kscans

Chapter 37 - Sauce and the Beast. Other Umami Ingredients

He had done all he could for the fermented meat. The results wouldn't be in for at least three months, likely longer considering the drop in temperature. What to do in the meantime?

"It's not very productive to just sit around and wait for that day... Besides, even without seasoning, I can still make broth."

And so, he decided to devote himself to acquiring ingredients with umami. The season was just turning to autumn. In his previous life in Japan, it was a season for enjoying food and also for mushroom hunting.

"Hmm... when you talk about umami, it's glutamic acid, inosinic acid, and guanylic acid, right? The things that contain a lot of them are... let's see... Master `Guide`..."

《Glutamic acid is found in large quantities not only in kelp but also in wheat gluten, dried tomatoes, soybeans, and meat. Inosinic acid is produced as meat ages, and guanylic acid is abundant in dried mushrooms and dried tomatoes.》

"Yeah... so here, that would mean glutamic acid from wheat and Pepit fruit, inosinic and glutamic acid from monster meat, and guanylic acid from mushrooms and Pepit fruit... right...?"

He had a full set of ingredients, and some were already stored in his [Storage]. But this time, Yuri wanted to try something.

"...Up until now, I've just tossed any food I found straight into [Storage]..."

[Storage] was a welcome cheat skill that allowed him to keep ingredients fresh, but it was a mistake to rely on it completely and not try other methods. Yuri was now realizing that.

"...I remember reading that drying or aging ingredients increases their umami..."

He'd heard that drying things like mushrooms and abalone concentrates their umami, and he seemed to recall hearing something about dried tomatoes having more umami as well. He also heard opinions that aged meat was tastier than fresh meat. But Yuri, who had relied on [Storage] for everything, had never ventured into that area.

"The Pepit fruit and mushrooms... right, I'll set aside half, no, a third will do... for drying. ...I'm guessing just dehydrating them with water magic won't be enough..."

Just in case, he opened his `Rural Life Guide` and found notes on sun-drying ingredients, which also stated that simply dehydrating them with magic wouldn't make them tasty. So he gave up on the lazy approach and decided to sun-dry them properly. The problem was the meat.

"I think... in Japan they aged it at a very specific low temperature, right...? I remember hearing it's difficult to do in a standard home refrigerator..."

He didn't remember the aging temperature, and before that, Yuri couldn't use refrigeration magic.

"...I guess I have no choice but to leave it in a not-too-hot place for a day or two... and then check it with [Appraisal] to find the optimal conditions..."

Fortunately or unfortunately, he had no trouble acquiring monster meat. For some reason, as if they held a grudge against him, monsters would charge at Yuri the moment they saw him. The meat from the monsters he had defeated in self-defense had his [Storage] overflowing. And it wasn't just the meat that was overflowing...

"I have leftover bones too, so I'll use those for broth... or rather, to make soup. I'll have to simmer them well for a few hours and skim off the scum, though..."

It was a tedious task, but it couldn't be helped in the pursuit of deliciousness.

"Other than that... I'll keep an eye out for mushrooms when I go out. They don't seem to be a great source of calories, but they are a source of umami."

If he could find mushrooms as rich in umami as shiitake... Yuri's expectations swelled.