Today I'd be spending the entire day making food for the dungeon.
Even if I could make food in the dungeon in a pinch, I still wanted three or four days' worth of food prepared beforehand. I'd already fed everyone breakfast, so I had time.
By the way, I just gave everyone bloody horn-bull steaks since it was something simple that only needed grilling, but everyone enjoyed it and called it delicious. It seemed like having steak right in the morning wasn't a problem. Of course, I wouldn't be able to stomach something like a steak in the morning, so I just had some instant soup, bread, and coffee.
'Now then, what should I make today? I made the fried stuff and some beef bowls yesterday already... It's really nice that they go for bowls, don't they? It's really simple since I just have to put the stuff on top of rice, and it's good anyway.
Thinking like that, ginger-fried pork or pickling something with miso might be a good idea. Wait, now that I think about it... Oh, there it is.'
I had completely forgotten about the miso-pickled orc general meat I had prepared before.
'There's quite a bit in here.' So I grilled all of it and got my miso-grilled stocks secure.
Next, I started on ginger-fried orc general. It was a simple dish, since it was just grilling the meat with the usual company's ginger-fry tare.
After that, for something that goes well with rice, the pork chops that I made before were simple, so I went with those especially since they would get even more delicious if I were to use the orc general's meat.
'If we're talking about a combo with rice, I really want to eat curry already.' Since I was part of the pork faction when it came to curry, I really wanted to try it out, especially since I still had orc general meat left.
'But the smell... Curry smell is really strong...' I'd definitely get complaints if I were to infect this entire area with the smell of curry.
'What should I do...? Something that uses pork... Ah, why not tonjiru?'
Tonjiru has a lot of stuff in it, and personally I was a fan of warm soups.
'Not sure how Hati and the others will take it, but it should be fine as long as I use extra orc general meat.'
'First, I've gotta get some stuff through the Online Supermarket. I'll buy another one of the half-sized cylindrical pots from yesterday, and for the frying pan, I kind of want something bigger than the 28 cm ones I've been using up until now... Oh, they have a new type of frying pan. Let's get four of these to go with the four stoves. And I'll need some lids to go with those.'
And since I was already getting stuff like that, I also got some bowls and sieves, and other kitchen and dining wares like ladles and spatulas.
'And I'll also need the rest of the ingredients for the tonjiru, too. Potatoes and carrots and onions... oh, and sesame oil and granulated dashi I already have, so I just need daikon radishes and greater burdock and konjac, and also miso, I think.'
After all of that, I refilled on ginger-fry tare from the usual company, as well as the ketchup I would need for tare to use with the pork chops.
'Wait a second, I have both ginger-fried and miso-fried pork, right? So no matter how we eat that stuff, won't it need shredded cabbage?'
This world has cabbage, but eating it raw is... I bought pre shredded cabbage with my skill.
'If it's to be eaten raw anyway, might as well use store-bought stuff... But if that's the case, then I feel like the cabbage I just bought is going to waste, huh? A dish that cooks the cabbage and is also simple... what about twice-cooked pork? If I just use the twice-cooked pork tare they sell online it'll be simple, too. Right, let's make it.
...Hrmmm, that was pretty expensive. That might just be because the pot and the pans were a pretty good price. That being said, compared to how much I currently have it's not actually that much. Now then, let's start cooking.
Let's start from the tonjiru which'll be the most work.'
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Cut the orc general meat into thin slices about 3 centimeters wide.
Cut the potatoes, carrots, and daikon into the shape of gingko leaves, cut the onions roughly into about 5 mm wide pieces, and render the greater burdock into long, thin shavings before exposing it to water. Cut the konjac into wide strips and give it a preparatory boil.
Once all the preparation is done, throw some sesame oil into the large half-cylinder pot and start cooking the orc general meat. Once the meat changes color, add in the vegetables and konjac and start cooking some more to familiarize all the ingredients with the sesame oil. Then, add in water and the granulated dashi, and simmer while scooping out any lye that forms.
Once the vegetables get soft, add some miso that's been dissolved in broth and bring it to a boil again to finish the dish.
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'Now then, how's it taste?
*Slurp* Mm, that's good. It's been boiled enough that the vegetables are soft, but it might be better to go for a little longer to let the flavors settle a little more.'
Tonjiru varied a surprising amount from house to house. I used sesame oil here, because that's how it was always made in my family, after all. It not only added to the smell, but also the taste of the dish.
The fillings also changed a lot depending on who made it. For my family, the recipe was just as I made it, but without the onions. I only began to add onions after I started living on my own. The onions added a little sweetness, and I liked that, so I started throwing those in. Substituting the potatoes for taro or sweet potatoes was also a good idea sometimes.
'It might be nice to change up the recipe and make tonjiru again, actually.'
I decided to let the tonjiru sit like this for an hour before simmering it some more and storing it in my Item Box. After that, I grilled up some ginger-fried pork, miso-fried pork, and pork chops. Once those were done, I plated them and stored them in my Item Box as well.
"Whew, this much should be enough."
'Next is the twice-cooked pork.'
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Cut the orc general meat into slices that are slightly larger than a mouthful. Roughly cut the cabbage. Oil up a frying pan, and start cooking the orc general meat. Once the meat's color changes, add in the cabbage. Once the cabbage starts going soft, pour on some of the twice-cooked pork tare and mix it around so it coats everything. Give the dish a little more cooking time, and the dish is done.
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'That was super easy.'
I also cooked these before plating them and storing them in my Item Box.
'Now then, it's just about lunch time, so I can take care of the shredded cabbage after lunch.'
Of course, I had already given the tonjiru a second simmer and put it in my Item Box.
"For today's lunch... why not just steak again? Let's make it a rice bowl this time, a w-whoah!!" Feeling something behind me, I wheeled around to find all three of my familiars lined up and waiting.
"I am hungry. Food."
[Give us food! Food.]
[Master, Groot is hungry.]
'Wow, the clocks in your stomachs are accurate.'
I ended up making wyvern steak bowls for lunch. All I had to do was lay the wyvern steak on top of some rice, add in some garlic-flavored steak sauce, and it was done.
Everyone ate it while singing its praises. I also partook, and it was delicious on top of being very easy and simple to make.
'Meat is great, after all. This kind of thing feels like luxury in the afternoon, it's nice. Although I'm gonna have to continue cooking some more after this.'
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'Hmmm, what should I make now? Oh yeah, didn't I just buy some black bread? What about some sort of stew or soup that would pair with it? Ah, why not that beef stew I made before? That went over well. It went over so well that the entire pot ended up being one meal's worth, so let's make two pots this time. I have pretty much all the ingredients already, too, and I can just take care of shredding the cabbage while it's boiling, so that's good.'
After buying another two half-sized cylinder pots, I also refilled on the butter, cans of demiglace sauce, and red wine that I needed to make the beef stew.
Right, let's get started.
*Clankclang* *Swishish*
"...Now all that's left is to simmer it until the vegetables are soft, add in the demi-sauce can and the ketchup, and then simmer some more."
While the vegetables were simmering, I started to shred some cabbage. I single-mindedly shredded cabbages, washed them, and then shredded more cabbages. I spent a lot of time part-timing at restaurants since they had staff meals, so I was pretty used to this kind of thing. That said, I still wasn't a pro. But there was a sort of charm to having a larger piece every now and then.
In the middle of it, I stopped to add the demi-sauce and ketchup to the stew, changed the heat to low, and continued to simmer the stew.
And while that was simmering, I went straight back to shredding cabbage.
"Whew, this should be it."
After stuffing the huge amount of shredded cabbage into my Item Box, I took a peek at the beef stew. Since I had it simmer until it was bubbling while stirring it every once in a while, I felt like it turned out better than before.
'Now what should I make next...? I want to make some Hamburg steak patties, but I used all the ground meat on Hamburg steak cutlets... And it'll take time to grind out more meat. Hrmmm... Ah!'
I just remembered something from my part-timing days. It was about the char siu we would make while I part-timed at a ramen shop. That stuff was good whether it was eaten with rice as a bowl or even alone. 'It took a while to make, but it was just boiling, really. And I can softboil some eggs while I'm at it, too.
With that decided, I'll need another one of those cylindrical pots, won't I? And let's get some octopus thread, spring onions, garlic, and ginger. Oh, and some eggs.'
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Start off by wrapping the orc meat with the octopus thread. It's fine even if it doesn't look exactly like a mesh net or something. Since honestly, it's a lot of work to do that. The point is to form up the meat and stop it from falling apart while cooking, so as long as the thread is wrapped in a way to secure the meat's shape, it's all okay.
After that, oil up a frying pan and grill until the surface changes color.
Take the half-sized cylindrical pot and add in water, soy sauce, sake, mirin, sugar, and then the pale parts of the green onions, the leftover onions, odds and ends of carrots, crushed garlic, and thinly sliced ginger before bringing it all to a boil and simmering from there. Then, add the surface-seared orc meat and bring the whole thing to a bubbling simmer.
Meanwhile, start on the soft-boiled eggs. By the way, poking a small hole in the bottom of the egg before boiling it makes it easier to peel. Before, I would use a safety pin to do that, but now I have the tool I once found at a 100 yen shop thanks to my skill, so I start using that instead. (I had thought that it might be there, and it actually was when I looked, so I went and bought it. It wasn't quite as cheap as 100 yen, but it was still only 3 copper, so it was cheap enough.)
After opening a hole in the shell and rolling it around in the water so the yolk would be in the middle, I have it boil for around six minutes before soaking it in cold water to cool, and then peeling the shell. After that, all I would have to do is let it soak in the char siu's cooled broth for a night and the eggs would be done.
'I guess I should make something else while the char siu's doing its thing. Since it's just roasting a lump of meat, I can make some roast beef.'
After coating a chunk of bloody horn-bull meat with olive oil, cover it with some grated garlic, salt, and coarsely ground pepper. Once that is done, lay the chunk out on a cooking sheet spread on top of the sheet pan from the oven, and start roasting it in the preheated oven. Watch the meat as it roasts, and take it out after it gets well browned. Then wrap the meat in aluminum foil to allow its own heat to cook it the rest of the way basically the same recipe as the roasted giant deer from yesterday.
This time, since I have garlic on me, I go with that and regular salt and pepper instead of herb salt.
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I took one of the chunks of meat and tried cutting into it a little, and the middle was a vivid pink. It was clearly on the rare side and well roasted.
*Owmp*
Yeah, it's good.
"Is dinner ready?"
[I'm hungry.]
[Food, food.]
'Yep, these guys really are on top of when it's time for food. Actually wait, this roast beef isn't for dinner. Still though, I haven't made dinner... Ah, roast beef sandwiches would be a lot bigger... I have to protect this roast beef no matter what.'
"Wait a second." 'Before I start on the roast beef sandwiches, I need to turn off the heat for the char siu.'
Peeking inside the pot, it looked like the char siu was doing well. All I had left to do with it was cool it and let it sit for a night. And if I added the eggs in as well, I'd end up with flavored eggs on top of all that.
'Right, the char siu is good for now, let's get started on those roast beef sandwiches.'
I bought some white bread, butter, and Japanese onion dressing.
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After toasting the bread lightly in the oven, spread on some butter and lay a bed of shredded cabbage on top. Then, layer on the roast beef, and spread the Japanese onion dressing on top before closing the sandwich with another slice of toasted bread. Steak sauce would also work, but since the cabbage is there, dressing with acidity in it pairs better overall.
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After making several sandwiches, I plated them all.
"It's done."
Everyone immediately dug in.
"This meat is delicious. Can I not just eat the meat?"
'Hati, my friend, you know as well as I do that if I did that it'd all be gone in an instant. Just make do with that for today. I'm protecting this roast beef with my life.'
[You don't get it, do you, Hati? It's delicious because you pair the meat with these vegetables in the middle,] said Razsegath, with a triumphant look.
'Razsegath, you genius! Could Razsegath's taste be better than I thought?'
[It's so good with the acidic tare and the vegetables and the meat]
'Just what I'd expect out of you and your good taste, Groot!'
Hati and Groot went back for several more helpings, and I somehow managed to make do with only losing two of the chunks of roast beef I made.
I somehow managed to protect my roast beef. I should hurry up and put it away in my Item Box.
Putting the soft-boiled eggs into the char siu pot, I temporarily moved the pot into my Item Box. I was going to take it out again in my room and let it set for a night there. 'Let's also put this stove away.'
"Well then, I'll be going back to my room. Ah, tomorrow we'll finally go to the dungeon."