Food Wars, my food not only glows!

　On the field, Tadokoro Megumi looked at the moon in the sky, somewhat lost in thought, recalling the careful guidance that Bai Yuan had given her during this period.

　Because of him, she was able to grow to where she is today. Otherwise, she might have been expelled from school six months ago and become a complete tragedy.

　Therefore, she was very grateful to Bai Yuan.

　Besides gratitude, there is also a deep and indescribable affection for him. It is this affection that has kept her going until now, wanting to win the championship for him!

　She wanted to express her feelings after winning the championship.

　She had kept this love bottled up inside for so long, and it was almost too late to hold back. Even knowing she might be severely reprimanded, or even disliked, she had to speak it out! It was her true feeling!

　"Chief, you should be watching now. Although the opponent is a master you trained, I will not show any mercy. I will win this match and gain your approval!"

　Both are looking at the moon, thinking of the same person, but their thoughts are completely different. One is driven by love, the other by a desire for his approval.

　However, whatever the reason, their belief in winning the championship is the same, and it is destined to be a fierce battle!

　"Ready, let's begin cooking!"

　When the moon was fully visible to everyone, Senzaemon Nakiri stood up, opened his arms, and shouted at the contestants in front of him.

　At the same time, the two contestants got to work, shining brightly at their respective cooking stations!

　·

　·

　"Neither contestant prepared the loach first; instead, they prepared other ingredients. Is this the usual approach?"

　Watching the two players on the field who shared the same thoughts, Dojima Gin...

　He stroked his chin and began to speak.

　"Excessive effort will only reduce the freshness of the loach. We need to ensure the freshness of the loach to the greatest extent possible, so we should process the other ingredients first."

　Senzaemon Nakiri's voice rang out, analyzing the reasons behind the contestant's actions, which is a common occurrence in previous years.

　"Speaking of which, it's surprising that both finalists this year are girls. This has never happened before."

　After saying that, Leonora Nakiri focused all her attention on the competition. The fact that two girls had made it to the finals was quite unexpected.

　After all, in the culinary world, apart from pastry chefs and dessert chefs, male chefs account for 90% of all chefs, while female chefs only account for 10%.

　The fact that both finalists are women is undoubtedly an extremely low probability event.

　"The male students in this year's class aren't very good!"

　"That's what Leonora Nakiri is saying to herself."

　"That's not true, Mom. It's just that the girls in this year's class are all more capable than those in previous years."

　"See that? That blue-haired girl over there is one personally taught by Teacher Bai Yuan; she's quite impressive."

　Beside her, Alice Nakiri's voice rang out. Leonora Nakiri turned her head in confusion and found that the other person was talking non-stop.

　"The blue-haired girl, are you talking about that one? She looks so confident. No wonder she was personally trained by Brother Bai Yuan."

　Following her gaze, Leonora Nakiri saw Megumi Tadokoro.

　At this moment, Megumi Tadokoro is processing small loaches with swift and decisive movements, her face radiating boundless confidence.

　"The little girl's knife skills are quite impressive. She can remove the bones and internal organs of such a small loach without damaging its exterior."

　Watching Megumi Tadokoro continuously processing the loaches and tossing them into the basin next to her, Leonora Nakiri couldn't help but exclaim in admiration.

　"Such exquisite knife skills require daily and persistent practice to achieve; it takes more than one day of hard work. It's clear that the little girl is very hardworking."

　Dojima Gin's voice also rang out from the side, his eyes filled with admiration as he looked at Tadokoro Megumi. This was the state a true strongman should be in!

　"The girl next to me has pretty good knife skills too; she cleaned the loach very well. But she's prepared so many chili peppers... what is she planning to do with them...?"

　Leonora Nakiri glanced at Liu Yu on the other side. The girl's eyes were cold as she processed the loaches at an astonishing speed, choosing only the medium-sized ones.

　"Stir-fried dishes, I guess."

　The voice of Senzaemon Nakiri rang out, and it was easy to tell what the other party wanted to do, just by looking at the ingredients they had prepared.

　"Stir-fried loach? This is the first time I've ever heard of this dish. I wonder what it tastes like."

　He pressed his finger to the edge of his lips, his eyes gazing at the sky, seemingly imagining the deliciousness of stir-fried loach. He thought that if chili peppers were combined with loach and stir-fried in hot oil until dry, fragrant, and crispy, it would be incredibly delicious!

　"Mom, you're being a little embarrassing."

　Lost in thought, Leonora's saliva dripped uncontrollably, making Alice blush with embarrassment. She then took a tissue to wipe it away for her.

　"I can't help it, just thinking about eating top-notch food later makes me tremble with excitement."

　As Nakiri Leonora said this, she gracefully wiped her mouth and continued to focus her attention on the two of them.

　"Tempura? Using loach to make tempura is a good idea, combining tradition with a touch of innovation. I just don't know how it will taste."

　Noticing the ingredients prepared by Tadokoro Megumi, aside from Nakiri Leonora's voice, it was clear that she was preparing tempura batter and wanted to fry loach tempura.

　"But why make soup when making tempura? Why not just marinate and season it and then put it directly into the pot?"

　Watching Tadokoro Megumi's actions, the judges were all a bit confused and then started discussing it.

　The other party made the batter for tempura, so it should be fried directly.

　But the library didn't do that. Instead, it made a soup with mushrooms, bamboo shoots and other ingredients. Could it be a side soup for tempura?

　This doubt lasted for a full hour and a half, until Tadokoro Megumi finished cooking the mountain delicacy soup and unhesitatingly threw all the cleaned loaches into it.

　"It's not that simple after all. They actually poured the killed loach in directly. Are they planning to cook it? But if they cook it, the loach meat will become incredibly soft and mushy, making it virtually impossible to make tempura."

　Leonora Nakiri pondered the state of the cooked loach meat, somewhat confused about what Megumi Tadokoro was planning.

　On the other side, contestant Liu Yu's operation was quite conventional: after killing the loach, he removed its internal organs and then flattened it with a knife to make it more flavorful.

　Megumi Tadokoro didn't do this step because her loaches were small, and flattening them would affect the texture, making it difficult to taste the richness.

　After flattening the cleaned loach, Liu Yu chopped some ginger, garlic, and scallions.

　Finally, prepare some dried chilies that have been moistened with rice wine. This will prevent them from burning easily when stir-frying and will bring out more aroma.

　Heat the pan, add oil, coat the pan with oil, and then pour it out.

　The purpose of this step is to sear the pan before adding cold oil. This prevents the food from sticking to the pan, which is a very useful little trick.

　Place the prepared loach belly-down into the pot, then rhythmically rotate the pot. The most important thing to do with this dish is to prevent it from sticking to the pot, otherwise it will be ruined.

　The.

　Everything done before was for the sake of a non-stick pan, and now it was no exception. Liu Yu felt the loach in the pan, watching its belly gradually turn golden brown, and suddenly tensed his body, using the strength of his waist, abdomen, and wrists to successfully flip the pan perfectly.

　This action instantly caused a sensation. Audiences bought tickets specifically to see this, to witness the chefs' superb culinary skills!

　"Holy crap! That wok tossing is amazing! It's been swung so big for a whole month, and not a single loach has fallen in!"

　"Not to mention falling down, even every single loach flipped over. It's truly amazing skill."

　In the audience, some Chinese people recognized the technique Liu Yu used and couldn't help but exclaim in admiration.

　Tossing a wok is not uncommon in the culinary world, but this is the first time they have ever seen someone toss a wok so perfectly; the precision is almost unbelievable!

　"That's a brilliant move."

　"This is the kind of match I want to see!"

　Many Japanese people cheered excitedly.

　Although flipping a wok isn't a popular skill in their country, they would still be thrilled to see such an impressive technique.

　On the other side, Liu Yu, after tossing the wok, quietly watched the inside of the pot, waiting for the water in the loach to be released, making its surface dry and crispy.

　This is also the essence of stir-fried dishes.

　“Smells so good.”

　"It has a pure loach aroma. The aroma comes out because of the loss of moisture. I never thought that loach could smell so good."

　As time went by, a rich aroma of loach meat gradually filled the air. It was a complex fragrance that made people swallow their saliva and show their cravings when they smelled it for the first time.

　"It's not just the aroma of stir-fried loach, but also the rich aroma of mushrooms. They're cooking mushroom soup over there, or more accurately, a soup made with delicacies from land and sea."

　In the audience, Hisako Aragaki took over the seat that originally belonged to Alice Nakiri, and couldn't help but mutter to herself as she smelled the alluring fragrance in the air.

　"Many delicacies from the mountains, including shiitake mushrooms, wood ear mushrooms, enoki mushrooms, bamboo shoots, monkey head mushrooms, morel mushrooms, and cordyceps flowers, are available, and all of these ingredients are dried."

　Smelling the rich aroma in the air, Bai Yuan began to analyze the flavor of the soup. That rich and mellow flavor could only be achieved by cooking dried ingredients!

　"To cook loach with a variety of mountain delicacies and create a dish of mountain and sea delicacies is a very novel idea. Xiao Hui has also grown up."

　With a sigh of relief, Bai Yuan's voice was filled with emotion. This cooking method was very novel and was definitely the result of Tadokoro Megumi's travels during this period.

　To have achieved this level on his own shows how hard Tadokoro Megumi has worked during this time, and he is starting to look forward to the taste of the dishes.

　Let's go upstairs and order some to try later.

　With admiration in his eyes, Bai Yuan made a decision. Based on the materials the other party had shown him, he had already guessed Tadokoro Megumi's thoughts.

　I briefly envisioned it in my mind and thought it was feasible. I plan to study it in more depth when I get back and see if I can make an even better dish.

　As the saying goes, teaching and learning go hand in hand. He taught Tadokoro and the others the basics, and they used their own ideas to develop dishes, thus giving him new and trendy cooking techniques in return.

　This is undoubtedly progress.

　"Stewed loach with mountain delicacies, is this the dish she wanted to make? Combining all the delicacies from the mountains and the sea into one dish, ultimately presenting an unparalleled deliciousness."

　Upon hearing Bai Yuan's words, the girls around him also focused their attention on Tadokoro Megumi. It turned out that she had been researching this all this time, which was a truly unique idea.

　"What's that fries for? It can't be used to wash down soup, can it..."

　Yoshino Yuuki voiced her question: if Tadokoro Megumi is going to make braised loach with mountain delicacies, then what is the tempura paste for?

　"Tempura batter is, of course, used for frying tempura."

　Bai Yuan slowly spoke, revealing the answer.

　"Fried tempura?!"

　"How can it be!!"

　"That is to say, after being cooked in soup, the loach's flesh becomes so soft and tender that it falls apart at the slightest touch, making it impossible to coat it with batter and fry it into tempura."

　Upon hearing Bai Yuan's words, the girls around him immediately started discussing, none of them believing that this could be made into tempura, chattering endlessly.

　"So you guys are still too green."

　Xiaohui chose these small loaches so that they could absorb the flavor quickly, thus reducing the cooking time and preventing the loach meat from becoming completely mushy.

　Of course, if you fry it directly, there is still a risk that it will spoil during the frying process.

　To avoid this risk, she uses a deep-frying method to solidify the soft, tender exterior of the loach, and then frys it using a tempura-style method. This not only results in a richer flavor but also creates many layers of texture.

　As Bai Yuan said, after the loach was flavorful and had absorbed the broth, Tadokoro Megumi used a slotted spoon to scoop it out and then fried it.

　This process is quite complicated. The loach is only put into the pot when its surface turns slightly golden. Then, tempura batter is sprinkled into the boiling oil, so that the surface of the loach is coated with a crispy and thin layer. A loach tempura dish is then complete.

　To preserve the integrity and flavor of the loach, not too many can be fried at the same time, and the heat must be carefully controlled, so Megumi Tadokoro uses three pots simultaneously.

　She had to fry the loaches in batches to ensure that each pot of loach was cooked to the same degree.

　While she was frying the loach, Liu Yu had already finished stir-frying the loach.

　An enticing aroma filled the air, tempting the appetite.

　"I'm done. I used our local dry-frying method, combined with the characteristics of loach, to create this dish: Dry-fried Loach. Please enjoy."

　As they spoke, Liu Yu brought the dishes to the judges' table. Each of the three small plates contained a portion of stir-fried loach, and the presentation was exquisite, giving it a high-end look.

　"Chinese cooking methods, Western plating."

　After glancing at the dishes projected on the big screen, Bai Yuan gave his evaluation.

　Liu Yu's dish uses the dry-frying cooking technique of Chinese cuisine. The loaches are stacked together on the plate, creating a unique and charming presentation, which is typical of Western cuisine.

　It's so good that you can't find any fault with it.

　"Gudu."

　"It looks pretty good, the presentation is quite beautiful, but for food, the most important thing is the taste. Now let me see how it tastes..."

　Picking up her chopsticks, Leonora Nakiri took a piece of loach and put it in her mouth. Suddenly, her eyes widened, and she covered her face with one hand, savoring the taste.

　After being stir-fried at high temperatures, the loach's skin becomes incredibly crispy, and you can feel that pleasant "crunch" sound when you chew it.

　It's worth mentioning that although the outer skin is crispy, the loach meat still retains a tender texture. This contrast between the crispy outside and tender inside creates a rich and delightful taste experience.