Capítulo 1041: Chapter 1040: Supreme Dragon Roar (Part 2)

Xia Yu spoke with a determined tone, saying that this plate of crab meat was just a phase of the Old Demon King’s “Supreme Dragon Roar”.

The reason was simple.

Deeply understanding what “Soul of Food” was, he knew that the style and characteristics of the mighty Food Demon King are embodied in the culinary imagery and are definitely not some small fry. Little henchmen have no place with the Old Demon King at all.

Tiqie Xianzuowen took the crab shells from the charcoal brazier, placed them on a dining table in the kitchen, and everyone gathered around.

“You can eat as you please.”

Leaving these words, the old chef returned to the cooking station.

This time, he laid a clean metal grill over the charcoal brazier but didn’t immediately place anything on it for grilling. Instead, he took a pot for cooking broth and threw in all the crab shells that were previously piled beside the wooden chopping board, leaving only a few pieces, and added clean water!

Soon the water was boiling.

Foam and steam emerged from the pot, and what was in the pot, surprisingly, was filled with crab shells!

Even Xia Yu showed a slight look of surprise.

Crab shells!

It was actually crab shells!

This thing, let alone being discarded as waste when eating crab at the dining table usually, in a restaurant kitchen, if it’s just a feast taking crab roe and meat, the crab shells would also be treated as garbage.

But it was actually a central part of Tiqie Xianzuowen’s “Supreme Dragon Roar”!

“That’s right!” Xia Yu’s surprised expression quickly subsided, “The crab shells are actually the main ingredient in the recipe!”

He contained his curiosity and continued to watch.

On the other side, the group from the Polar Star Dormitory was already having a blast sharing the charcoal-grilled crab meat, but Xia Yu, Dojima Yin, Shinohara Shigetaro, and others were completely ignoring it, focusing entirely on the crab shell broth.

The water boiled but was not turned off.

As the broth cooked, with water evaporating, it became more and more rich, the soup color turning into a creamy white.

The pot filled with clear water ultimately resulted in a broth poured into a transparent glass container.

A strainer filtered out the crab shells and impurities.

So a pot of crab shell broth, under everyone’s watchful eyes, was steaming and exuding a rich aroma.

Xia Yu took a sniff, and his arms crossed over his chest suddenly stiffened, the visionary scene of a fiery sea from the taste of crab meat became a sea of broth, with floating red shrimp and crabs in the ocean of soup.

Gulp!

His stomach sent a strong signal of hunger.

The most obvious thing was that even though Xia Yu was rather composed, a hint of appetite crept into his eyes.

“Crab shell broth, does it taste even better than the crab meat itself?”

Xingping Chuangzhen said incredulously.

Tanaka Hikari, Yoshino Yuuki, and the other companions, who were just fighting over the crab meat with chopsticks moments ago, were now drawn by the peculiar aroma, rushing over with equally bewildered expressions on their faces.

“Aren’t crab shells themselves devoid of nutrition?” Tiqie Helinai asked in a slightly dazed manner.

“Eriina, that’s not true… Crab shells are not waste; they have the characteristic of both medicinal and culinary use.”

Niho Fuyuka, coming from a family renowned for medicinal cuisine, softly explained to her lady but with a voice so soft, everyone heard most of it in the quiet kitchen, “Crab shells can be used in medicine. Pharmacists in the past specifically collected crab shells, soaked them in ghee, dried them, and crushed them into crab shell powder.”

“This kind of crab shell powder, with its sour taste and cold nature, is brewed with soup wrapped in gauze to supplement chitin.”

Chitin!

At the mention of this term, many people in the room focused their gaze.

This is a kind of food additive.

At the same time, it also has a significant effect on boosting immunity in the medical field.

But Xia Yu, unlike the others, with eyes clouded like rolling clouds, was intensely pondering something.

“From a medicinal cuisine perspective, crab meat is ‘cold’!”

“Crab shells are also extremely cold!”

Suddenly, Xia Yu’s pupils contracted.

As Tiqie Xianzuowen heard the discussions, he fetched a piece of “kelp” from somewhere.

In Neon cuisine, “kelp” is a general term for all seaweed. It’s an ingredient that has coexisted with Neon’s historical presence since the Nara Era, where Neon people have long consumed it.

In Japanese cuisine, “kelp” is usually used to boil miso soup.

In anime and many shows, the appearance of Japanese kelp is quite impressive. After all, their kelp has very large leaves, not a single thin piece, left in its most primitive algal form without cutting or processing.

Currently, Tiqie Xianzuowen had brought over such a piece of “kelp”.

“Crack!”

A piece of black kelp about three fingers wide was snapped by Xianzuowen. Judging by the crisp sound, one could tell that this piece of kelp had not been soaked.

Watching him toss this piece of kelp directly into the freshly brewed crab shell broth, and seeing the milky white soup gradually submerge the dark green ingredient, Xia Yu couldn’t help but speculate, “Kelp is also extremely cold!”

“In terms of cooking, Neon people like to add kelp when making soup to enhance the broth because kelp naturally contains umami, which can enhance the flavor of the entire pot of soup!”

“In Japanese cuisine, broth usually refers to water in which kelp has been boiled.”

Xia Yu also knew that the precursor of modern MSG, ‘monosodium glutamate’, is extracted from kelp, so one could imagine how delicious a pot of kelp broth could be.

But adding kelp was obviously not the finishing touch of Tiqie Xianzuowen’s “Supreme Dragon Roar” recipe.

Soy sauce!

A spoonful of soy sauce was poured into the broth, mixing with it, Xia Yu thought, “This is light soy sauce.”

He judged by the color of the soy sauce.

Unlike domestic light soy sauce or dark soy sauce, Japanese soy sauces come in many varieties. ‘Light soy sauce’ has a middle-grade color among many Japanese soy sauces, not too dark, typically used to prepare light-colored dishes and broths.

Xia Yu silently committed every detail to memory.

Of course.

There was a faint hint of mystical color circulating in his eyes. [Hyper-Visual]activated, revealing as much as he could glimpse!

By this point, the crab shell broth was surprisingly almost done with its preparation.

Next step, return to the pot!

Tiqie Xianzuowen poured the entire pot of broth back into the cooking pot, reigniting it.

Soon, the soup boiled, and with chopsticks in hand and an enigmatic smile at the corner of his mouth, the old man suddenly reached in with his chopsticks to grab a shadowy dark green trace in the pot. It was the piece of kelp that had been placed earlier.

Xia Yu’s expression shook.

“Huh?!”

In his vision, the shadowy dark green item being picked up with chopsticks tossed and turned in the scalding, boiling broth. What appeared no longer looked like kelp, but transformed into a mighty dark dragon.

This dragon was precisely being pinched by Tiqie Xianzuowen with his chopsticks, held at its critical juncture!

“Tch-la!” A tug!

The burner was turned off, and the dark green shadow was lifted away from the water, making everything return to normal.

Sen Tian Makoto, noticing the General picking out a piece of kelp, secretly breathed a sigh of relief. She certainly dared not question this ‘Food Demon King’s cooking procedures, but her heart felt somewhat stifled. In her mind, this piece of kelp, boiled in the returning broth, really should have been extracted even before adding light soy sauce for seasoning.

The young girl cast a glance at the countertop, only to be surprised to find Xia Yu’s forehead beading with sweat.

What happened?

She immediately grew tense, unsure of what brought about the young man’s perspiration.