"Tofu, beef, Sichuan peppercorns, Zanthoxylum peppercorns, Erjingtiao chili peppers, soybeans, and even half a chicken... You've really prepared everything."
Looking at the ingredients Terunori Kuga had brought, Dylan couldn't help but comment.
If these ingredients were truly to be used to make Sichuan cuisine, besides Mapo Tofu, one could only make Sichuan dishes related to chicken, beef, and soybean pulp.
Spicy chicken, saliva chicken, pickled pepper beef...
Looking at the ingredients before him, Dylan quickly formulated dishes in his mind.
Actually, with soybeans available, he could completely use them to replace minced meat and create the six-flavored "Magical Mapo Tofu" with his mother's taste.
This was also the dish Liu Mao Xing (Cooking Master Boy) created using his mother's flavor to defeat Shao An!
But then, looking at the half chicken in the ingredient bag, as well as the green Erjingtiao and Facing Heaven peppers, a different idea suddenly sparked in Dylan's mind.
"Mapo Tofu doesn't take much time to make, and it doesn't test a chef's overall skill comprehensively. To increase the difficulty, let's start from the step of making tofu, Kuga-kun."
Picking up the soybeans in front of him, Dylan smiled at Terunori Kuga.
As he spoke, he loosened his hand, and the soybeans immediately fell like pearls onto the plate, making a sound like large and small pearls falling onto a jade plate.
"Start from making tofu? I've never competed like this with anyone, nor has anyone dared to compete with me like this. Alright, I accept this challenge!" To make good Mapo Tofu, good tofu is essential.
Terunori Kuga was not a theorist; he had once secluded himself for over ten days to create the most suitable tofu for making Mapo Tofu! Worried that Dylan wouldn't know how to make tofu and wouldn't accept the challenge of making it, he had bought ready-made tofu directly from a tofu stall. Now that this guy was actively requesting it, Terunori Kuga naturally couldn't refuse!
Then......
Let him witness the power of a so-called Five-Star Special Grade chef!
Dividing the soybeans on the plate into two portions, the two then went to their respective cooking stations.
At this moment, nothing else mattered. Both understood that only through cooking could they convince the other; everything else was illusory! "Then let me be the judge."
Looking at the two individuals with soaring fighting spirit, a peculiar light flickered in Rindo Kobayashi's eyes. Dylan's words just now had touched her somewhat.
Become strong, or the strongest?
Coming from a Five-Star Special Grade chef, Rindo Kobayashi naturally wouldn't think such words were spoken without reason. Did this mean she had been a step behind from the very beginning...
"Just you watch! My determination to revitalize Chinese cuisine at Totsuki!"
Looking at Dylan, who had already arrived at his cooking station, Terunori Kuga said to him with a very serious expression, his body trembling slightly with excitement.
"I won't watch. I will find the answer in your cooking."
Dylan's voice was faint, devoid of any emotion. As he spoke, he rinsed the half chicken from the ingredients several times with clean water, simultaneously pressing it with a special technique to remove all the blood, which was the main source of any gamey taste.
The freshness of the chicken was also closely related to the deliciousness of the chicken soup. The half chicken before him was clearly frozen, and its quality was quite ordinary.
Although it wasn't impossible to cook, the chicken soup made this way would have its flavor greatly diminished, and it would also affect the next step of the dish.
"Looks like it's time to use it."
Unsheathing the Eternal Spirit Blade from his waist, although he was competing against an unknown nobody, Dylan would still give it his all as a sign of respect. "What's happening? The ingredients... the ingredients look rounder and fuller?! As if they were just butchered!"
Looking at the ingredients in front of her, Rindo Kobayashi couldn't help but exclaim, her eyes filled with disbelief.
Ingredients that had been processed who knows how long ago now looked as fresh as if they had just been butchered!!
"Don't make a fuss. This is the legendary culinary utensil, the Eternal Spirit Blade. It has the magical effect of restoring the freshness of ingredients that have lost it."
Looking at the startled Rindo Kobayashi, Dylan shrugged.
Then, he put the processed chicken into a pot of hot water without blanching, locking all the flavor in the soup. He only needed to skim off the foam from the top.
"I see..."
"I see, my foot! How can there be such a magical knife in the world? This is simply too incredible! Can I take a look?" Looking at Dylan, who had crushed the old ginger and found some Angelica dahurica and Codonopsis pilosula in the classroom, put the three ingredients into a gauze bag, and added it to the chicken soup pot. Rindo Kobayashi, like a little girl who had discovered a doll, took three steps to arrive in front of them, looking at him with an excited face. It was as if she would do anything if Dylan just nodded and let her touch the legendary Eternal Spirit Blade.
This was a legendary culinary utensil capable of restoring the freshness of ingredients! She didn't know what principle was at work to achieve such a magical thing.
"It's on the table, go get it yourself."
Regarding this, Dylan wasn't stingy. On one hand, no one else could use the Eternal Spirit Blade besides him. On the other hand, he was confident in his own abilities.
Even if Rindo Kobayashi really got greedy and ran off with the knife, he was absolutely confident he could catch up and teach her a harsh lesson!
Turning the cooking flame to low, keeping the pot at a state where fish-eye bubbles were forming, this way the chicken soup would be sufficiently clear and flavorful. On the other side, he poured all the soybeans into a basin, waiting for the chicken soup to cook before pouring it all in, letting the soybeans soak up the flavor of the Guk (soup).
The purpose of this step was to make the resulting tofu full of meaty flavor.
Looking at the soaking soybeans, Dylan turned his gaze to the fresh Erjingtiao and Facing Heaven peppers on the cooking station, then started a pot of hot water.
Blanch the two types of peppers in hot water for 20 seconds, then remove them and sun-dry them.
During the sun-drying process, the chlorophyllase in the peppers would be photo-oxidized, causing the peppers to become colorless and transparent, turning into white peppers.
"What is he doing? Isn't he making Mapo Tofu? Why cook the peppers first and then sun-dry them? This is a completely meaningless step." During the cooking process, Terunori Kuga was also constantly paying attention to Dylan's actions.
The pressure from a five-star special grade chef was too great. When he actually started cooking, he wasn't as nonchalant as he had initially appeared. "Could it be some cooking method I don't know? After all, he's a five-star special grade chef. It's normal for him to know things that ordinary people don't! No, this is too intriguing. I must ask him for guidance after the competition!"
Since he couldn't figure it out, he decided not to think about it anymore. Terunori Kuga suppressed his inner curiosity and refocused his attention on the cooked soybean milk in front of him.
He added gypsum powder to the soybean milk, stirring constantly with a spoon. Then, the soybean milk turned into soft tofu. Next, he placed the soft tofu into a mold and pressed it with a heavy object to solidify it.
"Didn't you say it could make ingredients regain their freshness? Why doesn't it work for me?"
Holding the Eternal Spirit Blade, Rindo Kobayashi looked doubtfully at the beef in front of her. This was clearly cut with the Eternal Spirit Blade too, so why was it the same as usual?
The beef hadn't recovered to its freshly slaughtered state at all! Could it be that Dylan was tricking her? But that chicken just now definitely recovered its freshness...
"Because you are not its master. To use it, you must first gain its recognition; otherwise, it's impossible to unleash that magical power."
Dylan's voice sounded slowly. Legendary culinary utensils couldn't be used by just anyone. Even if Rindo Kobayashi's talent was good, it was just good. To gain the recognition of a legendary culinary utensil, one had to, at the very least, reach Five-Star Special Grade in their teens and possess the ability to create glowing cuisine.
"What? The utensil recognizes its master?"
Hearing Dylan's words, Rindo Kobayashi frowned. She highly suspected he was treating her like a fool.
A mere kitchen knife actually recognizing its master? That sounded incredibly unbelievable.
"You can accept that it has such magical abilities, yet you can't accept that it can choose its own master?"
Dylan's voice carried a hint of teasing. He then took back the Eternal Spirit Blade from Rindo Kobayashi's hand and demonstrated in front of her.
With a flash of silvery knife light, all the beef in front of him was cut into paper-thin slices, neatly arranged on a plate. "Try it?"
The beef on the plate was layered, so fresh that it even shimmered with a colorful halo under the sunlight, the meat fibers on it still twitching slightly. Seeing this, Dylan brought over a copper pot, added boiling hot water, then added scallion segments, ginger slices, red dates, and a small piece of Angelica dahurica. He diluted sesame paste with warm water, added minced garlic, cilantro, chopped scallions, crushed peanuts, sesame seeds, and other seasonings, then added soy sauce, sugar, and vinegar to taste.
After tasting it with chopsticks, Dylan handed the sauce bowl to Rindo Kobayashi, inviting her to taste the copper pot shabu-shabu made with fresh beef cut by the Eternal Spirit Blade!
"Gulp."
Looking at the clear soup base already bubbling in front of her, and the sauce bowl emitting an incredibly enticing aroma, Rindo Kobayashi swallowed.
"Then I won't be polite."
Without hesitation, she picked up her chopsticks, took a thin slice of beef, swished it gently three times, then dipped it into the sauce bowl, coating it with sesame paste. The texture of the beef was delicate and tender, almost melting in her mouth without needing much chewing. And because it was so fresh, the mouthfeel was superb! Paired with the rich-flavored sesame paste, the taste!
Although it was very hot, making Rindo Kobayashi constantly stick out her tongue, she couldn't bear to spit it out.
At this moment, the young woman's body trembled slightly, as if she was enduring something, and her cheeks also turned rosy under the influence of the steam.
"So good! Copper pot shabu-shabu!"
After a while, Rindo Kobayashi let out a long, hot breath, then excitedly grabbed Dylan's arm, her eyes filled with a special kind of joy.
"Sufficiently fresh meat and a richly flavored sauce bowl, these two combined are an absolutely invincible killer move!"
Dylan said, also unable to resist picking up his chopsticks, adding beef to the copper pot, dipping it in the sesame sauce bowl beside him, and eating with great relish.
"This is really good! Just meat and a sauce bowl can be this delicious! I've decided, tonight we're having copper pot shabu-shabu. I'm going to eat ten pounds in one go!"
"You need sufficiently fresh beef and mutton, so it's best to buy it from the market in the morning and cook it at noon, otherwise the taste will be greatly diminished," Dylan reminded. Beef and mutton in the morning are generally very fresh, usually slaughtered the same day, making them perfect for copper pot shabu-shabu!
"Indeed, the freshness of the meat greatly affects the taste of copper pot shabu-shabu... Otherwise, why don't you come to my place, and we can have a small shabu-shabu party? It just so happens your Eternal Spirit Blade can restore the freshness of ingredients."
Suddenly, as if she had thought of something, Rindo Kobayashi grabbed Dylan's arm, completely disregarding his status, and invited him with utmost sincerity.
"Go to your place? It's not impossible, but I have something on tonight. How about tomorrow? Can I bring one person with me?"
Thinking about his plans for tonight, Dylan thought for a moment and then spoke.
"Really! That's great! Never mind one person, you can bring as many people as you want. The more, the merrier!"
Rindo Kobayashi clapped her hands excitedly. She was never one to be shy around strangers, and besides, compared to just the two of them, more people would make it livelier!
The two chatted intermittently, as familiar as friends who hadn't seen each other for years.
And their actions had long since stunned Terunori Kuga, who had just finished pressing the tofu and looked up to see what was happening on the other side.
What was Dylan doing? He was just swishing the beef meant for Mapo Tofu and eating it!? Then what was he going to use to make Mapo Tofu?
This doubt surfaced in his mind, and Terunori Kuga's brow furrowed. He couldn't help but feel a little angry. This was simply too disrespectful! Despite the difference in their skills, to try and beat him with such an incongruous Mapo Tofu! What a joke!
Thinking of this, Terunori Kuga shook his head and decided to ignore Dylan, focusing all his attention on the tofu in front of him. Once the tofu reached its optimal state, he could begin the official preparation!
"Speaking of which, why are you boiling these peppers and then sun-drying them? This shouldn't be the method for Mapo Tofu, right? Wait, are those peppers being sun-dried turning white!?"
As she spoke, Rindo Kobayashi looked at the peppers on the rack outside, her mouth slightly agape in shock.
At this moment, the sunlight outside was just right. Under the influence of the light, the peppers gradually lost their color, becoming pure white.
And this discovery shocked Rindo Kobayashi, her mind filled with question marks.
Why did the peppers turn white?
"This is because after blanching, the chlorophyllase on their surface is destroyed. During this sun-drying process, the chlorophyllase in the peppers undergoes photo-oxidation, and then they begin to lose color. The sunlight today is good, which can speed up this process. Otherwise, I wouldn't have considered doing it this way, as it requires a lot of time."
Looking at the Erjingtiao and Facing Heaven peppers outside, which had already turned white, a satisfied smile appeared on Dylan's face. He then went out and brought them back in.
"So why specifically make the peppers lose their color? Aren't you making Mapo Tofu..."
Rindo Kobayashi was still puzzled, but fortunately, she had a mouth and directly voiced her doubts.
"Of course, it's for a creative dish. Mapo Tofu is Mapo Tofu. It would be too boring if everyone made the same thing. So, I'm making white Mapo Tofu."
Hearing the inquiry, Dylan didn't hide anything and directly stated his idea: he was going to make white Mapo Tofu!
"White Mapo Tofu?!"
Dylan's words made Rindo Kobayashi even more confused.
This was a term she had never heard before. Wasn't Mapo Tofu known for its bright and vibrant color, its enticing red hue that whetted the appetite and made people want to taste it?
Moreover, how on earth was white Mapo Tofu made! Even with white peppers, the chili bean paste was still red!
That layer of rich-flavored red oil and sauce was the source of Mapo Tofu's deliciousness!
"Just you wait and see."
Looking at the white peppers on the cutting board, Dylan didn't explain further. Instead, he cut these peppers into small segments and added them, along with Sichuan peppercorns, to the pot filled with cold water.
When the water in the pot was boiling vigorously, he added the snow-white and tender chicken soup tofu. Thus, the problems of spiciness and numbingness in the Mapo Tofu were solved!
"White Mapo Tofu? What a whimsical idea."
Not far away, Terunori Kuga, who had pricked up his ears to eavesdrop on their conversation, couldn't help but sneer when he heard Dylan's idea.
So what if he had white peppers? The production of chili bean paste takes at least a month. And without chili bean paste, the taste and flavor of Mapo Tofu would be greatly diminished!
It wasn't as if Dylan could have predicted he would compete with him and prepared white chili bean paste in advance, right? The probability of that was almost negligible!
"So, what are you going to do..."
Watching Dylan walk towards the classroom door, Rindo Kobayashi's heart was also filled with curiosity.
As a five-star special grade chef, he definitely wouldn't make such a low-level mistake. He must have already thought of an alternative, right?
"Thump, thump, thump."
A burst of hurried footsteps sounded, and Dylan's figure suddenly 'disappeared' down the hallway.
"Wait? Did he leave?"
Seeing Dylan's disappearing back, Rindo Kobayashi exclaimed, her face revealing disbelief. Could this guy have run away?
Impossible!
That means he went outside to find a way to break the deadlock.
Looking at Terunori Kuga, who was making Mapo Tofu in a conventional manner, Rindo Kobayashi was about to step forward and say a few words when another set of footsteps came from the door. Dylan's figure appeared at the entrance, and in his hand was a small pot, entirely blue, shaped like a dragon coiling around it!
Taking three steps at a time back to the cooking station, Dylan put down the dragon-coiled pot in his hand and began to process the various ingredients needed to make white chili bean paste.
"You're not planning to make chili bean paste on the spot, are you? That takes at least a month to ferment. Making it during a competition is just too outrageous!" Looking at Dylan's actions, Rindo Kobayashi couldn't help but exclaim. Even though she considered herself highly adaptable, seeing this scene still left her utterly shocked. Had this guy gone mad?
"You just witnessed the magic of a legendary culinary utensil. Why would you think the Eternal Spirit Blade is the only one? The Turning Dragon Pot can gather cosmic energy in an instant, allowing maturation and fermentation processes to proceed at super-fast speeds. Just wait and see!"
Dylan said, tossing various ingredients into the Turning Dragon Pot in sequence, then stirring them with a wooden stick to ensure close contact between the ingredients and the pot.
The next moment, a dazzling golden light instantly burst forth from the pot!
Looking closely within the golden light, one could even see the various ingredients used to make the white chili bean paste, spread out before them like a painted scroll!
_____
Greetings! ✨ Walnut here!
🔥 AN INCREDIBLE OFFER IS ON THE TABLE! 🔥
We're only 13 members away from our 65-member goal! 🎯
The second we hit it, 10 BONUS CHAPTERS for ALL STORIES will be released to everyone. No exceptions!
🪦 Your membership is the key. Let's make it happen!
100 powerstones = +1 Bonus Chapter for everyone! 5 reviews = +1 Bonus Chapter for everyone!
Secure your early access before it's too late!
👻 patreon.com/Walnutchan