"Sequence 2, Sequence 6, and Sequence 9 are actually in the same team? Did these guys know each other before?
But even if they knew each other, it doesn't mean they would team up. And what exactly is inside that stone pot..."
Looking at the late-arriving Li Yan, as well as the few people standing behind him, Erina Nakiri revealed an expression of amazement after seeing their appearances clearly.
"Perhaps it's an alliance of the strong?"
Hearing her voice, Okabe also withdrew the attention he had placed on Luo Gen, turning instead to look at the few people behind Li Yan, his eyes carrying a hint of subtlety.
Sequence 6, Leo Brandon. A British national, the robust youth in the team, specializing in cooking with violent forms. He is two meters and twenty centimeters tall; compared to him, Natsuo is just a little brother. It is hard to imagine such an existence is only 14 years old.
Sequence 9, Hedwig. A German national, specializing in various dessert cuisines. Unlike Momo Akanegakubo's cute style, she follows a sexy persona—black stockings, leather pants, long legs—attracting the gazes of a crowd of boys. Even Okabe couldn't help but take a few more looks.
'I have to say, Westerners really mature early.'
Okabe silently added a sentence in his heart, then composed his mind and placed his attention back on that heavy stone pot.
"I'm afraid it's not as simple as just an alliance of the strong."
Erina Nakiri's voice carried a trace of solemnity, her eyes staring tightly at the movements of Li Yan's team.
"These three people, plus two other members from the top thirty... their philosophies, nationalities, and areas of expertise are all vastly different. To make someone like Leo Brandon willingly lay down the right to lead, this Li Yan... or rather, their small group, must have some kind of extremely strong centripetal force, or a common goal."
"Regardless, let's look at their cuisine first..."
Hearing Erina Nakiri's words, Okabe was silent for a moment. He was also somewhat unsure of what the team before him wanted to do.
Generally speaking, those at the top of the Sequence list have their own pride.
They would use their own culinary philosophy as the leading core in the team, having others assist them while absorbing their cooking experience to create a complete dish in this way.
But now, Li Yan was followed by two members of the top ten sequences, neither of whom was mediocre. Under such circumstances, the cores of the team became three; surely two people would have to sacrifice during cooking and become nourishment for someone else's philosophy.
For a chef, no one could accept this, unless the gap between the two sides was very large...
On the other side.
Under the gaze of countless eyes, Li Yan, dressed in a azure Daoist robe, suddenly turned sideways.
Immediately, the robust youth behind him stepped forward quickly, placed the stone pot in front of Gin Dojima, and reached out to uncover the lid.
In an instant, an indescribable clear and fresh aroma pounced on the face, accompanied by rising steam.
When he saw the contents of the pot clearly, a flash of surprise swept through Gin Dojima's eyes.
In the stone pot, milky-white soup juice rippled gently. Not a trace of oil could be seen on the surface of the soup, yet it was so rich and mellow it seemed like congealed fat. Several pieces of white fish meat, uniform in size and glistening white, were submerged in the soup.
Apart from this, there were a few round, unknown pale yellow fruits.
These fruits floated on the surface, giving people a fresh feeling.
"What is the name of this dish..."
Gin Dojima picked up a wooden spoon to scoop up the soup in the stone pot, carefully observing the state of the fish soup.
"Wild Pond Whitefish Potage."
Li Yan spoke its name with a gentle voice.
"This is whitefish caught from the freshwater ponds on the island. The bones are few and the meat is tender. We took its original flavor, supplementing it with clear spring water, wild celery, and Saffron Milk Caps to stew."
A girl wearing glasses with a quiet temperament stood behind him and added supplementary information.
High-end ingredients often do not require excessive cooking.
For ingredients growing wild on an island, rather than adding a large amount of spices to them, it is better to maintain their original flavor, stimulating the flavors within through the connection between ingredients.
This person was Sequence 19, Sawano Kyoka.
Compared to practical operation, her theory was more solid, and she was more skilled in matching reasonable ingredients and seasoning logic for cuisine.
"These are 'Bitter Oranges', right? You actually used them to stew fish soup?"
Gin Dojima suddenly stopped his movements, his gaze looking sharply at those few pale yellow fruits in the soup.
Bitter Orange, scientific name Poncirus trifoliata. The fruit flesh is extremely sour and carries an obvious bitter taste. It is usually used as medicinal material or eaten after pickling; it is rarely put directly into clear, fresh soups.
And now, it actually appeared in the fish soup.
"Correct."
The one who spoke this time was that robust youth, Leo Brandon. He grinned, revealing a mouthful of white teeth: "Although the meat of wild whitefish is tender, it inevitably carries a bit of earthy smell.
We tried using wild ginger and herbs, but the effects were not thorough enough, until later we found this Bitter Orange tree by the pond..."
He raised his finger and pointed to the fruit floating in the soup: "We only took the thinnest outer layer of the peel and threw it in during the last half-quarter of the stewing time. The bitterness almost completely dissolved into the soup, while the acid of the fruit flesh itself and a trace of extremely faint sweetness were just enough to dissolve the earthiness, simultaneously drawing out the deeper fresh sweetness of the fish meat."
Gin Dojima spoke no more. He scooped up a spoonful of soup, blew on it gently, and sent it into his mouth.
The instant the soup entered his mouth, his eyebrows raised slightly.
Fresh.
Extreme, pure freshness.
The whitefish had undergone meticulous processing; the glutamic acid and inosinic acid in the fish meat were fully released, blending perfectly with the unique fungal freshness of the Saffron Milk Cap and the fragrance of the wild celery.
And that trace of faint, almost non-existent bitterness and fruit acid from the Bitter Orange peel was like the highlight dabbed on paper by a painter with the finest brush tip after completing a painting.
It not only dispelled the fishy smell but also made the umami layers of the entire soup suddenly clear and three-dimensional.
The bitterness flashed and vanished, closely followed by a returning sweetness, as well as the original flavor of the fish meat which was made even more prominent by this hint of bitterness. This was the optimal application of the Bitter Orange ingredient!
"What a 'sweetness coming after bitterness'!"
Gin Dojima put down the spoon and let out a long breath: "Using bitterness to enhance freshness, break the richness, and settle the flavor... your understanding of ingredient characteristics has entered the Realm of Perfection."
His evaluation caused a wave of low gasps to sound in the surroundings.
To be able to make Gin Dojima, who was extremely strict with everyone's cuisine, give the evaluation of "Realm of Perfection"...
The completion degree of this "Wild Pond Whitefish Potage" was absolutely frighteningly high!
"The soup color is clear as milk, the fish meat pieces are perfect in shape without the slightest looseness. This guy's handling of heat control and fish has reached a realm without a fraction of error. The use of Bitter Orange seems perilous, but in reality, it is completely established on the foundation of extremely understanding the interaction of ingredients."
"This cuisine is definitely not a makeshift patchwork, but a product of careful deliberation!"
Erina Nakiri had been observing this team's cuisine all along. As Gin Dojima's evaluation fell, she spoke with a solemn expression.
The degree of collaboration of this team far exceeded her estimation.
"Not bad."
Okabe also put away his previous slight carelessness, his eyes becoming focused.
He noticed a detail.
After the lid of the stone pot was uncovered, the posture of the rising steam was very uniform and continuous, indicating that the temperature control inside the pot was extremely stable. That is to say, from the completion of the stewing to the presentation, this pot of cuisine did not have too much fluctuation throughout the process.
This was the credit of the stone pot. To be able to think of using a stone pot to make this dish, and to make the stone pot by polishing stones within an afternoon's time...
That robust youth named Leo Brandon was definitely not just brute force as in the rumors. Okabe had a strange intuition that this suggestion was likely proposed by him.
After all, in the absence of a stone pot, no one would consider cooking in that direction unless the person who could make the stone pot actively proposed that they could hand-craft one.
"Your cuisine is very excellent. You utilized the ingredients perfectly to the extreme. The taste can rank first among the many dishes presented today.
I give you 99 points. I hope you can continue to make good cuisine in the upcoming island life."
On the judging seat, Gin Dojima looked at the five people with eyes full of appreciation.
"May I presumptuously ask, where was this one point deducted? Or perhaps, are there any details in this dish that need improvement?"
Li Yan, who had been silent since the beginning, spoke up.
His voice remained gentle, yet carried a persistence that could not be ignored.
"Possibility."
Gin Dojima looked into Li Yan's eyes and said.
"Possibility? Is this saying their cuisine is too simple?"
"Idiot, if it was really made too simply, the judge wouldn't give such a high score! The possibility he mentioned is most likely something else."
"Don't you not understand either? Pretending to understand when you don't."
"At least I have the most basic judgment ability, you have nothing!"
As Gin Dojima's words fell, the scene instantly exploded with noise. Many people's faces revealed confusion, but a small number of people appeared thoughtful.
"Possibility..."
Li Yan repeated Gin Dojima's word, and his teammates behind him also began to discuss in low voices.
"Your cuisine is like a carefully calculated work of art; every variable is controlled within the optimal solution.
But in this cuisine, I didn't see any possibility. I didn't see the sparks exceeding calculation that might be produced after the collision of the five of you. Based on the strength of your five people, this dish could have been made better."
Gin Dojima continued speaking, his spoon gently stirring in the soup. Subsequently, he looked up at everyone on the scene, as if speaking to Li Yan, but also as if speaking to everyone.
"This field training, besides wanting you to get sufficient exercise in the wild, has another more important purpose, and that is unity and collaboration."
"The kitchen has never been a battlefield for one person.
To receive guests within a short time and let guests taste cuisine that satisfies them, one must tangibly display various advantages, achieving the effect of 1+1>2."
"I have been taught."
After listening to Gin Dojima's narration, Li Yan lowered his head to ponder for a moment, and only after a long time did he speak solemnly.
When they were making this dish, they mostly brought out the parts they were skilled in.
During cooking, they didn't specifically consider how to add what others knew; they just let the other party continue to add things based on their experience on top of what they had already completed.
If they could consider what others were skilled in from the very beginning and let them fully display their strong points during cooking, this dish could have possessed infinite possibilities, rather than being like now, completely relying on everyone's rich culinary experience to avoid mistakes.
"We indeed lacked cooperation. Next, we have to think of a way to become closer."
Sawano Kyoka nodded in agreement, then wrote down this passage in her small notebook. This was one of the three items she chose; it was full of her notes from over the years.
Because of her rich theoretical experience, she was currently the strategist of this squad, deciding the direction of this squad's efforts next.
And they had only one goal, which was to seize first place. Not only this match, but in all the competitions in the upcoming residential training, they wanted to obtain first place!
"Um, is it my turn next? If you don't judge soon, my noodles will get mushy."
A voice carrying slight helplessness broke the silence of the scene.
Everyone looked toward the sound, only to see Sequence 4, Luo Gen, still holding that bowl of ramen, his brows slightly furrowed. The few teammates behind him appeared somewhat cramped and uneasy.
Hearing the voice, Gin Dojima also turned his gaze toward him and nodded: "Bring it up."
Hearing this, Luo Gen immediately stepped forward and placed that unremarkable bowl of ramen in front of Gin Dojima.
Seeing this scene, the few teammates beside him also stepped forward quickly, added the ingredients they were respectively holding in their hands, and then stood beside him to wait.
Their hearts were filled with nervousness.
Because they also didn't know if this would work.
The toppings for the ramen were a few slices of unknown plant root roasted to a charred fragrance, a small saucer of chopped wild herbs, and a Physalis fruit unique to the island, cut in half to reveal crystalline flesh, arranged sequentially on the noodles.
"This bowl of noodles is called 'Forest Spring Thread'."
Luo Gen introduced it briefly, his voice clear but without much fluctuation: "The noodles are made from the starch of a hard shrub on the island, mixed with the mashed tender cores of ferns and kneaded. It was quite troublesome to process; it required repeated pounding to increase the elasticity, then it was hand-pulled into fine noodles.
The soup base is mountain spring water, with charred tree roots added to enhance the fragrance, as well as several types of fungi with obvious umami and a small amount of scallops obtained from beachcombing, all stewed together."
After saying this, he made a gesture of invitation.
The noodles in the bowl were like fine silk, each strand distinct. The soup was clear enough to see the bottom, faintly glowing with an amber luster.
Very few golden oil stars floated on the surface of the soup, which was the grease brought by the roasted tree roots and shellfish. A few slices of scorched-yellow root chips rested against the side of the bowl, chopped herbs dotted within, and half a Physalis looked like a red gemstone.
Gin Dojima picked up chopsticks and picked up a cluster of noodles.
The noodles trembled slightly on the chopsticks, displaying excellent elasticity.
He sent them into his mouth, chewing and savoring carefully.
Instantly, his eyes changed.
The noodles themselves carried an extremely light yet unusually clear plant fragrance; that was the unique taste of fern tender cores, mixed with the slight sweetness of starch.
Then came the soup base. Seemingly clear, but upon entering the mouth, it exploded with an extremely rich composite umami!
The wild freshness of fungi, the marine salty freshness of shellfish, and the faint smoky charred fragrance endowed by the roasted tree roots—numerous flavors rippled slowly on the tip of the tongue.
"How exactly did you do it? Relying only on starch extracted from hard shrubs, it should be impossible to make noodles with this texture."
Gin Dojima frowned, his gaze tightly locking onto the noodles in the bowl, which were fine as silver threads.
Even with carefully selected plant starch, in the absence of gluten protein, it is impossible to form such tough, smooth, and chewy noodle texture.
That was a characteristic that almost only wheat flour could endow!
____
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