856 Is It That Bad?

“Is it tofu pudding that smells bad?” Amy asked.

“Is it when you remove the brains from tofu[1], then make it stinky?” Babla also chimed in with an inquisitive look on her face.

“Is it actually stinky?” Sally asked in a rather concerned manner. As an elf, she had a mild case of mysophobia.

How do I put this… Mag thought to himself as he looked at everyone’s intrigued expressions. Stinky tofu was a very contentious and controversial dish. Those who loved it treated it like a prized treasure, while those who didn’t avoided it like the plague.

Mag had once been one of the people that belonged to the latter group. There were some misunderstandings involved there, but if it weren’t for the fact that he’d been forced to bask in the putrid aroma of stinky tofu in the test field for the God of Cookery for so long, he most likely still wouldn’t have been able to accept its stinky odor.

However, after making a portion of the perfect stinky tofu, Mag had completely changed his mind. Stinky tofu was a very prevalent and renowned dish, and there had to be a reason for this.

Mag contemplated his answer for a moment before replying, “This is a dish with a distinctive and pronounced flavor. It’s very stinky, but if you were to carefully pick apart its aroma, you’d find that it has a rich and unique fragrance. After tasting it, you’ll realize that it’s an irresistibly delicious dish. It may not suit everyone’s tastes, but those who like it will love it. However, it’s not very suitable to be consumed for breakfast, so I didn’t make it for you.”

“I want to eat it! I want to eat it!” Amy raised a little hand high up into the air as she yelled, “I can only smell the rich and unique aroma! I really want to eat stinky tofu!”

A gentle and doting look appeared in Mag’s eyes as he looked at Amy’s expectant expression. He then turned to everyone else, and asked, “Does anyone else want to try it? Before you make your decision, I must warn that the flavor of this dish is quite heavy, and those who are sensitive to foul odors should exercise discretion before deciding whether to try it or not.”

“I’ll pass.” Sally immediately shook her head.

“I’ll pass as well.” Babla also shook her head. She liked things that smelled good, and she couldn’t accept foul-smelling foods.

“C-can I try it?” Yabemiya asked in a cautious and feeble voice as if she were worried that she’d made the wrong decision.

“Alright, so that’s two portions of stinky tofu. I’ll make them separately for the two of you after breakfast.” Mag nodded with a smile. A dish with such an overpowering flavor should be eaten at the end of a meal. Furthermore, there was no guarantee that the two of them would still have the appetite for breakfast if they were to eat stinky tofu first.

After breakfast, Mag entered the kitchen to make stinky tofu.

Amy and Yabemiya were looking at Mag through the entrance of the kitchen with expectant expressions on their faces, while Sally and Babla were standing slightly further away, casting their eyes toward the kitchen with slightly wary expressions.

“System, activate the molecular isolation system. Isolate the area where stinky tofu is made from the rest of the kitchen, and also isolate all of the individual tables in the restaurant,” Mag instructed internally, and then removed the lid of the brine jar after receiving an affirmative response from the system.

An overpowering stinky odor immediately wafted through the air. However, Mag was a true man who had even drunk this brine before, and he’d also spent dozens of days embroiled in this very same odor in the test field for the God of Cookery. As such, he was instantly able to pinpoint the unique fragrance of the brine before inhaling deeply in an intoxicated manner.

Among the pieces of tofu that he’d placed into the jug this morning, he pulled out around a dozen to find that they’d already turned black. He rinsed them under cold water before setting them off to the side to be dried.

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After that, he poured a large amount of camellia oil into a pot and heated it up until it took on a red color, and then placed the pieces of tofu into the pot. The tofu was deep-fried for five minutes over low heat, and when the surface of the pieces of tofu had taken on a golden brown hue, he removed them from the oil before placing them on plates.

He then poked a hole into the center of each piece of stinky tofu with a chopstick, and used a small spoon to scoop some chili oil, soy sauce, and sesame seed oil into those indentations. After that, he sprinkled some minced garlic and coriander over the dish before pouring a ladle of secret sauce over each plate of stinky tofu, and the dish was complete.

“Why can’t I smell anything? It doesn’t smell good, and it’s not stinky, either,” Amy said with a curious look on her face as she outside the entrance of the kitchen.

“I can’t smell anything, either.” Yabemiya also wore a perplexed look on her face. Mag had made it sound like this dish was extremely putrid, and she’d also changed her mind about tasting it as a result. However, it appeared to almost be complete now, but she still couldn’t smell anything. That was really strange.

“I set up a magic formation in the kitchen, as well as the entire restaurant, that can isolate aromas. That way, the aromas of the dishes in the restaurant won’t intermingle with one another, and customers will be able to enjoy their dishes without being affected by the aroma in the air,” Mag explained as he loaded two portions of stinky tofu onto two platters, and then placed a dome-shaped metal cover over each plate. He then emerged from the kitchen with a smile, and said, “Take a seat.”

Amy and Yabemiya immediately sat down at the table closest to the entrance to the kitchen, and then stared at the platters in Mag’s hands with expectant looks in their eyes.

Sally and Babla also made their way over to the table. According to what Mag was saying, the aroma of the dishes should be restricted to the scope of the table, so they didn’t have to worry about smelling the dish.

“Even if your first impression of the dish is that it’s unbearably stinky, you have to repress the urge to give up on it. After a while, your impression of it might change,” Mag said as he placed the platters down onto the table, and then removed their lids.

A rich stinky aroma immediately wafted through the air, and Yabemiya almost reflexively jumped up from her seat. Her dragon tail immediately appeared, flinging her chair over in the process.

This abhorrent odor had dealt her a very heavy blow. She had worked in damp and dark kitchens for many years, and during that time, she’d been forced by her employers to take care of countless rotten ingredients and dishes, and even been assigned the duty of unclogging underground sewage pipes. However, none of those horrific odors could compare with what she was smelling right now.

If it weren’t for Mag’s earlier warning, she would’ve already rushed out the door to desperately gulp down some fresh air.

Is it that bad?

Sally and Babla were both given a fright by Yabemiya’s reaction, and at the same time, they were quite glad that they’d chosen not to sample the dish. This reaction was far more violent than when Yabemiya was eating roujiamos, and she’d taken on her half-dragon form uncontrollably in the blink of an eye. Just how putrid did this dish have to be to draw such a reaction from her?

In contrast, Amy was staring at the dish before her with an entranced look on her face as if she couldn’t smell its abhorrent odor at all. Instead, she picked up her chopsticks as if she were about to dig in to an extremely delicious dish.

Everyone then cast their eyes toward the pieces of black tofu, which had been placed on long rectangular plates. Their centers were filled with condiments, and their surface was covered in rich brown sauce, as well as pieces of coriander, thereby creating a rather alluring sight to behold.

Is something that stinky really edible? The same question flashed through Sally’s and Babla’s mind at the same time.

Amy carefully picked up a piece of stinky tofu with her chopsticks, making sure that not even a single shred of coriander fell from it, before taking a bite.

After biting through the crispy exterior, the spicy and supple sauces created a delicious explosion of flavor in her mouth. Amy’s eyes immediately narrowed in a blissful smile, and after swallowing her first mouthful of tofu, she stuck out her little tongue to lick the sauce around her lips, and then ate the remaining portion of that piece of stinky tofu in a single bite.

[1] Once again, another play on words where the Chinese characters for tofu pudding literally translates to tofu brains, hence the reference for removing the brains.