"I've harvested another recipe for French Seafood Soup."
"I really am a clever little genius."
With a delighted smile, Nakiri Erina tasted every variety of seafood within the soup.
She failed to notice that the four people sharing the judges' bench were casting gazes of pity toward her.
Bai Zishu wore a motherly smile: Has this little girl never eaten anything delicious?
Luo Ziyan remained expressionless: Mmh-hmm~ (Nods in agreement).
Miyamoto Yayako maintained a haughty, aloof face: As a retainer, one must stand firm with the team. Besides, this chef named Mark doesn't have culinary skills as high as Highness Mo Bai.
Yukikawa Yukie's eyes were fixed solely on the unopened dining cover in front of Nakiri Erina: I wonder if I can swap this French Seafood Soup for Highness Mo Bai's cuisine?
"Miss Nakiri, are you really that hungry?" The usually dazed and cute Yukikawa Yukie now had a hunter-like cunning light flashing in her eyes. "If you don't mind, please eat this portion of French Seafood Soup as well."
Nakiri Erina: Σ(っ °Д °;)っ
Sweeping her gaze once more over the dining plates of the four people beside her, she saw they were uniformly untouched.
"Wow! These Gourmet Hunters and Miko are really strict!"
"But this French Seafood Soup really isn't bad." Nakiri Erina thought objectively; the French Seafood Soup before her could truly be ranked among the top western dishes she had ever tasted.
Faced with Nakiri Erina's confused and puzzled gaze, Bai Zishu smiled faintly.
"The reason you think it's not bad is because of the palate-cleansing effect of 'The Gone Valentine's Day'."
"The appetizer was the Scallop Caviar Salad, immediately followed by the rich French Seafood Soup. After strenuous exercise, do you not find it greasy?"
"Don't forget that sitting opposite us is a table of middle-aged and elderly people who are exhausted from travel and look weary."
"Serving a dish like this has already proven his incompetence as a chef."
"Besides, do you really think this French Seafood Soup is excellent?" Bai Zishu suddenly changed the subject.
"Eh? Is it not good? My God's Tongue didn't taste any obvious defects." Nakiri Erina opened her mouth, unable to respond to Bai Zishu's question.
"It seems your super sense of taste hasn't fully finished growing." Bai Zishu pointed to her own ears. "I can hear the agonizing screams of the various seafood in the soup, overwhelmed under the excessive garlic scent."
"After this French Seafood Soup underwent the second flavor boost with the garlic sauce, the soup base lost its balance. The reason for putting in such a wide variety of seafood and shellfish was a forced move—to weaken the disadvantage that the seafood flavor couldn't stand out against the thick garlic and onion flavor after the second boost."
"As a chef, one should know that actively pursuing extreme umami is different from passively making up for defects to pursue umami."
"The former is striving for perfection, while the latter is merely mending the fold after the sheep is lost. The realm and height the cuisine can reach are entirely different."
Luo Ziyan: Mmh-hmm! ( The White Vixen is right. )
"I can indeed taste that the garlic and onion flavors in Mark's French Seafood Soup are a bit heavy; I originally thought it was to deliberately preserve the flavor profile." Seeing Bai Zishu speak with such certainty, Nakiri Erina couldn't help but fall into deep thought. "Could it really be as she says, that my God's Tongue hasn't fully grown?"
One knows one's own affairs best. Nakiri Erina understood that precisely because of her childhood experiences, she couldn't truly control the God's Tongue; when food entered her mouth, she always looked for flaws first. Thinking about it this way, perhaps what the other person said was true? Had her God's Tongue failed to reach its potential height due to malformed growth?
"No, now is not the time to care about that!"
After snapping back to reality, Nakiri Erina couldn't help but ask, "You can hear the voice of the ingredients? Do you possess the God's Ear?"
"Guess?" Bai Zishu remarked playfully.
"...What the hell is 'guess'!" The corner of Nakiri Erina's mouth twitched slightly.
Just as she was about to speak again, Nakiri Senzaemon's voice came over.
"The flavor of this French Seafood Soup is incomparably heavy; in terms of taste alone, it is no inferior to a high-star chef. To modify the recipe of French Seafood Soup to this extent at this age is very impressive."
"Begin the evaluation of the second dish."
Dropping a perfunctory evaluation, Nakiri Senzaemon took the lead in lifting the lid.
A blazing white pillar of light sprayed toward the sky!
A clear soup, slightly milky white amidst its clarity, released a light and sweet aroma.
"Onion!" Nakiri Erina immediately smelled the unique aroma of the ingredient.
This onion aroma was not as intense as that of the French Seafood Soup; it was simply unexpectedly smooth.
Smelling the aroma, Nakiri Erina felt as if she were completely wrapped in incomparably silky satin.
"True gourmet food should be like this." As Bai Zishu spoke, she lifted the lid. The others, as if waking from a dream, quickly lifted theirs as well.
"Consommé?!" Nakiri Erina looked at the liquid in the soup bowl. The somewhat plain broth formed a sharp contrast with the thick French Seafood Soup on the side.
The feeling of fullness after eating the French Seafood Soup instantly vanished. Nakiri Erina gently stirred the clear soup with her spoon.
The ingredients, which were few to begin with, were seen clearly by her.
"Bacon, beef cubes, white pepper."
The ingredients were as unremarkable as always, but the surface of the soup, reflecting shimmering waves of light, was telling a story.
"Is it that magical kind of cuisine again?" Her tender pink tongue gently licked her lips. Even after eating the delicious French Seafood Soup, Nakiri Erina still incomparably missed that 'Splendid Spring Scenery Trio'. The memory of the gourmet food was still alive and well.
The small silver spoon scooped up a spoonful of the translucent broth. The sweet and fresh broth moistened her lips, traversed her oral cavity, and reached directly into her heart!
Exhaling a breath of hot air with flushed cheeks, Nakiri Erina's eyes grew misty.
"Incomparably sweet, incomparably warm!"
The scene before her blurred. Vaguely, Nakiri Erina heard a lullaby filled with deep affection, and her body was embraced by a warm hold.
Through her blurred vision, she faintly saw a figure that did not exist in her memories, yet felt both familiar and strange.
It took a long time for the emotionally dazed Nakiri Erina to sober up.
The same ingredients were interpreted in entirely different ways.
"Home cooking."
"The warmth and intention contained within the clear soup can only be summarized by the general term 'Family'."
Nakiri Senzaemon's clothes burst open once again! This time, Zhang Yu, Chapelle, and Auxis, who were in his vicinity, were all affected.
The advanced skill of the Clothing Burst—The Transmission of the Strip!
The Nakiri Family Qigong, stimulated by gourmet food, turned into a clothes-bursting pulse that assaulted the surroundings!
The audience covered their eyes in unison. Four middle-aged and elderly men, shirtless and wearing happy smiles with flushed faces—this scene was truly an assault on the eyes!
"Ho, this old gentleman really keeps his talents hidden. This kind of Qigong is almost comparable to a top-tier Silver-rank Gourmet Hunter." Lifting a high heel that she had used to stomp firmly on the ground under the table, Bai Zishu, who had nearly been stripped by the burst while eating, was startled.
"Wait, is your surname Nakiri too?" Bai Zishu looked at Nakiri Erina with eyes instantly filled with defensiveness. Hearing this, the other three judges hurriedly moved far away from Nakiri Erina.
"I don't practice Qigong! I swear!" Nakiri Erina, stared at by members of the same sex with eyes reserved for perverts, received massive internal damage.
"What is the name of this soup dish?"
"Chinese name: Falling in Love with a Wild Horse. Japanese name: Clear Stewed Onion Soup."
Crack! The silver spoons in the hands of Zhang Yu, Bai Zishu, and Luo Ziyan snapped in response.
________________________________________
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