My name is Liu Mao Xing. More commonly known as Mao.
I grew up in the kitchen of Kikkaro, the best national restaurant in Szechuan.
My Mom was Kikkaro's head chef.
After Mom died, I competed in a cooking battle against Shou An for the position of new head chef.
The judge is a leading figure in the national cooking society...
... Admiral Lee. The subject he gave us was...
A mystery Mapo Tofu with six united factors.
A Mystery Mapo Tofu
A mystery Mapo Tofu, with six united factors...
A secret Mapo Tofu...
With six united factors instead of the usual five...
What is the mystery Mapo Tofu that Admiral Lee spoke of?
I've had the mystery Mapo Tofu only once.
It was ten long years ago.
I was delivering a message to Szechuan all the way from the capital.
After I accomplished that tough duty, I collapsed at a restaurant.
I had reached the limits of my strength, when they served me Mapo Tofu.
It was too heavy a dish. I didn't think I could eat it in my weakened state.
However...
It was such a strange Mapo Tofu.
It was gently absorbed into my exhausted stomach.
Because of the wonderful taste, my hand sped to scoop it up.
I finished three plates in one sitting.
After ten years, I still can't figure out that taste.
It was, in other words...
An exquisite contest of taste between tofu and meat.
Neither the dish nor the restaurant that served it exists any longer.
I want you to let me taste that mystery Mapo Tofu once again.
Listen, both of you.
Mapo Tofu represents Szechuan cooking.
I believe it shows the true value of a Szechuanese chef.
The cooking competition will be noon tomorrow. Be prepared!
Yes, Sir!
Think well. The answer may lie within yourselves.
What?
Admiral Lee was physically weakened to his limits.
The mystery Mapo Tofu helped him recover gently and powerfully.
It was an "exquisite contest of taste between tofu and meat."
And there were six united factors.
We've got all the ingredients. Why don't we just try it, Mao?
Okay, the mystery Mapo Tofu!
I don't know which chef cooked the dish, but...
Let's confront the six united factors!
Sure!
Let's begin! First, the ground meat.
Minced garlic and fermented black beans!
Hot pepper and sweet bean paste.
Then, the life of Szechuan dishes, hot bean paste.
Spiciness is the first factor.
Factor One!
Next, stir-fry it until it becomes colorful.
Here's the soup!
Add soup.
Then, tofu!
Season it with cooking wine and seasonings.
Good!
Let it simmer for a little while, and add soy sauce.
Then put in young garlic leaves.
This aroma of the garlic...
This aroma is the second factor.
Factor Two!
And then...
The hot pepper is red while the tofu is white.
The garlic leaves are green. The three colors create a contrasting palette.
The color is the third factor.
Factor Three!
Thicken the mixture with starch dissolved in water, and then on to the finishing touch.
Pour oil from the side, and immediately cook over a high flame.
Turn up the heat until the fire reaches the top of the wok.
This draws out the best taste and aroma of the dish.
That's the taste of heat, the fourth factor!
Factor Four!
Good! Oil came up to the surface.
Now!
Finally, sprinkle lots of peppercorn.
The flavor of peppercorn makes the tongue go numb.
The Fifth Factor: Numbness!
It's done!
Sis, let's eat!
Ouch! That hurts. Why did you do it?
What do you mean by "completed"? We're one factor short!
Let me see, spiciness, aroma, color, heat, numbness...
You're right. I've only got five factors.
Ouch!
You don't have to hit me twice!
You don't have time to laugh!
If you lose, Shou An will become the new head chef of Kikkaro.
Not only will we be kicked out of the restaurant...
but we don't even know what kind of punishment will await us.
All right. Let's start over.
Please taste the dish for me.
You can count on me.
An addition to the five factors... This sixth factor...
It's not even a mystery to me.
It took a bit of work but Kikkaro will be yours tomorrow.
I have no intention of just ending up as the head chef of that restaurant.
This is only the first step to fulfilling my ambition.
Your ambition...?
Well, you'll see. I swear I'll use my cooking skill...
... to make even the Emperor kneel down in front of me someday!
Twelve hours left...
No, I shouldn't! Mao is working so hard...
What?
Hey, Mao! Wake up!
Let me take a break for a bit!
What are you talking about?
The destiny of Kikkaro rests upon your shoulders!
Wake up, I said! Wake up!
Hold on! Please, Sis!
There's only two hours left...
No matter what I do, I can't figure out the last factor.
I'm sick of Mapo now. I don't want to see it ever again.
Same here.
Damn it!!
What is the one last factor?!
I just remembered... When we were small...
There was a time when all Mom fed us was Mapo.
But it was so strange...
Though we ate it every day, I didn't get sick of that Mapo Tofu.
Right, I remember that too.
That Mapo Tofu was easy to eat because the meat was so light.
There were no tendons in any piece of meat.
They were crunchy and I could easily bite them off.
Good of you to remember such a small detail.
That meat was somewhat different from the usual kind.
I can't recall it. It was so long ago.
An exquisite contest of taste between tofu and meat.
I wonder if the meat was grounded differently...
It wasn't pork or chicken either...
Wait, what else did Admiral Lee say?
The answer may lie within yourselves.
I see! I've got it!
What happened, Mao?
The only thing within me is the memory of Mom's tastes.
What's that supposed to mean?
Try to recall. One more time...
So that was...
All right!
What are you checking?
I was right! That year was...
What's the matter?
Now I remember everything.
What?
Sis!
Mom was great! She was really great!
Hey, Mao..!
Where are you going?
The cooking competition will begin soon!
M...Mao!
I couldn't figure out the last factor, no matter what.
But the sixth factor...
I've got it now!
Let me begin judging the Kikkaro cooking competition.
Shou An, Mao. Are you ready?
Yes, Sir!
The Szechuanese Mapo Tofu has numbness, spiciness, color, aroma and heat.
Now, let me ask you two.
What is the six factor of the mystery Mapo Tofu?
That is...
Texture!
Blast...
So Shou An noticed it, too.
Good. Both of you have noticed it.
The crunchy texture...
The sixth factor is exactly that, "Texture."
I was right.
Mapo Tofu is a dish that has a problem with texture.
It's easy to figure out that any factor other than those five has to be texture.
Let me taste the Mapo Tofu that you cooked.
Both of them look good.
Yeah, Mapo gives us the energy to live.
They both look good. So what will decide the fight is...
The sixth factor!
Let me try Shou An's dish first.
What is he doing?
Admiral Lee is good. He knows what I did.
Amazing! They're piled so high but they don't collapse.
Excellent resilience of tofu... And its texture...
Truly a high-level contest of taste between tofu and meat.
This Mapo Tofu is impressive.
So the competition is decided...
Kid... It's over for you now.
Did he mean the texture of the tofu? I'd never thought of that.
But... if my idea was right...
Now let me try Mao's dish...
Finally, Mao's Mapo...
What is this?
He's eating directly from the serving plate!
What's happening?
He finished it all at once.
I've tasted both Mapo Tofu dishes.
I asked for texture to be the sixth factor.
Shou An pursued the texture of the tofu.
While Mao did something else.
The mystery Mapo Tofu healed my body gently and powerfully ten years ago.
The truth is that texture isn't in the tofu, but in the ground meat!
Ground meat!
The Mapo Tofu that Mao cooked is the one and only mystery Mapo Tofu!
The texture of the meat is the sixth factor.
However, Admiral!
I used the best meat in my dish. Based on taste and resiliency,
It couldn't have be inferior to Mao's!
You should check the textural differences of the ground meat.
First, this is your ground meat.
Next is Mao's ground meat.
Did you see that?
Mao's meat was so resilient that it snapped into two pieces.
But Shou An's wasn't cut, it was only crushed.
What strange meat...
No matter how delicately it was ground, tendons should remain.
But Mao's meat is cooked evenly and has no tendons left.
Consequently, it has quite a smooth texture.
Mao.
Yes.
What kind of meat is this?
Admiral, it's not meat.
What?
It's not meat?
The secret is...
This.
What's that?
Is that the secret?
Everybody, please come to the kitchen.
My ground meat is...
...this!
So your ground meat is...
Soybeans!
People say soybeans are the meat of the fields.
How did you cook this soybean to make it taste like ground meat?
Right.
First, soak the soybeans in water and cook them with soup.
Next, crush them into a mash.
Then season them with sauce.
The moisture and flavor of the sauce creates a meat-like taste.
Wait a minute!
Such a taste is lost once it's cooked in the wok.
No meat-like texture should remain at all!
You can't simply substitute soybeans for meat by just mashing and seasoning it.
Absolutely not.
Therefore...
Deep-fry it in oil to lock in the taste of the sauce...
... and add proper firmness to make its texture close to that of meat.
That's how I made this.
It looks like ground meat at a glance.
I see...
Ground meat made from soybeans...
I remember this taste!
You seem to have noticed, Shou An.
The chef who cooked the mystery Mapo Tofu was...
The Fairy of Szechuan, and Kikkaro's head chef... Pai.
She was your mentor and also Mao's mother.
That's why I chose this subject for the two of you.
I was right!
Master Pai's Mapo Tofu!
Mom...
However, you're good to have noticed it, Mao.
I thought the mystery Mapo Tofu was my mom's dish, based on the subject.
I checked the Industrial Almanac of the time the Admiral came.
Exactly ten years ago, a bovine disease broke out in this area.
In that year, we couldn't cook Mapo Tofu because meat wasn't available.
I see. That was the year when I came.
Mapo Tofu is a dish that everybody would look forward to.
Mom struggled to cook it with totally different ingredients.
My sister and I used to eat the dishes that Mom cooked as a test.
So I traced my memory back to the taste during that time.
Which confirmed to me that the ingredient was soybeans.
So Mao.
Do you mean to say you figured out this ingredient all by yourself...
... based from the taste that you tried during your childhood?
Yes, I remember all the tastes my Mom made, once I try it.
I see...
Shou An!
You were satisfied learning in only techniques from your mentor, Pai.
But you've ignored the basics of cooking...
...which Pai valued most and perhaps wanted to give you.
Pai wished to feed those who loved Mapo Tofu with a beef substitute.
She created the soybean Mapo, which was no less great than beef.
She wished for people's happiness more than anything.
Her sincerity as a chef made it possible.
If you don't understand the basics, then you aren't qualified to be the head chef of Kikkaro!
Mao, thank you for reproducing Pai's taste. Well done.
Thank you very much, Admiral Lee.
Mao!
I did it, Sis!
You're great, Mao!
Remember me, Mao. I swear this won't be the end of my career.
It's been said since ancient times...
... that a talented chef can trace all the ingredients back only with their memory and a mental image of the taste.
Even I couldn't figure out the secret of the soybean meat.
This boy reproduced it with only a memory from ten years ago!
The best restaurant in Szechuan may not be good enough for him.
Mao.
Yes?
There's one more condition before I recognize you as the new head chef of Kikkaro.
You must go to Canton, the City of Food, for culinary training...
And just like your mother Pai was...
Be certified as a "Super Chef".
Super?!
Super Chef...
"In the Bluest Sky, I Can Meet With You"
I felt a signal pass through me today
As I went out to meet up with you
In this crowded cityscape, an enlightening wind
Is blowing hard into my face
Up in the clouds, above the Earth, where the Angels' ladders reach with grace
I stretched out my arms, and climbed right on. Now I can go...
Everywhere, gently riding a white wispy cloud
In the bluest sky, I can meet with you
No matter what the time, where the place The path to take, I want to see it through
I will never give up until the end
I want to gather up all pieces of the dreams that shine with seven rainbow colors
Ahh… perhaps the answers that I want
Are there all along in front of me