In the final round of the Banquet Cooking Tournament,
I'm facing Shou An, my Mom's apprentice in Kikkaro,
in a match directed by destiny.
The subject is tofu, the same as our Kikkaro competition!
The judging will commence in sixteen hours.
So I started making tofu from soybeans.
But an unbelievable trap awaited us.
It's got to be Shan. Nobody else would do something this cheap!
Is there anything that can be done, Mao? Father's life is at stake.
Shan! Thanks to you, I'll be making the tofu dish of the century!
Mao's Real Ability! Magical Panda Tofu
Something's happening!
Here comes the judges.
Is it almost time?
Less than an hour left.
They should be finished with the tofu and will start cooking.
Yeah! We've been waiting!
Win it for us!
Good luck, Shou An!
And it's the final match of the Banquet Cooking Tournament!
First to appear is Shou An!
And now, the youngest Super Chef in history, Liu Mao Xing, has also appeared!
I'm counting on you, Mao!
Mao!
Both are chefs from Szechuan!
Who is going to win!?
I'm trembling with excitement.
Win or lose, this is it. The leaders' showdown.
The shared history between Mao and Shou An...
The Legendary cookware...
And the right to control Shanghai...
All will be settled with this match.
Father.
No matter what, there's no way he can make a decent tofu dish.
The countdown to Shanghai's surrender has begun!
Mao, listen to the funeral march to be played on your burial.
I am going to play the Instrumental Trio Tofu.
I-Instrumental Trio Tofu?
What is that?
Set it here!
Tee hee hee hee!
Listen with your ears, eyes, and your whole body!
This is the ultimate, Instrumental Trio Tofu!
W-what magnificant tofu!
It's like a huge block of marble, so... powerful!
Made with the best soybeans and mineral water, this is a pure and soft tofu.
Tee hee hee hee.
That's...
A bamboo knife!
Take a good look, Mao!
This is amazing.
He's cutting all four sides of the tofu into identical pieces with such speed!
Wow! Look at his knife-handling skill!
Really, Mao!
There goes Brother Mao again with his bad habits!
But he's not all talk...
Tofu is 10% bean curd, held together by 90% water.
It's a delicate substance.
Destroying the shape will destroy the taste.
And he knows this.
The precision of his cutting is like a machine.
He used a bamboo knife to avoid the smell of metal. Smart.
Don't be surprised just yet.
Wha? With two hands?!
He's not holding back his great skill!
Shou An's so hot, even his sweat vaporizes.
And the audience is stunned.
He's terrific. What a tenacious chef.
I-Is Brother Mao going to be fine?
Huh?
B-brother Mao...?!
Damn it. Shou An has already started to cook.
The tofu itself isn't done yet. Mao can't even begin to cook.
It's because of that woman!
If that woman hadn't ruined Mao's tofu, he would already be cooking...
Look at what Shou An's doing now!
Two frying pans at once! Is there something Shou An can't do?
He's working with two fires at once.
Cooking with fire is the life of Chinese cuisine. So dual-wielding is a hardcore move!
Noodles... Shou An is making a noodle dish?
Then the other pan must hold the sauce?
The sauce is going on top!
You'll all find out why my cuisine surpassed my old master, Fairy Pai of Szechuan!
It's done!
That looks good!
So beautiful!
Look! Such wonderfully beautiful winding noodles!
The scent of the sauce, and the tofu's diamond-like shine...
Everything is first class!
Don't get overly excited. Wait till the judging starts.
Shell, your watch. Let me see your watch!
The judging starts in five minutes?!
Shou An's already cut and cooked the tofu.
You can't do that in just five minutes, Mao!
Don't panic!
How can you say that?
You can't blame him. His father's life is at stake here.
And Mao understands that. Look.
He's locked deep in thought.
That concentration suggests he's focused on the food.
Mao, do you have a secret plan?
Something that can beat Shou An's cooking...?
Sanche, let's believe in Brother Mao. He'll definitely do something!
It's always been like that, right?
Shilou...
If you don't feel like fighting, then give up boy!
That's right!
Thirty seconds.
Hey Shilou! Are we still supposed to believe in Mao!?
Stop choking me...!
Well then...
Mao...
B-brother Mao!
You're late, Mao. Much too late!
Your tofu's ready, but there's nothing else you can do!
Here we go!
What? What?
Mao, are you...?
What are you doing?
You want to give them raw tofu?!
What's wrong with you?
Idiot.
He's bringing the whole mold of raw tofu to the judges.
Why bother?
Stop joking!
W-what?
What's going on, Liu Mao Xing?
What's happened to the youngest Super Chef in history?
So you're going to bet everything on just the tofu, Mao?
There was nothing else he could do.
Just the tofu. That's tough.
And with the mold, the presentation's too inelegant.
I will remove the mold now.
What?
T-this is?!
So bright!
T-this is..!
O-Oh my!
What? That's impossible!
It's divided into chunks of black and white.
Liu Mao Xing's dish is a gigantic black-and-white striped tofu!
What the hell is that?
W-what's that tofu?
How was that made?
A Liu Mao Xing Special, Magical Panda Tofu!
Magical...
Panda Tofu?
But how did he?
I've never seen such a strange tofu in my life!
When did Mao make that thing?
What are the tofu's ingredients?
That's impossible!
The soymilk curds he put in that mold was a formless liquid.
How could he color it and segment them in layers?!!
Heh, calm down.
So it's layered and colored, but it's still raw tofu.
To present uncooked tofu will be problematic, Mao!
Both Shou An and Liu Mao Xing have finished their dishes in the alotted time!
We will now start the judging of the final Banquet Cooking Tournament match!
Wait a minute!
Hey kid. You present us with a block of tofu and expect us to eat it?
It's not interesting enough.
That's right. At least cut it.
There's no need for that.
There's no need to cut it?
What do you mean, kid?
This is no ordinary tofu...
It's a tofu dish.
And so...
The magic will start now.
Here!
N-no way!
It came out fresh from the mold, and it's already pre-cut?
W-wow.
It's like a big magic show...
It's a panda! Pandas playing in a bamboo forest!
And beneath the bamboo grass is red sauce!
Liu Mao Xing Special, Magical Panda Mapo, is finished!
Unbelievable. A Mapo Tofu.
It's magnificent.
Black and white tofu chunks lying on top of bamboo grass.
It looks like pandas playing in a forest.
What a cute and fun dish!
It's like my soul is moving upstream through the Yangtze River
to its source in Szechuan Province, where pandas make their home.
Way to go, Brother Mao!
What a trick... It's the magic show of the Century!
Amazing, Mao!
Wha-what's going on with the kid's dish?
It's like I'm dreaming. How did it cut itself?
I don't understand. After Mao poured the soymilk curds in the mold, he didn't touch it.
He just sat and waited for the tofu to harden.
And yet the dish was completed while inside the mold.
Is there a magic trick in there?
We'll now start the food sampling!
Which one first?
I can't stop thinking about Mao's.
Sure!
The black and white pieces should taste different...
I guess I'll start with the white tofu.
Sure, it's magical and looks nice, but what about the taste?
Mapo tofu is hot. Its taste is decided by the temperature.
He never had time to cook the mapo tofu, so it's no good.
Hot hot hot!
W-what?!
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.
Sweet tofu... Mao...
For that tofu, I used brown sugar.
I mixed rich black soybeans with brown sugar to make black tofu.
I see. You used the sugarcane that pandas like.
Then how about the sauce?
Spicy!
This is the spiciness of a genuine Szechuan Mapo Tofu!
You idiot.
Mapo tofu should be eaten with the tofu, right Mao?
Yes!
Delicious!
So good.
It's so good!
Look!
Oh my! The judges are happily dripping in sweat!
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.
Red to white, white to black.
Red, white, black. Then the colors are repeated.
It's a taste attack in waves.
This is definitely a Magical Mapo!
He's done it again, that rascal Mao. Victory from the jaws of defeat!
Right! Brother Mao turned the tide against him 180 degrees!
He's saved... My Father's saved!
Everything was really like magic!
But there are too many mysteries here.
Tell us, Mao. First, how did you make liquid soymilk 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.
Why that's...
The mold is bottomless, with interlocking strings inside!
What?
The mold was specially made because of my shortened cooking time.
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.
I see, lard...
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.
I see. So that's why the tofu was so hot when you pulled out the mold.
Yes. 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.
But where did you get this idea?
A woman gave me a chance to think it up.
What a kind woman!
What's this?
These are fermented beans eaten in Japan, called natto.
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.
I get it! It's similar to Shou An and his bamboo knife!
Yeah. 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 Szechuan.
And Szechuan is known for its Mapo Tofu dish.
W-what the hell?
Well done, boy! You have really surprised us.
This dish is fit to be the capstone of the Banquet Cooking Tournament.
You did it!
Yes!
Mao, you're a genius!
Thank God for fermented beans!
Yahoo!
Google!
Is that the best you can do?
With this Instrumental Trio Tofu, this match is mine!
FREE AS THE WIND
Every night when I fall fast asleep I can hear you whispering in my dreams, feel me.
Then a bluish flame burns bright within Shining, sparkling hotter than ordinary fire.
Look at all the rain gently falling down, Filling over the dry lake bed with freshwater streams.
If we both go down like this inside our hearts, Who knows what places we will find and explore?
Destiny ensured that we both meet at the same present.
Free to frolic like the wandering wind.
Ohhh, can we stay like this until the very end of time?
This intensity I feel for you, is from Cosmic Power...