Cooking with Wild Game (LN) - Volume 29 - Chapter 3.2

2

“This is the appetizer. I call it a round bake.”

For dinner parties in the castle town, the custom was for the chef to explain each dish as it was brought out. And as he listened to Varkas speak in a tone that was emotionless in a way that was completely different from how an easterner would speak, Polarth nodded along and remarked, “Hmm, a round bake, is it? It looks rather like a dessert.”

“Yes. This cooking method was one initially devised for making sweets. The ingredients are kneaded into fuwano dough, which is used to coat a skewer, and then seared.”

Shilly Rou and the old woman then proceeded to lay a small, flat dish in front of each of the twenty guests.

The appetizer sitting atop those dishes certainly was a strange one. It was a pair of blackish-brown cylindrical objects stacked up in a cross shape atop the white ceramic plate. They were around one and a half centimeters thick and ten centimeters long, and their crusts looked to be around three or four millimeters thick. The shape and texture reminded me of a cookie or the like.

“Using a spoon would cause them to break, so please pick them up by wrapping the provided cloth around them.”

The cloth he mentioned was essentially a table napkin. Polarth and Merrim wrapped it around the appetizer right away, with Ai Fa, Vina Ruu, and the rest of our group following their example shortly after.

From all around, I started hearing quiet utterances of “Hmm” and “My.” As I listened to them, I went ahead and brought one of my round bakes to my mouth as well and found that its texture really did remind me of a cookie, just as I had thought from looking at it. And considering the color, he must have used the less-sticky black fuwano in the dough.

However, it was no dessert, so it wasn’t sweet. The first thing I picked up on was a seafood flavor. Had he used that sweet shrimp-like crustacean? Though, actually, the seafood-like taste was prominent enough that I was confident that he must have kneaded seafood stock into the dough as well.

And since it was one of Varkas’s recipes, he of course had incorporated herbs too. They provided a tingling aftertaste and served to both make the seafood flavor stand out all the more and wipe away any unpleasant aromas. And the flavor seemed to grow stronger with each bite I took. This was definitely a display of Varkas’s skills, which at this point gave me a feeling of nostalgia.

In all likelihood, he had prepared them using a method similar to how baumkuchen is made. You would coat a metal spit or skewer in dough, then once it was cooked, you added a new layer on top. By repeating that process over and over, you could create numerous thin layers stacked on top of one another. Also, he had undoubtedly kneaded different ingredients and herbs into each later. Using this highly complex method was how he was able to create the subtle shift in flavor I had noticed.

Though it looked like a simple appetizer at a glance, it really showed Varkas’s unlimited potential. This was undoubtedly his cooking. To put a bit of a dramatic spin on it, eating the round bake made me feel like I had truly reunited with the man.

“This is delicious. Perhaps it is only natural, as this was an appetizer, but I ate it all in a flash,” Polarth remarked with a smile as he folded his napkin back up now that he was done with it. “And you truly are second to none when it comes to handling seafood ingredients, Sir Varkas! What do you think of the taste, Sir Kukuluel?”

“It is very good, and quite a curious dish as well. We have had plenty of seafood back in our home country, but I have never before had it in such a mysterious form.”

“Hmm?” Polarth turned his gaze toward the chef who had prepared the appetizer. “I had thought for certain that you would be serving Sym dishes, but is that not the case?”

“It is not,” Varkas replied. “Though I said I wished to hear the opinions of people from the east, I have not tried my hand at authentic Sym cooking tonight. If I caused any confusion, then allow me to apologize.”

“Oh no, there’s nothing to apologize for. But why did you wish to hear the opinions of easterners, then?”

“Naturally, because I wished to know whether or not they would consider these dishes to be good. I have been training in order to create food that people can enjoy regardless of their birthplace, after all,” Varkas said, remaining fully expressionless all the while. “Additionally, my cooking uses a large number of ingredients from Sym, and so I could not help but want to see if they would find it delicious even when prepared with different methods than those of their homeland.”

“It is wonderful,” two voices called out from the other table, coming from the members of the Black Flight Feathers seated there.

“I enjoyed it, as well. And even though, I believe I am, well acquainted, with the tastes, of herbs, I cannot tell, which ones, you used. It is, very curious indeed,” Shumiral chimed in.

“I see,” Varkas replied with a nod. “That is likely due to the large number of different herbs I employed. But if you find it delicious, then I am glad.”

“Yes. It is, very good.”

Now the only person left with ties to Sym who hadn’t offered her opinion was Arishuna. When Polarth looked her way, she gave a calm nod.

“It was delicious. But I am not, overly familiar, with Sym cooking, so I believe, my impressions, will be the same, as the people here, from the west.”

Shumiral turned Arishuna’s way with a questioning gaze when he heard that, and her mysterious eyes that reminded me of a moonlit lake somberly stared back at him.

“I am, a child of Sym, but I have never, set foot, in our homeland. My clan was exiled, during my grandfather’s generation, so I was born, here in Selva,” she explained.

“Exiled from Sym? Do you belong, to the, Mafraluda clan?”

“Yes. I am, Arishuna Zi Mafraluda.”

Shumiral nodded in understanding. “I see. I once, belonged to, the Zi Sadumtino clan. But I have, become a person, of the forest’s edge, so I have, discarded that name.”

“I have heard, about that, from Polarth. I have been, in the care, of Genos, for several years now.”

“I see. Is your family, doing well?”

Arishuna’s expression remained unchanged, but she shook her head and answered, “No. I am the, final member of, the Mafraluda. The sovereign of, the Zi, has wiped out, the Mafraluda bloodline, just as he wished.”

“I see. The Mafraluda, ended up suffering, a tragic fate, because their, star reading abilities, were too strong. It is, very unfortunate.”

“No. This was also, as the eastern god, wished it, to be.”

The two looked at one another, countless thoughts hidden behind their black eyes. Next to Shumiral, Vina Ruu was glancing back and forth between them uneasily.

“Well then, let us move on to the next dish,” Varkas declared, not sounding overly moved. And with that, Shilly Rou brought in another cart. It really was just like her to keep a straight face the whole time, even though our gazes had met repeatedly. “The second dish is a soup. I call it ‘chilled totos egg soup.’”

A number of the guests reacted with open surprise to that. The next dish certainly had a rather unusual appearance as well. It had been poured into a deep dish, and was translucent with a jellylike jiggle to it.

“This is soup? It’s quite novel just to see a soup that isn’t warm!” Polarth noted.

“True. I have heard that cold soup dishes are relatively common in Jagar, where the heat is much more intense than in Selva.”

Varkas had an apprentice by the name of Bozl who was from the south, so he must have put that man’s knowledge to full use for this. Still, it really was a strange dish. That jellylike jiggling apparently came from a totos egg white.

Totos egg whites actually didn’t turn all that white when heated, instead remaining translucent. I was aware of that fact, but this was my first time actually seeing them used as the core of a dish. From what I could tell, he seemed to have added the totos egg white on top of the soup like a lid, and based on the high degree of transparency it had and the way it jiggled, I deduced that the egg had most likely been soft-boiled.

Furthermore, though I could see through it to what lay beneath, I didn’t spy anything in the way of solid ingredients in there. It was just a cold dish with translucent egg whites and clear soup. I really had no idea what in the world it was going to taste like.

“There is one matter I would like to ask those of you with Sym heritage about,” Ai Fa suddenly stated. I really hadn’t expected her to say anything while we were here, so I turned to look at her in surprise. “I have heard that easterners are very skilled at handling totos, as a great many of those beasts live in the Sym grasslands. Is that true?”

“Yes, it is. We treat the totos we ride as members of our own family,” Kukuluel replied.

“I see,” Ai Fa said, furrowing her brow. “I live alongside a totos as well and consider him a precious family member, so I feel some resistance to the idea of eating totos egg. Do the people of Sym eat totos the same way that we eat giba?”

“The same way you eat giba? Ah, your people see giba as fellow children of the forest of Morga, correct?” Kukuluel said, his eyes narrowing gently as he seemed to realize something. “I believe the nuance may be slightly different. We would not eat the meat of a totos we consider family. When they grow old and their souls return to the gods, we return them to the earth, the same as we do for humans.”

“But you eat totos eggs, which are their children?”

“Yes. Most eggs are unable to develop into totos, after all.”

Ai Fa’s eyes opened wide with surprise when she heard that. “What do you mean when you say they cannot develop? Birds and snakes are born from eggs, are they not?”

“They are indeed. But totos lay eggs even if they do not mate. If I recall correctly, the same is also true of kimyuus.”

Kukuluel glanced over at Varkas, and the chef answered with, “Correct. If it were otherwise, kimyuus would not lay eggs on a nearly daily basis. In fact, when they mate, their cycle for laying eggs becomes irregular, so most kimyuus are raised with males and females separated. Is it not the same with totos?”

“It is indeed. In the Sym grasslands, until the totos is to find a partner, the males and females are kept separate. The eggs that are laid during that period cannot become totos, and those are the ones that we eat.”

“I can’t say that I understand. Why would they lay eggs that cannot become children?”

“In the grasslands, it is believed to be a blessing granted to their human companions, so that we will not starve. Or perhaps it is practice for when they eventually have a child.” Kukuluel once again gently narrowed his eyes, their intense shine softening and his gaze turning into a much kinder-looking one. “Regardless, eggs are a blessing from our totos. Is it not proper to convert them into our own strength rather than letting them go bad?”

“I see... My apologies for interrupting this meal with such an unnecessary question.”

Polarth, who had been listening to the exchange with great interest, waved his hand and said, “Think nothing of it. I am just glad that it is not taboo for easterners or people of the forest’s edge to eat totos eggs. Now we can fully appreciate Sir Varkas’s skills without any reservations.”

“Yes. Totos meat is bland, so it is not well liked in the west, but I believe that their eggs are a wonderful ingredient that stands apart from those of kimyuus,” Varkas said.

The previous exchange had gotten Ai Fa to calm down, but when she heard him say that, she glared at him out of the corner of her eye. Unfortunately, it would probably be impossible to get the chef to properly consider the feelings of Ai Fa and the easterners.

At any rate, we all went ahead and picked up our spoons. The deep dish was only about the size of a small teacup, so the amount of soup we were given was slight. When I thrust my spoon into the jellylike surface, it cut through the totos egg without much resistance at all, and then the soup seeped out from underneath. I scooped up a bit of totos egg and clear soup, and popped it into my mouth.

He had said it was chilled, but there weren’t any refrigerators here in Genos, so really, it was just a touch cooler than skin temperature. The totos egg slid into my mouth, and at the same time the soup gave off an indescribable flavor.

It seemed to employ a seafood stock as well, but it wasn’t the flavor of seaweed or smoked fish that I was familiar with. It was probably some sort of fish, but it had a rich flavor, and was very sweet. And it seemed to be of a much higher quality and more refreshing than the smoked fish stock I had tasted. The stock also incorporated numerous herbs as well.

I still couldn’t see any solid ingredients, so in all likelihood the herbs had been boiled with the soup. He might have even just given it a quick parboil. A fragrance I had smelled somewhere before wafted my way for a brief moment, but then it seemed to fade away.

Then I finally bit into the soft-boiled egg white, which seemed to melt in my mouth. I was reluctant to let that mysterious flavor slip away, so I hurriedly had a second bite. And just like that, the small amount of soup in the dish in front of me vanished in a flash. But somehow, it seemed to ignite a relentless hunger in me.

Perhaps thinking similarly, Torst timidly stated, “Hmm... This is also a rather mysterious dish. You didn’t add any filling aside from the egg, yet it makes me wish for a bigger portion.” There was an almost sad look on the man’s face, which reminded me of an old pug.

Meanwhile, Polarth laughed and said, “That’s certainly true. Whenever I have eaten Sir Varkas’s cooking in the past, I can recall feeling similarly upon trying the appetizer. It was as if I became hungrier than I was before I had eaten it.”

“Yes. I have at times served this chilled soup as an appetizer, in fact. The dishes that will be served next tonight will be a bit heavy, so I chose this dish to slot into the soup portion of the meal,” Varkas explained, right before Tatumai made his first appearance.

The older chef had blood from Sym, so he was tall and had somewhat dark skin. The cart he was pushing was rather large, and the next course of our meal sitting on top of it was hidden by a silver cover. It would probably have been difficult for only one person to bring in enough of the dish for twenty people, so Shilly Rou and the old lady soon brought in more carts of the same size.

“For the third course, we have the fuwano dish. However, this was instead prepared with an ingredient known as shaska from Sym.”

I would finally be seeing the noodles from Sym that I had been hearing about for quite a while. The folks from the castle town and Rimee Ruu were all gazing upon the carts intently, their eyes sparkling bright with anticipation, and I was sure most of the people at the other table were doing the same thing.

The three servers lined up their trays of food, then removed the covers at the same time. And with that, we finally got to see the shaska.

I see. That is definitely a noodle dish.

Atop the black-tinged plates sat a pile of shaska along with some additional ingredients. Those ingredients included minced meat and finely diced vegetables, so at first it looked like tan tan ramen without the Szechuan-style sauce. The shaska noodles were a glossy white color and only about a millimeter thick, giving it an appearance similar to somen. And then, some sort of reddish-brown ingredient had been spread on top of them. It was giving off an incredibly spicy aroma, which further strengthened the impression I had of the dish being similar to tan tan ramen.

Next, Tatumai and the others placed an adorable little bowl in front of each of their guests. It seemed to contain the same sort of reddish-brown spice powder that had already been added to the dish.

“I am not fond of spices being added after the fact. However, with this shaska dish, I believe eastern and western preferences may vary too greatly, which is why we are providing these bowls for you. If you feel that your noodles are lacking in spice or flavor, then please go ahead and add more,” Varkas explained.

“Then, is this a genuine Sym dish?” Eulifia asked from the neighboring table.

“No,” Varkas replied with a shake of his head. “I attempted to flavor it such that even people from the west would find it delicious. That said, it may seem overly weak in terms of spice and flavor to easterners.”

“I see. At any rate, this aroma certainly is stirring up my appetite,” Polarth remarked with a smile, picking up a three-pronged fork. “And thanks to the pasta and soba dishes Sir Asuta has made, I don’t believe I should have any trouble eating it. Can we wrap it around our forks in the same way?”

“Yes. That is apparently the primary method for eating shaska in Sym as well. Though from what I am told, it is also eaten by hand depending on the region.”

In spite of Varkas’s words, Kukuluel and the others all picked up their forks as well. I, of course, did the same, intent on giving the shaska a try.

I tried pushing down on the ends of a couple of the noodles a bit, and discovered them to be more resistant to pressure than I had expected. They were thin, only around a millimeter or so thick, but they seemed to have some real springiness to them. I wrapped some of them around my fork, making sure to pick up a few pieces of the other ingredients as well, and took a little bite. When I did, I found that thinking this dish was like tan tan ramen was both on the mark in some ways and completely off in others.

It had the spiciness of chili-pepper-like chitt seeds and ira leaves, as well as sourness and bitterness from a different herb. The minced meat formed the core of the flavor, which certainly felt close to Szechuan-style tan tan ramen. However, beyond those intense tastes, I was able to detect a mellow sweetness as well. It wasn’t coming from sugar or honey, but rather from fruit. In all likelihood, he had used both the apple-like ramam and peach-like minmi.

Then there was the shaska itself, which defied my expectations even more. Though they had the appearance of somen, those thin noodles had an impressively springy texture. When I chewed them, they reminded me of something like glutinous rice, and they paired really well with the complex, deep flavors of the other ingredients. Plus, they felt quite satisfying to bite into. On top of that, Varkas seemed to have seasoned the shaska itself as well. It was difficult to make everything out with all of the intertwining flavors, but at the very least he had probably used a fair amount of peanut-like ramanpa and sesame-seed-like hoboi.

“This certainly does taste quite different from the shaska I am familiar with,” Kukuluel calmly remarked. “But it is delicious. It is quite a surprise to find someone here in the western kingdom so skilled at using such a variety of herbs.”

“I have relied heavily on Tatumai’s advice in that regard,” Varkas said, and Tatumai gave a slight nod. “I was also able to entrust him with the work of boiling the shaska. That is why I did not need to return to the kitchen.”

“If I recall correctly, you are a westerner as well, aren’t you, Tatumai?” Polarth asked.

“Yes. I have blood from Sym and moved about the eastern territories when I was young, but I am a westerner born in Selva,” Tatumai replied with a bow, and then he exited, taking his cart with him. Like an easterner, he didn’t let his emotions show on his face, and he was also rather untalkative as well.

“I also felt, it was delicious. And it has been, some time since, I last had shaska, so that made me, glad as well,” Shumiral chimed in.

Vina Ruu glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. “You ate this sort of food back in your home country, Shumiral?”

“I did. The flavor, is different, but shaska, is a dish, from Sym. It is, very nostalgic, to me.”

“Hmm,” Vina Ruu hummed, casting her gaze downward.

Shumiral frowned worriedly, but it turned out that it wasn’t any negative feeling that had made her do that.

“You were born in a place called the grasslands, right?” she asked. “I’ve never even left Genos, so I can’t quite say I understand what sort of place that is. But when I think of you as a child eating food like this with your family, I find it kind of amusing for some reason.”

Shumiral didn’t seem to know how to reply, and just kept on staring at Vina Ruu.

When she noticed that, she shook her head and smiled at him. “I simply said what I was thinking, so there’s no need for you to reply.”

“I see. Thank you.”

“What in the world are you thanking me for?” Vina Ruu shrugged her seductive shoulders, then resumed eating the shaska. Since there were nobles present, she must have been having to steel herself more than usual. This kind of felt like a new side to her, considering how often she tended to get all flustered around Shumiral.

It’s also pretty amusing how Shumiral seems to be the one losing his cool right now. Will they eventually be able to just speak naturally like Sheera and Darmu Ruu? I pondered as I added a bit of the spices from the bowl to the shaska.

Ai Fa immediately leaned in close to me with a look of shock. “Hey. This dish isn’t spicy enough to hurt your tongue now, but you’re intentionally making it stronger?”

“Huh? Ah, yeah. I want to see how it will impact the taste.”

And besides, if this were tan tan ramen back in Japan, I’d say that it would be just right if it were a bit spicier. When I looked around the table, though, Kukuluel and I seemed to be the only ones who were adding spice.

I stirred the added powder in and gave it a try. As I chewed my next bite, I found that the spiciness, bitterness, and sourness had all gotten stronger by exactly the right amount, with the firm texture of the shaska serving to harmonize them. It was definitely more to my personal tastes like this.

The shaska had a really unique texture, and the dish wasn’t difficult to eat in the least. Its flavor was certainly very complex, but it was undeniably delicious. From what I could tell, everyone else from the forest’s edge seemed to be satisfied with it as well.

“By the way, what kind of meat did you use in this?” I asked as a great sense of satisfaction welled up in me.

Varkas’s vacant gaze turned my way. “Sir Asuta, what sort of meat do you believe it to be?”

“Let’s see... I think it’s definitely karon for sure. Karon chest meat, maybe?”

“Yes, I used karon chest meat, fat and all.”

Apparently, I hadn’t let the master chef down. Though, given how finely minced it was and how many different seasonings had been added to it, even I hadn’t been able to figure out what it was without half guessing about it.

Still, from Varkas’s point of view, it was probably only natural that I’d know. If anything, he probably found it disappointing that I would ask such a pointless question.

At any rate, the meal had finally reached its midpoint. Even after eating all of that wonderfully satisfying shaska, though, my appetite and my anticipation for what would come next were still at full strength.