kscans

Chapter 221 - # A Guide to Earth-Style Cooking 1. The Fry

"Eh? Cooking ideas... you mean?"

It was the afternoon of the day after his meeting with the artisans, with the grand market set to begin the next day, that Mand, the head chef of Adon's mansion, came to Yuri for a consultation.

"Yeah. The thing is, the salt crust baking you taught me before winter was a huge hit. It's become the talk of Laurenzen."

"I see..."

In short, the problem was that because he had earned such high praise, it had become difficult for him to serve anything mediocre. The guests were expecting innovative dishes that would leave them speechless, which meant Mand and his staff had to strive to meet those unspoken demands. However, it was also a fact that novel and eccentric dishes that could surprise guests were not so easily created. That was why Mand was hoping to get some kind of suggestion from Yuri, who possessed knowledge of foreign, though in reality, otherworld, cuisine.

"That's easier said than done... From what you're saying, you're looking for a cooking method that can be applied to various ingredients, rather than a single dish, right?"

Yuri understood the logic, but he had already taught Mand about deep-frying and steaming. He racked his brain, wondering what other cooking techniques there were.

"Right. That's why I wanted to try and do something with the frying method you taught me last year."

"Eh? ...I thought that one had the drawback of everything looking the same and a bit plain?"

Considering the history of Europe in his past life, the cooking method of "frying" itself could very well have already existed. However, at least here in the Rivairein Kingdom, it did not seem to be widespread yet. Therefore, the option of fried food itself was not a bad one, but... it invariably turned a uniform brown to ochre color, lacking the splendor to adorn a dining table. He remembered rejecting it for that very reason when he discussed it with Adon last year. Hadn't he proposed salt crust baking and hosho-yaki as alternatives?

"Well, about that hosho-yaki, my master went and bought a Magic Bag. He wants to transport fish from the sea while they're still fresh."

"...Adon-san... went that far...?"

Yuri's face twitched involuntarily upon hearing that Adon had purchased a rather expensive Magic Bag just for securing ingredients.

"No, no, you shouldn't underestimate cooking like that. Knowing a new dish means you know new information. In other words, it's like declaring you've secured a new trade route."

"...Eh?"

"Don't you worry. It's a merchant's pride to let people know they've secured a route, but to never reveal the route itself. There's no concern of your involvement being exposed. In fact, this time, it's not just you, Yuri, but Old Man Audel and his group are here with you too, right?"

It seemed that from a public perspective, Adon had invited his old friend, Old Man Audel, and his granddaughter to see the grand market, and Yuri was seen as just tagging along. Not having considered things that far, Yuri was both impressed and deeply ashamed of his own shortsightedness.

"Don't worry about it so much. You're still just a kid, after all."

Even so, for Yuri, who would be forty-two years old if you included his past life, he couldn't help but feel a sense of chagrin.

"Anyway, let's get back to it. The master bought a Magic Bag, and for whatever reason, things you put in there don't go bad, right? So I was thinking, maybe we can make that raw egg sauce you were talking about."

"Ah..."

It was a blind spot.

Magic Bags and Storage cannot be used to store living creatures. In other words, they can be used for sterilization. While there were food poisoning bacteria like O-157 that produced verotoxins, he recalled that food poisoning from eggs was mostly caused by Salmonella bacteria. The risk of residual toxins should not be that high. If the opponent was living bacteria, it should be possible to sterilize them using Storage. If so, then there should be no problem with eating raw eggs, right?

Despite having used Storage extensively, it seemed he was still thinking of it in the same way as a "refrigerator" from his past life. In his previous life, companies had developed all sorts of technologies to make raw egg consumption possible, and the memory of that had been so ingrained in his mind that he couldn't escape the perception that eating raw eggs was dangerous here as well. Incidentally, the reason Adon hadn't realized it at first was that the knowledge of bacteria and sterilization was not widespread here, and secondly, he couldn't come up with the bold idea of using an expensive Magic Bag for something as simple as food preparation.

To add one more thing, Yuri's Storage could store things like branches for cuttings in a dormant state, but this was an option custom-made by the goddess Anatea, not a function available in general Storage.

"Well, it's not just about that sauce, but if we can do something about the appearance, I thought it might be rather interesting that you can't tell what's inside."

"...In a way, it might build anticipation, that's true."

It seemed Mand had already mastered French fries and fried chicken on his own, so perhaps it was time for cutlets and fried foods. Incidentally, according to a piece of trivia Yuri knew, in Japan meat dishes were called katsu and fish and vegetable dishes were called fry. That would mean a coating was needed, and for fry, that would have to be breadcrumbs. Incidentally, for Yuri, who believed that tempura was meant to be eaten with tentsuyu dipping sauce, or salt at the very most, there were no plans to teach how to make tempura until he had developed a proper tentsuyu. However...

(Maybe it's okay to teach him how to make something like Worcestershire sauce...?)

Yuri would not hesitate to call putting Worcestershire sauce on tempura heresy, but there was no problem with putting it on fried food. This particular pickiness of his had been a source of bewilderment for others even in his previous life, but for Yuri, or rather, for Isarai Yuuri of his past life, there were certain lines that could not be crossed.