Cooking with Wild Game (LN) - Volume 26 - Chapter 2.1

Chapter 2: An Unexpected Disturbance

1

It was now the twenty-fifth of the brown month, four days after we had started holding study sessions at the Ruu settlement again, and it was also the day we started selling traip cream stew at the stalls. We made it by slowly boiling the pumpkin-like traip in karon milk, and then combining it with a separate cream stew. Reina and Sheera Ruu had learned from Mikel and Myme how to make kimyuus bone stock the day after that first study session, after which they had decided to sell the dish in the post town, since they were more satisfied with their new version.

The solid ingredients included the standard combination of aria, chatchi, and nenon. It was a combo we had used countless times, akin to using onion, potato, and carrot, which Reina and Sheera Ruu were sticking with because they had decided that it would be best not to keep adding ingredients carelessly once they had finalized the foundation of the traip cream stew.

For the giba meat, they went with two cuts, from the shoulder and ribs. The shoulder cut was mainly red meat, but it melted in your mouth after it was slowly boiled for a while, and the rib meat came with layers of abundant fat, so they were both well suited to the dish.

We had started using the rainy season vegetables in other dishes the day after the study session, but the traip cream stew unsurprisingly drew much more interest from our customers. Of course, it had been eight days now since tino and tarapa had gone off the market, so we’d had no choice but to make some major changes to our menu. Thankfully, the people who came by our stalls were happy to see new dishes being introduced one after another, even if they were a bit hesitant at times.

The Ruu clan’s giba burgers switched from using tarapa sauce to a nenon-based one, and the myamuu giba was swapped out for herb-grilled giba. The bean-sprout-like onda were used in the latter dish, while the giba offal stew had the burdock-like reggi added to it. And starting today, they had the traip cream stew as well, meaning all three of the rainy season vegetables were being used in their dishes.

As for the Fa clan’s stalls, we primarily employed the new vegetables in our daily specials. We added a salty-sweet sauce to our fuwano wraps (formerly poitan wraps) and cooked the meat with onda and ma pula now that we couldn’t use the cabbage-like tino anymore. However, there unfortunately wasn’t much room to employ the rainy season vegetables in our giba curry and giba manju.

We were able to use them pretty extensively in our daily specials, though. On this particular day, we had ended up with an excess of liver, so we had gone with a pepe and liver stir-fry. Onda were quite useful when it came to stir-fries, and they didn’t cost all that much, so we used a bunch of them and ended up with a dish with a lot of volume to it.

Of course, it wasn’t just our menu that was changing. The inns were having to revise theirs as well. To give one example, The Kimyuus’s Tail had previously been selling tino rolls (similar to cabbage rolls), which I had needed to come up with a replacement for in a real hurry. I had suggested that Milano Mas could sell either of my simmered traip or reggi dishes instead, but when I had him try them both out to see which he preferred, he simply grumbled that he couldn’t choose between them so he would just have to sell them both. His plan was to offer them together, each in half the amount of a normal serving.

Both had been made with a tau oil and sugar base for a sweet and salty flavor. Reggi was more earthy and bitter than the burdock I knew, so to balance that out, I had added chitt seeds to give it a bit of spice. Of course, I had included some additional flavorings as well, like nyatta spirits and keru root, which were like refined sake and ginger, respectively, but fundamentally, my aim had been to recreate the sort of mild flavor I knew from back home.

We had also added reggi and onda to the giba soup with tau oil that was being sold by The Great Southern Tree, and switched out the arrabbiata giba sauté served at The Sledgehammer with a curry-flavored grilled dish, so I was trying out all sorts of things.

Also, though The Westerly Wind solely ordered giba meat instead of completed dishes, Yumi was seriously bummed out about the fact that she could no longer make giba meat and tino okonomiyaki. The loss of the cabbage-like tino was indeed a serious blow for the dish. Because of that, when we delivered their giba meat in the morning, I decided to mention an idea I’d had to her. It involved making something similar to buchimgae from Korea, since they no longer had a cabbage analogue to use. Perhaps I didn’t need to fixate so much on suggesting a dish similar to okonomiyaki for her, but when I had tried making it at home the day before, it had turned out pretty good.

That said, it wasn’t like I was all that familiar with buchimgae. I had probably only ever had it a handful of times. After all, I had been raised in the Tsurumi family, and we didn’t exactly eat out very often. My old man greatly preferred Japanese and Italian-style dishes, as well as Japanese interpretations of Western recipes, so I hadn’t gotten many chances to try other types of cuisine. As such, what I had ended up with was ultimately more of a buchimgae-style dish based on my shaky memory. It involved adding an egg to the poitan batter, then cooking long, thin slices of giba rib meat, aria, pepe, and nenon in it. In the end, it had turned out a fair bit thinner than the okonomiyaki.

I also hadn’t had anything to take the place of gochujang, so the condiments had ended up sort of makeshift too. There had been no issues with reusing the Worcestershire sauce and mayonnaise that were usually served with okonomiyaki, and after adding a bit of spiciness with some chitt seeds, the final result hadn’t been half bad.

“What do you think? Pepe has a strong scent and costs more than other ingredients, so maybe you don’t have to force yourself to use it.”

When Yumi bit into the sample I’d prepared, her eyes started sparkling. “Amazing! This is delicious! In fact, I think I might like it even more than okonomiyaki! Still, it’s sad that the poitan isn’t as fluffy anymore, and it doesn’t have the crispness of the tino.”

“Then you’re saying you like it about as much as okonomiyaki?”

“Yeah! It’s just what I’ve come to expect from you, Asuta!” Yumi replied, opening her arms wide to hug me, only to suddenly stop. “That was a close one! I almost hugged you without thinking! You people of the forest’s edge aren’t supposed to touch each other when you don’t need to, right?”

“Y-Yeah, especially where other people can see.”

Yumi’s stern-looking father was standing there behind her. This was the first time I had seen Sams in a while. He let out a snort as he kept a close eye on what his daughter was doing, and said to me, “You aren’t going to earn even a single coin by doing this. Sure is kind of you.”

“Cut it out with the tough talk. You were seriously worried when Asuta fell ill, weren’t you?” his wife Sill chimed in with a laugh.

“Stop bringing that up already!” Sams shot back, getting even more sulky.

“Thanks, Asuta. A lot of our customers have been way happier with the okonomiyaki than with our ordinary grilled meat. This is a huge help,” Yumi’s mom told me.

“Oh, think nothing of it. But it makes me happy to hear you say so.”

“Because of the rainy season, we’ve been getting fewer customers in general. A lot of them have gotten stingier too, since they’re out of work, so we’ve gotta at least make sure we can give them a good meal,” Sill said, and I strongly agreed with the sentiment. With far fewer passersby around, it felt as if the town had been robbed of its liveliness. It had been twenty days now since the start of the rainy season, and I was feeling its effects more strongly every single day. And with more than half of the season still to go, we all had to do what we could to avoid getting discouraged.

That covered the changeover in dishes.

As for the amount of consumers we were seeing, it was still about the same, but at least it hadn’t gone down significantly since the first day of the rainy season, so we were still doing okay. The other stalls around us were trying out all sorts of things to combine the rainy season vegetables with other ingredients from the post town, but we seemed to be doing better than most.

“A fair amount of time has passed since all those new ingredients started showing up here, but nobody else has been making food on the level you all do. It makes me feel really grateful that you’ve managed to use the rainy season vegetables to make food this good,” Dora said after visiting our outdoor restaurant and enjoying a meal under the canopy. Next to him, Tara’s eyes were narrowed from smiling in true joy. She had been thoroughly charmed by the traip cream stew that had gone on sale today.

“Hey, we have karon milk at home too! But is there a way for us to make cream stew this good without giba meat?” Tara asked.

“Oh, I’m sure there is. In fact, back in my home country, this dish was typically made using a kind of meat similar to kimyuus.”

“Ooh, really?! That sounds good. I’d like to be able to make tasty stew too,” Tara remarked, fidgeting restlessly.

Then Dora laughed and said, “Your mom and the other women are the ones who prepare our meals, though. You’re still little, so it’s too dangerous to let you mess around with fire.”

“Huh?! But Rimee Ruu is just as little as I am, isn’t she?”

“Rimee Ruu has her act together so well, it’s hard to believe she’s only eight years old. I’m sure if you work hard on the other things you have to do, though, sooner or later you’ll be ready to help the older women with the cooking,” Dora said to console his daughter, but Tara puffed up her cheeks in response.

“I wish we could visit each other’s houses again. But you and the other guys are all busy during the rainy season too, right, dad?” she said.

“That’s true. We’re busier than ever during the rainy season, so it’s difficult to be away from home for too long. But we’d gladly invite all of you over to our place anytime, Asuta!”

“Thank you. I’m still not back to full strength after my illness, so I’ll need a bit more time, but I would love to find a way to make that work,” I replied, and then decided to say a bit more for Tara’s sake. “I could also teach Tara’s mom and the other women of your house how to make a delicious stew. And you can make great karon milk stew even without any traip, so it’s a recipe you can use whenever.”

That finally brought Tara’s smile back, and she energetically replied, “Thanks, Asuta!”

With that, the two of them started walking away in their rain gear, and at the same time, a slender woman approached our stalls to take their place.

“You seem to be doing well today, Sir Asuta.”

“Oh, it’s you, Sheila. It’s pretty hard to tell people apart with all the rain gear. Thanks for stopping by.” It was none other than Polarth’s maid and Yang’s assistant, Sheila. Considering that she had come here on foot from the south, she must have been working for Yang today. “What’s up? We were already planning on stopping by your stall or The Tanto’s Blessing on the way back today.” That was what we typically did to hand over the giba curry that would then be delivered to Arishuna.

Sheila was both very polite and cheerful, and she gracefully bowed her head and replied, “I am aware of that, but it wouldn’t do for us to accidentally miss each other, so I decided to stop by your place. You see, I have a message for you from Lord Polarth.”

Whenever Sheila had a message to deliver to us, that usually only meant one thing, and sure enough, this time was no different.

“Lady Eulifia is once again asking to have a few of you from the forest’s edge man the kitchen for a tea party. My apologies for the hassle, but could you convey that message to the leading clan head, Sir Donda Ruu?”

“A tea party, huh? Then is Toor Deen’s presence being requested in particular?”

I saw Toor Deen shrink in on herself over in the neighboring stall, which was serving giba curry. Sheila briefly glanced at her apologetically and nodded to me again. “Yes. Lady Toor Deen was last invited to the gold month’s dance party. A month has passed since then, so we were thinking of asking for her assistance again. Would that be acceptable?”

“Ah, who, m-me?” Toor Deen timidly questioned.

“Yes. Even if the leading clan heads give their permission, you still have the right to refuse the request yourself, naturally.”

“I-I could never go against what the leading clan heads say. O-Oh, but I’m not saying that they’re heavy-handed or anything. I just mean that you can’t oppose them without having a good reason to.”

Simply being called “Lady” seemed to be more than enough to make Toor Deen get all flustered on its own, so I decided to lend her a hand.

“I can’t imagine that the leading clan heads would accept their request if you’re against taking the job. So what’s your view of it, Toor Deen?”

“M-My view?”

“It sounds like Lady Odifia isn’t going to be satisfied unless she can invite you to cook for her once a month. If that’s too heavy of a burden, though, you can insist on spacing things out more.”

Sheila looked a bit worried to hear that, but I wanted to respect Toor Deen’s feelings on the matter. Despite what certain people had said to tease her during the study session with the Ruu clan a few days ago, Toor Deen had only just turned eleven years old, so being summoned by a noble caused her quite a bit of anxiety.

“I-I feel quite honored to be tasked with such an important job...but...” Toor Deen replied, looking up at me with a deeply worried expression. “B-But could I ask you...to come with me this time, Asuta?”

“Me? I’d be happy to come along, even if I wasn’t requested, but... Oh, that’s right, you made sweets for the dance party without me, didn’t you?”

“Y-Yes. But I don’t think I could make any fresh sweets without using traip...and I still don’t feel very confident in my ability to cook them on my own yet.”

She had single-handedly managed to prepare all of the desserts she had come up with when she had cooked for the dance party, but she was right that it would be nice to make something using traip, since it was the rainy season now.

“Lady Eulifia strongly wishes to invite Lady Toor Deen, Sir Asuta, and Lady Rimee Ruu. Does that work for you, Sir Asuta?” Sheila asked with a pleading gaze and a reserved smile. She was the type to clearly show what she was thinking on her face while still maintaining the appropriate decorum for a noble’s maid, and honestly, I was rather fond of her for that.

“Well, I only just recovered from my illness, and I’m not used to handling traip yet either, so I would appreciate a bit of time... Er, would it be possible to hold off until halfway through the red month?”

“Halfway through the red month? Could I ask for a specific date?”

“Hmm, well, taking the days when we won’t be open for business into account, I suppose...the fifteenth of the red month would be good.” Ai Fa’s birthday was coming up in the red month, and that was going to be a huge event for me, so though I felt apologetic about it, I wouldn’t put that second no matter how much Lady Odifia begged. “Also, could I participate as an assistant rather than as a chef this time?”

“As an assistant, Sir Asuta?” Sheila replied, sounding rather surprised. But embarrassing as it was to admit, I had ended up earning the lowest marks during the last tea party. When it came to making sweets, I simply had no intention of trying to compete.

“When it comes to making desserts, all I can really do is pass along what little I know to Toor Deen and Rimee Ruu. They’re the ones who have been perfecting those recipes lately, so to be honest, even if I personally prepared a sweet, I doubt I’d be able to come up with anything that could beat what the two of them will make.”

“I see. That certainly is surprising to hear.”

“By the way, will Yang be participating again?”

“No. This time, Sir Varkas’s apprentice Lady Shilly Rou has been invited.”

She had attended the last tea party as a guest, but now she would be a chef. Thinking back, the sweets she had prepared for the dance party were truly fantastic.

“So, the date requested is the fifteenth of the red month, and you would like to participate as an assistant, Sir Asuta. I will pass that along to Lord Polarth right away.”

“Right, but it’ll be up to the leading clan heads to make the final decision. I think we should be able to give you their answer in three days or so.”

“Understood. And my apologies for burdening you with these requests again and again.”

“Oh, don’t worry about it. This is your job, after all.”

Personally, I didn’t feel as if this was a burden on either of us. And with her message delivered, Sheila went ahead and left to return to her own work with a bashful smile.