Testing Cuisine, No, You're the One Being Tested!

Chapter 968 Testing the Cuisine, No, you (God Tongue) are the ones being tested!

"This smell...is it Nagahama-style tonkotsu ramen?"

The next morning, Soma Yukihira was awakened by the stench of pork bones. As soon as he entered the kitchen, he saw Broly simmering pork bone soup over a high flame in front of the stove.

"You know?"

"When I was little, I ate there once when I went on a trip to Nagahama with my parents. I remember it quite well because that style of tonkotsu ramen had a rather unique flavor. By the way, Broly, where did you learn this from after just one night?"

"I patronized a ramen cart last night and helped him push the cart and set up his stall. When he heard that I was interested in Nagahama tonkotsu ramen, he taught me how to make it."

"Perfect timing! I passed by the shopping street this morning and bought some pork bones to give you some protein, but it seems you don't need them."

Broly's aura perception did not detect the presence of a third person in the restaurant, and judging from Yukihira Soma's energetic appearance, he probably hadn't done any strenuous exercise yesterday.

"Hey, I gave you a chance to be alone with your girlfriend in a room, and you didn't even take advantage of it."

"The kind of certainty you're talking about, I'm afraid Uncle Kurase will beat me to death. Broly, you should stop worrying about me."

After Yukihira Soma finished speaking, he took a deep breath.

"The soup must be ready by now. Where's the ramen? I can't wait to try your cooking."

"The dough has risen over there, but it hasn't stretched yet."

"Okay, I'll take care of this."

The boy, dressed in his pajamas, put on an apron and started kneading dough on the cutting board. In no time, the dough was pinched into small pieces, oiled, and then he held both ends with his hands and stretched them evenly. With a combination of shaking and slapping motions, he turned the dough pieces into noodles of the right thickness.

Put the noodles in boiling water and cook for two minutes. Once the noodles float to the surface, take them out and rinse them in cold water. This step makes the ramen noodles more chewy.

Place the cooked noodles in a large bowl, pour over a thick, white pork bone broth that has been simmered over high heat for two hours, and then sprinkle with chopped scallions.

Although it lacks the char siu and soft-boiled egg of a normal ramen, having a simple bowl of this green onion tonkotsu ramen in the morning makes Soma Yukihira feel as if his soul is being elevated from his warm stomach.

"So comfortable~"

"The pork bones have a rather strong smell, Brother Broly. Did you soak them in running water for a while after you bought them?"

"The boss who taught me last night said no, I just want the bone flavor."

"Indeed, this tastes right. It's similar to the tonkotsu ramen I ate in Nagahama when I was a child. However, not everyone can accept this kind of taste."

"I think it's alright."

Broly also ate a bowl.

"It's alright, which means you also think there's room for improvement in the flavor of this ramen. Since we don't have anything planned for today, would you like to work with me to figure out how to optimize the flavor of Nagahama-style tonkotsu ramen?"

When Soma Yukihira invited him, he hadn't forgotten his father's request before leaving to help Broly develop a love for cooking.

"Well----"

Is there something wrong with you?

"I want to go to Totsuki Academy."

"Isn't the first day of school tomorrow?"

Soma Yukihira was somewhat puzzled.

"Get familiar with the environment."

"You weren't fully familiar with it by yesterday?"

"not yet."

"Alright then, I'll go with you to get acquainted with the place. While we're getting to know each other, we can also discuss how to improve the flavor of the Nagahama-style tonkotsu ramen."

Broly: "————"

He wasn't there to familiarize himself with the environment; he was there to observe his new target.

"No need. You know my actual cooking skills. I have absolutely no idea how to improve the taste."

So, you can focus on improving it at home. I have faith in you and look forward to eating even better tonkotsu ramen. Well then, I'll be going now.

After saying this, Broly ran out of the restaurant without waiting for Soma Yukihira's response.

"No, even if you're going alone, you should at least help tidy up the kitchen first!"

Looking at the closed restaurant door, Soma Yukihira sighed.

"Fine, I'll just consider it payment for breakfast."

While Soma Yukihira was washing dishes and pots, the Broly people had already arrived at the hilltop villa area near Totsuki Academy.

Erina Nakiri and Hisako Shinoto's aura was right there. Broly silently landed in the courtyard and began to observe from the shadows using a water membrane.

"Lady Erina, it's almost eight o'clock. We still have a refined itinerary planned for today."

Hisako Shinoto arrived at the door of a room, knocked on it, and reminded the person inside.

"Okay, I'll get up right away."

In the room, Erina Nakiri gave a vague reply, then lay down, placed her hands on the soft pillow, and stretched out her beautiful body like a cat stretching.

Her pink pajamas slipped down, revealing her soft waist, while her buttocks, encased in pink pajama bottoms, presented a plump, fertile peach shape.

Erina Nakiri has a bit of a procrastination problem, but she has even stronger self-control. She broke the seal on the soft bed in less than half a minute.

After getting up, brushing his teeth, washing his face, and changing his clothes, the somewhat arrogant yet capable chef girl he had seen yesterday reappeared in Broly's sight.

"This morning, there are two hotels offering new dishes, and I've arranged to have Erina-sama's taste evaluation."

"Have the chefs from both hotels arrived?"

"They're already waiting outside."

"The food isn't the greasy kind, is it? I don't really want anything greasy first thing in the morning."

"It's not greasy; it's a dish of seasonal vegetables and seafood."

"That's good, now the chefs can cook."

As Erina said this, she glanced at a corner of the courtyard, but seeing nothing there, she shook her head and went to the tasting room to wait.

Savoring new dishes developed by hotels and giving them expert reviews is Erina Nakiri's daily work.

Generally, only new dishes that receive ratings such as "okay," "acceptable," or "so-so" will be added to the menus of hotels and restaurants that pay her to taste them.

"Today's dishes are better than yesterday's, but not by much. At most, we didn't skip some necessary steps in order to improve the efficiency of serving the food."

After savoring the porridge for almost an hour, Erina Nakiri finally finished her work for the day, and thankfully, she didn't spill any porridge on the chef's head today.

Of course, the girl didn't offer many smiles either, because only one or two of the new dishes developed by the two restaurants received a "fair" rating.

As for the others, they were just so-so, not as good as the bibimbap and fried rice I had yesterday.

The thought of bibimbap made Erina Nakiri a little angry.

[That damn bastard, whatever, I'll never see that third-rate chef from that small restaurant again in my life!]

"Lady Erina, your work schedule for today is complete. Would you like to continue developing your dishes?"

"Okay, that's settled then."

[Fried rice. I'm craving fried rice for lunch, but unfortunately, Totsuki Academy doesn't start until tomorrow. Otherwise, I could use the excuse of testing my cooking skills to get that big guy named Broly over and have him make fried rice for me.]

"Yes, Lady Erina, I'll go and prepare some of the ingredients needed for French cuisine."

Hisako Shinto finished speaking, but before she could leave, she was stopped by Erina Nakiri.

"No, I'm not going to study French cuisine today; I'm going to study other cuisines."

"Uh, for example?"

"fried rice."

Hisako Shinoto: "————"

Was that person's fried rice from yesterday really that delicious that Erina-sama is still thinking about it even today?

"Is there a problem?"

"No, no, Lady Erina, I'll go and prepare the ingredients you need for fried rice right away."

Except for ham, all the meat ingredients used are fresh.

As a culinary academy, fresh meat is delivered to the logistics department every day.

Hisako Shinto is going to make her selections.

"That's about it. Frame these and send them to the villa area. Lady Erina will need them soon."

"Yes, Miss Niito."

The logistics staff treated Hisako Shinto with great respect. Everyone at Totsuki Academy knew that she was the personal secretary of the Grandmaster's granddaughter. Of course, she didn't like being called "Miss Secretary."

Just as the logistics staff were loading the fresh ingredients selected by Hisako Niito onto the delivery truck, Broly's figure wandered over there.

"Ms. Shinto?"

When Broly saw the shoulder-length short-haired girl standing at the door, a very natural look of surprise appeared on his face.

"You're the candidate who passed Erina-sama's exam yesterday, what are you doing here?"

Hisako Shinto's face showed surprise when she saw Broly.

The only difference is that Broly was faking it, while she was the real one.

"My name is Broly. I came here today to familiarize myself with the Totsuki Academy environment, but this place is so big that I got lost while wandering around."

Broly scratched his head and explained why he was there.

"Miss Shinoto, you're a student here. Would you mind helping me familiarize myself with the environment of Totsuki Culinary Academy?"

"Tomorrow, new students will be given campus handbooks, which will contain a map of Totsuki Academy. You'll then know about Totsuki Academy."

"Then now I—"

"I can have someone else guide you."

Hisako Shinto originally intended to say that, but then she suddenly thought of Erina Nakiri, who seemed interested in this guy's fried rice.

"I can help you get familiar with the school environment, but before that, I want to take you somewhere to test your fried rice skills. Are you willing?"

Hisako Shinto asked.

"no problem."

Broly nodded and agreed immediately.

When Hisako Shinomiya brought Broly to the mountaintop villa area, Erina Nakiri was quite surprised to see him: "Hisako, what's he doing here?"

"Broly came here today to familiarize himself with the school environment, but he got lost and I happened to run into him. As for Erina-sama, you want to study fried rice cooking. Yesterday you were quite satisfied with his fried rice, so I took the liberty of bringing him here. Hmm, Erina-sama, if you don't like it, I'll take him away from here now."

"Ahem, helping a lost student is the right thing to do."

Erina Nakiri coughed lightly.

"Lady Erina, didn't you want to test the other person's fried rice again?"

Hisako Niito delivered the message.

"That's right, I don't know, Broly, what do you think?"

The two maids, working in perfect harmony, were unaware that this was exactly what Broly wanted.

"I think it's very good, Examiner Nakiri. Please give me your feedback."

Erina Nakiri was pleased with Broly's attitude, but still corrected his way of addressing her.

"I'm not the examiner today, just call me Nakiri."

"Miss Nakiri."

"Come in with me, I'm going to test your fried rice today."

At noon, Erina Nakiri ate a whole plate of fried rice, her eyes narrowing into crescent moons.

"Among the fried rice I've ever eaten, yours is one of the best. Although the ingredients you use aren't the most premium, your cooking skills are really excellent."

Immersed in the wonderful taste of the fried rice, and with Broly's humble attitude, Erina surprisingly gave it high praise.

"Thank you for the compliment."

"I'm just telling the truth. By the way, can you cook anything else?"

"meeting."

"Then let's show off a bit more. I'm in a good mood today, so I can use my God's Tongue to test your other dishes for free."

o

Erina Nakiri spoke as if it were some kind of blessing.

"Broly, you're very lucky. Lady Erina's usual fees for tasting dishes are quite high."

Hisako Shinoto explained from the side.

Broly did not refuse and cooked the two dishes he knew how to make.

When Erina Nakiri ate the braised lamb with scallops and seafood, her happiness level skyrocketed.

"Miss Shinto, would you like to try some too?"

After inviting Hisako Shinomiya to join in the tasting, the number of potential romance targets that will cause happiness levels to skyrocket has increased by one.

Just as the two were anticipating what Broly's next dish would be, the stench of pork bones wafting from the kitchen made Erina Nakiri's expression change.

"What are you doing in the kitchen, making biological weapons?"

The girl pinched her nose and ran over, immediately questioning him.

"This is tonkotsu broth; I'm going to make tonkotsu ramen."

"What kind of tonkotsu ramen smells this bad?"

The taste brought by the God's Tongue, along with the enhanced sense of smell, and the strong smell of pork bones in the air made Erina Nakiri feel uncomfortable.

"This is the Nagahama style of tonkotsu ramen. It is said that it was made for fishermen at the local fish market in Nagahama to have for breakfast, so this style retains a strong pork bone flavor. However, don't worry, it just smells bad, but it tastes delicious."

The ramen was ready and placed in front of Erina Nakiri, but the blonde girl looked troubled.

"Lady Erina, perhaps we should just forget about this?"

Beside her, Hisako Shinto tried to persuade her.

This smelly dish reminded her of a guy who had ulterior motives towards her young lady.

Nao Satsuka also enjoys making dishes with a foul odor.