Food Wars: Tavern

Since Zane didn't have the Hundred Holes Chef's Knife yet, he had to use a regular kitchen knife for now.

He drilled some small holes and then used some wires to form steel rings!

"Miss, this knife of his has many small holes drilled into it, and steel wires threaded through."

Beside her, Hisako could see a clue.

"Are you planning to use this strange knife to handle the sea bream meat?"

Snapping out of her reverie, but still puzzled, Erina couldn't help but step forward and ask.

"Yes, to complete that dish, this knife is necessary."

Zane explained as he went to turn on the stove, adjusting it to medium heat before placing the knife on the stove to heat up.

This maneuver left both Erina and Hisako perplexed.

The knife itself was unusual, but why use a regular flame to heat it up?

At the same time, Zane prepared a white cloth towel that Megumi often hung on his wrist in the original plot.

First, he wrapped this white cloth towel tightly around his right hand with a bandaging technique, then prepared a basin of cold water.

"Could it be... is he planning to..."

Seeing Zane's actions, Erina quickly understood, her face filled with astonishment.

Is he crazy? What kind of dish requires this method?

"Miss, what is he going to do with this?"

Hisako blinked innocently, not yet grasping the gravity of the situation.

After a few minutes, when the knife heated up to a glowing red on the stove, Zane promptly turned off the flame. Much to Erina and Hisako's astonishment, he then used his right hand wrapped in the entire white cloth towel to tightly grip the hot knife.

"Ah!"

Seeing this scene, Hisako was so frightened that she quickly covered her face.

At that moment, she finally understood the extent of Zane's madness!

Even though she had anticipated this step, witnessing Zane confidently grasp the red-hot knife still greatly shocked Erina!

If Zane's knife skills from before made her feel inadequate, his boldness this time made her admire him even more.

Clang!

Clang!

Clang!

With Zane continuously swinging the knife in his hand, the sea bream meat on the cutting board was minced to pieces. Like cherry blossoms falling in spring, various minced meat particles flew into the air, then swiftly descended into the plate like a parabola.

The reason the sea bream meat was directly turned into minced meat through cutting was due to the knife being covered with small holes and steel rings.

But regardless, Zane's current performance had truly left Erina unable to regain her composure for a long time!

Logically, there are many ways to preserve the flavor of the sea bream, but Zane chose this particularly extreme method. He used the heat from the knife itself to quickly sear the surface of the fish while handling it, thus preserving the freshness and flavor of the fish meat!

"So, this is the reason for drilling small holes on the knife and threading them with steel wires?"

"After all, when using a knife to cut the sea bream meat, this process creates a certain pressure on the contact surface."

"This pressure causes the sea bream meat to be squeezed into those steel rings, forming uniformly sized minced meat."

At this point, Erina's thoughts became chaotic.

She had never expected Zane's new culinary technique to be so unconventional. I mean, which chef in the culinary world would dare to use such a method to bring out the freshness of the sea bream and create the most perfect dish?

Crack!

Finally, as he finished handling the sea bream, the knife in Zane's hand broke.

It may have been because the knife's material itself was not that great. It could also be that after heating up, the blade gradually cooled and hardened during the process of cutting the sea bream, leading to the break.

At this point, Zane paid no attention to the broken knife. He quickly unwrapped the white cloth towel from his right hand, revealing a slightly burned palm. Then, without a word, he immediately immersed his right hand in the basin of cold water to remove the residual heat and prevent further burning.

"Are you... are you okay?"

Approaching and looking at the slightly red right hand in the cool water basin, Erina's voice softened.

"I'm fine. Although it's a taboo in the chef industry to wrap the right hand with a cloth towel, as it affects the tactile sensation when using a knife, there's no other way."

Zane lifted his head to smile at Erina.

"No, I mean... the cloth towel..."

"I mean, is your hand okay?"

"It's fine, just a little burn."

"Soak it in cold water for a while, then apply some burn ointment, and it'll be fine."

Zane replied truthfully.

"No way, I don't believe you!"

Erina gazed at Zane, who always remained calm, and couldn't help feeling choked up.

If the knife is a chef's weapon, then the hands are the best tool a chef has. For a chef, having excellent culinary skills is important, but when the soft conditions are on the rise, the hard conditions must also remain unharmed.

Without a pair of intact hands, no matter how good the culinary skills are, what's the use?

"Why do you have to do this?"

Finally, with her eyes filled with tears, Erina asked.

"Didn't I tell you?"

"I want to create the most perfect dish for you to taste!"

Zane's words made Erina subconsciously believe it, and she felt moved in her heart, "So you have to risk getting a burn on your right hand at all costs?"

In cooking, the most important thing is to cook for the ones you care about; that's what matters the most.

This truth has always run through the entire "Food Wars" world, something that Erina currently cannot comprehend!

But at this moment, she truly felt it from Zane!

"Heh, you really believe that?"

Looking at Erina, who was on the verge of tears, Zane withdrew his right hand from the cold water basin and couldn't help but laugh, "The method of making this dish is to use the knife's heat to preserve the deliciousness of the sea bream."

"That's why I had to use this method, but it has nothing to do with you."

"Moreover, someone like you isn't worth this much effort at the moment, so don't be too self-absorbed or self-pitying!"

"What?"

Erina couldn't help but feel dumbfounded.

This guy always has a silver tongue.

But he's also mysterious and completely inscrutable, which is truly infuriating!

—-------

After finishing with the sea bream.

The next step was even simpler.

Just wrap all the fillings in the spring roll wrappers, then gently pinch them together like fluttering butterfly wings.

A "Reincarnation Spring Roll" was formed just like that.

In a short two to three minutes, right in front of Zane, there were a total of twenty Reincarnation Spring Rolls laid out!

The key was not only the fast creation speed but also the attractive appearance of each Rebirth Spring Roll, needing no further touch-ups.

"Wow!"

"So, it's made into spring rolls!"

Seeing a large plate of Reincarnation Spring Rolls in front of her, Niho Hisako couldn't help but blink her eyes, feeling a bit surprised.

Skilled in medicinal cuisine, she had researched various medical texts from the Tian Dynasty.

She had also studied snacks like spring rolls that existed since the Qin and Han Dynasties.

In her opinion, making spring rolls is relatively simple.

Just chop various ingredients, mix them, season, wrap them in pastry, and fry until golden brown.

This method of preparation naturally had the advantage of convenience and swiftness, suiting the fast-paced modern lifestyle.

However, flashy, oily foods like this went against the healthy, refined concept of medicinal cuisine, which is why Hisako had minimal interest!

"It has to be said that Zane's performance has always surprised me!"

"But if the new dish is spring rolls, the key lies in the ingredient match and the wrapping of the spring rolls, very basic steps."

"Most importantly, it's during the frying of the spring rolls."

"This is where a superior chef's control over temperature and oil heat is demonstrated."

Unexpectedly, as Erina finished speaking, Zane had already started to drop the prepared Reincarnation Spring Rolls into the oil pot.

Seeing this scene, Erina was immediately baffled!

"The temperature of the oil..."

"Hasn't it started bubbling yet?"

"Frying spring rolls hastily at this moment, due to the low oil temperature, will cause the filling inside to quickly soften."

Frying food is a common cooking method.

Compared to steaming or boiling, it requires a much higher temperature. Yet, if not done correctly, the food can end up "undercooked," due to the rapid and uneven heating by the oil.

In essence, after frying on the surface, the food temperature could be 150-200 degrees Celsius, risking turning overly crispy. Meanwhile, the interior could remain at around 30-50 degrees Celsius, still partly raw.

Conversely, a lower frying temperature ensures the inside and outside of the food reach a more balanced temperature, avoiding the issue of being burnt outside while being uncooked inside.

Thus, most ingredients are fried when the oil temperature is just moderately hot.

However, spring rolls need the oil temperature not to be too low.

If the oil temperature is too low, the spring rolls absorb too much oil, resulting in a greasy texture and a collapse of shape!

At this moment, paying no heed to Erina's reaction.

Zane continued to fry the Reincarnation Spring Rolls, and when one side of the pastry turned golden yellow, the whole izakaya was filled with a strong spring roll aroma.

Later, sensing that the time was right, he used a pair of long chopsticks to flip these spring rolls in the oil for another round of frying.

After a while, all the spring rolls were done.

Next, with a plate full of golden-brown Reincarnation Spring Rolls.

Starting to arrange them in front of Erina, Zane took a deep breath and smiled, "Well, this is my new dish, the Reincarnation Spring Rolls!"

Seeing this, Erina couldn't help but move her nose.

She caught a rich aroma from the golden-brown spring roll wrappers.

This made Erina's eyes light up, carefully assessing this plate of Reincarnation Spring Rolls.

Traditional spring roll fillings generally include bean sprouts, vermicelli, pork, and more.

However, Zane's Reincarnation Spring Rolls were unique; the fillings included mushrooms, cabbage, carrots, bamboo shoots, bell peppers, and sea bream...

Although these ingredients seemed unrelated, when cleverly combined, they produced a remarkable effect.

What's more, after frying, the entire surface of the Reincarnation Spring Rolls emitted a faint light under the dim lighting, shining like stars in the sky!

"Oh wow, so shiny, feels like they're glowing."

Beside her, Hisako, who was assessing the spring rolls, couldn't help exclaiming in astonishment.

Following her comment, the plate of Reincarnation Spring Rolls suddenly made a "whoosh" sound as several dazzling beams of light burst forth, illuminating the entire izakaya.

Lastly, amidst the amazed exclamations, Erina and Hisako couldn't help but close their eyes.

Cooking, can it shine?

On this mysterious question, almost no one can provide a definitive answer!

But in reality, it's still possible to make dishes glow using some special methods.

Firstly, you can use fluorescent substances. When sauces or ingredients are heated and stirred, these fluorescent substances will emit light, making the entire dish appear to be sparkling.

Additionally, it can also be achieved through chemical reactions between the ingredients! For example:

Some restaurants use ingredients containing citric acid and sodium bicarbonate to create luminescent dishes.

When these ingredients are heated, citric acid and sodium bicarbonate undergo a chemical reaction and release carbon dioxide gas.

When this gas reacts with the oxygen in the surrounding environment, it emits a blue light.

In short, the reason why luminescent dishes glow is definitely due to external forces and substances.

And someone like Zane, producing light directly from the dish itself, is quite dazzling and truly unique in the world!

"What just happened?"

"Why did the spring rolls suddenly start glowing?"

Before long, the glaring beams of light quickly dissipated, and the izakaya returned to its tranquil state.

This sudden turn of events naturally left Hisako bewildered. Her mind was buzzing, and she couldn't come back to her senses for a long time.

She found it really hard to accept everything that had just happened, feeling that dishes that glow are simply absurd.

Almost in an instant, Erina's head was swirling in confusion.

At this moment, as she faced this plate of Reincarnation Spring Rolls, she almost wished to quickly analyze all the culinary knowledge she had acquired throughout her life to understand why the spring rolls started glowing after being fried.

Naturally, she, even if she were to unearth Newton's coffin and bring him back to life, would still fail to explain this miraculous phenomenon!

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This was a 2-in-1 chapter, meaning there is 2 different chapters in this 1 chapter. Make sure to give more power stones!