A mid-level (middle-aged) office worker's laid-back industrial revolution in another world - Chapter 140

Translator: Jasper Kadowaki | Editor: NovelMultiverse

Takeo and Alice were at the grocery store that was along the route back home to the Elvis residence.

“They have quite a selection,” said Takeo.

Small fish, bigger fish cut in half, shellfish, jerky, different types of mushrooms… 

Takeo inspected each item on the shelves.

…As expected, there was no kombu among the offerings.

If only he could get his hands on some kombu, he could make dashi, and then he would be able to make so many more dishes…

Hmm… Making dashi out of dried sardines may be the only way…

Takeo tried to remember how his mother made dashi, so many years ago.

…Remove the heads and guts… After soaking them in water… boil them for five to ten minutes, was it?

Come to think of it, she had said something about being able to make dashi from dried shiitake mushrooms…

I think you’re supposed to soak them in water for a long time and extract the dashi that way… Right?…

He thought he would try making some mushroom dashi during today’s kitchen meeting, and ended up buying a fairly large amount.

Then, Alice came up to him.

“Takeo-sama, have you decided on what you’ll buy?” she asked.

“Yes, I chose some items that I might be able to make some dashi with,” said Takeo.

“…What’s… dashi?” asked Alice.

“Put simply, it’s a soup base,” he said.

“A soup base… it’s made with meat and vegetables, I assume?” she asked.

“You’re right – that’s one way to make dashi. Where I come from, it’s made with dried goods, though, so I thought I might try that,” he said.

“What does it taste like?” she asked.

“Hmm… Since it doesn’t use any meat, it’s light. For now, I bought some small fish and mushrooms to make two types,” he said, “I also got some onions and eggs. I thought it would be fun to try tweaking the flavors. Lady Alice, you’ll try it, won’t you?” he asked.

“Yes! Of course,” she answered, nodding, with her eyes sparkling.

“Did you see anything in particular you’d like to try, Lady Alice?” asked Takeo.

“Well… There’s a lot of dishes that use jerky, right?” she asked.

“Drying meat is a great preservation method,” said Takeo, “Ham and sausages are smoked meats, so those are preserved goods, too. But… they use a lot of salt when processing it, don’t they?” 

“Yes, it is a bit salty,” said Alice.

“Jerky seems like it would work well as an ingredient for soup, but besides that, I guess it would be used best as a snack to go with alcohol,” said Takeo.

“…Takeo-sama, what is this, I wonder?” Alice asked as the two of them browsed a few shelves.

“That would be shrimp,” said Takeo. 

Before them was dried sakura shrimp, twice its regular size.

I wonder… would this stuff return to normal when steeped in water?

Takeo was deep in thought beside Alice.

“Shrimp… So this is shrimp… I’ve never eaten it, but… What is it like, I wonder…” 

Alice was deep in thought, as well.

“What? You’ve never had shrimp before?”[Read this novel and other amazing translated novels from the original source at the “Novel Multiverse dot com” website @ novelmultiverse.com]

“Correct. It’s never served at the house.”

“Hmm… To tell you the truth, I’m not sure how to cook with dried shrimp,” said Takeo.

“You were going to buy some small dried fish, weren’t you, Takeo-sama?” she asked, “What about those small fish? Will they become soft when cooking with them?”

“I do believe they will soften a little… Who knows?” said Takeo, “And after making dashi out of the small fish… I thought that I might marinate them in some lemon juice and pair them with some daikon salad.”

“Won’t the shrimp soften up, as well?”

“Hmm… It is shellfish… It may be difficult.”

“Shellfish?”

“It’s in the same family as crabs.”

“I see.”

“Maybe I’ll take on this challenge, too,” said Takeo, “If I can succeed in returning them to their normal state, I could use it in my cooking. I’ll ask the head chef to help me with it.”

“All right.” 

Just as Takeo was thinking that he might be taking on too much at once, he became aware of something at the back of one of the shelves.

When he realized what it was, there was no way he couldn’t ask about it.

“Um,” said Takeo, to a shop employee.

“Can I help you?”

“Is that… cod roe on the shelf, there?” Takeo asked.

“Yes. It’s been salted and cooked so that it will stay good to eat.”

“How long has it been since it was harvested?”

“That would be three days.”

“Could I buy some?”

“Yes, no problem.”

With that, Takeo added some cod roe to his shopping bag.

“Lady Alice – Let’s go home, shall we?” asked Takeo, “Tonight’s dinner will be pasta and soup.”

“I can’t wait to see what you’ll come up with!” said Alice, unable to hold back her excitement, and looking at Takeo with eyes full of expectation.

————————

As Takeo and Alice entered the foyer of the Elvis residence, Frederick just so happened to be there.

“Welcome back, Lady Alice. Takeo-sama.”

“Thank you, Frederick,” said Takeo.

“Frederick-san. Thank you. We’re back,” said Alice.

“I see you were able to bring back a large haul of ingredients,” said Frederick, appearing full of interest.

“It’ll be used for making a soup base and pasta. There’s shrimp, too,” said Takeo.

“Shrimp, you say?” asked Frederick, looking puzzled.

“Is there someone who might get sick if they eat it?” asked Takeo.

“No, no, there’s no fear of that…” said Frederick, “It’s just that shrimp is expensive, but doesn’t have much of a repertoire, and so, we haven’t served it in the Elvis household.”

“Yes, I just heard from Alice that she’s never eaten it before, and I wondered what I could make with it.” 

“…Never eaten shrimp?” asked Frederick, with a surprised expression.

“What? That’s what she said,” said Takeo.

“Frederick, I don’t have any memory of ever eating it. Am I wrong?” asked Alice.

“Yes, you had shrimp, once, when you were little, Lady Alice,” said Frederick.

“I don’t remember,” said Alice.

“…Ah, I see. You don’t remember,” said Frederick.

“Well, I’ll try to see if I can find a way to make it taste delicious,” said Takeo.

“Yes. I’m looking forward to it, as well,” said Frederick, “It’s almost lunchtime, so please wait for a moment in the parlor.”

“All right,” said Takeo.

“Yes,” said Alice.

The two of them headed to the parlor.[Read this novel and other amazing translated novels from the original source at the “Novel Multiverse dot com” website @ novelmultiverse.com]