Cooking with Wild Game (LN) - Volume 16 - Chapter 4.3

3

We ended up bringing out the vegetable and meat dishes together.

For my vegetable dish I went with a caprese salad, while I had decided on Milan-style cutlets for my meat dish.

“Ooh! Are these giba cutlets?!”

“Yes, but I did something a little different with them.”

While it was probably a little late to be saying so, my theme this time around was Italian-style dishes. The Tsurumi Restaurant centered mainly on western dishes, but even aside from that, my old man just loved Italian cooking.

“Japanese cooking and Italian dishes are a lot alike. I’m not saying they taste similar, but in the way they think about cooking,” my old man had once said.

Japan and Italy were both sea nations that were blessed with plenty of ingredients both from the water and the mountains, and their climates were similar too. My old man’s pet theory was that they handled ingredients similarly in some ways as a result.

Well, it might have just been that he liked it, with no need to look for any such deeper meaning. I was personally quite fond of tomato sauce, and had once served a rather wild piccata dish to Lefreya, so perhaps that was something I had inherited from him.

Since I had heard folks from Banarm were fond of dairy products, I hit upon the idea to use Italian cooking rather than Japanese, Chinese, or western-style Japanese dishes, so my menu would emphasize milk fat and dried milk. But if that was the way I wanted to go, I didn’t have too many choices for my meat dish. With my limited knowledge, all I could come up with were Italian-style hamburger steak with tarapa and dried milk, piccata, and the Milan-style cutlets I ultimately went with.

On top of that, Polarth and Leeheim were already familiar with my giba burgers with tarapa sauce. It would probably put a damper on things for nobles like them if I served up something so similar to what was sold at the stalls in the post town. So, considering the favorable reception given to my giba tatsuta age last time around, I decided to go with the Milan-style cutlets.

However, I didn’t exactly know the proper way to make them. I couldn’t tell you the long official Italian name for the dish either. Ultimately, I just had to aim for Italian-style cutlets using the same reference points I did for the piccata.

There were two big things that made this dish different from my usual cutlets: the dried milk sprinkled over the coating, and the use of milk fat in the frying oil.

The cut I went with was naturally sirloin. After carefully cutting the tendons, I tenderized the fibers. After giving it some base-level seasoning with salt and pico leaves, I covered the meat in flour and kimyuus eggs, then breaded it with baked fuwano crumbs. The flour was mixed with a bit of the mustard-like herb Varkas had taught me was called sarfaal. I also added ground gyama dried milk to the baked fuwano crumbs I was using in place of panko.

Next, I fried it in reten oil with added milk fat. Since reten oil had a similar aroma to olive oil, it was a great fit with the dishes this time around.

I left it up to the guests to decide whether they wanted to use sheel fruit juice or tarapa sauce. But thanks to the abundant aroma from the sarfaal and milk fat, I figured some of them might decide it didn’t need any sauce at all.

To accompany it, I carefully sautéed up some ro’hyoi, nenon, and that brown beech-like mushroom in milk fat. In the end, I’d say it came out every bit as good as my usual giba cutlets and giba tatsuta age.

As for my vegetable dish that would be presented before the meat dish during the actual welcome banquet, I had gone with a caprese salad. It was a simple dish in which I used tarapa and dried milk. First I thinly sliced up those small sweet tarapa sold in the castle town, then made similarly thin slices of karon dried milk, and laid them out in a line of alternating, overlapping slices, dried milk and then tarapa, back and forth. Karon dried milk was a lot like a plain mozzarella cheese, which made it a good fit for the dish.

To add a bit of color, I gave it some parboiled ro’hyoi too, and then poured my specially made dressing overtop. I used less mamaria vinegar and myamuu than with the carpaccio, and finished with panam honey for a touch of subtle seasoning so that it would have a somewhat gentle flavor overall. In the actual banquet it would be served between the cream pasta and the cutlets, so I had chosen it to act as an intermezzo.

“Ah, this is tasty,” a voice loudly proclaimed from the end of the table. But rather than Dan Rutim, it was the Sauti man who said that. The large young hunter with a homely face shook his head with a look of great admiration. “All of the dishes are delicious, but this one is really something else. The Sauti women have received a few lessons from the Rutim, but they can’t match this at all.”

“Hmm... I think the giba cutlets I ate before were tastier, though,” Dan Rutim chimed in with a frown. “Why is that? It’s still delicious, but it feels like something’s lacking. Just what is going on here, Asuta?”

“I’m sure it’s because I didn’t use giba fat to fry them. Since the people of the forest’s edge have eaten giba for so many years, their fat is probably more to your tastes than reten oil or milk fat.”

This time around I was mainly aiming to serve nobles, though, so I used reten oil instead. After all, karon milk fat didn’t blend well with giba lard.

“I see. Well, this is a meal made for nobles, so there’s no reason for me to go complaining.”

Even as he said that, though, Dan Rutim’s frown remained fixed in place. But I figured I could wash away his displeasure just by showing him the special dish I had prepared.

“Well then, I figure it’s best for you people of the forest’s edge to not eat such a huge amount of fried food, so why don’t you have some of this to make up for it?”

It was a dish I had prepared solely for the people of the forest’s edge. I knew perfectly well that a single cutlet wouldn’t be enough to satisfy the formidable appetites of the men in particular.

When he saw the plate Ama Min Rutim was bringing around, Dan Rutim was overjoyed. It likely went without saying, but the dish in question was giba ribs.

“The kitchen here has a furnace, so I wanted to try baking the ribs in it. There’s more than enough, so feel free to grab seconds.”

“Asuta, you tease! You should have said so from the start!”

“Being disappointed at first means you’ll be even happier in the end, right?”

Having already done my research, I knew that the Milan-style cutlets hadn’t been especially well received by the Fa and Ruu clans. It seemed that giba cutlets were a special dish for the people of the forest’s edge, what with the way that frying giba meat in giba fat condensed that delicious giba flavor. Even Jiza Ruu had admitted they were tasty.

But I was sure folks from the castle town would prefer the Milanese cutlets, which were made with milk fat and dried milk. My decision was driven by my recent realization that nobles had cooking that was suited to them, and the same was true for the people of the forest’s edge.

“Sir Asuta, could I also try some of that dish?” the southerner Bozl’s deep voice called out from the opposite side of the table. “This fried dish is incredibly delicious. I’ve been left dumbstruck with shock ever since I tasted it.”

“Thank you. I’m honored to hear you say that.”

When I held out the plate of ribs to him, Bozl broke out in a big grin. Despite his fierce appearance, his smile was totally earnest. Any time a southerner smiled, I couldn’t help but think how charming it was.

“Please go ahead and try my cooking as well, Sir Asuta...” Varkas then chimed in.

Looking over, I saw that his plates were once again empty. I still had yet to even see the man take a bite.

“Right, I’ll do that now... Would you like to try some of these ribs too, Varkas?”

“Yes, I would be glad to.”

After offering Varkas some ribs, I went ahead and turned toward my own plates, containing the vegetable and meat dishes.

In terms of appearances, the vegetable dish was the one that really drew the eye. There were green, red, and yellow fibers wrapped up into a shape that was all round and poofy. It definitely was a dish with a bizarre appearance.

Looking closely, it was made of thinly sliced strings of vegetables that were then gathered together into a nice little sphere around the size of a ping pong ball. Their density was so low that it felt like you could see right through them, and a little wind would be enough to send them flying.

Though I was being figurative by calling them strings, they had to be so thin that you’d measure them in millimeters. And those reds and greens all had varying shades, giving it the appearance of a colorful decoration. However, there didn’t seem to be any sort of sauce or dressing over it. Was it a dish where he just thinly sliced raw vegetables and herbs into strips and then bundled them all together?

Timidly, I picked one up with my own personal chopsticks. Despite how soft it looked, the shape didn’t break down at all. It just bent slightly where I was applying pressure.

When I tossed it into my mouth and chewed...an aroma every bit as extravagant as the dish’s coloring burst forth.

He really had used herbs after all. It was stunningly striking. And it had a crispy texture that reminded me of shrimp chips. Apparently they weren’t raw, but rather smoked.

The flavor from the vegetables wasn’t very distinct. It was almost as if I was eating an aroma that had taken shape. Sweet, spicy, bitter, sour...a bunch of scents were racing around my nose in perfect harmony. It made sense that it didn’t need any sauce or dressing with that kind of flavor profile.

Still...can you really make a dish like this without seasonings?

As I had that thought, I tried focusing the nerves in my tongue, but I really couldn’t pick out the presence of sugar, salt, vinegar, or anything else like that at all. He had made something this sweet, spicy, bitter, and sour using only vegetables and herbs.

It wasn’t the sort of dish where you questioned whether or not it was tasty. It was just plainly unreal. In fact, it was difficult to believe it was made by human hands, only using primitive firewood-fueled stoves and the like.

Then, there was the meat dish.

Actually, it was more of a fish dish. But which of those four types was it? Since it was thinly sliced, I couldn’t tell what it originally looked like.

Nothing looked especially odd about this one. The white meat of the fish was wrapped in a dark brown coating. Despite there being no signs that he had used any oil, it had an appearance similar to fried food.

The green leaf spread out underneath it must have been boiled ro’hyoi. And the red bits sprinkled over top were probably chitt seeds. Compared to the other dishes up till now, this one was definitely the least showy. However, judging by what I could see of the fish’s cross section, it didn’t seem to have any moisture left in it at all. If it was completely dried out, I had trouble seeing how it could be something I would call delicious, even as flattery.

Still, Varkas wasn’t the sort to present any kind of dull dish, especially considering the meat dish was the main course. So though I had been thrown off by the vegetable dish, I worked up my resolve and took a bite.

And the taste that spread through my mouth...

“Ooh, yummy!” a voice energetically proclaimed from my side. Rimee Ruu was holding some of that sliced fish on a metal skewer, a beaming smile spreading across her face. “This dish is really, really good! I’m not sure about the others, but I love this one!”

“Yeah,” I agreed after swallowing.

Then, I turned back toward Varkas.

“I believe that folks from the castle town and the forest’s edge each have their own differing tastes. And as someone born in another nation entirely, it’s hard for me to find the words to describe your cooking...but it’s no exaggeration to say that I find this fish absolutely amazing.”

“I’m honored,” was all that Varkas had to say in response.

Reina and Sheera Ruu both looked to be at a loss for words. And the same was also true for Toor Deen. Ama Min and Morun Rutim both looked surprised, but even they were sighing in satisfaction.

It seemed that every last one of our seven chefs found the dish delicious. Despite the fact that they didn’t like complex tastes or perhaps didn’t even understand them, these people of the forest’s edge had accepted it as good.

Naturally, I had no objections either. While I found that vegetable dish impossible to analyze, this fish dish was incredibly tasty. It didn’t deviate from my personal tastes either. While I was certain he used all sorts of herbs to make it, it was all in splendid harmony.

It really was incredibly mysterious, how it didn’t aim in any particular direction and had all sorts of opposing tastes running along different lines, but with a firm core converging in the middle of it all.

Sure enough, I couldn’t sense any moisture or fat from the fish itself. However, the vibrant brown coating made up for that. Seriously, just what in the world was up with that coating? It was only around five millimeters or so thick, with a crispy outermost layer, while below that it had a light crunchiness, then the surface touching the meat had plenty of moisture and fat. It was as if it had hundreds of layers only micrometers thick all stacked atop one another.

The umami of the meat was wonderfully condensed. The fish taste was solid too, and didn’t get lost at all in the kaleidoscope of other flavors.

“For that dish, I seared a gilebuss fish over the course a day,” Varkas calmly stated. “I used eight herbs and twelve different ingredients, coating it every half hour with sparkling wine from Jagar that had the alcohol content removed. Personally, I see it as one of my greatest creations.”

“Twelve different ingredients, huh...? You used kimyuus egg and fuwano flour, right? Then salt, sugar, tau oil, and milk fat...and I believe I sensed the taste of ramanpa too.”

“Correct on all fronts. The others were arow and minmi fruit juice, panam honey, squeezed juice from a dried kiki, and boiled mamaria vinegar.”

“And then you added eight herbs to the mix, creating this complex yet delicate flavor.”

By using fuwano flour and egg, he was able to create a coating that made it seem as if the fish had been fried. With a shake of my head, I clasped my hands together tightly, as I felt like they were about to start trembling.

“My compliments to you. This meal...at the very least this fish course, is clearly better than the meat course I prepared.”

“What?! That’s quite the statement, Asuta!” Dan Rutim interjected, leaning forward and looking angry. “Didn’t you say you couldn’t judge whether cooking from the castle town was good or not?! And yet you admit your loss?!”

“I don’t think cooking is about winning or losing. I just feel that Varkas’s dish is tastier than the cutlets I made.”

Letting out a strange “Hrngh” sound, Dan Rutim energetically turned toward his daughter. “Morun! Let me try that too!”

“Huh? But I was taking it slow to savor it,” Morun Rutim protested, and yet she held out the plate for her father without hesitation. Dan Rutim grabbed it with his hand and popped a bite of fish into his mouth.

“I see... It really may be tastier than those cutlets that don’t use any giba fat,” he admitted, turning his bulky chest and belly away. “But normal giba cutlets definitely wouldn’t lose! And besides, I think this rib meat is even more delicious!”

Having heard that, Ai Fa now turned toward Rimee Ruu. “Rimee Ruu, my apologies, but could you share some of that dish with me?”

“Yeah, I don’t mind!” the young girl replied, holding out her plate with a smile. There was a custom that you shouldn’t eat food someone outside of your family had bitten into, but that didn’t apply when it came to little kids under ten.

When Ai Fa took a bite of Varkas’s main course, she nodded with a serious look on her face. “Yes, this certainly is good. Unlike the previous dishes from the castle town I have tasted, I find it delicious. In fact, it could even be better than giba cutlets,” Ai Fa stated, and then she calmly turned my way. “But I feel that hamburger steak is the most delicious of all, Asuta.”

“Right... Thanks.”

Neither Ai Fa nor Dan Rutim were the sort to lie because they didn’t like someone. Actually, nobody at the forest’s edge would do something like that. So they meant what they said. Hamburger steak was the dish most to Ai Fa’s tastes, and for Dan Rutim it was ribs.

“But that’s not how you feel, is it?” Ai Fa stated, seeing right through me. “In that case, your only choice is to continue training. Keep polishing your skills until you yourself are satisfied.”

“Yeah. That’s just what I intend to do, naturally.” In order to work up my resolve, I went ahead and stood from my chair. “Well, it seems like everyone is mostly finished, so let’s wrap things up with the final course. I hope that they’re to everyone’s liking.”

The last dish I had prepared for dessert was a quasi-pudding. Unfortunately, I lacked the knowledge needed to prepare Italian sweets like tiramisu or panna cotta, so I ended up having to compromise right at the very end.

On top of that, I didn’t even know how to make proper pudding either. In fact, I didn’t even know if it was possible to make it without a refrigerator. Ultimately, this was more of a mock pudding adapted from a recipe for steamed egg custard.

With steamed egg custard, you could use a steamer to make it. My plan was simply to use karon milk and sugar instead of the soup stock used in Japanese savory custards, so I’d end up with something approximately correct. But, well, it wasn’t exactly like I had any fixed standards when it came to making sweets.

Even so, it wasn’t as if I cut corners when making it. Since it was a simple dish that just involved diluting a beaten egg and steaming it, I did a bunch of experiments with the flavoring and texture.

After the pudding itself was fully steamed in a clay container and I poured caramel sauce made from sugar over it, I topped it with fresh cream and arow jam. Normally I would want to serve it chilled, but there was no way to do anything about that. Since the pudding itself wasn’t overly sweet, the cream and jam served to add more sugar to the mix. In the end, I felt it hadn’t turned out half bad, even served at room temperature.

“Yay, pudding!” Rimee Ruu excitedly proclaimed. She and Toor Deen, as well as Yun Sudra who wasn’t present, had really enjoyed the mock pudding when they taste tested it.

“Hmm, it’s not a flavor I’m accustomed to, but it’s still delicious,” Dan Rutim commented, looking to be in a good mood. Since Deem Rutim and the Sauti man didn’t look all that displeased either, Ai Fa might have been the one who was least fond of the dish.

As for the dish Varkas had prepared, it was another one with a really strange appearance. Honestly, they looked like marshmallows in various colors. However, when I gave one a poke, I found that it wasn’t soft. Instead, it felt hard like a cookie. Though the colors were all a bit indistinct, there were white, yellow, red, and blue ones.

When I took a bite, a gentle sweetness filled my mouth. I had chosen a white one, and from the peach-like flavor, it must have used minmi juice. The texture was like a slightly soft cookie, with only the surface being crisp.

“There are plenty of chefs out there who use strong flavoring for their sweets, but I find gentle flavors like this to be more fitting. This dish is made using kimyuus egg whites.”

In that case, perhaps it would be proper to call them meringue cookies.

“The white is minmi, the yellow sheel, the red arow, and the blue uses the juice of a scarce fruit called amansa.”

“Amansa? I’m not familiar with it.”

When I gave it a try, I found it had a rich and refreshing flavor similar to a blueberry. Overly rare and expensive ingredients weren’t sold in the post town, so I had no way to get my hands on them. And this amansa fruit apparently fell into that category.

At any rate, it felt like this dessert was gently comforting me after I was so thoroughly shaken by Varkas’s main course. Or maybe it was more than a feeling, and it was actually soothing my tongue after the shock from all those herbs. I figured that was Varkas’s thinking, at least.

While I was considering that, Varkas had apparently finished my steamed pudding, and his green eyes were now idly looking my way.

“You also used kimyuus eggs in this dish, didn’t you? The white substance is the fat from karon milk, the brown sauce is dissolved sugar, and then I believe you boiled arow fruit along with sugar and honey.”

“Amazing insight. Do you like it?”

“Yes. And not just this dish. Everything you prepared was delicious, Sir Asuta,” Varkas calmly stated, setting down his empty plate. “You’re just as skilled as I hoped... No, even more so. You are a truly wonderful chef. It’s quite astounding, considering your youth.”

“I’m honored. And I was impressed by your skills all over again, so if I didn’t betray your expectations then I’m glad to hear it.”

“I am truly glad as well. You really could become a worthy rival for me, Sir Asuta.”

While Varkas’s eyes remained expressionless, they took on a gentle shine. But just then, an unfamiliar voice cried out, “What are you saying?!”

When I turned in surprise to look, I found a brown haired girl standing there with anger written all over her face. It was Shilly Rou, who had remained silent up until now.

“It’s absolute nonsense, calling someone so young a worthy rival. I can’t just ignore such absurdity!”

“Such comments are ill-mannered of you, Shilly Rou. Did you not experience Sir Asuta’s skills yourself just now?” Varkas didn’t seem shaken in the least, and that appeared to stir up the girl’s fury further.

“It’s true that this Asuta chef is exceedingly skilled. No mere half-baked chef could possibly stand up to him. But even so, there’s no way that he measures up to your skill level, Varkas!”

“If that’s what you truly think, then you should be ashamed of your own ignorance, Shilly Rou.”

“But why?! Even...even I can cook better than that man!”

Varkas expressionlessly shook his head. “That is precisely the ignorance I spoke of. Sir Asuta, how many times have you handled rillione fish now?”

“Huh? You mean the fish I used for the appetizer, right? Since I also received one to experiment with, this would be my third time.”

“I see. And I believe you said that it was just two months ago when you first laid hands on herbs from Sym, and it has been merely half a month since you first used chan and ro’hyoi.”

“Y-You certainly know a lot about me.”

“Yes. I inquired about everything with Sir Polarth, as a matter of course. And you had not even set foot in the castle town until three months ago. From what I was told, you were cooking with just the shabby ingredients on offer in the post town up until then.” After saying that, Varkas slowly turned back toward Shilly Rou. “I understand that Sir Asuta did not have too much difficulty because similar ingredients existed back in his home country, but even if they were like one another, they most certainly were not identical. Even so, do you still insist that you possess the same level of skill as Sir Asuta, Shilly Rou?”

“B-But...!”

“Even if we are to assume you possessed a level of skill near Sir Asuta’s, that would still not be something to be a braggart about. I’m ashamed in you.” Varkas’s tone and expression hadn’t shifted. However, the words themselves caused Shilly Rou’s face to go pale.

“Master Varkas, I ask that you leave things at that. Shilly Rou is still only seventeen, after all,” the tall old man Tatumai interjected from his seat between them, turning toward Varkas. “I believe that young people need to have something of a rebellious spirit. And furthermore, her anger is grounded in her respect for you above anyone else, so I believe it is harsh to criticize her so.”

“That’s true,” Bozl chimed in with a somewhat strained smile. “Besides, Shilly Rou is the only one of us who could possibly measure up to Sir Asuta. It’s no surprise she couldn’t just turn a blind eye to your words, Sir Varkas.”

Varkas looked over his three apprentices in turn, and then turned back toward me.

“At any rate, I hope that you will forgive my apprentice’s rudeness, Sir Asuta.”

“Ah, no, please don’t worry about it.”

“Indeed! When you’re young, it’s far better to be brash than timid, don’t you think?!” Naturally, that bit of banter had come from Dan Rutim.

Still, his frank statement definitely helped to ease the tension that had sprung up. The relaxed atmosphere we’d enjoyed so far returned to the room. However, Shilly Rou alone had her lips tightly pursed, bitter tears welling up in her big eyes. And those eyes weren’t staring at Varkas, but rather were glaring my way with open hostility.