Cooking with Wild Game (LN) - Volume 13 - Chapter 3.3

3

“This is the appetizer that I have prepared,” Timalo stated, presenting his dish first.

As he removed the lid on the large metal pot, a truly complex aroma started wafting throughout the room.

“It is totos egg dressed with ramanpa nut dip.”

This was my first time hearing of ramanpa nuts. And though he had claimed he would only use ingredients also available in our kitchen, I had no way of knowing which one they were.

At any rate, the pages went ahead and started portioning out the dish atop clay plates. From a distance, all I could make out was what looked to be a gleaming, slightly yellowish dip.

The Fou clan head was seated lowest on the forest’s edge’s side, which placed him right next to me, and when his plate was delivered I stole a glance. And sure enough, it seemed to be a dish dressed with a dip.

The yellowish color had come from the egg yolk, while the shine looked to be from some sort of oil. And since the white of a totos egg didn’t actually take on a white color when heated, it had become a translucent dip, which was shining in the light from the chandelier.

Mixed inside that translucent dip I could see a number of carrot-like nenon, potato-esque chatchi, and other such vegetables diced into little cubes. And in overwhelmingly greater quantity was a heaping helping of what looked like finely-chopped walnuts.

“The ramanpa nuts were smoked with pepetto herbs, and the various vegetables were pickled in reten oil. By kneading them together with the totos egg, you get this dish.”

“This certainly is an elaborate appetizer to start with,” Marstein proclaimed in amusement, and Timalo smiled back.

Then, the duke’s gaze slowly turned my way.

“Sir Asuta, please proceed with your preparations.”

“Right, well then...”

Mine isn’t elaborate at all, though, I thought to myself as I lifted the lid off the dish.

Atop the somewhat large and deep wooden plate was a nice pile of gigo cut into rectangular slices. As I separated that out, I placed a dried kiki dip made with a light bit of tau oil and soup stock on top. That was the entirety of the preparations needed for my appetizer.

I went with this as it felt like a proper appetizer to me, but is it too simple?

After chopping up the yam-like gigo into rectangular slices, I garnished it with a dip made using the plum-esque dried kiki. Then I mixed in the tau oil and soup stock to replace the dashi, soy sauce, mirin, and sugar mix.

“That seems to be quite a simple dish,” Marstein stated, causing Timalo to shoot me a grin. “But I would say it’s a wonderful dish for displaying the honest and simple lifestyles held by the people of the forest’s edge.”

“Ah, thank you.”

I had no idea how much I needed to humble myself at such a formal event, so I ultimately kept my words to a minimum. Still, I felt more than a little awkward, considering the dish was prepared in the style of the Tsurumi Restaurant rather than the forest’s edge.

Yam with pickled plum dip... Our customers who were heavy drinkers loved it, and so did my old man, but how will it be received here?

As we portioned out our dishes for the guests, the attendants filled their cups with fruit wine. And even when faced with the intimidating gazes of the hunters, the women remained courteous and expressionless. They certainly seemed to have more guts than Polarth or the young lord from the house of Saturas.

At any rate, by the time everyone’s cups were filled, my dish and Timalo’s had made it all the way around.

“Well then, let us eat.”

Apparently, the noble side didn’t have any pre-meal rituals. And so, as the hunters of the forest’s edge recited their words of gratitude, the other side grabbed hold of their metal spoons.

“Ah, what a wonderful flavor,” Marstein praised as he started with Timalo’s appetizer. “The taste from the ramanpa is truly superb. Their aromatic nature pairs exquisitely with the totos eggs.”

“I’m honored to hear that it is to your tastes,” Timalo replied with a truly satisfied looking grin.

Almost all the nobles seemed to start with Timalo’s dish.

The one exception was Lefreya, who took hold of the plate with my cooking and quietly stated, “Asuta of the Fa clan. This dish seems somehow slippery, like it will slide from everyone’s spoons.”

“Ah, my apologies. I believe it would be easier to eat with wooden spoons than metal ones, or perhaps forked metal skewers,” I replied, figuring I needed to watch my tone considering the current circumstances.

“I see,” Lefreya quietly murmured, picking up a wooden spoon from atop the table. Even as she brought my cooking to her lips that were the color of budding cherry blossoms, her expression still didn’t shift.

“Hmm... This is my first time eating gigo that hasn’t been heated through. Is this what’s customary at the forest’s edge? Or does it come from your homeland, Asuta...?” Marstein asked with a smile.

“It’s a dish from my home country,” I replied.

“I see,” Marstein stated as he took a bite of the gigo and dried kiki dip. “This certainly is a novel taste. The sourness of the dried kiki wipes away the earthiness of the gigo, so it isn’t hard to get down in the least. In fact, I’d say it’s rather pleasant.”

“I’m honored...”

Meanwhile, the people of the forest’s edge kept silently chewing away at my dish. They had little interest in cooking that didn’t use giba meat to begin with, so their reactions were unsurprisingly restrained.

However, I heard the Fou clan head, who was seated closest to me, whisper, “This is what raw gigo tastes like...? In the Fou clan, we only ever use it to mix in with poitan. What a mysterious flavor...”

“Oh, is it to your liking?”

“Well, I certainly can’t say I dislike it. Though actually, it seems to make me feel even hungrier somehow...”

“Right. That’s actually the main purpose of this dish.”

I wasn’t well acquainted with cooking full course meals, so all I could figure out for an appetizer was that it should stir up the appetite. I had chosen this dish in order to get the stomach moving and increase expectations for what would come next, but how was it working out? At least for now, I sadly didn’t have anyone else giving concrete impressions.

But at any rate, the pages had left with the carts in the meantime, no doubt to go get the soup dishes that would come next.

“Hmm, this is a peculiar taste,” Dari Sauti suddenly said quite loudly. When I turned to look, I saw he was holding a plate with Timalo’s appetizer.

“Sir Dari Sauti, is it not to your tastes?” Marstein calmly asked, only for the leading clan head to roughly scratch his head with his thick fingers.

“I don’t know about that, it’s just... I just find this slimy texture more than a little unpleasant.”

That certainly was frank. However, Timalo just shot him a perfectly calm smile.

“That is assuredly the feel added from kneading the reten oil into the dip. It could be a touch difficult to accustom yourself to if it is your first time eating it.”

“Hmm. Asuta’s dish is slimy too, but this is a bit... Hrmm, could I get some fruit wine too?”

Meanwhile, Donda Ruu and Gulaf Zaza had swiftly finished off both appetizers and were chugging down fruit wine. The silver cups were no bigger than a small mug, so for the leading clan heads, they only amounted to a single gulp. It seemed like it must be pretty irritating for them, having to wait for an attendant to fill it back up each time.

Still, as long as nothing too unbearable occurred, the plan for today was to abide by the customs of the castle town. That was the decision the group from the forest’s edge had come to, so that they could see what the nobles were thinking and feeling, as well as how those elites of the castle town would treat them.

“Yes, I’m quite taken by Sir Asuta’s cooking as well,” Polarth chimed in, a truly carefree grin on his charmingly round face. “Sir Timalo’s dish is quite elaborate, and I certainly look forward to seeing what he will serve up from here on out, but Sir Asuta’s leaves me in a state where my stomach is pestering me, begging for the next morsel. I would say that both make for wonderful appetizers.”

“Thank you,” Timalo and I stated in unison.

I was personally relieved to hear such an impression perfectly matching up with what I was aiming for, but Timalo had a seriously displeased look in his eyes. He must have been thinking something like, “Don’t go lumping my cooking in with such a crude dish.”

At any rate, as soon as everyone had set down their spoons and caught their breath, the next dishes had appeared: the soups.

“Ah, what a lovely smell!” Polarth stated, his nose twitching. He was referring to the milk fat aroma wafting from Timalo’s pot.

Roy did the same thing, so is it the custom in the castle town to use plenty of milk fat in soups?

When Timalo removed the lid, even more of that sweet scent filled the room.

“This soup dish was made using karon milk fat and three varieties of herbs.”

One of those herbs seemed to be the same as the one Yang used in the post town, since there was a cinnamon-like aroma accompanying the smell of the milk fat.

“My soup dish was made with giba meat and tau oil.”

I had gone with the straightforward approach of a giba soup prepared with tau oil. To make for a lavish feast, I used giba thigh and rib meat, aria, chatchi, gigo, nenon, and pula for the ingredients. And this was a version that involved even more effort than usual, so out of everyone present, only Donda Ruu had tasted it before, when we were testing it out at the Ruu settlement.

More than anything, though, the word “giba” had caused tension to spread through the air, as if to say, “So it’s finally time?”

Lefreya and Melfried remained expressionless, but between them Torst gave a deep sigh, Polarth was averting his gaze, and Leeheim was openly frowning.

Eighty years ago, giba were seen as a symbol of calamity, and even now, they were viewed as something only eaten by the barbaric people of the forest’s edge. Even if they had heard the whispers that giba meat had become a topic of discussion in the post town, that still wouldn’t prove any comfort to these residents of the castle town. Some seemed to have resigned themselves as martyrs atoning for Cyclaeus’s crimes, while the rest were apparently unable to hide their indignation, clearly wondering why they had to suffer such a fate.

In the midst of all that, the dishes were silently distributed. Unsurprisingly, the nobles began with Timalo’s dish, while the folks from the forest’s edge went with mine first.

“Ah, this is nicely done too. The sweetness of the milk fat certainly is prominent,” Marstein stated, taking the initiative again when it came to doling out praise. “And what exactly is this soft meat? It doesn’t seem to be kimyuus skin...”

“That is karon stomach.”

“Ooh, karon stomach, is it? How unusual.”

I ended up letting out a silent sigh of admiration in my head too. So they cooked with organs in Genos too, huh? I certainly looked forward to the thought of figuring out just what sort of ingredient karon stomach was and experimenting with it after this dinner party.

“What is this?!” Dari Sauti suddenly shouted out in wonder. It seemed he had tasted the little trick I had added.

“That’s what’s known as a wonton. To make it, you coat ground giba meat in fuwano batter, then boil it.”

Thanks to the competition between me and Reina Ruu, the taste of the giba soup prepared with tau oil had been more or less perfected. I figured there was still some wiggle room to play around in though, which was how I arrived at the idea of wontons.

There was nothing tricky about making them, as the method was just as I had explained to Dari Sauti. After adding water to fuwano flour, you rolled it out flat, then wrapped it around ground meat flavored with salt, pico leaves, and tau oil. Then you just had to seal them up like gyoza and let them cook together with the soup, and that was it.

The delicious flavor of the ground giba meat had been sealed properly in the jiggling boiled fuwano dough, and I felt they had turned out pretty well. At least when we gave them a try in the Ruu kitchen, the women all gave them rave reviews.

“Hrmm, this is delicious! It’s tasty, and it somehow causes the inside of my mouth to feel pleasant. Don’t you agree, Gazraan Rutim?”

“Yes, it really is delicious.”

Gazraan Rutim was being a lot quieter than usual today. I figured in all likelihood he was busy silently observing the nobles.

As for those nobles in question, the first one to work up the nerve and grab his spoon was Polarth. His already round frame slouched into an even rounder shape as he peered intently into the dish. Then he slowly lifted the spoon, timidly brought it to his mouth... and his expression exploded with surprise.

“Oh my...” Polarth uttered, restlessly scooping up soup and slurping it down, again and again. And when he slurped up a white wonton, he shouted joyfully, “Delicious! So this is giba meat?! Sir Asuta, this is incredibly tasty! Yes, this taste is truly every bit the equal of karon breast!”

“Thank you. I’m honored to hear that.”

At that I heard a strange sort of chuckle, and when I turned to look I found Timalo’s face turned away with a strained smile. Had he let a bit of scornful laughter slip out?

However, it wasn’t long before that faint smile suddenly froze in place.

“Yes, this is certainly tasty,” Marstein agreed. “I see. I had heard giba cooking had earned quite a reputation in the post town, and now I can understand why.”

“Yes, it definitely is delicious,” Welhide said from beside him with a big nod. “Sir Asuta of the Fa clan, I am truly sorry for the rude comment I made earlier. It seems the tales of giba meat being hard and smelling bad really were just rumors.”

“Ah, I truly am honored to hear you say that,” I replied, the tension finally draining from my shoulders.

It was then that Lefreya called out, “Asuta, this dish is quite tasty.”

“Thanks. Er, um, thank you.”

At that point, I noticed Torst and Leeheim also passionately slurping down the soup. I had been worried the powerful aroma of Timalo’s dish would completely overwhelm it, but now I saw those fears were unfounded.

Meanwhile, none of the people of the forest’s edge who had tried that milk fat soup dish had shown any positive reactions.

“This one’s slimy too. Do the people of the castle town enjoy slimy cooking?”

“I believe that is the texture from the karon milk fat... Are the people of the forest’s edge not fond of oils, perhaps?”

“Hmm, but I’ve got no problem eating plenty of giba fat,” Dari Sauti grumbled as he brought the wooden spoon to his mouth.

The Fou and Beim clan heads were wearing expressions a bit reminiscent of ascetic monks. Was Timalo’s cooking really that unsuited to their tastes, considering the people of the forest’s edge used to slurp down poitan stew with that atrocious taste and texture?

Well, I had also taste tested a dish using plenty of milk fat and herbs that Roy had made. I didn’t especially have a problem with it, but I could see the people of the forest’s edge not welcoming such a complex flavor.

Then by the time everyone managed to finish their soups one way or another, the next dishes were brought out. Timalo’s was a fuwano dish, while mine was made with poitan.

“My dish is a gyama dried milk hat bake.”

“This dish is called okonomiyaki, made using poitan.”

I had never heard of a hat bake before, but at a glance it looked something like a gratin or pie. It sat atop a large clay plate, and was covered in nicely browned dried milk like a lid. Yes, this was a dish that needed the sort of oven only present in the castle town, and the appearance and aroma sure were tantalizing.

Then, there was my okonomiyaki. Since we didn’t have such a custom of eating each dish one by one back home or in the settlement at the forest’s edge, I really ended up racking my brain over how to prepare the poitan, and this was the solution I arrived at.

I mixed together roughly-sliced tino and giba rib meat with grated gigo and poitan dissolved in water, then grilled it up. For flavoring, I used a pseudo-Worcestershire sauce made with tau oil, as well as Genos-style mayonnaise made from kimyuus egg, mamaria vinegar, and reten oil.

Still, I couldn’t find any substitutes for dried bonito slices or green dried seaweed, so it felt a little lacking. As a last resort, I went ahead and washed the salt off some pickled maru and dry roasted them to place on top.

Maru was some sort of shelled creature like a little shrimp or krill that Nail used when making pickled chitt. Even though there was plenty of water around, for whatever reason Genos saw virtually no distribution of fish or shellfish. And so, I decided to use some maru to accent the dish, as a bit of valuable seafood.

By the way, I was told I should remain in the dining hall except for when it came to finishing up the main dish, so it was Reina Ruu’s group who actually grilled these up. They had gotten in plenty of practice in advance for today, and so there were naturally no issues with how they turned out.

The maru might not have been a proper substitute for bonito, but I figured it would help mitigate what was lacking at least a bit. And besides, I was the only one who knew what proper okonomiyaki were like to begin with, so there was no reason for anyone else to feel something was out of place.

“How should we split these up?” one of the pages asked, looking troubled at the six round shapes sitting before him.

“I’ll cut them up, so please hand out a slice to each person.”

With that I cut the six okonomiyaki into four parts each, making for twenty four slices in total. Lefreya would probably be just fine with one, while I could see Donda Ruu or Gulaf Zaza needing three or four.

“What a truly unusual dish. I suppose that’s just what one should expect of a visitor from overseas.”

For a while Timalo had managed to restrain himself, but a thin grin slipped out as he portioned out his own dish. And as I watched, I went, Hmm? in my head.

When that fragrant lid of dried milk was ruptured, what spilled out was a gooey substance that looked similar to oatmeal. Had he finely minced baked fuwano and soaked it in karon milk or something to make it? At any rate, I smelled a rich blend of milk and the dried milk.

And as I took in a deeper whiff, beyond that I picked up the sharp smell of herbs too. Looking closely, I noticed long, thin herbs like light brown leaves sprinkled here and there throughout. They weren’t chitt seeds, but it seemed they were being used to add a sharp flavor to the dish. The thought of that sharpness alongside the sweetness of milk and dried milk seemed like a bit of a mismatch to me.

Is this going to be unpopular with the people of the forest’s edge again?

Still, all I could do now was worry about my own dish.

“Ah, hat bake is a favorite of mine,” Polarth excitedly stated as the dishes were handed out. Apparently that mix of sweet dairy products and ethnic herbs was popular here in Genos.

And then, there was a strange “guh” sound.

The Beim clan head had apparently bitten into the okonomiyaki, and was now making a really troubled face. Seeing that, the Fou clan head quietly asked, “What’s the matter?” as he struggled to break off a bit of the same dish with his wooden spoon.

“It’s nothing...”

“Was this dish to your liking, clan head of the Beim?”

“I didn’t say a single word of the sort...”

“What’s the matter with that? Objecting to Asuta’s business and finding his cooking delicious are separate matters, aren’t they?”

The Beim clan head attended meetings such as this one to represent the clans opposed to our doing business in the post town. But at this moment, even with a sour look on his face, he swiftly finished off the okonomiyaki.

Polarth was sitting right across from him, so he must have overheard the conversation they just had. And so, he set aside the plate of hat bake and sliced off a bit of okonomiyaki with a silver spoon while wearing a look of great curiosity.

And then, he exploded with another outburst of, “Delicious! This truly is tasty. It’s every bit as good as that soup dish from a moment ago! Sir Asuta, this was made using poitan rather than fuwano, correct?”

“Yes. This dish is more suited to poitan, so that’s what I went with.”

“This really is amazingly delicious! If you can make a dish this good using poitan, then why not sell it in the post town?”

“This dish is difficult to eat with your hands, so it’s not well suited to a snack stall. However, I have thought about offering it at the inns if possible,” I replied, then decided to add a bit more explanation. “On top of that, I cannot make the condiment I added on top without reten oil and mamaria vinegar. That makes selling it in the post town a bit troublesome.”

If I was lacking not just the dried bonito slices and green dried seaweed but also mayonnaise, that would just be too sad of a dish. But if I could easily get a hold of reten oil and mamaria vinegar, I’d have no reason not to try selling them in the post town.

The dish had also been a big hit with the Ruu clan. All it involved was mixing the ingredients into the poitan batter, but everyone happily agreed during the taste testing that it was delicious in a whole different way compared to grilling each component separately. And the one who was most taken with the dish was Sati Lea Ruu, who was incredibly fond of baked poitan to begin with.

“I see. Still, this tau oil is an unusual flavor too. It has an unusual thickness to it, and a sourness that’s different than that of mamaria vinegar.”

“That’s from the tarapa. I boiled down some tarapa and aria and mixed it into the tau oil. And the thickness is because I added fuwano flour.”

“Ooh, I’m impressed! What do you think, Sir Leeheim...? This is what Sir Asuta can make using poitan!” Polarth asked, still all worked up as he turned to the frowning Leeheim.

“Even setting aside the matter of the poitan, it’s all been perfectly delicious. Was this dish truly made using giba, Asuta of the Fa clan?”

“Yes. This dish uses giba chest meat, while the previous one used chest and thigh meat.”

“Still, what I cannot help but find the greatest surprise of all is how it uses poitan rather than fuwano...” the older man Torst sitting beside Lefreya sighed. “If you can make dishes like this using poitan, then the people of the post town will not so much as glance at fuwano any longer... Duke Genos, I have only just taken charge of the house of Turan and intend to give my all to restoring it to its proper place, but at this rate, its fortune may well be exhausted before the year is out.”

“There’s no need to be filled with such grief. You just need to dissolve the various business deals Cyclaeus made everywhere one by one. Simply pulling back from recklessly purchasing such a plethora of ingredients should regain you a good bit of fortune, correct?”

“But canceling those business deals shall take an incredible amount of time and effort. After all, the previous head of the house made an enormous number of them even with people of Sym and Jagar. And if we cancel them solely at our own convenience, not only the house of Turan but Genos itself could lose the trust of both nations.”

“And so I will lend you whatever aid I can. If we distribute those ingredients to restaurants with no ties to the house of Turan, perhaps even ones in the post town, then the ingredients that are delivered will not have to go to waste. Up until now, Cyclaeus monopolized such ingredients, so such distribution had been sealed off. Wouldn’t you imagine a great number of folks would be glad to hear they could purchase as much as they please of ingredients that were difficult to get up until now?” Marstein calmly replied, wetting his lips with fruit wine. “But, well, for now let’s forget all those odds and ends and just enjoy the food. Asuta of the Fa clan, your dishes have all been exquisite. It truly is astounding that you are able to cook such things at such a young age.”

“I’m greatly honored by such undeserved praise...”

As I offered that reply, I couldn’t help but think about how Lefreya was feeling. Every time Cyclaeus’s name was mentioned, I could feel myself getting anxious.

And yet Lefreya just kept on eating the okonomiyaki, expressionless like some sort of doll.

“Asuta of the Fa clan, is there more left of your dish?” Donda Ruu suddenly called out from far away.

“Yes. There are still eleven slices left.”

“Give me three. This little portion just made me feel hungrier.”

“Ah, could I get one more too?” Polarth chimed in, jumping on board. “This is still just the third dish, so I want to leave plenty of room in my stomach, but I just can’t stand it! Aah, if I had known giba meat was this tasty, I certainly would have bought some of what you sell in the post town! I hope that those ruffians are captured as soon as possible so that you can resume your business, Sir Asuta!”

After that, all the members of the group from the forest’s edge asked for seconds along with Welhide and Leeheim, which swiftly took care of the extras.

Meanwhile, only Marstein and Polarth asked for another serving of Timalo’s dish, which resulted in a good bit left over. Though the chef seemed to have finally regained his composure, his grin was now freezing up again.

“It isn’t our custom to leave any food left over, but still...” the Fou clan head whispered so quietly that only I could hear it. “It was all I could do to force down the portion of this dish that was served to me. For some reason, my chest feels heavy... If the nobles hadn’t eaten it too, I would think I had been poisoned.”

“I see...”

It was an onslaught of dairy in the form of milk fat, dried milk, and karon milk, which was apparently a harsh blow for the people of the forest’s edge. I firmly etched it in the back of my mind to pay attention to that when I was preparing dinner for them.

“Timalo and Asuta’s dishes were both wonderful. I’m certainly looking forward to seeing what comes next,” Marstein said with levity as he looked over the crowd of guests, and all the varying emotions they now displayed.