kscans

Chapter 135 - Tofu 1. Preparations

"Alright..."

As Yuri murmured this, facing his ingredients, an air of what could be called quiet excitement rose from him. It had been four years since he had obtained the crop that would serve as the ingredients, and with the final barrier having been acquired in Laurenzen, Yuri was at last able to make it. Lined up before Yuri were Soya Beans that had been soaked in water to soften them, and magnesium chloride... the main component of what is commonly known as "nigari."

That's right. What Yuri was about to make was tofu.

"I'm able to harvest a sufficient amount of Soya Beans now, but the miso is still in the trial phase... I'd like to at least make some tofu first."

He had recently succeeded in cultivating bean koji, though it included some things that weren't koji mold, in Yuri's mind they were both equally "koji," and he was currently fermenting the miso balls. He wouldn't know if it was a success or failure for at least another ten months. There was no way he could suppress his longing for beans, which had welled up upon seeing the bean koji, for that long. And so, Yuri embarked on the creation of tofu. One might rather ask why he hadn't made it until now, but there were circumstances that made it impossible to obtain a crucial ingredient.

Near the village where Yuri lived, rock salt could be mined.

Rock salt itself was extremely useful, and Yuri reaped its benefits daily, but as a former Japanese person, there was one regrettable thing. The rock salt mined here did not contain any magnesium. Thanks to that, the mined rock salt could be used without much processing, which was appreciated in its own way... but it was also a fact that because he couldn't obtain nigari, he couldn't make tofu. Moreover, according to Appraisal-sensei's explanation, this wasn't just a local issue. It seemed that rock salt in general tended not to contain magnesium. Yuri had half given up, thinking he would have to somehow extract it from rocks, but...

"I never thought they'd be selling it at an apothecary..."

Strictly speaking, it wasn't sold as a household medicine, but as a raw material for alchemists. It seemed that magnesium salts were used for various purposes in this world as well, and magnesium chloride, which could be obtained from seawater, was apparently used as a raw material to cheaply produce things like magnesium hydroxide. Indeed, since it was obtained as a byproduct of extracting salt from seawater, it could certainly be obtained cheaply. As can be understood from this, the technology for refining sea salt was also known here in the world of Forea. However, that technology was in a situation where it was secretly monopolized by a few, and thus the sale of magnesium chloride was also exclusively handled by those few traders. Well, in this world, rock salt was the mainstream, and with the current situation where firewood for salt production was not easily obtainable due to monsters, it seemed that sea salt itself could not be sold too aggressively.

Because a child who was not yet of age (Yuri) bought a large amount of nigari, or rather, magnesium chloride, he got some strange looks at the apothecary in Laurenzen, but they didn't pry persistently. Perhaps he was thought to be a valued customer, or their messenger.

"Well, in any case, I've got my hands on nigari, so there's no way I'm not making tofu."

And so, Yuri began the production of tofu.

The Soya Beans, which had soaked in water overnight, had swelled up nicely. The next step was to grind them until they became a smooth cream...

"No, you expect me to do this with just a mortar and pestle... What kind of punishment game is this..."

He had also purchased a mortar and pestle in Laurenzen, but even for a trial batch, grinding the Soya Beans with just those was quite a lot of work. It was too late to think that he shouldn't have been greedy and prepared such a large amount of Soya Beans. Now that they were softened, he had to use them. Even if he put them in Storage, the quality wouldn't change, but that would only be postponing the problem. That was certainly true, but Yuri, who had no desire to painstakingly grind them with a mortar and pestle, came up with a plan. In short, all he needed was a means to efficiently grind the Soya Beans. Non-elemental magic was not out of the question, but he couldn't quite grasp the image of how to do it. It would be better to rely on the tools of civilization. The first thing Yuri remembered was a mixer. An electric one was impossible, but he was sure there was a hand-cranked mixer. If he made that, it would be useful for various things later on... so Yuri thought, but when he tried to visualize the specific structure, he realized that sealing the rotating shaft seemed difficult.

"...Without a seal, the contents will leak, and if I seal it tightly like a packing, then the friction will probably stop the shaft from rotating..."

When he came to realize that it might have the same structure as a propeller on a powered boat, he also realized that this was not something an amateur could handle. If he wasn't careful, no, probably for certain, micron-level grinding would be necessary. Even for the sake of tofu, he didn't want to go through such a troublesome procedure. He thought about whether there was another way.

First, from mixer he associated hand mixer, and considered a structure where the cutter was attached to the upper side, but then the cutter wouldn't reach the bottom of the container. If he made the container shallow so the cutter could reach, then he wouldn't be able to get enough volume. So, what if he kept the mixer's design and just extended the shaft? Then it would be troublesome to place the ingredients on top of the cutter, and it felt like the liquefied contents would splatter. If the shaft were to wobble and hit the container... either the container would break or the cutter's blade would chip. Either way, it would be a disaster. I see, the mixer came to be that shape for a reason, Yuri was impressed, but the problem was not solved at all. If Yuri had known about the hand-held cooking utensil called a "hand blender"... well, it was similar to a mixer... the story might have been different, but unfortunately, his past life, which was far from kitchen work, was his undoing, and his thoughts did not go that far.

Next, Yuri remembered a tool called a mincer, but he didn't know its internal structure. Even if he tried to look it up in the description of Appraisal, it wasn't that simple. Since it was ultimately the description of an appraisal result, it was difficult to use when there was nothing to appraise. For example, to take the method of making tofu as an example, he first appraised Soya Beans, followed the link for the word "soybean" in the description, which for some reason was linked, jumped to "tofu," and then looked for the method of making it from there. Since he didn't have a mincer on hand, he hadn't seen one in Laurenzen either, he would have to make minced meat, appraise it, and try to trace it from there, but it was a roundabout way nonetheless. Also, even if he successfully learned the structure, whether he could make it was a separate issue.

As he was wondering what to do, a scene from a period drama he had seen before came back to him.