Epoch 36: A way to a man's heart is through his stomach.
After the Yan trio gossiped for a while about the tribe's guests, they also left immediately to prepare for dinner. Pen also reluctantly goes with them to help his sister.
Tang Tang also cleaned up the scattered sunflower seeds's shells and started preparing to cook. He doesn't know what time Hou and Xue will return, but he plans to cook a lot to appease the sulking beasts.
The sub-beasts and females close to him didn't stop looking for new plants. They always bring unknown plants for him to see if they can be eaten or used as an ingredient.
The system encyclopedia is also a great help. Since he acquired it, identifying edible plants has become much easier, and one of the greatest perks of it is that he now knows the possible place where specific plants are located.
It's been a while since he last cooked, because Xue already took that chore from him. Tang Tang wanted to try to cook a recipe that he still remembered from earth.
After contemplating for a moment, he decided to cook chop suey, braised meat with tomatoes and onions, barbecue with salsa sauce, and potato fries for the side dish.
Tang Tang first cuts the potatoes into strips and soaks them in a large bowl of water for a few minutes.
'I really want to buy the knife in the virtual shop.'
[You can soon buy it, Tang Tang. You only need to finish one of your on-going quests.]
'All my current quests will take time to complete,' he sighed.
[Fighting ᕦʕ •ᴥ•ʔᕤ]
Tang Tang is still having a hard time using a bone knife. For him, it is blunt compared to the knife he used to use on earth.
After he set aside the potatoes, he started making the salsa for the barbecue. He wants to make a much more traditional one, but he hasn't found cumin yet, and Hou likes spicy food.
While roasting 10 pieces of large tomatoes, Tang Tang finely chopped the garlic, chili, and onions. Then he put them all on a mortar along with a pinch of salt, using the pestle to repeatedly grind and twist them into a pulpy texture.
Tang Tang started to miss the blender and food processor he always used in the restaurant. It is good that mortar and pestle have already been invented since they are usually needed by the clan witches to make medicine paste. It is a little bit messy to use, but it is better than nothing.
When the tomatoes were roasted, Tang Tang added them to the mortar and started to grind them again. The tomatoes are already soft and have quickly disintegrated into the other ingredients.
Tang Tang tasted the salsa, and when the taste was enough for him, he set aside half of it, and the other half was put into a pan to make salsa sauce.
He added dua fruit juice, more chilies, and the newly found black pepper that he had already powdered, and let it simmer for 5 minutes.
While waiting, he started grilling the meat. When the salsa sauce was done, he took the grilled meat, dipped it in the salsa sauce, and grilled it again. Tang Tang repeated it twice for each slice of meat.
Tang Tang started chopping all the vegetables he would use for chop suey while waiting for the barbecue to be cooked. Hou and Xue aren't present to help him, which is why he needs to multitask.
For the chop suey, he will use carrots, cabbage, cauliflower, string beans, and mushrooms. Tang Tang wanted to put a quail egg on it, but he doesn't know if quail or chicken eggs exist in this world because he hasn't seen one so far, so he decided to use the monster's liver.
Monsters's livers, together with their other internal organs, were usually thrown away; it was quite wasteful. That's why he asked Xue to keep the liver so he could cook it into delicious food for them to taste.
Once the monster's liver is proven to be delicious, the internal organs will not be buried again, like the bones that are now always used to make broth.
Tang Tang then chopped it thinly together with the vegetables since he had already soaked the liver in a bowl of water earlier to help remove the impurities.
After the barbecue was done, he heated another pan to sauté the onion and garlic. When the onion softened, he added the liver and cooked it for a minute before adding water and letting it boil.
Tang Tang takes out the potatoes he soaked earlier and dries them on a large plate. He also seasoned five large chunks of meat with salt and pepper.
When the liver boiled, he added the carrots, cauliflower, and string beans. After a few minutes, he added the cabbage and mushrooms. He cooked it for another 3 minutes before adding a little bit of smashed potato as an alternative to the cornstarch.
Tang Tang let it simmer for another 3 minutes before adding salt and black pepper to his taste.
After finishing the chop suey, he heated oil in another large, heavy pot. Tang Tang then cooked in it the five large chunks of meat he had seasoned earlier. He is turning it occasionally until all sides are browned.
When all five chunks of meat are cooked, he sets them aside and sautés the onions, garlic, and some herbs in the same pot.
These herbs are commonly found around the tribe that you might mistake them for wild grass, but clan witch Lia uses them to alleviate headaches, relieve coughs, and help clean wounds.
Tang Tang checked it out on the virtual encyclopedia and realized that these herbs are the counterparts of rosemary, oregano, and thyme on earth. It can not only be used as medicine but also in cooking.
Tang Tang keeps on stirring until the onions and garlic begin to brown. Using his hands, he crushed several ripe tomatoes in the pot, then half filled the pot with water.
He stirred it until all the ingredients were combined. After a few minutes, he returned the chunks of meat to the pot, nestling them in the onion mixture and spooning some tomatoes on top.
Tang Tang then covered it and let it simmer for 30 minutes to an hour until the meats were very tender.
Tang Tang heaved a sigh of relief because, after the braised meat with onion and tomatoes was cooked, the only thing left to do was fry the potatoes.
One hour and thirty minutes later.
Tang Tang looked at all the dishes he cooked. This serving is enough to feed ten to twenty people on earth, but here in Gaia, this is only enough for five adult beasts.
He even cooked an extra serving of meat for Cai, Yul, and Toa, while the extra serving of vegetables was for Pen.
After cleaning all the utensils and cookware he used, he washed up a little bit and then slumped on the bed while waiting for Hou and Xue's return.
'I hope that Hou and Xue will like them so they will stop sulking.'
[Don't worry, Tang Tang, they always eat everything you cook, and didn't there is a saying on earth that a way to a man's heart is through his stomach?]
'I hope so, Ude, because I really don't have enough energy to coax them in a different way.'
[⁄(⁄ ⁄•⁄-⁄•⁄ ⁄)⁄]
[Didn't you like doing it, Tang Tang? What's the sudden change?]
'Just for today, Ude, I am so tired after being toased and turned the whole night. I will tease them again tomorrow.' Tang Tang chuckled.
[╮(. ❛ ᴗ ❛.)╭ Poor Hou and Xue. Tomorrow, the three of you will start to sleep separately.]
_______________
Xue and Hou escorted tribe leader Zmei and clan witch Rung, together with the young sub-beast Kira, inside the tribe leader's tent, where Bei and Lia were already waiting for them.
Yul and Toa were assigned to escort the winged python tribe beasts to their temporary place to rest, but the beasts led by Laon were stubborn and wanted to wait outside the tent until the leaders of the two tribes finished their conversation.
They kept their stern attitude towards the others. That made the escort beasts of the winged tiger tribe so infuriated by their arrogance that they decided to also wait outside the tent to monitor the unwanted visitors with somber expressions.
No one wants to back down, and the two groups started glaring at each other and ended up in a deadlock for a while until they heard a rumbling.
Toa sighed. "Tss, I'm already hungry. What do you think Tang Tang will cook today?" he asked Yul.
But before Yul could respond, a beast beside him asked. "Are you able to eat Tang Tang's cooking?" This question attracted the attention of the other beasts.
"How did you do it?"
"I hear Tang Tang's cooking is really good. Is it true?"
"It's good that Hou and Xue didn't beat you."
"Tsk. How lucky!"
"I wanted to taste Tang Tang's cooking!"
The atmosphere in the winged tiger tribe group eased a lot as they started to throw several angry remarks and questions at Toa.
Every single beast in their tribe wished to at least have a little interaction with Tang Tang. Those who are married wanted to taste Tang Tang's cooked food because, based on their own wives's comments, their cooking cannot be compared to Tang Tang's.
But because of the intense watchfulness of the twins, they cannot find an opportunity to get near the sub-beast.
That's why, knowing someone who can interact with Tang Tang and eat the food made by him every day, of course they will feel envious.
"It is because Tang Tang is a good sub-beast and takes pity on deprived beasts like us," Toa said as he acted pitiful, but it only received more harsh banter from the others.
He laughed. "I think I'm getting fat after eating two delicious meals every day," Toa added as he rubbed his abdomen to provoke his tribesmen.
"Tell that in front of Hou, and let me see if you're not beaten to death."
Toa continues his flaunting about the different foods he has tasted these past few days. He tried to vividly describe everything to tease the others.
Yul can't help but shake his head while listening to his group's conversations. They instantly forgot about the beasts from the other tribe in front of them.
The beasts of the winged python tribe led by Laon can clearly hear the conversation of the other group, but they can't understand what they mean.
'Is the taste of roasted meat varied?'
'Other than boiling, is there another way to cook red roots, and what are vegetables?'
'What is sauce?'
They have a lot of questions they want to ask but decide to keep their facade and set aside their curiosity. They believe that with their tribe leader, Zmei, all of their questions will be soon answered.