The Cooking Princess - Chapter 60

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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The Princess Who Cooks

 

Episode 60

 

Now there were less than twenty minutes remaining.

 

The other participants’ hands grew increasingly busy, and sighs could be heard from here and there.

 

“What should I do, there’s not enough time!”

 

“The meat I put in the refrigerator is still not cold enough. Should I have put it in the freezer instead?”

 

“Ouch! Blood, I’m bleeding!”

 

People running around drenched in sweat, someone stamping their feet in front of the refrigerator having miscalculated the time, even someone who cut their finger with a knife while rushing. It was truly chaos.

 

Chloe stood in front of her cooking station, blankly watching them.

 

‘Everyone’s making good use of the refrigerators.’

 

Perhaps because of the summer food theme, everyone was actively using the refrigerators and freezers to make their food cool.

 

Chloe felt proud seeing her invention being used so well, but also had mixed feelings thinking that she was helping her competitors.

 

‘Well, what’s good is good.’

 

The shaved ice that Chloe first made a few years ago was now quite a famous dessert even among commoners.

 

The nobles who tasted shaved ice at Garnet Manor’s parties pressured their own chefs to recreate it, the servants and maids from the manor’s kitchen who learned the recipe from Chloe passed it on to their families or friends, and they spread it to their acquaintances…

 

The same process that occurred on Earth in her previous life, where court cuisine and noble food culture spread to commoners, was happening here.

 

Perhaps because of this, quite a few foods that seemed inspired by shaved ice or ice cream caught the eye in this competition.

 

For instance, there was a participant who froze whole fruits then sliced them thinly to make something like sherbet.

 

‘Did they… freeze cucumber? And grind it?’

 

There were also bizarre foods like grinding frozen cucumber and pouring sauce made from lizard egg yolks over it.

 

‘Let me pretend I didn’t see that… I saw nothing.’

 

Indeed, the people of this world’s ability to create bizarre foods was enough to surpass the British from her previous life.

 

Clang clang-

 

Exactly one hour after the first round began, an attendant rang the bell loudly and shouted in a booming voice.

 

“The first competition is over! Everyone stop what you’re doing and step away from your cooking stations!”

 

“Ahhh, just a moment please!”

 

“No, wait. I just need to add this one thing and I’m done…!”

 

Despite the participants’ laments, the attendant paid no heed and declared the end with military precision.

 

“From now on, anyone who touches their dishes will be disqualified.”

 

Almost no one had completed their food as quickly as Chloe. Only about two or three people had finished and submitted their food before the full hour was up.

 

The rest had all used the full hour to barely complete their dishes, and there were even participants who ultimately couldn’t finish and submitted messy results, or gave up entirely and packed their things.

 

The completed dishes were loaded onto trolleys by attendants and carried to where the judges were.

 

Now it was a fifteen-minute break time.

 

The participants each took their rest or planned their next menu while desperately praying that their cooking would be chosen by the judges.

 

Chloe also sat down, tightly hugging her ingredient box to her chest.

 

‘If the Empress is going to pull something, tampering with ingredients would be the quickest way.’

 

She had figured this out from when the attendant emphasized ingredients and time.

 

Even in cooking dramas from her previous life, there were scenes where the protagonist lost important ingredients at crucial moments and fell into trouble.

 

So as soon as Chloe received her ingredient box, she thoroughly inspected the ingredients inside. She kept a hawk’s eye out for anything spoiled or bug-eaten, or anything that looked the same on the surface but was of inferior quality.

 

Fortunately or unfortunately, the ingredients she initially received were perfectly fine and in good condition.

 

‘This makes it more troublesome though.’

 

Since she had confirmed the ingredients were fine, even if problems arose during the competition due to the Empress’s schemes, she absolutely could not change or receive new ingredients.

 

So Chloe had to keep her guard up and continuously watch her ingredients during cooking or break times.

 

She watched for anyone who might approach her under the pretense of conversation to tamper with her ingredients, or steal them while she was distracted by cooking.

 

Fortunately, no one came close to Chloe during the first cooking round. A meddlesome auntie did approach once, but it was very brief.

 

What Chloe was most wary of were the attendants, since she couldn’t tell who might be the Empress’s lackey.

 

But the attendants also just slowly walked around the competition area checking the participants’ cooking processes, without particularly approaching Chloe closely.

 

‘Then maybe they’re targeting the break time.’

 

While a relaxed Chloe dozed off or chatted with other participants, or if she left her seat to go to the bathroom, they might immediately tamper with her ingredients.

 

So Chloe didn’t talk to other participants and was guarding her position while firmly protecting only her ingredient box.

 

At that moment, something happened that even Chloe couldn’t help but focus her attention on.

 

“I told you I’d handle it myself!”

 

“What nonsense are you talking about! You shouldn’t have even come here in the first place!”

 

Loud voices erupted among the participants. The silence that had prevailed while everyone was resting or planning menus was instantly broken.

 

Looking up toward where the sound came from, Chloe saw that the source of the shouting was familiar faces.

 

“It’s the Imperial Kitchen chef and the sous chef, isn’t it?”

 

***

 

“Your Majesty the Emperor, Your Majesty the Empress. Priests. We will present the first participant’s dish.”

 

“Oh, already?”

 

“Wasn’t there still quite a bit of time left?”

 

The judging of the cooking competition took place in the banquet hall.

 

The judges – the Emperor, Empress, and priests – sat at the head table on a high platform, while the nobles who came to observe sat at long tables below them.

 

The format was for the judges to taste the participants’ dishes while the nobles watched.

 

“That’s a form of food I’ve never seen before.”

 

“It looks somewhat similar to pie but completely different.”

 

“I’m so curious. I wonder if it actually tastes good.”

 

“If that wins, we’ll be able to taste it.”

 

The nobles buzzed with curiosity upon seeing the dish presented to the judges – ‘Zucchini Dumplings.’

 

“The theme for the first dish is ‘food that stimulates appetite and gives energy when tired on a hot day.'”

 

The attendant who presented the food to the judges announced the competition theme.

 

“For food to eat on hot days, doesn’t it look rather hot?”

 

“That’s right. It’s still steaming.”

 

The nobles’ murmuring grew louder at the food that seemed contrary to the theme.

 

As soon as the Empress saw the food, she smiled an unreadable smile. The Emperor’s expression, tilting his head to one side as if lost in thought, was equally unreadable.

 

The priests dispatched from the temple all had expressionless faces, so it was impossible to tell what they were thinking either.

 

“What is the name of this dish?”

 

At the Emperor’s question, the attendant bowed and answered.

 

“It is called ‘Zucchini Dumplings,’ Your Majesty.”

 

“‘Dumplings.’ That’s a name I’ve never heard before.”

 

The Emperor picked up his fork first and stabbed into the dumpling.

 

“!”

 

As the dumpling skin tore, the juices the dumpling had been holding leaked out. At the same time, the fragrant and savory aroma of meat and vegetables spread.

 

The Emperor bit into the steaming dumpling.

 

“Mmm…”

 

Following the Emperor, the Empress and priests also picked up their forks and tasted the dumplings in their own ways.

 

The Empress used her fork and knife to cut the dumpling into small pieces before putting them in her mouth, while one priest followed the Emperor’s example and bit into the dumpling. Another priest performed the feat of placing the entire dumpling on a spoon and putting it in his mouth whole.

 

“Mm!”

 

“Ooh…”

 

While the Emperor and Empress’s expressions remained unreadable, the priests’ faces clearly brightened.

 

The nobles were going crazy with curiosity about what this ‘dumpling’ food tasted like.

 

The Empress opened her mouth first with a displeased expression.

 

“Hmm, for food to eat on hot days, it’s so hot. I feel like I’d get even hotter after eating it all.”

 

Several nobles nodded in agreement with the negative evaluation.

 

“It’s certainly a bit too hot to eat on hot days.”

 

“In summer, you should eat something cool to bring down the heat.”

 

“When you already have no appetite, it should at least be cold so you can swallow it, right?”

 

Then one of the priests objected.

 

“It’s certainly hot, but that’s not all there is to it.”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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