Cooking with Wild Game (LN) - Volume 8 - Chapter 3.1

Chapter 3: The Sledgehammer

1

Turning back the clock a bit, we first visited The Sledgehammer on the 18th day of the blue month. That meant it was two days after the whole commotion with the Suun clan had come to a close.

Things remained unstable at that point, so I figured it would be premature to try to expand my business at the moment, but selling food to an inn didn’t seem like it would impact folks from the west much at all. Plus, Shumiral’s group had less than half a month left in Genos at this point, so I decided to go ahead with it.

“Welcome, Asuta of the people of the forest’s edge. I’m truly honored to have you visit this establishment.”

The owner Nail had gone so far as to exit the inn in order to greet us.

From the place’s name I had been expecting an old man with a black beard or something, but he was a young man who had to be less than 30. His hair was dark brown, his eyes reddish-brown, and his skin ivory-white. He had a flat face and a medium build that was typical for a westerner. The one thing that really made him stand out was the fact that he was expressionless and taciturn like an easterner.

“I certainly look forward to working with you, too... Ah, and I’m sorry for coming at such a busy time.”

It was just a bit past when the sun hit its peak at the moment. I couldn’t tell when I would be done with my work at The Great Southern Tree, so I had chosen to head out as soon as Li Sudra came to replace me at the stalls.

However, the reticent owner simply shook his head and said, “It isn’t especially busy. Now then, please come this way. I’ll show you to the kitchen.”

The Sledgehammer turned out to be a bit of a unique place. Rather than being along the lively stone highway, it was tucked away down a side street filled with private houses. It was a two-story building but it was rather small, and I never would have guessed it was an inn if not for the sign.

“Well then, we’ll be going. Thanks again, Shumiral,” I said, giving a bow to the man who had led us this far.

However, the silver-haired youth from the eastern kingdom just narrowed his eyes, causing him to look ever so slightly sad.

“Asuta, am I, a hindrance?”

“Huh? No, that’s not it at all. But you’re busy, aren’t you?”

“I would like, to watch...”

He was about half a head taller than me, and was already head of his merchant group at such a young age, but every once in a while he looked almost a bit childish. And this was certainly one of those times.

“I mean, I’d certainly find it reassuring to have you along, but...” I started to reply.

Shumiral’s eyes narrowed in a slightly different way, and he gave a nod.

“I will watch.”

In my head I interpreted that as a happy narrowing of his eyes, but I wasn’t sure what he was really feeling.

At any rate, we all went ahead and crowded into The Sledgehammer. There were four in our group: me, Shumiral, Vina Ruu, and Shin Ruu, who was acting as a bodyguard.

The commotion with the Suun clan had settled down, but things remained complicated with the folks from the castle, and there was that mob from two days back. And so, just Shin and Ludo Ruu remained on as bodyguards for the time being.

I tried asking if they were okay in terms of their hunting work, but apparently they were currently hitting an off season for giba showing up around the Ruu and Rutim settlements. No matter what part of the forest’s edge you lived in, such periods came around three times a year, leading to a half a month or so of rest.

It would be a bit longer till the Ruu clan truly entered into that rest period, and they would be holding a festival of the hunt on the first day of it. However, it would be a few more days before Donda Ruu would ask me to man the stove for that event.

Of course, I had no idea about any of that when I followed Nail into The Sledgehammer. And the instant I did, I was like “Whoa.”

Along the right-hand wall was a reception desk, and right behind it hung the head of some large animal over a door. It must have been stuffed and mounted. At any rate, it looked sort of like a deer or a goat, and it rose out from the wall from the neck up.

“That sure is impressive. What’s that animal called?”

“It is an animal that lives in the eastern kingdom, called a gyama,” the owner Nail calmly responded.

It had a long, protruding snout, and there were horns jutting out on either side of its head like a buffalo. The head was about as big as a human’s, and the curved horns were probably around 40 centimeters long. Its fur was a splendid jet black, and it had a long beard dangling from its neck.

“The people of the east eat gyama. However, it’s rare to get a chance to do so here in the western kingdom,” Nail added as he opened the door behind the reception desk.

It seemed pretty common for inns to connect directly to the kitchen from here. Perhaps it was because they also took orders for food at the desk.

By the way, at least from what I could spy from the reception desk, there didn’t seem to be any customers in the first floor dining room. I figured the folks staying here must have eaten from the stalls during the day, like with the other inns I had seen.

Beckoned inside by a call of, “Go ahead,” I stepped through the door and found a kitchen just as snug as the rest of the place. It looked to be around ten square meters large, with two stoves along the far wall with a pot atop each. Then, there were various cooking utensils dangling from the wooden wall, making for what was pretty much the default kitchen setup.

There was a workstation set up in the center of the room, and on the left-hand wall was an open shelf stuffed with tableware. Meanwhile, to the right there were two water jugs. Yes, it was a truly simple kitchen, full of the aroma of herbs and meat.

However, it had a nice feel to it, somehow.

I felt you could really tell a lot about a person’s character from how they kept their kitchen. And so, though I wasn’t really acquainted with the young inn owner Nail at all, I could feel myself warming up to him a bit.

“Let’s start by going over the conditions,” Nail calmly stated. “I’ll want between 20 and 30 meals. As for the contents, it should be a dish using giba meat. The price when not using fuwano will be two red coins per meal. And we will begin the day after tomorrow... How many days should the contract be for, though?”

“Right... I currently have my deal with The Great Southern Tree going till the last day of the blue month, so could we match up with that? And then form a new contract again for next month.”

“Very well. The period of time will be for the 20th through the 31st. If any of those days end up proving inconvenient for you, then please let me know before the sun hits its peak. If you alert me after that time, there will be a penalty of one white coin. Does that sound fair?”

“Yeah, that’s fine with me.”

“Well then, that leaves the matter of what the dish will be. You said you wished to serve something different than what you sold at your stalls, correct?”

“That’s right. My cooking using Jagar-made tau oil has gotten quite a favorable reception at The Great Southern Tree, so if at all possible I would like to make a dish with an ingredient from Sym, to better suit the taste of your customers from the east.”

“I see. I suppose it wouldn’t be all that worthwhile to be selling the same dish both in the middle of the day and at night. And so, I would also feel grateful if you could do so,” the owner replied, as expressionless as always. We had been asked strongly to come, but I couldn’t sense any of the passion Shumiral had mentioned coming from the man. “Still, an ingredient from Sym, is it...? Perhaps because the nation is further than Jagar, they don’t show up about town as often.” Even so, Nail headed to the back of the room, then returned with two ingredients from the pantry. One was a small bundle wrapped in cloth, while the other was a bundle large enough to be a big armful. “This is dried milk.”

“Dried milk?”

“It is an ingredient made by drying gyama milk. It’s just as nourishing as the beast’s meat.”

That had been my introduction to the ingredient that would later serve such a key role in Lala Ruu’s birthday dinner.

“That smell! It’s cheese, isn’t it?!”

“Cheese?”

“Yeah. That’s what they called it back where I come from, at least. Man, to think I’d find cheese in this worl— Er, here in Genos.”

“Dried milk is almost never sold in the post town. Generally, gyama and karon dried milk can only be purchased in the castle town. However, I buy it specially from merchants of Sym that I’m acquainted with.”

“The Silver Vase, also sold him, dried milk,” Shumiral chimed in, and Nail gave a vacant nod. Of course, both of them remained calm and expressionless all the while.

On our side we also had Shin Ruu, who was quiet and not overly expressive either. And so, it hadn’t taken long for Vina Ruu to get bored and start fidgeting with the tips of her chestnut colored hair.

“Gyama dried milk is an everyday item in Sym, but it doesn’t show up in the western kingdom often, so it commands a rather high price. And since there’s only so much of it to be had in general, it doesn’t seem all that suited to dishes meant to be sold. Even I purchase it purely for my own use.”

“It’s expensive? How much does it cost?”

“20 red coins for one around this size.”

I see. It was about 15 centimeters in diameter and five thick, so that price certainly made it quite a luxury item. If I went and used it carelessly, it could easily send production costs skyrocketing.

“Still, it sure is tempting. Could I possibly buy some to use personally?”

“I could yield this one bundle to you. Would you like to try a taste?”

“Yes, please!” Unheated gyama cheese had a mild yet rich flavor, like salty Camembert cheese. “Man, this is tasty! Please let me buy it! Ah, do you two want to taste it too...?” I asked Shin and Vina Ruu, but they just shook their heads. I guess it just wasn’t in the nature of the people of the forest’s edge to show an interest in such luxury items. “Well then, what’s this one?”

“These are called chitt seeds.”

When he undid the bundle, I spied what looked like bright red soybeans packed tightly inside. That coloring made them look seriously spicy, and they gave off a pretty powerful smell, too. Yeah, this was definitely a spice. From the smell, I was guessing they were something like red peppers.

“They seem spicy. Do folks from Sym like spicy foods?”

“Yes. Chitt seeds, are very important,” Shumiral answered. “Gyama meat, has a strong, stench. Even more, than giba meat. And so, we eat it, with chitt seeds. Also... I am fond of, pickled chitt.”

“Pickled chitt? You do that with meat?”

“No, with vegetables.”

“Pickled chitt refers to tino and the like pickled in chitt and salt,” Nail added.

“Ooh, that sounds delicious.”

Nail gave a single nod, then disappeared into the pantry again. When he showed back up, he was holding a small wooden plate in his hands. Two bites worth of tino soaked in a bright red sauce sat atop it.

Tino was a vegetable that closely resembled cabbage. It was so light of a green that it was nearly white, and was chopped up to just the right size, drizzled in red chitt sauce, then sprinkled with little dark green vegetables that reminded me of garlic chives, which were diced up even smaller.

Thanks to its appearance and that sour yet spicy smell, it seemed just like kimchi to me.

“It certainly smells good. There’s chitt and myamuu... and is that some sort of fish sauce?”

“Fish sauce...? Pickled chitt uses salted maru.”

“Maru?”

“Yes. Maru is a type of small shelled animal gathered from rivers. Westerners like eating salted maru alongside alcohol. And at my place, I use it as an ingredient in pickled chitt,” Nail stated matter-of-factly. “Ingredients from Sym are rather difficult to get ahold of here in Genos. And so, I tried to recreate the taste of pickled chitt using western ingredients... I pickle the tino in salt overnight, then make the sauce from chitt, salted maru, myamuu, diced pepe leaves, and grated ramam.”

It was a serious onslaught of unfamiliar names there. I had probably seen the things at shops around town, but there were so many ingredients I didn’t know the name of, much less the taste. I still had an awful lot I needed to learn.

At any rate, the pickled chitt was right there in front of me, here and now. And when I gave it a bite, it turned out to be just as spicy and sour as I had expected.

It had a complex and stimulating, yet also rich aroma and flavor to it. The strong scent of myamuu and delicious animal protein taste seriously spurred on my appetite. And the heavily pickled tino was soft and supple, with a texture every bit as exquisite as napa cabbage.

As for the heat, well, it was certainly spicy. I’d probably end up hurting my tongue if I ate too much of it. However, the aftertaste was actually rather refreshing. Yes, it certainly didn’t fall short of the kimchi I was familiar with. Plus, it had seriously been some time since I had tasted any sourness, too.

“How was it? There are westerners who are quite fond of such spiciness, too.”

“It was delicious. I seriously loved it. But still... it probably costs quite a bit too, doesn’t it?”

“No, pickled chitt is ultimately just a side dish. Customers generally don’t wish to eat a lot of it, so I fill up small plates like this and charge half a red coin.”

“I see... So you don’t add pickled chitt to meat dishes or stews, then?”

“Not just chitt, but pickled chitt? I don’t believe even easterners eat it like that.”

“Is that so? So they wouldn’t be too open to that sort of dish?” I asked Shumiral.

The youth silently shook his head.

“That sounds, unusual. But I, would be interested.”

“I see.”

With that, my brain started racing with recipes like pork kimchi and kimchi hot pot.

Perhaps those would be too simple, but I had placed a restriction on myself for this job: keeping the cooking time to a minimum.

I had never expected I would end up getting work from another inn so quickly, which is why I went ahead with cubed giba meat stew for The Great Southern Tree. I didn’t exactly regret that choice, but it took quite a bit of time to prepare the dish. Currently it took two and a half hours, but even as I grew accustomed to the process, I couldn’t see myself getting it below two hours.

So, including preparations and cleanup, my work time in the post town came out to around six and a half hours. If I spent much more of my time preparing food for inns, I may well no longer be able to work the stalls at all.

It was ultimately down to my personal preferences, but I found the thought of leaving the work of directly interacting with customers in the stalls solely to the women rather sad. And so, my secret goal was to come up with a dish for The Sledgehammer that wouldn’t take too long to prepare.

“Well then, if I come up with a dish that uses pickled chitt, would it be possible to purchase what I need from The Sledgehammer?”

“Ah, so you’re talking about purchasing the pickled chitt I make to use in your cooking? That’s a rather interesting proposal.”

“If that doesn’t work, though, I can always come up with a dish using fresh chitt.”

“No, I would be overjoyed to have more customers enjoy my pickled chitt. And I’m truly intrigued by what sort of dish it will be, too.”

Even as he said that, the face of The Sledgehammer’s owner remained completely expressionless.