Chapter 973

If this were a restaurant back kitchen, to guarantee dish quality control, the amount of seasoning used in cooking would likely be precise down to two decimal places of the smallest gram.

But this is Totsuki Academy; even a strict teacher like Roland Chapelle would not fix students' imagination regarding seasoning.

This is also why "appropriate amount" is written after the seasonings on the whiteboard — because everyone's seasoning technique differs, and even the seasonings used may differ.

Therefore, there is no precise universally accepted answer for seasoning quantities; if one must be given, it would probably be whether the dish, once made, can make the taster feel it is delicious.

"Uh, then let me handle the seasoning and marinating."

Of course, while there is no universally accepted answer, there is a reference answer; Tadokoro Megumi's theoretical knowledge is fairly solid, and she has the precise seasoning amounts for a standard passable Burgundy Braised Beef.

Although the Burgundy Braised Beef made this way would have a textbook feel, it is still better than messing up with innovation and producing a failure.

The twin-braided girl hurriedly put down her knife, went to the spice cabinet at the back of the classroom to take out the needed spices, returned, took out the kitchen scale, began weighing and adding seasonings, and started marinating the beef chuck with sinews and membranes removed.

"Alright, the beef needs an hour to marinate thoroughly; during this time we still need to prepare some vegetables."

"Already brought them."

Tadokoro Megumi had just finished speaking when Broly responded to her.

The girl turned her head and saw that the vegetables needed for Burgundy Braised Beef — yellow onion, carrot, pearl onion, button mushroom, and garlic cloves — had already been placed on the stainless steel cooking station beside them.

"How do these need to be processed?"

"Onion minced, carrot cut into chunks, pearl onion julienned, button mushroom can be halved or sliced; sliced absorbs flavor better, halved retains some texture; garlic smashed."

"Since these vegetable ingredients go in at different times, they must be stored separately after cutting."

"Also, cut button mushrooms oxidize on the cut surface, so cut them only when needed."

"Okay, I understand."

"Mr. Broly, give me the onion, I'll cut it————"

Cutting onions stings the eyes; just as Tadokoro Megumi was about to volunteer for this tear-inducing task and say this, the kitchen knife

was already flying rapidly in Broly's hand, swiftly performing the most precise cuts on the vegetable ingredients on the cutting board.

To the side, Tadokoro Megumi's eyes widened: "Your knife skills are?"

"Practiced before; is the cut bad?"

Broly turned to look at her, but his hands didn't stop.

"No, cut very well."

Turning irregular ingredients into uniform pieces in a few breaths — this knife skill probably surpasses even those old chef teachers in the Middle School Division who teach them knife skills.

"That works; by the way, are these ingredients enough?"

"For this weight of meat, definitely enough."

"Making this little; if we accidentally ruin it, time-wise we definitely won't have time to salvage it, right?"

", then Mr. Broly, what do you mean?"

"Why don't we process more beef to increase fault tolerance?

If we accidentally ruin this batch of ingredients, we'll have other backup ingredients to choose from.

Right, these ingredients should be free, right?"

"For cooking classes, the ingredients provided by the academy are indeed free; of course, these are actually all factored into Totsuki Academy's not-cheap tuition.

Prepare more beef to increase fault tolerance, huh; Mr. Broly, you make sense; I'll go get some more beef to prepare."

Tadokoro Megumi agreed with Broly's words, turned and went to the freezer to select beef; other classmates saw this scene, and busy as they were, they didn't notice that Broly and Tadokoro Megumi's group had already marinated the first batch of beef chuck, and thought the other party's group had ruined the meat while removing sinews, chuckled inwardly, and continued bowing their heads to remove sinews.

If it were semi-frozen meat it would be simple to trim, but the problem is this beef is clearly fresh meat that hasn't been in the freezer long, which makes trimming difficulty much greater than semi-frozen meat; and Burgundy Braised Beef needs whole large pieces of meat, only then can it guarantee that after braising, the dish has a tender yet meaty texture and flavor.

"I got some more."

"Prepare even more; then we'll make a few more pots and pick the best-tasting one to turn in as homework."

"But we only have two stoves; at most we can make two pots."

"Uh, that's truly a pity."

Broly looked at the only one extra portion of beef, a bit regretful.

Tadokoro Megumi, on the other hand, didn't understand, not knowing why Broly was sighing while looking at some fresh meat.

【Could it be, he has no confidence?】

Just as the girl was uneasy and worried in her heart, Broly pointed at the steps on the lectern whiteboard and asked.

"You say, this step of adding red wine — can the red wine be replaced with other alcohol?"

"Uh, what alcohol do you mean?"

"Besides grapes fermented, alcohol brewed with some other materials added."

Broly thought of Soma's operation of blending Divine Wine and answered Tadokoro Megumi's question.

"Replacing with different flavors of red wine is fine, as long as it's not an alcohol completely unrelated to red wine."

Tadokoro Megumi had seen variant recipes for this dish in textbooks; many high-end restaurants replace the red wine used for braising to change the dish's flavor.

"As long as it works."

Although Broly didn't know what effect Divine Wine would have in cooking, just seeing others reveal an expression as if drugged after tasting it, he felt adding it should have a miraculous effect.

Of course, the actual effect still depends on the taste of the finished dish; the extra beef was also prepared for this.

An hour of marinating time passed quickly; their meat processing speed was fast, so they were the first to start production.

Before braising, the beef needs a Maillard sear; the oil used is rendered from bacon, which provides smoky flavor and salty umami.

Tadokoro Megumi used kitchen paper to absorb the surface moisture of the beef; Broly listened to her and started frying bacon in the pan, frying it until the surface was charred brown then scooping it out.

"Keep the fat in the pan, add butter and olive oil, heat on high; beef needs to go in batches, leave enough gaps between pieces, sear every side to a deep brown char, don't flip frequently, need high-temp caramelization to lock in juices————"

Tadokoro Megumi originally intended to operate this step herself, but seeing Broly execute the steps she described very well, she began directing from the side.

"Is this okay?"

Broly used tongs to pick up a piece of beef seared deep brown on every side and asked.

"Done, plate it and set aside."

Tadokoro Megumi replied, picking up empty plates.

"Next, use the fat in the pot to sauté the base vegetables — carrots first, then diced onion, low heat for 8 to 10 minutes."

"Eight minutes, or ten?"

"Uh, until the onion softens and looks translucent."

Broly nodded, continuing the operation.

"Almost there. Now add the smashed garlic, then the ketchup, stir-fry for two minutes to remove the raw taste."

"Then return the seared beef and bacon to the pot together, sprinkle in flour and toss, letting each piece of beef get thinly coated in flour, low heat for two minutes to cook off the raw flour taste."

Broly handled the hands-on work, Tadokoro Megumi directing from the side and also serving as the ingredient hand.

Soon, the beef was coated in sauce and flour.

At this step, the beef needed to be handled separately.

One portion got a whole bottle of dry red, high heat to a boil.

One portion got a small bottle of Divine Wine diluted with water, likewise high heat to a boil.

"Broly, what did you put in this beef, some kind of essence? It smells amazing."

Tadokoro Megumi sniffed, and not just her — everyone else in the Cooking Classroom was twitching their noses too.

The Divine Wine's scent, unique and tempting.

"A wine liquid produced in another place; those who've drunk it say the taste is superb."

Broly answered, and as the high heat boiled, the alcohol evaporated, the scent in the air gradually becoming captivating.

The spatula scraped up all the caramelized meat slag from the pot bottom, added the beef bone stock simmered during the one-hour marinating just now, let the broth level cover the meat chunks, then added the thyme bundle, bay leaves, a little salt and black pepper.

"Next, just cover and braise, low heat slow simmer."

"Wouldn't high heat be faster?"

Broly smelled the fragrance drifting in the air, swallowed, and asked.

"No, high heat would make the beef tighten and toughen, leading to poor texture."

"Alright, just asking. By the way, when do the button mushrooms and pearl onions go in?"

"Last 30 minutes. Too early and they'll just get braised to mush."

Tadokoro Megumi stared at the pot, muttering how many minutes had passed, still seeming somewhat nervous.

"No need to keep time like that, isn't there a clock over at the lectern?"

"Sorry, I'm just a bit overly nervous. After all, if I get another E rating, I'll face being advised to leave the School."

"Fine, then I'll keep time with you."

", how embarrassing."

"It's fine. Two people keeping time is more accurate than one person, and you don't have to be so nervous because I'll help you keep time too."

Broly said this, then walked to Tadokoro Megumi's side, keeping the girl company staring at the braising pot.

"45 minutes left————"

Both spoke the time simultaneously, making the girl feel a bit strange. She carefully glanced at Broly beside her, not knowing why the nervousness in her heart gradually dissipated.

【Tadokoro Megumi, Happiness Value Rising.】

Broly merely kept time with her, yet the girl's Happiness Value kept rising continuously, which made him very relieved.

When it reached 31 minutes, he went to handle the button mushrooms.

Some button mushrooms halved, some sliced.

Butter in the pan, pearl onions with a little white sugar, pan-fried to caramel color.

Switch pans, high heat dry-sear the mushrooms to cook off moisture.

Then, add all of these into the braising pot.

Finally, the finishing seasoning — fish out the bay leaves, thyme bundle, taste the sauce, fine-tune salt and black pepper.

"Sauce thick and glossy, can come out of the pot."

Tadokoro Megumi brought plates, each portion of Burgundy Braised Beef plated out.

Two pots of meat yielded six standard portions, topped with chopped parsley, the aroma rushing straight into the nose.

"Next, we have to serve it to Teacher Roland for tasting——"

"No, we taste first, see which tastes best, then serve."

", can we do that?"

"That's exactly why we made this much braised beef, isn't it?"

Broly picked up a normal plate, took up knife and fork, and started cutting and tasting.

The beef was tender, melting on the tongue like silk.

The sauce thick and silky, flavor layers rich, with red wine's fruit aroma and slight sourness, bacon's smoky saltiness, vegetables'

natural sweetness, herbs' herbal fragrance, parsley's freshness.

Broly's face showed a satisfied expression, his stomach growling, as if gluttony had been triggered.

Tadokoro Megumi looked at his expression, couldn't help swallowing and asked: "Delicious?"

"Delicious, don't believe me? Try it."

Broly answered, cut a piece for the girl, forked it over and fed it to her.

"Mm, a bit hot, but tasty."

Tadokoro Megumi blew on the soft meat piece, yet felt this time should be a pass.

"Come, try this one I braised with the other wine liquid too."

Broly saw this and cut another piece of the Divine Wine version of the beef, and the surface of this part of the braised beef faintly shimmered with iridescent light.

He fed the meat piece directly into Tadokoro Megumi's mouth, and Tadokoro Megumi's reaction after eating it wasn't very intense, only a foolish smile surfaced on her face, her eyes narrowed, muttering about having graduated.

"Hey, wake up, are you okay?"

Broly called out to the girl a few times, but she still just smiled foolishly; left with no choice, he could only grab her shoulders and shake her.

"Ah, wasn't I at the graduation ceremony?"

Perhaps because the Divine Wine was used diluted, the intoxicated state Tadokoro Megumi fell into was quickly interrupted; she opened her eyes and asked somewhat dazedly.

"What graduation ceremony, aren't we making Burgundy Braised Beef?"

"?!"

"What did you see just now?"

"Mm, I graduated from Totsuki Academy, my family back home were celebrating for me, then suddenly an earthquake, and right after that ————"

Tadokoro Megumi shrank her neck as she answered, her voice growing weaker toward the end, her face also growing redder and redder; she didn't know why she suddenly had such an unrealistic delusion, and even became intoxicated and entered it treating it as real, and this whole performance of hers also fell into the eyes of her companion beside her, this was simply mortifying.

"Mm, looks like the long stewing didn't make the Divine Wine's effect disappear, but was absorbed by the meat pieces."

Broly touched his chin, reaching a conclusion.

"Ah, you're saying my delusion just now was because I ate the beef you put other alcohol into?"

"Eight or nine out of ten, it should be just like that."

"Mr. Broly, that wine of yours, wouldn't have had some addictive hallucinogenic prohibited substance added to it, would it?"

Tadokoro Megumi started to worry.

"As long as you're not an alcoholic, addiction shouldn't happen; as for whether there's prohibited substances inside, honestly, I don't know either."

Broly answered honestly, then he also cut a mouthful and tasted it.

Perhaps due to his strong spirit, he didn't exhibit any hallucinogenic effects.

And the flavor of the braised beef stewed with Divine Wine was, however, more complex than normal Burgundy Braised Beef flavor.

But one thing is certain, this thing's degree of deliciousness is at least several times the former; Broly only tasted one mouthful, then in two or three bites finished the entire plate of beef, not even letting go of the broth in the plate.

"Mr. Broly, how about, you let me taste some more?"

Tadokoro Megumi saw this, thought of the delusion that surfaced in her mind when she ate this meat just now, and couldn't help but say it.

"Sure."

Broly nodded, cut meat and fed Tadokoro Megumi again; this time with psychological preparation, no delusion appeared again, she only felt the Divine Wine braised beef melt in her mouth, the mellow sweet flavor blooming between her taste buds, breathing growing heavy, saliva continuously secreting, her whole person's pores opening up just like that.

The two people down there you one mouthful me one mouthful, while Roland Chapelle on the lectern had his eye twitch: "Bastards, are you two here to attend class or to run a personal kitchen, don't eat up all the cooking, leave a mouthful to submit as homework!"

The roaring voice reverberated in the classroom, a group of students were stunned silent at the same time, only then did Broly and Tadokoro Megumi react from the deliciousness of the Divine Wine braised beef.