Chapter 586 - Chef

Chapter 586 – Chef

After dinner, I was consulted by Youko.

It is about the banquets being held in Village Five.

-0-

Nobles and merchants conduct banquets to sell their faces.

And they do it often.

It is both to show off their financial power and sell their faces using the clothes they wear and the food they serve.

Of course, those are not the only purpose of banquets. They also use it to exchange information and even matchmaking.

The purpose and scale vary.

However, there are no banquets like that in Village Five.

None dared to hold a banquet.

The reason is food.

Food is naturally must be prepared by the one who’s holding the banquet.

It is not exaggerated to say that the food served in a banquet equates to their faces.

For that reason, they can only ask their best and most trusted chef…..

So far, there’s no single chef in existence, whether family chef or hired outside, that can cook Village Five’s dishes.

…….

In addition, they are embarrassed to consult me about it.

How about training the current chef or hiring someone with good cooking skills?

Even without me saying that, the nobles and merchants have already thought of that.

However, those are not without problems.

First, training the current chef.

In general, cooking techniques and recipes are lifeguarded secrets of chefs.

To learn a new technique to those who know it….you have to start as an apprentice to that person….

Chefs employed by nobles and merchants have certain number of apprentices.

If you have apprentices, you will never become another person’s apprentice.

No one would dare accept you.

So that’s a no.

Next, hiring someone with good cooking skills.

But those people are already working for someone else in Village Five.

There’s no way they’ll throw away their dignity and betray their current employers because their neighbor offered them more money.

So that’s a no.

In addition, those chefs are only good outside but not skilled enough to cook Village Five’s food.

It’s basically a poor solution from the start.

……

So, you let me hear those. What do you want me to do?

We can’t force them to sponsor a banquet, right?

There’s not much communication between the nobles and merchants in Village Five?

Is that so?

I don’t know about the nobles but the merchants have good communication. Aren’t they wearing the same type of clothes when they were greeting me before….

That’s not a good evidence?

Sure, no one stood out and the result is also unappealing….

Originally, they should have a banquet of their own to meet and decide who’ll stand out and other more plans.

However, no one dared to invite anyone to a banquet.

I see.

They indeed need to start hosting banquets.

So, what am I supposed to do?

-0-

A special cooking class was held in Village Five.

The venue is the event facility located at the foot of Village Five.

The teachers are three oni maids.

There are also five beast girls and five civil servant girls as assistants.

We gathered the chefs working in Village Five.

……

The cooking classes that have been held in Village Five so far were aimed at the adventurers and normal residents.

We do it regularly but no chef participated.

Because of that, I thought that the only chefs who’ll participate are those who are related to nobles and merchants….

Isn’t this place a little too crowded?

There are more than 300 participants.

Is this okay?

I asked the oni maids and they said it’s okay.

They are used to having a lot of participants since they have been teaching at cooking classes.

Then, I’ll leave everything to you.

But I’ll call for more backup first.

-0-

Since there were too many participants, they were asked to create groups.

One group will be from five to eight people.

There is a difference in the number of participants per group because of racial differences.

43 groups were formed.

Stoves and cooking utensils are provided to each group.

It seems like the number of stoves is not enough….ah, the high elves are making more in a hurry.

Thanks.

Thank you for your hard work.

-0-

Thus, the cooking classes of the oni maids started….

First thing first, educate them of the concept of hygiene.

It’s not so difficult.

First of all, a chef must be clean.

Wash your body.

Wear clean clothes.

If you have long hair, tie it.

Thoroughly wash your hands.

Next, preparation before cooking.

Put the ingredients in a clean place.

The tableware must always be clean.

Clean the cookware with boiling water.

The kitchen floor must be cleaned daily.

Focus on what you are doing.

Do not cook if you don’t feel well.

Don’t speak when cooking.

If you use a knife for cutting raw meat, don’t use it to cut other ingredients.

-0-

I’m listening too and I’m sure I heard those before during the cooking classes of Big Tree Village, Village One, Village Two, Village Three, and Village Four.

I heard that too in Village Five when cooking at Youko’s mansion, the village hall’s kitchen, Kuro and Yuki, Bronze Café, Korin’s Sweet Hall, Niz’s Alcomeat, and Noodle Shop Britoa.

Food poisoning is no joke.

But since everyone participating here are chefs, there shouldn’t be any problem.

…….

Most of them are puzzled.

Maa, before moving on to the next stage, I want you to remember the concept of hygiene.

-0-

They’re having trouble remembering the concept of hygiene.

What should I do? I need a convincing theory.

They accepted it as soon as we explained that it is a procedure to get a blessing in cooking to make sure that no one would upset his stomach upon eating it.

That took some time so the special cooking class has to continue the next day.

-0-

Special cooking class, 2nd day.

The oni maids teach the basics of baking, simmering, steaming, and frying.

Any problem?

These people are chefs so there shouldn’t be, right?

……

Cheers are coming from all over the venue.

It looks like everything’s okay.

Maa, the oni maids who are the chefs of Big Tree Village also only knew how to grill and boil when I first met them.

Hnn?

Some participants seemed to already know how but their faces are pale.

What’s wrong?

Ah, it was the secret technique of your store.

My condolences.

-0-

I would prefer if you don’t keep the concepts of hygiene and cooking techniques you learned from this class secret and spread them instead.

Those are only the basics of the basics. It will also make everyone be able to eat good food no matter where they are.

In addition, if the number of chefs increases, there will probably be more new dishes.

Do your best on that aspect.

-0-

The ingredients prepared by the merchants who sponsored the cooking class are cooked into dishes.

As expected of the chefs.

Even if they failed a few times, it seems like they learned how to cook.

After that, they only need to apply what they learned.

Please do your best with cooking the ingredients readily available at Village Five.

By the way, the dishes cooked in this class were consumed by the participants.

You should eat your own dishes.

You should remember the taste whether it is a success or failure.

Good luck.

-0-

Special cooking classes will be held regularly together with the regular cooking classes.

I want to spread the concept of hygiene so I agreed.

However, it looks like it is still not enough to raise the skills of the chefs which is the main purpose of this special cooking class.

The special class only managed to resolve the recipe problem.

Hnn?

The top chefs are hired by nobles and merchants so what’s the point of increasing your skill set after being hired by them?

….right?

That’s expected.

By the way, do you have a proposal?

Cooking contest?

Ehto, isn’t it too early for that?

That will motivate the chefs?

The participants of the special cooking class also want to show off the result of their training to the oni maids.

Maa, I don’t mind…..

I’m the judge?

……..

I permit it.

However, there should be a qualifier.

When you make it to the end, I’ll gladly judge what you cooked.

-0-

Chefs with apprentices don’t participate in regular cooking classes. (a matter of face)

Chef apprentices don’t participate in the regular cooking class. (there’s a possibility of getting fired)

Because of that, small restaurant chefs and even housewives have better cooking skills which made the sales of large restaurants fall.