The Dish Cooked in a Paper Pot, Treasure Mountain Dragon Pot

It is said that after the once invincible Spanish Armada was defeated by England, King Philip III issued a decree to control the increasingly severe drinking behavior of soldiers and sailors. He mandated that taverns must serve snacks with alcohol. Thus, tavern owners invented tapas, which are small dishes typically served with drinks, made with a base of bread, drizzled with olive oil, and topped with Spanish ham.

In translation, it means:

Tapas!

One look at Zane's tapas reveals an endless amount of creativity. A single bite provides a rich, layered flavor, especially when paired with the tavern's special soju, making it even more aromatic.

As the signature food of restaurants and bars, tapas always stand ready like models, staying closest to the customers. When a guest orders a drink, the server must bring out the tapas quickly. Therefore, the ingredients must be fresh, reliable, and easy to process. Fragile or unruly foods often cannot meet these standards.

High-quality tapas, like those Zane is making, are usually spherical or block-shaped, not larger than a palm, and easy to pick up with two fingers. They must not be watery, loosely structured, large, or overly hard and brittle. Even when served in a bowl, there are specific rules.

"Finished already?"

"It's a bit small!"

Swallowing, Momo realized that she had eaten all the tapas Zane had made.

"If only I could have made such dishes back then, I wouldn't have lost so badly."

She muttered to herself, reflecting on her past.

In the original storyline, the top chefs at Totsuki Academy frequently cooked for the upper class, showing that even if they didn't intend to, they were subtly controlled by capitalists. This highlights another less obvious issue: class differences.

Why did Erina insist on high-class cuisine from the start?

One reason is that people of her class have the privilege, money, and time to enjoy such cuisine. Ultimately, it's the differences between people that create differences in cuisine.

What's more alarming is that there are likely many people like her at Totsuki.

First seat Eishi's cooking style is French cuisine that brings out the original flavors of ingredients, thus requiring high-quality ingredients, leading to high costs in materials and labor. Rindo, who specializes in rare ingredients, focuses on the rarity, which naturally isn't cheap. She once brought a rare bear paw to the tavern.

Fourth seat Momo's desserts and fifth seat Satoshi's sushi also follow the high-end route. While sixth seat Nene's cooking might not appear expensive, her noble family background and education incline her towards conservatism.

As for ninth seat Eizan, he blatantly exhibits a capitalist mindset, constantly thinking about how to make money through cooking.

In the original storyline, when facing Azami Nakiri's Totsuki reform, the resisting third seat Tosuke, seventh seat Isshiki, and eighth seat Kuga shared a common trait: they did not pursue high-class cuisine. Despite their privileged backgrounds, their cooking philosophies represented the common people's cuisine.

In the latter part of Totsuki, the chaos was essentially a debate between high-class and commoner cuisine. However, this ideological conflict was never explicitly mentioned.

From Mana's perspective, whether high-class or commoner cuisine, anything that couldn't satisfy her God's Tongue was not good cuisine. Hence, she was disappointed with the culinary world before Zane's appearance.

To her, the constant battles over Elite Ten seats and endless Shokugekis were meaningless. She wished these future leaders in cooking would set higher goals.

Thus, she planned to support the underground chefs secretly. But Zane's cuisine, which conquered her God's Tongue, gave her renewed hope, leading her to abandon that plan for a while.

Nevertheless, she knew that even without WGO's interference, the new culinary era would come inevitably. So she decided to use her power to accelerate this process.

In the end, through her manipulation, the late-night chef incident occurred earlier than expected, causing a significant stir in the culinary world.

"Looking back, it's ridiculous!"

"I used to fight for every resource at Totsuki, believing hard work would always pay off."

"But now, in hindsight, I was too naive."

"In front of the powerful underground chefs, everything I had was like a wisp of smoke, blown away easily."

"A new era!"

"A new leader!"

"Is it about to come?"

"In the future, chefs won't argue about high-class or commoner cuisine, nor about traditional or molecular gastronomy."

"Instead, it will represent two different worlds in opposition."

After finishing the tapas, Momo couldn't help but look at Zane: "Is it you?"

"The chef who can defeat the underground chefs, who can unite all the chefs in the mainstream culinary world, and who can lead the new culinary era, could it be you?"

...

In the soft light of the tavern, the chatter of guests and the clinking of dishes created a warm and comfortable atmosphere. Even though she was a helper in the kitchen, Sonoka would occasionally help serve the dishes.

Each time Momo saw Sonoka busy serving dishes between tables, she couldn't help but feel annoyed. Who would have thought? Once, she was also a Totsuki graduate.

Furthermore, Sonoka's Shunkatei restaurant was recognized as a one-star restaurant by the WGO. Yet, here she was, doing the work of a server—serving dishes, mopping floors, wiping tables, and attending to guests.

Just then, Sonoka, carrying a steaming bowl of char siu rice, hurried past Momo. She slipped and lost her balance.

Inwardly panicking, she tried to steady herself but it was too late.

"How annoying!"

"Can someone as clumsy as you handle this?"

In the end, quick-eyed Momo rose to support Sonoka, pulling her back.

"Thank you, Momo."

"If it weren't for you, this bowl of char siu rice would have spilled."

Sonoka sighed with relief.

"You're still worried about the char siu rice at a time like this?"

"I don't know what to say. Forget it, give me the rice, I'll serve it."

Fuming, Momo grabbed the bowl of char siu rice from Sonoka and served it to the customer.

"Momo, this is my job, you..."

Before she could finish, Momo interrupted: "What do you mean? From now on, I'll handle serving the dishes in the tavern."

"Huh?"

Sonoka was stunned.

...

At midnight, the tavern finally closed.

As usual, Zane prepared a small meal with the remaining ingredients to reward Sonoka, Erina, and Momo, who had unexpectedly helped serve dishes tonight.

After a casual midnight snack, the system's sign-in rewards arrived.

[Ding!]

[The host has successfully signed in.]

[Ding!]

[Congratulations to the host for obtaining the recipe for Kung Pao Chicken and the special recipe for Treasure Mountain Dragon Pot, along with 5000 grams of bamboo fungus and 20 porcini mushrooms.]

There are a thousand different ways to make Kung Pao Chicken.

Whether it's Sichuan, Guizhou, Shandong, or Huaiyang cuisine, each region has its own version, making it seem like Kung Pao Chicken isn't just one dish, but rather several dishes sharing the same name.

Historically, the origin of this dish is unclear.

During the Xianfeng period, Shandong Governor Ding Baozhen often had his chef make "stir-fried chicken with sauce," which he found particularly delicious. When he moved to Sichuan, he would have his chef use peanuts, dried chilies, and tender chicken to make it for guests, resulting in a dish that was tender, tasty, and very popular.

Regardless of the method, the basic ingredients for Kung Pao Chicken remain the same:

Chicken breast.

Peanuts.

Chilies.

Scallions.

These ingredients, when combined, create a dish with the tender texture of chicken, the crunchy flavor of peanuts, and the spicy kick of chilies, forming a unique taste.

...

Now, let's talk about the special recipe, Treasure Mountain Dragon Pot.

This dish, from "Cooking Master Boy," is more accurately a paper pot dish.

Middle school physics discusses the phenomenon of boiling water in a paper pot. When water is poured into a paper pot and heated, the water's boiling point is 100°C under standard atmospheric pressure, while the paper's ignition point is 183°C. This means the boiling water absorbs heat from the paper pot, causing the water to boil but the paper not to burn.

However, if there is no water or too little water in the paper pot, heating will cause the paper pot to burn quickly. Therefore, the magic of this dish lies in the paper pot's ability to simmer soup while filtering out impurities from the ingredients.

Combined with lobster balls and various mountain delicacies and lobster, its impressive nature rivals previous dishes like Rising Dragon Dumplings and Flaming Ice Snapper Mountain!

"In addition to obtaining the special recipe for Treasure Mountain Dragon Pot, I also received 5000 grams of bamboo fungus and 20 porcini mushrooms."

"Considering that when I received the recipe for Flaming Ice Snapper Mountain, I also got the snapper as a reward, does this mean that the system's recipe rewards often come with corresponding ingredients?"

Thinking of this, Zane's eyes sparkled.

...

The night was like a deep painting slowly unfolding, blending the colors and shadows of the world into one.

Stretching lazily after receiving his rewards, Zane headed to the third-floor bathroom, exhausted.

He turned on the hot water, undressed, and lay in the steaming bath, easing his tense nerves.

The soft lighting filled the bathroom with a dreamy haze. Despite closing his eyes to rest,

 Zane's mind kept processing the recent events.

It had been two months since he arrived in this strange world.

Not long, but not short either.

For him, owning an ever-upgrading tavern and meeting various diners every night allowed him to see all aspects of life.

This free lifestyle was the most carefree, something his former self had longed for.

Moreover, the charming ladies around him—greedy Rindo, gentle Megumi, tsundere Erina, anorexic Mana, and the big-breasted airhead Sonoka—made his life less monotonous.

His presence influenced them and the world around them.

Especially with the recent underground chef incident, he realized some things had exceeded his expectations, and he couldn't view them with the same perspective as the original storyline!

...

Creak!

As Zane pondered, the bathroom door quietly opened.

The faint sound made him aware, and he quickly opened his eyes.

He stood up from the bath and looked up, seeing a figure in a thin bathrobe, eyes filled with fear.

"Erina?"

Zane was stunned.

"You...you..."

For a moment, Erina was also stunned.

Their eyes met, and the atmosphere in the bathroom became incredibly awkward.

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