Cooking Swordmaster [EN]: Chapter 93

“I would like to collaborate with you.”

Bruno, the owner and head chef of Epicure, widened his eyes. He seemed genuinely surprised by Cainchel’s sudden proposal.

“I don’t quite understand what you mean, monsieur [French for ‘mister’].”

Cainchel wanted to learn Bruno’s knowledge of French cuisine. However, how many people would welcome him with open arms if he suddenly asked for their know-how?

So, he came up with the idea of collaboration.

“As the owner of Verus, I want to establish a good relationship with Epicure. I’ll be selling ice cream at the Winter Festival, and I think I’ll need more help than I anticipated. Simply put, I mean we should help each other when things get tough.”

“I understand that much. But why Epicure? Verus’s ice cream is a dessert even the famous gourmet Goethe raves about. You could collaborate with a much more impressive restaurant than Epicure…”

“That’s because the coq au vin [chicken braised in wine] Chef Bruno made was so delicious.”

“…Is that really the only reason?”

“I like this place. The clean floors, the uniform lighting and interior. Besides, the whole restaurant smells like it’s going to be very delicious. You can’t easily find such a wonderful place.”

Bruno scratched his head, looking embarrassed. He seemed much happier to have Epicure itself praised rather than his own skills.

“Chef Bruno said he would only run Epicure until winter and then close it down. But the lights are still on here. Maintaining such a lavish restaurant must cost a lot of money. Isn’t that why you were working in the city hall kitchen?”

“…Monsieur is right. The reason I’m clinging to this failing restaurant is because I have lingering feelings for it.”

Bruno looked around the restaurant with a strange sense of nostalgia and said,

“That sculpture over there was made by my wife. And do you see that scratch on the marble floor over there?”

“It does stand out, as it doesn’t seem to fit with the overall cleanliness of this place.”

“I was distracted and dropped a dish, causing that. I wanted to get rid of it, but my wife said it would be a good memory and told me to leave it. I didn’t understand it then. But ten years later, I understood her words not with my head, but with my heart.”

Cainchel quietly bit his lip.

Bruno had lost his wife in the War of the Seven Deadly Sins. This place was the only place where memories of her remained.

He understood why Bruno had shed tears listening to Vincent’s story.

Just as Vincent had searched for the taste of the coq au vin his mother had made, Bruno was also remembering his wife by working here.

The thought that such a wonderful restaurant had to disappear because of a single word from Emperor Aslan was now horrifying.

“Then let me tell you about the collaboration. Verus has received more street vendor permits than expected. How about selling food under the name of Epicure for one of them?”

“Wouldn’t that cause unnecessary conflict if we caught the eye of the street vendor alliance…?”

“You don’t have to worry about that. They were exposed for colluding with the Church of the Seven Deadly Sins and were expelled from the Citizen.”

“Heh heh…”

“Of course, you can’t sell a full course meal at a street stall. But something like a croque madame [a baked or fried ham and cheese sandwich] or quiche [a savory egg custard baked in a crust] that you can easily carry around and eat would be fine, wouldn’t it?”

Bruno looked at Cainchel with reddened eyes.

“…If that were to happen, the reconstruction of Epicure wouldn’t be a dream. It feels like Deus is giving me another chance.”

“It would be difficult to prepare everything alone. So, I was wondering if I could support you with a chef who has just finished his apprenticeship. What do you think?”

“An apprentice chef?”

“He doesn’t know anything about French cuisine, but he’s exceptionally good at preparing ingredients.”

“Did Verus have such a chef? I thought it was just the owner and the head chef…”

Cainchel quietly stood up from his seat and gave a knight’s salute.

“…Could it be.”

“I look forward to working with you, Chef Bruno.”

When Cainchel expressed his desire to work here, Bruno laughed for a while, clutching his stomach.

“I guess you really liked my cooking. I’m sorry, but I can hardly pay you.”

“That’s okay. It’s a collaboration, after all. Wouldn’t it be enough if Chef Bruno helps me make ice cream later?”

“And even though it’s a failing restaurant, I’ll still have you take a formal entrance exam. If you pass that, you can work here.”

His words conveyed his determination that someone without skills could not work here.

Cainchel quietly nodded.

Bruno took out some unprepared chicken and several vegetables from the ingredient storage.

He placed them on the counter and said,

“At Epicure, we make bouillon [a broth used as a base for soups and sauces] with these. From now on, I want you to make about 10 liters of bouillon using these ingredients.”

Bouillon was a broth used as the base for soups in French cuisine. It was also used in sauces and stir-fries, and in making quiche fillings.

Along with mirepoix [a mix of diced vegetables used to flavor stocks and sauces] and bouquet garni [a bundle of herbs used to flavor soups and stews], it was an indispensable ingredient in French cuisine.

Bruno asked,

“Monsieur, have you ever made bouillon before?”

“I’ve made chicken stock a few times.”

“Then I can trust you with it. The basic principles are the same. But there is a crucial difference between chicken stock and bouillon.”

Cainchel had read about it in Gordon’s book. Simmering meat and vegetables together was the same, but the ingredients and taste were different.

Remembering that, he replied,

“Unlike stock, bouillon is made with the meat itself, so it has a better flavor. That’s why it’s sometimes eaten as is.”

“That’s almost exactly right. In French cuisine, bouillon is used instead of water when making dishes that require broth. You can think of it as the foundation of the flavor.”

Cainchel nodded and began to make bouillon in earnest.

‘Since I have to use all the chicken, I need to put my heart and soul into preparing the meat.’

The skin of the unprepared chicken was covered with blood and impurities. To remove them, Cainchel put it in plain water and parboiled it.

Bruno nodded at the sight.

“That’s right. When making bouillon, you need to boil it once first to remove the taste of blood. Monsieur, you learned from a good teacher.”

Cainchel recalled Gordon’s face, scowling and shouting.

Could he really call him a teacher?

The reason he was learning French cuisine like this was also for his showdown with him.

While the chicken was boiling, he began to prepare the green onions, onions, and carrots to be boiled together.

‘Onion Swordsmanship!’

As the sword he was holding multiplied into three, Bruno’s mouth dropped open.

“I’m still amazed, no matter how many times I see it… Using intermediate swordsmanship in cooking…”

Cainchel, who had quickly prepared the vegetables, put them in a pot and started boiling them.

Thanks to the pre-bleeding, almost no scum came out.

When making chicken stock at the training center, he used high heat to make it as quickly as possible. But with bouillon, that wouldn’t bring out the proper flavor.

Slowly.

It was important to simmer it very slowly so that all the flavors of the ingredients could be extracted.

Cainchel used Fallen Star to adjust the temperature of the pot.

Then Bruno let out a strange groan.

“Ugh! You’re as skilled as if you’ve been controlling the temperature for decades. I can’t even make such meticulous adjustments. But no matter how little scum rises, you still need to keep skimming off the oil. Bouillon is very honest. It gives you a clean taste as much as the effort you put in.”

While the bouillon was boiling,

Bruno told him about the recent trends in French cuisine.

“Haute cuisine [traditional, high-end French cooking] refers to high-end course meals representing Gaul. It is characterized by a rich flavor and strong taste due to the generous use of butter, cream, and spices. However, it is gradually being shunned by the public due to its excessively luxurious and heavy taste. What has evolved from that is nouvelle cuisine [a lighter, more modern style of French cooking], a new trend in French cuisine.”

Unlike haute cuisine, which was meat-centered, nouvelle cuisine actively used vegetables and fish.

“The sauces used also mainly use purees made from vegetables and fruits instead of roux [a mixture of butter and flour used to thicken sauces], which uses butter and flour. Therefore, the freshest ingredients are needed. A somewhat shorter cooking time is also one of the characteristics of nouvelle cuisine.”

French cuisine had developed more splendidly through the long royal era.

And even now, it was being realized in various forms at the hands of countless chefs.

‘Choosing Bruno was the right answer after all. If I had only relied on jewel salt, I would have missed something really important.’

Using jewel salt allows you to create higher-grade dishes than your skills would normally allow. But with that, you can never reach a higher level.

Because that is a realm that can only be reached by honing your own skills.

Cainchel ladled some bouillon and tasted it.

[Chicken Bouillon]

* Well-prepared chicken and various vegetables are simmered and extracted. Thanks to its rich taste, it can be used in various dishes.

* Completion: ★★★★

The Gourmet skill told him the completion level of the bouillon. It was a fairly high level of completion, even though it was the first time he had made it.

It was possible because he had put in all sorts of effort to boil it.

“Here, it’s done.”

“Hmm… Thank you for your hard work, monsieur. Then let’s taste it.”

Bruno nodded, looking at the broth that had been clarified to the point of being translucent.

Just looking at this, he could tell how seriously Cainchel thought about cooking.

Slurp-

The rich chicken broth passed down his throat.

Bruno savored the taste for a moment, then shouted in a loud voice.

“Bravo! This is a wonderful bouillon!”

Cainchel quietly nodded. A smile unconsciously appeared on his lips.

“I can’t just sit still after eating such bouillon. Shouldn’t we have a delicious dish for Chef Cainchel’s welcome?”

Instantly, Cainchel felt his heart beating fast.

He had made countless dishes so far, but he had never been called a chef.

He had been recognized as having the qualifications to stand in the kitchen of Epicure.

Cainchel nodded, more excited than when he became a Free Knight.

“I’m looking forward to what kind of dish will come out.”

What Bruno made was bouillabaisse [a traditional Provençal fish stew], a spicy stew made with seafood.

A large mullet was placed whole in the stew, and next to it were plenty of small shrimp, mussels, and clams.

Bruno smiled broadly, showing his teeth, and said,

“Originally, bouillabaisse is a dish that originated from fishermen gathering the leftovers they couldn’t sell and boiling them together. That’s why it contains strong-smelling tomatoes, peppers, garlic, and onions.”

“Did you boil it with chicken broth?”

Usually, fish stew is made with fish stock as a base. Fish is the best way to make the taste of fish even more delicious.

Fish and chicken.

Would it really go well together?

“Try it first.”

Bruno generously scooped fish and seafood onto Cainchel’s plate. The freshness of the leftover fish was a bit lacking, but the broth seemed to have been extracted very well.

Cainchel scooped it up and brought it to his mouth.

Even though it contained a lot of seafood, it didn’t taste fishy at all. The taste of fish and shellfish was perfectly balanced around the chicken broth.

“It’s better than you thought, isn’t it?”

“It’s really delicious. But it tastes a little sour. Did you soak it in water with lemon and salt before boiling it?”

“Heh heh, you’re right. Chef Cainchel is surprisingly knowledgeable about gourmet food.”

As he put the plump clam meat and fish meat into his mouth, he could feel the rich aroma of tomatoes.

It was a taste that made him think of bread without him realizing it.

He didn’t know that a dish made in a non-traditional way could be so delicious. Cainchel was once again impressed by Bruno’s cooking skills.

When he checked the Gourmet Mastery, his level had gone up by one.

‘It hasn’t been long since my level went up… After all, quality is more important than quantity when it comes to raising levels.’

Cainchel looked at Bruno, who was sitting across from him.

He was planning to learn the cooking techniques and know-how that this man possessed for the next 10 days.

‘But this bouillabaisse is really delicious.’

And so, Cainchel devoured all the bouillabaisse that had been boiled in the pot in an instant.