Chapter 219
"Chicken Juice Bacon Rice Bowl?"
Hearing that name, Hisako's brow instinctively furrowed a little. She hadn't expected that at the transfer student examination for the prestigious Totsuki Academy, such an ordinary dish would actually make an appearance.
The previous participants, while mostly lacking in skill, had at least racked their brains to figure out how to elevate the class and visual appeal of their cooking as much as possible.
But now, this red-haired youth standing before her, in the midst of so many colorful and dazzling dishes, had suddenly presented a common, home-style rice bowl that looked like it belonged on a street corner.
This caused the disappointment in Hisako's heart to deepen just a bit more.
Hisako glanced at the name list, then opened her mouth to ask:
"You are participant number 24, Yukihira Soma, correct?"
"How did you even think of making this Chicken Juice Bacon Rice Bowl?"
"Almost every participant before you thought about making their dish look as luxurious as possible, yet you chose a very common home-style dish for such an important exam?"
Hearing Hisako's words, Yukihira Soma let out a wide grin and said:
"Because I think this dish is delicious, and it's also really popular!"
"These past few days, the customers at my family diner seemed to order this dish a lot, so today I just subconsciously made it!"
"But the Chicken Juice Bacon Rice Bowl I made is a bit different from the usual ones. I've made quite a few special modifications!"
Seeing Yukihira Soma's face full of confidence, Hisako didn't say much more. She picked up a spoon and began to seriously taste the dish in front of her.
Judging by its outward appearance, this Chicken Juice Bacon Rice Bowl didn't have anything particularly special about it. On top of rice that had been fried to a fragrant aroma, there were slices of bacon grilled just right.
And over that bacon, there was a drizzle of thick, golden-yellow sauce forming a grid pattern.
This liquid topping was a chicken broth sauce, meticulously crafted from a blend of thick chicken stock mixed with a hint of mild curry.
While this participant had done quite well in terms of detail, for Hisako, if the dish's strength only went this far, it really wasn't enough.
After putting a spoonful of the chicken-broth-drizzled rice into her mouth, Hisako began to savor it carefully. Suddenly, an incredibly dense aroma exploded inside Hisako's mouth.
The deliciousness flowing from the combination of chicken broth and curry slowly seeped into the tip of Hisako's tongue.
In an instant, Hisako gave a very high evaluation in her heart for the dish before her.
Even though the dish didn't look luxurious from the outside, the inside offered an unexpected surprise for the diner.
That sudden explosion of aroma and the lingering aftertaste that continuously washed through her mouth truly elevated the flavor profile of this dish entirely!
"Yukihira Soma, your cooking is up to standard. You pass!"
"But I want to ask, what exactly was that aroma that suddenly exploded in my mouth... Why couldn't I smell such a dense scent before tasting it, and only after eating the dish did the aroma truly burst out...?"
Seeing Hisako voice her doubts, Yukihira Soma grinned widely. Just as he was getting ready to answer, Mineo, who had been looking down playing games on the side, spoke up.
"Hisako, you couldn't even tell the secret of this dish? You're really a dummy. This participant used sesame!"
Hearing Mineo's words, Hisako was stunned. And Yukihira Soma also froze completely.
He stared at Mineo with a blank expression.
"You... How did you know I used sesame?"
"Have you ever come to our diner to eat?"
"I'm not interested in eating at your diner. Your cooking is so simple, do I really need to take a bite before I can understand it? Just thinking about it for a moment is enough to know how you made it, okay?"
Yukihira Soma was genuinely confused, while Hisako instinctively asked:
"I clearly didn't taste any trace of sesame in this dish... How could it be... How could that be the thing used..."
"Because this participant ground the sesame until it was extremely fine!"
Hisako had just asked about the confusion in her heart, and Mineo immediately provided the answer.
Still staring at his game without averting his eyes, Mineo said casually:
"Looking at it from the surface, this Chicken Juice Bacon Rice Bowl should have three layers of flavor—the rice layer, the bacon layer, and the chicken broth sauce layer."
"Most Chicken Juice Bacon Rice Bowls on the market also consist of those three flavors."
"It's just that this participant inserted one more layer of flavor into a dish that originally had three. On top of the rice and beneath the bacon slices, there should still be a thin layer of sesame powder."
"Sesame that has been dry-roasted and then ground finely has a very strong aroma. So, the reason Hisako felt the aroma fill her mouth was precisely because of its presence."
"As for your two previous questions, I'll give you the answers for free while I'm at it."
"When the dish was served, you didn't smell a strong aroma because the thick sauce had covered the scent of the sesame powder, preventing it from evaporating. But the rice under that drizzle of sauce, in its 'sealed' condition, had merged with the aroma of the dry-roasted sesame powder!"
"And this dish has another clever detail: the chicken broth sauce!"
"A bit of curry was added to the chicken broth sauce so that the curry aroma could blend with the sesame aroma."
"One of the components in curry should be clove powder. According to the principles of Molecular Gastronomy, the aroma released by clove powder and the aroma released by sesame, once combined, will give birth to a third aromatic element. This is the fundamental reason why you felt the aroma in your mouth was so unfamiliar!"
"How should I put it... honestly, the little tricks used in this dish are quite numerous, but the main goal is to temporarily mask a certain scent to achieve a moment where it instantly creates an unexpected surprise for the diner..."
"In my eyes, this dish can be given a score of about eight or nine points! Hisako should have felt this dish was quite delicious when she ate it..."
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