Gabriel's cheeks, as white and tender as freshly peeled lychee, were continuously kneaded and pulled by Jhin as if he were handling dough. He didn't let go until her entire face was flushed red and even a little numb.
"Next time, no impulse-buying random ingredients!"
"Okay..."
"Hahahaha, you totally deserved that, Gabriel!" Satania, seeing her rival's miserable state, bent over laughing so hard that tears nearly burst from her eyes.
Gabriel, looking as though her soul had been "abused" out of her by Jhin, crouched on the floor clutching her flushed cheeks, the light gone from her violet eyes.
That guy... his hands are surprisingly rough...
"I'll go check if the other groups have any extra curry. Vignette, you get them to finish cutting the vegetables."
"Okay."
Vignette nodded. Since the cooking had been entrusted to Jhin, she had to at least get the prep work done right. She rolled up her sleeves with determination. "Satania, Gabi, and Miss Gotoh, let's get these vegetables chopped."
Vignette assigned the task of peeling potatoes to the proficient Hitori Gotoh, put Satania in charge of the onions, and had Gabriel handle the carrots, while she herself supervised.
Satania eagerly raised two kitchen knives, a glint of excitement in her eyes."
"Satania, one is enough..."
Satania placed the round onion on the cutting board, the sharp blade hovering over its top. "How am I supposed to cut this?"
Vignette made a half-fist with her right hand. "Curl your fingers like a cat's paw, then cut the onion in half. Press down on it with your hand and cut carefully."
"Like this?"
"Yes, yes, just like that."
After teaching Satania, Vignette turned to find Gabriel slacking off again, stacking the unprepared ingredients one by one into a tower.
"Gabi, you stop slacking off too."
"I'm building a vegetable tower right now. I'm very busy."
Gabriel's perfunctory attitude ignited a fire in Vignette's heart. With dead eyes, she squeezed out two words through her clenched teeth: "Get. To. Work!"
When a good-natured person gets angry, you don't mess with them. Gabriel instantly behaved, and the carrots under her knife were chopped into irregular orange-red chunks.
"Vignette..." Satania looked up, her eyes welling with tears. "I can't seem to stop crying!"
"Is this a kindergarten? I can't handle all of you!"
Fortunately, Jhin returned just in time to prevent Vignette's complete breakdown. "I'm back. Why is Satania crying?"
Glancing at the onion on the cutting board, he couldn't help but chuckle. "Ah, so you're cutting onions. Satania, go wash your face. I'll take over."
"Hey, Jhin, why are you only helping her? Come help me too..." Gabriel didn't get to finish her sentence before Vignette's death glare shot her way. She quickly shut up and went back to chopping carrots.
"Satania, I'll show you how to cut an onion without crying." As Jhin spoke, he placed the kitchen knife in the sink and wet it with water, then quickly diced the onion. "The gas released by onions is water-soluble, so if you just wet the knife before cutting, you can effectively prevent the stinging and tearing up."
"You know so much."
"Well, I cook at home a lot."
The ingredients for the curry were quickly chopped. Jhin first heated the wok and then added cold oil. When Vignette asked why, he explained, "There's a saying where I'm from: 'Hot wok, cold oil, nothing sticks.' This way, when you stir-fry, the ingredients generally won't stick to the wok due to high oil temperature when you put them in."
Jhin casually tossed the onion chunks into the wok and stir-fried them briefly. When the pungent smell of the onion softened and blended with the cooking oil to create a unique aromatic scent, and their color became somewhat translucent, he added the potatoes and carrots to stir-fry.
The potatoes and carrots didn't need to be cooked through; they just needed to be coated in the onion's fragrance before adding cold water and covering the wok to wait for it to boil. The curry Jhin had borrowed from the next group was the common curry roux block found in supermarkets. It was already seasoned, so you just needed to decide how much to use based on the number of people. If it had been curry powder, it would have needed to be stir-fried in oil beforehand to bring out its aroma.
Moreover, the amount of curry powder can be difficult for a novice to gauge, so most people choose the more convenient and quicker curry blocks when making it themselves.
Seeing the liquid in the wok begin to bubble actively like a small spring, Jhin lifted the transparent lid, put in the curry blocks, and stirred gently until they dissolved. The liquid, which originally had a translucent yellow oil floating on top, turned into a deep brown curry soup. He then transferred the curry to another pot; he had to deal with the fish next.
Jhin wasn't sure how to prepare this fish, a specialty of Hell. To be safe, he decided to make a standard fish soup.
He placed the fish head and body in the wok and pan-fried them over medium heat until the white and purple flesh developed a beautiful Maillard browning beloved by three-Michelin-star chefs. Then, he added shredded ginger, boiling water, and the fish offal, simmering for about half an hour. Normally, with a regular fish, the soup would have turned a mouth-watering creamy white by this point.
But! This was no ordinary fish. It was from a river in Hell, the Demon World, which destined it to produce a soup far from ordinary.
Jhin couldn't bear to look at the purple broth in the pot. The fish head and body tumbled about in the bubbling liquid as if they had come back to life. Jhin felt he could anoint himself with the title of "Necromancer" just for this pot of soup.
No matter what, I'm the one who made it. I should taste it, regardless of how it looks...
With the grim determination of a man facing death, Jhin ladled up a spoonful of the purple fish soup. Frowning deeply, he brought the spoon to his lips. Vignette was already prepared to call for an ambulance. Only Hitori Gotoh, with almost blind faith, was drooling at the corner of her mouth, eager to taste Jhin's creation.
To Jhin's surprise, the soup had a faint, creamy aroma. The moment it touched his lips, the flavor exploded on his tongue, filling his entire mouth. The taste was rich yet delicate, as if he had become one with the river of the Demon World, feeling its endless life force and vitality.
Although Jhin had never seen that Demon World river, he could vaguely perceive its image through the soup.
"The taste... is actually pretty good."
"Hmph hmph hmph, a fish caught by me, Satania, would of course taste amazing!"
With the fish soup done, Gabriel and the others could finally start tasting Jhin's cooking.
The braised pork was rich but not greasy, the lean meat tender and not dry. Every bite was full of a deep, meaty flavor. The potatoes stewed alongside it were soft and sweet, cutting through the richness while still carrying the enticing aroma of the meat.
Since it was made with curry blocks, the curry tasted just as everyone expected.
The Demon World Fish Soup, a name Jhin came up with, stunned everyone's taste buds. After eating her fill, Satania started to hatch a little scheme.
"Jhin, would you like to become the personal chef of the future Great Archdemon?"
Jhin smiled and shook his head. "I'll pass on being a personal chef. If you want to eat my cooking, you can just come over to my place for a meal."
When his lifespan is about to end, I'll just turn him into my familiar.
Satania thought to herself, a smile of a successful schemer spreading across her face.
___
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