The strongest anime shop owner

"You...you actually called me a gossip!" Jin Han pointed at Su Luo angrily and said.

"I didn't say that, you admitted it yourself," Su Luo shrugged, speaking in a very innocent tone.

"Hmph!" Jin Han had nothing to say, so he snorted coldly and turned his head away.

Seeing this, Kawashima Rei couldn't help but take out a handkerchief and wipe the cold sweat from her forehead. This really was a battlefield without smoke.

Without Jin Han's interference, Su Luo began to seriously prepare her own dishes, starting by taking the ingredients out of the bag.

First, prepare the ingredients. Wash the beef and cut it into uniform pieces to ensure the dish looks appealing. Peel the potatoes and cut them into chunks along with the carrots. Slice the onions.

After preparing the ingredients, we started cooking. First, we boiled a pot of water. When we poured in the cold water, we added the beef and boiled it for a few minutes. After blanching, we rinsed off the blood foam and cleaned it thoroughly before setting it aside.

Clean the pot, pour in a small amount of oil, add minced scallions and ginger, as well as spices such as cinnamon, Sichuan peppercorns, and star anise, and sauté them directly. The spices release their unique aroma as they boil in the oil, and the combination of various spices creates an enticing fragrance.

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Chapter Ninety: Korean Kimchi Tofu Stew

"This aroma is so wonderful, it makes my stomach rumble with hunger." Kawashima Rei said, clutching her stomach as the rich fragrance reached her nose.

After the aroma is released in the pot, add the prepared beef chunks, stir-fry a few times, then add the cooking ingredients. Sizzle~, a rich aroma of wine rises in wisps of white smoke.

After pouring in the cooking wine, add white sugar, dark soy sauce, and light soy sauce, and stir-fry continuously until the beef is colored. That's basically it.

Su Luo took out an exquisite casserole, poured the cooked beef into it, added some boiling water (preferably a little more), brought it to a boil over high heat, then turned to low heat and simmered for 40 minutes.

Open the lid and pour out some of the broth, keeping the amount of broth in the casserole at a suitable level. Add the chopped potatoes and carrots, and simmer again.

After the potatoes are cooked through, you can proceed to the final step: add the chopped onions and turn the heat to high. At this point, you don't need to cover the pot; just leave it open. Next, prepare another pot and thicken the previously poured-out broth with cornstarch. Pour this broth over the ingredients in the casserole to make all the ingredients look more glossy and appealing. Finally, garnish with one or two sprigs of cilantro.

Braised beef in a clay pot, done!

bang~

With a rang out, the food battle was about to end.

As the final bell rang, Kawashima Rei's voice immediately rang out from the arena: "Alright, time's up. Both sides, please begin plating. We will now proceed with the judging phase. Please bring your dishes!"

"First, we'll be tasting Kim Han Seok-da's dishes. Please bring them out, Kim Han Seok-da." Seeing that the two seemed ready, he said.

Upon hearing that he would be tasting his own cooking first, Jin Han immediately opened the lid of the casserole, added chicken essence and sesame oil, and sprinkled some chopped green onions on top for aroma. After doing all this, he started serving the dish.

"This is Korean kimchi tofu stew, please try it." Kim Han placed his dish on the judges' table and introduced it to the judges with a hint of arrogance, completely disregarding them, as if he were saying how amazing his dish was.

However, one of the judges, Wang Benkedian, frowned slightly at Jin Han's attitude, but only for a moment. As a television program producer, he was obviously able to quickly adjust his emotions.

Su Luo was speechless about today's judges, inwardly cursing the Food Wars Management Bureau: "Is the Bureau really short of staff? Why are there always a few judges who are the same in every Food War? One of them even appears in almost every Food War. Does the Bureau not pay them their salaries, so they all ran away?"

At this moment, each judge had a small earthenware pot in front of them. The earthenware pot was a rather delicate container that looked very smooth, exquisite, and petite.

To be honest, they were quite looking forward to the Korean student's cooking, but they didn't like his arrogant attitude. Looking at the exquisite casserole in front of them, they didn't touch it for a moment. After a while, Zangmu Zina made the first move, slowly opening the lid of the casserole. Immediately, a plume of white smoke shot into the sky. As the smoke spread, the aroma of the ingredients immediately wafted into everyone's noses. That wonderful aroma immediately aroused everyone's appetite, and their throats couldn't help but move a few times.

As the white mist gradually dissipated, the true appearance of the dish was immediately revealed to everyone. In the casserole, the golden broth was clean and clear, with few impurities, indicating that it had been prepared very well. In the golden broth, all the ingredients were arranged neatly and orderly, which looked very aesthetically pleasing. The dish was not very eye-catching, with a simple color scheme. This combination was not bright but very harmonious, giving people a sense of leisurely farming in the countryside, simple and relaxing.

This dish looks very relaxing. After Zang Mu Zi Nai opened it, the other two examiners were also attracted and immediately opened the casserole in front of them, eager to have a good taste.

"It looks quite well-prepared. At first glance, it gives me a simple and unpretentious feeling." Kuraki Shino rested her chin on one hand, looking at the dish in front of her, and said with a hint of delight.

"Well then—" At this point, Zang Mu Zi Nai scooped up a spoonful of soup. Generally speaking, for dishes with a lot of soup base, you should start by tasting the soup base, because the soup base usually determines the quality of the dish, and then you can start tasting the ingredients.

As you slowly sip the golden broth, a fiery spiciness explodes in your mouth, filling your entire oral cavity and spreading rapidly, as if your whole body is about to burst into flames. Your fair face also begins to flush red. The rich flavor is truly overwhelming.

After finishing the soup base, Zang Mu Zi Nai picked up his chopsticks, ate some ingredients, frowned slightly, and then put down his chopsticks without giving much of a comment, simply saying, "Not bad."

After trying it, Katsutoshi Okimoto commented, "Korean kimchi is really good!"

"Of course!" Jin Han said smugly upon hearing Wang Benkedian's praise, clearly unaware of the implied meaning. He was referring to the kimchi, not the dish itself.

After taking a sip of soup, the last examiner put down his spoon without picking up any other ingredients. His expression was unreadable, and he didn't say a word. Jin Han assumed that the examiner had been won over by his cooking after just one sip, so he wore a smug expression and even made a provocative gesture towards Su Luo, giving off a smug vibe.

"Now, let's examine Su Luojun's dishes." Kawashima Rei spoke up at just the right moment after seeing the three examiners put down their chopsticks.

Upon hearing this, Su Luo carried her dishes over. Just as she was about to put them down, Kawashima Rei immediately approached, handed her the microphone, and said, "Su Luo-kun, judging from your previous food battles, your dishes always seemed incredibly delicious and elaborate. May I ask what you made this time? Can you tell me?"

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Chapter Ninety-One: Su Luo's Cooking - Braised Beef in Casserole

"You'll find out in a minute," Su Luo said bluntly. He really didn't want to say anything about Kawashima Rei's actions. He knew she was trying to liven things up, but couldn't she ask something else? You'll find out when the dishes are served, right? Why bother?

"Haha, you're right." Clearly, Su Luo's answer embarrassed Kawashima Rei, who forced a stiff smile to ease the awkwardness. Meanwhile, a different personality inside her was clenching its fists and roaring, "Hmph! You wretched brat, I hope you fail and get expelled! Since you're treating this beautiful girl so casually..."

Su Luo ignored Kawashima Rei and went around to place her dish in front of the three examiners, saying, "Braised Beef in a Clay Pot, please enjoy."

"That wretched brat! How dare he ignore my cute and charming self! It's unforgivable!" Seeing Su Luo's actions, Kawashima Rei became even more furious. In a secluded spot, her face darkened, and her clenched fists clenched into a large zigzag pattern.

After Su Luo brought the casserole to the table, the three examiners looked it over. Compared to Jin Han's casserole, this one was also very exquisite. However, it was pure white without any blemishes, giving it a clear and jade-like appearance.

Without the slightest hesitation, one of the three judges, Shino Kuraki, opened the lid of the casserole. Perhaps she was very satisfied with Su Luo's performance in the previous food battle, which is why she was so decisive!

After the lid of the casserole was opened, a wisp of white smoke rose up, resembling a crane or a tiger, ever-changing. As the smoke gradually dissipated, a delicious aroma of meat immediately assaulted everyone's appetite, making them swallow hard and feel a strong urge to eat.

As the white smoke gradually dissipated, the true appearance of the dish inside the casserole was revealed to everyone. In contrast to Jin Han's plain dishes, this dish was quite the opposite. In the casserole, brown, jewel-like beef chunks were coated with a layer of golden sauce, smooth and delicate, exuding an enticing glassy color. Interspersed among them were red carrots and pale yellow potato chunks, and garnished with one or two sprigs of cilantro. The whole dish looked very bright and colorful, and such colors were very appetizing.

The dish has no broth, which locks all the essence into each ingredient, making each ingredient even more delicious and tempting.

"Hmm, the color combination looks really good," said Katsutoshi Okimoto, looking at the brightly colored dish.

While Wang Benkedian was speaking, Zangmu Zina had already picked up a piece of beef with his chopsticks, put it in his mouth, and easily broke the piece with a gentle bite, showing how tender the meat was. As he stirred it, the delicious flavor gradually spread, and the rich meaty aroma assaulted his taste buds, making him feel intoxicated.

"Oh my! This dish is absolutely delicious, I can't resist it!" Kuraki Shino said, holding her face in her hands, feeling as if her whole body was melting from the food. She was completely mesmerized. It was as if she was immersed in a world of vibrant colors, the bright hues filling her mind and body, making it impossible to pull herself away.

"Compared to the previous dish, this combination, both in terms of color and appearance, with its bright sheen, is truly appetizing." The manager of the Japanese-style sushi restaurant, Kazuko Ariki, looked at the dish before her with obvious interest.

Katsutoshi Okimoto picked up his chopsticks, took a bite of beef, and a soft sensation immediately filled his mouth. He couldn't help but say, "It's so delicious! It makes you want to keep eating it. The meat is so soft that it has no chewiness and no juicy splashing, but it's incredibly tender. More importantly, the flavor gets stronger as you stir it. Every fiber is full of rich flavor. It's so delicious that you can't stop eating it."

As a rather observant woman, Yukiko quickly noticed the faint, pleasant fragrance emanating from the dish and commented, "This subtle aroma...it's red wine! Indeed, using red wine instead of cooking wine to cook beef makes this dish even more delicious. First, the spices are fried in oil to release their aroma, then the beef is stir-fried, and finally, the red wine is added, bringing out the full flavor of the dish!"

Katsutoshi Okimoto picked up where Heiko left off, saying, "Add light soy sauce and dark soy sauce for coloring, pour it into a clay pot, and simmer it to make the flavor richer and lock in all the essence."

Finally, Shigeno Kuraki interrupted, saying, "And the most important thing is the next step. The cook made a wise choice and a wise decision."

Before adding the potatoes and carrots, pour out some of the thick broth for thickening at the end. Otherwise, if you add the potatoes and carrots and cook them before pouring out the broth, there will be no difference between thickening the broth and not thickening it.

It only makes the dish look smoother and more appealing, nothing more. However, using the previously poured-out broth elevates the rich meaty flavor, making the dish even more delicious and tempting.

"This dish sacrifices the chewiness of the meat and the savory flavor of the gravy, but instead brings out the tenderness of the meat and a flavor even richer than the gravy. You could say it's a rather unique dish. The most important part of this dish is the final thickening step, which elevates the entire dish, making the meat flavor even more mellow and delicious." In the end, Ariki Kazuko gave her final summary and commentary.

"The texture is soft and tender, and while it lacks the deliciousness of meat juices, it has a richer and more mellow flavor. Combined with the thickened sauce that's full of meaty aroma, it continuously enhances the deliciousness of the beef, and its vibrant color makes it incredibly appetizing, making you want to keep stuffing it into your mouth." While thinking this, Katsutoshi Wakamoto picked up pieces of meat and kept stuffing them into his mouth, as if he wouldn't stop until he finished it all.

"Ah! I'm so full!" After a short while, Yukiko finished eating, rubbed her slightly protruding belly, breathed a sigh of relief, and said.

"Oh my! Su Luo-kun's cooking is still so delicious. If I keep eating, I wonder if I'll turn into a fat woman." After finishing her meal, Zang Mu Zi Nai leaned back in her chair, looking at Su Luo with a hint of resentment in her eyes, and said, "Su Luo-kun, why do you have to make the food so delicious? I've eaten so much. If I get fat, you'll have to take responsibility!"

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Chapter Ninety-Two Victory

"What the hell?! Are you kidding me, sis? What does this have to do with me?! How am I supposed to pass the food battle if my food isn't good? If you don't want to eat my cooking, then why do I always see you in my food battles? Sis, what explanation do you have for this?" Faced with Kuraki Shino's teasing, Su Luo was completely annoyed and couldn't help but complain in her heart.

"Ah! You're right. It seems I won't be able to come to his food battles anymore. I didn't believe you at first, but now I do," said Kazuko Ariki, sitting next to me, with a sigh.

Hey lady, what's the meaning of your statement? Did you bring your family? And why can't I participate in my food battle? Did I kill your mother or desecrate your ancestral grave?

Looking at the examiners, Kim Han seemed to sense something was amiss, and for some reason, a sense of unease rose in his heart.

"That's it, please vote, judges!" Just then, Kawashima Rei spoke up, seeing that the judges seemed to have finished tasting.

Upon hearing this, the three examiners pressed Su Luo's button without hesitation, as if they had planned it beforehand.

"It's truly astonishing that Su Luo received a unanimous vote, so the winner is... Demon Su Luo!" Kawashima Rei immediately announced the final result after seeing the outcome.

Jin Han, who had been arrogant, thought he was about to win! He stood tall and proud, but after hearing the result, he realized something was wrong. He stared at the outcome of the food battle in disbelief, paused for a moment in a daze, and then his face changed immediately. He shouted in a sharp voice, "The winner is Su Luo!? This is impossible!"

"This is impossible, this is absolutely impossible, this must be a dream, yes, this must be a dream. When I open my eyes again, it will definitely change back, yes, it must be like this, it must be like this." For Jin Han, this was really hard to accept. He thought he had seen wrong or was hallucinating, so he closed his eyes in a daze. When he opened his eyes again, the result was still the same. He immediately knelt down on the ground, looking dazed and dejected, his expression blank, and he kept muttering, "I lost, how is this possible, how can this be..."

Su Luo felt sympathy for Jin Han. He must have never lost before! He should be considered a genius! If he can't handle setbacks, then such a genius is just a fleeting moment.

Geniuses have never been lacking in this world, but how many can truly reach the pinnacle? Genius and unique innate abilities are determined by birth, and no one can change them. However, for true geniuses and those with real strength, these are merely auxiliary factors. Only when a person's mind is strong can they become truly powerful.

Having good innate conditions doesn't necessarily mean being very powerful. Su Luo personally believes this. When she was watching "Food Wars!", she already saw it. Take Erina Nakiri for example. She had powerful innate abilities and a powerful background, but she didn't just become one of the Elite Ten. In fact, she was the lowest one.

"Su Luo-kun, be sure to let me know next time there's a food battle!" Seeing that the food battle was almost over, the judges got up to leave. At this moment, Kuraki Shino winked at Su Luo playfully and said.

Faced with these words, Su Luo was completely taken aback. What did she mean by that? Was she taking advantage of her? And also, "Big sister, didn't you say that I made you gain weight because you keep eating my food? Are you sure there's nothing wrong with what you're doing?"

After Zang Mu Zi Nai said those words, Jin Han seemed to remember something and stood up like a zombie. His face became somewhat distorted. He pointed at the three examiners and then at Su Luo, saying in a sharp and frantic voice, "It was you! You must have conspired together, otherwise, with my cooking skills, I could not have lost."

Seeing Jin Han biting wildly like a mad dog, the people present all frowned and looked at him with some disgust, but none of them said anything.

"What? You're speechless now that I've exposed you! I knew it! How could my dish possibly lose?" Seeing that everyone was silent, Jin Han thought he was right! So he spoke without any restraint.

Food battles are a fair and just event, so there's no possibility of collusion. If someone were caught, they would be expelled from the culinary world, which would ruin their career. So, such a problem is impossible unless something extraordinary happens.

As judges, Shigenori and his colleagues had certainly seen many such scenes, so they didn't say anything. In order to uphold the authority of the Food Wars, such people would be severely punished.

"Really? You call this cooking 'cooking'?" Seeing someone so crazy for the first time, Su Luo was truly speechless. She walked over, took a bite of Jin Han's dish, and said to him. Although the Food Wars Bureau would severely punish such an incident, Su Luo felt very uncomfortable with this ambiguous situation. If she wanted to win, she wanted to make sure her opponent lost convincingly; otherwise, it would seem as if she had won through some underhanded means.

Su Luo's question stunned Jin Han. Before he could speak, Su Luo said directly, "Your dish is really not very good, you could even say it's just ordinary..."

Before Su Luo could finish speaking, Jin Han interrupted her emotionally, "Impossible! This dish was carefully prepared by me, how could it possibly be..."

Su Luo didn't care what he was saying and directly drowned out his words with a louder and sharper voice: "A variety of ingredients can indeed add a lot of different flavors, but does your dish have their flavors?"

Su Luo's words pierced Jin Han's heart like a sharp arrow, and Jin Han immediately froze as if he had been seriously injured.

"Spicy is indeed a very stimulating and delicious flavor, but your spiciness completely overwhelms all other flavors. Are you sure you're making a dish, or just a hot sauce shaped like an ingredient? Even if you're going to make an extremely spicy dish, you should at least make sure it blends well with the ingredients, right? You don't even know this most basic thing? Are you sure you studied cooking properly in middle school?" Seeing Jin Han pause, Su Luo wasn't going to let him off so easily. She was genuinely angry after he said those things, though it wasn't obvious on the surface.

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Chapter Ninety-Three: The Hellish Training Camp About to Begin

"You can try it and see. If you can tell me in what way my cooking doesn't surpass yours, then I'll admit defeat. Even if you accuse me of colluding, I have nothing to say." Without giving him a chance to react, Su Luo shoved the dish she had made into Jin Han's hands, ignoring the frozen Jin Han, and turned to leave. As she walked away, she suddenly remembered something, stopped, and said to Jin Han, "Losing isn't scary; what's scary is giving up. There are many geniuses in this world, and the world won't lose its brilliance because of the loss of one genius."

The upcoming training course has made the atmosphere extremely tense these past few days. Everyone is working very hard for the course. For example, Marui went to his research club to supplement his knowledge, and Aoki Daigo and Sato Shoji practiced cooking together. However, Soma still looked lazy and Tadokoro still looked worried.

In the days leading up to their departure, everyone began preparing what they needed to bring. Su Luo also started preparing. The study period was quite long. Although it was to take place at the Far Moon Resort, it seemed that the study would be mostly conducted in a closed environment. Therefore, it was necessary to prepare some basic medicines such as cold medicine and bandages. Apart from these, it was just a matter of changing clothes. As for blankets, there was no need to prepare them. After all, it was a hotel, and they would definitely provide these things.

After preparing everything, all she had to do was wait quietly for the time to come. Of course, Su Luo wouldn't forget to practice her cooking skills.

Time flies, and a few days later in the morning -

The dormitory members quickly finished their breakfast, took their luggage, and headed towards the designated assembly point. When they arrived, they were immediately shocked by the scene before them: rows upon rows of large buses, densely packed and frighteningly numerous.

"How many people are there in this school?!" To be honest, the number is indeed astonishing, and that's precisely why the competition is so fierce. This is the foundation that those who choose the [Jade] aptitude possess, while most people will be discarded as stepping stones.

"Alright! Let's go! A hellish training camp for friendship and communication!"