Inside the little kitchen,
two small figures paced back and forth while a third sat in a chair.
All three of them were thinking about what kind of dish they should make that evening—something that would satisfy Liu Anqing and serve as a fitting conclusion to the two years of guidance he had given them.
"To be honest, Grandpa Qing has taken such good care of us over the past two years that I really can't think of any dish that could fully express how I feel right now."
After pacing for a while, Erina Nakiri suddenly stopped and looked at the other two, her eyes full of uncertainty.
"I think we should start from what Grandpa Qing taught us."
Alice Nakiri's voice rang out.
Using Liu Anqing's teachings as the basis for their dish, and turning that into a farewell gift, might well be the most suitable choice right now.
"I think that's a good idea.
"Over the past two years, Grandpa Qing mainly taught us how to identify the five tastes and judge fruits and vegetables. So maybe we can use vegetables to make a dish with rich, layered flavor."
Alice's suggestion was like a lighthouse in the dark, instantly broadening both Fang Ye's and Erina's thinking.
"A richly flavored vegetable dish... Do you remember the Three Delicacies Soup we had in class not long ago?
"It used shrimp stock as the base, then added fried egg, shrimp, firm tofu, mushrooms, and enoki mushrooms. Once everything came together in one pot, it became an unbelievably delicious Three Delicacies Soup!"
Hearing Fang Ye and Alice talking, Erina Nakiri fell silent for a moment.
She closed her eyes and searched through the knowledge in her mind, and very quickly thought of a version of Three Delicacies Soup that felt especially suitable for the current situation.
"Three Delicacies Soup? That does sound really good!"
Alice's eyes lit up at once when she heard Erina's suggestion.
"What if... I wanted to create a completely original dish from scratch—one that combines all five tastes into a single bowl of soup? Would you think that idea sounds crazy?"
Fang Ye's voice came out tentative.
Three Delicacies Soup really was delicious, but it was also a common recipe. Even if they managed to make it well, they would still just be reproducing something that already existed, and it would be hard to truly show what they had learned.
"Combining all five tastes into one bowl of soup? That's more than just crazy...
"But it also sounds kind of interesting. Grandpa Qing did say that cooking shouldn't be trapped by rigid rules. As long as you have an idea, it can be created."
Hearing Fang Ye's cautious proposal—and his extremely unreliable-sounding suggestion—Erina couldn't help complaining, yet after complaining, she found herself becoming intrigued.
"But what if we fail?"
Beside them, Alice frowned slightly and voiced her concern after hearing the two of them talk.
"With my God Tongue here, even if it fails in the end, I can still identify the reasons it failed and improve it from there. Sooner or later, we'll definitely create something delicious!"
Erina straightened proudly, her face full of confidence.
Fang Ye's idea did sound a little insane. Trying to fuse all five tastes into one bowl of soup sounded suspiciously like dark cuisine. But with her God Tongue around, even if they failed at first, she could easily pinpoint the flaws and correct them.
"That may be true, but how are we actually supposed to do it? A soup with all five tastes blended together... I have absolutely no idea where to start. It feels like we're right back at square one..."
Alice scratched at her white hair, her voice full of confusion. They did have some basic foundations, yes, but that didn't mean they were ready to invent an original dish from scratch.
"Then let's begin by making separate soups that highlight individual tastes. In other words, each of us can take charge of one or two tastes. Once we've brought those flavors out separately, we can start trying to combine them."
Fang Ye quickly made up his mind.
Cooking was not something you could create just by sitting around and discussing it. At the very least, you had to actually make something before you could judge whether it would work or not.
And whether they succeeded or failed, both would become incredibly valuable experience for evolving the dish toward its final form.
"Then I'll take sweetness."
Erina said this as she walked over to the refrigerator. Inside were the day's harvest from the garden.
The carrots were a vivid, glistening orange. The white radishes were pale as jade. The shiitake mushrooms gave off an intensely rich fragrance. The burdock roots were whole and intact.
And the tender green komatsuna still carried traces of the morning dew, each ingredient looking exceptionally fresh.
There were also tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplants, okra, and various other garden vegetables.
Erina looked over the wide array of produce, then finally picked up a carrot from the refrigerator and explained her reasoning.
"Carrots have a natural sweetness, and with the right cooking, that sweetness becomes gentle and deep. I think they'd work very well as the foundation of the soup."
"Then I'll handle umami and bitterness! The clear sweetness of cooked white radish pairs beautifully with the deep savoriness of shiitake mushrooms.
"And there's also a faint bitterness hidden in the radish skin, which is perfect for balancing the flavors."
Alice spoke up at almost the same time. Although she couldn't move much because of her sprained foot, she could still see the ingredients in the refrigerator past Erina's shoulder, and she immediately settled on white radish and shiitake mushrooms.
"Grandpa Qing said bitterness is the easiest of the five tastes to overlook, but it's also one of the most important. A proper touch of bitterness gives a dish more depth."
As Liu Anqing's earlier words surfaced in her mind, Alice pumped a tiny fist as she spoke.
"So that leaves me with sourness and saltiness? Honestly, original cooking and reproducing a recipe are two entirely different levels of difficulty."
As Fang Ye spoke, he too walked over to the refrigerator and stared at the many ingredients inside, feeling rather troubled.
Tomatoes could provide both sourness and sweetness, and they could also serve as a soup base.
But Erina had already chosen carrot as the base of the soup. If he used tomato as well, the final flavor would almost certainly end up clashing.
Wait...
Quickly taking out the ingredients Erina and Alice had chosen, Fang Ye began imagining in his mind the soups that would result if they used the methods they had just described.
The images played rapidly through his head and eventually settled into two separate bowls of soup.
The general taste matched what the girls had described.
But the flaw was also obvious.
Their flavors existed independently of one another—they could not truly merge into a single whole.
Put more simply, it was like cooking several pots of soup separately. Each one might taste fine on its own, but once mixed together, the result would turn into dark cuisine.
Which meant the direction of their efforts was wrong.
And because this was their first time truly collaborating on a dish, Fang Ye had overlooked something extremely important.
None of them had taken the lead.
Each of them had their own ideas, and because of that, the final soup had no clear hierarchy, no main structure and no supporting structure. How could it possibly taste good?
"I think our line of thinking is wrong. Cooking separate soups and working independently probably won't produce a good final soup."
Just as Erina and Alice were about to begin cooking, Fang Ye's voice broke the harmonious atmosphere in the kitchen.
"Oh? Then what do you think we should do?"
"Exactly. You're the one who suggested each person make a separate soup in the first place."
Hearing Fang Ye abruptly reject the plan, the Nakiri sisters both froze for a second, then turned to glare at him with obvious dissatisfaction in their voices.
The one who first proposed making a Five-Taste Soup was him.
The one who suggested they each make separate taste-focused soups was also him.
And now the one completely rejecting that idea was still him.
What exactly was he trying to do?
He was changing direction every other minute.
"I want to use the Three Delicacies Soup Erina mentioned earlier as the foundation, and combine that with my idea of bringing all five tastes into one soup. In other words, I want us to make a Three Delicacies Five-Taste Soup.
"Also, for this attempt, I want to take full charge in the kitchen—and I want the two of you to assist me."
Join here to read ahead.
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I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter95)
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Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 70
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Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 40
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 45
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
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From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 31
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