Although Takasaki An had a sour face and looked a little unhappy, she was still very skillful in tying her apron, picking and washing vegetables. "Although my sister is long-winded, she is not the kind of person who will be fooled by the sweet words of a pretty boy. Since she asked you to come here, she should have some skills, right? Can you carve onions?" Takasaki An dipped the vegetables in water, wiped her hands on her apron, and took a bag of onions. "Please leave it to me." Uchiha Ming picked up an onion and used his other hand to skillfully hold the knife to carve patterns on the onion. It was done in the blink of an eye. As if he was not satisfied yet, Uchiha Ming picked up another onion and started to twirl the knife quickly like a show of skill. With a few quick cuts, two onion flowers were placed together, one had already bloomed, and the other was in bud. Takasaki An was a little stunned. Although onion carving was not difficult, it was still an eye-opener for her to be able to complete it in such a short time like Uchiha Ming and with such pleasing movements. But Takasaki An would never admit it. "It's OK. It's just an onion. It's easy to cut. After that, cut the chicken, pork and beef into pieces."
Uchiha Ming placed the whole chicken on the chopping board, and the blade turned, separating the skin, flesh, tendons and bones in an instant. The blade was as smooth as flowing water, and he was very skilled. The sound of the blade chopping on the chopping board when cutting the meat was crisp and rhythmic without any pause. Although he was just processing the ingredients, Uchiha Ming acted like he was performing on stage and his knife skills were very spectacular. The ingredients that were originally estimated to take half an hour to process were finished by Uchiha Ming in less than five minutes! Gao Qiyue processed the ingredients again and simply turned them into semi-finished products. Finally, the restaurant was officially opened before six o'clock. Chapter 31 032 Mustard Octopus "welcome!" A young office worker in a cheap black suit walked into the store, glanced around the store, then looked at Takasaki Tsuki and Uchiha Ming in the food area, frowned, waved his hand to refuse the hot towel brought by Takasaki An, who was in charge of serving guests, and turned away. "Sorry, I had an appointment with a friend and went to the wrong store." "How rude! He walked into the store and left without ordering anything," complained Takasaki An. "I told you it's not possible. There are only a few young high school students like us in the store. Customers will definitely think we are unreliable. Why would they come to patronize us?" Takasaki Izakaya has been open for almost half an hour, but there is still no business. A customer came in before, but when he saw that the chef Takasaki Tsuki looked so young, he made up an excuse and ran away. Although the culinary industry is not like Chinese medicine where the older you get, the most popular chefs are still those in their forties and fifties who are strong and experienced. Thirty seems a little young, let alone a high school girl like Takasaki Tsuki. Although Gao Qiyue could not hide the disappointment on his face, he still encouraged his sister: "Our Takasaki Izakaya has been open here for ten years, so we have quite a few regular customers. Besides, it's almost peak business time for izakayas, and there are only a few restaurants nearby. If they are full, customers will naturally come." Having said that, Gao Qiyue's tone did not sound very confident. Uchiha Ming also sighed when he saw this. The future of this store was really bleak. His first part-time job would not end so soon. But I am just an ordinary worker, so I can't say much. Suddenly, a bald man in his fifties with a protruding belly came into the store. After he came in through the curtain, he hesitated at the door for a moment, but finally found a seat and sat down. "Mr. Hasegawa, welcome!"
After wiping his face with the wet towel brought by Takasaki An, the bald uncle asked: "Why hasn't your store been open lately? And why are there only two of you girls? Where is Boss Takasaki?" "My father is sick and won't be able to come to the store for a few days. Until then, it's up to us two sisters. Mr. Hasegawa, what would you like to eat?" Takasaki An blinked her eyes, showing a pitiful expression, and asked in a tender voice. "Boss Takasaki is not here, so there will be no sashimi. Well, let's have a serving of edamame, a serving of wasabi octopus, and a bottle of sake." The bald uncle familiarly called out the names of the dishes without looking at the menu. The bald uncle ordered side dishes that were simple to prepare and did not require any cooking by a chef. It seemed that he still had some doubts about Gao Qiyue's cooking skills. I guess he ordered this time because he was a regular customer and felt embarrassed to just turn around and leave. Uchiha Ming said secretly. But it’s open after all. "Okay, coming right away." "Uchiha-san, can I trouble you to take care of the little octopus?" asked Takasaki Tsuki. "A piece of cake." Uchiha Ming took out a scoop net and scooped out a few lively little octopuses from the water tank. He washed them with salt water, then cut them into sashimi and served them on a plate. Although it is called wasabi octopus, in fact most stores use cheap horseradish sauce. Squeeze the horseradish sauce on the white, twitching octopus spines and serve them along with edamame. Anne Takasaki took out a small square wooden box, placed a glass wine glass inside, and then poured the wine in front of her. When the glass was full, the sake overflowed onto the wooden bowl outside. The bald uncle first leaned over and carefully sipped the sake in the center of the glass. Then he picked up a still moving octopus tentacle, dipped it in horseradish sauce, stuffed it into his mouth and started chewing it, making a crunching sound. Because of the pungent taste of horseradish, the bald uncle seemed to put on a mask of pain, then picked up the wine glass and took a big gulp, with an expression of pain and beauty on his face. Uchiha Ming felt his scalp itching when watching this scene. He couldn't even accept sashimi, let alone octopus sashimi. He heard that there is an even more ferocious way in Japan to eat octopus alive. The raw octopus does not even need to be processed and can be swallowed alive. All you can enjoy is the octopus struggling in your mouth and the feeling of suffocation caused by the suction cup sticking to your throat. "Mr. Hasegawa, this plate of wine is a gift from us." Wine thief is made by marinating seafood offal with salt for a long time. It has a unique sweet and fresh flavor. Although it has a strong fishy smell, many alcoholics like it and it can make people drink up the wine without realizing it, hence the name wine thief. "Then I won't be polite. Since we have such appetizers, the wine must not be enough. Little sisters of the Takasaki family, please give me another round of sake. Um... give me a portion of Nanban chicken nuggets!" The bald uncle finally placed a relatively large order, and Gao Qiyue's expression became excited. The chicken had already been cut and divided, so Uchiha Ming didn't need to do anything. Takasaki Tsuki was busy in the cooking area skillfully and soon served the Nanban fried chicken to the table. The bald uncle picked up a piece of fried chicken with a golden skin, coated it with a secret sauce made of mayonnaise and tartar sauce, and stuffed it into his mouth. Biting through the crispy skin, the rich juice burst in the mouth while chewing. The fullness of the chicken, mixed with the rich flavor of the custard and the sweet and sour aroma, satisfied his taste buds and his craving for alcohol suddenly came to him. He picked up the wine glass and drank it all, then poured the remaining wine from Muma into the glass and drank it. The bald uncle gave a thumbs up: "Takasaki's eldest daughter, your cooking skills are really good. This Nanban chicken nuggets taste better than the ones your father made."
“Thank you for your compliment!” Gao Qiyue bowed repeatedly with some fear and trepidation. "After eating such delicious fried chicken, I want to try your signature sashimi, but it seems that you haven't restocked it today?" asked the bald uncle. "Well, I'm sorry, after all, Dad is not here..." "That's right. The quality of sashimi depends entirely on the knife. It's not easy to find a substitute for Boss Takasaki's skill." Perhaps it was the bald uncle who started a good business, and Takasaki Bureau Sake House finally had its fortunes turn around, with customers coming one after another. However, during the prime business hours of seven o'clock, only half of the seats were barely filled. "Table 2, I want a teriyaki chicken drumstick rice and a soda." "Table 5, two more orders of grilled chicken skewers, one order of fried croquette, and a beer." Gao Qiyue calculated in his mind that although there was no profit with such a large number of customers, at least he did not lose money and the store could still continue to operate. He couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. "Eh? Mr. Takasaki is sick. I caught a big sea bream and I wanted him to make it into sashimi for me." A middle-aged man wearing a fisherman's hat, a gray long-sleeved rain hoodie, and shorts, dressed like a typical fisherman, came into the store and complained loudly. "Otsuka, you don't have any help this time? You didn't buy this sea bream, did you?" The bald uncle looked at the big red fish in the bucket and joked. The fisherman sneered and lifted the snapper out of the bucket by its tail. The big red fish, which was longer than my arm, struggled back and forth and almost escaped from my palm several times, showing amazing vitality! Chapter 32 The Master's Knife "Where can you buy such fresh sea bream? I drove here as soon as it came out of the water in Tokyo Bay. Otherwise, it wouldn't be so lively." The fisherman said proudly. "Indeed, such fresh sea bream must be delicious when made into sashimi!" The bald uncle was drooling as he looked at the big red fish. "It's a pity that Mr. Takasaki is not here, so I can only take this sea bream home and braise it for my wife. It's such a waste of food." The fisherman sighed, threw the fish back into the bucket, and was about to leave with it. "Wait a moment, can you let me handle this snapper?" It was actually the younger sister, Takasaki Anne, who spoke. Her eyes were wide open and her expression was a bit serious as she made a request to the fisherman. "I usually learn knife skills from my father, and I have cut fish and made sashimi several times." The fisherman and the bald uncle looked at each other, and the fisherman said with some doubt: "You are so young and a girl, can you do it?" "The elder sister's cooking skills are not inferior to that of Mr. Takasaki. Maybe the younger sister's knife skills are just as good. Otsuka, why don't you let her have a try?" "Hasegawa, you bastard just wanted to take advantage of my fish!" Finally, under the sincere request of Takasaki An and the support of the bald uncle, the fisherman finally reluctantly agreed to let Takasaki An handle it. "Ann, are you able to do this? Or should we let Uchiha-san do it?"
After Takasaki An brought the bucket to the front desk, Takasaki Tsuki said to her sister in a low voice with a worried look on her face. "I admit that the pretty boy is very good at cutting meat and vegetables, but sashimi is completely different from those things. I have learned from my father for so long, there must be no problem in handling a fish!" Takasaki An said unconvinced. "But you have only been helping your father before, and you have never had the experience of making sashimi independently, right?" "So what? I've seen it so many times that I'd already know how to do it!" Takasaki An's tone was still full of stubbornness, and she muttered quietly: "I won't lose to my sister." He took the sea bream out of the bucket, placed it on the chopping board, and picked up the kitchen knife. The front desk of the izakaya is half open. Seeing that the store was going to make sashimi, some customers gathered around and sat at the bar to watch. Just like Itamae Sushi, watching the chef making sashimi is also a pleasure for diners. Seeing so many people staring at her, Takasaki An couldn't help but feel a little nervous, and the hand holding the knife trembled slightly. "Don't be nervous, Takasaki An, just think about what your father did! You can do it too." Takasaki An encouraged herself in her heart, but when the time came, she still felt inexplicably guilty and her mind was blank. To make matters worse, before she could gather up enough courage, the big sea bream on the chopping board suddenly struggled and jumped up, hitting Takasaki An's chest hard with its tail! The tail hit Takasaki An so hard that she was stunned. Her hair and face were splashed with water and she didn't even bother to clean them up. Her whole body became stiff as if in a stress response. "Little girl, can you do this?" "We've waited so long and you still don't want to have surgery. If you can't do it, then don't waste everyone's time!" Tears welled up in the corners of Takasaki An's eyes. Takasaki Yue took a towel and wiped the water stains on her sister's body with concern. She bowed repeatedly to the guests and apologized: "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Mr. Otsuka, we can't handle this fish right now. Please take it back first." "Takasaki-san, wait a minute, let me do it!" Uchiha Ming finally spoke, took a step forward and said lightly. Looking at Uchiha Ming, who was also young and unfamiliar, the fisherman's face was full of doubt: "Little brother, can you do it?" "My sashimi will definitely satisfy you, my customer!" Although Uchiha Ming's face was calm, his tone was full of unquestionable confidence! Without waiting for the fisherman to answer, Uchiha Ming walked to the chopping board and glanced at the various knives neatly arranged at the front desk. As expected of an izakaya that specializes in sashimi, all kinds of disassembled knives are available, and they are very well maintained, with the blades shining brightly. After quickly going over in his mind the techniques used by the famous sashimi chefs he had seen in the video, Uchiha Ming picked up the sea bream and smashed it on the chopping board, knocking it unconscious. Then he picked up a tapered Debathe, the most common and traditional single-edged kitchen knife in Japan, and deftly gutted the sea bream and cleaned and scraped off its scales. Then I changed to the lighter and more convenient 'body unscrambler', and used the classic 'three-piece unscrambler' with ease to shave off the two large pieces of fish meat on the front and back along the fish bones. Finally, use the thin and long "willow blade" to cut the fish into slices of uniform size and as thin as a cicada's wing, and arrange them layer by layer on the prepared plate to form the shape of a blooming peony flower. Fresh fish meat is different from frozen or refrigerated fish. It has the texture of live fish. In order to preserve this taste, the sashimi chef must be decisive when cutting and cut through with one stroke.
Although the steps seem complicated at first glance, Uchiha Ming's movements are done in one go, as smooth as flowing water. While the customers are still amazed by his performance, he has already completed the sashimi. "Sea bream sashimi, please enjoy!" The 41st generation of the famous Shijo-ryu cooking school in Japan, Shijo Hikotaka, once said: "There is a principle in Japanese cuisine that its flavor should not exceed the original flavor of the ingredients." Another culinary researcher, Okumura Hirosei, once said: "Japanese cuisine should reflect the true taste of the ingredients and avoid using fire as much as possible." "Japanese cuisine is a culture that relies on kitchen knives." As a result, the status of sashimi naturally rises in this food culture.