Gourmet Emperor : Building A Nation

"Sire, please take a seat and I will bring the dish here"

I just nodded and casually seat on a chair available on there. John Harvard takes the seat in front of me. Not waiting for long, Harvard's wife and Silvie enter the room carrying the dish. There is a big wooden bowl contain something like brownish yellow dough, an iron pot contains a liquid that looks like soup and a plate filled with grilled fishes.

John Harvard invites me to take the food first,

"Master Ikki, please take a taste of our humble dishes. This meal came from our own harvest and the fish is just caught this morning from a nearby river. I hope master Ikki don't mind with my wife and Silvie's cooking"

"Then I'll be impolite to take the first dish, Chief Harvard. But can you tell me what this dish's ingredients are?"

"Hmm I don't know what my wife put on this dish, but this soup made from 'jagung' that's a plant that usually cultivates during summer and this dough is 'kentang', something that we plant during winter.

I pour some of the soup into the wooden bowl and take a sip to taste the flavor. This soup seems made from meat broth with this 'jagung' grains. When I taste the soup, this 'jagung' is actually corn, so this soup is actually corn soup. I also take a spoonful of this 'kentang' thing, which after I taste it, it's actually the potato, a mashed potato to be exactly. The fish is alright, the taste usually grilled fish when I used to camp outdoors.

Although the food is edible but somehow I feel something is missing, that makes me frowned. This change in my expression is noticed by Chief Harvard.

"Master Ikki, is this food not suit your taste?"

"Is not like that Chief Harvard, I only thought something is missing this food. And if that missing thing added to the food, the food's taste will be more delicious"

"And what is that missing thing would be master Ikki?"

I think for a while before answering, there's nothing wrong with the ingredient, the matter is the taste is too plain although the food is palatable. Ah! That's it, the food is lack of salt! That's why the taste is so plain.

"Do you have salt here, Chief Harvard?"

"Salt? What is that master Ikki?"

Ugh! How to describe a taste to a person? What if they never see salt before or maybe salt does exist, but only have a different name? I thinking a good way to describe the salt for chief Harvard

"Salt is something that tastes like, um ….Chief Harvard, do you ever see the sea?"

"Well, there's a shore half a day distance from here but I've never seen it"

"Wait a moment chief Harvard, I think I bring some salt with me"

I excuse myself and take the salt from my backpack in the sitting room. After I return I show them the salt and give them a little to taste it. They seem surprised after knowing the salt's taste.

"This …. This is garam! Moreover, it's so white and pure" chief Harvard can't hide his astonished expression.

It seems the name of salt is garam here. But why they so surprised? Is it a basic seasoning for food? Is this salt so rare in this world?

"Excuse me, Chief Harvard, you know this ingredient?"

"Yes, yes, what master Ikki mean by salt is garam in here. It's a rare ingredient in here. We only get it from the passing by the merchant and the price is so expensive, one gold coin for a small sack. That's why we don't use it for cooking, instead only use it for village ceremony and rituals. Moreover, the one that master Ikki brought is whiter and purer and have soft grain, only those nobles can afford to buy it. The salt, that passing merchant brought here, only a coarse and brownish one".

So that's the reason. I get some understanding of this world condition. It seems salt is valuable goods because it's hard to get. If I can produce a better salt than the one currently sold in the market, probably I can become rich people here. Eh, why I'm thinking about that? I only want some help to get back to my own world. Maybe if I can share my knowledge about salt making to these people, they will help me remove those massive boulders that blocking the cave entrance.

"Chief Harvard, if you don't mind, I will add a little 'garam' into this soup and you'll see how the differences after that"

"Please do so master Ikki. I don't even know if this garam can be used for cooking"

So I put some salt into this soup and stir it a while. After the salt dissolved into the soup, I invite them to taste the 'new soup'

"Please try it, Chief Harvard"

Chief Harvard, his wife, and Silvie take some of the soup and taste it. And almost in unison, they exclaimed togethe