"Let the competition begin!" As the Chairman announced, Absolute Zero walked to the ingredient preparation area and lifted the central cover.
"What... what is that!" Everyone present, except for a few insiders, showed expressions of surprise.
As the cover was opened, a sweet and uniquely aromatic scent filled the entire arena.
Six candied carrots and six plates of Phantom Honey, exactly one portion for each team.
"This competition's special ingredients are these extremely rare candied carrots and their corresponding Phantom Honey. Each team can only get one portion, and it must be used in their dish. The total competition time is 3 hours, and the countdown begins now." Absolute Zero announced the final rules, and the countdown on the light screen began to decrease.
The Uma Musume present all had their eyes shining with excitement; no Uma Musume could resist these two foods.
In reality, Absolute Zero had many similar dream-like ingredients, but these ingredients generally required special processing and cooking methods, making them unsuitable for use at this time.
However, even so, some knowledgeable individuals were startled by Tracen Academy's extravagance.
After all, if these items were at an auction, they could even buy a villa in Tokyo.
They would never have guessed that these were sold to the Tracen Academy by Absolute Zero at an ultimate friendship price for ordinary carrots and honey. Hmm? Given for free? Giving them for free was impossible; no one could freeload off her! No one!
However, the Chairman still made a note of this favor, though Absolute Zero felt that the Chairman probably wouldn't be able to repay it.
All in all, this move presented a challenge to the contestants. None of them had experience using these ingredients. If they treated them as ordinary ingredients, it would feel like a waste of these precious items.
But they couldn't just stand there. So, after discussing what to make, the six teams went to get the ingredients they needed and began cooking.
The time limit was a total of 3 hours, so they could choose slightly more complex dishes.
The first to start was the first team, Fuji Kiseki and Hishi Amazon's team.
"Ingredients include beef, potatoes, lettuce, konjac noodles, shrimp, enoki mushrooms, shiitake mushrooms, tofu, green onion segments, onions... paired with specially brought butter, chives, soy sauce, mirin, sake, and a large bottle of broth from over there... Is it sukiyaki?" Watching them start, Absolute Zero went over with a camera to conduct an interview.
"Ah, since it's autumn, sukiyaki is definitely the dish to eat." The ingredients were unprocessed, so Fuji Kiseki explained her team's idea while preparing them.
Sukiyaki can be simply understood as a Japanese hot pot, but unlike domestic hot pots where seasonings are directly poured into hot water for dipping, sukiyaki first involves melting solid beef fat in a pot, then adding green onion segments to sauté until fragrant, followed by beef slices and onion strips to fry until hot, then adding sauce to flavor, and finally pouring in broth made from bonito flakes and kombu with prepared ingredients to cook before eating.
Sukiyaki has a savory, sweet, and umami flavor, so those who can't handle spicy hot pot might want to try it.
However, the sauce also needs sugar, but it looks like they plan to use honey as a substitute?
"That's natural. At the same time, the carrots will be divided into two portions: one will go into the soup to enhance the flavor, and the other part will be made into a dipping sauce."
There are usually three types of sukiyaki dipping sauces: yuzu ponzu, grated daikon radish, and raw egg (pasteurized egg). Usually, all three are served simultaneously, and you can choose your favorite.
Of course, the most important thing is that sukiyaki portions are usually quite large, and it doesn't take long to prepare.
When a person is hungry, everything tastes delicious, but when full, everything feels like something is missing. If other contestants are too slow and the judges are too full to give higher scores, then they can only blame themselves.
At this moment, Hishi Amazon suddenly went to the ingredient area and brought back some more meat and chicken skin.
"Is this... chicken skin dumplings?"
"Ah, of course. After all, just beef wouldn't be satisfying enough, would it!" Hishi Amazon smiled proudly while washing the pork.
There was never a rule that each team could only serve one dish.
It seems this loophole was directly exploited... As expected of the Dorm Leader Squad, smiling on the surface, but pulling out all the stops.
Seeing the bustling activity here, the other teams also quickly got to work.
Indeed, there's no rule that each team can only serve one dish, but even if you make a hundred dishes, you'll only get credit for one serving. And if you make too many, it might take more time, leading to others serving their dishes first. The advantage of serving earlier in a cooking competition isn't just talk.
So, what about the other teams?
"Olah!" Bang!
"Rua!" Bang!
Loud noises came from the fourth team's side. When I looked over, I saw Air Groove kneading dough there... This looks like she's pounding it, doesn't it!?
Judging by the ingredients she took, she probably plans to make a bowl of ramen, but will pounding the dough like this really make it springy?
"Air Groove's technique is still very good!" Bimyo Shisei, standing nearby, showed a proud expression.
She herself was simmering a rich broth. Because it was autumn, many mountain delicacies were among the ingredients provided for this cooking competition. Adding some bones and meat to simmer a broth would indeed make it very delicious, but simmering broth takes a lot of time. If other teams moved faster, it would be very disadvantageous.
"But how do you plan to use the honey?" Zero also timely raised the question.
"Heh heh, for the char siu, of course!"
Indeed, Japanese ramen almost always includes char siu, and if you make it yourself, you can make more slices, even thicker ones, which would be more satisfying to eat.
Similarly, seasoned bamboo shoots and soft-boiled eggs are also common, but these two seem to have been prepared in advance and brought along.
The team of Tamamo Cross and Inari One also began to act. They were currently mixing batter.
"Oh oh oh oh oh, Senior! Look at my burning passion!" Inari One was frantically stirring the batter, and Tamamo Cross, next to her, was not to be outdone.
"Is that all? My hot-bloodedness is far beyond yours!"
Judging by the ingredients they took, they seem to be planning to make takoyaki and okonomiyaki... It seems their use of carrots and honey should be similar: some for sauce and some directly mixed in.
By the way, it's quite rare to make such simple dishes in a cooking competition, unless they can come up with some other tricks.
Feeling that he couldn't participate in the atmosphere over there, Zero motioned for the camera to record that side for a while before turning to another group.
Saint King Halo and Kawakami Princess.
These two are also quite famous. The former, whose mother was a short-distance champion, chose to debut in mid-to-long-distance races, which her bloodline was not good at. And it seems she even plans to participate in the Triple Crown. She is an Uma Musume who, through hard work, forcibly changed her aptitude. She always has "first-class" on her lips, using it to push herself while masking her tsundere personality.
Tsk tsk, Little Special's class is truly full of hidden talents. It will be quite challenging for Little Special to achieve the Undefeated Triple Crown.
As for the other, Kawakami Princess... putting everything else aside, as another young lady, her monstrous strength is truly terrifying. Zero once encountered her in the academy's swimming pool, but the two didn't interact.
However, the scene of her splashing water while playing with friends, resulting in a large wave like a small tsunami, is still vivid in his memory.
That day, Zero even dreamed that Kawakami Princess punched the Earth into two halves, and then Gold Ship repaired it.
It always feels like Gold Ship is always online when it comes to strange dreams.
A-fune, are you protecting the dreams of the Uma Musume? You are so gentle (not).
This group was stewing something in a pressure cooker. Seeing the familiar pressure cooker made him feel a bit nostalgic. He wondered what they would make.
His gaze turned to the team of Chaza and Suko, and then his eye twitched.
Chaza had already collapsed in a chair, fast asleep, while Suko, with a strange smile, was simmering a large pot of soup, occasionally adding something to it, like a witch brewing a potion.
Zero stopped Representative Chiaki and Narita Brian from the enforcement team who wanted to take Suko away with a look. Suko wasn't someone who didn't know the gravity of things; even she wouldn't do anything strange in this kind of situation... probably.
He felt that if he went over now, he would be forced to drink soup to confirm its effects. For his own safety, Zero decided to skip this team.
By the way, didn't Suko say that Chaza was in charge of this cooking competition?
Shaking his head, Zero looked at the last group.
Maruzensky and Oguri Cap.
In a sense, this group was also quite terrifying, but in a different way.
Not long ago, he heard that Oguri Cap had specifically purchased several bottles of child-rearing potions from Air Groove. He didn't know if it was true, but if it was, he should try to stay away from her these days.
"What are you planning to make here?" Zero also walked over and asked.
"An autumn set meal~" Oguri Cap replied.
A set meal, strictly speaking, can be considered a combo meal, but there are still some slight differences.
There's no helping it; even though they're both types of combo meals, set meals and combo meals are sold separately.
However, a set meal... is unexpectedly very homey. But perhaps being homey could be a bonus point.
They had fresh saury, sweet potatoes, potatoes, tofu, bean sprouts, as well as chicken and pork tenderloin, and other common ingredients.
There were still plenty of ingredients left in the ingredient area, so even if they failed, there was still a chance to buy more, provided there was enough time left.
The competition was still in full swing, but a group of people were suffering: the audience.
After a brief discussion with the Emperor, Zero gave the host position to Smart Falcon to maintain the atmosphere, while he went to get some food and had Gold Ship find people to distribute it for free to everyone in the audience. If they wanted an extra serving, they would need to pay.
After all, there were many ordinary people present, so they directly exchanged for simple, plain dishes without extra ingredients, which didn't cost much.
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