SailorStar9: Well, I've uploaded Chapter 36, and here's Chapter 37. So, read and review. Come on guys and girls, is it so hard for you to leave a review other than put this on your favorited list and story alerts?

Disclaimers: Me no own, you no sue.

Chapter 37: Big Magic Technique 'Panda Tofu'

"And it's the final match of the Banquet Cooking Tournament!" Marin declared as the contestants entered the arena. "First to appear is Shou An! And now, the youngest Super Chef in history, Liu Mao Xing, has also appeared! Both are chefs from Szuchuan! Who is going to win!?" she added as the two chefs faced each other.

"Mao, listen to the funeral march to be played on your burial." Shou An remarked. "I am going to play the Instrumental Trio Tofu. Set it here!" he rested a palm on the stone stove. "Listen with your ears, eyes, and your whole body! This is the ultimate, Instrumental Trio Tofu!" he lifted the tofu mold to reveal his creation. "Made with the best soybeans and mineral water, this is a pure and soft tofu. Take a good look, Mao!" he took the bamboo knife that was handed to him and started slicing up the beancurd. Then, taking up two bamboo knives, he started dicing up his beancurd, before firing up two woks. "You'll all find out why my cuisine surpassed my old master, Fairy Pai of Szuchuan!" he grinned. "It's done!" he dished up. "Don't get overly excited. Wait till the judging starts."

"Well then..." Mao finally stood up with only thirty seconds on the clock. "Here we go!" he carried the tofu mold over to the judges' table. "I will remove the mold now." he told the judges and lifted the cover.

"T-this is?!" Shou An was stunned. "What? That's impossible!" he exclaimed, seeing the stacked blocks of white and black tofu.

"A Liu Mao Xing Special: Magical Panda Tofu!" Mao announced his dish.

"That's impossible!" Shan snapped. "The soy-milk curds he put in that mold was a formless liquid. How could he color it and segment them in layers?"

"Both Shou An and Liu Mao Xing have finished their dishes in the allotted time!" Marin announced. "We will now start the judging of the final Banquet Cooking Tournament match!"

"Wait a minute!" Master Zhang stopped her. "Hey kid. You present us with a block of tofu and expect us to eat it?It's not interesting enough."

"That's right." Master Hu agreed. "At least cut it."

"There's no need for that." Mao corrected. This is no ordinary tofu. It's a tofu dish. And so..." he pulled out a bamboo leaf. "The magic will start now. Here!" he rapidly pulled out the bamboo leaves underneath the tofu block and the beancurd cut itself into tofu cubes. "Liu Mao Xing Special:Magical Panda Mapo, is finished!" he declared.

"We'll now start the food sampling!" Marin announced.

"The black and white pieces should taste different." Master Zhang reasoned. "I guess I'll start with the white tofu. Hey, this high-quality tofu has been thoroughly heated! All right! Next let's try the black tofu! This tofu is sweet? It has a rich taste, but it's very smooth."

"For that tofu, I used brown sugar." Mao explained. "I mixed rich black soybeans with brown sugar to make black tofu. The tongue is burned with the taste of red chili pepper, providing spiciness. The sting of peppercorn provides numbness. The high-quality white tofu neutralizes these, while the black tofu's richness brings out the spicy flavor."

"Everything was really like magic!" Master Zhang admitted. "But there are too many mysteries here. Tell us, Mao. First, how did you make liquid soy-milk curd into striped tofu? And how did the chunk of tofu cut itself? Also, why was the tofu, which was right out of the mold, so hot?"

"All the answers lie with this mold." Mao showed the judges the bottomless mold.

"Why that's..." Master Zhang exclaimed. "The mold is bottomless, with interlocking strings inside!"

"The mold was specially made because of my shortened cooking time." Mao explained. "First, I placed a block of lard atop the strings. Then I poured the black tofu in. Then, another block of lard. On top of that, I poured the white tofu. Then lard block, black tofu, lard block, white tofu... Repeat as needed. Once the tofu congeals to 80% hardness, I placed a fire under the mold. This turns the mold into a steaming basket. The lard melts and is absorbed by the tofu. Then I placed a dish under the mold, and removed the cover. While sliding against the interlocking string, the tofu cuts itself. Lastly, I pulled out the bamboo grass that holding back the sauce. This mixes the Mapo sauce with the tofu, completing the dish."

"After you explained it, there's no mystery." Master Zhang mused. "But where did you get this idea?"

"A woman gave me a chance to think it up." Mao cast a side look at Shan. "These are fermented beans eaten in Japan, called natto." he added, after the presenter opened up the pot of natto beans.
"When drawn out, these strings go both vertically and horizontally. Giving me the idea of cutting tofu with strings. This was ideal for Mapo because it made rough edges, which mixes better with the sauce."

"Now I understand." Ya Xue mused. "It's similar to Shou An and his bamboo knife!"

"Yeah." Mao nodded. "After I was sabotaged by the hay bacteria, I wanted to use bamboo grass which had germicidal properties. I associated bamboo grass with pandas, and pandas with my hometown in Szuchuan. And Szuchuan is known for its Mapo Tofu dish."

SailorStar9: Now that's done, read and review.