Because it used bonito, sardine, mackerel, and various other fish flakes and kelp, the dipping sauce that was simmered out had an exceptionally rich fishy umami.
It didn't need anything else at all; just the dipping sauce was delicious enough.
This was truly demonstrating with its own strength to what extent a bowl of Udon, with nothing added, could be delicious.
Afterward, drinking the soup, the taste was not as rich as Ramen soup, with a faint seafood High Soup flavor and a hint of sweetness.
Overall, this bowl of Udon gave Sosuke a feeling similar to boiled chicken:
Simple seasoning, striving to maintain the original flavor.
…
At this moment, Sosuke, savoring the taste, was somewhat entranced.
Although he rarely tasted Erina's cooking, according to the original plot, one could glimpse that her dishes often gave people a particularly noble and stunning feeling.
Just like her background, her talent, and her gifts, she always seemed out of reach!
This was fully reflected in her choice of ingredients; the ingredients she used were often high-grade and exquisite, noble and rare.
As for inexpensive common ingredients, she disliked them greatly.
Perhaps for her, the most frequently used word in her life's dictionary was:
Perfect!
But excessive pursuit of perfection naturally creates a sense of distance.
It's like an eagle striving to spread its wings and fly, then using its own strength to fly very, very high, conquering the sky, and demonstrating its dominance to all other birds!
However, from the perspective of birds standing below.
This eagle also became increasingly tiny, eventually becoming completely unclear and invisible due to the distance being too far and too high.
Erina herself would definitely not be like Tadokoro Megumi, able to think about the essence of cooking from the diner's perspective.
Therefore, her cooking, in Sosuke's initial impression, was like that of Kuga Terunori, Mito Ikumi, Kobayashi Rindo, and others, all of whom were "entertaining themselves."
But this bowl of Udon in front of him made Sosuke see her growth!
Perhaps because this Udon dish was made by Erina for Sosuke, it was inevitable that during the cooking process, she was willing to think and change from Sosuke's perspective.
But no matter what, being able to make a dish from another person's perspective means Erina has transformed.
…
"How is it? Is my Udon dish not good?"
Seeing Sosuke remain silent, eyes closed in thought, Erina became increasingly restless, asking nervously and expectantly.
"Erina, your cooking is good, it's really delicious."
Opening his eyes, Sosuke took another slurp and then smiled at Nakiri Erina.
"Huh?"
"This…"
"I just casually made a few moves, it's… it's not particularly elegant or exquisite."
"Because I used to be too lazy to make this kind of Udon, thinking you wouldn't like such a cheap dish, I didn't expect you to actually find it delicious!"
Learning that her cooking had actually been recognized by Sosuke.
At this moment, Nakiri Erina was inevitably a little excited. Her beautiful eyes sparkled, and upon closer inspection, there was a hint of shyness in the dim light.
She began to cup her chin with both hands, her eyes seemingly glued to Sosuke as if with 502 glue. Then, seeing him eat the Udon bite after bite, her heart couldn't help but race.
This feeling of cooking for her beloved, she had never experienced before.
But now, she could probably experience it, right?
"Although the ingredients are simple, the taste it creates is always surprising."
"Erina, there are indeed infinite possibilities within you."
Sosuke said with a smile again.
Then, under Nakiri Erina's gaze, he continued to eat this extremely delicious Udon.
And Erina, who was already distracted, didn't quite hear what Sosuke was saying. She just felt that her current mood was truly pleasant, truly happy!
…
The curse of the God Tongue indeed made life worse than death.
However, this ability, in terms of analyzing and controlling the taste of every dish, was indeed more subtle and precise than that of ordinary people.
In fact, in the earlier parts of the original story, Erina had very few appearances. During the Practical Training activity, her performance was even more low-key than Sōma and Alice.
By the Autumn Elections, as one of the Elite Ten, she was almost entirely offline.
Therefore, her own cooking skills were rarely displayed in front of others. Of course, considering that the Elite Ten generally did not show up until the Momijigari Tournament, they still maintained a "mysterious" aura in front of the students.
So, Erina's limited appearances were quite reasonable.
Even so, almost no one in the entire Totsuki Culinary Academy dared to underestimate her, not even the Elite Ten members with higher seats than her.
And the reason people feared her was because of her God Tongue ability.
Under the influence of this ability, she far surpassed everyone else in terms of cooking speed and proficiency.
Yukihira Sōma often played pranks with his father at Yukihira Restaurant, researching the effects of octopus legs and peanut sauce for many years.
As a result, it always remained at the level of "dark cuisine," and the things he made purely disgusted diners.
But after Erina learned about this miraculous combination, she could immediately evolve it.
She directly transformed this combination into a common dish, Oyako Don, and then, relying on this dish, instantly defeated the strongest Elite Ten combination of Eishi Tsukasa and Kobayashi Rindo!
To be honest.
Such strength.
Let alone Jōichirō, Gin Dojima, and Sōma, even Sosuke found it incredibly impressive!
Therefore, in his eyes, Nakiri Erina was indeed a rare genius in this world.
If nothing unexpected happened, apart from himself, it was unlikely that any other chef would ever be able to surpass her.
After all, if you want to win against her, you can only constantly put effort into the theory and creativity of cooking, and it's only effective the first time it appears. If Erina tastes it with her God Tongue, it becomes completely ineffective! (End of Chapter)
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