"Heh heh, little Tianjue, it's been many years. You've become quite composed."
Li Wuque's voice was hoarse, and his murky eyes turned to Lan Tianqiu. "Matters of life and death are not for outsiders to comprehend. Since the Dark Culinary World has given me a chance to extend my life, I must naturally repay this kindness."
His words stunned the crowd.
"Extend your life? Could it be that the Dark Culinary World has mastered some secret art that transcends life and death?"
"How is that possible! Extending life is a taboo. Legend says it's only possible by gathering all eight Legendary Cooking Utensils, but aren't the legendary utensils..."
"Could it be from..."
The crowd buzzed. Lan Tianqiu's brow furrowed, and just as he was about to press for details, another resonant voice came from outside the crowd: "In that case, allow this old man to serve as a judge as well!"
Everyone followed the voice and saw an elderly man in a white chef's uniform striding forward with vigor. His hair and beard were completely white, but his steps were steady and his gaze was like lightning. In an instant, he had arrived beside Lan Tianqiu.
"It's the Sage of Taste, Gongsun Yu!"
"To think even he would be drawn out!"
"This is going to be a great show! With two titans of the culinary world as judges, the standard for this Shokugeki is anything but ordinary!"
"But it makes sense. With Legendary Cooking Utensils at stake, it's normal for major figures to appear."
Gongsun Yu walked to the center of the field and first gave a slight nod to Li Wuque, who stood before Qingfeng, as a form of greeting.
Then he looked at Lan Tianqiu and teased, "Tianjue, you don't mind if this old man sticks his oar in, do you?"
"It is this junior's honor to have Senior Uncle Gongsun step forward."
Lan Tianqiu respectfully bowed as a junior.
Gongsun Yu was his master's senior brother and was close to him. Back when he was studying at the academy, they had often been partners in crime, stealing and eating the chickens his master raised.
Thinking of those youthful experiences, Lan Tianqiu couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed.
"A formal Shokugeki requires three judges. For the third judge, how about we ask the head of the Nakiri family, Lord Senzaemon Nakiri, to serve?"
Seeing that two judges were set, Qingfeng turned his gaze toward Senzaemon Nakiri, who had been watching everything from a pavilion, and spoke in a clear voice.
At these words.
Everyone in the venue turned to look at the nearby pavilion.
The air froze for a brief moment.
In the next instant, an imposing old man in a kimono walked out from the building.
His expression was solemn as his gaze quickly swept across the scene, finally resting on Erina Nakiri and Okabe for a few seconds, a hint of helplessness flashing in the depths of his eyes.
"I am flattered. If there is no other suitable candidate, then allow me to serve as the third judge."
Clasping his hands in a fist-and-palm salute to the surrounding audience, especially to Li Wuque and Gongsun Yu, Senzaemon Nakiri accepted the role of judge.
"With the three judges decided, I will now announce the theme and time limit for the first match."
"The theme is 'Create a dish using parts of a cow other than the meat.' The time limit is one hour! As a show of good faith, Miss Lan, please select your ingredients first."
Watching the three judges take their seats one by one, Qingfeng let out a long, turbid breath, then spoke to Lan Kexin, who was already prepared not far away.
"In that case, it would be rude of me to refuse."
Lan Kexin nodded slightly, not declining. She had come for victory and naturally wouldn't refuse the advantage of going first.
Choosing ingredients first could effectively avoid overlap. Although the probability was small, if both chose the same part, it would be a major issue.
Because there was only one night to prepare, she had stayed up all of last night, practicing for over ten hours to develop a brand-new dish.
"Creating a dish using parts of a cow other than the meat objectively means using offal and other parts for cooking.
And the offal that ordinary people tend to enjoy are none other than the four stomachs and the aorta. These ingredients are often used for hot pot."
Her fingers danced over the beef offal before her, finally stopping on a thick, hard piece. A satisfied smile appeared on Lan Kexin's face.
"I choose you!"
Her delicate, pink tongue lightly licked her lips. She picked up the beef tongue with both hands and strode towards the cooking station. This would be the star of her dish tonight.
Beef tongue.
It is mainly divided into two parts: the tip and the root.
The tip is frequently used for movement, giving it a firm, crisp, and chewy texture, while the meat at the root is soft and tender, with a relatively richer fat content and a faint, milky aroma.
"You choose to use beef tongue? It can be made delicious whether stir-fried or grilled, so it's not a bad choice, just a bit too conventional."
Watching Lan Kexin's selection, Qingfeng couldn't help but tease her before walking over to the butchered yellow cattle.
The ground was now a patch of dark red, emitting an indescribable metallic smell, but Qingfeng's target wasn't that, but the crimson liquid in the bull's chest cavity.
"Is that..."
A sharp-eyed spectator noticed what was in front of Qingfeng. It was a pool of heart blood from the bull.
The heart within was already shriveled. It was clear that during the slaughter, he had intentionally pierced the bull's heart, allowing its heart blood to be preserved in the chest cavity.
And this was the fundamental reason why Qingfeng, despite his lack of proficiency with the Fierce Bull Azure Dragon Slash, insisted on performing the move in front of everyone.
It wasn't to show off, but purely to collect the bull's heart blood to lay the groundwork for his subsequent dish. The performance was merely a diversion.
"Beef blood is rarely seen on the dining table due to its strong gamey taste and a texture that is clearly inferior to pork or duck blood. Bull's heart blood is even rarer.
Truly worthy of the Dark Culinary World, always challenging what ordinary people can't! I've never seen a dish made with bull's heart blood. I wonder what it will taste like."
Many of the remaining spectators noticed the ingredient Qingfeng chose and couldn't help but start discussing it.
"It's not just the heart blood, but also the small intestine and liver. Is he planning to make blood sausage? I've heard of pork blood sausage, but never beef blood sausage.
And with just that little bit of heart blood, can he really make beef blood sausage?"
A spectator couldn't help but question it. The yellow cattle had a lot of blood, but most of it had flowed into the ground, with only a small amount of heart blood specially saved by Qingfeng.
But such a small amount of heart blood was simply not enough to make beef blood sausage!
"I remember that beef blood sausage is eaten more often by the Yao people.
Filtered beef blood is used as the base, with soaked glutinous rice and diced beef added. Then, it's seasoned with salt, wild garlic, minced ginger, Sichuan peppercorn powder, five-spice powder, mint leaves, and orange peel, before being stuffed into the small intestine."
Looking at the ingredients Qingfeng had selected, Li Wuque's hoarse voice echoed through the venue.
"Besides them, there are places like Inner Mongolia where more cattle are raised, but even there, few people eat beef blood sausage. After all, it's quite troublesome to prepare."
Gongsun Yu's voice chimed in. There are many ethnic groups in the land of China, and a few of them enjoy beef blood sausage, but they are a minority compared to the total population.
"Wait, he also took the cowhide and beef suet? What kind of dish is he planning to make..."
Suddenly, another gasp of surprise erupted from the crowd.
The reason was that after taking the heart blood, small intestine, and liver, Qingfeng had returned to take a piece of cowhide and cut a piece of beef suet before leaving.
"What a show-off. A dish's chances of winning don't increase just because you choose more ingredients."
The crowd's voice caught Lan Kexin's attention. She raised an eyebrow as she watched Qingfeng continuously taking offal, then commented with a cold face.
With that said, she paid no more attention to Qingfeng and focused on cooking her own dish.
Beef tongue, and a fresh one at that.
To prepare it best, the optimal method is steaming.
Steaming can preserve the original flavor of the beef tongue, but the downside is that the steamed tongue doesn't have much taste on its own and requires a heavily flavored topping to be made later.
She placed the fresh beef tongue in a pot, added yellow wine, scallion, and ginger, and turned on the heat to blanch the surface.
While waiting, Lan Kexin took two heads of garlic from under the stove, quickly peeled the cloves, and chopped them into mince with her knife, placing them in two separate plates for later use.
"There are many ways to eat beef tongue. It can be a cold dish, used in hot pot, or pan-fried and grilled, but the initial preparation must be meticulous, otherwise the texture will be very poor."
Watching Lan Kexin swiftly chop the garlic and place it on the plate, Senzaemon Nakiri remarked with emotion.
"Beef tongue can be prepared in any cuisine. Sichuan cuisine has Tongue with Sichuan Peppercorn, Shandong cuisine has Scallion-Braised Tongue, Cantonese cuisine can serve it white-cut, and Zhejiang cuisine adds Shaoxing wine...
Each cuisine has its own method, and even the oil used in the cooking process can be different.
Normally, for an ordinary person to master one cuisine in a lifetime is already remarkable. To be able to skillfully apply it to various ingredients is to be a master."
Hearing Senzaemon Nakiri's words, Gongsun Yu chimed in from the side.
As the 'Sage of Taste' in the public eye, he possessed the extrasensory talent of Super Taste.
Having vowed from a young age to taste all the delicacies in the world, he later felt that the dishes made by those chefs were all garbage, so he began to research cooking himself, becoming a Special-Grade Chef in five years.
During this period, he had tasted dishes from every cuisine and understood the subtle differences between them. The flavor of each cuisine had its own distinct character.
At the same time.
On the stage, Lan Kexin removed the beef tongue from the pot, then rinsed it in cold water, peeling off its entire outer membrane to reveal the tender, pink tongue inside.
She used her knife to remove the tip and root, leaving the middle section about the width of a bowl. She sliced it open from the middle, pressing her fingers against the center of the tongue section and slicing it into thin, evenly sized pieces.
After slicing, she arranged them neatly at the bottom of a plate, then processed the other parts of the tongue, laying them on top of the thin slices.
Using scallion and ginger to remove the gamey taste, she added salt, yellow wine, dark soy sauce, oyster sauce, and sesame oil to the bowl of beef tongue, then steamed it to allow its flavor to be perfectly released.
While it was steaming, she began to prepare the sauce.
She heated sliced scallion and ginger in a pot until fragrant, then added oyster sauce, a small amount of water, two spoonfuls of sugar, a small amount of salt, and a little dark soy sauce before straining it.
With the sauce ready, she waited for the beef tongue in the pot to cook through.
On the other side, Qingfeng had already scraped all the hair off the cowhide, cut it into small, uniform pieces with a knife, and thrown them directly into a pot to boil over high heat until tender.
He cut the beef suet into small cubes about five millimeters wide and added them to the pot with the cowhide to cook through.
He removed the boiled cowhide from the pot and quickly chopped it into small pieces about two millimeters in size, then placed them on a plate to be used later. He also chopped onion and beef liver.
He mixed the three together, then added glutinous rice that had been soaked in warm water, and added salt to season the base.
Next, Qingfeng took out a small box from his clothes and, using a spoon from the venue, added a pre-proportioned blend of spices to it.
"Cloves, cardamom, nutmeg, marjoram..."
These are spices more commonly used in Italian cuisine. Their flavors are relatively mild, so they don't easily overpower the taste of the meat itself, but they are very effective at removing gaminess.
Because they were outdoors, a breeze was blowing. The aroma of the spices drifted to the noses of the three judges, and Gongsun Yu was the one to comment.
After being boiled, most of the fat had been removed from the beef suet, making its texture more solid. He now added it to the filling and mixed it evenly by hand.
Finally, he poured in the bull's heart blood, mixed the many ingredients together, and cleaned the small intestine. Looking at the mixed filling, a serious expression appeared on Qingfeng's face.
"What the hell is that guy doing?!"
"Is he tasting the blood sausage? He's eating it raw..."
The next moment, in front of everyone present, he grabbed a ball of the blood sausage filling, put it in his mouth, and began to chew. He then added some more salt and spices and continued to chew.
"The flavor is right. Just perfect."
Qingfeng swallowed the filling in his mouth without a hint of discomfort on his face, as if he had just tasted some supreme delicacy.
"The people of the Dark Culinary World are tough individuals who have clawed their way up from the very bottom. Never mind eating raw blood sausage; they've eaten no small amount of maggots, rotten meat, and even worse things during their upbringing."
Noticing Gongsun Yu's slightly furrowed brow, Li Wuque's dry, hoarse voice spoke up.
Having spent twenty years in the Dark Culinary World, he had gone from initial resistance to his current state of admiration.
A group of grassroots who had nothing from birth—if they didn't risk their lives to fight and seize, what difference was there between them and stray dogs on the street?
Wagging their tails desperately in supplication would, in the end, only earn them some scraps from the wealthy. If they were lucky, they might get to wear clothes and become a domesticated pet.
"..."
For a moment, everyone at the scene fell silent.
The way they looked at Qingfeng changed from initial complexity to admiration.
However, they didn't feel a particularly strong connection.
After all, those who could be invited by the Nakiri family would not be from humble backgrounds. At the very least, they were restaurant owners or suppliers of certain ingredients in Japan.
Even if there were one or two cases of grassroots rising up, they had patrons supporting them and hadn't faced true hardship, so they naturally couldn't understand that kind of emotion.
"My dish is complete. This is my private recipe, called Bowl-Steamed Tender Tongue with Garlic Fragrance."
Just as everyone's attention was focused on Qingfeng, Lan Kexin's voice rang out. She had just finished her dish and was unaware of what had just happened.
As her voice sounded, the gazes of everyone at the venue shifted to her, or more accurately, to the dish in her hands.
"Place the sliced beef tongue in a bowl, add the appropriate seasonings, and steam it in a steamer until cooked through and flavorful. Remove the scallion and ginger from the steaming bowl, and invert it onto a plate.
Cover it with raw minced garlic, then heat oil in a pan, sauté garlic cloves, and pour it over the raw garlic, creating two distinctly different textures of raw and cooked garlic.
After this step, finally drizzle it with a special sauce to give the beef tongue a more robust flavor."
"The steaming method ensures the texture of the beef tongue, the raw and cooked garlic provide a dual layer of flavor, and the heavily seasoned sauce added later makes it a solid, conventional dish.
If it were ordinary judges, they might need to taste it before they could begin their evaluation.
But for culinary titans like Gongsun Yu and Li Wuque, when faced with such a simple dish, they could analyze the method with just a single glance.
"Now, let's taste it."
As he spoke, Gongsun Yu picked up his chopsticks, his gaze heavy as he looked at the beef tongue before him.
The next moment.
He found himself in a colosseum.
His muscles bulged, golden armor clad his body, and several servants pulled a golden chariot, parading him around the arena.
"The steaming method preserves the original flavor of the beef tongue to the greatest extent, allowing it to fully absorb the essence of the seasonings in the gentle steam, forming a texture that is soft and glutinous without losing its elasticity.
The slicing process makes the meat easier to absorb flavor. Upon entering the mouth, the delicate fibers melt on the tongue, releasing the unique rich, milky aroma and faint umami of the beef tongue."
Gongsun Yu murmured to himself.
The cheers of the audience surrounded him; everyone was shouting his name.
Then, the servants beside him retreated, and a giant bull, as large as a small mountain, appeared from the other side, snorting white steam, its fierce gaze fixed on his face.
"This feeling is like fighting a massive bull in the ancient Roman Colosseum!
The impact of the heavy seasonings gives the once-ordinary warrior the courage to fight! Just like the cheers echoing in my ears, my blood is starting to boil!"
Without hesitation, Gongsun Yu raised the longsword in his hand, a wild and wanton smile on his face, and charged towards the giant bull.
"The raw minced garlic covering the surface of the beef tongue brings a direct and sharp spiciness and a refreshing stimulation, instantly activating the taste buds upon entry.
The cooked garlic, fragrant from being sautéed in hot oil, sheds its raw spiciness and transforms into a mellow flavor with a charred aroma and slight sweetness, forming a stark contrast with the raw garlic below."
As the dish entered his mouth, Senzaemon Nakiri also appeared in the colosseum, only in his hands were a pair of golden pistols formed from raw and cooked garlic.
He wielded the dual pistols, charged towards the sky, and aimed a fierce strike at the giant bull's eyes.
"It's happening! The Food's Demon King's clothes-bursting!"
"I can't believe I'm seeing the Food's Demon King's clothes-bursting! Today was totally worth it!"
In the real world, Senzaemon Nakiri's clothes burst apart, revealing the solid muscles beneath—a reaction that only occurs when he eats extremely delicious food.
The invited guests who witnessed this scene all showed expressions of shock, then began to discuss it excitedly.
"The tenderness of the beef tongue, the kick of the minced garlic, the charred aroma of the cooked garlic, and the savory-sweet aftertaste of the sauce are released in layers in the mouth, finally merging into a full-bodied yet not greasy, super-harmonious flavor.
Although it uses strong flavor elements as support, it doesn't overshadow the brilliance of the main ingredient. Instead, the sharp contrast highlights the inherent aroma of the beef tongue itself. Conventional, yet it hides a sharp edge."
Li Wuque also spoke up at this moment, a sharp glint appearing in his murky eyes.
He too had appeared in the colosseum, holding a large cleaver and furiously attacking the giant bull's hind legs, trying to make it fall.
With the combined efforts of the three, the giant bull finally collapsed to the ground, and thunderous cheers erupted from the surroundings as they wore the smiles of victors.
"A fine dish." Gongsun Yu put down his chopsticks and wiped the corner of his mouth with great satisfaction. "The heat control is just right, the layers of garlic fragrance are distinct..."
Before he could finish, he heard a muffled sound from Qingfeng's station.
A steamer in front of Qingfeng was emitting billowing white steam, and in his hand, he held a long, thin bamboo skewer, which he was carefully inserting into a blood sausage.
The skin of the blood sausage had a peculiar translucent texture, and through that outer layer, one could faintly see the deep red and white filling interwoven inside.
"Beef blood mixed with fine rice, stuffed into a casing and steamed, is a common practice," Li Wuque narrowed his eyes. "But he added beef liver, beef suet, and cowhide..."
As Li Wuque was speaking, Qingfeng took out the steamed blood sausage and placed it on a cutting board.
Surprisingly, he didn't slice it directly. Instead, he took some ice cubes that had been prepared earlier and rapidly cooled the steamed blood sausage.
"What is he doing?"
Someone in the audience asked, confused.
Just as everyone was puzzled, Qingfeng picked up a knife as thin as a cicada's wing. With a gentle flick of his wrist, the blood sausage was instantly sliced into uniform thin pieces.
The deep red beef blood was interwoven with glutinous rice that was red with a hint of white, as well as beef liver and beef suet, all encased in a layer of crystal-clear, blood-red aspic.
He took a preheated stone slab and gently laid the blood sausage slices on it. With a sizzle, the edges of the slices curled up slightly, releasing a strange aroma.
"I see." A hint of admiration flashed in Gongsun Yu's eyes, and he then said, "He has improved this blood sausage. The gelatin from the boiled cowhide forms an aspic upon cooling. When grilled on the stone slab, the texture becomes crispy on the outside and tender on the inside.
Not only has he integrated the Yao people's method of making beef blood sausage from our country, he has also added Italian spices. The addition of beef liver and beef suet should be a German technique."
"Please enjoy. Stone-Grilled Triple Blood Sausage."
Ignoring Gongsun Yu's comments, Qingfeng sprinkled minced chives and toasted sesame seeds on top of the blood sausage, then lifted the stone slab and brought it directly to the judges' table.
The blood sausage was still steaming hot.
The three judges exchanged glances and raised their chopsticks at the same time.
The next moment, Senzaemon Nakiri found himself standing on a vast grassland.
Night had fallen, the sky was full of stars, and the howling of a wolf pack could be heard in the distance. He looked down to see himself dressed in a worn leather robe, a cleaver in his hand.
The cold wind howled, whipping against his cheeks, bringing a bone-chilling cold. A bonfire burned before him, and beside the fire lay freshly killed prey.
"This is..."
Looking at the scene before him, his external self subconsciously picked up a slice of blood sausage and put it in his mouth.
Ssss!
A primitive and savage flavor exploded in his mouth.
The grilled blood sausage had a crispy skin, but the inside still maintained the soft stickiness of the glutinous rice and the tender resilience of the beef blood.
The beef suet melted during grilling, bringing a charred aroma and a rich oiliness, while the flavors of the beef liver and spices were like the biting wind on the prairie—rugged and direct.
As for the cowhide aspic, it melted faster in the mouth, releasing a rich and savory gelatin, making the overall texture of the blood sausage even more complex.
____
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