Heat is Key

Sakuya Izayoi is the head maid of the Scarlet Devil Mansion. She is a perfect maid who nonchalantly grants any and all of her mistress Remilia's self-indulgent requests. After hearing Remilia praise Meiling's Chinese cuisine, Sakuya declared that she could cook it too. Thus began her training.

Sakuya became Meiling's student in order to learn how to cook Chinese cuisine good enough for Remilia. Meiling's Scarlet Dragon Cooking Class had begun. The first lesson was stirfrying, which is a fundamental cooking technique of Chinese cuisine. The best way to master this technique is by cooking fried rice. Sakuya started off by cooking fried rice normally... but Meiling just shook her head.

Meiling lectured that fried rice is all about heating up the rice evenly so that no two grains stick together. It has to smell good and the other ingredients must be sparse. While Sakuya was shocked by Meiling's reprimand―over such a simple technique too!―it became a spark that lit a burning passion for cooking that had been sleeping deep within her heart...

Before the Dine & Dream Nemunoki event, Meiling was training Sakuya when... Kasen came and begged Meiling to teach her how to cook the ultimate dish. She said that she felt bad about telling Reimu to train all the time without training herself, so she wanted to train and learn how to cook delicious food. Kasen wanted to use this pure and utterly selfless motivation to let go of her own desire.

Meiling gifted Sakuya and Kasen with Chinese-style outfits as training uniforms. This was mainly to get them in the right mindset, but she also wanted them to appreciate this style of clothing. After the contest, Meiling asked Sakuya why she didn't wear the Chinese-style outfit. She was blushing as she replied that a maid outfit is the only proper attire for one standing in the Scarlet Devil Mansion kitchen. Meiling laughed to herself, fairly certain that Sakuya was just embarrassed.