Published at 20th of November 2020 09:24:34 PM
After we finished our business at the Magic Guild, we returned to the inn .
“So it would be best if we kept your ability to learn magic spells through observation a secret right?”
“Certainly . I think it will turn out to be troublesome once the Magic Guild finds out . ”
“No, it will most certainly cause you a fair bit of trouble . It would definitely cause a major uproar . ”
“So it’s really like that huh . That was dangerous . I guess I’ll have to hold back once I take the admission test tomorrow . ”
“It’s a bit unfortunate though . If Alan gets serious, I’m sure you’ll easily attain S rank . ”
“I’m not really concerned with my Guild ranking anyway . More importantly, what kind of dish do you want me to cook for tonight’s dinner?”
“I’m fine with anything, but… Oh, right! I want to taste a dish from Alan’s country . ”
“A dish from my country huh . What should I cook then . ”
Hm, I guess it’ll have to be Earth recipes, which are all the rage back in the Empire . So a representative Earth dish for chicken meat would be…
I’ve been thinking up several dishes until we arrived back at the inn .
I went back to my room and got my condiments and spices ready . I can’t wait to cook again . The kitchen couldn’t house a lot of people, so I had Cleria and Elna wait outside .
I entered the kitchen and was shown the sliced Black Bird meat by the chef uncle .
“Thank you very much for preparing the meat for me, sir . My name’s Alan . Nice to meet you . ”
“It wasn’t much, kid . The name’s Verse . So what are you going to make anyway?”
“I was thinking of cooking dishes from my country . Wow, these sure are some nice cuts . You really are a pro, sir . ”
The meat’s already portioned into parts . He’s also taken out the tendons as well . Oh, and he even got the white liver .
I’ll check the cooking tools first . The flame magic tool was the same as the one in Tarus-san’s manor . They might have purchased it from Tarus-san’s store actually .
There was a new refrigerating magic tool as well . Oh, and there’s also a grating device . There are also bowls of different sizes . There’s a frying pan, saucepan, and all other cooking utensils also present in Tarus-san’s kitchen . I see . I think I’ll be able to cook up some great dishes with these .
The refrigerating magic tool also had a stock of different vegetables inside .
I checked the spices and condiments next . The stock’s roughly the same as with Tarus-san’s kitchen as well .
“Whoah! Is this katsuobushi!?”
“You familiar with that kid? I actually got that from a long-time customer for cheap, but I have no idea how to use it for cooking . That customer also didn’t know as well . It seems it was an unsold item of his . Since I felt it was a shame not to use it, I sometimes take some shavings and sprinkle it on top of some dishes . ”
I scraped some with a knife and gave it a taste . Yup, it looked a bit different, but this is definitely katsuobushi .
“Well, I do have an idea about how to use this . I’m familiar with a cooking method that can bring out more of its umami as well . Do you have more of this stuff?”
“I have one box filled with the stuff . ”
“Great! Can I get some from you later? I’ll pay for it of course . ”
“I don’t really mind, but…”
“Can I also use some of your vegetables and eggs?”
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“Do what you want . It’s your food tonight anyway . ”
“I see . I’ll take you up on that then . ”
“Since I’m free anyway, want me to help out as well?”
“Well, can you shave off some of this katsuobushi then? The thinner, the better . ”
“That’s easy, kid . ”
“Oh, do you want me to cook some portions for your family as well, Verse? You still haven’t had dinner, right?”
“Fine . If it’s tasty, that is . My girls are quite picky about their food after all . ”
“Great, leave it to me then . ”
After seeing this katsuobushi, I decided on tonight’s menu . It was a recipe from the place called Japan on Earth .
I decided to cook thigh meat karaage, fried chicken tenderloin, white liver sashimi, and white rice . If I still have time, I’ll also whip up some chicken oyakodonburi as well . I’ll feel sorry for Elna if I just cook meat dishes, so I’ll make some salad too . And I’ll make some bonito-flavored soup stock as well .
I’ll prepare the meat for karaage first .
I sliced the thigh meat into bite-sized pieces and put them inside a bowl . I’ll use all of the meat available! We’ll just eat some for breakfast if there are any leftovers later . That’s a lot of meat .
I grated some mock-ginger and placed it on a small bowl . I also did the same for the mock-garlic . I then put the grated ingredients inside the bowl with the chicken meat . It’s my personal style to put in lots of garlic .
I then took out the soy sauce I bought . I didn’t manage to find it in this kitchen, so I guess it was lucky that I bought some .
“What’s that?”
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“It’s a seasoning called Soy . You’re familiar with the Tarus General Store, right? I got it from there . Do you want to have a taste?”
I poured some Soy into a small dish and offered it to Verse .
“It has a deep flavor to it . I’ll buy some as well . ”
“It’s quite expensive by the way . This small cask already costs one gold coin . Oh, that kind of thickness is fine by the way . ”
“It’s really costly huh . I’ll think about it first then . ”
I mixed the seasonings and the thigh meat well, and let it sit for a bit . I actually wanted to put in some cooking sake as well, but unfortunately, I wasn’t able to find any . I pierced the portions with a fork so the flavor of the seasonings can permeate the meat better .
Since the katsuobushi shavings have been prepared, I’ll start on making the stock .
I poured water inside a pot and put it over the fire . While waiting for it to boil, I prepared some bread crumbs . The leftovers yesterday have already hardened nicely so they were ready for use .
“Can you grate this bread and put it on a separate bowl for me?”
“What’re you going to use this stuff for?”
“Well, just watch me . ”
I got the breast meat and sliced them for making the fried chicken tenders . There’s a lot of breast meat as well . I also put the meat inside a bowl along with some grated garlic and soy sauce marinade . I’m going to pair it with tartar sauce later, so I adjusted the flavor to be milder compared to the thigh meat .
The water inside the pot already came to a boil, so I put in the sliced katsuobushi . The point is not to boil the water too much .
I’ll make some mayonnaise next . Oops . I’ll have to make sure the eggs are safe to be eaten raw first . I took an egg and cracked it open . The insides looked like the eggs I usually buy in the market back in the Empire . I found an egg beater as well, so I whisked the raw egg for a bit and dipped my fingers into it so I can make Nanom check it out .
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「Possible to eat raw . 」
Great, no problems there .
Whoops, it looks like the soup is done . I took out a strainer and poured out the broth inside another pot . I sampled it with a small dish . It turned out into quite a tasty soup .
“I managed to extract the umami . Have a taste . ”
I offered a portion to Verse as well .
“This-!? You managed to get this flavor just by boiling it in water?”
“I’ll do some additional flavoring later as well . ”
I’ll continue with making the mayonnaise . First I’ll get some eggs, sugar, salt, vinegar, and powdered herbs . I put them all inside a large bowl and started mixing them . I’ll make a lot since I’m also going to need some for making tartar sauce .
I put in portions of oil little by little and mixed it well . I mixed the stuff up until the arm enhanced by Nanom started to feel numb and finally finished making it .
I could create it barehanded since it’s me, but normal people would need a mixer for this, I think . But it looks like there was no magic tool resembling a mixer available yet . I’ll ask about it tomorrow .
Delicious! Handmade mayonnaise really does taste different .
I also had Verse taste some .
“This stuff’s great! What the heck is this sauce!?”
“Right? This is also quite popular back in my home country . It’s great paired with both meat and vegetables . ”
Oops, I’ll need to boil some eggs for use with the tartar sauce later as well .
Alright, I’ll finish preparing the soup then . I found some mushrooms resembling shiitake inside the magic fridge earlier, so I’ll make a simple mushroom broth . I want to emphasize the broth itself, and not the ingredients .