Whether it's rice or vegetables, they all contain a certain amount of water, especially vegetables."

"During the heating process, the vegetables release moisture, which is a necessary step to bring out their sweet aroma and infuse it into the rice."

"But if not handled properly, too much water will not only lower the temperature inside the pot, but also prevent the rice from fully releasing its own aroma."

"At the same time, too much moisture will also make the rice grains sticky and soft, not dry and fluffy enough, and lacking chewiness."

"What should we do then?"

Soma Yukihira was very distressed by this.

"Now that you mention it, I think it makes a lot of sense too."

"Even after wiping the vegetables dry with kitchen paper, I feel like they still release a lot of moisture."

Soma Yukihira stroked his chin, mentally devising several solutions.

However, after careful consideration, Soma Yukihira felt that these methods were not very effective.

He sighed deeply, scratched his head, and felt his scalp itch from thinking about these problems.

After overturning his own ideas several times in his mind, Soma Yukihira finally resigned himself to defeat.

"It's too hard, I give up."

Soma Yukihira looked at Lin Yu with a wry smile, "Lin Yu, what would you do in this situation?"

"Me?"

Lin Yu gave his answer. "If it were me, I would choose to turn up the heat, which is what I always do when making fried rice."

"Is it simply... increasing firepower?"

Upon hearing Lin Yu's answer, Soma Yukihira was momentarily stunned.

He had considered this method before, but it was the first one to be ruled out as soon as it came to mind.

Lin Yu looked at Soma Yukihira and nodded.

"But I already used maximum power!" Soma Yukihira pointed at the stove, somewhat incredulous. "You should have seen it."

Following the direction of Yukihira Soma's finger, Lin Yu glanced at the stove on the cooking counter, his face showing undisguised disdain.

"hehe......"

"The small stove installed in the classroom has enough heat to cook ordinary dishes without any problems."

"but!"

Lin Yu changed the subject, "To unleash the full potential of the [heat control] technique, this stove is far from sufficient!"

Soma Yukihira sighed and scratched his head helplessly. "I know that too. The firepower of this stove is not as good as the stove in my restaurant."

"There's no other way, this is the only option!"

Lin Yu snorted coldly, "To put it bluntly, the firepower of this kind of Western-style kitchen stove is not much stronger than that of a regular household stove."

"If you want to experience the charm of 'cooking time and temperature,' you have to go to the high-heat stove of Chinese cuisine."

Lin Yu's expression turned to one of reminiscence.

"The moment it's lit, a thick column of fire can shoot directly out from the bottom of the pot."

"That ferocious look, just like the exhaust flame of an airplane engine, that kind of stove would be perfect for stir-frying!"

"That sounds amazing!"

Sosuke Yukihira knew about Lin Yu's craftsmanship.

Hearing Lin Yu's admiring tone, he couldn't help but feel a longing, his eyes sparkling.

"Alright, let's get back to the point, we've gone off-topic."

Lin Yu's words forced Soma Yukihira to pull his thoughts back.

"We're still in the evaluation stage, so we don't have the best conditions yet. We'll just have to make do with what we have."

Soma Yukihira was still somewhat unwilling to give up, muttering to himself, "Speaking of which, isn't there any good solution to the firepower problem?"

Hearing Yukihira Soma's mutterings, Lin Yu paused for a moment before speaking.

"Actually... there are ways to make do."

"real!"

Yukihira immediately leaned over excitedly, "Lin Yu, given our relationship, please be sure to give me your guidance!"

Lin Yu glanced at him and chuckled softly.

"Step back, I'm going to start cooking."

"Of course, no problem!"

Soma Yukihira quickly returned to his seat, keeping a close eye on Lin Yu's every move.

With all preparations complete, Lin Yu took a few deep breaths to get himself into peak condition before starting to cook.

Lin Yusheng brought over a bowl of white rice, along with a few eggs and a bundle of scallions.

"Is that enough?"

Soma Yukihira looked at the simple ingredients and was somewhat surprised.

"Isn't this... a bit too bland? Shouldn't we add some char siu pork and cabbage as toppings?"

"No, I have my own ideas."

"Oh, okay."

Lin Yu walked to the stove on the other side of the cooking counter.

There's a soup pot on the stove here.

From the very beginning of the lesson, Lin Yu placed the soup pot on the stove and simmered it over a low flame.

The moment the pot lid was lifted, a rich and enticing aroma filled the entire classroom, attracting the attention of many students.

"What an irresistible umami flavor!"

Soma Yukihira twitched his nose and took a few deep sniffs of the air.

"Is this chicken soup?"

"That's right!" Lin Yu confirmed Yukihira Soma's answer.

"For this chicken soup, I used chicken bones, wings, and drumsticks as the main ingredients, and also added scallions, ginger, red dates, goji berries, white radish, white pepper, kelp, dried scallops, dried shiitake mushrooms..."

Lin Yu rattled off a long list of ingredients, making Yukihira Soma's mouth water.

Wow~

"Just hearing about these abundant ingredients, I can imagine how rich and delicious this chicken soup must be!"

Soma Yukihira wiped the drool from the corner of his mouth and then said, "I know, Lin Yu, you made this chicken soup to go with the fried rice, right?"

"At that time, Professor Ando will have a bite of simple and refreshing fried rice, a bite of chicken stewed until tender, and finally a sip of rich and delicious chicken soup."

"Three different flavors coming together create a strong contrast; just thinking about it sounds amazing! It's making my mouth water!"

"Hehe! Lin Yu, your cooking will definitely amaze that sleep-deprived guy!"

"Maybe it'll even wake him up from his nap!"

Soma Yukihira, stroking his chin, confidently stated his deduction, clearly quite pleased with his "analytical abilities."

"Ha ha ha ha!"

Lin Yu burst into laughter.

"Yukihira-kun, do you know you have a real talent for comedy?!"

Watching Soma Yukihira spouting nonsense with a straight face, Lin Yu was amused by the [serious yet confident] expression on his face.

"Huh? Isn't that wrong?"

Seeing that his proud "analysis" had gone wrong, Soma Yukihira was filled with disappointment.

Lin Yu chuckled lightly, "Of course not."

Under Soma Yukihira's watchful gaze, Lin Yu took a chicken leg from the soup pot and gently pressed it down.

By feeling the texture transmitted back from his fingertips, Lin Yu was very satisfied with the firmness of the chicken leg.

He then disregarded the heat and, while the chicken leg was still piping hot and tender, tore it into strips with both hands.

As the chicken leg was being torn apart, the scalding juices inside kept seeping out from the gaps in the chicken's muscle due to the pressure. The tempting sight made Yukihira Soma, who was standing to the side, unable to stop wiping his drool.

Lin Yu didn't shred the chicken thigh meat into very thin strips, leaving some texture for chewing.

Then, Lin Yu stirred the chicken soup in the pot with a ladle. Smelling the rich aroma wafting from the pot, a smile appeared on Lin Yu's lips. He was clearly in a good mood and gave the real answer.

"I'm going to add this chicken broth to the fried rice later."

"etc!"

Soma Yukihira was stunned for a moment, as if he couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"But didn't you just mention... the issue of moisture in the fried rice?"

Lin Yu nodded. "That's right."

Soma Yukihira was even more confused, "Then why are you still...?"

"Yukihira-kun!"

Lin Yu interrupted Yukihira Soma.

Then, Lin Yu turned to look at Yukihira Soma, a mysterious smile that was rarely seen before, unfathomable and profound.

Soma Yukihira was also stunned by Lin Yu's expression, and subconsciously swallowed nervously.

Lin Yu at this moment seems somewhat different from the familiar figure in his memory.

It was as if... something within Lin Yu's body had been awakened from a state of slumber.

"Yukihira-kun, look forward to my next move."

"expect?"

"Yes, I'm looking forward to the true charm of the art of controlling the heat!"

Lin Yu folded and rolled up the sleeves of both arms, then gently exhaled.

The next moment, Lin Yu's eyes turned sharp, and the aura emanating from him changed abruptly.

Lin Yu lit the flame, turned the stove to its highest setting, selected a wok that he was fairly satisfied with from the cabinet, and placed it on the fire.

With the pot still simmering, Lin Yu went to the other side of the counter, cracked a few eggs into the rice, then put on kitchen gloves and carefully mixed the rice and eggs together thoroughly.

"Hey! Won't it burn the iron pot if you put it on the fire without oil?"

Among the students watching, some raised questions, but Lin Yu seemed not to hear them, focusing only on stirring the egg mixture and rice.

After preparing the rice, Lin Yu threw the large bundle of scallions into the sink and carefully washed them one by one.

After washing and shaking off the excess water, Lin Yu took a kitchen paper and gently and carefully wiped the water off the surface of the scallions.

Lin Yu's movements were neither hurried nor slow.

As time went on, the bottom of the pot began to turn red, and the crowd started to stir with unease.

At this moment, Lin Yu was still chopping scallions methodically, with a calm expression and light movements. The sound of the cleaver hitting the cutting board was crisp and rhythmic.

Lynch divided the chopped scallions into three piles.

To everyone's dismay, after Lin Yu finished chopping the scallions, he stopped moving again.

Lin Yu even stood quietly in front of the stove with his arms crossed, watching the red color in the center of the wok, representing high temperature, gradually expand.

Soma Yukihira frowned, wanting to speak up and remind him, but Lin Yu's glance stopped him in his tracks.

"Shh!"

Lin Yu placed his index finger to his lips.

"Don't speak, watch carefully, it's about to begin."

When the iron pot turned a dangerous bright red, even Soma Yukihira, who knew Lin Yu's culinary skills, couldn't help but show a deep sense of unease on his face.

Even the students at the farthest end of the classroom, who were watching from the side, could clearly see the distorted air above the iron pot, and their faces involuntarily showed expressions of horror.

Lin Yu finally moved.

Lin Yu took out a bowl of oil.

This is chicken oil that Lin Yu extracted by rendering chicken fat while stewing chicken soup.

The chicken oil in the bowl has a light golden color, a clear texture, and a smooth, silky consistency. Although there is not much of it, it has a delicate fragrance.

Lin Yu poured a bowl of chicken oil into the pot.

Lin Yu grabbed the handle of the pot, shook it, and spun it, so that the clear chicken oil was evenly coated all over the pot.

Because the temperature inside the pot is very high, the chicken fat is added to the pot, and in the blink of an eye, wisps of smoke begin to rise from the pot.

Without needing any instruments like a temperature gun, Lin Yu simply touched the air above the oil pan with his hand and knew that the oil temperature had reached his desired level.

Lin Qi slashed the cutting board with the cleaver, caught the chopped scallion whites with the cleaver, and then deftly sent them flying into the pot.

The moment the white part of the scallion touched the hot oil, a "sizzle" sound was heard, and a raging flame immediately burst into the pan, creating a truly astonishing sight.