Curry Ball
[Time up, everyone!]
With the ring of the timer, the cooking phase comes to a close and all the contender stop working.
[We'll be coming on to judging now, there are five judges and each has twenty points. That meant the dish will be assessed out of a hundred points and only four candidates can advance to the main tournament]
The host girl of the Election event briefly explains the judging process before moving to the judging itself.
[The fist contestant is-]
Before she can say his name, Lovin already walk passed her and place his dish on each judge.
"Whoo... I'm glad I'm the first to be judges or my dish will have less impact."
Seeing as the rumor boy was the first person she will be trying out his dish, the Curry Queen lean forward in her chair, pushing out her chest.
"Oh, you the fist to go, huh? I hope you can impress me and show me the skill that was able to create the Dragon Beard Noodles. If not I'll be very disappointed..."
She's not the only with high expectation, the other judges was the same.
"My dish isn't just all taste, it also comes along with a little show."
The judges were confused with what he meant but instead of telling, Lovin takes the cover off his dishes.
In front of each judge was a perfectly round-shaped, golden-brown deep fry of some kind.
"What is thi-"
"Shhh...don't do anything and hold on."
Lovin put a finger up to stop them from questioning him and motion them to focus on the plate in front.
With all the judges and everyone watching attention on the dish, the golden fried ball starts rapidly revolving in the plate. Small cracks than begins to form on the dish surface and hot streams were escaping from within the crack.
"What happing with that dish?!"
Remembering the spit roaster cooking methods and seeing the dish now, Natsume exclaim in amazement,
"I see now! The internal pressure is forcing the stream out and soon!..."
Just as she predicted, the fried ball stops its action and split apart in the middle, letting the dark vibrant, attractive sauce flow out and make sizzling noise when it comes to contact with pieces of the fried ball.
And with the sauce, the powerful fragrance that was trap inside got releases like a bomb explosion and fill the whole arena.
"Oh god! It smells so good!"
"I want to try that, my mouth is watering!"
All who were present were salivating, the judges in anticipation of the taste, and the audience trying to contain themselves from running to the judging table.
Hayama clenches his fist. With the nature of his dish, and seeing the spectacle and smelling the fragrance explosion. He knows his dish will come up short when comparing the two together.
"Just being able to smell it is already luxurious."
The Curry Queen takes a spoonful of the dark curry sauce along with the fired shell and put it in her mouth, followed by the other judges.
When she tastes the curry, Natsume's eyes shot open and her face flushes, along with her body tensing up.
Body trembling on the chair and legs rubbing against each other, the CEO of Haubi Food Corporation shift her arms to between her thighs, trying hard to control herself and not show her state of being outside but...
'Oh no! I can't hold it in anymore!'
Natsume's head limply drops down, feeling a leak from the lowest part of her body and staining the cloth on it wet.
The other men judges weren't paying attention to their one, female judge as they were so ingross in eating the curry.
"With the curry being cooking inside the shell, its rich flavor got intensify and combine with the crispy rice shell, it so fun to eat and you never get tired of the fiery flavor of the curry! In fact, you got to have more of it. It's so intoxicating, like a drug!"
"It's not the just the crispy rice, there also something acidity that balances out the rich umami of the sauce!"
"That acidity is from the red ant."
Everyone watching turns their head in confusion when Lovin mentions ant, the little anime people killed on the spot when they see near them, even the judges were perplexed and look at him for an answer.
"The acidity is from my homemade red ant chutney, which made with the ants own eggs and chili spices.
With the chutney already spicy enough as it, I didn't have to add any hot spice and just use the other spice to bring out the curry umami.
And with the acidity from the ant, I can pressure cook the sauce inside the rice shell and increase its flavor without its being overwhelming."
Listening to Lovin's explanation, everyone was amazed by the creativity of the dish, none more so then Soma. He sweating in worry, Lovin didn't just use his idea of the fragrance bomb but also the chutney.
"Oh...I've heard of the ant chutney, but this is the first I taste it and see being used in a dish," said the judges, Koda Shigenoshin.
"This dish is perfect without flaw! Just to be able to eat this, I already feel like the luckiest person in the world!"
After finishing everything on his plate, the executive producer of the tv show, That's is a Kitchen?: Minatozaka Makito praises the curry dish.
***
[What is the score, judges-ah!]
The announcer girl winces when the Curry Queen suddenly slam on the table and got up, "I'll be back, everyone."
"Wait, where are you going?" before she could leave for the exit, her arm was grab by the 9th seat of the Elite Ten.
Everyone was puzzled about what going on with her, but Natsume didn't give out her reason and forcefully remove her arm.
"I said, I'll be right back, didn't I?" she glares back Eizan and continues her way outside.
All the student who was in the first-year starts a heating discussion, full of annoyances and hate in their voices.
"This is just like back at the training camp! Every time he cooks, there always something has to go wrong!"
"I bet he doing this on purpose, just so he can hog to himself!"
Overlooking the judging on a private booth, Erina sigh, "Why could've anything gone peacefully with him...."
With the Curry Queen not present to give a complete and accurate score, the judging process come to halt and there no choice but to wait for her to get back from whatever she's doing.