Cooking with Wild Game (LN) - Volume 16 - Chapter 1.3

3

“As I don’t have time to waste, let us make it a simple grilled dish,” Varkas declared while standing in front of the countless ingredients and cooking tools.

The pages had brought out a water jug and left it by the chef’s feet. Since this place hadn’t been used as a kitchen for some time, there was no water. After carefully washing his tools, he lined up some containers of herbs and seasonings, and then finally seemed ready to start.

“By the way, Sir Asuta, are those women there your servants?”

“They’re cooking assistants, not servants. If you don’t mind, I would like to have them partake in the taste test too.”

“As long as their tongues can properly distinguish between tastes, I do not mind...” Varkas said as he reached into his breast pocket, pulling out a small folded white cloth. It wasn’t exactly like a hand towel or a hat. Instead, it turned out to be a cloth mask, with holes in it for just his eyes, nose, and mouth.

As we stood there at a loss for words, Varkas turned his gaze our way through those rounded holes.

“A single drop of sweat will change the flavor. This level of preparedness is only natural for a chef.”

I turned to look at Polarth, only to find him blankly observing the strange sight as well. It seemed this really was a method unique to Varkas.

“Well then, I shall begin cooking.”

Thanks to the area around his mouth being partly covered, his voice was coming out a bit muffled, but without paying that any mind, he once again headed toward the pantries. He didn’t have any karon or kimyuus among the ingredients brought out to him, so he must have intended to use a fish from the tank. After a moment, we started following after him in a crowd.

Once he entered the fish tank room, Varkas grabbed a net with a handle from the wall, then silently glared out over the fish. From what I could tell, there seemed to be four types of fish swimming around inside.

One had a long and narrow body like a char with yellowish-brown scales and white flecks. Then there was a darkly colored one with a more circular profile that looked like a black porgy, or maybe a tilapia. Another had speckles of yellow and red, and was short and stout like a knobsnout parrotfish from Okinawa. Lastly, there was an emerald green fish with a big, bulky body like a snakehead.

That snakehead-like fish had a tank all to themselves, while the three other types mingled together in two additional tanks. From among them, Varkas picked out one of those char-like fish that looked to be around thirty centimeters long. He then observed it up close, checking the elasticity of its long and narrow body with his fingers, before returning to the kitchen with it, net and all.

“So we’re really gonna eat a fish? What in the world do they taste like?” Rimee Ruu whispered to Ai Fa behind me.

Varkas removed the fish from the net and rubbed salt into it while it was still alive, then washed it off with water from the jug. That must have been to remove the sliminess. Next, as the fish was still twitching all about, he placed it atop a cutting board and grabbed a fish-cutting knife. The blade smoothly slid into the creature’s stomach, and then he sliced it open up to the throat.

After removing the innards, he scraped the meat off the spine using his nails. Honestly, the steps he used were pretty similar to the ones I knew for preparing a live fish. After washing it once more, he inserted his fingers into the initial cut, then stripped the skin off in a single go. Even though his fingers looked as dainty as a woman’s, they seemed to have some definite strength behind them.

“Your skills are truly impressive. This is my first time ever seeing a live fish prepared,” Polarth earnestly chimed in, but Varkas offered no response.

At that point, he chopped the head off of the fish and sliced off the fillets. He then tossed the head and backbone into the pot being used for garbage, after which he coated the remaining left and right fillets in a black herb.

Varkas then washed his hands, lit one of the stoves, and started heating up a smallish pan. Once it was nice and heated, he again washed his hands, before placing the skin he had peeled off into the pan, along with a reddish herb.

Soon enough, the fat running off from the skin started crackling. Eventually the fat was exhausted and he discarded the skin, with his next step being to gently lay the herb-coated fish meat down in the bottom of the pan.

A sour aroma soon spread throughout the kitchen. It seemed he had employed that herb that reminded me of Thai food, which I had rejected when making my giba curry.

Since there wasn’t all that much fat to be had from the skin, the herbs soon started giving off a burnt smell. Varkas didn’t seem to mind, though, continuing to slowly cook both sides over a low flame. From underneath his mask, I could spy that the look in his green eyes had completely shifted, from apathetic to deadly serious. And there was no hesitation in his movements either.

Once both sides were grilled, Varkas suddenly picked up a bluish container which was filled with karon milk. I was a bit surprised to find that’s what he was using. He filled a clay cup to the brim with that milk, added a pinch of salt and sugar, and poured it into the pan. When the liquid met the heated fat, they made a pleasant crackling sound.

“Are his skills the same as that other chef, Timalo’s, to be adding karon milk and that black herb together...?” Reina Ruu whispered to me. Even after nearly two months had passed, she apparently still remembered the smell of that herb perfectly well.

But Varkas wasn’t done. Soon he got to work adding several more herbs. He didn’t grind them down, instead tearing them up above the pan and mixing them in. Though he did it very casually, I was certain he had carefully calculated the amounts. After all, no matter what herb he was tearing up, he stopped midway and tossed the rest into the trash unsparingly.

The slight amount of fat was soon overwhelmed by the karon milk, at which point only the sound of it simmering could be heard. As we all listened to that sound, Varkas stopped moving for around thirty seconds.

Then, as if his switch had suddenly been flicked on, he scooped up the contents of the pan with a wooden spatula. He placed the two chunks of fish coated in shredded bits of black herb and white karon milk atop a clay plate. Next, he took a spatula and scraped off that pitiful coating.

What appeared from underneath was the white meat of a fish that had been heated through. Perhaps because the herbs had protected it, there wasn’t so much as a single burn mark to be seen. After moving it to yet another plate, Varkas carefully washed his hands, then cut the fish into diagonal slices one centimeter thick or so.

At that point, he lined them up so that the cross sections were exposed, then used a silver spoon to add something red on top. The substance had come from a small jar, and looked to be a jam made by crushing and simmering arow fruit.

“It’s ready,” Varkas stated, stepping back from the workstation. “This dish will cool off rapidly, so please hurry and taste it.”

“My, what amazing skill! Still, I can’t imagine what it must taste like...” Polarth exclaimed as he approached the plate, and we did the same.

“This dish is treated as an appetizer at The Silver Star. Of course, since there is a limit to how many fish I can bring with me, it is only offered once every several days,” Varkas stated, removing his white mask. His face was damp with sweat, such that his long dark-brown hair clung to it.

“Well then, let us partake! This really is quite the unexpected treat,” Polarth proclaimed while picking up a slice with a silver fork-like utensil. And when he took a bite, his eyes shot open wide. “This... Ah, I suppose I should not offer my impressions before you try it, Sir Asuta.”

Grabbing a wooden spoon, I carefully scooped up a bit of the meat, taking care not to drop it.

It really did look just like an ordinary slice of white fish meat. He had declared it would be a grilled dish, but the fish itself never touched the surface of the pan, so it felt more like it had been steamed. Plus, I couldn’t make heads or tails out of the way he soaked it in karon milk and spread that jam made from arow, which were like strawberries, all over it. Then there were all those spices he used, which came together to give off an incredibly complicated aroma.

Having thoroughly taken in its appearance, I went ahead and finally tossed the slice into my mouth.

Instantly, a deep and complex taste burst forth in my mouth.

This is... How can I even describe it?

It was like the spiciness from the herbs, sourness of the arow, and sweetness of the karon were racing around on my tongue in a spiral as they intertwined.

Actually, that spice was coming from a variety of different herbs, and the sourness was coming not just from the arow, but also a lemongrass-like herb. Plus, the sweetness from the karon milk mixed with the sugar (and a small amount from the arow), so it was difficult to tell which flavors were coming from precisely which ingredients.

Then at the center of it all was the fish. The umami from that fish that had been coated in herbs and grilled helped to tie everything together.

He had grilled white fish meat with herbs, simmered it in milk, and added jam on top. I couldn’t help but think to myself that there was no way that such a thing could possibly be tasty...but this was clearly a perfected dish.

Between the sweetness, spiciness, sourness, and even slight bit of bitterness from the burnt herbs, it should have been an absolute wreck, but it managed to just barely remain in harmony. I found it difficult to even imagine what sort of calculations went into creating such a taste.

It was tough to judge whether or not it was tasty. But if you asked me if I wanted to try making it, I would immediately reply no.

Even so, I couldn’t say it was bad.

Actually, it was definitely good.

But the sensations I was experiencing just weren’t clicking together.

Timalo and Roy’s cooking never would have gotten me this confused. I would have been able to reach an answer separate from my own impressions, like, “I could see some people finding this tasty” or, “It sure is interesting how culinary cultures can differ.”

But I couldn’t judge when it came to this dish.

It had an odd, complex, mysterious flavor.

That was just about the only opinion I could wring out.

It was a dish that broke free in a completely different direction from what I knew, and felt truly fitting of being called cooking from another world.

“This dish...” Reina Ruu muttered in a pained voice.

Apparently, while I was overwhelmed by my astonishment, everyone else had given the dish a taste test. And now, Reina Ruu had turned my way with an imploring look in her eyes. “Asuta, please tell me... Is this dish tasty?”

What a truly bizarre question.

In the past, Dan Rutim had asked the same when taste testing my giba curry. But this was different, and Reina Ruu’s voice was brimming with emotions that she couldn’t contain.

Toor Deen was also shooting me a look like she was about to break down crying.

Meanwhile, Rimee Ruu groaned, “Hrrm...” with a serious look on her face. “I don’t really get it for some reason... Oh? You aren’t gonna eat any, Ai Fa?”

“I’m no chef, and I have no interest in the cooking of the castle town.”

There were still a number of slices left atop the wooden plate.

Working up my resolve, I went ahead and held that plate out toward my clan head.

“Ai Fa, if you don’t mind, could I hear your impressions too? I’d like to hear the frank thoughts of a person of the forest’s edge who isn’t a chef.”

She furrowed her brow dubiously, but in the end she picked up a slice without saying a word. Then she tossed it into her mouth, expressionlessly chewed, and swallowed.

“Well...?”

“I have nothing in particular to say. It’s not a taste that I find delicious. Though with that said, I wouldn’t say that it’s particularly bad either,” Ai Fa readily stated, but then she brought her mouth in close to my ear. “To go further, I can’t imagine we people of the forest’s edge would have any need for such a taste. If you had happened to create such a dish, you wouldn’t have been able to move the hearts of Granny Jiba, Donda Ruu, or myself. Simply walk the path that you believe in, Asuta.”

I closed my eyes and forced down the doubts and worries swirling around in my chest, then stared back at my clan head’s sour face.

“Got it. Thanks, Ai Fa.”

In response, she gave me a silent poke in the chest.

Then, I turned to face Polarth.

“I’m having a bit of trouble finding the words to describe my surprise. Could I hear your impressions, Polarth?”

“Mine? Well, I thought it was simply amazing! Why, I felt it was the very pinnacle of the sort of delicious cooking that chefs in Genos aim for!” Polarth exclaimed with a carefree grin, turning to face Varkas. “Sir Varkas, I have had your cooking numerous times in the past, but never has a dish surprised me as much as this one! To think that something so delicious could be created through free use of the ingredients here in the Turan manor! I truly am impressed!”

“I’m honored by your praise...” Varkas replied, his expression indifferent. But even seeing that, Polarth kept on smiling at him.

“Still, it really is completely different from the sort of dishes Sir Asuta creates. It’s true that people of the castle town may well see his work as rough, wild cooking, but it’s no mere rural novelty. His dishes are full of such deliciousness that I cannot help but break out in a smile simply by tasting them.”

“I see...”

“Yes... If that were not the case, Duke Genos and Lord Leeheim would never have given his skills such praise. And just as Sir Asuta has been surprised by your cooking, Sir Varkas, I believe the reverse shall also prove true.”

Despite that statement, Varkas’s expression remained unchanged.

Still, Polarth gave a nod with a satisfied look, then turned back my way.

“Well then, now it is your turn, Sir Asuta! I’ll be looking forward to something delicious, of course.”

“Right. I’ll give my all to meet your expectations.”

Reaching into my breast pocket, I pulled out my worn-down white towel.

All I could do at this point was prepare my own cooking. Then I’d just have to see what Varkas’s reaction was after tasting it.

“Reina Ruu, could you prepare a pan, a single-handled pot, a metal skewer, and several plates? Toor Deen, I would like you to ask the people out front for three kimyuus eggs and a container of milk fat, and then for you to get the flame going. Rimee Ruu, you can come with me to help with the other ingredients.”

“Got it!” Rimee Ruu energetically replied, once again smiling. Reina Ruu and Toor Deen both seemed to shake off their unease in their own way, and then they silently got to work. Rimee Ruu then followed me into the pantry, where I started handing the ingredients I picked out to my tiny assistant.

“Hey, what are you gonna make, Asuta? Isn’t it going to be tough without any giba meat?”

“That’s true. But thanks to that, I’ll be able to face him head-on.”

If I asked someone from the manor, I could get kimyuus and karon meat to use. But if I was going to use an ingredient I wasn’t accustomed to either way, then I figured going with something that would have a bit of impact would lead to better results. Not just in terms of the taste test, but for satisfying Varkas too.

Entrusting Rimee Ruu with the task of carrying the ingredients, I set foot in the room with the fish tanks. After capturing a fish of the same type Varkas used, as similar in size and shape as I could find, I returned to the kitchen with it in the net.

“Oh, my! You are going to use a live fish as well, Sir Asuta?!”

“Yeah. I was born in an island nation, so I’m used to handling fish.”

Varkas carefully watched my actions with a scrutinizing gaze.

Handing the net over to Ai Fa, I drew my old man’s kitchen knife from my hip. It was the one thing I hadn’t felt comfortable leaving in the carriage, so I’d gone ahead and brought it along.

I’ll be borrowing this for the first time in a while, dad.

Ever since I bought my meat-cutting knife from Diel, I had kept my use of this knife to a minimum. However, I didn’t feel like trying to use a fillet knife that I had never handled before on a task like this.

After drawing the blade from its white hackberry sheath, I placed it atop the cutting board, then I took the net back from Ai Fa. Just as Varkas had done, I first rubbed salt into the fish to remove the sliminess.

Next, I drove the metal skewer through its head, and once it was fixed to the cutting board I slit the stomach. Filleting a fish, even after half a year of being out of practice, was no problem for me at all.

“Hmm, you certainly do seem familiar with the process! I suppose you’re showing your true skill as one who has come from overseas,” I heard Polarth exclaim in admiration from behind as I sprinkled salt and pico leaves over the fillets. Though they charged for pico leaves in town, the pantry here was, naturally, well stocked with them.

By the way, I didn’t peel the skin from the fillets. Since the scales were small like with a char or a rainbow trout, that step didn’t seem necessary.

As I was seasoning the fish, I also started boiling two of the kimyuus eggs on the stove Toor Deen had gotten ready. With the third one, I left it uncooked and used it alongside reten oil and mamaria vinegar to make some mayonnaise. Then, I minced up the hard-boiled eggs and mixed them with a bit of aria and the mayonnaise to prepare a tartar sauce.

“Ooh, that seems to be another dish I’m unfamiliar with,” Polarth excitedly proclaimed. That earnest enthusiasm of his really helped to drive me onward.

For him, the most important thing was probably to cut off any potential trouble Varkas might cause with his objection. But even aside from that, he seemed to genuinely be excited for my cooking. Of that, I had no doubt.

I know it’s a little late to be noticing, but he really is an unusual person, I thought to myself as I heated up the single-handled pot. Once that was done, I sprinkled fuwano flour over the seasoned fillets, then grilled both sides in milk fat.

What I was making was a freshwater fish meunière.

The smell of the heated milk fat and grilling fish really made for a fragrant aroma. Once I moved the grilled fillets over to a plate, sliced them, and added the tartar sauce on top, it was done.

“Sorry for the wait. This is a dish from my home country called meunière.”

“Hmm, I see. I truly cannot get enough of that milk fat smell,” Polarth stated, once again being the first to reach out. “Ooh, this is...! Ah, almost said too much again. Now then, Sir Varkas, please go ahead and give it a taste.”

The chef expressionlessly grabbed a fork. After we waited for him to take a bite, the women in my group grabbed wooden spoons. And this time around, that included Ai Fa right from the start. I was the last one to give it a taste.

It wasn’t half bad.

Thanks to the fuwano flour, the surface was nice and crispy, while the meat inside remained soft and moist. And since it was a freshwater fish, it didn’t have any strange odors. It really did go nicely with the butter-like flavor of the milk fat, and it didn’t interfere with the taste of the tartar sauce either.

My only real thoughts were that I could have used a bit more time to season it, or that a tau oil-based Worcestershire sauce might have gone well with it. But it really had come together well enough that it could be served just as it was.

“This is your first time handling a freshwater fish from Selva, is it not, Sir Asuta? How were you able to make such a delicious dish in spite of that?” Polarth asked me.

“There were fish similar to this one back in my home country too. But I probably wouldn’t know how to handle that big fish that was isolated in its own tank.”

“I’m impressed! I have no complaints, as this is a truly delicious dish. If I were to ask for anything further, though, I suppose it would be in regard to the fact that you did not use any herbs at all, which strays from the customs of Genos.”

“I see. I hesitated over whether or not I should use myamuu and tau oil when flavoring it. But since this way is more intricate, I figured it may suit the tastes of folks from the castle town better.”

“Myamuu and tau oil?! That sounds delicious as well! But this dish truly is fantastic as is! It’s every bit as good as that fried kimyuus dish you made before,” Polarth said with a smile like he would melt away, then he turned toward Varkas. “So, what do you say? This is Sir Asuta’s skill! It may be somewhat removed from the customs of Genos, but it is a curious enough taste to cancel that out. If this dish were presented at a banquet, I would have no complaints whatsoever.”

At that, Varkas slowly approached me. With a scrutinizing look still in his eyes, he stared apologetically at me.

“So, this is a technique used overseas...?”

“Yes. It’s a dish from my home country that I learned there.”

“There are many chefs in Sym, Jagar, and even the capital of Algrad who create highly novel dishes. But I have never felt that I fell short of any of them.”

“Is that so? It’s certainly true that your cooking skills are incredible, I’d say,” I chimed in.

But Varkas just kept on talking, unconcerned, as if he hadn’t even heard what I said.

“Naturally, I do not believe that I fall short of you either. You still have room for improvement in terms of flavoring and how you manage your flames.”

“Yeah, that’s certainly true. But I’m sure I’ve done more than enough to show you what sort of chef I am, right?”

“Yes, I clearly understand that,” Varkas replied, drawing in even closer. His lack of expression was eerie, but since Ai Fa wasn’t making a move, he must not have been signaling any bad intentions.

Then, just as I was thinking that, he suddenly grasped my hands.

“I offer a retraction.”

“H-Huh? What do you mean?”

“I retract every single one of my earlier comments.”

His green eyes were staring intently straight at me. Despite his fingers being elegant like a woman’s, I felt a rough, leathery sensation against my hands. They were hands that had been toughened up over the course of many years of working the kitchen.

“I thoroughly misjudged the techniques used by you people from overseas. You have the right to use whichever ingredients you please. And I would be honored to man the kitchen on the same day as you, Sir Asuta.”

“Th-Thank you.”

“This may just be the first time in five years that I have felt this way...” Varkas stated as he brought his expressionless slender face even closer. “Our ways of doing things are different. And I’m certain what we aim toward differs as well. Actually, that may be precisely what causes me to feel so excited. There’s only been one person who has made me feel that way in the past.”

“C-Could you be talking about a chef named Mikel?”

Varkas’s eyes suddenly narrowed severely like Jiza Ruu’s. “Sir Asuta, could it be...”

“No, I learned under my old man. I’m acquainted with Mikel, but he hasn’t given me cooking lessons.”

“I see. Sir Mikel was the one and only man I saw as a worthy rival. I feel as if I’ve gotten back that rival I lost.”

“Varkas, even if you have no ill intent, could you go ahead and step away from my clan member now?” Ai Fa finally warned him.

After giving one last squeeze of my hands, Varkas withdrew, looking as if he was reluctant to part. “My apologies. It seems I got overly worked up and lost control of myself.”

After breathing a sigh of relief, I went ahead and turned back toward Varkas.

“I’d be honored to man the kitchen on the same day as you too, Varkas. If you don’t mind, how about we both make extra of our dishes on the day of the welcome banquet, so that we can sample one another’s cooking?”

“That’s a very welcome suggestion. I’ll never forget this day I met you for my entire life,” Varkas replied, and then he suddenly broke out in a smile. He had been handsome to begin with, but with that expression on his face, he seemed kinder and gentler now.

“Even so, you’re still young... As you are now, it would be impossible for you to make a dish superior to mine, Sir Asuta,” Varkas declared, still wearing that soft smile that made him look like a different person entirely.