I knew it, so I prepared in advance.
Having quickly finished a bowl of the pork and bean sprout stir-fry, I took the second bowl offered by Senior Fuma to taste the next dish.
This ti, it was a seasoned bean sprout salad.
The bean sprout salad, seasoned with salt, soy sauce, and sesa oil, had a very savory aroma.
The crunchy texture, salty taste, and nuttiness of sesa oil created a pleasant harmony.
After a bite of rice, I then tried the miso soup with bean sprouts.
It was ordinary miso soup, but the crunchy texture of bean sprouts offered a different charm than the usual soybean paste soup.
This is the expected taste so far.
Delicious but not special, a common taste available anywhere.
Perhaps the commonness of bean sprouts was a disadvantage.
Senior Fumas final dish is bean sprout teppanyaki, maybe.
Its simply stir-fried lightly blanched bean sprouts with the secret black sauce that had a great flavor in the pork and bean sprout stir-fry.
It was a simple dish that almost feels wrong to call food, but the aroma that stimulated my nostrils revealed it to be a dark horse.
Gulp.
I made a lot, so eat and eat again.
Senior Fuma said that while offering a mountain of bean sprouts coated in black seasoning.
I said I will eat well and took a generous amount with my chopsticks and put it in my mouth.
!
It was delicious.
I wasnt sure if I should say this, but it tasted even better than at.
The unique crunchiness of bean sprouts, the sweet and salty secret sauce, and the lightly applied smoky flavor perfectly combined.
Unlike at, which could feel heavy and burdenso if eaten continuously, bean sprouts didnt bring a sense of fullness, so I kept eating.
As I quickly ate nearly a third of the piled bean sprouts on the plate, the Vice President and Minami, watching from the side, put the bean sprouts in their mouths with tense expressions.
!!!
Both of them, as if entranced, started to devour the bean sprouts with expressions as if they had discovered a new world of taste.
It was scary.
As the son of a formal restaurant, it was truly a fearso dish.
Catching two birds with one stonetaste and cost-effectiveness.
Seeing the three judges reactions, Senior Fuma proudly puffed out her chest, and the President bit her lip, seemingly a bit anxious.
But soon, returning to her usual confident expression, she thrust the black fan she always carried towards us, who had just finished tasting the bean sprout dishes, and exclaid.
Now its my turn!
Following Senior Fumas surprisingly powerful bean sprout full course, the President brought out a four-person hot pot dish.
Of course, Senior Fuma, who lived alone, didnt have such a large hot pot dish at her house, so it was all purchased on the spot from the mart.
The Presidents cooking, with a hot pot dish (2000 yen) and an electric induction cooker (10000 yen), already exceeded the budget compared to Senior Fuma, whose total ingredient cost didnt exceed 2000 yen.
But the real start is now.
About 5000 yen worth of bonito flakes, shiitake mushrooms, kelp, and anchovy powder were used to make the broth, and various vegetables and mushrooms grown by eco-friendly farming thods, along with high-quality tofu and yuba, cost about 3000 yen.
Finally, 900g of A5 grade wagyu beef for shabu-shabu (13000 yen excluding tax).
To make the shabu-shabu dish in front of us, about 33000 yen was spent.
It was a significant amount for just one al, but unfortunately, the President, born rich, was not aware of that.
Start lightly with vegetables and mushrooms, then tofu and yuba,^[ED/N: Yuba is a Japanese ingredient known as tofu skin or bean curd skin.] beef, and finally finish with porridge or udon.
The President said so and handed us each a plate.
Senior Fuma swallowed her saliva, seeing the pinkish beef, but didnt take a bowl, perhaps due to pride.
She seed to be planning to eat after the judging was over.
Then, we began eating the shabu-shabu as per the Presidents instructions.
Generally, shabu-shabu and nabe (Japanese hot pot) were similar types of dishes.
Both involved dipping various vegetables and ingredients in hot broth, then finishing with porridge or udon.
However, the at in nabe was usually sowhat seasoned, while shabu-shabu was about tasting the natural flavors of the ingredients.
First, I tasted the broth.
Mmm
An involuntary sigh.
There was no MSG, but the use of good ingredients gave it a dizzying umami flavor.
Then, I tasted a bite of the enoki mushroom soaked in the warm broth.
Ah, ah.
The chewy texture, different from at, stimulated the appetite.
Next were the vegetables and tofu.
The vegetables and tofu, softened in the broth, dissolved easily with the touch of chopsticks, requiring one to bring the bowl to their mouth to eat.
Sipping it with the warm broth, the sweetness of the well-known vegetables and the nuttiness of the high-quality tofu used were felt simultaneously.
Next was the yuba.
Japanese yuba is quite sweet, unlike Korean yuba.
I was honestly surprised when I first ate it, but now Im sowhat accustod to it.
I took a bite of the yuba, which paired well with the light broth flavor.
Although made from the sa soybeans, yuba had a completely different taste and texture than tofu, which was its charm.
So, its ti for the main character to make an appearance.
As the Vice President muttered, Minami, who was eagerly devouring the shabu-shabu, nodded vigorously.
The A grade wagyu sirloin was sothing not typically eaten in an average household.
The wagyu sirloin, rolled up just right and not too thin or thick, was dropped into the broth.
1 second, 2 seconds, 3 seconds.
I counted the ti internally, retrieving the at from the broth just before it was completely cooked.
Whew, whew.
I wrapped the steaming at in the completely softened cabbage and perilla leaves and dipped it in soy sauce.
Then I took a big bite.
Delicious.
Was this the taste of capitalism?
The broth had good ingredients and was added with good vegetables, and I was able to eat good at.
I was lost in the flavor of wagyu spreading throughout my mouth.
I didnt expect such a difference in taste, even with the sa beef.
All the beef I had eaten until now seed to have been rely imitations.
In the heat of the mont, I blanched the wagyu in the boiling broth until I was reasonably full, then finished with so udon noodles.
The shabu-shabu prepared by the President was a perfect course al in a different sense from the bean sprout full course prepared by Senior Fuma.
Because it allowed to experience the start and end in one bowl.
That was also the charm of shabu-shabu.
Anyway, having tasted both dishes, all that was left was to make a choice.
I looked at the Vice President and Minami.
Both of them seed to have already made up their minds.
We announced the results of the judgnt to the two, who were waiting with tense expressions.
The person we chose as the winner is
Argh! Its frustrating! I cant believe bean sprouts can taste this good!
Ah, its been a long ti since Ive had such delicious beef.
This was the evaluation of the two, tasting each others dishes after the final result was decided.
Since we had already finished our dinner under the guise of judging, we simply watched the two of them enjoy their dinner face-to-face with contentnt.
Ill hone my culinary skills more and definitely win next ti!
Haha, its good to be ambitious, President.
Senior Fuma was the final winner of the cooking contest, as decided by , the Vice President, and Minami.
While the Presidents cooking was not bad, the decisive factor in the victory was the presence of the bean sprout teppanyaki.
Firstly, it had overwhelming cost-effectiveness.
Compared to Senior Fumas dish, which could be made with just a bag of bean sprouts and a bit of secret sauce, the Presidents shabu-shabu cost almost ten tis more, excluding the hot pot and induction cooker.
And the bean sprouts were just too delicious.
The fact that a vegetable available for 100 yen felt tastier than at was as good as declaring the ga over.
For a big eater like , cost-effectiveness was an undeniable factor.
Anyway, thanks to their competition, we had an unexpectedly delicious dinner, and not wanting to overstay our welco, we decided to leave.
Until the end, Senior Fuma awkwardly attempted to tempt with, If you ever change your mind, let know, Kim Yu-seong, but I managed to smoothly avoid it thanks to the Presidents interference.
On the way back ho.
Since we were going in the sa direction, I got a ride in the Presidents limousine and asked her a question.
By the way, how do you know Senior Fuma?
The President answered with a face that still looked sowhat upset.
Weve been in the sa class since the first year. Were not particularly close, but we exchanged greetings. Though I wont do it anymore from tomorrow.
That seed to be the case.
It was a day when I learned about the Presidents limited personal connections and saw a new side of her.
And the remaining ingredients were deliciously consud byno, not the staffbut by Senior Fuma.
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