[386] What is Basic Knife Skills?

Chapter 386: What is Basic Knife Skills?

"How's my appetizer?" Upon hearing Hachiman's question, everyone realized it was just an appetizer.

"Haha, Hachiman-kun, your culinary skills are truly remarkable. This appetizer undoubtedly awakens all our taste buds," Senzaemon laughed heartily.

Everyone nodded in agreement. After savoring such a delightful appetizer, they were even more eager for the next course.

"Now that everyone is satisfied, since we just had sashimi, let me introduce another way of enjoying sea bream," Hachiman smiled faintly and resumed his work.

He tossed several cleaned carrots into the air, grabbing two Santoku knives and swiftly slicing through the air.

Santoku knives were a Japanese invention, meaning "three virtues" in Japanese. They excelled at slicing, dicing, and chopping, as long as they weren't used for cutting bones or frozen meat.

Although similar to Western chef's knives, Santoku knives had slight differences. The curvature of the Santoku knife blade was smaller than that of a chef's knife.

In the anime "Food Wars," the protagonist Soma often used and meticulously maintained a Santoku knife.

As the two Santoku knives danced in Hachiman's hands, the carrots in the air exploded like orange fireworks, turning into flying carrot shreds...

Hachiman took out a bowl, and every strand of flying carrot neatly landed in it.

Not only carrots but also mushrooms, cabbage, carrots, bamboo shoots, green peppers, and various other ingredients were sliced into shreds in the same manner.

This exemplified basic knife skills.

Watching the colorful vegetable shreds, Hachiman nodded in satisfaction.

Alright, the most "basic" shredding was done; it was time to move on to something else.

He then took out a uniquely shaped kitchen knife, with many holes on the blade, each containing a shiny wire.

"Are those... wires?" Soue pushed his glasses up, somewhat uncertain.

Amidst the astonished gazes of everyone, Hachiman unexpectedly heated the uniquely shaped kitchen knife over the stove.

While the knife was heating, Hachiman once again filleted a sea bream on the countertop, skillfully removing the bones, bladder, and entrails, and scraping off two large pieces of fish skin. Then, he stacked thick slices of sea bream meat together.

By this time, the knife was almost heated. Hachiman took a deep breath, grabbed the heated knife, and fiercely chopped down on the stacked sea bream meat.

As his knife fell, the sea bream meat directly "burst" open, and the "fragments" that burst naturally fell into the previously prepared filling.

At the same time, a strong aroma of fish emanated from the sea bream meat under Hachiman's knife.

Upon closer inspection, the burst fragments turned out to be spherical chunks of sea bream meat squeezed together.

Everyone understood where the aroma came from. After all, the chef's knife was scorching hot. The sea bream chunks squeezed out from the steel rings in an instant were probably fully cooked on the outside, and they were roasted instantly at high temperatures due to friction.

Seeing this scene, everyone couldn't help but feel a bit helpless.

So, after playing with ice, are you now playing with fire?

Soon, Hachiman squeezed out the sea bream meat almost completely. He then set down the scorching hot kitchen knife, picked up a normal knife again, and sliced the two large pieces of sea bream skin into small square pieces.

Then, he wrapped the prepared filling in these square pieces of sea bream skin and finally pan-fried the sea bream rolls.

Soon, the sea bream rolls were fried to perfection, and after being taken out, they were drizzled with a sauce made from boiled sea bream bones, completing this dish.

"Thank you for waiting. Please enjoy," Hachiman placed the plated sea bream rolls in front of everyone.

Looking at the sea bream rolls in front of them, Senzaemon asked, "Hachiman-kun, what's the name of this dish?"

"As for the name, let's call it 'Reincarnation Spring Rolls,'" Hachiman smiled.

Yes, what he just made was the "Reincarnation Spring Rolls," a dish that Liu Maoxing made in the "Chuka Ichiban" competition in order to counter Leon's "Ice-Cold Sea Bream Mountain."

"Reincarnation Spring Rolls? Interesting name," Senzaemon murmured to himself.

However, compared to the dish, Erina and the others were more concerned about Hachiman.

Komachi: "Is your hand burned or not, Onii-chan?"

Erina: "You, doing such dangerous things again."

Alice: "Yeah, after holding an ice knife just now, is it a fire knife now?"

Leonora: "Exactly, Hachiman-kun, you don't take care of yourself enough."

"..."

??????

Upon hearing their aunt's (mother's) words, the two sisters turned their heads simultaneously, their expressions clearly saying, "What are you meddling in."

Seeing the expressions of the two sisters, Leonora stuck out her tongue like a girl.

"Hehe, I was just showing some concern."

"Don't worry, it's not hot actually," Hachiman shrugged.

Unlike the main character Liu Maoxing, the kitchen knife he used today was custom-made by the Nakiri family in advance. The handle of the knife was made of carbon fiber material with excellent heat insulation and corrosion resistance, so when he held it, it just felt a bit warm, not hot.

"Don't worry, I'm fine," Hachiman smiled and then pointed to the "Reincarnation Spring Rolls" on the plate.

"Alright, let's not dwell on that. Let's try them while they're still hot. They won't taste as good when they're cold."

"That's right, let's taste them while they're hot," Senzaemon said, picking up a spring roll and putting it into his mouth.

"Mmm! This... the sea bream is so fresh, it's like it's come back to life."

"Yes! It's like there's a live sea bream dancing in my mouth. The taste is exquisite!" Gin exclaimed in admiration.

On the side, Joichiro showed a sudden realization expression. "So that's it, 'reincarnation' refers to this? Bringing the dead sea bream back to life. Impressive, Hachiman-kun."

"Not only that, but the flavors of other vegetables also blend perfectly with the sea bream meat. Bamboo shoots, cabbage, green peppers... It feels like I've been transported back to spring," Roland Chapelle, the chef known as the "Chef Who Never Smiles," had a happy smile on his face at this moment.

Meanwhile, the girls were breathing slightly, their eyes closed, with a hint of tempting blush on their faces, clearly immersed in the culinary experience.

Watching everyone's reactions, Hachiman smiled and also picked up a spring roll, putting it into his mouth. As he tasted the delicious dish he had created, he couldn't help but squint his eyes in delight.