Chapter 55: What is the difference between a genius and an ordinary people?
"How could this fish..." Chihiro showed a shock after she tasted the food in her mouth.
When they put the fish on their mouths, the expression of everyone on the table was instantly frozen, even Shiina, who was known as an expressionless girl.
Then everyone's complexion turned rosy, and the whole person seemed to have sublimated, full of happiness. The cooked fish would usually be soft and depending on the cooking process, the fish would be either watery if it was boiled or crispy, if it was fried, but when they bit down this fish, it was full of firmness, and their teeth could clearly feel the texture of the fish.
The taste of the fish mixed with the soup burst out in their mouths. The other ingredients in the pot had been simmered for just a few minutes, making the taste of the hot pot mix together, but when they bit down the fish, they could taste the harmony of every ingredient on the fish made it even more delicious.
"Huh~~"
After swallowing the fish that was inside his mouth, Mitaka's gaze at Shishio became even weirder, wondering what kind of family was capable of cultivating such a top chef.
'He's really mysterious...'
Mitaka knew this kind of cooking skill was impossible to be accessed by ordinary families or ordinary people. He knew that he had already overestimated Shishio's ability in his heart, but he didn't expect to underestimate him since he knew that it was almost impossible for someone to reach this kind of skill with his age.
If the one who cooked this dish was a middle-aged man or an elderly man then he wouldn't be surprised, the problem was, Shishio was only a teen!
Mitaka looked at the crystal clear fish fillets on his chopsticks. Even after it had been out of the pot for so long, the texture of the fish was still delicate and firm.
Anyone who had eaten hot pot fish should know that the taste of the cooked fish would become worse and worse as it cooled after being out of the pot for a period of time, but the one made by Shishio didn't.
Mitaka knew that the fish should be cut in a special way or there should be a secret technique that was used on the fish before it entered the pot and this kind of knowledge was impossible to be learned by most culinary schools and he knew very well, the values of the technique, recipe, etc that were done on this hot pot couldn't be bought by any amount of money.
"Oga-kun is really amazing." Mitaka smiled and somehow he liked this underclassman. He knew that the worth of this hot pot could even reach tens of thousands of dollars, but Shishio was willing to share it with everyone, this kind of disposition wasn't comparable to ordinary people, and...
Mitaka looked at Misaki who was slurping the soup next to him and couldn't wait to plunge her face directly into the pot. He couldn't help but show a happy expression, and on the contrary, he shook his head when he looked at Sorata, who was eating silently on his side.
To be honest, Shishio didn't know that he had become some kind of noble existence in Mitaka's mind, after all, learning all those abilities were beyond his control and it was rather difficult for him to cook a disgusting dish than for him to make a perfect dish.
"Cooking Mastery" this skill not only optimizes all of his cooking methods and techniques but also automatically optimizes the quality of the ingredients when he washes the vegetables or cuts the meat. Simply put, this skill is a bit like a passive skill in video games.
Even after Shishio prepares the dishes, this skill will add more color, fragrance, and flavor to the dishes so it is impossible for him to create an unpalatable dish so Mitaka was completely misunderstood Shishio, but it was also impossible to tell Mitaka about a system, not Shishio planned to.
"Ho! Ho! Shishio-kun, how did you make this dish! It's so delicious! I have never eaten such a delicious fish hot pot in my entire life! What did you put in? Ho~Ho~" Misaki kept stuffing her mouth with the fish, and even though it was hot, it was hard for her to talk, she kept stuffing her mouth.
"This..."
Mitaka was stunned, but he knew that Misaki didn't understand the meaning of her question, but he knew that Shishio's technique must already belong to the category of secret arts in the culinary world, so Misaki's words already belong to asking about other people's business secrets and family background, although, he knew that Misaki didn't mean that, nor she had a brain to think about it, but he knew very well that her question was very rude.
After all, asking someone else's secret was a very serious matter, Mitaka then looked at Misaki with some worry. Even if Shishio could forgive her, an apology was definitely inevitable, since no one could ignore this kind of behavior asking other's people for secrets, so he looked at Shishio, hopefully, nothing big would happen.
"...."
Chihiro's expression paused, didn't say anything, she wasn't stupid, although she seemed quite irresponsible, it didn't mean she couldn't understand anything, although she was wondering where her nephew learned this secret technique and understood that Shihio's family was very rich, his family didn't have anything to do with culinary business, nor was he a professional cook.
Even so, Chihiro could see the value of this skill, so now with Misaki's question, she couldn't make a decision for Shishio, so she looked at Shishio.
"..."
Shiro-san took a bit of the fish, feeling the firmness of the fish in his mouth, and glanced at Misaki, who acted so silly and asked a rude question, his expression became weird, and really admired this carefree character, and wondered why Mitaka liked this girl.
Shiro-san knew that it was impossible for Mitaka to not understand the meaning of Misaki's question based on his ability and insight, but everything was up to Shishio to solve this matter.
"Thank you for your compliment. If you are interested, then you can come to cook another day. If you don't understand, I can teach you."
Shishio looked at Misaki who happily ate his dish, and he was quite happy with her compliment since her compliment was pure without any hidden meaning behind it.
"...Eh?" Mitaka, Chihiro, and Shiro-san.
What is the situation, is that it? The minds of the three people were all messed up since originally, in their minds, Shishio turned silent, ignoring Misaki, or might even mock Misaki, or in severe cases, it might directly cause a fight in Sakurasou.
But they didn't expect this result at all!
The three of them had thought a lot of scenarios, but never expected this development to happen, although, they didn't know each other for a long time, with their understanding of Shishio, they were sure that Shishio realized the importance of his cooking techniques, but he shared it without hesitation.
Mitaka couldn't understand Shishio and what kind of thought was inside his mind to be able to say such a thing while wondering whether Shishio really didn't care to share his secret with Misaki. He wondered for a while and his expression became quite wary, wondering whether Shishio liked Misaki, who was known as an alien in the eyes of most people. If so, he needed to do something since if he didn't do something, he knew that Misaki might be stolen from him.
Chihiro suddenly wanted to take a look at Shishio's brain and didn't understand his decision to say such a thing, but it was his knowledge, and it had nothing to do with her or his family, so she didn't do anything.
However, Chihiro didn't want to stop it since it was Shishio's decision and it made her like him even more. She was also very proud when she heard his answer since she didn't expect her nephew to have such a temperament after she hadn't seen him for so many years, and the more she looked at him the more gentle her gaze was.
Among the people at this table, Sayaka, Mayumi, and Ritsu had never been in contact with such a thing, so the sudden changes in expression on Chihiro didn't make them feel any strangeness, after all, among their social circle, they had never had access to this kind of knowledge, but Shiro-san knew very well and because of that, he admired Shishio very much now.
If this question was being asked to him, then the scenario would change, but it didn't change how rude this question was, it was like when Shiro-san had just written his book, and after writing the manuscript, a friend suddenly asked him for the manuscript of the novel, but he gave it to his friend.
Shiro-san glanced at Shishio, who had already started to explain the fish hot pot method to Misaki, then glanced at Sorata who was eating silently, and shook his head.
"If you don't understand, I will show it to you later."
Shishio looked amusedly at Misaki, who was still taking notes while eating fish, and clearly knew that it was impossible for this girl to recreate this fish hot pot.