22-019 Let's make preserved food (1)

"Okay, you two. Today we're going to deal with the meat and the dingles before we do our own training!

In front of her were two backpacks full of din-dolls, a leather bag with the rest of the task boar, and some barrels and pots and pans that she had purchased along the way.

"Yes, question!

"Yes, Toya!

Haruka pointed at Toya, who raised her hand cheerfully.

Is there anything I can do?

Don't worry. Anyone can do it. Of course, Nao can too. I'll start by preparing the meat.

Haruka lays out three cutting boards and places a piece of meat on each one.

First, cut the meat into bite-size pieces, about an inch thick and about half the size of your palm.

I'm sure you'll be pleased to know that I'm not the only one who has a problem with this.

I'm sure you're not the only one.

It's just like telling a person who can't cook "a little" or "just the right amount" but they don't understand.

In particular, the current Toya might say that a very thick slice of steak is 'easy to eat'.

Be sure to remove the bones. Also, remove the fat from the fatty parts.

"What?　You're throwing away the fat?　I think the fat in this meat is delicious. ......

The fat that dripped from the grill gave off a faint aroma of ding dong, which was a nice touch.

To be honest, I was like, "How dare you throw that away! I understand.

I understand the feeling. But if you dry it, I think it will oxidize and not be good.

I see. So that's how it is.

I don't understand it, but I'll go along with Haruka's words since she's a good cook and has skills.

"Hey, can't we just try it for a while?

"If Toya is responsible for disposing of it, that's fine. ...... Just a little?

I know. I know.

Okay, if it's good, we'll share.

If it's not good, let's let Toya do his thing. He's the one who started it.

--I'm the worst.

There's a lot of meat for a boar.

While we were slicing the meat and removing the bones and fat, Haruka was using a pot to mix salt, herbs from the road, a little spice from the store, and chopped dingdol skin.

Once that was done, Haruka joined in the meat slicing, and soon had more meat than we did.

The meat that was no longer on the cutting board was put into the barrel with the salt that Haruka had prepared.

"Hey, how do you think the dindol is made?

I can think of two ways: boil them and then dry them, or coat them with herb juice as a preservative and then dry them. If you dry a whole fruit of that size, it will usually go bad, right?

I don't think boiling the fruit would change the fact that it rots, but ...... would be a good preservative.

Yeah, that's right.

I'm not sure what to do. Unless it's completely sealed like a retort pack.

What about Toya?

Hmmm... ......, it's not going to get cold all at once, is it?

What?　No. The temperature is going to drop seasonally, but it doesn't seem to go below freezing at night around here. Even at its coldest.

Oh, that's great.

I didn't mind winter, but this world doesn't have air conditioners or airtight houses.

I don't even know if there are clothes that keep you warm like down jackets, and even if there are, they are expensive to buy.

A mild climate is an economic boon in itself.

But that's not good enough. I thought we could take advantage of the temperatures that would allow ice to form. You know the story about the potatoes in the Andes?

Oh, yeah.

I think I learned something about it in class.

In the Andes, they leave the potatoes out in the open. They freeze them at night and step on the melted potatoes in the daytime to release the water, and then dry them to preserve them for a long time.

The potatoes are then dried and stored for a long period of time. Stepping on a ding dong may crush them, but I think it is possible to dry them without them rotting.

You don't need hot water for that, do you?

It's ...... just a way to make money.　Or tea?

Think about it for a moment and say something as blunt as that, Toya.

The clue I got from Diora is ruined.

"Well, it's possible, isn't it? It's not a narrative trick, but Diora didn't say that hot water was a necessary tool.

That's true, but!

I feel like an idiot for twisting my head around the use of hot water.

So, what do you think, Haruka?

"Me?　I think I'll use it like dried persimmons.

The way to make dried persimmons is basically just to peel the persimmons, tie them together with string and hang them to dry, but there are times when you need to soak them lightly in boiling water.

Haruka's idea is that the same thing is done with dindol.

"That's probably for sterilization, right?　Can you do that just by sterilizing the surface?

I think sterilizing it would make it less likely to grow mold than leaving it in my hands, but can I get by with that?

Since we can make dried persimmons, I think it's not impossible to make dingdol.

I think it's because of the winter temperature, the air circulation, and the peeling.　It's warm here, and the din-dolls keep their skins on. The advantage is the low humidity?

Temperature and humidity are major factors in food spoilage.

In particular, humidity is important, and it is the reason why fish that easily decompose can be dried.

In the case of dried persimmons, there is no problem because they are dried before they spoil, but if you ask me if it is possible to dry a fruit of that size with the skin still on, .......

I'm sure you'll be happy to hear that.　If it were easy, it wouldn't be a secret.

So Haruka's magic is to ruin the know-how?

"Ruin" is a bad word to use. You know how hard I worked to learn that?

I know that.

In fact, I still can't use my own magic!

I'm not proud of it at all.

I'm not proud of it at all, but we've never seen a dried dindle before, have we?　There's a possibility that it's actually made from mold, like dried bonito flakes.

You're right, Toya. You're really knocking it out of the park.

As far as I know, there's no dried fruit that uses mold, but that's not a possibility.

I don't know of any dried fruit that uses mold as far as I know, but it's not a possibility. That's it!　That's it!

The meat was being processed as he continued to talk and move his hands.

Haruka was the first one to finish cutting the most meat, even though she joined us later, and soon we were done too.

All that was left to do was to transfer the meat to a barrel and mix in salt, and the salting process was complete.

The fat and bones we removed could be thrown into a skin bag and thrown into the forest for tomorrow's work.

"Both of you, give me your hands and knives.

Haruka will clean your sticky hands, grease, and cutting boards by applying 'purification' to them.

It's really a very useful magic.

I don't want to think about cleaning up this grease without kitchen detergent.

What do we do now?

...... at least a day or two, preferably a week or so, until the salt has soaked into the meat.　Then we'll rinse it lightly and dry it.

That's a lot of time.　Do I need to buy more barrels?

...... Toya, how much dried meat are you going to make?

What?　Just a boar hunt?

I'm sure you're not the only one.

"Toya, you can't eat all of that, can you?

"Oh, really?　Even if you make a ton of food, that's less than a kilo a day for the three of us for a year. ...... Is that a bit much?

Not a little!　If it's just meat, but if you eat that much salted meat, you'll die from salt overload!

I'm not sure what to make of it.

I'm not sure if my [robust] skills are effective against lifestyle-related diseases.

I'm not going to do this every day to begin with.　I'd rather not, to be honest.

Removing the bones and slicing the fish is not a big deal, but removing the fat was quite troublesome.

Remembering the amount of work involved, Toya snorted in disappointment.

If only it tasted as good with the fat on as it did on ......, or maybe Haruka's magic could remove it for good.

"Toya, how much are you going to rely on my magic? ...... Maybe I can do it.

I'm sure you can.

I'm not sure what to do.

I'm not sure what to make of this.　I'm not sure what to do.

Unfortunately, there's no indication of MP in the status, but you can feel that something is consumed when you use magic.

I think I can use a lot more magic than I did at first, but the problem is that I can't see it, so I can't tell if I'm really gaining magic power, or if I'm using it more efficiently, or if I'm just squeezing it to the limit.

If I could figure it out numerically, I could make progress in my magic experiments.

I'm not sure what to make of this, but I'm sure it's a good idea.

In a game, this might not have been a problem, but in real life, we've clearly made a mistake in our skill selection.

It's fine in battle, but in everyday life, Toya and I are not very useful.

Without our skills, we're just ordinary people in the original world, doing odd jobs.

I have to dry my skin, and if ...... Toya can roughly remove the fat, I think it will reduce the consumption of magic power a little.

What!　I'll do it!　I'm going to fire up my demolition skills!

Toya, how much do you love meat? ......

You don't have the [Demolition] skill yet, right?

It's a great way to save money on food, and if you want to do your best, I'll help you out. ...... Nao, how well can you use Accelerate Time?

I'm sure you'll be able to find something that works for you.

So, if you put ...... on this barrel for a day or two, that's like two full days?　It would be a shame to reapply it tomorrow morning.

That's right. I don't care if I have to take a day off from work, I don't want to go to the forest and not be able to use magic in battle.

Even though I haven't used it much in battle lately, it's still necessary as insurance.

We haven't even met any goblins yet.

I'll need at least one more barrel if I'm going to soak it for three days. Barrels are more expensive than you think, aren't they?

I've never bought a barrel in the original world, so I can't compare them, but they're about two times smaller than a drum and cost about 3,000 Reais.

It's a little more expensive than the pot I bought with it.

"Hey, you don't have to buy a new keg, do you?　Why don't we ask the old man if we can get one? I'm sure he has some food in barrels if he's doing so well.

"Oh, yeah!　Toya, great!　Yeah, we're going to use them for salting, so used ones won't be a problem!　It's not like you have to worry about the smell.

Later, when my father was free, I told him about the situation, and he agreed to share the barrel with me for free on the condition that I share some of the dried meat I made.

The barrels, which were said to have contained liquor, were somewhat smaller than the ones we had bought, but thanks to the generosity of those who shared some with us, we no longer had to worry about the barrels.

Incidentally, when we checked later, we found that used barrels were usually available for sale, and that good ones (not too damaged in appearance and without unpleasant smell) were about half the price of new ones, so we shared some of them with Dingdol as a token of our gratitude to him for sharing them with us almost for free.