ryethenovel Chapter 296 Abalone? Try yours
Chapter 296 Abalone? Try yours
The cooking exam in the Life Skills Department is very flexible; you can use any of the ingredients in the school's stock, as long as you don't waste them.
The cooking teacher also announced the specific content of this exam!
All 67 students from Class A and Class B were present. Except for the school cat Yanyunjiang, who was exempt from the exam, the remaining 66 students were divided into 22 groups of three.
Afterwards, the dishes prepared by each group were tasted and scored by the school's teachers and cooking instructors, and the group with the highest average score won.
The cooking time officially began—upon seeing that someone had actually brought Australian lobster, abalone, and even king crab and A5 Wagyu beef, Shirogane Miyuki launched into a disdainful rant.
"A bunch of aristocratic types! It's not like you can only make delicious food with expensive ingredients! Hmph, watch me win with cheap stuff!"
Uchiha Ryo exclaimed in surprise, "These ingredients can all be taken for free from the Shuchiin Academy cafeteria's inventory. You brought cheap convenience store items to cook yourself. That's really impressive."
"Huh?! It's free! Can I take it all to go?!"
Shirogane Miyuki instantly pushed aside the bean sprouts in front of him and produced a plastic bag without anyone noticing.
Uchiha Ryo: "....."
Ignoring the poor student council president, Uchiha Ryo looked at the two girls who were discussing what to do.
Yukinoshita nodded and said, "Actually, just like what Shirogane said, the real skill is to make delicious dishes with simple ingredients, rather than relying on the flavor of the ingredients themselves."
Chitanda Eru took out the ingredients she had already prepared. "So for our group's dish, we'll be making a three-color rice bowl."
Three-color rice bowl is a common home-style dish in Japan, a perfect nutritional combination of meat, eggs, and vegetables, and a recipe that every housewife should learn.
Instead of meticulously crafting a dish out of vanity, it's better to choose a simple, time-saving, and effortless cooking method.
It would be even more convenient if three people were to make the three-color rice bowl. Yukinoshita would be processing the meat, Chitanda would be frying the eggs, and Uchiha Ryo would be doing the "complex" task of blanching the vegetables. It was really hard work.
Because of their exceptionally skilled cooking, the two quickly completed their group's task, while the other groups, apart from Uchiha Rin's group, were either still in the middle of preparing their dishes or still considering their options.
"I guess our chances of getting first place this time are slim," Uchiha Ryo thought. After all, for chefs in the culinary world, three-color rice bowls are like instant noodles for ordinary people.
This kind of basic dish probably won't get a high score.
"Hiratsuka-sensei? How did you become a judge?!"
"Hey! There's a limit to looking down on people, you know? I'm one of the most popular teachers at Shuchiin Academy, after all!"
However, everyone knows that Hiratsuka Shizuka's rating doesn't carry much weight; the real majority comes from the professional culinary instructors. One of them is a middle-aged man in his forties, who is said to be a self-made owner of a three-Michelin-starred restaurant, having started as a chef.
It's really a waste of talent for Shuchiin to hire someone like that as their cooking instructor, but that has nothing to do with Uchiha Rin. It's better to give the evaluation as soon as possible and go get some rest.
"Hmm... a three-color rice bowl, it reminds me of the days when I worked at a small restaurant..."
"This! This is!!"
After taking a bite, the cooking instructor suddenly covered his eyes, lowered his head, and his body trembled slightly.
"Hey, Ling-kun, you didn't put anything weird in there, did you?" Yukino Yukinoshita frowned. She was sure that there were no accidents in her cooking steps, and she was also familiar with Chitanda's cooking habits.
But why would a cooking teacher experience this?
"Only a fool would put something weird in there. Even if I did, I wouldn't give it to him..."
Chitanda Eru suddenly realized what was going on, and then whispered something in Yukino's ear. Yukinoshita also stared wide-eyed at Uchiha Rin, then put her hands on her hips and said seriously.
"Looks like I won't be able to eat your cooking so easily anymore."
"Just kidding! I would never put weird things in my cooking!"
Chitanda pointed to the still trembling cooking teacher and asked疑惑地问道, "Then how do you explain this?"
On the other side, Hiratsuka Shizuka exclaimed softly, "How's the food you guys made? Let me try!"
As she spoke, Hiratsuka Shizuya picked up her small bowl of rice. Since they were going to eat 22 different dishes, each small bowl only contained two or three bites, and the rest could be taken home by the students.
"Mmm! It's delicious! I'll definitely give you the ten points I have!"
Hiratsuka Shizuka licked her lips, seemingly still wanting more, when at the same time the cooking teacher finally looked up and devoured the remaining portion.
"Phew... The overall quality of the dish is very high, I'll give it a 10 out of 10. But considering it was a three-person collaboration, the difficulty level is too low, so I'll deduct 6 points. And being the fastest, I'll add 2 points... However, this dish reminded me of the first time my mother taught me to cook when I was little. Overall, 10 out of 10!"
The students nearby who overheard the comments were stunned, and wished they could immediately modify their own dishes to make a three-color rice bowl as well. Unfortunately... this effect will probably only happen once.
As a result, Uchiha Rin's group, which was the first to finish, inexplicably received a perfect score and left.
.....
During lunch break, in the Classical Literature Department classroom, Amakusa Shino was eating lunch alone. She finally relaxed when she saw Uchiha Ryo and the other two enter.
"Thank goodness, I thought I'd been abandoned today."
Chitanda chuckled, then took out a lunchbox given to her by the school. "We're having a cooking exam! Want to try our three-color rice bowl?"
"Oh? A cooking exam, huh? I really miss those days..."
Amakusa, a freshman, smiled and said, "Because the school rarely opened its cafeteria kitchen to the public, I got a lot of high-end stuff, like lobster and beef. But I didn't get any abalone, because I don't eat abalone."
The three of them sat down and opened their bento boxes. Chitanda, who was curious, asked her own question.
"Why don't you eat abalone? Do you think it tastes bad?"
Amakusa Shino shook her head. "Well... because eating abalone always feels like cannibalism."
Uchiha Ryo: "....."
"You guys are really fast!"
The club door was pushed open, and Hayasaka Aiya walked over with a lunchbox given to her by the school.
"We only got nine points overall, what a pity about the Ocean Feast that Kaguya and I prepared. What are you guys talking about?"
Yukino shook her head. "It's nothing, let's eat first."
When Hayasaka Ai saw that Uchiha Ryo was occupied on both sides, she had no choice but to sit opposite him and open her bento box.
"You made it so easily! I have some abalone here, Ling, would you like to try some?"
Uchiha Ryo nodded. "Hmm...try yours."