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“ This dish... it's sweet-and-sour pork but with black vinegar. In fact, you could call it "Black Vinegar Pork." The glossy black of the vinegar was used to great effect in the plating, giving the dish a classy and luxuriant appearance. But the moment you put a bite in your mouth... fresh, vibrant green tea explodes in a sea of invigorating green. It is extravagantly delicious.
Chef Kuga's Sweet-and-Sour sauce includes not just black vinegar but also balsamic vinegar as well as Chef Mimasaka's smoked soy sauce! It destroys the traditional boundaries of sweet-and-sour pork, creating a dish that's rich, tangy and savory while erasing the pork's thick greasiness to push the taste of the green tea to the forefront!
He has completely succeeded in taking the green tea leaves and making them the centerpiece of his dish!
But the point most worthy of attention...
... is that this sublime taste experience wasn't created using solely Chinese-cooking techniques.
It shows an equally deft use of traditional French techniques!"
"What the... French?!
But isn't he supposed to be a purely Sichuan-Chinese chef?!"
"Yes, yes. I'm gonna explain, so quiet down and listen up, 'kay? See, there's another secret y'all don't know.
That sweet-and-sour sauce? I based it on Sauce au Vinaigre Balsamique. That's a balsamic vinegar sauce used in a whole lot of French recipes."
"Aha! Now I see. So that's where it came from!
French Vinaigre Balsamique sauce is a reduction of balsamic vinegar and Glac¨¦ de Viande!
It has a light tanginess and thick richness, which must have boosted the deliciousness of the sweet-and-sour pork into the stratosphere! ”
― Yuto Tsukuda, ʳꪤΥ½©`¥Þ 27 [Shokugeki no Souma 27]

“I can see Mr. Yukihira is saut¨¦ing cubed chicken, diced onion, prawns and uncooked rice in his.
He filled the frying pan with the gentle flavor of butter, and he's now softly wrapping it around each and every one of his ingredients!
On the other hand, Mr. Saito heated some garlic slices in oil until fragrant...
... and then added his butter together with soy sauce, cuttlefish and cuttlefish liver.
The unique and luxuriantly salty smell of the bounty of the sea is being taken to even greater heights with the rich scent of butter!”
― Yuto Tsukuda, ʳꪤΥ½©`¥Þ 27 [Shokugeki no Souma 27]

“Ooh, but the most surprising dish of all was Mr. Tsukasa's four shades of Green Tea Puree! He pureed each type of tea leaf together with the vegetables, mushrooms or beans that best complemented it and then wove them together into a single, harmonious dish!"
He boiled the chickpeas. And for the asparagus and artichoke, he cleaned and sliced them before saut¨¦ing them in butter. Once all were gently heated through, he teamed them up with their specific tea leaf, placed them in a food processor and pureed them!
He seasoned the resulting puree with just a touch of salt, pepper and butter and then plated them in spinning-wheel arrangement, making an elegant dish of the gently shifting flavors of green tea!”
― Yuto Tsukuda, ʳꪤΥ½©`¥Þ 27 [Shokugeki no Souma 27]

“Shigureni is a variety of stewed meat where ginger has been added to the traditional soy sauce-and-sugar simmering sauce.
Thick, sweet and accented with ginger's uniquely spicy tang, there are layers of flavor to please the tongue!
Light yet thick, tangy yet sweet... all the various flavors patter across the tongue like a short afternoon drizzle- thus its name, shigure, which means "fall shower."
"It's a dish renowned for its exceptionally deep and compelling flavors."
"Ooh, you just know it's gonna be good. That's Takumi-chi for ya! He's a master of both Italian and Japanese cooking!"”
― Yuto Tsukuda, ʳꪤΥ½©`¥Þ 27 [Shokugeki no Souma 27]

“It's a parade of flawless tuna deliciousness! But by far, the most dangerous piece... is the one that looks like a bomb of pure tuna goodness, the straw-grilled, seared noten sushi!
The noten- a cut of meat from the top of the tuna's head- is one of the priciest cuts. Extravagantly fatty, its richness melds with the fragrant searing into a powerful duo! Yet there isn't the first hint of fishiness! Searing it using aromatic straw burned it away, leaving only pure savory flavor behind to please both nose and palate!"
"His Trace was dead-on. Looks like it really will be his arrangements on that Gunkan Maki that decide this card."
"I can't even begin to guess what it tastes like."
What's this on top of the minced tuna and leeks?! Is it... meringue?!
"Aah! Now I see! I know what Subaru Mimasaka took out at that moment! It was the same smoked soy sauce he passed to Kuga!"
The mellow, full-bodied aroma of smoked soy sauce has seeped into every crevice of the minced tuna...
... while the differing textures of the meringue and the negitoro create deeper, more complex layers to the flavor!
If I were to name it, I would call it the "Ultimate Negitoro Eggs-over-Rice Gunkan Sushi"! Minced tuna rib meat mixed with leeks and smoked soy sauce, topped with quail-egg yolk”
― Yuto Tsukuda, ʳꪤΥ½©`¥Þ 27 [Shokugeki no Souma 27]

“ The cream sauce has a rich, full-bodied bitterness to it that makes the tongue tingle...
Its spicy freshness lightens up the thick, heavy flavor of the roast beef to exactly the right degree! The wallop the meat's juice packs is no joke, but I feel I could keep eating this forever!
Sure, he shoved a mountain of artichokes into this dish...
... but how did he manage to make their uniquely fresh, vibrant and astringent flavor stand out this much?!
"This, too, is the result of Mr. Eizan's highly skilled use of cynarine. Any unnecessary source of sweetness has been removed, which makes the taste of the cream sauce stand out even more starkly."
"Whoa, Whoa! Slow down. I'm totally lost here!"
"I get that cynarine's supposed to make stuff taste sweet, but how does that even work?"
"Is it so bitter that anything tasted afterwards seems sweet by comparison?"
"No, it isn't anything as simple as that. Cynarine directly affects the taste buds."
Yep! When you eat food that contains cynarine, the compound spreads across your tongue as you chew, covering up and thereby blocking the taste buds for sweetness.
That's what's happening with Yukihira and the judges right now. Their tongues can't taste sweet, so bitter flavors really stand out. As they eat other food, the act of chewing gradually wipes the cynarine off the tongue. Slowly, their taste buds resume their normal functions. But here's where the important bit happens...
Since the tongue has been blocked from tasting sweet flavors for a time...
... even a tiny bit of sweetness will now stick out like a sore thumb!
"When there's a ton of cynarine smeared on the tongue, even a cup of water will taste supersweet.”
― Y¨±to Tsukuda, ʳꪤΥ½©`¥Þ 27 [Shokugeki no Souma 27]

“ Red pepper is the theme, but there's no sign of it in the noodles or broth.
Does that one little dollop of paste on the side really have the oomph to compensate for that?"
"It's harissa, a seasoning blend said to have originated in Northern Africa. The ingredients generally include paprika, caraway seeds, lemon juice and garlic, among other things.
But the biggest is a ton of peppers, which are mashed into a paste and blended with those other spices."
Oh! That's the same thing Dad made when he visited the dorm. I think I remember him saying it came from somewhere in Africa.
"The ramen's broth is based on Chicken Muamba, another African recipe, where chicken and nuts are stewed together with tomatoes and chilies. This broth forms a solid backbone for the entire dish. Its zesty flavor amplifies the super-spicy harissa to explosive proportions!"
"That's gotta be sooo spicy!
Whoa! Are you sure it's a good idea to dump that much of it in all at once?!"
"Hoooo!Thanks to the mellow, full-bodied and ever-so-slight astringency of that mountain of peanuts he infused into the broth...
... adding the harissa just makes the spiciness and richness of the overall dish grow deeper and more complex with each drop!
Extra-thick cuts of Char Siu Pork, rubbed with homemade peanut butter before simmering! And the slightly thicker-than-usual wavy noodles! They soak up the broth and envelop the ultra-spiciness of the harissa... all together, it's addicting!
Its deliciousness so intense that my body cries out from its heat!
African Ramen... how very intriguing! A dish that never before existed anywhere in the world, but he's brought it to vibrant life!”
― Yuto Tsukuda, ʳꪤΥ½©`¥Þ 27 [Shokugeki no Souma 27]

“MIRACULIN
A natural sugar substitute, this compound binds taste buds and makes sour and bitter flavors taste sweet.
Approved by the Japanese government, it's used not only as a sweetener but also as an alternative in low-sugar diets.”
― Yuto Tsukuda, ʳꪤΥ½©`¥Þ 27 [Shokugeki no Souma 27]

“Do you know what artichokes are rich in? A little bitterness component called cynarine.
It's an acid known for messing with the taste receptors on your tongue. In fact, its effects are so pronounced...
... that whatever you taste directly afterwards- even if it's just a cup of pure water!- will seem extra sweet!”
― Yuto Tsukuda, ʳꪤΥ½©`¥Þ 27 [Shokugeki no Souma 27]