Chapter 266 Kaiseki Cuisine

early morning.

Zhang Fan, who got up early, was a little confused when he stepped into the kitchen.

I saw that Erina Nakiri in front of me was wearing a very simple emerald green dress. From a distance, it looked like a dazzling jasper, with a lustrous green color and seemed to be showing off her well-proportioned figure!

"Zhang Fan, are you finally awake?"

Looking at Zhang Fan who suddenly appeared behind her, Erina continued to cut the sea bream on the chopping board, and then laughed softly.

"Morning!"

"Erina, why did you come to the kitchen for nothing?"

Zhang Fan came back to his senses and asked softly.

"Make breakfast." Erina said with a slight grin.

Then, while handling the sea urchin, she washed all the vegetables nearby.

Looking at Erina who was so serious, Zhang Fan could only smile knowingly, and then he wisely left the kitchen and stopped disturbing her!

…

A Japanese soup, a sashimi, a boiled dish, and a fried dish. This is Erina's breakfast, which is also kaiseki cuisine.

Picking up the plate, Erina personally brought it to Zhang Fan, lowered her head and said expectantly: "Here! My breakfast is ready."

"During the two days of the school festival, Fei Shao and I were running a restaurant. I was always looking forward to having you come to this restaurant as a customer and taste the food I cooked for you."

"oh!"

Zhang Fan nodded.

"Huh?"

“This kaiseki cuisine is so exquisitely prepared!”

Then, he looked at the side dishes in front of him for a moment, and his eyes lit up.

Kaiseki cuisine is extremely exquisite.

Even the placement of tableware and food has very high requirements, so this dish is not only a dish, but also regarded as a work of art by some people.

Of course, the result of pursuing sophistication is that the portions of food become smaller.

Um!

Why is it called "Kaiseki cuisine"?

There are still different opinions about the origin of this name.

The most widely circulated one is that in order to resist hunger while listening to Zen for a long time, the monk held a stone in his arms and was allowed to eat simple food such as snacks to satisfy his hunger. This kind of simple food is called "Kaiseki".

But in fact, it should be derived from the sentence "It is because the saint is cherished by the emperor" in Chapter 70 of the "Tao Te Ching" written by Laozi.

What it means is:

The saint is dressed in coarse cloth, but has a precious jade on his chest. He ignores the external appearance and emphasizes the inner value.

And this concept is completely consistent with the spirit of Japanese cuisine.

At the same time, with the commercial development of kaiseki cuisine, the original recipe design is not irreversible.

But no matter how it changes, Kaiseki's meticulous, authentic, and attentive interpretation of food has never changed.

The principles of "kaiseki" have always been to use seasonal ingredients, make effective use of their own flavors, and cook them with passion and concern.

…

At this time, Zhang Fan began to taste the first appetizer of kaiseki cuisine.

This is an appetizer of tofu made with mugwort, sesame, and kudzu root, served with sea urchin, shepherd's purse, and wasabi, and topped with stock.

Don't underestimate this kind of tofu.

Its materials are made from "Jianquan" water from Jianmen Seventy-One Peak and soybeans produced from conglomerate oil sandstone soil.

It is made by soaking beans, grinding pulp, filtering residue, boiling pulp, dotting pulp, dehydration and other processes.

Compared with tofu from other places, this kind of tofu has four outstanding features: first, its color is snow-white, second, its texture is delicate, third, its toughness is extremely strong, and fourth, it is delicious.

As for the use of sea urchins, we chose a northern purple sea urchin that lives in the Bohai Sea.

This kind of sea urchin.

Appearance, purple-black.

The color is different from ordinary yellow sea urchin!

More importantly, northern purple sea urchin is sweeter than ordinary yellow sea urchin, without any bitterness, and has a sweet aftertaste.

The sea urchin flaps are also thicker and plumper, making it very satisfying in the mouth.

“It tastes okay.”

"Use a small spoon to gently scoop up a piece of tender white tofu and taste it carefully in your mouth. The rich and mellow aroma of the beans complements the warm and delicate texture."

"Slowly slide it into your mouth along the tip of your tongue. The feeling of melting in your mouth is really dreamy."

Zhang Fan closed his eyes and began to feel the shock brought by this appetizer.

Then, he couldn't help but add: "Sea urchin and fresh tofu together highlight the deliciousness of sea urchin. Although the main flavor is still the strong bean aroma, the taste is no longer monotonous!"

Serve as an appetizer.

The purpose of this dish of mugwort tofu is to stimulate the taste buds and increase appetite.

The quantity or taste of this dish is generally completely different from the main dish. It is characterized by a small number of dishes, fresh taste, bright color, and often sour and salty taste!

Soon the appetizer was finished, and then came the main course:

Thinly sliced ​​Akashi sea bream!

…

The migratory sea bream caught in the fast-flowing Akashi Strait is called Akashi sea bream.

In Neon Country, this is one of the most precious species of snapper!

This fish has extremely high edible and medicinal value.

The meat tastes delicate, rich in collagen, and has a particularly unique taste. In terms of business value, it is also rich in a variety of amino acids and unsaturated fatty acids.

Therefore, it has always been known as "the best sashimi" in Japanese cuisine.

"The knife skills are superb and can cut Akashi sea bream into fillets with a thickness of about 0.15 centimeters, and each small piece of fish fillet has a uniform thickness and is excellent for viewing!"

Zhang Fan picked up a small piece of Akashi sea bream fillet with his chopsticks. The fillet was so thin that it could be broken with just a light poke. It was simply beyond his imagination.

Thinly sliced ​​Akashi sea bream?

Such knife skills are worthy of the name of this first dish.

"Very good, then let me taste it!"

After finishing speaking, Zhang Fan continued to taste the main course of kaiseki cuisine.

…

Afterwards, Zhang Fan chewed the sashimi carefully.

His eyes were fixed on the plate of thinly sliced ​​Akashi sea bream. As his mouth kept chewing, the scent of the sea bream came out magically.

Erina, who has the talent of God's Tongue, can indeed control the taste of food more delicately and accurately than others! Compared to Alice Nakiri, who doesn't even know what a nori bento is, she actually knows a lot about common people's cuisine.

There is no blind spot in theoretical knowledge, and you are proficient in everything!

Therefore, in Zhang Fan's eyes, Erina is indeed a rare genius.

"After the field training activities, your cooking skills have really improved."

"It seems that you haven't relaxed since you finished your internship at the izakaya and returned to Totsuki Academy."

Zhang Fan couldn't help but praise.

Listening to Zhang Fan's words, Erina Nakiri's face lit up and she gradually smiled.

It can be seen that Erina is really happy to be able to make Zhang Fan really like her cooking and get a compliment from him!

…

At night, it was like a huge black velvet covering the whole world softly.

The dots of lights are like pearls inlaid on velvet, shining with warm and mysterious light. The gentle breeze brings the whisper of distant leaves and the faint fragrance of nearby flowers.

"Managi."

"Please take it slowly, this is a specially customized meal according to your wishes!"

That night, the izakaya had not yet opened for business.

But the hungry Nagiri Shinagi arrived almost half an hour early.

According to her ordering requirements, Zhang Fan made a plate of fried rice with red flowers and green leaves decorated on the plate, and a bowl of fresh and elegant lotus root and pork bone soup as a bonus.

Looking carefully, the fried rice is first shaped in a large bowl.

Then it was flipped back onto the plate, forming a perfect semicircle, exuding steaming clouds.

Its body looks red and shiny.

A strange and sweet smell surged out of the clouds like thunder. Next to the plate, Zhang Fan's own pickled kimchi, broccoli, carrots, cabbage, tomatoes, lentils...

These various vegetables are simply pickled and then sliced ​​into thin, translucent round slices.

On the plate, it shows an elegant color like colorful glass.

The light and crispy pickled vegetables, paired with the oily fried rice and fresh lotus root and pork bone soup, are a perfect combination, making people feel happy just by looking at it.

Just a few glances.

Shinagi's bright eyes blinked, seeming a little excited.

…

"It is customary to drink some soup to moisten your throat before eating fried rice, so please try this bowl of tomato soup first."

Zhang Fan, who was on the side, said calmly.

"Okay, I get it now."

When Nakiri Managi heard this, he could only scoop up a spoonful of soup with a spoon and slowly put it into his mouth.

The soup is not sweet, but you can taste the indescribable rich flavor and the fragrance of lotus root.

"Huh? This soup..."

After being stunned for a moment, Nakiri Managi was extremely surprised.

Then, she quickly took another small mouthful of fried rice with a spoon and tasted it carefully. However, at this moment, a miracle happened.

Click! Click! Click!

The moment I bit into it, the fried rice in my mouth actually had a very crisp texture.

Moreover, although the red soup surrounding the fried rice looks very greasy, it does not feel greasy when you enter it. Instead, it exudes a rich sweetness.

This mouthful of sweetness perfectly matched her taste preferences and filled her empty appetite!

As a result, she immediately increased the size of the second bite.

"I see."

"There's even more pork belly in this fried rice."

“The reason for the jelly-like texture is that the three-layered braised pork is mixed with thick fat, and then simmered with the skin for a long time, it can present a sticky texture and rich meaty aroma! "

"In terms of cooking method, it seems that you just need to chop the braised pork directly, and the lean meat part becomes meat-like fibrous filaments."

"In this way, the fleshy skin will turn into soft and elastic gelatinous dices."

"Okay, what a great idea!"

…

Pork belly is originally fatty.

But while simmering the pork belly, Zhang Fan constantly skimmed off the excess oil, resulting in a finished product with only a minimum amount of oil.

But even so, this kind of rice fried with lard is still greasy! The main reason why Zhang Fan’s red flower and green leaf fried rice can turn decay into magic is:

What he actually fried was not rice at all!

Fried rice fried rice.

It is generally believed that rice should be fried naturally.

However, if you really use rice to make this fried rice, the rice grains themselves are soft and easy to absorb oil. The oily and stringy feeling will definitely make it difficult for many people to swallow.

Therefore, Zhang Fan changed the method. Instead of using rice to stir-fry, he used "cauliflower rice grains" to stir-fry.

…

Cauliflower is crunchy and delicious.

It is a very nutritious vegetable. The usual way to eat cauliflower is to make cauliflower with fried meat, dry pot cauliflower, etc.!

Zhang Fan, however, directly used his incredible knife skills to chop the whole cauliflower into fine cauliflower rice grains.

Then, put the processed cauliflower rice grains into the oven to roast slightly, then add the braised pork, black vinegar, and red vinegar and stir-fry quickly. In the end, the size and shape of the finished dish is almost the same as that of rice grains. It is really difficult for ordinary people to tell whether it is rice or not.

After frying, quickly place it on a fine-mesh colander and shake the spoon continuously to shake off excess fat.

Therefore, this makes such a delicious fried rice that is not oily or greasy!

And such a delicious red flower and green leaf fried rice, combined with the lotus root and pork bone soup on the side, tastes crispy and sweet in Nakiri Managi's mouth.

Um!

how to say?

It's almost like a dessert.

…

"Mother!"

At this moment, a sweet and familiar call sounded next to Nakiri Shinagi.

"Erina, are you...are you okay?"

When Shinagi heard the sudden sound, he couldn't help but feel happy and quickly looked back.

As a result, he found that Erina's face was a little pale, and she became worried.

"Mom, I'm fine."

Erina shook her head.

"What happened? Who caused you to do this?"

Nakiri Shinagi's eyes showed an evil look. She had long noticed that her daughter's temperament and expression were different from usual.

To let her know who hurt her daughter, she must make his life worse than death.

"Mom, let's talk about it later."

Erina said weakly.

…

the other side.

In Totsuki Academy, Nakiri Erina's villa.

Although Fei Shasha was fired from her position as secretary, she still had the key and could enter and leave the place freely.

However, when she came to Erina's room as usual, she found early that Nakiri Thistle had been waiting for a long time.

"Ji...Master Ji."

Feisha said nervously, sweating coldly.

"Um!"

"You don't have to please me."

Nagiri Thistle said calmly: "I let Erina go on purpose..."

"Lord Nakiri Hisagi, you want to correct Totsuki Academy to its original posture. I have no objection to this matter."

"But it is absolutely impossible for you to continue to use Erina-sama's God's Tongue talent in the same way as before. Because in this world, there has been a chef who can completely conquer God's Tongue! "

Hisako, before Nakiri Thistle could finish her words, she mustered up the courage to say.

"Um?"

Listening to Hisako's words, Nakiri Thistle could not help but frown slightly.

Immediately afterwards, he came back to his senses, and his expression changed drastically!