Chapter 965

Rice grains tumbled up and down in the scorching iron pan; the sauce hooked by the iron spoon dripped down in fine threads, and once the overturned grains touched the sauce falling into the pan, the pan's searing heat quickly solidified the sauce's flavor onto the rice.

The sizzling sound of fried rice was a pleasure just to hear, and the final handful of green onion completely brought out the flavor; just smelling it from the side made one's appetite stir.

However, Soma Yukihira furrowed his brow; Broly's fried rice movements felt somewhat familiar to him, until Broly flipped the pan and used two spoons to pour all the fried rice in the iron pan onto an empty plate, only then did he suddenly remember what this inexplicable sense of familiarity was.

The movements of the person before his eyes—stir-frying fried rice over high heat, adding sauce, sprinkling green onion, serving out the fried rice—aside from the person being different, everything else was basically exactly the same as his own old man at home.

「What on earth is this————」

「Don't say anything else for now, come taste the difference between these two portions of fried rice. 」

Azami Nakiri interrupted his son's muttering, bringing over the fried rice he cooked himself and the fried rice Broly cooked together.

Soma Yukihira quickly understood his old man's meaning; just having the same fried rice movements wasn't conclusive, but if even the taste could be made the same, then it would be interesting.

The youth took the spoon, first scooping a spoonful of the fried rice on the left and putting it into his mouth.

【Hmm, not using clear soup stock to enhance freshness, the flavor layers are a bit lacking, but the heat control is impeccable, the sauce coating the rice has a rich, slightly scorched aroma

that is full, absolutely his old man's level————】

He put down the spoon, switched spoons, and tasted the fried rice on the other side.

The freshly stir-fried fried rice was a bit hot for the mouth; Soma Yukihira blew on it twice in his mouth before starting to chew.

【This wok qi, 0~30 seconds, the rice aroma produced by the Maillard reaction of the rice, the fresh fragrance of the side dishes, volatile aromatic ingredients, the peak flavor period with the strongest taste impact~】

「How is it? 」

Azami Nakiri also ate the fried rice on both sides, then directly asked his son's opinion.

「This side is freshly stir-fried, with the strongest taste impact; this side is fried rice that has been left for a few minutes after cooking, where low-volatility ingredients begin to slowly release their fragrance, forming an aftertaste texture.

In my opinion, these two plates of fried rice only differ in tasting time, thus forming subtle differences in taste and texture only. 」

「Hmm, exactly the same as what I had in mind; I'm afraid if this plate of fried rice is left for a few minutes, it will taste the same as the plate of fried rice I cooked. 」

Azami Nakiri nodded, fully agreeing with his son's evaluation.

「No, Mr. Azami, wasn't this meant to treat me to a meal? How is it that you father and son ended up eating first instead? 」

Broly, watching from the side as the father and son ate spoonfuls of fried rice and seriously discussed the taste difference between the two plates, couldn't help but speak up.

「Ah, sorry, I forgot————」

Azami Nakiri reacted, feeling somewhat embarrassed, quickly stopped his son's action of wanting to continue using his spoon, pushed the two plates of fried rice that still had two-thirds remaining over, and also handed over a new soup spoon.

Broly didn't mind that this was fried rice the two had already started eating; he picked up the plate and began shoveling it down in big mouthfuls.

Fragrant, tastier than the fried rice he usually casually made himself.

「By the way, old man, what on earth is going on? 」

「At noon, he came to this side of the restaurant wanting to eat; you said his knife skills were good, so I wanted to see for myself. 」

「But seeing knife skills, what does that have to do with flipping the pan and wielding the ladle? 」

「It's not that seeing his knife skills were too good, feeling some joy, wanting to persuade him to switch careers and become a chef; therefore, I just slightly tested his cooking level. 」

「Test with fried rice? 」

「Although fried rice is simple, it is the most basic skill testing a chef's control over heat. 」

「So what is his level? 」

「Simply not inferior to me; if I weren't standing by watching, I would almost have thought it was me myself standing in front of the stove cooking. 」

Azami Nakiri was not stingy with praise.

「So now that the testing is done, old man, what do you plan to do? 」

Hearing this, Azami Nakiri smiled.

「This, naturally is————」

He walked forward, extending his hand toward the rice-eating Saiyan.

「Mr. Broly, I don't know if you are willing to become my sous chef? 」

Broly raised his head, looking at Azami Nakiri with confusion.

「I accepted my friend's invitation, and am preparing to go to Europe and North America for a touring residency cooking engagement, and am just lacking excellent talent like you; if you agree, I can offer you a monthly salary of 15,000 dollars. 」

This salary, for an international top-tier head chef, is not considered high pay, but for a chef just entering the profession, it is definitely a generous remuneration.

Azami Nakiri was willing to offer this price out of respect for Broly's ability to replicate his own fried rice skill.

Just as Azami Nakiri thought that this customer doing security work before his eyes should be very happy to agree, he heard Broly say: 「15,000, is the salary for being a chef that low? 」

「Uh, no, I'm talking about dollars; if converted into yen, that would be 2.4 million yen a month, and after tax at that. 」

Azami Nakiri was somewhat taken aback, quickly reminding him.

「2.4 million yen, still low. 」

Referencing the cost of holding a beauty pageant in the One Punch Man world, this would require working two or three months to barely hold one once.

「Alright, then it was my rudeness————」

Azami Nakiri discovered that Broly genuinely disliked this remuneration as low, and sighed.

「However, Mr. Broly, your talent is truly excellent; even if you don't want to be a professional chef, I hope you won't waste your talent, and can study cooking for a while. 」

「Uh, I think you might have misunderstood; my usual fried rice isn't that tasty. 」

「Haha, you really love joking; just that fried rice skill you showed earlier, your control over heat is already not inferior to mine. 」

Azami Nakiri obviously didn't believe it.

「Is there a possibility that I just fried it according to your fried rice method? 」

「Wait, you mean to say, you aren't skilled at controlling heat, but simply replicated my situation of controlling heat? 」

「Hmm. 」

Broly nodded; there was nothing wrong with admitting this.

However, Azami Nakiri wasn't very convinced, until he had Broly use the remaining ingredients to cook a portion of fried rice not imitating his own fried rice skill; after eating that incredibly home-style fried rice, he confirmed one thing:

The cooking level of the person before him was at most above that of an ordinary person; the reason they could stir-fry fried rice at his level was purely because the other party's imitation ability was strong enough.

Just like someone who doesn't understand music theory but has extraordinary imitation ability, after watching a piano master's performance once, although they don't understand any music theory, they can perfectly replicate the piano master's techniques one-to-one; at such a time, the music played by the imitator is less a performance and more like a recording being played back.

Of course, even so, Broly is an extremely talented person; as long as the other party is willing to learn cooking, this powerful imitation ability is a ticket without obstruction to becoming a world-class chef, and compared to top chefs, what the other party lacks is nothing more than the ability to innovate cooking on their own.

And whether the other party possesses such an ability is currently still undetermined.

After all, according to the other party's own words, they have never specifically learned so-called cooking.

Pity is, the person before him doesn't seem too interested in professional chefs.

"Mr. Azami Nakiri, I have an improper request; I don't know if you can agree?"

"What improper request, please say."

"Isn't your restaurant going to close for a long time? So, I want to ask you to teach me more ways to make delicious dishes; then even if your restaurant closes for a long time, I can still cook for myself to eat."

Broly requested, seeing Soma-kun hesitate, then added another sentence: "Rest assured, I won't have you teach for nothing; I can pay tuition."

Saying this, he pulled a stack of Yukichi from his trouser pocket and placed it on the table; judging by the thickness, it was about 300,000 yen.

"Teaching you isn't a problem————"

Soma-kun was not someone who prized his own cooking skills like a treasure; on the contrary, he was very willing to pass on his craftsmanship to someone with talent.

It was just that he felt regretful about Broly clearly having very excellent imitation talent, but regarding cooking, only wanting to know the 'what' and not the 'why'.

Suddenly, Soma-kun noticed Broly's face, which was somewhat mismatched with the other party's overly burly figure; it was

this face carried the youthfulness of a young person.

"Broly, can I ask you a question?"

"What question?"

"How old are you this year?"

"Uh, almost 17."

Broly didn't know why Soma-kun asked this question, but still answered honestly.

"Ah, no, you're only one year older than me?"

Soma Yukihira, who was almost 16, widened his eyes, feeling as if his cognition had just been rammed by a truck.

"So you're still a boy of student age!"

Soma-kun's eyes lit up.

"I haven't studied; I'm not a student."

Broly reminded him.

"It's fine, you want to learn cooking, right? Pity, I personally don't have much time to teach, but I can recommend you to a place to study."

"Wait, old man, you wouldn't be thinking of————"

"Exactly, just what you're thinking."

"May I ask Mr. Azami Nakiri, what place are you talking about?"

"A school specifically for cultivating professional chefs."

"New Oriental?"

"What?"

"No, you continue."

"There are many chefs there with cooking skills not low; if you want to learn some ways to make delicious dishes, that place is most suitable."

"Coincidentally, I personally have some connections and can get the transfer student entrance exam qualification for that academy, and my son will also go to take the entrance exam."

Compared to directly teaching Broly some cooking methods, Soma-kun chose to guide this boy to Totsuki Academy.

Perhaps, the other party would be stimulated by the atmosphere of Totsuki Academy to develop an interest in cooking.

Of course, this is one reason.

Another reason is to send a good seedling who might become a top-tier chef to the alma mater of his former best peer, Dojima Gin.

"Broly, what do you think?"

"Sounds like a good place, then I'll trouble you, Mr. Azami Nakiri."

Broly did not refuse, pushing the money on the table over.

"Saying hello doesn't require money; you still have to pay the entrance tuition yourself."

Soma-kun pushed the money back.

"Tuition is tuition, and a thank-you fee is a thank-you fee."

"Fine, then I'll teach you one of my own signature dishes."

【With this person's actual cooking level, they might not pass Totsuki Academy's transfer student entrance exam.】

Soma-kun thought so, choosing to accept the money.

"Soma-kun, go buy some ingredients————"

He called his son once, then immediately listed the ingredients needed for the cooking on a list.

Meats included small northern squid, shallow sea scallops, and lamb tenderloin.

Vegetables were pumpkin, zucchini, tomato, and fresh gobo.

Soma Yukihira being ordered around wasn't annoyed; he took the list and ran off to purchase.

"The dish I want to teach you is a fusion dish I mastered when I was young; the techniques are mainly French braising and Japanese dashi." Soma-kun, before his son returned, started acting as a cooking teacher, explaining to Broly the principles of his signature dish.

And Broly, he listened somewhat in a fog; after all, he wasn't a professional chef and had no concept of different techniques.

"Alright, compared to explaining how to make the dish, it's simpler to just demonstrate the method in front of you once————"

Soma-kun soon also noticed the bewildered look on Broly's face and couldn't help but sigh.

After about half an hour, Soma Yukihira returned carrying the purchased ingredients.

Soma Yukihira quickly got the hang of it, letting his son help as an assistant.

"Slice the lamb tenderloin thin, quick-sear to lock in the juices; squid and scallops need a short sear — control the time well, don't overcook, because you have to preserve the springy texture of both; pumpkin and zucchini cut into chunks, gently braised in olive oil until soft, not mushy —"

"This is to preserve the vegetables' own natural sweetness."

Soma Yukihira chimed in from the side, giving an explanation.

"For the base sauce I'm using a French white sauce, blended with kombu and shiitake dashi, adding a small amount of white wine, a bit of lemon zest for fragrance, only a few drops of light soy sauce to harmonize — note, the soy sauce mustn't be much, otherwise it'll turn into a Japanese-style stew —"

The father and son coordinated seamlessly in the semi-open restaurant kitchen; in under half an hour, a fusion braised dish combining French and Japanese techniques was served before Broly.

Plated on a large Western-style white porcelain plate, the broth was rich and milky-white, the aroma alone incredibly delicious, but if asked to specifically describe what flavor it was, Broly wouldn't know how to explain.

"Different ingredients, handled with different techniques, ultimately fusing these differently-handled ingredients perfectly into a single dish — this is culinary art."

Soma Yukihira said, then asked with a smile: "How about it, Broly? Do you have the confidence to replicate this dish?"

"Should be able to."

Broly replayed in his mind the scene of the Soma father and son making this fusion braised dish just now, then nodded in reply.

"Alright, then you try making it."

Soma Yukihira smiled and yielded the kitchen.

"Dad, you did that on purpose, right?"

When Broly entered the kitchen and began processing the various ingredients, Soma Yukihira leaned close to his dad and said in a low voice.

"I just wanted to test the limits of his imitation ability."

Soma Yukihira didn't deny it; imitating fried rice technique is easy, but wanting to imitate and produce a complex fusion-cuisine dish — the difficulty coefficient is completely different.

To give an analogy, the former is teaching you correct walking and running posture, while the latter is making you directly hurdle, even do parkour.

The Soma father and son exchanged a glance, both seeing in each other curiosity about the limits of Broly's imitation ability, and Broly didn't disappoint the two; in under twenty minutes he served out a fusion seafood braised dish that, whether in appearance or taste, was almost exactly the same as the one the Soma father and son had made.

"No way, he alone, in less time than the two of us, replicated the entire fusion seafood braised dish?!

"

Wanting to see the limits of Broly's imitation ability, they instead directly saw a great mountain with no top in sight, leaving the Soma father and son somewhat dazed.

Broly indeed isn't proficient in culinary arts, but the problem is, he is proficient in martial arts; as long as it's a technique someone else has used, he watches once, ponders a bit, and he's got it.

Under conditions where the ingredients don't differ much, what he produces actually doesn't differ much from what the person being replicated produces.

"Broly, if I were dying and met someone like you, I'd absolutely want to take you as a Closed-Door Disciple."

Soma Yukihira spoke from the heart; this terrifying imitation ability is simply the most perfect technique inheritor.

Azami Nakiri spoke from his True Heart, saying that This Kind of Terror Imitate Capability was simply the most perfect Waza Inheritance person.

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