A Spice in Life (Shokugeki no Soma x Fem!Reader)

Chapter 71 - Teletubbies, Gaslighting, and Gacha Toys

(Name)'s POV

"Then let's just have both sets of dishes at once!" Anne declared, and the judges dug in.

Judge Charme began with Mimasaka's sushi, whilst Judge Histoire started on my cayenne dish. At once, their eyes widened as they exclaimed something about how 'the energy from the ingredients is hitting our mouths like a barrage!'. Our friends rejoiced at their full-body reaction, taking it as a good sign for our team.

Thus far, it seemed Mimasaka and Saito's sushi were equally matched, and the decision would come down to the gunkan. The judges were pleasantly surprised to see Mimasaka incorporated the same soy sauce he smoked for Kuga in his own dish.

At the same time, the judges reviewed my dish, and they paused in unison at the sight before them.

"Ah, allow me to explain," I stepped forward and gestured to each of the thick, crispy noodle-spheres. "If you could please use your spoon to break the sphere in the center of your plate..."

"What's this?" All three of them gasped when a delectable sauce poured out from the center of the sphere, now freed through the crack as it had once been contained within its noodle prison. "There was a sauce inside! She'd fried the noodles into a ball-shape and somehow stored the sauce within it!" It hadn't been an easy feat to fry the noodle-ball and fill it with sauce. I had to take into account the texture of the noodles, the temperature of the oil, and even the consistency of the sauce to prevent it from collapsing into a soggy heap.

From there, they bit into the noodles and the peanut sauce, and I was both pleased and relieved by their overdramatic reactions of ecstasy. "There are so many flavors!!" They gasped and took another bite. "I can tell she used a number of spices, but it's clear that the star of this dish is cayenne!"

Judge Histoire's glasses reflected against the light as he adjusted them on his nose. "That's right. And despite the large amount of spices used, none of them feel out of place."

"To blend so many different flavors without them clashing, and still managing to use them to highlight the flavors of the cayenne is no easy feat!" Charme's hand trembled ever-so-slightly as he went in for another bite.

"I used a custom blend of Togarashi spice for that, inspired by our very own Hayama of Shiomi R.S. and his masala!" I credited the boy and gestured to where he stood in the cage. "Say hi, Yama-kun!"

"H-huh? Uh—" Hayama flinched at the sudden feeling of a stadium-ful of eyes on him, and the camera even focused to display him up on the Jumbotron. He was no stranger to the feeling (dude literally won the Autumn Election), yet he still shied away from the unexpected attention. I could practically hear him mumble an exasperated 'Homura...' from here, if the way he ducked his head and rubbed at his forehead was anything to go by.

I chuckled to myself and continued my explanation. I'd specifically chosen freshwater shrimp for the dish so that they would better absorb the sauces I cooked with, specifically the Tamari sauce I made from fermented soybeans and rice vinegar from Ryoko (cue a meek 'Homura!' from the girl, who was not expecting a sudden credit to her name, just as I did to Hayama). The judges hummed in agreement at how the dipping sauce brought out the umami of the shrimp.

But what they truly fixated on was the Nam Jim sauce. I intentionally used shrimp to pair with it, and focused on harnessing its glutamate and inosinate to boost the umami flavor of the dish. The sauce originated from Thailand, which I created from a blend of fish sauce, shrimp paste, garlic, lime juice, sugar, and of course fresh chili peppers. The judges described it as "addictively pungent" with its flavors and aroma, and chattered about how well it paired with the vegetables and shrimp in the dish.