Chapter 680 - Off

At a quick pace, Eisen chopped up the mountain of mushrooms that were laying on the table in front of him. He chopped them up so finely that they seemed to be somewhat similar to coarse breadcrumbs in texture.

Meanwhile, as the old man was taking care of this, Ramsay was preparing the rather large fillet of meat. And really, when Eisen said 'large', then that meant something. It was Giant-Sized, basically. He could carve it out and live in there, if he had to.

Either way, considering that Eisen had to chop up enough of these mushrooms to cover the whole surface of that mountain of meat, it was clear how much work that actually was although it may not sound like it at the beginning.

The huge chunk of meat was being roasted in a special means that seemed to ensure that it was actually going to be cooked through instead of just getting an inch on the outside and having the rest be freezing cold. Obviously, that 'special means' was mostly some magic that Ramsay had access too, hence why he was the one that took care of the meat.

Since it took a little while to prepare the meat for thorough roasting anyway, the lesser god and the old man next to him were done with their separate tasks at roughly the same time. Ramsay took out a giant pan, one that honestly seemed comically large, and placed it onto a flame before heating up a lot of olive oil and butter, before Eisen placed the mushrooms into the hot mixture to fry them.

After adding some sprigs of fresh thyme into it, Eisen proceeded to stir the whole thing regularly, which meant that he practically had to constantly stir around different parts of the pan to make sure everything was being evenly fried instead of some parts being burnt and others staying cold.

At some point, the mixture softened up, and at this point, Eisen and Ramsay chose to switch. After all, what was going to be made next required a lot of hands to execute properly at this scale, so it was a better fit for Eisen with his Mana Doubles and his elemental Spirit right now.

The old man grabbed the dough that Ramsay already prepared for him while Eisen was frying the mushrooms until now, and then placed the giant slabs of dough-discs onto a large worksurface dusted with flour.

And then, Eisen summoned his Mana Doubles and his Spirit and proceeded to roll them out with a giant rolling pin. Well, it was basically just a log that was stripped and straightened on the outside, but it still counted for the old man.

And then, he immediately proceeded to increase his size to a scale where this didn't even seem like all that much dough compared to his physical size. He still needed the help of the doubles, though, since regular Laminated Dough already ripped easily enough, working at this sort of scale didn't particular make it easier in any way. It actually made it much harder, obviously.

Eisen looked at the figure of Ramsay currently pouring some dry white wine over the fried, chopped mushrooms, and took a deep breath as he also started to get to work. The flattened dough was swiftly covered in a chilled butter-flour mixture and then folded like an envelope would be, folding the corners into the center. The old man proceeded to roll it flatted again, and then repeated the whole process again and again.

Soon, this laminated dough, also called puff pastry dough, was finished, roughly at the same time that Ramsay was done finishing up the mushrooms.

The lesser deity then spread out the mushroom duxelle and poured it onto thin slices of cured ham. Usually, this mixture would have had to cool first, but due to Ramsay's abilities, it cooled down the moment that Ramsay thought that this part of the recipe was finished.

For now, Eisen helped Ramsay out, spreading the mushrooms out over the ham, after removing the thyme from the mix of course, and then placed the ham onto the giant fillet, with the mushroom-covered side pressing against the fillet itself, of course.

This whole thing was then chilled, while Eisen and Ramsay prepared the puff pastry to be used, rolling it out into a large sheet.

And then, all that they had to do was lay the giant fillet into the center of that sheet and then fold the dough over it.

This piece was then marked with long diagonal lines with the back of a knife without actually cutting into the dough, just pressing into it a little.

And now, all that they had left to do was to put this Beef Wellington worthy of a giant into an oven until the outside was golden and crisp.

Of course, this process couldn't really be sped up all that much compared to the chilling that Ramsay seemed to be able to do practically instantly, so the two of them took their time to take a seat and talk for a little while to let everything in the oven happen to the Beef Wellington properly.

"So, why did you suggest this recipe?" Eisen inquired curiously. He knew that there was some meaning behind it, considering that Eisen did seem to get the vibe that he was going to remember something about this part of everything as well, through the Beef Wellington for some reason, and Ramsay turned his head toward him with a smile on his face, "Well, it's simple. It's the first thing that I ever watched you make." 

"...Then couldn't we have made it in a more normal size? That would have been a lot better, right?"

"Hm, not really." Ramsay replied, "The first time I saw you cook, which coincidentally was also the time that I chose to become your apprentice, you were making this exact sort of dish. At this scale as well. I was visiting the Giant Country out of curiosity for their cuisine, and then saw you making this dish just in the middle of the forest after killing a giant bull for it. It was rather surprising to me at the time, but rather appetizing all the same." The god pointed out, and Eisen turned his head toward him with a light smile, although he himself wasn't particularly sure if it was a real smile or not right now.

"Is that so?" He asked, and Ramsay slowly nodded his head, "It is so."

"But why was I making Beef Wellington in the middle of the forest?"

"You found a patch of good mushrooms, happened to kill that bull, and still had some laminated dough leftover. That's what you told me at the time, at least, that it was just a 'coincidence'. Although I think you might have sought out that bull in order to kill it for its meat." Ramsay admitted. Eisen looked at him with a light smile on his face, although this one seemed to be a bit more genuine than the last smile. But even then, Eisen himself couldn't really be sure about that at this point anymore.

Eisen looked at the man sitting next to him, who was staring back with a slightly hopeful expression, as far as the old man could tell just from this brief interaction that he had with him. Sure, he did seem to have a bit of rough knowledge in his mind about Ramsay, enough to get a rough feeling of his personality at least, but that usually shouldn't be enough to read others. Hence, Eisen didn't try to assume, at first at least. Ramsay might be the kind that puts on masks, for all Eisen knew.

But even then, Eisen figured that it wouldn't hurt to go out on a limb to try and figure Ramsay out a little bit better.

"But you know, you still didn't really answer my question yet." Eisen pointed out as he looked at the lesser God of Cooking right next to him, "I doubt you wanted to do this just for nostalgia's sake."

With a laugh, Ramsay shook his head, "No, I really did do this for nostalgia. Just not for your own, honestly. It's been a while since I've had your cooking. A couple of millenia, actually. And since this dish has a special place in my heart, I figured it couldn't hurt. It was a bit selfish, I know, but I doubt you really mind, do you?"

With a slight sigh, Eisen thought about how he was surprised that Ramsay even considered others' thoughts at all. He didn't seem like the kind, honestly. But obviously, appearances can be deceptive.

The old man let out a deep sigh and thought about what he was just told. There wasn't anything all too special about it. He heard this sort of thing a couple of times before, people wanting to eat his food and making up random excuses for it. 

Although usually, those people were his closest friends and family that made those excuses jokingly. It was painstakingly obvious that the only reason they were saying those things was that they wanted to eat what Eisen was going to make for them, but that was part of the fun.

This time though, it really did slightly feel like he was being deceived, although Eisen really couldn't explain why he thought that way. Just a few more minutes after all this, the dish was done. The scent drifted through the room, and Eisen couldn't wait to take a bite of this. Well, to take a slab of this, since Eisen didn't really know how he was supposed to eat this thing. If he sliced something off normally, it would result in him mostly just getting a slice of puff-pastry, usually.

But Ramsay quickly cut off a large piece, carving it out of the giant fillet, and placed it onto Eisen's plate. The amount made him think that this was a regular Beef Wellington in itself. Instead of just being a piece of a larger one.

Eisen looked at the plate and cut an actual bite-sized piece off of it, before leading it to his mouth. It was moist and well-flavored, the textures were amazing despite how unbalanced everything was at this scale due to the sheer size of the dish.

Nonetheless, it was something that Eisen rather enjoyed, and he was glad that he was able to make it with his former apprentice as one of the last things that he would do here in this divine realm. And really, Ramsay was the first god that Eisen actually collaborated on a project with. Argalan suggested so, but in the end, Eisen built that house all on his own without the god's help.

Somehow, it felt good, but mostly, it just felt... off.