"Nothing is impossible." Bai Zishu smiled bitterly, clearly thinking of a certain Wang Yao who firmly occupied the top seat of the Hua nation's culinary world's younger generation. "They are all monsters!"
"Side Dish, complete!" Mark pressed the service bell, breaking the dragging silence on the judges' bench.
Because he had devoted his whole heart to the creation of the dish, he automatically screened out the chaotic information around him, thus appearing to still be full of fighting spirit.
Green leaves were slightly piled up around white radish—which was holding up Goose Barnacles acting as coral—to resemble seaweed. In a small porcelain saucer on the side was pristine white snail meat immersed in a brown-red liquid that gave off a gentle sour scent; occupying two-thirds of the dinner plate was tender white sea snail meat accompanied by a thick, milky white sauce.
atop the stir-fried sea snail meat, there was also a layer of white, finely shredded substance possessing a special odor.
"It's truffles!" This special odor was so outstanding that one knew its identity upon a single sniff.
It was precisely the truffle, which is ranked alongside caviar and foie gras as the "Three Great Delicacies of the World."
Moreover, it was the white truffle, the most precious among truffles; its annual production volume is not even one-tenth that of its brother, the black truffle.
"Vinegar-Marinated Sea Snail Meat, White Truffle Cream Stewed Sea Snail, Boiled Goose Barnacles."
Mark's all-conch Side Dish, with its colorful hues and not-bad plating, made everyone's eyes light up.
"Let's try and see exactly which two types of sea snails they are first." Nakiri Erina picked up her silver fork and skewered the pristine white snail meat in the small saucer, which had been dyed with a faint blush.
Sensing the subtle acetic acid on the tip of her tongue, Nakiri Erina trembled all over. "Mmh, it's cane vinegar. The flavor evoked by this marvelous melon aroma combined with the sourness is truly extraordinary."
Chewing the snail meat in her mouth lightly, the soft and tender meat carried some resilience, yet it wasn't like sticky candy that couldn't be bitten through or chewed apart.
"It's handled very cleanly; the blanching time and the amount of salt used are also just right."
"So it turns out to be Red Whelk." After the invigorating vinegar taste passed, the umami of the snail meat began to clarify.
Nakiri Erina revealed a look of realization.
The Red Whelk is also known as the Mexican Red Whelk. Compared to other sea snails, its meat appears more plump, delicate, and delicious, so it is more suitable for being an ingredient that doesn't require excessive processing methods.
After tasting the true identity of the Vinegar-Marinated Sea Snail Meat, Nakiri Erina quickly cast her gaze onto the White Truffle Cream Stewed Sea Snail.
"No spices or garnishes were used, only heavy cream was used to stir-fry the sea snail, in order to highlight the flavor of the white truffle?"
After sniffing for a moment, Nakiri Erina understood Mark's intention.
"The idea is good, but I wonder how the completion level is." She skewered a piece of sea snail wrapped in white truffle shavings and stuffed it into her mouth.
The rich and fragrant unique flavor of the white truffle instantly occupied her oral cavity, and immediately following that, the umami of the snail meat also began to exert its force.
Because the former had been softened by the heavy cream, it did not mask the deliciousness of the snail meat.
The snail meat in her mouth was clearly crispier, more resilient, and juicier than the texture of the Vinegar-Marinated Red Whelk.
"It's Large Yellow Conch."
"The flavors of both the white truffle and the Large Yellow Conch can manifest in the mouth without much deviation; this is already a pretty good dish."
She then took down the Goose Barnacle stuck in the white radish block and cut open its neck.
The incomparably delicious taste contained in the small piece of meat at the apex entered her mouth. The flavors of the three snail dishes assaulted her taste buds like ocean waves.
The sounds of laughter and the clinking of glasses in the restaurant within Nakiri Erina's ears grew louder and louder.
Until—
"Chirp~"
A sharp bird cry resounded through her mind. A black silhouette of a bird flapped its gigantic wings, and a boundless, majestic aromatic impact ruthlessly slapped Nakiri Erina back to reality.
Nakiri Erina hurriedly followed the assaulting strong fragrance with her eyes. Mo Bai had already opened the oven and tightly covered the dish inside a serving cloche.
"Service!"
"It's here! The dish of true caliber that Miss Bai Zishu spoke of." Smelling the residual aroma in the air, Nakiri Erina stared at the serving tray in the waiter's hands, swallowing saliva involuntarily.
Relying solely on the fragrance, he completely dispersed the influence brought about by the embryonic form of a Culinary Heart!?
Isn't this domineering way of using a Culinary Heart the trick that their Dark Cooking Society is most skilled at?
"Has his Culinary Heart already reached the level of being like an extension of his arm?!" Bai Zishu was horrified.
It wasn't just Bai Zishu who was horrified; the big shots on the male judges' bench all looked at Mo Bai as if they were looking at an alien.
"This is... the Culinary Heart realm of a Special-Grade Chef?" Even Auxis, who was a Special-Grade Chef himself, seemed to have lost his wits.
"That's right, it is indeed the Culinary Heart realm of a Special-Grade Chef." Nakiri Senzaemon remained silent for a long time, his gaze sweeping past Yukikawa Yukie and Miyamoto Yayako across from him before replying.
Possessing a Culinary Heart is merely one of the basic conditions for a Special-Grade Chef; the capability that defines a Special-Grade Chef even more is the usage of the Culinary Heart.
Every Shokugeki between Special-Grade Chefs and above is a war—there is no right or wrong in war, only the victor.
Precisely because of this point, when the Dark Cooking Society and the Gourmet Corp invaded back then, the Far East culinary world suffered deeply, nearly having its heritage severed with nowhere to go to reason with the IGO. It wasn't until they sought aid from the previous Dragon Head of the Hua nation culinary world and ceded countless resources that the Dark Cooking Society and the Gourmet Corp retreated.
Later, to prevent similar atrocious situations from happening again, the IGO formulated the International Gourmet Law by referencing the Gourmet Decrees of the Hua nation culinary world.
The first article of which is: "It is prohibited for high-ranking chefs of Special-Grade and above to challenge low-ranking chefs."
Suppressing taste, erasing the sense of taste, and even manipulating the judges like puppets!
Recalling the Shokugeki events he witnessed in his youth, Nakiri Senzaemon still felt a chill run through his body.
"..." Nakiri Senzaemon did not utter a word and directly lifted the lid.
Golden light shot into the sky!
As if a bomb had been detonated, a strong aroma swept across the entire venue!
The students in the audience all tilted their heads back to take deep breaths, greedily wanting to retain this dense fragrance.
In the dining plate, the brown-red quail, deboned and cut into blocks, released an irrefutable aroma; the pristine white hot spring egg leaning against it appeared even more tender.
Beside the two nestled together was an arc drawn by brown sauce, with some tiny crushed green leaves on the side of the plate as garnish.
Even someone as composed as Nakiri Senzaemon found his mouth watering in the face of the continuously assaulting spicy aroma.
He roughly skewered a piece of thick quail breast meat and sent it into his mouth. With one bite, it actually exploded with juice!
The extremely delicious quail meat juice itself mixed with the sweet and spicy sauce to form a powerful storm of deliciousness inside his oral cavity, sweeping over every inch of skin on his body!
"Oh oh oh oh! What intense deliciousness!" Nakiri Senzaemon's beard and hair bristled furiously as he roared and his clothes burst open once again.
The surrounding Zhang Yu, Chapelle, and Auxis were affected again.
"Still coming!?" Bai Zishu, who hadn't even had time to taste, changed her expression abruptly and immediately stomped heavily on the ground. The burst of internal energy once again annihilated the clothing-burst pulse wave.
"Eating with this old gentleman is really somewhat dangerous." Bai Zishu wiped nonexistent cold sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand, silently mourning for the gourmet practitioners in the Far East who were qualified to be judges alongside Nakiri Senzaemon.
Who can withstand a clothing-burst shockwave released if one isn't paying attention?
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