Food Wars, my food not only glows!

　"The dry-frying technique in China first appeared in Sichuan cuisine. Small ingredients that are not coated with batter are marinated with seasonings and then quickly stir-fried in oil that is 80% hot until the outside is golden brown. Then, ingredients and seasonings are added to make the dish."

　This is a dish that truly tests a chef's skill. A skilled chef can perfectly blend the flavors of the ingredients, creating a harmonious whole.

　If the technique isn't good, the flavors won't penetrate, and the dish will essentially be a failure.

　Dojima Gin's voice rang out in the hall as he spoke, picking up a piece of stir-fried loach from in front of him and putting it into his mouth, chewing and savoring it carefully.

　"Your stir-fried loach is very good; it's dry, fragrant, crispy, and slightly spicy."

　Loach is an ingredient that absorbs sauces very well; it absorbs the flavor of any seasoning perfectly, combining it with its own natural freshness to create an unparalleled taste!

　Senzaemon Nakiri nodded in agreement. Although it was a fairly common stir-fried dish, to achieve this level of quality was definitely top-grade.

　Another point worth mentioning is that the stir-fried dish perfectly showcases the deliciousness of the loach, and its spiciness and the freshness of the loach complement each other very well.

　Just then, Leonora Nakiri suddenly stood up from her seat, attracting the attention of many people, after all, she was a great beauty.

　"It looks like it's about to happen, Mom's 'clothes ripped off'."

　Standing beside Erina Nakiri, and looking at Leonora Nakiri, whose expression was extremely excited, Alice Nakiri spoke slowly and deliberately.

　"Eh?!"

　"In front of everyone!?"

　"real or fake."

　"That won't work."

　Upon hearing Alice Nakiri's words, the audience erupted in cheers, with countless eyes fixed on Leonora Nakiri.

　Of course, the girls sitting next to Bai Yuan reacted the most, their faces slightly flushed as they watched this scene, their voices filled with disbelief.

　It's hard to imagine how much damage a beautiful mature woman's reputation would suffer if she suddenly ripped off her clothes in public, leaving her only in her underwear.

　"What are you thinking? Nora's 'clothes ripped off' refers to..."

　Seeing their expressions, Bai Yuan was speechless. He was just about to explain that Nakiri Leonora's clothes ripping was not what they thought, but the other party took the initiative to 'rip off' her clothes first.

　"This is an excellent loach dish. It incorporates a generous amount of chili peppers and Sichuan peppercorns, along with ginger, garlic, and other seasonings, perfectly highlighting the loach's freshness..."

　At this moment, Leonora Nakiri seemed to be shining all over as she opened her arms and began to describe the merits of the loach dish in front of her.

　"Whenever Nora tastes a delicious dish, she can fluently say a few words about her feelings."

　As Nakiri Leonora shone brightly on the judges' panel, Shirabuchi's voice rang out, causing Yoshino Yuuki and the others to subtly change their expressions.

　"What's there to say, just a few words..."

　"Isn't this incredibly talkative?!"

　Watching Nakiri Leonora continue relentlessly without any sign of stopping, Yoshino Yuuki and the others couldn't help but mentally complain.

　"Stir-fried dishes really go well with loach."

　As Senzaemon Nakiri put the stir-fried loach into his mouth with his chopsticks, this thought involuntarily popped into his mind, but that was all.

　"My dish is finished too, mountain delicacies loach tempura."

　Just then, Tadokoro Megumi stepped forward with firm steps and placed her dish in front of Nakiri Senzaemon first, causing him to look up and see who the little girl was.

　"Mountain delicacy loach tempura? I saw you cooking it with broth earlier. Loach is an ingredient that can absorb a lot of broth, you want to take advantage of that, right?"

　Looking at the tempura in front of her, Senzaemon Nakiri didn't rush to taste it. Instead, she looked at Megumi Tadokoro and explained why she was doing so.

　"I don't know how you fried it so perfectly, but it looks really good. It's like real tempura, not like a loach that's been boiled in a soup pot for more than ten minutes!"

　Beside her, Leonora Nakiri

　I sat down and looked at the food in front of me, and couldn't help but exclaim, "This is just too good to be true!"

　If it were just simple tempura, it would be acceptable.

　The key is this mountain delicacy loach tempura. The loach inside had been cooked in the soup for quite a long time! Logically, it should have been incredibly tender!

　Chapter 217 The battle is over, I am the champion!

　"I see. It's because of the deep-frying method, which uses extremely high oil temperatures to re-fix the loach meat that has become soft and mushy from stewing, right?"

　Picking up the golden-yellow mud loach tempura and examining it closely, Senzaemon Nakiri's voice rang out, revealing the key to its perfect appearance.

　"That's right. It is precisely by using this method that we can make tempura with such a perfect shape while cooking the meat until it is very tender."

　Dojima Gin stroked his chin, agreeing with Nakiri Senzaemon's deduction. The audience, hearing their conversation, all wore expressions of "I see."

　"It looks perfect, a very standard tempura presentation, it has a comforting quality, but when it comes to food, the most important thing is how it tastes..."

　As they were talking, Leonora Nakiri also picked up a piece of wild loach tempura from the plate. It was golden and crispy, and her chopsticks sank into it before she put it in her mouth.

　"Click."

　The crisp texture collided with my teeth, making a clear, ringing sound, followed by the tender yet firm loach meat.

　The combination of these two textures creates a dual experience of crispness and tenderness.

　This tastes absolutely amazing!

　Leonora Nakiri had barely sat down, not even warmed her seat, when she stood up again, her hands clasped to her chest, her whole being seemingly radiating light.

　"It's happening again, Mom's 'clothes ripping'."

　Alice Nakiri's voice rang out, and as she had said, after savoring the taste on her tongue, Leonora Nakiri activated her "clothes-tearing mode."

　"This dish is truly excellent. It cleverly uses a variety of mountain delicacies to cook a pot of mountain delicacy soup, and then adds loach to complete all the elements of a mountain and sea delicacy."

　The loaches used are of a smaller size, so that they can absorb the flavor quickly.

　After marinating, the loaches are placed in a net bag, hot oil is poured over them to quickly set their shape, and finally they are put into the pot and coated with a thin tempura batter. The taste…”

　With her arms outstretched and facing forward as if displaying her magnanimity, Leonora Nakiri spoke eloquently, analyzing Megumi Tadokoro's cooking method solely based on the taste, and explaining it in detail.

　"The delicious flavors of various mushrooms, wild vegetables and other mountain delicacies intertwine, bringing together the best of the entire mountain forest, and creating a rich and layered flavor in the soup base."

　The loach used is a small, delicate variety. After only a short simmer, it absorbs the essence of the broth, resulting in tender meat infused with the aroma of the wild mountains!

　At this moment, Dojima Gin also commented that the loach's texture became exceptionally delicate after being stewed, and it also absorbed the essence of the mountain delicacy soup.

　This results in the loach having a crispy texture when you first bite into it, followed by a burst of juicy flavor, full of the fresh taste of mountain delicacies.

　"This is something only fresh loach can do. Loach can absorb the broth to the maximum extent while ensuring that its meat does not fall apart."

　Taking advantage of this characteristic, the loach, which has absorbed the broth, is drizzled with hot oil to set its shape, and then fried into tempura.

　In this way, both delicacies from the mountains and seafood are firmly locked in!

　"Shh!"

　Senzaemon Nakiri opened his eyes, his clothes ripped open – this was a genuine Nakiri family 'clothes rip', a very high compliment to the deliciousness of the dish!

　"It's finally here! The Commander-in-Chief's clothes are ripped off!"

　Upon seeing this, the audience erupted in cheers. The head coach had once again ripped off his clothes, proving in front of everyone that the contestant's cooking was absolutely delicious!

　"Hey, hey, hey, something's not right."

　Seeing what was happening before her eyes, Liu Yu could no longer remain calm and couldn't help but shout in her heart. She then took two steps forward and came to the judges' side.

　"Can I try some?"

　"Give me one too, and Liu Yu's stir-fried loach, I want to try it too."

　Mustering her courage, Liu Yu jogged over to Tadokoro Megumi and spoke to her, but before she could answer, Bai Yuan's voice rang in their ears.

　"Teacher Bai Yuan?!"

　"when."

　Faced with Bai Yuan's sudden appearance, the two were briefly thrown into confusion, but fortunately, they were both seasoned veterans and quickly regained their composure.

　"Okay, but I'll stop here for now. Please wait a moment while I prepare the rest of the ingredients."

　As she spoke, Megumi Tadokoro jogged back to the kitchen counter. Since the mountain delicacy soup was already cooked, she only needed about ten minutes to make a new loach tempura.

　"I have some left over."

　Liu Yu put all the remaining stir-fried loach into a plate, held it up and presented it to Bai Yuan, her eyes full of anticipation.

　"Well, let me try it."

　Bai Yuan nodded slightly, picked up Liu Yu's stir-fried loach with his chopsticks, and felt the unique flavor rise in his mouth, slowly releasing as he chewed.

　"The stir-frying was overcooked, resulting in the loach having very little moisture inside."

　Later, chili peppers, Sichuan peppercorns, and other seasonings were added to enhance the aroma. Although these were fully absorbed, the unique texture of the loach was lost.

　As he chewed deeper and realized the flaws in her cooking, Bai Yuan let out a long breath and looked at Liu Yu, pointing out the shortcomings of her dish: the heat was too high.

　While it was indeed dry-fried, it's understandable that she used more time to fry the loach to make it more flavorful. And she did succeed; the downside was that the heat completely evaporated the moisture from the loach.

　This is undoubtedly a big problem!

　"Was it fried for too long...?"

　Upon hearing Bai Yuan's words, Liu Yu fell into deep thought. This timing was the result of numerous experiments and deliberations, perfectly capturing the crispness and aroma of the loach.

　"That's right, because the spices you added later were also dry. When two dry ingredients are layered together, it will only become drier in the end."

　If you use braising oil instead of peanut oil when stir-frying, the situation will be much better, but it's only a temporary solution and doesn't address the root cause; the chef still needs to control the process.

　Bai Yuan nodded without the slightest hesitation. For him, right was right and wrong was wrong, and there were no excuses.

　If you want to fry it drier, you need to find a way to increase the moisture in the loach during the frying process. Of course, the best way is to strictly control the time.

　"I understand, I will correct it when I get back."

　If Liu Yu were to receive guidance from Bai Yuan normally, she would be very happy, and even feel like she was the chosen one, since she was the only one who received such praise.

　But this is a competition, and for the opponent to directly point out her weaknesses is tantamount to sentencing her to death.

　"Teacher Bai Yuan, I've finished frying it."

　At the same time, Tadokoro Megumi also fried the mountain delicacy loach tempura and slowly walked over from not far away, handing the dish to Shiroyuki for him to taste.

　"Ah."

　Bai Yuan nodded without saying much. He simply picked up the mountain delicacy loach tempura, dipped it in the tempura sauce, and then put it in his mouth to chew and savor it.

　"Crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, bursting with juice. This dish makes good use of the loach's characteristics, allowing it to absorb the broth while the tempura creates a sealing effect, locking in the flavor."

　Of course, the most important thing is that the idea is really good. How did you come up with it?

　While tasting Tadokoro Megumi's cooking, Shirobuchi couldn't stop nodding, then looked at the shy girl, wanting to know what she had been through recently.

　"Actually, I went to Gunma Prefecture..."

　Seeing that Shirai was curious about her experiences during this time, Tadokoro Megumi's face immediately lit up with excitement, and she then began to talk at length about her trip to Gunma Prefecture.

　The people around listened patiently, equally curious about why Tadokoro Megumi was able to research such cuisine. After hearing the story full of twists and turns, everyone's faces showed surprise.

　"You've visited every loach restaurant in Gunma? That must have been exhausting."

　He patted Tadokoro Megumi's head, his eyes filled with heartache.

　It must be tough for a young girl who has just started high school to be learning cooking, finding a place to live, and having her own kitchen to cook all by herself.

　"Actually, it's not too bad. I visit a few restaurants a day to learn from the cooking experience of those amazing chefs, and finally take the essence and discard the dross to complete this dish."

　Tadokoro Megumi flashed a bright smile. The moment she saw Shiro's pained expression, she felt that everything she had done was worth it!

　"This is indeed a good method to improve your cooking by pooling ideas and learning from others. However, your cooking also has some obvious flaws. I wonder if you have noticed them."

　He showered her with compliments, making Tadokoro Megumi quite pleased with herself. However, Shiro suddenly changed the subject.

　"shortcoming..."

　Upon hearing Bai Yuan's words, Tadokoro Megumi fell into deep thought. She hadn't found any flaws in the dishes, though she had noticed them before but corrected them in time.

　"That's right, that's the drawback."

　Actually, you did a great job in most areas, which is definitely something to be praised for.

　Have you noticed that your dishes taste too uniform? For high-end cuisine in competitions, what matters is the first bite – an incredibly strong flavor, or in other words, a lack of impact.

　Of course, you made some adjustments to the sauce, giving this tempura a strong savory flavor. However, tempura itself already possesses this savory characteristic, so the two don't combine well to create a truly memorable effect.

　When talking about shortcomings, Bai Yuan's expression suddenly turned stern.

　For everyday meals, people usually start to enjoy the food around the third bite and then finish the rest. This is to ensure that customers never get tired of the food.