Ep. 25 (S2, Ep. 1):
8 contestants for the fall selection competition. Who’s going to win? I’m on pins and needles. My bet will be Soma. He always feels confident when it comes to competing. Some is up against Alice Nakiri, the pressure is really on. I wonder what type of bento box that Soma is going to make. But I’m sure it’ll be tasty. Alice has put something strange in front of the judges. Turns out she made a temari-zushi bento box with liquid nitrogen to preserve the cold air, abalone topped with a touch of culinary foam, skipjack tuna aged for two days at low temperature, the so called (cake sushi’s) were made with vegetables, no seaweed with a variety of colours, meat sushi using beef fillet and a type of sea bream sushi. Sounds like Alice used science in her cooking. How is Soma going to compete with that? Soma has made a seaweed bento. It looked a bit depressing but I’m sure it’ll taste nice. He made fish cakes that he fried himself brimming with umami, shredded burdock root that is mellow and has depth flavour with an add of mint and balsamic vinegar, miso soup with bacon and onions, rice with seaweed and kudzu sauce which is used to pour over the rice giving it a whole new deliciousness. The judges did seem to look like they loved Soma’s bento more than Alice’s bento. Looks like Soma won the first round. Good for him. I wonder who’s next to cook up a storm?
Ep. 26 (S2, Ep. 2):
The opening titles to this series was better than the opening titles for the second half of series one.
Alice shouldn’t whine over losing, she’s a big girl. If I was her I’d graciously accept it. Megumi’s up next. I wonder what she’s going to cook up, more importantly who’s she’s up against. And she should enjoy cooking. She’s up against Ryo Kurokiba. And they’re to make Ramen. I wonder what kind of ramen Megumi is going to make if she’s going to beat Ryo and to win their round. Good thing that her mum sent her a care package full of ingredients that Megumi decided to use in her Ramen. I wonder what kind of ramen Ryo is going to make. They’re both using seafood stock in ramen’s and since Megumi is from a poor town but knows it’s seafood. Ryo certainly needs an attitude transplant; he just thinks that having friends makes him want to bring up his last meal. But however Megumi’s friends will always be there to support her. But with the judges sitting by her counter made her a tiny bit more nervous but she conquered those nerves. It looks like Ryo has finished cooking his soup de poisson ramen; a southern French soup made with a base of shellfish and fish parts and the judges thought it was tasty. I wonder if Megumi’s ramen will win the judges over. Her ramen was a light soup that is beautiful in appearance. To the judges it looked like it was lacking in impact. But once they tasted it. Megumi used kozuyu as a model, added strained chicken broth and concentrated soy sauce. A kozuyu-soy ramen. Kozuyu is a local dish of Aizu area, made using a brother of dried scallops. Often served at celebratory events. Megumi interpret local cuisine as ramen, with the scallop adductor is the star, while the chicken broth served as the flavour base. The concentrated kaeshi sauce is a blend of mild and sweet soy sauces. A perfect match for that of kozuyu. All comes from vegetables. Dried versions of the shiitake mushroom, burdock root, and green bean toppings. Simmered into a simple broth. And the dressing was made with a local chicken to Aizu, shredded leeks; shiso leaves, and pickled plums. Which changed the flavours. Megumi used the power of her own skills. But there can only be one winner.
Ep. 27 (S2, Ep. 3):
Who’s going to be the winner?
RYO KUROKIBA’S THE WINNER! WHAT!!! THAT COULDN’T BE!!! MEGUMI’S DISH LOOKED DELICIOUS!!! HOW COULD THEY CHOOSE RYO OVER MEGUMI!!! Megumi has immeasurable potential. For the third fall selection battles the contestants are:
Akira Hayama & Hisako Arato
The dish that they’re going to made is that American-made dish that we all love: THE HAMBURGER!!!
The contestants are free to choose what ingredients and type of bun that they want to use. Akira’s meat is cooked like a kebab and Hisako’s meat is a tortoise. To me cooking tortoise is disgusting. Hisako made a soft shell tortoise burger. I would never eat that, not even if someone pays me £100000,000. But by the looks of it Hisako knew her way around a burger. Even though she used medicinal cooking. I wonder what kind of burger did Akira made. Akira went for the pita bread as bun, that’s a bit creative. This burger has an explosion of taste and the senses of a creative mind! And the winner is…
Akira Hayama!!!
After the third battle was over Soma and Takumi talked about the battle that they had when Hinako totally avoided judging while they at training camp from series 1 so that they can settle it once and for all. They better do because Takumi shouldn’t keep going on about it or he’ll be fretting or get too obsessed with it. The fourth battle is about to commence. Something has happened between the next contestants were going to be are Subaru Mimasaka and Takumi Aldini, their competition is going to be a Food War. This’ll be an interesting episode.
Ep. 28 (S2, Ep. 4):
It is now the fourth battle, which was deemed as a Food War between Takumi and Subaru. But is that even possible? I think it’s possible. Takumi has got this. Takumi is confident he’ll win this as a way defending his brother and his mezzaluna. Subaru he defeated 99 chefs. They’re to make a dessert out of the same ingredients that they were each given, which is semifreddo. A semifreddo is a name of the confection, it’s a popular semi frozen Italian dessert that combines with a coldness of a dessert with the fluffiness of a cake, with a top layer of crushed pralines, second layer is a fresh cream ice cream and the third layer a sponge cake. Subaru shouldn’t underestimate an Aldini. But Subaru has tweaked his recipe by separating the egg yolks and egg whites and using liqueur as coating syrup. This means that Subaru is using Takumi’s old tricks against Takumi’s. That’s not nice of him. I hope Takumi comes up with a new technique. I love learning and coming up with new techniques when it comes to baking. I’m planning on separating egg yolks and egg whites the next time I make buns. Subaru’s dessert looks delicious, even though he mimics his opponent. I wouldn’t study my opponents’ techniques; I would give it my all. Takumi made a different semifreddo with a wafer-thin layer between the cake and the sponge cake. I hope the judges like the semifreddo. The lemon was beautifully powerful. After all it is English lemon curd that Takumi used. Takumi really added a new twist to the semifreddo. Subaru added persevered lemon in his semifreddo? THAT IS SO DISGRACEFUL OF HIM!!! IT EVEN MADE SUBARU THE WINNER!!!!! If I was judge I WOULD OF CHOSEN TAKUMI AS THE WINNER!!!
Soma and his friends couldn’t accept Subaru as the winner as he is one creepy stalker. But it looks like Soma has a bone to pick with him by having a Food War declared. But what Subaru won’t be enough to crush him. Soma figured out Subaru’s little game. Replicating Takumi’s cooking takes a whole lot of skill that Subaru was never going to be capable of. Takumi’s skill comes from trying out different dishes, countless failures before finding something that shines. With that Subaru will never find the true joy that comes from cooking. All Subaru cared about was stealing others’ pride. Soma agreed to a Food War, but he wants more than just that mezzaluna, he wants Subaru to return all ninety-nine wins he stole right up to his latest Food War win. But if Subaru wins, Soma will quit being a chef and leave. Now that’s a tall order Food war challenge.
Ep. 29 (S2, Ep. 5):
He can’t be serious about quitting? OK he’s serious. Now all Soma has to worry about is winning the Food War. All he has to do is cook up the western beef stew. Right after he meets Mitsuru Sotsuda who is in the journalism club. But Soma refuses to let him do a story about him. It took him a while but after a lot of begging Soma finally agreed to let Mitsuru do the story for the club. Whilst preparing for the Food War Soma experimented with the beef stew. Mitsuru was the first to taste it. And he deemed it delicious. Looks to me that Soma could easily beat Subaru even though he already made it. I mean Subaru was going to find out anyways. But experimenting on a beef stew and figuring out what type of flavouring agents to give it aroma by trying different ideas but can’t seemed to find the “one.” Looks like he’s going to have t ask Erina for a taste test. I mean she is the “God-tongue” after all. All it took was a little negotiation. But she said that Soma’s beet stew isn’t even close. But it did struck a core in Soma. How is Soma going to combat this? At least Nikumi was being friendly by giving Soma an assortment of meat; which may come in handy for making the beef stew. As the days went on the day of the semi-final fall challenge/Food War has arrived. I just hope that Soma made the perfect beef stew just enough to beat Subaru. I wonder what kind of beef stew Soma has made. Soma has decided to use oxtail, salt, pepper, mild flavoured butter, olive oil, red wine, parsley, bay leaves, black pepper, wheat flour, fillet, tripe, skirt steak, celery, onion, carrot, homemade demiglace sauce and white miso paste. The pressure is really on because both of them are using the same ox meat. How did Subaru find out about what type of meat is Soma using? My bet is that Subaru is using Mitsuru as a spy.