When someone steps down, someone else naturally steps up.
Generally speaking, second and third-year students in the high school division of Totsuki Academy, after undergoing rigorous training and competition, are often stronger than first-year students and those in the middle school division.
Of course.
For third-year students.
Especially those like Eishi, Rindo, and Momo, if they successfully graduate as members of the Elite Ten, they will be referred to as the Elite Ten of their graduation year, such as:
Kojiro, who was the first seat of the 79th generation of Totsuki, and Fumio was the second seat.
The qualification for the Elite Ten can almost be obtained in the Autumn Elections and the "Momiji Hunting" tournament, but they have to wait until the third-year students graduate, leaving their positions vacant, and then compete with their peers or higher-grade students.
However, due to Azami's Totsuki reform, the Elite Ten experienced a "replacement."
...
In fact.
After the advancement exams, Alice felt confident but also a bit frustrated.
She had defeated Eizan, gaining the ability to compete with the Elite Ten, but then Erina, under everyone's expectations, successfully defeated Rindo!
At that time.
She didn't want Erina to fail.
But after learning that Uncle Azami had voluntarily resigned and handed the Director position to Erina, Alice felt depressed.
Yes!
The gap between her and Erina was still too wide.
Erina's cooking skills were impeccable, and Alice knew all too well about her abilities.
But even after understanding so much, it was still hard to see where Erina's limits were.
It was clear.
Her cooking basics were very solid.
Unlike Alice, who was only skilled in molecular cuisine, her knowledge of common and traditional cooking was a mess!
Everything seemed too easy for her.
In terms of ability.
Erina being selected for the Elite Ten as the top student from the elementary division was unprecedented in Totsuki's history.
Plus, with her God Tongue talent and the "Director's granddaughter" halo, she was bound to grow into the "strongest monster" given time!
Previously, Alice was quite dissatisfied with Erina. Even after Zane's guidance and persuasion, she still believed that with double the effort, she could surpass Erina one day.
But in terms of cooking, Erina could elevate excellent dishes to even higher levels.
Her critiques of food were often spot on!
...
As the saying goes.
People who can appreciate food may not be good cooks, but those who don't understand food definitely can't cook well.
Erina not only knew what tasted good and what didn't but could also distinguish between top-tier and high-tier cuisine. This innate ability was simply unfair to ordinary chefs.
Consider this: would a chef from a poor family and a chef from a wealthy family have the same standards for deliciousness?
Some might say:
Come on! I think Lanzhou noodles taste better than Italian pasta.
I don't care how many expensive ingredients you put in your dish; if I don't like it, I just don't like it!
Hmm!
This view isn't wrong.
After all, everyone has their preferences, but it's precisely this view that led Azami to initiate the coup and try to reform Totsuki.
In summary.
This involves a perspective on the value of food!
Can common cuisine be compared to gourmet cuisine? Do ordinary people have the right to try top-tier cuisine? Should food and diners be categorized into different classes?
On these questions.
People from different social standings have different views.
Some might feel that common food is great and that high-end cuisine is pretentious and unsatisfying... perhaps it's the existence of such people that led some Totsuki students to rebel later, thinking that common cuisine doesn't deserve to be compared with their food!
On the other hand, people like early Erina believed that high-end cuisine was superior and looked down on anything from street vendors, refusing to eat it.
She even considered fast food "garbage."
This is another kind of "extremism."
And Azami used this extremism to promote culinary dictatorship!
...
Actually.
Alice was never that extreme.
She always felt that common food wasn't inferior and that high-end restaurants offered a sense of occasion and were great.
When hungry, she'd eat a bowl of street-side fried rice with Chinese characteristics, savoring the exotic flavors. On special occasions, she'd take her mother, Erina, Zane, and other "family" to a high-end restaurant on the Bund, spending a lot to enjoy high-quality dining services!
Yes, in essence, a person must be able to go up and down, or they are just stubborn, and stubbornness will be corrected.
In reality.
The timing of the Totsuki reform.
Was perfect in her eyes.
Because it addressed a significant modern culinary issue:
What should the relationship between food and diners be?
Can those who don't understand food judge it carelessly?
Should top chefs be revered?
In the future, will the new era respect chefs or diners?
Unfortunately.
The biggest winner of this reform wasn't her!
"I may not be able to lead Totsuki like Erina, but I can strive to become the first seat of the Elite Ten and influence Totsuki and the future culinary era in my way!"
Staring at the improved mousse champagne drink, Alice's thoughts wandered far.
And behind her, Leonora gently watched her daughter.
In the light.
She was beautiful, charming.
But her eyes were full of motherly love and pride!
...
If children are seen as extensions of their parents' lives, it might be easier to understand the deeper meaning of "expectation."
Yes, everyone wants to be successful and make a name for themselves.
But if they can't, they pin their hopes on their children. If their children aren't up to it, they pin their hopes on their grandchildren and so on.
Of course.
Leonora wasn't such a mother.
She was just joyful to see her daughter grow and mature!
...
The warmth of food lingers on the tongue!
The trivialities and difficulties of life seem insignificant in the face of food's gentle assault. Food has this healing power.
And to skillfully and ceremoniously prepare seafood, selecting the ingredients is crucial.
At this moment.
Eishi chose a wild deep-sea red snapper.
Red snapper, also known as akamutsu or nodoguro, has a bright red color.
Its flesh is rich, fatty, and oily. Despite its glamorous appearance, the inside of its mouth is pitch black, earning it the name "black throat."
In the sashimi world in Japan, red snapper is considered a high-end ingredient and naturally expensive!
The first step in making sashimi:
Is to clean the fish's scales.
Then use a knife to cut off the head behind the pectoral fin, press down on the fish's body, and cut open the belly to remove the innards along with the head.
Wash the fish, then slice along the belly toward the tail. Turn it over and slice from the tail toward the back, finally separating the top and bottom.
The final step.
Is the most crucial for sashimi.
Place the side with bones down and finely slice off a piece of fish, removing the middle bones from the flesh.
Place the fish slices on a plate and lightly sear the skin to make it curl.
Finally, arrange the fish slices on a beautiful porcelain plate, paying attention to the color and shape, arranging the slices like flower petals to showcase the beauty of sashimi.
...
The quality of ingredients may be more critical than cooking techniques.
Cooking involves two points:
1. Enhancing existing flavors
2. Adding flavors to bland ingredients
Enhancing existing flavors means removing unpleasant tastes, while adding flavors means improving the taste of bland ingredients.
Good ingredients are naturally delicious with minimal cooking; bad ingredients won't taste good no matter how you cook them.
Yuan Mei's "Recipes from the Garden of Contentment" states: ingredients are four parts, and cooking skills are six parts.
So, cooking skills are slightly more important than ingredients.
However, slightly inferior ingredients can be improved with good cooking techniques. For example, a fresh fish is best steamed to highlight its natural flavor and tender flesh.
If it's not fresh, deep frying and braising with rich sauces can transform it into a different flavor.
In summary.
The difference between ingredients and cooking skills is easy to understand.
Give a person with no cooking skills the best ingredients, and another with cooking skills only average ingredients.
The result will be shark fin that's not as good as glass noodles, matsutake mushrooms not as tasty as regular mushrooms, and bird's nest not as good as dough drops.
Which is more important?
Of course, the importance of ingredients cannot be denied.
Good ingredients with skilled cooking will shine, but poor cooking skills will waste them.
As "A Bite of China" says, high-end ingredients often require the simplest cooking methods.
But to Zane, the more ordinary the ingredients, the more they need culinary skills to shine.
The same tomato and scrambled eggs.
Some make it bland, while others make it amazing.
Yes!
That's culinary skill!
...
Sashimi, of course, emphasizes the natural flavor of the ingredients.
For the natural flavor, the prerequisite is the high quality of the ingredients.
But high-quality ingredients were historically out of reach for ordinary people.
Fresh seafood is a given.
Without preservation technology, even emperors needed elaborate efforts to enjoy seasonal fish.
In the absence of scientific guidance, extensive breeding, and surplus production, high-quality agricultural and livestock products were hard to come by.
Especially the common people, who struggled with basic nutrition, often had to make do with unappetizing animal innards.
Thus, most cooks had to think about one thing:
How to make unpalatable ingredients edible?
The few chefs catering to the wealthy had to think: How to make ordinary ingredients memorable?
The answer is clear: use seasonings.
Garlic, ginger, and onions to mask unpleasant
smells, broths, and sauces to enhance flavors.
In essence.
It means using stronger flavors to cover any off-tastes.
So, whether it's luxurious banquets with shark fin and sea cucumber or home kitchens with stir-fried liver and braised pork, all rely on seasonings to highlight flavors, with ingredients providing texture and nutrition.
Not to mention Sichuan cuisine, known for its diverse flavors through seasoning combinations.
...
"Hmm?"
"As expected!"
"Lately, when preparing sashimi, I feel like the ingredients on the board are alive, almost like they can talk to me."
Looking at the freshly made red snapper sashimi, Eishi fell into deep thought.
He didn't know about special abilities yet, only that his culinary skills seemed to have reached a breakthrough.
Ring! Ring!
As he was lost in thought.
The ringing phone shattered the peaceful atmosphere, jolting him back to reality.
He quickly picked up the phone, pressing the call button: "Hello, Rindo, what's up? What? An emergency Elite Ten meeting again, and this time Erina... ahem, the Director ordered all members to attend immediately?"
"Got it, I understand!"
Hanging up, Eishi sighed deeply.
It's been a turbulent time, even with the new Director, everything was back on track, yet they had to convene another meeting.
But he didn't overthink it, hurriedly tidying up the kitchen and heading to the meeting room.
...
Late at night.
In the Totsuki Elite Ten meeting room.
The room was brightly lit, and all members had arrived, the atmosphere tense.
Erina, having just returned from the tavern, didn't have time to rest, tapping her fingers on the table, the "tap, tap, tap" sound echoing, unsettling the others!
Eishi, Rindo, Momo, Satoshi, Nene, Kuga, and the rest of the Elite Ten were all intently watching Erina.
They, too, were puzzled.
What had happened at Totsuki now?
At that moment, the door opened, and Hisako, out of breath, rushed in, presenting a document to Erina: "Lady Erina, we've investigated everything about the midnight chefs!"
Erina's spirit lifted, taking the document and carefully reading it.
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