Cooking Swordmaster [EN]: Chapter 230

Keinzel used the money he earned from selling cola to buy a top-grade two-dimensional pocket.

Its internal capacity was the same as his old one, but its stability was greatly improved.

The inside of the two-dimensional pocket was about the size of a large room.

Connected to the Astral Dimension, it could store food ingredients without spoiling for up to a year.

Keinzel carried various ingredients needed for cooking inside.

However, most of the space was taken up by firewood, which he needed for most dishes.

Whether he was making soup, grilling meat, or boiling noodles, he needed fire.

But his firewood was running out.

The reason was that he had brought a lot of monster cooking ingredients in preparation for any possible situation.

This wouldn’t be a problem anywhere else.

He could easily find dry firewood just by walking around a bit.

However, Keinzel was in a desert with nothing but sand.

‘Even if I use flambé to make a fire, I don’t have much aura left. It’s not nearly enough to grill meat.’

Who would have thought that the battle with the giant golem would hold him back like this?

“Abel, can you control fire spirits too?”

“Fire spirits? I’m sorry, but fire is the opposite of the World Tree. So, the only spirits elves can control are water and wind.”

Keinzel’s eyes narrowed. It seemed he couldn’t expect help from Abel.

If he thought about it carefully, there must be something to replace the firewood.

At that moment, Keinzel saw the magma still emitting intense heat.

Maybe he could use that to grill meat?

It was worth a try.

Keinzel used Fallen Star to check the temperature of the magma.

‘It’s about 600 degrees. It’s lower than a wood fire, but it’s hot enough to grill meat, right?’

When Keinzel set up the cooking table next to the magma, Abel’s eyes widened.

“…Are you going to cook with magma?”

“I don’t have much firewood left. Well, it doesn’t matter where I grill it as long as it tastes good.”

“But you’re handling magma like it’s mud.”

“Ah, this? This is basic for a chef who has undergone the baptism of fire.”

“I’m sorry, but please stop making jokes with a serious face. It keeps making the word ‘chef’ sound like a synonym for ‘monster’.”

Steam rose as he placed the pan on the magma. He decided to supplement the insufficient heat with flambé [a cooking technique where alcohol is added to a hot pan to create a burst of flames].

The dish he was about to make was steak tacos with a special sauce.

Tacos, along with sandwiches and burritos, can be said to be one of the representative foods of Laos. It is made by wrapping grilled tortillas with fish or meat seasoned with sauce and vegetables.

First, he had to grill the meat.

Keinzel placed a large sirloin steak on the cooking table. Then, Abdullah grabbed his aching body and got up.

“…Is that beef? I’m sorry, but I can’t eat beef for religious reasons.”

“Wasn’t pork the meat forbidden in the Ottoman Empire [a historical empire primarily based in modern-day Turkey]?”

“That depends on the god you believe in. Anyway, I’d rather die here than eat beef.”

As expected of a closed desert nation, little is known about the Ottoman Empire.

It seemed he would have to ask about beef and pork in detail when he arrived in Byzantium [a historical city, now Istanbul, with significant cultural and religious importance].

Keinzel seasoned the sirloin with salt and pepper and said.

“Anything but beef is okay, right?”

“…Yes.”

“Then there’s no problem. This isn’t beef.”

“What do you mean? No matter how I look at it, that meat is…”

“Gorgon. To be exact, it’s young Gorgon sirloin. Gorgon meat looks similar to beef, but the flavor is much richer. Once you eat it, you won’t be able to eat any other meat.”

It was the leftover part from making the self-contradictory calf liver steak for Morgana.

Perhaps because it was well-aged in the two-dimensional pocket, it had such a strong meaty aroma that it made his head spin.

“Haha… Certainly, if it’s Gorgon meat, there’s no problem. But Gorgon meat is known to be inedible because it contains petrification poison.”

“I detoxified it in advance, so it’s okay.”

Abdullah nodded unexpectedly readily.

He felt more willing to eat Gorgon meat than beef.

“Anyway, I deliberately didn’t remove the fat for the flavor. I’m going to grill it together.”

The pan drizzled with olive oil on the magma was heated.

Keinzel carefully placed the sirloin on it with a satisfied face.

Sizzle-!

Then, along with the sound of the meat cooking, an unbelievably rich meaty aroma began to spread.

Abel, who was attaching potatoes to Abdullah’s body, said with shining eyes.

“As expected, Keinzel’s meat grilling skills are really amazing. If it’s okay, can I have a piece too?”

“Of course.”

Abdullah sighed.

Soon, he would see an elf eating meat deliciously.

He knew he was a half-elf, but it was still a sight he couldn’t get used to.

While the steak was grilling on the pan, Keinzel made the marinade to marinate the meat at an incredible speed.

He added a spoonful of sugar and two spoonfuls of refined rice wine to the tomato paste, which prevents skin damage.

The refined rice wine will add a tangy flavor.

Finally, he added olive oil and seasoned with salt and pepper to create a very rich and sweet marinade.

Keinzel explained the Gorgon steak to Abdullah and Abel, who were drooling.

“When the steak starts to cook, you have to keep pouring the oil that comes out onto the meat. That way, you can create a steak that retains the juice and flavor of the meat.”

Then, he grabbed the steak with tongs and grilled the fat attached to the side as if searing it.

That’s how he melted the fat.

Then, the flavor would permeate the meat as it is.

“I can’t believe it. You’re just grilling meat, but it smells so crazy…”

Abel also nodded in agreement.

“Certainly, this seems much more amazing than a great steak.”

When the meat was cooked, he turned off the heat and took it out of the pan.

He removed all the pieces of fat that spoiled the texture using a mithril knife.

He marinated it in the marinade he had just made.

“Now, I’m going to make a sour cabbage slaw to put in the steak tacos. Tacos taste best with the freshest vegetables.”

“The cabbage is certainly fresh. I should get a new two-dimensional pocket this time.”

He finely chopped the cabbage and seasoned it with spicy chili powder.

Then, he added vinegar and fresh lemon juice to give it a sour taste and mixed it well.

“Simple, right? Now it’s time for the wasabi mayonnaise sauce to make a strong flavor.”

“Wasabi mayonnaise? I’ve never heard of such a sauce. Don’t you usually put chili con carne or meat sauce in tacos?”

“It’s a very delicious sauce that enhances the taste of the meat.”

For the past three months, Keinzel had been making various dishes from the recipes that Brilliant Road had shown him.

Among them, there was a sauce that had never existed before.

That was mayonnaise.

When egg yolk, soybean oil, and vinegar are added and whisked quickly, white bubbles rise and turn into a cream.

Then, a sauce with a savory and subtle flavor is created.

The characteristic of mayonnaise is that countless variations are created when mixed with other sauces.

If you mix it with mustard and honey, it becomes sweet honey mustard, and it tastes good even if you add garlic.

Surely, mayonnaise alone will be able to satisfy the tastes of countless guests in the future.

Wasabi mayo, which is a mixture of mayonnaise and wasabi (わさび) [a Japanese horseradish known for its pungent flavor], was a sauce with a savory and pungent taste.

If served with steak tacos, it will surely get rid of the greasy taste of the meat.

Wasabi was an ingredient that only grew in a small country at the very end of the East.

Keinzel searched all over Britannia, as well as the port city of Edinburgh, and was barely able to obtain wasabi.

Because it had to cross the wide ocean, it was a refined powder. He used it by dissolving it in water.

He took a small amount of wasabi and put it on his tongue. Then, his nose tingled and his tongue went numb.

It was a spicy taste he had never experienced before.

If chili peppers make your whole body hot, wasabi makes your nose tingle and your mouth feel cold and numb.

‘This is exactly the taste that will get rid of the greasy taste of the meat and add flavor.’

Mayonnaise and wasabi.

Abdullah’s eyes lit up at the appearance of a condiment he had never seen before.

If you look at the process of making any food, you can guess the taste to some extent.

But it was impossible to even imagine the taste of that light green sauce.

He mixed green powder dissolved in water with a snow-white cream made by mixing soybean oil and eggs.

What kind of sauce would it taste like?

Overwhelming curiosity rushed in.

Abdullah had to twist his body, feeling impatient.

He wanted to risk being rude and run to the cooking table right now and dip it in and eat it.

“Please stay still. If you move, it keeps dangling.”

“Cough, cough. I’m really sorry…”

Abdullah blushed like a young boy, unlike his age of over forty.

Only then did he realize that he was entrusting his body to a dazzlingly beautiful elf.

Keinzel shrugged, seeing the awkward atmosphere between the two.

Before he knew it, the steak tacos were nearing completion.

When Keinzel took out the crispy, well-baked tortillas from the oven, Abdullah’s mouth dropped open.

Tacos are a dish made by kneading flour, baking it into a circle, and topping it with various vegetables, sauces, and meat.

Of course, he knew that much.

But when did he bake so many tortillas? He clearly didn’t even see him kneading the dough.

“Did you perhaps conjure the tortillas by sacrificing something precious…?”

“Ah, I kneaded this with my third and fourth arms. You can’t see it well from there, can you?”

Then, something familiar popped out from under the cooking table.

It seemed he had kneaded the dough using the tentacles he had seen when fighting the giant golem.

Abdullah’s face turned white as he remembered where it came from.

And he kept muttering.

“That’s food to heal my body… My body…”

Keinzel wrapped the crispy, well-baked tortillas in the Fragarach scabbard and baked them slightly to make a cylindrical shape.

“It’s really convenient to have more tools that move without me having to touch them.”

“…”

In the end, Abdullah had to lose his words and lower his head.

The cabbage slaw is squeezed and piled high on a plate.

Then, he started cutting the well-cooked Gorgon steak. The outside was seared very nicely, and the inside was a beautiful pink color.

It was a really amazing steak.

He placed these on top of the crispy tacos and spread wasabi mayo sauce on top.

As the pungent scent of wasabi stung his nose, Abdullah’s mouth watered.

The time had finally come to eat that sauce he had never seen before!

“Steak tacos with wasabi mayo. I also have the ingredients separately, so you can eat them according to your preference.”

Abdullah’s hands trembled.

The fact that the meat in front of him was a Gorgon had already been blown away into the depths of his memory.

The important thing was that sauce…

He was insanely curious about what wasabi mayonnaise would taste like.

Abdullah first reached out to the plate full of wasabi mayo. He dipped it on his finger and brought it to his mouth.

“…!”