kscans

Chapter 242 - Mayonnaise and Eggs

Adon, perhaps judging that he had successfully dodged the blade of inquiry, seemed to have calmed down a little.

"Oh, that’s right, Yuri-kun, I heard from Mand that you gave him some advice on a sauce for fried food. Thank you."

"Ah, you mean the mayonnaise."

When it came to sauces for fried food, it had to be either mayonnaise or Worcestershire sauce. According to the teachings of his Appraisal master, the latter was quite troublesome to make, so he had only taught him how to make mayonnaise. As for Worcestershire sauce, he couldn't speak of it until he had tried making it himself and confirmed the know-how.

"Yes, about that mayonnaise. Mand said it could be used for things other than fried food?"

"Oh, yes. It’s a very versatile sauce, so it can be used for many things besides fried dishes. It’s delicious on raw vegetables... I think it probably goes well with most dishes."

"I see... that sounds quite useful. Now, about that mayonnaise, I heard it’s quite a lot of hard work to make?"

"That’s right. The stirring part is quite a strenuous task. Other than that, you could call it a simple sauce."

Hearing Yuri’s reply, Adon thought for a moment. If the sauce was that versatile, perhaps it could help them overcome the predicament they were currently in.

The "predicament" Adon spoke of was none other than the matter of the increasingly insistent requests for his exotic cuisine.

That winter, in order to gain connections with various influential people, he had invited them to his home and treated them to meals... but the power of the foreign dishes taught to him by Yuri had far surpassed Adon’s expectations, and he was currently at a loss due to the passionate approaches from all over after rumors spread. As Adon was something of a newcomer, the reputation of being a "merchant with a deep knowledge of rare delicacies" had become fixed, or was in the process of becoming so.

"That’s... I don’t know what to say..."

"Don’t worry about it, Yuri-kun. It’s all his own fault."

Adon shot a fleeting, resentful glare at Old Man Audel who had dismissed him so easily, but he seemed to be well aware of it himself, as he offered no rebuttal.

However, Yuri thought. To him, Adon had been his patron in this world where he had no relatives, and had even taken care of his food, clothing, and shelter during his stay in Laurenzen. It wouldn’t hurt to do him a little favor. Yuri wasn't ignorant of the concept of intellectual property, but the knowledge he had shared was, after all, just something borrowed from his past life. He was keeping the truly dangerous things, like artificial magic stones, automatic rifles, and, for that matter, distilled liquor, a secret.

"Hmm... I think the range of arrangements is quite wide with just mayonnaise and pickles... but maybe I should think of something more."

From what Adon said, the pressure from his "guests" seemed to be considerable. In that case, rather than one or two dishes, it would be a better strategy to teach him cooking techniques that could be applied in countless ways. But the question was, what should he teach?

(I have to think about the seasonality of ingredients... as for what’s in season now...)

Yuri tried to recall the harvests from his village and his knowledge from his past life, but he couldn't quite think of any ingredients that were in season right now. The only thing that came to mind immediately was maple syrup, but that wasn't for cooking meals. It wasn't that he didn't know any dessert recipes, but with sugar not as readily available as in his past life, he didn't know how well he could reproduce them. If they turned out to be a pale imitation of their past-life counterparts, he couldn't very well teach them. So he wracked his brain for all the knowledge from his past life, but all that came to mind was the bounty of the sea. Herring, turban shells, webfoot octopus, rockfish, kuruma prawns, clams... He squeezed his memory and came up with wild yams and wild garlic. However...

(...Whether people in this world will like them is an unknown...)

As he was wondering what to do, trying his best not to let it show on his face,

(...Ah... speaking of eggs, wasn't spring their season...?)

His past-life perception was so strong that he had completely forgotten that eggs had a season, but according to his Appraisal master’s information, that was indeed the case. In that case, how about egg dishes?

(When it comes to egg dishes, as a Japanese person, my first thought is chawanmushi, but that requires dashi... wait a minute? I think there was something like a Western-style chawanmushi?)

Yuri remembered flan. It used consommé soup or something similar instead of dashi. Perhaps because his mind was pulled towards the cooking method of chawanmushi, something similar yet different like quiche didn't seem to come to mind.

(I heard you can eat it chilled in the summer... but I don't know if eggs will be available in the summer. And wasn't consommé soup difficult to make?)

From the name flan, he associated it with French cuisine and remembered omelets. He was pretty sure it was treated as the king of egg dishes. It had a wide variety, and it seemed to meet almost all of Adon’s desired conditions. However...

(It’s hard to recommend it without being clear about the egg supply situation... and besides, something similar might already exist in this world...)

As Yuri was lost in thought, he remembered one more thing in the category of egg dishes.

(...Before I propose it to Adon-san, I should consult with Mand-san.)