Using catfish to make it look like noodles, and also adding a squid core inside the catfish noodles, with a sea bream High Soup for the broth.
However, the taste was still like the Rising Dragon Dumplings and Reincarnation Spring Roll from last time, making her find it unpalatable!
"The God Tongue's ability hasn't failed, but why can't I consistently make it perfectly?"
After thinking for a moment, Erina's mental state was on the verge of collapsing.
Whenever she had free time recently, she would mentally re-enact Sosuke making dishes, and then, following suit, she would constantly try to replicate his dishes in the kitchen.
But no matter how many times she tried, her own standard was always inferior to Sosuke's!
…
"Erina, you really are still here in the kitchen."
"Just now in the back kitchen, when I learned that you were the first to complete the dinner examination, I was really a bit unwilling."
Another Nakiri-ojousama suddenly appeared behind Erina.
"Alice, which number were you to come out?"
Hastily putting down her chopsticks, Erina, whose thoughts had been interrupted, didn't get angry. Instead, she frowned slightly and asked indifferently.
"Fourth, I was the fourth student to complete the dinner examination."
Alice blinked her blood-red eyes and said with some pride.
"Only fourth?"
Erina was slightly surprised to hear this: "I thought you would be behind me."
"Hayama Akira was second, my follower was third, and Yukihira Sōma, who was fifth, was only a few seconds slower than me."
Seeing Erina's cold attitude towards her again, Alice felt a wave of displeasure.
But remembering that the purpose of her visit was not to argue, she suppressed this emotion and replied.
"Hmm?"
"Hayama Akira?"
Upon hearing this name, Nakiri Erina couldn't help but be startled.
Although she hadn't interacted much with Hayama Akira, she was still very aware of some of his deeds.
She recalled that he was the child Professor Jun Shiomi had picked up during her survey in the slums of India.
Unlike ordinary people, Hayama Akira possessed the ability of a God's sense of smell.
Although there was no evidence to suggest that this ability was innate like her Erina's,
it was indeed true that under the influence of this ability, Hayama Akira was much better at distinguishing the aromas of various ingredients than many others. And by utilizing this special skill, his ability to control the olfactory impact of dishes could reach a nearly unparalleled level. Furthermore, he could firmly capture anyone's appetite simply by using spices and the enticing aroma of food!
So, upon hearing that Alice had actually lost to such a person, Erina felt relieved.
…
Taking a few steps forward, she briefly examined the bowl of noodles on the table.
Seeing that the noodles were wider and thicker than usual, and upon gently sniffing, she also detected a faint seafood aroma.
Alice's eyes darted around, as if she understood something, and she couldn't help but say: "Are you replicating Sosuke's dish again?"
"Yes, this is a noodle-but-not-noodle dish."
After speaking, Nakiri Erina threw all the failed catfish noodles into the trash can.
"Threw it away?"
"You… isn't that too wasteful of food?"
Seeing this, Alice felt a bit shocked.
She recalled that when she was 5 years old, a cake she made was also directly thrown away by Erina because of her comment, "It doesn't taste good"!
"I absolutely will not tolerate flawed dishes appearing before me," Erina said coldly.
After speaking, she no longer wanted to bother with Alice and turned back to continue making the noodle-but-not-noodle dish.
Although she still felt very displeased, seeing that she had started cooking again, Alice suddenly felt curious and obediently retreated to the side, observing with full concentration.
Soon, a bowl of noodle-but-not-noodle dish was prepared again.
…
"This… is this really catfish meat? Or is it noodles?"
After a brief glance and recalling the previous method, Alice blinked her bright eyes and asked in confusion.
"Noodle-but-not-noodle!"
"It is a noodle, and it is not a noodle."
"Forget it, you wouldn't understand anyway. In short, it's catfish made to look like noodles."
"But because catfish meat is tender and plump, the noodles produced would lack a refreshing, springy texture, so we can only insert squid cores in the middle of the noodles."
Erina glanced at her and explained.
"Making noodles directly from catfish meat, is that still noodles?"
Alice felt even stranger upon hearing this, constantly pondering the question of this noodle-but-not-noodle in her mind.
Recently, she had been busy researching Molecular Cuisine and rarely went to Izakaya anymore.
Therefore, when she vaguely understood the logic of this noodle-but-not-noodle dish, she faintly realized that she seemed to have missed something.
Meanwhile, Erina picked up her chopsticks, picked up a catfish noodle, and ate it.
Chewing it, she only felt that the taste and texture of this noodle-but-not-noodle were still not good, so she could only sigh helplessly and muttered to herself: "Sigh, another failure!"
…
For such a failed dish,
Erina naturally wanted to discard it again.
Seeing this, Alice quickly reacted and snatched the bowl of catfish noodles into her hands: "Even if it's not well-made, you can't always trample on it like this, can you?"
"If you're willing to taste it, then it's yours."
"It can also make you understand how big the gap is between the dishes I replicate from Sosuke and you."
"Also, as cousins, I still want to advise you, instead of focusing all your attention on me, you should first save your energy for this Practical Training activity."
"I have a premonition that this training activity is not as simple as you and I imagine!"
Perhaps not wanting to stay with her, after seeing her snatch the bowl of catfish noodles, Erina only spoke a few quiet words before leaving the kitchen.
"Hmph, always like this."
Looking at the departing figure, Alice pouted her small lips.
Immediately after, she quickly picked up a springy catfish noodle with her chopsticks, slurped it, and chewed it carefully.
"Hmm?"
"This elasticity, it feels like it can bounce off your teeth."
"It really does feel chewier than noodles made from flour!"
"Wait, this dish is from Sosuke, so Erina's bowl of noodle-but-not-noodle is still just a failed dish?"
After taking one bite, Alice was completely shocked.
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