"So? How did the dish taste? Do you understand what sweetness is now?"
Taking into account how delicate young children's stomachs were, and how hard rough foods could be to digest, Liu Anqing could only guide them toward experiencing sweetness in this way.
"That flavor was... kind of mixed together. The sweetness of the pumpkin and the sweetness of the sweet potato felt a little different from each other."
Fang Ye was the first to answer, his voice carrying the innocence natural to a small child.
It was the most direct impression he had taken away from the rice pudding.
During steaming and cooking, the carbohydrates in pumpkin and sweet potato broke down and released natural sugars. Combined with the sucrose, glucose, and fructose already present in them, they formed the most basic source of sweetness in the pudding.
Meanwhile, the rice released starch as it simmered, bringing with it not only a mild, grain-like sweetness, but also a dense texture that allowed the sweetness to linger longer on the palate.
"Well said."
"The essence of cooking lies precisely in layering the various flavors hidden within ingredients, then blending them into a complex taste that leaves people spellbound."
"Next, I'll help you understand sourness."
As he spoke, Liu Anqing pulled over the small blackboard resting against the wall.
Fang Ye's answer made his eyes brighten. He could not help marveling inwardly at how precociously perceptive the boy was. To grasp the essence of cooking so clearly from a single bowl of rice pudding was no small thing.
Even so, Liu Anqing had no intention of going too deeply into theory.
He understood very well that profound concepts meant little to children this young.
They would not remember them, nor could they truly understand them.
The core of early education lay in enlightenment. His task over the next two years was to introduce the Nakiri sisters and Fang Ye to the various concepts of cooking.
Not too much, not too deep—just enough to leave behind a basic impression.
That alone would be enough to make the road ahead smoother for them, and even if they encountered problems they could not solve in the future, they would at least have a few more ways of thinking about the answer.
Time flew by in the process.
During it, Liu Anqing lit the stove again and prepared another dish: Cod with Braised Tomato.
To make it easier for children to eat, he cut the cod fillet into one-centimeter cubes and chopped the tomatoes into similarly small pieces.
Because young children were especially sensitive to sourness,
the purpose of this dish was only to introduce a bright hint of acidity, not a harsh or overwhelming sour punch.
That made the fruity acidity of tomato the perfect choice.
Before long, the cod with braised tomato was done.
"Don't just sit there. Taste the cod with tomato, then tell me how it feels."
Liu Anqing handed over three small weaning bowls. His core aim was to help them establish an initial impression of sourness so it would be easier to explain in depth later.
"Sourness feels different from sweetness. It's like tiny little needles lightly pricking the tongue."
Erina Nakiri ate a small bite of the cod with tomato, a thoughtful expression appearing on her childish face. Then she looked up and said, "But when it's paired with tomato, the fish somehow tastes even better."
"Very good."
Liu Anqing nodded approvingly. "Sourness can enhance the flavor of other ingredients. Adding it to fish makes its freshness stand out more clearly."
Beside them, Alice Nakiri was nudging the small tomato pieces around in her bowl with her spoon.
Thinking back to how the tomato had tasted just now, she suddenly looked up and added, "Tomato tastes sour and sweet, and it makes your mouth fill up with saliva!"
"That is another important function of sourness—stimulating appetite. It can effectively awaken the taste buds and make people hungrier."
"Now that we've finished talking about sourness, let's move on to bitterness..."
As he spoke, Liu Anqing returned to the stove.
A silver-white flash of knife light passed through the air, and a bitter melon was reduced to only its tender tip.
Without slowing, he braised it in stock, and in the process most of its bitterness was drawn away, leaving behind only a clean, cool aftertaste.
"This is bitterness. It isn't as popular as sweetness, and many people even dislike it—but it is an indispensable supporting note in many refined flavors."
He set a small dish before each of them. Knowing they would not be especially interested, he had only prepared a single bite for each child.
Erina Nakiri cautiously tasted a bite. Her delicate little brows immediately knitted together, but she still forced herself to swallow it before offering her judgment.
"It's kind of... not tasty. But it feels like my mouth got cleaner afterward!"
"That's right. A proper touch of bitterness can cleanse the palate and cut through richness."
Seeing Erina eat the bitter melon without hesitation—and swallow it even though she disliked it—Liu Anqing nodded in approval.
Then he turned to Alice Nakiri.
Alice promptly shook her head like a rattle drum, silver hair flying everywhere. "No, no! That flavor is so weird!"
Her reaction amused Liu Anqing, and a trace of reminiscence surfaced in his eyes.
"When I was little, I was terrified of bitterness too. Every time I saw my mother cooking bitter melon, I'd run as far away as I could. I'd rather skip the meal entirely than eat bitter melon.
"But later, my father told me that only a chef who learns to appreciate bitterness can truly be said to have entered the gate of cooking."
When Liu Anqing said those words, his gaze softened almost unconsciously.
Back then, conditions had been poor, and kitchens were nothing like the high-tech ones of today. Large woks needed firewood just to function.
Every morning he had to go up the mountain to chop wood. At noon he worked in the kitchen as a prep apprentice, cutting vegetables. Only at night, when the kitchen was empty, could he sometimes sneak a few moments with the wok ladle.
Ten years of apprenticeship before one could become a true chef.
There was not the slightest exaggeration in that saying.
"Now taste this. This is saltiness. It is the foundation of all flavors—it supports the others firmly, so they don't fall apart."
As he spoke, Liu Anqing served them three small bowls of kelp and tofu soup. He had prepared it while making the cod with tomato and parboiling the bitter melon in chicken stock, specifically to illustrate saltiness.
Fang Ye picked up the kelp and tofu soup and savored it carefully.
The perfectly judged level of salt had cleverly woven together the savoriness of the kelp and the gentle sweetness of the tofu into a harmonious whole.
"Without salt, this bowl of soup would probably feel weak. The flavor would blur too."
Closing his eyes for a moment to feel it more deeply, he answered.
Saltiness was like the kettledrum in an orchestra—not flashy, but what kept the whole composition stable.
"That's an excellent way of understanding it. Salt is the anchor of cooking, the most frequently used of all flavors. I'm impressed that you could sense that."
Hearing Fang Ye's description of saltiness, Liu Anqing nodded in satisfaction.
Sweetness, sourness, bitterness, saltiness, and umami—he explained each with a separate dish, because only in that way would the impression truly sink in.
Before long, the entire morning had passed.
Only one of the five flavors remained: umami.
"Umami is not as immediately pleasing as sweetness. It is not as stimulating as sourness, nor does it serve the same foundational role as saltiness. It doesn't leave such a sharp, obvious trace after you eat it.
"But it is crucial. It is the very soul of deliciousness in many dishes.
"What you are eating now is Three-Delicacy Silken Steamed Egg Custard.
"It combines the umami provided by shiitake mushrooms, chicken, and egg yolk, creating a strong synergistic enhancement. The result tastes far, far better than eating any one of them by itself."
Looking at the three young children quietly tasting the steamed egg custard, Liu Anqing explained with growing energy.
Fang Ye gently broke through the pale golden surface of the custard with his small spoon. A mixed aroma of mushrooms, chicken, and rich egg fat immediately rose up.
Without hesitation, he scooped up a small portion of custard together with minced shiitake and chicken paste from the top and put it into his mouth, enjoying the layered union of all three.
The custard almost melted the instant it touched his tongue, bringing an unbelievably silky sensation.
Then, a thick, gentle warmth filled his entire mouth.
It was not aggressive. It lacked the straightforward charm of sweetness and the sharp stimulation of sourness. Instead, it was a steady, lingering, enveloping kind of taste experience.
"This feeling is especially grounding. It feels... solid, like your feet are firmly on the earth. It makes you feel satisfied from the bottom of your heart."
As he said this, Fang Ye closed his eyes, trying his best to pursue that faint, elusive sensation.
"Exactly! The most wondrous thing about umami is that it brings a deep sense of satisfaction and a long-lasting aftertaste.
"Because of that quality, umami gives food its soulful foundation, making a dish feel fuller, richer, and more substantial."
Liu Anqing pointed to the half-finished bowls of Three-Delicacy Silken Steamed Egg Custard in front of the three children.
"You should be able to feel it while eating, right? The egg itself is already wonderfully fragrant—but once it's steamed together with the broth from the chicken and shiitake, doesn't the whole flavor suddenly feel much thicker and deeper? Even after swallowing, the fragrance still stays in your mouth for a long time."
By the time he reached the most excited part of the explanation, Liu Anqing's voice had unconsciously grown louder. Fang Ye listened with full attention, while Erina Nakiri and Alice Nakiri looked as though they half understood and half didn't.
"After adding the chicken and shiitake, the custard really did become richer.
"It's like putting a very warm, very comfortable coat on the flavor—something that wraps around the tongue.
"And... even after swallowing it, the fragrance of the dish still stays in your mouth."
Erina paused, carefully savoring the aftertaste, then described it in the distinct way only a small child could.
"I think so too! Before, egg custard just felt smooth. Now it has more... substance.
"The shiitake and chicken didn't steal the egg's flavor at all. Instead, it's like they all held hands and started dancing together inside your mouth—and they spun around and around without wanting to stop!
"It feels like there's a tiny, delicious little party happening in your mouth!"
Hearing Erina's description, Alice Nakiri nodded vigorously as well, the silver tips of her hair swaying as she excitedly spread her hands to gesture.
"Umami is like the best conductor working behind the scenes. It doesn't necessarily rush to the very front, but it cleverly coordinates sweetness, sourness, saltiness, and the rest, making the flavor of a dish more harmonious and more full-bodied."
Seeing that all three children had reached their own understanding, Liu Anqing finally stopped holding back and gave them the most crucial point directly.
At that point, today's lesson was over.
Liu Anqing rose and departed, leaving the others where they sat to digest what they had learned.
At the same time—
as the last bite of Three-Delicacy Silken Steamed Egg Custard went down, Fang Ye opened his eyes from his lingering savoring, and a system notification sounded in his mind.
[Detected that the Host has, within a single day, consecutively tasted premium dishes representing the five flavors: sweet, sour, bitter, salty, and umami. Conditions met for unlocking Basic Taste Perception. Skill unlocked: Basic Taste Perception (Blue).]
[Basic Taste Perception (Blue)]: Allows the user to vaguely perceive the intensity and overall balance of the five fundamental tastes within a dish, and to identify the most prominent major ingredients and seasonings.
[Proficiency]: Beginner (1/100)
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