Volume 1: Japanese Storm Chapter 16: Cooking Utensils and Military Affairs (6)

  Yamaguchi Momoe: "This is abalone, matsutake mushrooms, green onions, and shrimp. And look, the tail of the shrimp is still moving! Chef Chen, how are we going to cook these?"

  Chen Aiguo: "Hmmm... the mantis shrimp will be cooked in a hot pot, the abalone will be sliced into thin pieces for everyone to enjoy like a fondue, and as for the hairy crab!"

  Chen Aiguo picked up the knife and removed the shell of the hairy crab, "It's like this, after peeling out the crab meat, put it in ice water, so that the crab meat will swell like a sesame seed ball, and when we eat it, it's easy to dip into the sauce!"

  The guests began howling like hungry wolves!

  "Next, look over here! This is the fried tofu skin from Ueno's 'Tofuya', see, it's golden yellow!" - Yoshiko Kijima

  Miyazawa Rie stroked her belly: "Looks really tempting, must be crispy and delicious! Yoshihiro-senpai~"

  Yoshiyuki Sayaka: "It's not time for a taste test yet! Miyazaki-san! Alright, let me try it out. Mmm... It's crispy and fragrant, and the flavor of the tofu explodes in my mouth as soon as I take a bite! It feels amazing!"

  The female guests started leaning on the table, swaying from side to side!

  How can this be! How can this be!

  "Then, what's next, Chef Sugihara?" Yoshie Kiji

  Suguru opened the lid of a clay pot, and hot air wafted out. "When it comes to sumo hot pot, first we need to simmer the broth. We mainly use chicken bones, but to add flavor, we'll also add thick slices of chashu pork and dried shiitake mushrooms. Today's main flavor is miso!"

  "Will these meats also go into the pot?" - Yoshino Sayuri

  Sugiura Yuu: "Haiyaa~ and fresh fish and shellfish are also a must! Hmm, that's it!"

  The guests started hearing their own saliva sounds, gurgling!

  Yoshiyuki Kiyoharu picked up a scallop, "Huh? This shellfish is still alive! Ahh~"

  Yamaguchi Momoe pressed down on the scallop, and it immediately clamped down on Yoshino Sayuri's finger, "Ow ow ow~"

  "Miss Bai Hui, how could you be like this!"

  "What's wrong with me?"

  "You just pressed the fan, and my hand got pinched!"

  "It's not that it's not, it's just that this scallop is struggling for its life, you said so yourself, isn't it still alive? Look~"

  Yamaguchi Momoe pressed the scallop again, "Hmmm... Sumo hot pot is no different from Miso soup at all!"

  Yoshiyuki Kobayashi made a painful face and then retorted, "Ms. Hyoe, let go of my hand, it hurts! Sumo hot pot is not the same as miso soup, they're completely different, the difference between them is like heaven and earth!"

  Two beautiful hostesses engage in a war of words, and the guests continue to laugh out loud!

  "Alright, let our chef continue with the cooking, and we'll watch a VCR segment! Let's learn more about Zhonghua Yuan Yang Seafood Hot Pot and Sumo Hot Pot! Matsushima-kun, Matsushima-kun, stop staring at the hot pot and hurry up to turn off the lights and play the VCR! Honestly, none of you have any sense of responsibility as a producer!"

  The guests all burst out laughing!

  "This is the Chinese Mandarin Duck Hot Pot! This winter, it's settled! In China, over 10,000 years ago, there were ceramic containers with three or four legs called Ding. At that time, as long as it was edible food, mainly meat-based, they would all be thrown into the Ding and cooked over an open flame at the bottom. The name of this dish was called Geng, which is the earliest form of hot pot! Later on, with the development of tableware and ingredients, pots with multiple compartments appeared. During China's Three Kingdoms period, around 220 AD, the ancestor of the Mandarin Duck Pot, 'Wu Shu Fang', emerged. After a long time, the Chinese incorporated the concept of Taiji Yin Yang into hot pot, creating the modern Mandarin Duck Hot Pot!"

  "The Chinese 'Tao Te Ching' says, the Tao gives birth to one, one gives birth to two, two gives birth to three, and three gives birth to all things. The ultimate reality is one, heaven and earth, yin and yang are two, manifesting the world's myriad things in the cyclical alternation of yin and yang, maintaining the balance of species and numbers!"

  "The red soup on the left and the white soup on the right in the Mandarin duck pot complement each other, which is exactly what it means!"

  "Red soup and white soup, which one would you like to taste?"

  "Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Mr. Longshan from Zhonghua Dragon Restaurant to give us a brief introduction!"

  Longshan: "The red soup on this side is a spicy and numbing flavor, putting the meat in it to eat, while the seafood is cooked in white soup and tastes great! This is just a general way of eating, everyone can choose according to their own taste, there's no big taboo! If you like to eat spicy food, then choose red soup, if you don't like to eat spicy food, then choose white soup! Hmm~ that's it!"

  "On a cold winter's day, a pot of delicious Chinese Yuanyang seafood hot pot is emitting its charm! The charm of Chinese seafood hot pot lies not only in the mystery of its flavor, nor just in its long history of development. Inside the hot pot also contains a mysterious and unexplainable secret that has puzzled science for 5,000 years - that is, fortune-telling through hot pot!"

  "Yuan Yang hot pot has incorporated China's yin-yang Tai Chi theory, using the dual division of yin and yang as its basis. Therefore, Yuan Yang pot can also be used as a tool for fortune-telling!"

  President of Chinese Astrology Association, Mr. Bao Liming said so!

  "Hot pot fortune-telling is a way of divining one's fate and luck based on the ingredients put into the pot, and different ingredients have different meanings!"

  Bao Liming: "Uh, first of all, crabs will affect the love fortune. The ingredients in crabs can improve kidney function, and if kidney function is good, men will exude masculine charm, while women will be gentle and charming..."

  "The master seems to be talking endlessly, or is he just ignoring theories? Let's hurry up and ask him to divine a hexagram!"

  The guests on the scene burst out laughing!

  On VCR, staff passed a photo of Yamaguchi Momoe!

  "Would you mind calculating it for him?"

  Bao Liming took the photo, "Good!"

  Three minutes later!

  Bao Liming: "Ah, all the fish balls are floating up! The shrimp and crabs have gathered at a spot with strong firepower. This shows that Yamaguchi Baiko-san's luck is extremely good!"

  "What about this one?" The staff member handed over a photo of Yoshiko Kayama again!

  Three more minutes passed.

  Okay, this time, out of five dumplings, only one floats up!

  "Things don't look good! Miss Yoshino Sayuri's luck hasn't been great lately... Ah, wait, a Maruko just popped up!"

  Bao Liming dodged like lightning, "Not bad, huh? It seems that her recent luck is not good on the surface, but actually, it's a good omen!"

  Bao Liming picked up the flying meatball with a pair of chopsticks and took a big bite!

  "See, Baiko-san? My luck has been incredibly good lately!"

  Yamaguchi Baishi: "He's telling a lie, yeah, he must be lying, how could that possibly jump up?!"

  Two beautiful hostesses started arguing again, and the guests burst into laughter once more!

  "Alright, although everyone is already familiar with sumo hot pot, let's take a look at the VCR again and review it one more time!"

  Yamaguchi Momoe poked her head out from beside, "Actually, I knew it all along!"

  Yoshiyuki Sayuri was both angry and amused, "Ms. Hyakkei, how can you steal the spotlight like that?"

  "Sumo hot pot is a high-nutrition and large-portioned meal that sumo wrestlers often eat, made by stewing chicken, fish, tofu, vegetables, and rice in a large pot. The characteristics of sumo hot pot are its large quantity and rich content! There are also many key flavors to sumo hot pot, so we asked the owner of a sumo hot pot restaurant with a strong background to explore what the key flavor of sumo hot pot is?"

  "What is Asakaze Koto's sumo hot pot special skill that excels at pushing opponents out of the ring?"

  (Sekitori: Rikishi with a rank of jūryō or higher are called sekitori, can be recognized as independent rikishi in the same industry, can receive a monthly salary, have attendants, and their hair is also styled in a elegant way like a large silver ginkgo!)

  "Key is still garlic, garlic, use garlic to add rich flavor to the soup!"

  "What is Mr. Katsuo Kobayashi's sumo hot pot special skill that squeezed out the noisy scene outside?"

  Kobayashi Katsunori: "It's just burdock root, its aroma and flavor will change the taste of the entire hot pot!"

  "Yuhai Li's specialty is taking down opponents with his swift and powerful moves, but what other secret techniques does Mr. Kobayashi have up his sleeve for the sumo hot pot?"

  Kawabe Kōfu: "It's a jingisukan meatball. In the jingisukan meatball, many ingredients are added to increase the sumo wrestler's energy!"

  "Garlic, burdock, assorted meatballs... Ah, these are the three essentials of sumo hot pot!"

  "There's no sumo without chankonabe! All sumo wrestlers eat chankonabe every day!"

  ……

  The light turned on.

  Okay, a very interesting scene has emerged, with two beautiful female hosts standing side by side. Yamaguchi Momoe started making some movements similar to Tai Chi, while Yoshino Kumiko, oh my god, she actually started posing in sumo wrestling moves!

  At this point, Jerry finally couldn't bear it anymore!

  Is this Tai Chi vs Japanese Sumo?