Kochugunshikan Boukensha ni Naru

Translator: SFBaka

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?”

“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?”

“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.

「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.