Let’s say the conclusion.
I guessed Poitan was not a “vegetable”, but “grain”.
All could only be speculated, because there was no way to check it.
Anyway, since I assumed it myself, I finally succeeded in finding it’s cooking method.
The hint was “Nutritional Value”.
Actually it wasn’t really a difficult topic. It’s an elementary school level topic.
Giba meat is a protein source.
The vegetable Aria was a vitamin and fiber source.
Then, how about carbohydrate? That question was my first revelation.
Whether the residents of this world knew their body structure or not, I didn’t know. But because I had a body entirely similar to them, it wouldn’t be a problem if I tried to apply a little common sense from my world here.
Ai Fa was a very healthy person.
Beautiful skin, she also had a polished and brawny body, her physical strength was probably stronger than me.
To have a body build like Ai Fa, a balanced diet was a must.
So, Ai Fa ate meats. She also ate vegetables. If that was right, then it’s rather unnatural if you didn’t think that she would eat grains.
In the first place, Carbohydrate was a source of energy.
I didn’t think that Ai Fa who was always full of energy and had strength that was as powerful as a wild animal didn’t ingest any carbohydrates.
“Poitan is not a vegetable, but a grain.”
The other breakthrough that gave me that conclusion was poitan’s texture.
When I ate it for the first time, I thought.
“It’s like flour that dissolved in water.”
Wheat flour, that was a grain from ground wheat. It’s a grain flour.
There was no need to bake, roast, or eat it raw. The answer was in front of my face from the beginning.
Morihen’s people eating habits, I should have regarded it more.
Boiling was the only absolute answer for them.
By boiling it in hot water, poitan’s astringency was removed and it would melt in the water.
After that the poitan was qualified to enter a human’s mouth.
But it would just become a muddy water that was tasteless in this state. To hand it over in 100 steps, it’s flour that dissolved in water.
(TL: hand it over in 100 steps is a japanese saying of acknowledging something)
If it’s really flour dissolved in water, then I just have to return it to just flour.
With that thought, I began to conquer poitan.
I boiled the poitan with small amount of water to create a muddy poitan soup, then it was heated until the limit. After it’s heated to the brink, it would change into a semi-liquid material like a slime.
When it’s exposed to the sun for 1 hour, it would solidify to the last tick.
After crushing and try tasting it...no taste at all, it’s just an ordinary tasteless powder.
As I thought, It really was unmistakably similar to “Flour”.
If it was like this, I would just handle it like flour.
My hunch was correct.
After the powdered poitan was dissolved in the water and heated, I begun to boil it differently like the raw poitan and it started scorching.
It’s like an okonomiyaki without any ingredients.
The remaining little bits were samples, although I also bake it in the sun like the poitan that have become slimes, but it was no good. After the water evaporated, only powders was left.
It had to be dried completely once was the winning trick.
I didn’t understand what kind of molecule change happened inside poitan, also, I didn’t think I want to know.
Anyway, I have finally found it.
The correct answer for oneself.
And after my victory against poitan, apart from feeling triumph, my heart was filled with intense delight and uplift.
Flour, if the “Binder” existed, then I would be able to challenge “Hamburger” that I had given up.
Binder was an ingredient used to glue up the meat that was minced.
Usually, egg yolks and breadcrumbs were used.
Of course, even if I didn’t use a binder, it’s possible to make hamburger. I heard that using binder to glue the hamburger was Japan’s unique culture in the first place. I have heard various theories like “It’s okay if you put salt in.” or “It’s okay to not put anything in if you mixed it right.”
But since I have never made a hamburger without binder before, I had a second thought.
Well, since only meat remained abundantly. Let’s try making a prototype during the day, while thinking that, I put it on the bottom of the list I made.
However, it’s another story if there were binding ingredients.
If it was steamed or teriyaki cuisine, it’s possible to challenge it anytime. Its probably not harder than stews.
Then, let’s do it. It became this feeling.
Hamburger was one of the so called processed food. It’s a meat cooking that didn’t bear resemblance to the original meat.
It’s a basic food in a basic menu for me, but for this world’s inhabitants, I am certain, that this would seemed like a mysterious food for them.
If I was able to succeed in making a hamburger, how much would I be able to surprise Ai Fa ―― while thinking like that, my heart pounded like a maiden in love.
“The form has changed completely, but this thing is poitan. Because it has flavourless like taste by itself, please tear and eat the meat along with it, it’s safe I think.”
3 small sized “Gibaburg” garnished with aria slices and covered with much fruit wine sauce.
Also, perfectly round okonomiyaki-like baked poitan. The size, diameter 30 cm, with 1 cm thickness.
“Then let’s eat.”
Ai Fa showed a gesture which she drew a line with her left hand fingertips while chanting something inside her mouth again.
Then she took a bowl and spoon, and as expected, she was looking at “Gibaburg” with a doubtful expression.
While stealing a glance at her secretly, I put the wooden spoon on the patty.
Yep. No problem with the hardness. The cross-section was also unreasonably juicy. It should be a wellmade finish at the opening.
But this time, there still remained some problem about the food compatibility.
There were not many people who made hamburg steak from boar meat.
It’s because hamburg steak cooking method didn’t match boar meat.
Boar meat was softer than pork. The only method that could make it exhibit its special quality was probably only by “boiling”.
If I remembered it correctly it’s because the nature of its fat. Boar meat got softer the more you boil it.
If you eat it in any other process, boar meat could be categorized as a rather hard meat after all.
Of course if the procedure was correct, it wouldn’t be as hard as it’s said. But it couldn’t be said that it would become softer than beef or pork.
Nevertheless, the orthodox way of a hamburg steak was beef.
Mixture of Pork and ground beef were just as popular though.
I haven’t heard much about hamburg steak with only pork.
And since wild boar was still the same species as pig, the quality of the meat was quite similar as expected.
I have never made a hamburg steak from a boar meat――and giba meat that had similar taste.
How complete was the hamburg steak made from giba meat. Whether I can make Ai Fa surprised and acknowledge it myself――
Let’s begin.
I swallowed the giba meat that was scooped with the wooden spoon.
Gravy that was still sufficiently hot that would likely burn with momentum, spread within my mouth.
The first impression was….”Sweet”.
What was it. There is something that was terribly sweet. Boar meat, no… I wonder if it’s the unique flavour of giba’s fat.
Along with its mellow sweetness, unique flavour of the meat, and aroma from the fruit wine sauce. It’s delicious...I thought..
As expected, the meat was still more chewy than a hamburg steak. Even after I minced it carefully like that. To think that there was still some chewiness remain.
But, It’s not an unpleasant chewiness. The meat was firm, or rather, it gave chewy feeling when bitten.
And then, when I chew it again, the meat juice came out, spreading flavour and moisture in my mouth.
….It’s not good.
As expected, I loved a strong and firm meat unlike average people.
Boar meat, mutton, or duck meat. Meat with strong flavours like those, I liked it.
So...obediently...thought that it seemed delicious.
I couldn’t evaluate it objectively.
In other words, It’s extremely delicious!
Along with the sliced aria, covered with plenty of sauce, I carried the meat to my mouth again.
Delicious.
It’s unreasonably delicious.
I would probably also give the same evaluation if it was a boar meat.
Although it’s embarrassing to give an overestimated evaluation to the dish I made by myself, it’s really delicious.
If I had to give a drawback, it’s just that I wanted a thicker patty.
Although both sides of the patty was burned firmly with a good thickness, the center gravity of the meat only contained a little meat juice.
That was my only frustration.
When I ate it again with the poitan, it’s really delicious again.
Though the ideal one was white rice, as expected vegetables and grains were necessary to meat.
There were countries that were different, but I grew up in a country like that. I grew up in a home like that. Carbohydrates from meat and vegetables. If any of them was missing it wouldn’t reach the ideal food.
And also, this dull taste of a grain was a taste that would be fit to be tasted for a long time.
I, more than what I thought, was actually starving for more carbohydrates.
Poitan wasn’t sticky like bread or naan, as expected without any tool, it’s like an okonomiyaki that wasn’t made with eggs and have any toppings. But still, I would think of it as delicious.
3 gibaburgs with one poitan were insufficient. Because the gibaburg was fairly rich in flavour, it felt like I want to eat two more poitan.
Even though I tried to evade poitan so much, I involuntarily grinned. “What are you laughing at, you.” I heard a cold remark.
It’s the voice I heard everyday, Ai Fa’s voice.
This was bad. Because I was too absorbed in eating, I took my eyes off Ai Fa somewhere. I did a little reflection because of my greed.
“Oh, Ai Fa. How is the taste?”
When I look at her, Ai Fa has eaten more than half of the poitan, and just finished eating the second gibaburg. She’s fast. Even though I just finished eating one.
After swallowing the part she carried to her mouth, Ai Fa says a single word. “Delicious.”
“Thanks for that! But…, I will be really happy if you can give me a bit more detailed impression.”
When I said that, this time she says. ”Don’t want to.”
“....No?”
“I don’t want to, something like impression, I don’t want to say it.”
“Ehhh. Why? Are you still angry about what the thing on daytime?”
She tilted her head. “The thing on daytime?”
“Ah. That impudent thing that you done when you lost yourself, I completely forgot something like that.”
“Eh, you forgot…then why don’t you want to say your impressions?”
“You’re noisy. If I say I don’t want to say, then I don’t want to say it.”
Then, a mysterious phenomenon occurred.
Ai Fa’s face is bright red that she tried to hide it by looking down to the container she had.
“It’s good enough right! Don’t look at me!”
I didn’t understand.
Well it’s ok. Her emotions seemed unstable today, so I should just ask again some other day. Although it’s quite a let down, at least I got the “delicious” evaluation.
And when I thought about that.
A voice came from an unexpected direction.
“Hey, what are you eating?”
Ai Fa and me look at the window, amazed.
It’s from the window next to the stove.
From the window, that showed that it’s already considerably dark outside, a small face peeped out while holding the lattice.
“Hey, listen! There’s a really good smell here. Is that giba? That white thing is what?”
“Rimi Ruu, you should have been told to not approach my house.”
Since Ai Fa who's just erased her surprised face answer it’s nothing, I felt a little relieved. If she was familiar with her, there shouldn’t be any problem. It’s not something underhanded.
Anyway, who was this child?
Since her stature was small, I could only see her auburn hair and round pupil from the window, I didn’t know what kind of face she had.
“I don’t want to! Even though it’s been some time after we met, why do you say mean things like that? ...Hey! What are you eating? How does it taste? Who made it? Is the man there Ai Fa’s husband?”
“Don’t say something stupid! Why should I be with this feeble man!”
That word, somehow really hurt me.
But.
Ai Fa’s face, that was yelling like that, had become the reddest face I have ever seen.
Un.
Let’s just face it off.
“Hey, who is that child?”
Although I asked Ai Fa, the answer came from the other person.
“Rimi Ruu is Rimi Ruu you know! Ruu family youngest daughter you know! Rimi Ruu is Ai Fa’s friend!”
“Don’t kid with me. I don’t remember becoming your friend, Rimi Ruu.”
While putting the last gibaburg to the wooden spoon, Ai Fa answered with colder voice than usual.
“I hate, noisy children like you.”
Then.
The child who introduced herself as Rimi Ruu had a blank look for a moment.
The next moment, she exploded.
“Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan.”
She started to cry loudly.
“O, oi, Ai Fa don’t be childish like that if the person is a child……” My voice trying to rebuke her got drowned by the cry.
It’s a terrible cry. My eardrum hurt.
“E even thoughhh Rimi Ruu loves Aaaaaai Faaaaaaa!” I coud somehow analyze only those words out of the cry.
Anyway.
My encounter with Rimi Ruu, the youngest daughter of the Ruu family that would decide my destiny in the future, was fulfilled like this.