A mid-level (middle-aged) office worker's laid-back industrial revolution in another world - Chapter 141

Translator: Jasper Kadowaki | Editor: NovelMultiverse

After lunch, Takeo went to the kitchen.

“Head chef, please excuse me for intruding,” said Takeo.

“Oh, Takeo! What’s the matter?” asked the head chef, “I thought we would be meeting a bit later for our meeting about tomorrow.”

“Yes. I would like to discuss tomorrow’s dish using whipped cream a little later,” said Takeo, “By the way, have you decided on what to make for tonight’s dinner, already?”

“Hmm? I was just about to make a decision…”

“I just made a visit to the grocery store, and there’s something I would like to try for tonight’s dinner,” said Takeo.

“Oh, I see,” said the head chef, “I don’t mind. I can have some of the younger chefs help you out, too.”

“All right. For now, I’ll set out the things I bought,” said Takeo.

He set out the dried shiitake mushrooms, the small dried fish, the dried shrimp, and the cook cod roe.

“…Shrimp?” asked the head chef, frowning.

“…When I mentioned the shrimp to Frederick just now, he made the same face…”

“Sorry about that… By the way, why did you end up buying shrimp?”

“Lady Alice said that she had never tried it before, so I wondered if I could make something with it.”

“…Never tried it?”

“Yes, and?”

“We haven’t served shrimp on the Elvis residence’s dinner table in close to ten years, now.”

“Yes. Frederick-san said that it was because shrimp is expensive and doesn’t have much of a repertoire.”

“There is that… Last time it was served… there was a bit of an issue.”

“What happened?”

“…Lady Alice said that it ‘tasted bad’…”

“What? Lady Alice said that??”

“Yes. At the time, she was eight or nine years old… She took one bite, and then tossed the shrimp aside.”

“…Now, that’s just…”

Takeo had thought that Alice would never toss aside food, even if it tasted bad.

“Up until that point, and ever since, Lady Alice has never said that a dish ‘tastes bad’,” said the head chef, “Even now, I’m too scared to serve her shrimp.”

“It seems that it made quite the impression on everyone,” said Takeo.

“Yes. She was smiling and eating so cheerfully, and then… Suddenly, her face went pale, she said it ‘tasted bad’, and threw the shrimp… It was truly frightening.”

“…Still, that’s just the result of a child’s temper, isn’t it? Should it really lead to never serving shrimp again?”

“Lady Alice’s parents (rest their souls) were worried by it,” said the head chef, “Shrimp is expensive, too, so they decided that we should just avoid serving it.”

“I see… By the way, what shrimp dish did you serve?”

“It was shrimp boiled in saltwater.”

“Hm?… How did it taste?”

“Salty.”

“…And of course, the shell…”

“Left on.”

Takeo almost clutched his head upon hearing the head chef’s words.

“Was there no other way you could prepare it?”

“No. The head chef at the time said, ‘If you’re going to let the ingredients’ flavors shine, nothing beats boiling in saltwater’.”

“To a certain degree… I agree with that, but… We’re talking about dried shrimp, not raw shrimp, right?” asked Takeo, “If you’re going to try to let an ingredient’s flavors shine, its freshness is crucial, and in order to bring out the flavors, you can marinate it in some lemon juice, or mix it with shiso leaves and salt, or… Surely, there are many ways to do it…”

“Well, yes, but… The head chef at the time was a very obstinate man… He never allowed for any bending of his rules.”

“A person directing cuisine was ironically stubborn… If she was eight or nine years old, she must have love strong flavors, and… It must have been bland to her,” said Takeo, softly.

“Yes. The only flavor was salt, after all.”[Read this novel and other amazing translated novels from the original source at the “Novel Multiverse dot com” website @ novelmultiverse.com]

“If I was served a dish like that, even I might throw the food aside,” said Takeo.

“And that’s why I don’t want to serve it anymore.”

“…Well, if the dish we make today is a success, I’d imagine it might be served again at this dinner table.”

“Takeo, I believe you can pull it off.”

“No, no, no. We’re all going to make it together, okay?” said Takeo, with a wry smile.

People stood all around the two of them.

“Ah, we’ve digressed so much,” said the head chef, “So, what will you make for dinner, tonight?”

“Personally, I want to make cod roe spaghetti and egg soup.

“Hmm, yes. First of all, why are you making two types of soup?”

“I want to make two separate dashis out of shiitake mushrooms and small fish.”

“What is dashi?”

“It’s a base for a soup.”

“So, buillon.”

“To make bouillon, meat, fish, and vegetables are boiled and reduced, right?”

“Correct.”

“Where I’m from, it’s made from vegetables, and so I would like to try it that way.

“I see.”

“The shiitake mushrooms are cut vertically into four pieces, and then submerged in water.”

“For approximately how long?”

“Two hours or so.”

“…That’s long.”

“On top of that, we don’t know if we’ll actually succeed with this dish, but… It’s a challenge.”

“I see. How will you prepare the small fish?”

“I will carefully remove the heads and guts, and then steep them in water.”

“…For how long, this time?”

“For this one, half an hour or so.”

“That’s difficult…”

“I’ll keep an eye on my watch.”

“All right.”

“To be honest with you, I’ve never cooked shrimp before, but how did you rehydrate the dried shrimp, here?”

“Well, when we used it as an ingredient, we put it in a pot of boiling water and did it that way.”

“Hmm… Let’s try leaving it in water for a while before heating it like we will with the fish.”

“All right. So, we’ll need three pots for soup.”

“Yes, please.”

The chef that managed the main dishes gave orders to bring out some large cylindrical pots.

“What is tarako spaghetti?”

“We will use yesterday’s butter.”

“Hm, yes. Is it different from yesterday’s carbonara?”

“Yes. We used whipped cream and cheese as a sauce in that one. Today, we’ll use butter for the sauce.”

“Hmm, I see.”

“After applying the sauce, I was thinking that we could sprinkle on some chipped shiso, but do you have shiso?”

When the head chef turned to the chef managing salads, the manager nodded.

“It appears we do,” said the head chef.

“Alright, then, I’ll take some of that.”

“What shall we do for salad?”

“The main dish will be tarako spaghetti, but… it is oily, so how about a light salad?”

“That sounds good.”

“However, since the soup doesn’t use bouillon, I expect the entire meal will be fairly light.”

“Hmm. The main dish is the only element that will be oily… That troubles me.”

“Kitamizato-sama,” said the main dish manager, “How about we put a bit of oil in the soup to give it some volume?”

“Hmm… We could mince some chicken meat and pork into it to give it some oil and volume…” said Takeo, “I want the main focus of today’s cooking to be investigating the differences between the shiitake dashi and the small fish dashi.”

“I see. Well, then, the egg soup can be flavored with some light salt, then?”

“Yes, let’s go with that for today,” said Takeo, “With that said, could I ask you to make a good pairing with the salad?”

“Let’s see. Shall we use your mayonnaise to add some oil to it?” asked the salad manager.

“I’ll leave it up to you,” said Takeo.

“All right,” said the salad manager, nodding.

Well, then,” said the head chef, “Let’s start the preparation of the dashi for today’s dinner, shall we?”

The head chef and his crew all began to move about at the same time.[Read this novel and other amazing translated novels from the original source at the “Novel Multiverse dot com” website @ novelmultiverse.com]