Chapter 1016: This Knife Work Is Unscientific, What Did You Put in the Egg Tofu?

"Hmm?"

After Nakiri Erina finished speaking, she waited a short while, but received no response.

"Erina-sama, Broly has already left."

Arato Hisako had no choice but to remind her own Big Sister.

"Hah?"

Erina hurriedly turned around, and discovered it was true — the large build beside her had already vanished.

"Where did he go?"

"Look, over there."

Arato Hisako raised her hand and pointed; Erina looked in the direction of her finger, and saw Broly standing beside someone else's stove, staring at them cooking.

"Broly, what are you doing?"

Erina walked over quickly and asked directly.

"Erina-sama, I am watching the ingredients needed for the egg dishes this person is making."

Broly answered honestly.

"Why watch this?"

Nakiri Erina couldn't quite understand the logic of this behavior.

"Didn't you tell me to leverage my own cooking strengths? I thought about it, and I feel my cooking strength lies in being able to easily replicate dishes others make right in front of me.

So, instead of thinking tomorrow what egg dish I should make, it's better to just wait until tomorrow, see which egg dishes are most popular, then replicate and make the same dishes on the spot.

Of course, some dishes' prep work needs advance preparation, so I plan to memorize and prepare in advance the prep ingredients needed for the egg dishes that people who already have ideas intend to make; then tomorrow, if their dishes get a good reception, I'll directly use them to replicate."

Broly explained, while the student he was staring at listened with the corners of their mouth twitching a bit — this behavior of learning on the spot and copying homework, they really don't disguise it at all.

Despicable, even disguising it a little would be better!

Nakiri Erina:

She didn't mind Broly copying the egg dish she wanted to make, but she hadn't expected the egg dishes Broly wanted to copy weren't limited to just her.

"Fine, since that's how you think, then go do it according to your own idea."

Nakiri Erina dropped those words and turned to leave.

"What's with her?"

Broly was a bit puzzled; Erina gave him the feeling she was somewhat angry, but the Happiness Value on the Crystal Palace Panel hadn't changed at all.

"To make a dish that clears tomorrow's assignment, why would you need to look far when the answer is near?"

Arato Hisako said something pointed, then hurriedly caught up to her own Big Sister's footsteps.

"Why look far when the answer is near — could it be hinting that I only need to imitate dishes that exist in this kitchen, no need to imitate dishes from other kitchens?"

Broly muttered to himself, and the more he spoke the more he felt things should be exactly like this.

After all, after three days of training camp, there are still over seven hundred students remaining.

If every student considers a different dish tomorrow, just the prep work alone would be enough to give one a headache.

Nakiri Erina looked a bit angry; it should be because she felt her own idea was a bit stupid, and Arato Hisako's parting words were a hint.

Broly gradually understood everything; it's just that this kitchen is still very large, and right now there are at least nearly a hundred students simultaneously test-making tomorrow's dishes.

【Perhaps, I should select from among them some dishes that look promising, have a chance of passing, and do prep work for them————】

Broly thought this, and his gaze began scanning the kitchen, his eyes mainly stopping on those people who already had ideas.

"Delicious!"

Just then, a voice suddenly rang out, attracting the attention of many students, including Broly.

"Yukihira, what dish did you make?"

Broly walked over and asked curiously.

"Japanese style is Tamagoyaki, Western style is Yellow Butter Scrambled Eggs."

Yukihira Soma didn't hide it; he pushed the egg dishes he'd just made in front of Broly, and handed him a pair of new chopsticks.

Broly took the chopsticks, tasted both dishes, and whether it was the layered texture of the Tamagoyaki or the rich milky aroma of the Beef Yellow Butter Scrambled Eggs, both were very good.

"Delicious. Tomorrow, do you plan to make both dishes?"

Broly asked.

"No, I haven't decided yet."

Yukihira Soma shook his head.

"But it's delicious, right?"

"It's delicious, but it somehow feels a bit mismatched with a high-end hotel's breakfast buffet — like a person comes to a vegetable store wanting to buy vegetables, but you as the owner pull out good-quality meat and tell the customer today's meat is also delicious."

"Your analogy is quite vivid."

"Is it? By the way, Broly-san, what dish do you plan to make tomorrow?"

Yukihira Soma asked him in return.

"Haven't decided yet, but Erina gave me advice — I'm good at imitating others making dishes, that's my strength, so I only need to imitate the dishes made by those who can pass tomorrow."

"—— Doing something like completely making imitation dishes, will tomorrow's assignment allow you to do that?"

After hearing Broly's words, Yukihira Soma asked in some astonishment.

"Uh, don't know, but things not prohibited by the rules should be allowed, right?"

Broly was also a bit unsure.

"How about going to ask Senior Dojima Gin?"

Yukihira Soma proposed.

"No need to ask, I can answer this one — yes, you can."

Before Broly could respond, a voice came from beside them.

", who are you?"

Soma Yukihira looked at the girl who had interrupted in confusion.

"Alice Nakiri, sort of Erina's cousin, nice to meet you two transfer students."

Alice Nakiri reached out her hand proactively, and Soma Yukihira subconsciously extended his hand, only to find that the girl's hand reaching out was not meant for him at all.

"I'm Broly, nice to meet you, Miss Alice."

Broly reached out and shook the girl's hand.

Her hand was slender, and the touch was as delicate and smooth as her fair surface.

"Tomorrow's task assessment allows students to make the same dish in terms of rules, but in actual practice, I don't suggest you do that."

"Why?"

"Because tomorrow is not just a simple cooking assignment task assessment, but actually serving real guests staying at the resort."

If multiple students made exactly the same dish, it would mean they have to split the same customer market.

Although we don't yet know what impact more or fewer customers will cause, more customers are better than fewer, after all, Totsuki Academy's training camp isn't really letting everyone enjoy a study trip~"

Alice Nakiri's words made a lot of sense, and both Broly and Soma Yukihira found it hard to refute.

"Of course, if you have full confidence in your cooking on the same track and don't fear competing with similar dishes, then it doesn't matter."

After all, with over seven hundred students, it's impossible to make over seven hundred different egg dishes, so some dishes will inevitably overlap, and even with innovation, there could be cases of innovation clashing.

And when that happens, it's a narrow road meeting, and whoever can make the better-tasting dish wins."

"Thank you for the reminder, Miss Alice."

Broly thanked the girl.

"I remind you, you're only going to thank me with words?"

Alice Nakiri leaned over proactively and asked with a smile.

"Then, Miss Alice, how do you want me to thank you?"

"It's simple, aren't you your cousin's lackey? From now on, don't follow her, follow me instead."

Alice Nakiri directly started poaching and said.

"No, Miss, are you serious?"

Ryo Kurokiba, who had followed behind, was a bit surprised; yesterday this Big Sister hadn't acted, and he thought poaching was just talk, but didn't expect her to really start poaching today.

"What, you think I'm joking? I said I'd poach, so I will poach, or are you saying, you finally have a sense of crisis?"

"No, I don't, please do as you wish." Ryo Kurokiba shook his head, paused, then added, "Just, Miss, I want to remind you, your cousin, that last seat of the Elite Ten, seems to have discovered you want to poach her corner, and is watching us over there now, oh no, she's already walking over here."

Alice Nakiri followed Ryo Kurokiba's gaze and saw Nakiri Erina walking over with an imposing aura.

"Alice, what are you doing, you guy?"

"As you can see, I'm recruiting someone to be my lackey."

Alice Nakiri put her arm around Broly's hand and said somewhat provocatively to Nakiri Erina.

"You came to my Sixth Cooking Building to find a lackey? Fine, you guy really have a fat gall!"

Nakiri Erina was very angry, her cheeks puffed up like a hamster's.

"A good bird chooses a tree to roost, a worthy minister chooses a lord to serve, who says someone from my Sixth Cooking Building can't become your lackey?"

"Alright, cousin, don't put on your Queen airs, Broly isn't an item, who he wants to follow is up to him to decide."

"Fine, Broly, you say, who do you want to follow?"

Broly: "————"

Such a scene gave him a sense of familiarity.

It seemed that on the day the training camp just started, something similar had happened.

"Sorry, Miss Alice, Teacher Erina has given me the grace of teaching, I can't abandon her and become your

lackey."

But this time was different from then, and there was no middle option.

"Heard that, my person doesn't want to be your lackey, get lost quickly!"

【Nakiri Erina, Happiness Value Rising————】

"However, Miss Alice, after all you reminded me, if you need any help, just ask, I'll definitely help if I can."

Broly added.

"You are indeed loyal and righteous."

Alice Nakiri evaluated.

"I'm becoming more and more interested in you."

She licked her lips and said.

"Hey, you guy, do you take me for dead?"

Erina saw her ignore herself, directly reached out and pulled her hand down from Broly's hand.

"Fine, you guy are quite protective of your food, then that's it for tonight."

Alice Nakiri stepped back and said to Broly across Erina: "If there's a chance later, let's talk again."

Greeting Ryo Kurokiba behind her, Alice Nakiri left here with her people.

"What did that guy say to you just now?"

Nakiri Erina then asked the Saiyan boy after her cousin left.

"Nothing much, just reminded me of the risk of imitating others' cooking————"

Broly didn't hide it, and repeated everything Alice Nakiri said just now in front of the girl one by one.

"Hmm, that guy may be detestable, but what he said still has a bit of reason to it, so, what do you plan to do?"

Erina nodded, then immediately asked.

"I plan to treat imitating someone else's cooking as Plan A, and use that as the basic premise to formulate Plan B."

Broly answered honestly.

"What is Plan B?"

Soma Yukihira inquired.

"That would be to conceive an egg dish that only I can make."

"I see. Then, Broly-san, do you have any leads yet?"

"Not yet."

"Uh, then this Plan B of yours, whether it exists or not, seems to make no difference."

Soma Yukihira started to retort.

"I'm already thinking about it."

Broly defended himself.

"How about this, let me recommend a dish to you instead?"

Just at this time, Hisako Arato, who had come along with Nakiri Erina, spoke up.

"Hisako-sensei, do you have any advice?"

Broly looked toward the pink-haired girl and asked.

"This is a Chinese dish, named Mapo Tofu (Wensi Tofu). My idea is to replace the traditional tofu in Mapo Tofu (Wensi Tofu) with Egg Tofu.

That way, it both complies with the theme of an egg dish, and satisfies the suitability for a high-end hotel breakfast buffet."

"But, if I make this, then what will you make?"

Broly revealed a hesitant look.

"Rest assured, I myself do not plan to make this variant Mapo Tofu (Wensi Tofu), and to tell the truth, to make this thing achieve the effect of traditional tofu requires extremely high knife skills; it is a dish tailor-made for you, whose knife skills are extremely good."

Hisako Arato said perfunctorily; she felt that tomorrow's assignment absolutely would not have any other students who would think to challenge this kind of high-difficulty dish that demands knife skills to a perverted degree.

"Wait, using Egg Tofu to replace traditional tofu to make Mapo Tofu (Wensi Tofu), isn't that covertly lowering the knife skill requirements for the maker?

The method for Mapo Tofu (Wensi Tofu) using traditional tofu requires cutting the traditional tofu into filaments as fine as hair strands, while Egg Tofu itself has a filamentous structure and does not need to be cut; one only needs to squeeze it to squeeze out a similar fine filament effect.

Why would you conversely say this is a dish tailor-made for Broly?"

Nakiri Erina detected the blind spot and asked with some confusion.

"Erina-sama, if one considers whether the final shape of the Mapo Tofu (Wensi Tofu) looks good, then Egg Tofu cannot use this simple squeezing method to make fine filaments; of course, if the requirements aren't that high, then it doesn't matter."

"Broly, Hisako gave you a good suggestion, but if you really intend to make that kind of tofu, I don't care about the assignment's passing requirements; in any case, you cannot be perfunctory, you must bring out the high level of the Sixth Cooking Building no matter what————"

The subtext of Nakiri Erina's words was: if one wants to adopt Hisako's suggestion, using Egg Tofu to make Mapo Tofu (Wensi Tofu) is fine, but one cannot make the simplified version; if making it, make the difficult, high-spec variant dish, otherwise, don't adopt the suggestion.

To this, Broly naturally agreed readily; while observing the other students' trial cooking situations, he himself began trial-making the Egg Tofu version of Mapo Tofu (Wensi Tofu).

"Egg Tofu and traditional tofu have a difference in texture; traditional tofu is delicate and tender, yet has a certain resilience, making it easy to cut with a knife.

Egg Tofu is formed by the coagulation of egg liquid; its texture is more like soft jelly; cutting it with a knife very easily causes deformation and adhesion.

If this problem is not solved, wanting to make a perfect Mapo Egg Tofu is absolutely impossible————"

The words had just fallen when Hisako Arato saw the kitchen knife in Broly's hand descend rapidly, and the Egg Tofu being cut by the kitchen knife basically did not exhibit any deformation or adhesion problems; under the knife's continuous descending cuts, it first turned into connected slices, then into strands as fine as hair————

When the final cut ended, Broly gently placed the cut Egg Tofu into the water, and a pale yellow chrysanthemum bloomed open in the water.

Hisako Arato's small mouth gaped wide; good knife skills are understandable, but the ingredient's texture seems to have changed too, that I cannot understand o

"Is what you cut really Egg Tofu?"

"Uh, Hisako-sensei, weren't you watching me make it right beside me?"

"But Egg Tofu cannot possibly be cut like this without deforming or adhering at all; did you add something during the process of making the Egg Tofu?"

Hisako Arato could only think of this situation; Broly thought for a bit, then quickly reacted, realizing he had subconsciously temporarily added Qi to the Egg Tofu, which made it easy to cut.

"I added Qi."

He told the truth.

"What is that, some kind of new tofu coagulant?"

Hisako Arato frowned and asked.

"Not a coagulant, but the comprehensive life energy that everyone possesses; when it is used on an object, however, it can temporarily reinforce the object's strength."

Broly began to explain; every sentence he spoke was the truth, but Hisako Arato and Nakiri Erina, who had already finished trial-making Eggs Benedict on the other side, listened in a somewhat dazed state.