Cooking with Wild Game (LN) - Volume 15 - Chapter 1.2

2

Some time later, that day’s work in the post town came to a peaceful close.

The Sudra settlement was along the way to the Fa house, and so we first stopped by the Ruu house to hold our study session and handle preparations.

“What will you be teaching us today, Asuta?” Reina Ruu asked after we finished the prep work, looking like she could hardly contain herself.

Turning her way, I went ahead and opened up a bundle I had prepared. That act alone was enough to cause a powerful aroma to spread throughout the kitchen.

“Are those...herbs?”

“Yeah. I was thinking we’d try working with these today.”

Reina Ruu wasn’t the only one with a doubtful look on her face after hearing that.

“But haven’t you been trying not to use too many herbs? You said you didn’t have much of a chance to use them even in your home country, so you were only really familiar with myamuu at most.”

“Yeah, but that myamuu is a crucial ingredient for us now, right? So depending on how you use them, herbs can become a powerful weapon in our arsenal.”

And so, I laid out those mostly unfamiliar herbs atop the work station one by one.

“Apparently they’ve always used a fair amount of herbs in the post town since there weren’t really any seasonings except salt to be had there. And folks seem to be liking myamuu, so I think the groundwork is there for having them try out more fragrant dishes.”

“But these herbs come from Sym, don’t they...? I’ve never seen them before in the post town.”

“Yeah. Aside from myamuu and pepe, I’m pretty sure they’re all from Sym. They had an excess of all these at the Turan manor, and seem to be having trouble figuring out what to do with them.”

The only places eager to snatch them up were the inns frequented by easterners, like The Sledgehammer, so that wasn’t really doing much to chip away at the supply. Torst, who had taken over the running of the house of Turan, had lamented this fact. And thanks to Polarth’s plotting, the Turan house’s fortunes were already on the decline, which made it essential that they sell the mountain of ingredients still being delivered to them.

“Jagar-made sugar and tau oil seem to be selling just fine in the post town. So I figured it was time for these herbs to make their mark.”

“I see... But what is there to gain from you working so hard on this? We can’t neglect our bonds with the nobles, but I believe you should just make whatever dishes you please,” Reina Ruu stated with an uncharacteristically strict look in her eyes.

However, I chose to meet that look with a smile.

“It’s not like I’m trying to make herbs more popular for the good of some nobles. And I’m not just interested in learning how to use unfamiliar ingredients. I simply thought that maybe I could make more effective use of them with the knowledge I already had.”

I figured a picture was worth a thousand words, so I went ahead and washed off a pepe leaf, then chopped it up into little bits. Next, I sliced off what looked to be appropriately sized chunks of giba rib meat.

“Let’s try sauteeing this with just pepe leaves for flavoring,” I said, using a single-handled pot (essentially a frying pan) to quickly cook it up. As the meat was heated through, the dense aroma of pepe leaf filled the kitchen. “Now then, who wants to give it a try?”

At my prompting, everyone took a bite while looking doubtful.

“My,” Ama Min Rutim proclaimed. “Just adding that aroma really does change things quite a bit. I think I may like this just as much as myamuu.”

“Right, and I think if you added a tau oil-based sauce to it, that would make for a full-fledged dish. This herb would probably go well with cuts like liver that have a strong flavor to them too.”

Pepe leaves were a type of herb that seemed to be close to garlic chives, which Nail employed to make chitt-pickles. And with them, it would be possible to make dishes akin to stir-fried meat and chives or pork liver and garlic chive stir-fry.

“This one’s next. I forgot to ask what it’s called, but you recognize the scent, right, Reina Ruu?”

“Ah... This is the one the chef named Yang used in his first dish at his stall, isn’t it?”

“Right, and I believe it’s from Selva rather than Sym. I don’t know if it’ll fit the tastes of the forest’s edge, but let’s give it a little shot.”

This herb had a sweet smell to it, similar to cinnamon. I crushed up the somewhat brownish leaf, then cooked it up along with fuwano flour and sugar.

“Oh, my...” Vina Ruu exclaimed, her eyes opening wide in surprise. “What a lovely, sweet aroma... I would love to have Rimee give it a try...”

“That’s a good idea. As you can see, you just need to heat it up with fuwano and sugar, so I figure anyone can handle it no problem.”

By this point, every other person present looked shocked. But, well, that was no big surprise, seeing how their only familiarity with sweets came from the chatchi mochi I had made in the past.

“This sweet flavor may not pair too well with other dishes, but it sure does pack a lot of taste for a single herb, doesn’t it? I think it’s definitely worth experimenting with.” As I looked out over the group, I added, “And also, I talked to Nail since he knows a lot about herbs, and he said these can have a variety of additional effects. For example, this yellow one can break down the toxins in your body, while this black one can re-nourish you, and this scarlet one promotes digestion... Thanks to the illness he suffered from, Cyclaeus gathered up all sorts of herbs like these that are good for the body.”

“I see... It’s almost like they’re medicine.”

“Yeah. In the proper quantities, tau oil, sugar, and reten oil can all be good for you, but these herbs are way more effective on that front. So if we can employ them in tasty dishes, that should help bring even greater strength to the people of the forest’s edge.”

It was then Sheera Ruu’s turn to look taken aback.

“Asuta... Is that what you meant earlier when you talked about not trying to get better for its own sake?”

“Yes. We’re improving our skills to help our sales too, but for us people of the forest’s edge, our most important reason to do so is to feed our families and comrades delicious and nutritious meals. My family also sold cooking back in my home country, so I want to make sure I don’t slip up and neglect that point.”

“That’s true... I’ve been striving to improve at cooking, but I may well have lost sight of that objective a bit,” Sheera Ruu replied, casting her gaze downwards.

From next to her, Reina Ruu nodded, “I understand. You’ve been thinking about many things that have slipped by us as you manned the stove, Asuta. My apologies if my lack of discretion put a damper on anything.”

“Nah, go ahead and speak your mind. Otherwise, I may end up stepping off the proper path myself,” I cheerfully answered, then shrugged my shoulders. “Well then, let’s get this study session rolling. I’ve got this new dish I wanna take a swing at, so could I have you all give it a try?”

“Yes, of course,” Reina Ruu replied with a smile, seeming like she had finally moved on. “What do you want us to do first?”

“Well, could I have you grind up these five varieties of herbs like I showed you? I think we’ll find the answer there.”

“The answer?”

“Yeah. The answer to what sort of spices are essential for the taste I’m aiming for.”

Out of countless varieties of herbs, I had ultimately chosen these five for now.

One was orange, with a long and narrow shape.

The next was yellowish-brown and flat.

Another was blackish and serrated.

There was also a dark brown root that wrapped around like a dried-out vine.

Then lastly, there was a fruit with what looked like a wide-open mouth through which little seeds were visible, like with an akebia.

Every last one of them had been dried out for transport from Sym, so it didn’t take much effort at all to grind them up. For now, I broke open the akebia-like fruit’s hard skin and moved just the seeds inside to a plate, where I ground them up with a stick shaped like a pestle.

And as those five different spices were ground, a really peculiar scent filled the kitchen.

“This is unbearable. Won’t this smell end up clinging to us if we don’t move outside?”

Taking up Bartha’s suggestion, we evacuated the kitchen.

As she continued grating away without stopping, Reina Ruu breathed a sigh. “This is making my nose feel all funny. It must be even worse for you with your sense of smell, right, Asuta?”

“Yeah. But it sure smells good, doesn’t it?”

It was certainly powerful, but it felt somehow nostalgic too. My task for today was to pin down the source of that homesick sensation.

“Vina Ruu, could you hand me that plate?”

She had been put in charge of the vine-like root. After taking the plate from her, I stuck a finger into the ground powder, then checked its taste and smell. Although, there really was no real strong taste to it. Despite the slightly sour and powerfully spicy aroma, it didn’t have much of a flavor. However, the smell seemed closest to what I was seeking.

“This one’s the best bet, I’d say. Please grate down all the rest of what’s on that plate.”

“Right, I’m on it...”

“What did you have, Toor Deen? Ah, the black one? Let me see it.”

As I licked it, there was a stinging sensation on my tongue, after which a sour smell like lemon filled my nose.

This might have been what Timalo had used in his soup for the dinner party. It seemed like the sort of aroma you’d find in Thai food, so while it wasn’t half bad, I didn’t expect there would be a use for it this time around.

“What about this one, Asuta?” Sheera Ruu asked, holding out her plate with a little mound of yellow powder atop it.

“Hmm... Looking at it now, that sure is a vibrant color.”

This herb wasn’t spicy at all. Instead, it had an earthy, slightly bitter taste to it. I couldn’t quite pinpoint why, but there was something about it that drew me in.

“Let’s put that one to the side for now... Ah, thank you, Li Sudra.”

Next up was the orange herb. Despite the incredibly spicy smell, it didn’t have much of a taste to it either.

The people of Sym apparently liked the spiciness from chitt seeds, so perhaps these herbs were used to add nourishment and depth to the flavor.

“Ah, right. I believe Nail said this herb should be mixed with water.”

“Is that so? In that case, I’ll go get some.”

Li Sudra gracefully did an about-face, then went and got a container of water from the kitchen.

After thanking her, I went ahead and ground up the powdered herb a bit more with some of the water. When I gave it a taste afterward, my tongue was struck by a spicy mustard-like flavor.

“Ah, that’s a spicy one. But it seems like it could pair well with giba meat, depending on how you used it.”

Still, mustard was another flavor that wouldn’t have a chance to shine today.

Finally, I tried out some of the seeds that Reina Ruu had ground up. Once again, it was spicy. And underneath that powerful spice, there was a touch of bitterness. It might have hit my sweat glands harder than anything else so far. What was more, it made me feel more refreshed than any of the others had too.

“Yup, we’ll use this one for the spiciness, and that root from before for the aroma, I guess. Vina Ruu, could I have that one again?”

I mixed a pinch of each of the powdered spices together atop my hand, then gave it a lick.

There was a synergy born between that powerful spice and strong fragrance.

It came pretty close to the ideal I was aiming for. But since both of them were dark brown, if I pinched my nose it would feel like I was eating dry sand or something.

“Could you hand me your plate too, Sheera Ruu?”

Mixing in that brilliant yellow herb brought the overall color to a yellowish brown. And when I gave it a taste, it added a touch of bitterness to the powerful spice, giving the flavor more mellowness and depth.

“Okay, I’d say the baseline flavor and aroma are set. So let’s go ahead and give cooking with these a try.”

With that, we returned to the kitchen. By placing boards atop each of the plates, we were able to suppress a bit of the powerful aroma in the air.

“Firstly, we’ll roast those three herbs from before. That’ll draw out even more of their aromas.”

“They already have such a powerful smell, but you’re going to make it even stronger?” Bartha questioned, looking astonished.

“Yes.” I smiled back. “I believe that the scents from the other ingredients will soften that up while cooking. By the way, Bartha, are you not fond of herbs?”

“No, that’s not it. I’ve made frequent use of myamuu and pepe leaves myself. And I’ve even been curious enough to purchase some eastern herbs from merchants on a whim.”

“I see.” I nodded as I used a measuring spoon to scoop up the herbs.

For now, I went with a ratio of two parts spicy seeds, three parts strong-smelling root, and two parts colorful herb. I figured that level of spice would work out for everyone from the forest’s edge, since they had been building up their tolerance bit by bit with chitt seeds. And as I dry roasted them in my single-handled pot, an even more powerful aroma filled the kitchen.

“While that’s cooling off, we’ll sauté some aria with milk fat. We’ll be more thorough with it than usual, though.”

“The Fa clan is now producing its own milk fat, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, since I like to use a bit of it every now and then.”

Since there was giba fat readily available at the forest’s edge, milk fat wasn’t as popular here as it was in the post town. Clans like the Fou and Deen had never so much as purchased karon milk, and even the Ruu had only just started buying it recently in limited quantities.

“Once the aria has turned yellowish-brown, we introduce the spices,” I explained as I tossed them back into the single-handled pot. When I roughly mixed them together with the aria, a strong aroma once more wafted into the air. By this point, it was like our noses were being attacked in waves.

“What an awful smell. I can feel my nose wrinkling,” Tsuvai complained after remaining quiet all this time.

“Ah ha ha, just bear it for a bit longer. I mean, chitt seeds are pretty addictive once you get used to them, right?”

To be honest, the smell was seriously stirring up my appetite. And I got the feeling that the addition of the aria and milk fat had done a lot to mellow out the smell by this point.

“Next we add in the fuwano flour, mixing it thoroughly while taking care to keep it from clumping up. Then once it’s mixed, add a bit of water, aiming for a goopy texture.”

That was enough to finish it off for now. At this point I went ahead and gave it a taste, and it wasn’t half bad.

I then moved the single-handled pot over to an unlit stove, taking care not to spill it now that it was a good bit more full.

“We’ll leave this for now until it completely cools off. I believe that should allow the sweetness from the aria to better harmonize.”

“The sweetness, you say? Is that the same reason we allow meat and chatchi stew and cubed giba meat stew to cool down for a bit?”

“That’s right. Anyway, let’s go ahead and cook the other ingredients in the meantime.”

I sautéed some giba rib meat, wedges of aria, chatchi cubes, and nenon rounds. Those vegetables were equivalent to onions, potatoes, and carrots respectively. And with the aria in particular, I had cooked it first until it took on some color.

Once the various ingredients were heated through, I added some water from a jug and brought it to a boil. Then after fifteen minutes of boiling and scooping scum, I finally added in the spices. The spice mix had increased in volume with the addition of the aria and fuwano, and so I eyeballed out the appropriate amount to add into the pot.

At first I used a medium heat, then when it just about reached a boil, I reduced it to a low heat. At that point, all that was left was stirring it slowly so it didn’t burn and waiting for it to finish.

“Well, I feel like it probably turned out acceptable enough for a test dish, but my apologies if it doesn’t meet your expectations.”

“Hmph! I’ve got no expectations toward a dish that stinks this bad, so no worries there!” As was often the case, that energetic complaint had come from Tsuvai. However, her glaring eyes then narrowed a bit, questioningly. “Still...maybe it’s thanks to the meat and aria, but I feel like the smell’s a tiny bit less bad now.”

“Right? Not that I have any objections to the smell myself.”

By this point, my feelings of nostalgia had reached a peak. This fondly remembered aroma, the one that made me feel all excited as the sun set... As I stirred the yellowish-brown contents of the pot, I felt a lump in my throat.

When I went ahead and took a bite, the taste was unsurprisingly rather crude. I had to say that it was definitely still far from what I saw as ideal. Back when my old man made this dish, he used commercially sold spice blends, then bought even more spices to enhance the blend on his own.

Even those commercial blends, depending on the kind, could easily go into double digits in terms of the number of spices they used, so this certainly felt lacking in comparison. I definitely had to try out a bunch more herbs and seasonings.

Still, it had turned out well enough that it was at least in the same family of dishes as that one I was so terribly nostalgic for.

“This was called curry back in my home country,” I said to no one in particular. “It was an absolute staple food and one that I adored, but as you can see it’s rather difficult to prepare from scratch, which is why I avoided it until now.”

“You said you’re not too accustomed to using herbs, but a dish like this was a staple?” Reina Ruu quietly questioned.

“Yeah, though it actually came over from another country originally. It was then adjusted to be accepted in my home country, at which point it became a favorite. And I’m really curious if it’ll end up being accepted at the forest’s edge and in the post town.”

“Hey, Asuta...?” another voice called out. This time, it was Vina Ruu. “Could it be...that you want to go back to your old country...?”

“Huh? Why do you ask?”

“I mean, that’s just the sort of look you have in your eyes...” Vina Ruu replied with concern written all over her face, but I just sent a smile her way.

“Like I’ve said before, I’ve got no means of returning to my old country. So nowadays, I think of the forest’s edge as my home.”

“I see... I don’t want you to go anywhere either, of course...”

In the past, Vina Ruu had said that she wanted me to take her away to my home country. But now, she had decided to try to live properly as a woman of the forest’s edge. Through interacting with foreigners like me and Shumiral, her longing for the outside world only grew stronger...but in the end, she decided she couldn’t just abandon her family and her home.

Meanwhile, I had grown certain that I would never return to my home country. As someone who had lost my life over there only to be dragged into this world, I would never have the means to do so in the first place.

“Asuta... Are you really all right...?”

“Yeah. I’m just feeling a bit sentimental thinking of things back home, but it’s nothing to worry about.”

It was true that there was a dull pain deep in my heart. I could never forget those first seventeen years of my life even if I tried. But I decided to live on, never forgetting that pain. That might have been precisely why I wanted everyone to try this dish. With such thoughts in mind, I stepped back from the stove.

“Now then, please go ahead and try it. I can’t guarantee how it turned out since it’s still a work in progress, but I’d love to hear everyone’s honest opinions.”