CH 127

“Practice in Cooking.”

Translated by Dawn

“Practice in Cooking.”

“Ruzzo, do you know how many ways there are to prepare a dish?”

When I arrived at the kitchen of the mansion, I asked Ruzzo, the chef, about this as soon as I opened my mouth. Incidentally, since Ruzzo was the only chef employed in the mansion I was given, there was quite a lot of space in comparison to the kitchen’s size.

“Two, I presume?”

“Well, I suppose you could answer that. No, this is not your fault, Ruzzo, so it’s all good.”

“Yes.”

Ruzzo replied animatedly with a face that made me wonder what in the world I was talking about. If the culinary technology in this world was about the same or less than that of medieval Europe in my previous world, there were probably only two main cooking methods that were widely used: grilling and boiling.

However, I expected that the other two methods, roasting over a fire and stewing in boiling water, would not be so well known. As evidence of this, I had been looking at restaurants and food stalls offering food, and most of them were using the first two cooking methods.

From the above points, I guessed that the culinary skills in this world were not so high and that even chefs generally had only the skills of apprentices who had started learning to cook at the level in my previous life on the earth.

“For now, show me how you made the dish you just served me.”

“Understood”

Rather than check Ruzzo’s skills…I asked him to cook the same dish that he had once served me in order to see how good a chef he was in this world. He started cooking with a slightly nervous hand because he knew I was watching him, but as expected of a chef, by the end of the cooking process, he was concentrating on the dish.

“That is it.”

“Yeah, okay. Then, I’ll cook the next one, and you can watch and see what’s different about it.”

“Yes.”

The first step was to start with the ingredients to be cooked; Ruzzo used what was in the pantry without thinking, but first, considering the possibility of mud or insects on the ingredients to be cooked, I rinsed the vegetables with a moderate amount of water.

Then, after confirming that there was no mud or insects on the food, I filled a pot with water and put it on the fire. Prepare the ingredients until they started to a boil, and then cut them into bite-size pieces. Once the water started to boil, lower the heat a little and slowly simmer the ingredients, starting with those that were hard to heat through and then adding the processed ingredients.

Scoop out any lye that came out along the way, and continue to simmer over low heat. When cooked through, season to taste with salt and pepper, and let simmer for a while to complete the dish.

“It’s done. Try it.”

“…..!? I-it’s delicious. It doesn’t even compare to what I made.”

When I put the finished vegetable soup in a small dish for tasting and let Ruzzo taste it, his eyes widened and he expressed his honest opinion. He was surprised at the difference from his own cooking, and at the same time, he looked frustrated, as if he had realized how inexperienced he was.

“You just didn’t know. From now on, you will learn to cook under me and become at least as good a chef as I am.”

“I can be as good as you, Rolando-sama?”

“Yes, you can. Because I can cook, but I am not a chef.”

“Eh…”

My casual remark seemed to astonish Ruzzo even more. I wonder why he thought he was inferior to me, someone who claimed not a chef, even though I made all these dishes. He kept his face downcast and a dark expression on his face.

“Anyway, you already know how to cook. It’s already lunchtime, so I’ll cook the other servants’ dishes, and you can make the vegetable soup the same way I just did.”

“Rolando-sama! That’s a bit too much…”

“Listen, I’m not a noble, so you don’t have to worry about that kind of thing. Besides, I don’t think you can make a dish that can satisfy me now, can you?”

“T-that’s…”

“Well, I’ll teach you how to do that in the future. And here’s the money for the ingredients you’ll need for future practice. Take it.”

I then handed Ruzzo a leather bag containing about ten large silver coins from Storage. When Ruzzo saw what was inside, he rushed to return it to me, but I stubbornly refused to accept it, and eventually, it was settled that Sobas, who had been watching us, would keep the money.

“Sobas, I’m going to start cooking for the servants, so I want you to gather all the servants in the house in the dining room. Of course, sit in the chairs and wait.”

“Rolando-sama that’s…no, I’m awed.”

Sobas tried to argue with my instructions, but he realized that I was not going to change my mind, so he followed my instructions and left the kitchen.

I then began to cook lunch for the 11 servants I currently employed. Incidentally, the servants were divided into two, Sobas and Ruzzo, a head maid in her late thirties named Mia, five regular maids, two apprentice maids, and a gardener, for a total of eleven.

Cooking for eleven people was not that time-consuming, as the food was not very elaborate. Originally, I would have had a problem cooking for them when I was on my own because serving them food from my previous life on earth could be risky, but I felt that I would have a reasonable relationship with the servants here, so I decided to let them eat my food.

Well, I was not that confident in my cooking skills when I said I would feed them, but with my experience in this world and the fact that I used to cook for myself in my previous life, I would be able to cook something that I would have no problem serving to others.

From there, I quickly prepared a dish for 12 people, including myself, and finished it while giving advice to Ruzzo along the way. The menu consisted of a vegetable salad with special dressing, homemade white bread, Sappy’s grilled chicken with tartar sauce, and vegetable soup prepared by Ruzzo.

When the finished dishes were brought into the dining room, the maids who had been sitting at the long dining room table tried to get up at once, and I urged them all to be seated.

“…….”

All the dishes were served, with the indescribable feeling of guilt that one’s master was serving the food personally and the desire to help to engulf the diner.

“Well then, everyone. Today is the first meeting between me and all of you, so I have prepared a dish for you, albeit a small one. Please accept this as a sign of our closeness. You can have more bread, but there will be no refills on the other dishes. Then, please eat.”

After saying what I wanted to say, I started eating the food I had prepared. Sobas and Mia, the head maid, who could not see the maids who did not know how to deal with the unusual situation of sharing a meal with their master, took the initiative and began to eat the food.

“Mmm. Delicious.”

“This is…very tasty.”

The other servants, seeing them, also began to eat the food served to them. At first, the servants were puzzled, but the delicious aroma of the food in the air overcame them, and they all began to eat.

However, as soon as they started eating, they could not stop themselves from enjoying the delicious food, and before they knew it, almost all of them had finished the entire meal.

“Un? Huh? You already eaten all of them?”

“My apologies, Rolando-sama. It was too delicious and I couldn’t stop eating it…”

“I, too. I am not ready to take on the great role of a head maid.”

“I don’t care. By the way, does anyone want more bread?”

Needless to say, everyone nodded in agreement with my question. Then, I spread strawberry jam that I had prepared in advance on the bread and handed it to them, and they began to eat it with great vigor. The women, in particular, were extremely enthusiastic, reminding me once again that they have a sweet tooth.

The friendly lunch was a great success, but afterward, many of the servants were unable to move due to overeating, and work at the house came to a halt for a while. I should be careful the next time I serve sweet food.