Chapter 784 – #165

#778

One.
There is a famous saying in the culinary world.
The taste of food is 70% of the ingredients and 30% of the workmanship.

That’s how important the quality of the ingredients is, and it’s no exaggeration to say that the start of this cooking showdown is from the moment you open the box of ingredients.

First, the main ingredient of Elroa was a large prime rib with thick meat attached to the ribs.

But something is strange.

The mold covered in white on the meat that had been tampered with, and even the bones turned black.

Siu’s face changed strangely.

Master cooked it, so I would eat it, but at first glance, the meat looked strange.
It looks like it will go bad any minute, no, it looks like it has already gone bad.

“No, that… !”

Dorothy jumped up from her seat and shouted.
Like a witch who has lived for a long time, Dorothy has also learned her way of gastronomy, and her eyes are also excellent.
As soon as I ate it, I saw the true value of the meat, which seemed to be a reservation for food poisoning.

“Dry aging… !”
“I see.”

Elroa smiled meaningfully and took out her butcher knife separately.

Eloa cuts off the discolored parts with skillful hands.
Nearly half of the meat was discarded, revealing red cerise flesh and marbling behind the mold.

“What is dry aging?”
“It’s a way to age meat at low temperatures. It’s literally dry aging. The ultimate recipe that allows you to feel the condensed flavor of meat. As the amino acids and savory ingredients in the meat increase, not only the meat becomes tender, but it also adds to the flavor of the cheese.”
“Okay.”

Unlike Si-Woo, who goes on saying that, Dorothy swallows her mouth watering.
Eloa smiled and added her explanation.

“This meat is selected from the top 1% of Gehenna grazing cattle and aged for six weeks. It is the finest of all beef that exists in Gehenna.”

It’s not just about explaining to Dorothy.
Eloa’s gaze is sharply directed at her rival.

Before the cooking battle, I entered the ki fight.

Then, what ingredients did Linnaeus prepare?
Dorothy, full of anticipation, heads towards Linnaeus.

“Patter?”

Ayu is the ingredient that shows off its silvery appearance on top of the ice in a wooden box.

The size is slightly larger than the palm of an adult man, and it is fresh as if it was freshly picked.
It was just the right size considering the characteristics of sweetfish, which tend to lose their flavor if they are too large.

However, Dorothy’s expression does not brighten at all.
On the contrary, he had a slightly subtle expression.

“But sweetfish is out of season.”

In general, the season for sweetfish is summer, and now it is November.

Unlike meat, seafood, which is sensitive to the season, will lose its taste no matter how good the ingredients are if you miss the season.

This is a game from the material.
Dorothy couldn’t help but make a bitter assessment.

“Hey, look again.”

A confident word from Rinne, who had been silent.
Says Dorothy, who was carefully examining the sweetfish in case she missed something.

“Could it be a form?”
“Yes.”

If this is the case, it’s different.
The taste of fish is obviously influenced by the season, which is greatly influenced by the spawning period and water temperature.

Conversely, with advanced aquaculture technology, it means that you can always produce the best quality regardless of the season.
On the other hand, sweetfish is a migratory fish, so you need to be concerned about parasites, but you can enjoy it raw as long as it is farmed.

Moreover, when I saw that it was delivered to Gehenna, the quality of that farmed sweetfish was top-notch.

If it’s Linne’s sweetfish, which gave up the illusion that natural products are the best and took the truth, then it’s not far behind Elroa’s dry-aging rib eye.

“This confrontation…. Neither of them are normal.”

Dorothy shuddered with a shudder.
This is because the jjambab that can be felt from the preparation of the ingredients suggests that the level of this confrontation will be higher than expected.

After lightly trimming the meat, Elroa went straight to trimming the vegetables.
Vegetables are brilliantly trimmed with a knife that moves like dancing on a cutting board.

After that, chunked carrots and onions, celery, crushed garlic and orange peel.
Place the “Bouquet garni,” A bunch of herbs such as parsley stems, thyme, bay leaves, and rosemary, in a cast iron pot.

Elloa, who has no wealth but only handles first-class alcohol, pours high-quality Burgundy wine over the pile of vegetables.

Compared to Rinne, who is still unknown, Elroa’s cooking quickly revealed its outline from the basic preparation.
There is only one French stew with Burgundy wine.

“Isn’t that boeuf bourguignon?”
“What else is that?”
“Legendary chef Julia Child argued that ‘beef is the finest dish man can make. But it’s the first time I’ve seen dry-aged ribeye, so I wonder what it will taste like….”
“Aha.”

Thanks to Dorothy’s great commentary, Siwoo gets a little more enjoyment.
While Elroa is trying to ripen vegetables and wine quickly by using her alchemy’s basic ‘maturation’.

-Warrrrr!!!

A crackling sound came from Rinne’s side, as if trying to get her lost gaze back.
When he sees something, he pours sand onto the oven tray on the countertop without hesitation.

“Sand?”

For a while, I tilted my head at a scene that seemed to have little to do with cooking.
Rinne, who had the sand flattened, placed the charcoal like a camping fire and used ignition to make it red hot.

She raised her hand to check the temperature and tilted the whole sweetfish swimming on her long skewer with her head facing the floor.

At this point, even Siu could see what the sand was for.
The purpose is to make the heat radiated to the sand spread evenly, while creating a platform on which to stand the skewer.

It is intended to shioyaki plump sweetfish generously sprinkled with coarse salt using a side fire of charcoal.

“That’s a great detail.”

But as far as I know, how to see it.
Dorothy saw more.

“What else is this time?”
“Charcoal salt-grilling is a way to maximize the natural taste of fish.”

“I know that.”
“Ayu is more delicious when enjoyed whole. If you lay it at an angle so that the head is down like that, the sweetfish oil will ride on the body and form on the head. In other words, you can eat the best ayu head with extremely concentrated taste and flavor.”

And that’s not all.

The taste of the fish is enhanced through the ‘Odori-gushi’, which is skewered as it was swimming.
They did not stop there, but induced fins not to burn with “Salt makeup,” In which enough salt was applied to the fins.

Delicacy that does not miss the part that can be overlooked at first glance.

It contains a lot of ‘heart for the people who eat’, which is the basis of cooking.
Sweetfish sizzling and ripening beautifully, and Rinne holding a fan in front of it to control the heat of the fire.

– Chijijijik!

Eloah was about to start cooking in earnest.

Lightly sear the meat in a pan with olive oil.
Maillard reaction that happens quickly like dry-aged raw meat with low moisture content.

On top of that, add the vegetables that have been soaked in wine, and cook them together.

Wine, salt, pepper, veal stock, tomato paste, ginger, paprika and flour added even when the vegetables are half dead.

The rich aroma of the wine, which has begun to bubbling away as the alcohol is blown away, is mixed with all the ingredients to form a sweet harmony.
It would have been complete if the soup was boiled until it was simmering like this, but Elroa’s secret was not the end.

He took out a new fan for additional material to be dropped.

“Bacon, button mushrooms, shallots…. It’s a really authentic recipe.”

All of these are secondary ingredients that will add flavor to the sauce.

Squeeze out the bacon oil on a frying pan with plenty of butter, then additionally grill the mushrooms and shallots.
When the mushrooms and shallots have absorbed enough oil, add them together to the main pot and bring to a boil.

Even when viewed from a distance, the fragrance is beautiful.

And the last piece that encompasses all of that, Eloaman’s secret.
It has the effect of making the scent more aromatic and deepening the flavor….

Two pieces of dark chocolate with 70% cacao content.

“Awesome….”

Although the official recipe was used as the framework, it was my own recipe that I arrived at after repeated trial and error.
It was only natural that Dorothy’s expectations would pierce the sky.

– Bubbling bubbling

All that remains is to boil down the stew so that it does not burn.
So Elroa lit two new burners to prepare the mesh potatoes and steaks to accompany them.

“Then Rinne… ?”

Either way, it’s a competition you can’t take your eyes off of.
Rinne was preparing rice, which is indispensable to oriental cuisine.

It is not ordinary rice.

Linnaeus picked out two sweetfish that were far away from the charcoal fire and the one that was ripe to the closest.
The crispy sweetfish is used for the broth, and the two undercooked ones are placed on top of the pot.

If you put a bowl of sweetfish on top of rice with boiled fish broth, each grain of rice is coated with oil.

The best way to enjoy fresh sweetfish whole without throwing away a single bone.
It’s a sweet fish pot rice.

“This one is great too!”

While Dorothy screams of joy as she clutches at her hungry stomach.
The two people’s cooking is being completed step by step.

“Five minutes left! Quickly~ quickly~”

Time is running out now.

Elroa was going through the process of resting medium-rare steaks and locking in the juices.
Rinne was peeling the flesh of the sweetfish he had taken out of the rice cooker to make it easy to eat.

“Time out… !”

Thus, the two masters’ dishes were completed.

Elroa’s course is steak, beef bruguignon, and mash potatoes.
A meaty, home-cooked course that makes you feel full just by looking at it.

On the other hand, Rinne’s course is cold sweetfish, cooked rice, miso soup, and grilled salt.
A table decorated in a splendid yet simple way on a soban.

The two brought out the dish with a flushed expression.
Both Rinne and Eloah were eyes full of pride and confidence in her victory.

“Be sure to tell me the results.”
“I will ask you without hesitation.”

Siwoo somehow ended up getting along, but realized that he had to raise his hand with one of the two master’s dishes.

“Then…. Let’s eat.”

My heart is heavy, but the food looks so delicious.
Let’s think after eating.

“I will eat well!”

Dorothy, who was overly excited, received eye candy from Linnaeus and Elroy, and the tasting began.