Cooking Swordmaster [EN]: Chapter 211

Kainchel sensed that Goethe’s presence here was no mere coincidence.

It was said that those with connections to the Demon World were instinctively drawn to one another.

This was why the witches’ Sabbath and the followers’ festival, Walpurgis Night [a traditional celebration on the eve of May Day in Germanic countries, often associated with witches], took place every year.

‘He brought the original manuscript of the book on a trip to change his mood. Goethe would usually hate to even glance at the manuscript and would have left it at home.’

Perhaps Goethe also felt something from Faust?

‘But first, I need to explain that I need Goethe’s help to close the gate.’

However, Goethe made the first move.

He smiled, holding out the sack he had been carrying.

It was something he hadn’t let go of even while being dragged by Morgana.

“Duke Kainchel, I heard you received the title of Diligence? Oh, right, this is a congratulatory gift. Let’s cook it deliciously and eat it together. I bought a lot, so there’ll be enough for everyone here to eat.”

“Before that, I think you should hear about the situation first.”

“Hey, you know my personality. I can’t do anything when I’m hungry.”

Thanks to Goethe’s wandering nature, they were able to save quite a bit of time.

Besides, Calliope’s mana needed to be replenished a bit more to perform the ritual.

“Then shall we talk while eating something?”

Even at a glance, the sack contained fresh pen shells [a type of saltwater clam]. If these were used as ingredients, they could make a really delicious scallop steak.

Morgana, who was drooling next to him, nodded her head several times as if agreeing.

Calliope, who had never eaten scallops before, asked,

“Is it delicious?”

Then, as if he had been waiting for it, Goethe raised his voice.

“Wahahaha! Scallops, with their delicate and sweet taste, are delicious no matter how you cook them. That’s why they’re called the little treasures of the sea. It’s just sad that you can only eat them near the coast because freshness is important.”

In particular, the adductor muscle [the muscle that closes the shell] of the pen shell boasts a thick size reminiscent of tenderloin steak.

When cooked as a steak, you can enjoy the fun of slicing and eating the scallop meat.

Those who were listening to Goethe’s voice unconsciously swallowed.

Didn’t it sound delicious just from the description? As expected of a great writer.

* * *

Kainchel first prepared quail eggs, cauliflower, truffles, and well-aged pancetta [Italian bacon made of pork belly that is salt-cured and dried] to use as ingredients.

He was planning to make a fantastic scallop steak using these.

“Scallop steak made by Duke Kainchel…! Ugh, I can’t even imagine how delicious it will be!”

The ingredients are very simple, but some techniques are needed to cook them deliciously.

Kainchel first pried open the pen shell and used his mithril knife to scrape the top of the shell.

The adductor muscle, with its thick and chewy texture, is the part that connects the shellfish to the shell.

Unlike other shellfish, the adductor muscle of the pen shell, which has less movement, is softer and has a much better texture.

Goethe’s eye for ingredients was considerable.

The pen shells he had chosen were much fresher than the ones he had put in the bouillabaisse [a traditional Provençal fish stew].

“To preserve the texture of the scallops, you have to be careful from the moment you take them out of the shell. Use a spoon to remove all the shellfish, and then use your thumb to separate the adductor muscle.”

If too much force is applied at this time, the scallops will shrink and lose their flavor.

Kainchel handled the shellfish several times more carefully than when he fought Lurutia.

The separated scallops are seasoned with salt and pepper.

It is important to sprinkle them from a slightly distant place to ensure that they are evenly distributed throughout.

Goethe exclaimed at the sight of the master’s dignity.

“Kiya, that’s amazing! How can your cooking skills improve every time I see you? What are you going to use for the sauce? Is it going to be Gallic ratatouille [a French Provençal vegetable stew] again?”

“I think that’s too spicy.”

“That’s true. Then, bean purée?”

“No. I’m thinking of using cauliflower purée. The savory and soft taste goes really well with scallops.”

He was just making food to fill his stomach, but he felt like he was in a cooking competition.

Then, Oracle’s face in Citizen suddenly came to mind. She was taking care of Verus in Kainchel’s place.

The gem ice cream she made was one grade lower.

Still, it was enough to suppress Frelia’s curse, who had been eating Kainchel’s cooking for almost a year.

It was said that Frelia was nicknamed Snow White because she ate ice cream all day long.

Kainchel smiled contentedly and lit the stove. Now he had to focus on the dish in front of him.

First, heat olive oil in a hot pan and melt butter. Then a savory scent began to waft.

Add finely chopped cauliflower and roast it.

Season with salt and pepper and stir-fry for about 3-4 minutes so that the butter does not burn, and the surface turns light brown.

Put it in milk and grind it to make cauliflower purée.

Adding garlic and onions will add a sweet and spicy flavor.

But today, he was thinking of maximizing the original taste of the scallops.

It was that great of an ingredient.

“I’m going to put fried quail eggs and pancetta on the scallops.”

“That’s good, but are you going to cook on three pans at the same time? It would be difficult unless you have three arms.”

“I learned an interesting technique.”

Kainchel chuckled and activated Jelly.

The tentacle protruding from his left shoulder could be used like another arm.

At first, he wasn’t used to it and couldn’t even bake potatoes properly. But now he could do most of the work with this tentacle.

“That doesn’t seem like a cooking technique… Well, whatever. As long as it tastes good.”

He placed pancetta, quail eggs, and scallops on three pans with olive oil and butter and started to cook.

Goethe, who was watching it, admired.

“Hoo, the condition of all the pans is different. You have to put the scallops on high heat and gradually reduce it to medium heat so they don’t burn. That’s how you maintain the moist juices and chewy texture. Your pancetta grilling skills are no joke either?”

Pancetta is a type of bacon made from pork belly. As it cooked, a savory smell wafted.

It is made by drying, so it does not have a smoky flavor. However, the umami from the aged fat was beyond comparison with bacon.

The pancetta is grilled until it feels crispy.

On the other hand, quail eggs are only heated slightly so that the butter flavor permeates.

The skill of perfectly cooking the small quail eggs, which lose their shape with the slightest touch, into perfect soft-boiled eggs was amazing.

Moreover, he was doing it all at the same time.

“You definitely have three hands, so the speed of cooking is amazing? And you’re even baking bread in the oven? How many things are you making at the same time!?”

Sizzle-!

White water flowed from the butter-coated scallops. This meant they were completely cooked. If exposed to heat any longer, they would turn into hard stones.

Kainchel quickly moved it to a plate.

All the processes were completed in less than ten minutes after starting to cook. Now all that was left was plating.

Sprinkle cauliflower purée on a plate and place the scallop steak on it as if pressing it down.

Carefully place the quail eggs on top of the scallops so that the yolks do not break.

Place pancetta and lightly stir-fried green soybeans in between, and decorate with soybean stalks to add color and flavor.

Kainchel finally sliced truffles very thinly and sprinkled them on the plate. The smaller you cut it, the stronger the unique aroma of truffles becomes. As Goethe held out the plate with the completed scallop steak, he put his hand on his forehead.

“…It’s so beautiful that it’s almost sexy. It’s been a long time since I’ve had food that’s too precious to put in my mouth. The scallop steak and various decorations on the pure white plate look like a watercolor painting.”

Goethe raved and raised his fork.

“Oh, I made fried shellfish with the remaining shellfish. There’s also Gallic-style baguette [a long, thin loaf of French bread], so you can spread butter on it and eat it.”

“I can’t resist this!”

The well-baked baguette was crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.

The slightly sour and savory taste was due to fermentation using levain [a natural leavening agent] used in Gaul [an ancient region in Western Europe, encompassing present-day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and parts of Germany and Italy].

Goethe screamed at the taste that was like eating yogurt.

“This is really delicious? You can open a bakery in Gaul right now. Starting with pre-meal bread is against the rules.”

Batory, who had eaten four baguettes in an instant, nodded.

“Too mahihuhyo…”

“You need to get rid of the habit of talking while eating. Weren’t you a quiet noble lady?”

“I, I’m sorry… gulp. I am.”

Goethe began to cut the main scallop steak. It’s good to put it all in your mouth and chew it, but this is how you should eat it to get the real taste.

The pen shell scallops were elastic but not tough, so they cut easily and smoothly.

Goethe brought the scallop steak, which looked delicious just by looking at it, to his mouth.

Then, the savory butter scent and the rich taste of the accompanying pancetta were felt.

The pancetta alone was enough as a dish. But the real surprise began when he chewed the scallops.

“What!? How did you grill the scallops so that the juices are flowing like this!?”

“It’s because I seared it quickly over high heat. All the flavor of the scallops is in there, right?”

“Kuh. And the scent of truffles is so good… This is so delicious…”

A dreamy and attractive aroma is mixed in with the intense mushroom scent.

It was replenishing the delicate scent of the scallops.

The speed of cutting the scallops increased. In the end, he couldn’t stand it and put it in his mouth and mumbled.

Goethe moved his fork as if he was going to eat the fried shellfish this time.

When he gently inserted the fork into the fried food, an incredibly savory scent wafted out with a crisp sound.

“Ahem. This is a smell that I can’t resist without eating it. It seems like it’s just sprinkled with a little salt without any sauce…”

He could understand the reason the moment he put the fried food in his mouth.

The flavor of the oil that stimulates the salivary glands is felt from the crispy batter. When you move your mouth lightly, it crumbles as it is.

The taste of the shellfish inside was so rich that it was surprising.

The shellfish with a unique umami melts and disappears in your mouth every time you chew.

Most fried foods are delicious. There is even a saying that you can fry leather shoes and eat them.

But this was on a different level.

“I, is this fried food made with leftover ingredients!?”

Chewy scallop steak and crispy fried food.

His stomach swelled up in an instant when he ate it with well-baked baguette. But he couldn’t stop eating.

In the end, Goethe ate two more plates of scallop steak before muttering with a satisfied expression.

“Hoo, that was a really good meal. But there’s just one thing I regret.”

“What do you regret?”

“I actually like beans more than cauliflower. It would have been 100 points if it was bean purée, but I’ll give it 98 points because I regret that.”

“Co, beans!?”

Just in case, I checked and Goethe’s rating was 5 stars, unlike Morgana and Batory.

‘Tsk, he ate well and gave it too low of a score. Anyway, he likes beans, right? Next time, I should start by shelling beans when making the sauce.’

Goethe patted his stomach with a satisfied expression and suddenly asked as if he had remembered something.

“By the way, what were we talking about earlier?”

“I’m sure we said we’d do it while eating.”

“Ah, it was so delicious that I ate it all without thinking.”

“Did you deduct 2 points after saying that!?”

Goethe is a gourmet who is hard to please.

But if it weren’t for him, there would be no seasoned chicken or chocolate ice cream.

In fact, Kainchel didn’t know, but Goethe had only given a score of 90 or higher to a handful of dishes. And there was no perfect score.

* * *

Kainchel told Goethe about the gate to the Demon World after he finished his meal.

A strange groan flowed from Goethe’s mouth after hearing it all.

“Ahem. So, you’re saying that the writing I wrote was so amazing that it turned into a demon?”

“That’s right. To be exact, the novel ‘Faust’ itself became a connection to the Demon World.”

“I don’t know whether to be happy or sad about this… But I don’t feel too bad. Uahaha!”

Goethe had already heard this kind of evaluation before.

His representative work, ‘The Sorrows of Young Werther’, is an overwhelmingly immersive novel.

So much so that young people who read it tried to commit suicide like the main character, Werther.

Arthur Wolfgang von Goethe.

Even Aslan was said to be an enthusiastic reader who always carried his books in his arms.

Goethe scratched his head and asked.

“I understand that if I don’t cooperate, the souls of the two young ladies and the entire Britannia will be in danger. But what exactly do I have to do?”

“That is…”

Kainchel had never thought about that either.

In the case of Morgana and Batory, the witch’s mark disappears along with the connection.

In other words, they are freed from the hands of the devil.

But if the novel itself is the medium, what kind of change will occur?

Calliope was to explain that.

“Maybe the content of the novel, which is the connection, will disappear.”

“Really? Well, that’s about it. Even if it’s the first edition, I’ve made a lot of copies. I was going to sell it later and buy some alcohol, but Goethe is generous! Mwahaha!”

“No, that’s not what I mean, Goethe. The cause and effect of the content of the novel you wrote itself will be reversed and eventually become non-existent. It will definitely disappear from your memory as well.”

Goethe’s face, which had been laughing playfully, froze coldly.

“Wait a minute. Then what about the motive for writing this novel? Does that memory disappear too?”

“That remains. And you can write a new Faust based on that. But the Faust you’ve written so far disappears. And the souls of two witches are in your hands. I hope you remember that.”

“Really? Then the story is simple.”

Goethe smiled and said the conclusion he had reached.