Cooking with Wild Game (LN) - Volume 2 - Chapter 4.3

3

“It’s cooked giba meat.”

Fortunately, no fists came flying my way. I just got eyes like flames staring me down as an angry roar smashed into me.

The three women arrived in the now dead silent hall and started laying out plates from the right. It was much more reserved, but I could sense some confusion from over that way, too.

Ama Min said “My...” as her eyes went wide.

Gazraan Rutim remained politely expressionless.

It wasn’t like I had gone and presented some bizarre dish. The reason it had caused such confusion in spite of that... was probably because you could tell it used the torso even at a glance.

The glare in Donda Ruu’s eyes burned intently. Meanwhile, there was a vein throbbing on Dan Rutim’s bald head as his thick lips quaked with rage.

“Donda Ruu! What the hell is the meaning of this?! Are you going to explain this to me?!” he roared angrily once again.

Donda Ruu slowly, silently turned to face him.

“This... This giba meat... It’s from a giba’s torso, isn’t it?!”

Sure enough, the Rutim family didn’t seem to eat anything but the giba’s hind legs, either.

Things were turning out just like Mia Lea Ruu had feared.

“...So it seems,” Donda Ruu responded in a low voice. He had transcended mere anger, and his voice sounded so grave that it was like I could feel my insides shrinking up in fear.

“What the hell do you mean, ‘So it seems’?! This is a celebration for the wedding of the eldest son of the Rutim main house! What the hell are you thinking, serving this mundt food for such an event?! The Ruu and the Rutim are tied together by blood deeper than any other clans...!”

“I don’t know anything about it.”

The force behind that voice caused Dan Rutim to suddenly swallow his criticism.

Dan Rutim’s big goggle eyes stared at Donda Ruu, clearly showing how hard he was finding this to believe.

“You don’t know...? What does that mean, Donda Ruu?”

“I just ordered that kid over there to man the stove for this incredibly important banquet. I had nothing to do with anything beyond that.”

As he heard that, Dan Rutim’s burning anger pointed my way instead. It was so intense that I could see his forehead quivering.

“Cook! You were entrusted with the Ruu stove, and knew this was a celebration for our Rutim wedding, but you prepared this mundt feed?!”

“It’s not mundt feed. It’s giba steak. I’ve prepared spare rib, shoulder roast, and leg meat for our guests to enjoy.”

As I explained, Mia Lea Ruu and Vina Ruu headed back to the kitchen to grab new plates, while Reina Ruu proceeded further in to assist Jiba Ruu.

Now then...

For the moment, the focus was the content of the plate in front of the honored guests, giving off steam. Just as I said, they contained giba steak.

I had prepared this menu based on the thought that having a chewy texture was key. Naturally, that wasn’t the only reason I went with this, but it just made sense when you were considering staple meat dishes.

Since it was steak, it didn’t involve any unusual cooking techniques. It was all about regulating the heat as you cooked it.

The leg meat was just like it sounded, while the shoulder roast used the meat from the back to the shoulder. The spare rib, meanwhile, was rib meat still on the bone.

In fact, all of the dishes atop the plates had plenty of meat still on prominent bones.

Thanks to that, there was no mistaking them for meat that came from the rear legs.

“This... This mundt feed...!” Dan Rutim carried on, his lips quivering again.

I wasn’t a person of the forest’s edge, so that spare rib looked incredibly tasty to me. The shoulder roast and leg meat weren’t lacking in impact either, though. They had some serious volume to them, with a thickness of roughly 2.5 centimeters.

It had taken some real effort to overcome that thickness.

In terms of preparations, all of the meat was very sinewy, so I started by putting a cut through them. And then I was afraid that the leg meat would become too tough when it was cooked because it had such a high amount of red meat, so I beat it in a clean pot to break down the fibers some. All that was left was to sprinkle one side with rock salt and pico leaf and then leave it to sit for 10 minutes, which finished off the prep work.

Then I plopped down some fat into a metal pot that had been heated over a strong flame, stirred it around for about 10 minutes, then added in the meat with the pico side facing down.

Once it reached a golden brown, I moved the pot to a stove on a low flame.

It depended on the strength of the fire, but after roughly two minutes the meaty juices would come bubbling up from the red surface of the meat, telling me it was time to flip it.

Up until now, that was just the preparation method for steaks at the Tsurumi Restaurant (800 yen). But I wasn’t dealing with beef; this was giba meat. I was a bit scared of leaving some red to the meat. Ai Fa told me that rare meat was out of the question, too.

And so, though I would normally finish it up over a low flame, I instead returned it to the stove with the high flame at this point.

If I had to make it well done rather than rare or medium, it would take too long to do it with just a low flame, and if I cooked it for that long the meat juices would steadily seep out, too.

As a result, I ended up cooking the reverse side quickly over a strong flame too, adding in fruit wine, and then blasting it with a quick burst of heat like I had done with the hamburgers. Then when I figured the alcohol had burned off I opened the lid, waited till the surface was golden brown, then returned it to the low flame. Once I saw the clear meat juices bubbling up on the cooked surface, it was finished.

With that, I had a complete cooking method.

After that, I just had to experiment with what thicknesses worked best with this cooking process. If I made it too thin, though, it wouldn’t be all that different from the grilled meat that the Ruu family often ate. And as a result of that experimentation, I settled on a thickness of roughly 2.5 centimeters. That made them decently thick, as far as steak went.

It would be pretty tough thanks to the fact that I had to make them well done, but that shouldn’t be any problem for the people of the forest’s edge, who frequently ate hard, dried meat. And Ai Fa went ahead and proved that for me.

This was a giba steak, challenging the limits of thickness.

I firmed up my resolve to challenge Donda Ruu with that menu, but it seemed like first, I needed to take on the even more wild head of the Rutim clan.

“Only scavengers like the mundt eat a giba’s torso!” Dan Rutim yelled out. “The only ones who would think otherwise are powerless families who can’t even hunt giba!” As he roared that out, Dan Rutim’s gaze shot over towards Ai Fa. “Ai Fa of the Fa clan! That’s a rather splendid necklace you’re wearing, but are those tusks and horns just for show?! You’re hunting plenty of giba, but you’re living on by stealing food away from mundt?!”

There was a rather dangerous looking expression on Dan Rutim’s large face. I’m sure if he had a blade at his waist, he would be reaching towards the scabbard.

“No, there aren’t any humans out there who would do something so bizarre. So does that mean you’re making light of my clan, thinking it’s fitting for the Rutim to eat the same thing as mundt...?”

“Neither Asuta nor I have any intention of insulting the Rutim, our brethren at the forest’s edge. Could you not try calming down at least a bit, head of the Rutim clan?” Ai Fa asked, incredibly calm and composed. Her blue eyes actually looked even clearer and more chilly than usual. “Also, there is one question I wish to ask you. Are you perhaps thinking that eating the torso of a giba shows your lack of strength as a hunter? Is that why you have flown into such a rage at the mere sight of it being presented at this banquet?”

“What are you saying, all of the sudden?! If you do a proper job as a hunter, the meat from a giba’s legs should be plenty! What else could be greater proof of your weakness as a hunter than eating the torso meat?!”

“So that really is it.” Dan Rutim was heating up, but Ai Fa’s tone of voice was just getting chillier. It wasn’t just that she was calm and composed, though. No, it was like the chill of a steel blade. “In that case, it would seem the Rutim and Fa clans have rather different customs. I’d like to offer an apology for failing to realize that point... The Fa clan was never as well off as the Ruu or Rutim to start with,” Ai Fa said while staring right at Dan Rutim’s frightening face. “For example... When I was young, my father Gil hurt his leg and was not able to hunt for a while. We used up our horns and tusks, and eventually had nothing left to eat but dried meat. At that time, a young giba fell into a crude trap I had set, and my mother Mei brought it back whole to our house.”

It was rare for Ai Fa to talk about her parents.

As my breath caught in my throat, Ai Fa kept on strongly yet firmly talking by my side.

“My mother cooked not only the giba’s legs, but its back meat as well. What you teased as ‘stealing food from mundt’ referred to such desperate circumstances, correct?”

“...Yeah, that’s right. Starving folks will even eat a giba’s torso and head. That kind of weakness isn’t permitted of the people of the forest’s edge!”

“Very well. My father certainly was a weak hunter back then, for driving his family to the brink of starvation. At least when discussing that time in particular, he likely wasn’t even worthy of being called a hunter. I’m well aware of how greatly that must have caused him to suffer. After all, for a hunter of the forest’s edge, weakness is a sin,” Ai Fa said, her words carrying some serious force.

Then, she did something I never would have expected.

I had been thinking she was going to fly off into a rage like Dan Rutim, but instead, she broke out in a smile.

“But we only discard a giba’s torso into the forest because we don’t need it, so eating it while still fulfilling one’s duty as a hunter should bring no shame. This meat is fittingly delicious for such a celebration, so I ask that you keep that in mind, head of the Rutim clan.”

“Fittingly delicious for a day of celebration, you say...?”

Just when it looked like the bald giant was about to yell something else, his son calmly said, “My father, Dan Rutim. No matter what they may present, those are the actions of the Ruu clan. Even if they should spit upon us, we should follow the proper customs. Regardless of if it’s mundt feed or a giiz’s intestines, as long as those in charge of manning the stove eat the same thing, we must partake in that blessing alongside them.”

“But Gazraan...!”

“If they have committed a sin, we shall question that after we eat.”

His voice remained perfectly calm from start to finish, but his blue eyes were closed, as if to hide how he was feeling.

Now that I think of it, Donda Ruu didn’t say a word the other day until he had finished eating. It wasn’t until he was done that he started yelling about how it was mundt food and poisoned his soul and all that.

I had been told that manning a stove meant taking charge of everyone’s lives for that night. So no matter what food was presented, it wasn’t something you could complain about. But if you judged it as something that dirtied your life or soul after eating, then the one who manned the stove would be questioned for having betrayed the trust between you.

How would this earnest looking young man behave if he determined I had defiled the soul of the woman who would become his wife? It pained me just imagining it.

“Sorry for the wait...” an old woman’s hoarse voice called out.

Just like on that prior night, Granny Jiba had come to the banquet hall with Reina Ruu’s assistance.

Dan Rutim’s bald priest-like head was still flushed bright red, but his son placed his right hand on his father’s left shoulder and gave a bow. Ama Min did the same with the reverse hand and shoulder, also bowing.

“Well then, let us begin the banquet. You all should take your respective seats,” Donda Ruu stated, his voice solemn with a boiling anger behind it.