The Cooking Test (5)
"You have five minutes to select your ingredients. Once you exit the pantry, you will not be allowed to reenter it even if you forgot something, so use this time wisely!"
One of the seniors reopened the door to the room where all of the ingredients were kept, which they called the pantry. With the five minute timer placed on the large screen, the remaining 7 had lined up with sweaty hands.
It all came down to this.
"Ok, the timer has started so go get your items now!" Mizuno Senpai yelled out.
Everyone ran off into the room and each of them picked up a basket from the stack in the corner, hurriedly shoving everything that came to mind. Their idea was to quickly grab what they knew they would be using, like the main ingredients, and then use the rest of the time to carefully recall if they had missed anything.
Reiji initially thought it was an excessive test for 16 year-olds when he played the game, but later on things became more clear.
Every student who became a member of the club would win a guaranteed scholarship entry into the best culinary school in the country if they chose to pursue a career in the industry.
A lot of the clubs had similar partnerships with other universities, such as drama with acting schools or chemistry with top universities for example, which was why many students did their best to attend Souhei High.
And as mentioned before, they would also have the chances to visit 5 star restaurants, learn from acclaimed chefs, and practice in the school's top quality clubroom along with constructive feedback from seniors and chefs.
They had to be excessive, because it not only concerned the club's reputation that had been built up over the multiple decades, but also because it was extremely expensive to run for obvious reasons.
More than half the clubs in the high school also participated in national tournaments, giving students the platform to compete and grow in their respective skills. This meant the selection process was crucial in unearthing gems that could help them fare better.
The E-Sports club, which had won multiple tournaments throughout the years, was a prime case that showed why people took it so seriously. There were more than one alumni who went on to sign pro-contracts because they performed admirably in these tournaments.
The cooking club would also participate in them, though Reiji didn't consider it for now.
Either way, he had remembered to warn Haruna beforehand to take her time to pick the freshest options, so she was also carefully selecting the ingredients before putting them in her basket like him. He didn't help her any more than this, plus she would probably want to pass with her own efforts.
He locked these wandering thoughts away and honed in on picking the freshest and most expensive options.
As someone who had always cooked on a very tight budget in his last life, it wasn't often that he would get to work with meats and seasonings this expensive.
Within the five minutes, he double checked that he had brought everything he needed and returned to his station. Everyone else also followed, because the time had ran out and they were signaled to exit.
While they were leaving, one of the students suddenly cried out in despair.
"WAAAIT! I FORGOT SALT!!!"
The girl, whose name Reiji didn't know, turned around to beg the senior who was closing the doors.
"Can I please just go get salt??"
"....I'm sorry but rules are rules," the senior shook her head in denial.
It was a simple mistake to make. Salt was such a basic ingredient that it was one of the easiest ones to overlook, so Reiji felt a little bad.
He glanced at his basket and confirmed that he had two small salt shakers. In fact, he had picked two of everything to account for mistakes that may happen.
He walked up to the student who was clutching her hair in frustration and held out the extra shaker. She flinched when she saw Reiji in front of her, but then her eyes locked onto the treasure in his hands.
"A-Are you giving this to me?" She asked hesitantly.
"Mhm, I have an extra one so it's ok."
The girl blinked but then shifted her gaze to the senior who was frowning at them.
"That's a breach of the rules," she remarked with her arms crossed.
"No it isn't? You said we can't go into the pantry after leaving, there was nothing about sharing ingredients. Unless you want to change the rules, this shouldn't be an issue," Reiji chuckled, pointing out the loophole.
The senior opened her mouth to retort but she blanked out. Nothing like this had happened before so she didn't know what to do.
Even if people found out they were missing something, no one gave their resources because they either assumed that was cheating or because it would help their own dishes stand out if the judges hated the incomplete meal.
She looked towards Mizuno Senpai to help mediate the situation, who was listening the whole time.
"...I'll allow it," She agreed, and the freshman breathed a sigh of relief.
She took the salt from Reiji and bowed in gratitude.
"Th-Thank you!"
"No worries," he responded simply and walked back to his station.
Haruna, who was looking at him, gave Reiji an approving thumbs-up which made him smile softly.
Mizuno Senpai walked back to the front and reset the timer to 60 minutes and clapped her hands loudly.
"Everyone should be ready now! I won't waste any more time with encouragement or explanations. Just cook your hearts out! Your time starts.....NOW!"
The 7 students quickly got to work, washing their hands, placing their pots on the stove, chopping vegetables etc.
Reiji's movements were fluid, with the practice he had done both yesterday and this morning allowing him to be familiar with the process. The first thing he did was create separate marinades for his meats, placing the diced chicken and sliced pork belly into different bowls with unique mixtures.
These would be set aside until the last 15 minutes where they would be cooked in different ways. The rest of the time would be used to slow cook the vegetables, make the sauces, mix together a drink, and some other steps.
He had fallen into deep concentration and didn't even react when one of the students accidentally burnt their meat because their attention had been on a different part of the recipe. The girl frantically tried to salvage it, but even the interior had been overcooked and she didn't have an extra portion to redo the meal.
She scrambled to change directions and try to plate something else, but her chances for passing through the highly critical judges were low.
Reiji mixed together a refreshing iced tea with an infusion of different fruits. He had tried various combinations and this one paired very well with the skewers he was going to present, so it was going to be an important component of his final presentation.
Looking at the time, there was just over 15 minutes left, so he quickly took out the marinated meats and started deep frying the chicken after coating it with the necessary batter. The pork belly slices were also being pan fried next to it, with careful supervision on the heat level.
It was time to start plating, so he unpacked the small skewers and began piercing the meats in a specific combination. He had used larger skewers when feeding Baldy and Beardy, but decided it would be cleaner and easier to give the judges smaller ones.
They wouldn't be eating all of it, nor would it be appealing to see a giant skewer on their plate. He went with a sophisticated presentation style, crossing two skewers over each other and coating it with drizzles of his custom sauce, adding artistic drops on the outer edges of the ceramic plate.
There was a long table set up at the front where each person was supposed to bring up their meals before the time ran out, otherwise they would be eliminated.
So Reiji quickly placed his three dishes on a tray alongside the glasses of iced tea and walked up to the front with about 30 seconds to spare.
Two other students had already placed their dishes much earlier, which actually wasn't ideal. The food might have become slightly cold by the time they started judging, a reminder that time management was equally as important.
When he put his plates down, Haruna joined him at the front carrying bowls of what looked like Nikujaga (Japanese style meat and potatoes).
It was a simple recipe with low-risk that didn't require high skills, but if done well would be extremely delicious. It was a good choice considering the allotted time and her lack of experience with intricate dishes.
Reiji's skewers also seemed simple at first glance, but it was incredibly easy to mess up if the meats weren't cooked to the right temperature, or if the the harmony of unique flavors didn't work together.
As the time ran out, everyone managed to bring their food to the table so no was disqualified this time. However, the girl who had burnt her meat was completely downcast because she had only plated a simple omelet with rice and grilled vegetables.
The speaker started beeping again, indicating the end of the round.
Mizuno Senpai stepped forward with an eager smile and rubbed her hands together.
"Time's up! Let's start tasting!"