Reborn in Japan as a Chef God

The old man unconsciously released his crossed arms.

After thirty minutes, Xia Yu lifted the damp cloth covering the dough. Holding a shiny, sharp steel knife, he swiftly chopped down, slicing the dough into strips. He then sprinkled salad oil on the strips, dusted the cutting board with a layer of starch, and began pulling the noodles!

For beginners, pulling noodles wasn't easy, particularly if they wanted to create fine strands; it was even more difficult. Yet what Xia Yu did next left the old man and Shinohara Shigetaro wide-eyed.

One by one, the dough strips in Xia Yu's hands turned into noodle strands. With a flick of his wrist, the noodle strands danced in mid-air, supple and long, with uniform thickness.

Bang, bang, bang...

He quickly placed three large bowls on the kitchen counter. The noodle strands, coated with a bit of oil, were put into a hollowed-out strainer. Xia Yu filled an empty basin with hot water and immersed the silver strands in it for a few seconds before taking them out and putting them into the three large bowls.

Next, he uncovered the pressure cooker. Using a large ladle, he filled each bowl with aromatic broth. In the blink of an eye, three steaming hot bowls of ramen appeared on the kitchen counter.

Xia Yu evenly distributed the freshly pan-fried slices of beef, still in the frying pan, into the large bowls, and sprinkled them with chopped scallions.

"Done!" Xia Yu pulled off his apron without sparing another glance at the ramen he just cooked. Instead, he focused on the reminder from the Chef God System.

"System: Mirror crystal used up, you have mastered a new recipe, and your chef experience has improved."

Oh...

He quickly opened his personal panel, and in the section of mastered recipes, he found the 'Xia's Beef Noodles' he had just learned through the mirror crystal.

If he completed the initial task, he could get a second recipe, 'Magical Mapo Tofu.'

'Xia's Beef Noodles' was a green recipe, while 'Magical Mapo Tofu' was blue. Did this also represent the final quality of the dish?

Xia Yu was full of doubt.

A good recipe could indeed produce good food, but this needed to be built on culinary skills. Give the best recipe in the universe, even with all the ingredients ready, to a culinary novice, and the food would mostly turn out to be dark cuisine, inedible.

Therefore, in Xia Yu's view, recipes only provided guidance and direction, similar to a formula. The actual performance depended on the chef's personal culinary skills.

But what did the quality of the recipe actually represent? Xia Yu asked the system.

"Green is a general quality recipe, also indicating the best quality the dish can achieve. Blue is an excellent quality recipe; if cooked properly, there is a chance of creating a glowing dish," the system answered.

A glowing dish!

Even the Divine Tongue in the Food War Spirit could do that. In Xia Yu's view, if Little Master from the Chinese Chef somehow appeared, it would feel quite normal.

If one had watched Little Master, it wasn't hard to understand a truth in cooking: any dish that didn't glow was not a good dish.

Would this also apply in the current parallel universe? Xia Yu couldn't help but ponder.

"Is this the beef ramen you cooked?"

A voice behind Xia Yu jolted him awake. Turning around, he found the middle-aged man Shinohara Shigetaro had entered the kitchen. Xia Yu opened his mouth, noticing the old man beside him tacitly approved of Shinohara Shigetaro's intrusion into the kitchen, so he only shrugged.

"Yes, please enjoy!"

Xia Yu carefully carried the three bowls to the front counter.

Shinohara Shigetaro returned to his previous seat. Xia Yu took away an empty bowl and placed the freshly made ramen in front of him, then turned and disappeared into the back kitchen with the empty bowl.

Left in his seat, Shinohara Shigetaro was stunned, not expecting Xia Yu to leave just like that.

As a novice chef, shouldn't he stand by and listen to how the guest evaluated his dishes? Unless he was extremely confident in his dishes!

A hint of doubt flitted across Shinohara Shigetaro's eyes as he sniffed, inhaling the rich aroma of the soup and beef, feeling that ethereal sensation again. He couldn't help but whisper softly, "...Such a familiar feeling!"

"Why does it taste similar to the bowl of ramen I had before?"

Leaning his head close to the bowl, he inhaled another breath. Shinohara Shigetaro was enraptured, as if a worm was grumbling in his stomach. He couldn't think much more and picked up his chopsticks to seize the ramen and send it into his mouth.

A bit hot, Shinohara Shigetaro chewed, blinking wide-eyed with astonishment.

The elasticity and texture of these noodles were incredible!

From the first bite, he couldn't stop, and Shinohara Shigetaro ate half a bowl in a row when a voice beside him reminded him, "You might want to try the soup. This is the essence of my Xia's Beef Noodles."

The voice was deep and elderly, carrying a sense of emotion.

Shinohara Shigetaro looked up in amazement to see the old man standing nearby with an empty bowl in front of him. At some point, he had already finished one whole bowl of noodles, and not a drop of soup was left.

"The soup?" Only then did Shinohara Shigetaro realize he might have missed the essence of the dish while gobbling it down. He couldn't help but put down his chopsticks, took a small spoon, and scooped a spoonful of clear soup from the bowl.

As the clear soup entered, Shinohara Shigetaro felt all the pores on his body open, as if he had just experienced a hot spring bath, with a mysterious warmth flowing beneath his skin.

"Beef bones..."

"Sichuan pepper, cinnamon, amomum, ginger peel..."

"Wait, besides beef bones, is there the taste of beef liver? A hint of chicken broth... and, oh, there are radish slices. Are they there to absorb the oil, making the soup color clear?"

With his eyes closed, he muttered to himself for a while before opening his eyes, glancing down at the half-bowl of beef ramen left in front of him, then looking aside at the old man standing quietly without speaking.

"Boss Xia, your grandson isn't really a master chef?" Shinohara Shigetaro found it hard to believe.

In terms of taste and texture, this bowl of noodles even surpassed the one he had eaten half an hour ago.

Both were beef ramen, one made by the grandfather, the other by the grandson. Based on skill level, the latter should be far inferior to the former, as the most direct reflection of culinary skill was in the dish.

Yet, the two bowls of beef ramen completely shattered Shinohara Shigetaro's preconceived notions.

Moreover, he was well aware of the old man's culinary skill level, which made it even more unbelievable.

"Not a master chef," the old man said, his face expressionless, making it hard to discern his inner thoughts. "...Not even a chef. Honestly, this is the first time I've tasted his cooking as his grandfather."

The old man glanced at the empty large bowl on the table, savoring the memory within himself.

"You are very lucky, Mr. Shinohara."

"Lucky?"

"Yes, such an excellent maiden dish, don't you feel fortunate?" The old man squinted slightly.

Shinohara Shigetaro unreasonably felt a chill, nodding like a chicken pecking at rice, "Lucky, very lucky!"

Xia Yu was washing dishes in the back kitchen, not deliberately paying attention to the conversation upfront.

Ding.

With a system notification, he completed the initial task of the Chef God System, and the 'Magical Mapo Tofu' recipe appeared in the item space.

"Learn!"

Xia Yu used the recipe. A stream of information poured into his brain, his eyes vacant for a few seconds before regaining clarity.

"Soybeans, broth, tofu, Sichuan pepper, chili, minced garlic..."

He mentally recited the ingredients for the recipe, and the detailed cooking steps played out like a movie in his mind, making Xia Yu eager to try.

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