“Hm. A dal bean curry, eh? It looks similar to Chana Masala, a Punjabi dish that uses chickpeas... ! This viscous stickiness...!" "It's Natto!" Gooey texture and savory flavor are melding together inside my mouth! Was natto ever this delicious? "Wait... this is no normal natto! Could it be..." "Yes, sir. This natto I made by hand using charcoal smoke. It's charcoal-aged natto. After I added the natto spores to a batch of soybeans, I stored them in an underground room. There I lit a charcoal fire and then kept the room at just the right temperature and humidity to ferment the soybeans. As this process takes several days to complete, I prepared it ahead of time, over my summer break." "The carbon dioxide generated by the charcoal fire impacts the maturation of the soy proteins. It gives the natto a richer flavor. It also halts bacteria death in the beans, preventing the typical smell of ammonia from developing!" "Did you know all that?" "I heard a little about it once. It's supposed to be a really hard process that takes loads of time to finish!" "And she made it by herself?!" "But that isn't all. There's another flavor--- a deeper, more savory one that resonates across the tongue like a deep bass chord." "Oh, that? As a special hidden seasoning, I added shoyu koji." SHOYU KOJI Instead of salt, soy sauce is added to the koji bacteria and mixed with the rice until thick. Then it is left to ferment at a constant temperature for several weeks. So that's the black stuff that was in that jar! Shoyu koji has over ten times glutamic acid---an umami component--- than shio koji does. I see. While the strong flavor of curry spices drowns out most other seasonings, shoyu koji's flavor is powerful enough to that it is instead a savory magnifier! Her curry takes full advantage of her detailed knowledge of fermentation techniques! It is truly a magnificent dish! "The creamy Japanese-style curry roux has blended in with the natto's gooeyness beautifully!" "The mound of crisp, minced green onion on top is hard to resist as well!"” Japanese FoodCurrySeasoningAgedSoybeansSoy SauceFood ScienceFermentedSmokedNatto Book:食戟のソーマ 7 [Shokugeki no Souma 7] Source: 食戟のソーマ 7 [Shokugeki no Souma 7]
“With standard pot stickers, the filling is enclosed in a wheat-dough wrapper. But with these, the filling is stuffed into a chicken wing. "Stuffed chicken wings. You can call 'em chicken-wing pot stickers too. So you made some stuffed Satsuma Jidori chicken-wing pot stickers, eh, Yukihira?" "You got it! First, you remove the two long bones inside the wing... Then you stuff the filling in the cavity they leave behind and fry 'em up! That's the basics of a stuffed chicken wing." "Mmm! I can smell their savory aroma from here. What's in the filling?" "Well, there're the basics, like ground pork, chives and cabbage. I added some diced pork jowl too. Oh! And shiitake mushrooms. That's the important part. See, chicken meat has inosinic acid in it, and shiitake mushrooms have guanylic acid. Both of those are umami components. Together, they magnify each other, giving the dish a richer flavor.” Souma YukihiraFillingsUmamiChicken WingsFood ScienceAcidsPot StickersShiitake Mushrooms Book:食戟のソーマ 17 [Shokugeki no Souma 17] Source: 食戟のソーマ 17 [Shokugeki no Souma 17]
“The cream sauce has a rich, full-bodied bitterness to it that makes the tongue tingle... Its spicy freshness lightens up the thick, heavy flavor of the roast beef to exactly the right degree! The wallop the meat's juice packs is no joke, but I feel I could keep eating this forever! Sure, he shoved a mountain of artichokes into this dish... ... but how did he manage to make their uniquely fresh, vibrant and astringent flavor stand out this much?! "This, too, is the result of Mr. Eizan's highly skilled use of cynarine. Any unnecessary source of sweetness has been removed, which makes the taste of the cream sauce stand out even more starkly." "Whoa, Whoa! Slow down. I'm totally lost here!" "I get that cynarine's supposed to make stuff taste sweet, but how does that even work?" "Is it so bitter that anything tasted afterwards seems sweet by comparison?" "No, it isn't anything as simple as that. Cynarine directly affects the taste buds." Yep! When you eat food that contains cynarine, the compound spreads across your tongue as you chew, covering up and thereby blocking the taste buds for sweetness. That's what's happening with Yukihira and the judges right now. Their tongues can't taste sweet, so bitter flavors really stand out. As they eat other food, the act of chewing gradually wipes the cynarine off the tongue. Slowly, their taste buds resume their normal functions. But here's where the important bit happens... Since the tongue has been blocked from tasting sweet flavors for a time... ... even a tiny bit of sweetness will now stick out like a sore thumb! "When there's a ton of cynarine smeared on the tongue, even a cup of water will taste supersweet.” CreamSweetnessReductionSauceTaste BudsArtichokesRoast BeefFood ScienceAlice NakiriCynarine Book:食戟のソーマ 27 [Shokugeki no Souma 27] Source: 食戟のソーマ 27 [Shokugeki no Souma 27]