By the time I returned to the manor, the sun was already setting in the distance.
'Dinner is going to be a bit late...'
I left the wine I had received as a gift from Eilenna in my room and headed straight for the kitchen.
I was clearly a guest and boarder of the Sildiel household, so there was no need for me to keep cooking, but...
It's not like I had anything else to do besides cooking anyway.
If I didn't do it, I'd have to eat that 'elven food' too, right?
'Anything but that...'
After reaffirming my motivation for cooking, I stepped into the kitchen, where six elves greeted me.
"Hello, Chef!"
"Mmhmm, yes, yes."
Chop chop chop chop chop-!
Ssssss-!
The elves were diligently prepping the ingredients for today's menu.
Onions, eggplant, tomatoes, zucchini, and more—all being sliced in a fairly neat manner.
It had only been a few days, but their knife work was at least tolerable compared to the beginning.
Thanks to them, I no longer had to handle all the cooking myself.
And since I would be leaving Nuahrdel soon, it would be problematic if they became too dependent on me.
I had to teach them how to fish; you can't sustain yourself if you're just given fish.
These were the six trainee elves selected for that purpose.
They had passion for cooking but didn't know how.
Or mainly those who volunteered after being deeply impressed by my food.
"Jinu, you're here!"
"Iseria. You should call me Chef in the kitchen."
"Ah. Sorry, no... I apologize. Chef!"
Iseria was among those six.
I didn't think she had cooked in the past, nor that she'd have any interest whatsoever.
Unexpectedly, Iseria applied immediately upon hearing that I was recruiting trainee elves.
I had asked her why out of curiosity.
'I... I just! I might be interested in cooking too. What's so weird about that?'
'Damn, I can't argue because she's right.'
Apparently, living with me had piqued her interest in cooking.
From a human perspective it might seem otherwise, but from an elven viewpoint, Iseria was a fledgling who had just reached adulthood.
It was a time when she still hadn't decided what she liked or what to make her livelihood.
Naturally, she was very impressionable.
Well, personal feelings aside, I was all for her learning to cook.
She would probably live several times longer than me.
Imagining her eating nothing but that watery vegetable stew and rock-hard Elskit for all those long years?
'I'd rather just...'
Hey, hey, hey.
I should stop thinking there.
Anyway, the point was that it wouldn't hurt for her to learn.
Tonight's dinner menu was ratatouille, toasted bread, and zucchini risotto.
Tomatoes are delicious ingredients, but even elves have their preferences.
Usually one tomato-based dish and one non-tomato dish. I prepared a total of two mains.
Ratatouille was a simple enough dish.
The toasted bread was... if they can't manage this, they're expelled from the kitchen, you brats.
Therefore, what I needed to focus on was the zucchini risotto.
I had to make zucchini cream separately, and risotto itself was quite a high-difficulty dish.
But I had taught them well last time... so it should be fine, right?
I approached the elf who was diligently toasting the risotto rice.
You shouldn't pour all the prepared broth at once; you have to ladle it in bit by bit, reducing and stirring, for the starch to come out properly...
Glug glug glug-!
Our Elf Trainee No. 1 seemed to have no memory of learning that.
"Hey!!! How dare you pour the broth all at once!! One ladle at a time, I said, one ladle!!!!"
"Hieek! S-sorry. Chef!"
Drip drip drip-...
Elf Trainee No. 1, startled by my yell, panicked and dumped the water, which had already fused with the risotto and dissolved all its flavor, straight down the drain beside her.
Agh, you crazy...
"What do you think you're doing throwing away the stock all the umami has seeped into!!!! You crazy-eared bastard!!"
"T... trash talk..."
"The bad thing is clearly your memory for forgetting what I taught you!!!"
"Hieek..."
A kitchen full of sharp cooking utensils and flames always blazing.
The possibility of dangerous accidents was very high, so shouting always filled the kitchen.
Some might call it absurd, but humans need a scolding to come to their senses.
And the same went for elves.
"I'll do it again. Chef! I'm sorry!"
"Good. I'll check back later. Medium-low heat, one ladle at a time, got it?"
"Yes, Chef!"
The other elves in charge of risotto, having watched Elf Trainee No. 1 get thoroughly chewed out by me, established their own discipline and stirred their risotto.
Now it was time to check the zucchini cream, the sauce for the zucchini risotto.
Undercooked zucchini can taste bitter and grassy, so it needed to be cooked until it could be gently crushed with a spoon.
I approached the elf in charge of the zucchini cream.
The zucchini had already gone through all the steps and been finely ground into a cream.
"Hmph! I cooked it perfectly! Chef!"
"Oh, really?"
Well... it was easier than making risotto, but zucchini cream had extremely simple ingredients.
A bit of onion, herbs, and a large amount of zucchini. That was it.
It was called cream because its texture was 'like cream,' not because it contained any dairy.
Because the ingredients were so simple, even a hint of off-flavor would show.
The female elf assigned to the zucchini cream stood there, wearing an apron and brimming with confidence.
Gulp-
I scooped some zucchini cream with a spoon and tasted it.
Slurp-
Then, after taking a deep breath... I shouted.
"The green stench of your zucchini cream is so strong, even the World Tree might come back to life!!!!"
"Hieeeek...!"
I had clearly told them to cook it thoroughly before grinding to eliminate the grassiness and bitterness.
Instead, the cream reeked of grass freshly cut and vibrated with that unique vegetable bitterness.
She had clearly ground it without checking if it was properly cooked.
"Hieek, the chef is scary."
"How can he say such elf-phobic things..."
The other trainee elves were shocked to hear me scolding her.
The female elf who had taken my venomous words head-on...
"Urk, sniff sniff..."
"What are you crying for, as if you did something right! Make it again. I told you to check if it could be easily crushed with a spoon before grinding!"
"Understood..."
Perhaps the scolding had been so shocking, she began remaking the zucchini cream with a tear or two falling.
'This is all for your own good.'
You have to learn properly from the start so you can use it anywhere.
You'll regret it for sure if you learn half-heartedly.
I glanced at Iseria for a moment.
Without noticing my gaze, she was baking bread and preparing the ratatouille.
Maybe because she'd watched me cook a fair bit, among the elves here, her form was the best.
'Well, it won't happen overnight.'
If I took time to practice with them, by the time I left, they would be able to make delicious food.
"It's almost mealtime! Move, move!"
"Yes, Chef!"
And so, after somehow getting through tonight's dinner, everyone had left for the night, and I remained alone in the kitchen.
'Shall I make it now?'
The peach tart I had thought about making on my way home.
If I made it tonight and kept it chilled with an ice spirit, I could take it with me tomorrow.
'[Mana Market].'
I opened the [Mana Market] to exchange for ingredients I had planned in advance.
▲
「Flour (Bread Flour)」
「Flour (All-Purpose Flour)」
「Flour (Cake Flour)」
「Yeast」
「???」
▼
For today's dessert, the peach tart, I would use cake flour.
The low-gluten cake flour would make a tart crust that was crispy outside and moist inside.
Tart dough was not fermented to make it rise.
Rather, it was a dough that had to be pressed down with baking weights during baking to prevent puffing.
Therefore, no yeast was needed either...
I looked over the registered items and exchanged for all the ingredients.
Swoosh-!
'Ugh, this time it's a bit dizzier?'
Was it because baking required so many ingredients?
It felt like about half my mana drained at once.
Ah well, it would all recover after a good night's sleep.
For now, I had to start with the tart dough, which took the longest.
I put two globs of soft butter into a large bowl and mixed with a spatula.
I had to break it all down so the butter melted into the dough without clumping.
Squish-!
Splat-!
'Ooh, ASMR.'
The sticky, squelching sound of the butter smoothing out was ASMR-worthy.
It would have been quick with a whisk, but the spatula took a bit longer.
Once the butter became creamy and spreadable, I added the powdered sugar.
Rustle-!
Just like before, I had to sprinkle it as slowly as possible to avoid clumps.
A sifter would have made this much easier...
'Agh, damn elves.'
Such basic cooking tools existed even at the Silvaerin restaurant, so what the hell were these guys doing...
I mixed the butter and powdered sugar well, then added two egg yolks and my first kick.
A small amount of rosemary extract.
Normally you'd add vanilla extract, but I hadn't found any in this other world yet.
So I set the recipe's direction to fragrant, fresh, and sweet.
The rosemary extract would handle the fragrant notes of the tart.
Adding the cake flour and mixing until there were no lumps...
Before I knew it, the uniquely stiff yet smooth butter-based dough was complete.
I put the finished dough into the tart mold and spread it out evenly.
Squish- press-
Actually, there wasn't even a tart mold in the manor kitchen.
So I had taken a baking tray to the smithy and asked them to shape it into a mold.
I still can't forget the gaze of the elf blacksmith who stared at me like I was a madman...
'Still, the result shall be magnificent.'
I put the tart dough straight into the refrigerator.
If it hardened in the fridge for more than two hours, that part was done.
Actually, once the tart dough was finished, the rest was quick.
I took out the two peaches I had gotten from Eilenna's house earlier.
I lightly scored them, blanched them in boiling water, and immediately cooled them in ice water.
Fruits with tender flesh, like tomatoes, could almost all be easily peeled this way.
I cut the prepared peaches into small cubes.
Not minced, but large enough to still feel the texture.
These peaches were already sweet thanks to the World Tree's vitality and Eilenna's abilities.
I mixed those peaches with sugar and a splash of lemon juice.
Squish squish-
This would rest in the fridge along with the tart dough.
Now only one thing remained: lemon custard cream.
It required some technique but could be made quickly.
First, boil butter, lemon juice, and lemon zest together.
In another bowl, mix sugar, three egg yolks, and a little flour to make the custard batter.
Now, pour the custard batter into the lemon butter I had just boiled, and heat it over low flame while stirring diligently?
'Now!'
The thick, sweet, plump viscosity of custard cream emerges.
Transfer the cream to a bowl right then and chill it in the refrigerator, and you're done.
Now, after two hours, I'd take out the tart dough and bake it once, with rice or beans weighed on top so it wouldn't puff up.
After letting it cool a bit, a second baking, then cooling again...
If I put the lemon custard cream on top and bake it again...?
'Baking really is alchemy...'
There's a joke in the culinary world: "Baking is alchemy."
If you get the dough's measurements even slightly wrong,
'Oops, added 10g too much? It won't rise.'
If you bake it longer or shorter,
'Baked it wrong? It's dead.'
If you leave out even one flavoring ingredient,
'Didn't put one in? It'll taste bad.'
It boasts such insane fussiness that the saying about it being no different from alchemy was born.
Every time I bake, I feel the truth of those words painfully.
It's really a pain.
But since I was putting this much effort into it, it would taste insanely good.
The night had deepened while I waited for the dough to rest.
I combined all the ingredients according to the recipe and completed the tart.
'Eilenna, just you wait...'
Starting tomorrow morning, I’ll make it so you can’t bear to go without wine.
Ugh, I’m tired.
I stored the finished tart in the refrigerator and collapsed into sleep.
***
Eilenna Liliendra had slept fitfully through the night.
The reason was none other than,
the human chef who had suddenly visited yesterday. Gang Jinu.
At first, when he barged in while she was in the middle of focusing on her winemaking, irritation had surged up within her.
But unable to resist Elioren’s persuasion, she had reluctantly given him a tour.
The human, Gang Jinu, had been different from what she expected.
Given the nature of humans as a short-lived race, she had assumed their knowledge would be just as shallow.
Yet he had suddenly asked about the climate, rainfall, and hours of sunlight, prying into the cultivation environment.
And then he had practically thrown a fit because she hadn’t adhered to traditional winemaking methods.
‘Pfft, how foolish.’
Blankly receiving the morning sunlight, Eilenna let out a laugh to herself.
She thought it was foolish, but he was exactly the kind of person she had wanted.
If anything, the true fool was probably Eilenna herself.
She merely made delicious wine thanks to the World Tree and her innate talent.
Gang Jinu, on the other hand, must have learned all of that knowledge by clashing with things directly.
Yesterday, she had been so flustered by the depth of Gang Jinu’s knowledge that she hadn’t even been able to speak properly.
Except for the very end before they parted, when she had honestly conveyed her true feelings.
‘When he tasted my wine, he had a strangely sad expression.’
What had been the true meaning behind that expression?
His praise that it was delicious had certainly felt sincere.
‘Could it be... because of the food paired with it?’
Wine was not simply a beverage served alongside food.
Depending on the occasion, it could possess the potential to surpass the food itself.
As a chef, there was more than enough chance that he had made that expression because he found the accompaniments lacking.
Or perhaps, because Eilenna herself could not eat cheese... he may have felt pity for her.
‘No, there’s no way.’
Fresh, light-green hair like green grapes.
Clear blue eyes that could be compared to the eternal snow of the Kalian Mountains.
Together with the beautiful features unique to elves, Eilenna possessed objectively astonishing beauty.
And yet she herself did not think so.
She was a female elf who had spent her entire life absorbed in crops and wine.
And though the truth was simply that she was shy around strangers, she had a forceful way of speaking that came out without her realizing it.
When these factors combined with her tall, striking figure, they created an even fiercer impression.
Because of that... she was used to being alone.
‘When... will he come again?’
No, she had been used to it.
It had only been half a day, but she had found herself interested in the person called Gang Jinu.
A wait with no promise of when it would end.
Thinking she might as well make wine in the meantime, Eilenna rose from her seat.
But just then.
Bang, bang, bang—!
Someone began pounding on her door from the morning as if they meant to break it down.
It was a situation that gave her a faint sense of déjà vu, but Eilenna did not think too deeply about it.
Because most of the neighbors who came to call her pounded on the door as if they would break it down.
It must be one of the neighbors again this time.
As always, Eilenna flung the door open.
“Ah, hello, Lady Eilenna.”
“Uh... huh?!”
However,
the person standing in front of the door was Gang Jinu.
The very culprit who had made her lose sleep through the night and sink into thought until morning.
‘Hieeeeeek...’
Eilenna’s face flushed red like a ripe peach.