Magicraft Meister Part 1

I was reading a book on alchemy, and the time passed in a blink of an eye, it seemed to be noon.

"Mr. Jin, Mr. Reinhard, let's have lunch together.

With these words, the emperor came in.

"Don't get your hopes up," he said.

The menu for lunch was simple, but reasonably well prepared. The menu was simple, but reasonably well-made.

But the dish that caught Jin's attention the most was a dish that looked like porridge. Only it was black.

"......What is this?"

Jin asked, and the head chef who was standing nearby explained.

It is a porridge made from the fruit of the Japanese horse chestnut. Someone told me that our guests are interested in it.

Ah, I knew it, Jin thinks. He had talked to the butler in the drawing room the day before yesterday, so he must have given him this information.

"Bon appétit."

The first meal is porridge, as expected. After taking a bite, Jin feels a slight difference in texture. It is not thick.

It must be rice. It is not long and thin. It was a familiar kind of rice to Jin.

"How do you like it?　I heard that you are interested in it, so I cooked a small amount of it. ......"

As he ate the rice, Jin thought of the way he ate rice outside of the house. He remembered reading a cooking manga about a newspaper reporter who rebelled against his father.

I remember reading in a cooking manga about a newspaper reporter who rebelled against his father, "Maybe you boiled the rice once in the broth?

It was written that that's the way to cook rice outside of Japan.

"Yes, I did. If you don't, the rice becomes sticky or sludgy.

Hearing this, Jin decided to inquire about the history of eating jasso.

When did people start to eat this jassica?

"Well, it was discovered about 100 years ago, and we started eating it only in the last 20 years or so.　Originally it was a crop for livestock, but when they tried it, they found it was good for food. ......"

It was fed to horses, which grew faster, so it began to be cultivated in the southern part of the Shoro Empire, and someone tried to see if the fruit could be eaten, and it seemed to be a good food.

So, they started to grow them about 20 years ago, dividing them into two categories, one for humans and the other for horses, the head chef explained.

"Fuun ......"

In Japan, rice is used for harvesting rice, which requires the use of pesticides. Therefore, it was not often used for livestock feed. However, Jin's interest was not in the rice, but in the plants.

"If you don't mind, could you show me some of your jasso after this?　And if you let me cook it for you, please let me know at ......."

The chef looked at the emperor with a puzzled look on his face. The chef looked at the emperor with a slightly annoyed look on his face.

Reinhard, who knew that he had made a delicious dish with topopo (potatoes), which were once not so commonly eaten, was inwardly excited.

"This is the julienne.

......

What he was shown was brown rice. Jin, who had heard from the director that brown rice was difficult to cook, thought that he should start by turning it into white rice.

Then, he thought of a way to polish the rice.

Basically, brown rice is rubbed or bumped against each other to remove the surface film, or bran, but if this is done too quickly, the frictional heat generates heat and the taste is lost.

"Let's go orthodox first: ......"

So, Jin thinks that the quality of the rice should be as good as that of commercial rice mills, even if the taste is a little lower. He is more serious than usual, perhaps because he has rice on the line.

"Anyway, all you have to do is to rub the rice together. ......"

In other words, it is enough to stir the rice in the container. It would be even better if the heat generated at this time could be suppressed.

Jin had a medium sized barrel prepared for him, and put about half of the juliennegrass in it and covered it with a lid.

Reiko, shake this barrel for me.

Reiko's turn came at this point.

"Yes, Father."

?

Those who were watching ...... were astonished to see Reiko, who looked like a girl, easily lift a barrel of julienne, which must have weighed more than 20 kilograms, and the chef and his men were shocked.

"Okay, do it. ......<"

As Reiko shakes the keg, Jin casts an engineering spell to lower the temperature.

After about five minutes, he stopped the shaking and looked inside to see that the rice inside the barrel had gone from brown to almost white.

"Okay, five more minutes.

He shook the rice while chilling it as well. Now the rice is almost white.

"It's done!

"Oh?　What is this, Mr. Jin?

"Where I come from, we call this white rice. This way it's easier to cook. ......<>"

Jin separates the rice from the bran.

"This powder is rice bran. It has its own uses, so don't throw it away.

It is used for pickles.

"Now, here is the white rice. Let's cook it.

Jin works with the chef as he polishes the rice.

Brown rice is easy to wash because it does not produce bran, but white rice needs to be cleaned of bran.

He decided to make white porridge for the time being. Cooking rice was a hurdle for Jin, too.

"Add more water, put the lid on, and go to ......."

Making porridge is not that difficult. All you have to do is boil the rice in 8 to 10 times as much water as the rice.

Unlike rice, there is no need to let it absorb water. Just bring it to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat to low and stir it once or twice to prevent it from burning.

Jin can make porridge because he made it for his sick child.

It was difficult to control the heat since it was not a gas range, but he managed to make the first batch of porridge in about an hour.

"Now, please try it.

Jin took a small plate for the chef, Reinhardt, and himself and sprinkled a little salt on it.

Jin, who has a cat tongue, blew on it and let it cool down a little before putting it in his mouth, but the chef tasted it immediately. The result was.

"Oh, this is delicious!　Thank you for teaching me such a good lesson, Mr. Jin!

He was pleased. Reinhardt did the same.

"Jin, I didn't know that the Japanese hogweed could be so tasty!

And Jin himself said,

"......Ah, it's a nostalgic taste. ......"

Reiko was moved to tears. Reiko rushed to tell the old man about it.

（<

（It seems so. The recipe is as I have just informed you. There may be another way to prepare it, but I will let you know as soon as I know. We should get the rice and grow it on Horai Island.)

(<>)

（Yes. I'll leave that to you. I'll ask you more about cooking methods.)

"It's so tasty with just salt, isn't it?

"It's even better with pickles."

The salted fish we ate on the way would have been delicious too. But...

"The pickled vegetables in rice bran are called 'nabe-zuke' (pickles). It is also delicious.

Jin suggested using the bran in this way.

"Unfortunately, I don't know much about how to make pickles, but I do know that you have to stir the bran every day, that the bran gives off a sour smell, and that if you don't stir it, it gets damaged and the smell gets worse.

With these words, Jin only suggested how to make it. In fact, Jin himself had never made miso-bran paste, even though he had eaten it before.

"Then, I should fry the bran once ...... and knead it in salt water until it becomes the consistency of clay," he said.

I'll show you what I know from what I've heard. You never know what might be helpful.

If it is generally correct, the professional cooks will take care of the rest.

It is another story that Reiko sent the information to the old man at the same time and the Peridos were waiting for the rice to come.

"Thank you, Mr. Jin, for the information about your local cuisine!

The chef thanked Jin after we had talked with him for the rest of the evening. And finally,

"Please look forward to tonight's menu.

He also said, "Please look forward to tonight's menu.

He said, "Jin-kun, please look forward to tonight's menu.

Jin, this is delicious.

We had dinner with the emperor. The emperor was very satisfied with the white rice porridge. There were also some salted, but lightly pickled vegetables on the side.

Jin was somewhat pleased to see that his taste buds and preferences were similar to his own.

"This jasper, or <>, takes a bit of time and effort, but I've heard that it produces a large crop. Let's encourage them to grow more than just wheat!

Indeed, Jin had heard that the yield per unit area is higher for rice than for wheat.

Also, although he did not know the reason, he knew that paddy rice could be grown in a row. I explained this to him.

"Hmm, <>. All right, I'll assign someone to do that kind of research.

The emperor was very enthusiastic since the matter was to improve the food situation. Since the time was not too late, Jin also explained about rice cultivation to the best of his knowledge.