Now that I’d settled on the menu, I exchanged for the ingredients without hesitation.
「Dried anchovies」
「Green onions」
「Onions」
「Eggs」
▼
The main ingredients I needed were dried anchovies, green onions, onions, and eggs, and if I had kelp and gim for the broth as well, that would be the icing on the cake.
But the Silbaerin market only had dried seafood; I couldn’t find gim or kelp anywhere.
Just as I was browsing decent ingredients without much expectation,
▲
「Carrots」
「Gim」
「Kelp」
「???」
「???」
▼
‘There’s gim and kelp?’
I’d assumed they wouldn’t have them since they were ingredients the West disliked, so why were they registered?
I tried to recall my visit to the dried seafood shop.
‘Ah, those leaves stuck dried onto the anchovy box?’
When you buy dried seafood, you sometimes find a gizzard shad mixed in with the anchovies, or a different dried fish fillet among the filefish jerky.
Just like that, kelp and gim must have gotten mixed into the anchovy box, and I must have touched them without realizing it.
I’d been ready to accept it if the flavor was a little lacking because I didn’t have the ingredients, but this changed things.
I had everything I needed for janchi-guksu.
First, I filled a large pot with water, put in the anchovies and kelp tied in cheesecloth along with green onions and onions, and turned on the heat.
If anchovies and kelp steep for too long, the flavor turns murky, so I just had to remember to take them out midway.
For the noodles, I would use the dried somyeon I had prepared in advance.
After all, dried noodles were convenient to take out and use whenever, and they kept for a long time, so I had made plenty of various kinds.
The reason perfect drying and sterilization were possible in a medieval world without food processing technology was thanks to spirits.
‘Technologia.’
Even without anything special, having only [Basic Spirit Arts] was enough to raise one’s quality of life by a level.
This was what true technological power was.
Of course, since I made the dough and cut the noodles myself, I couldn’t make them as precise and thin as a machine could.
But even this was more than enough.
Just as cup noodles soaked in lukewarm water still tasted good during night training in the army, environment had a huge effect on flavor.
In other words, no need to quibble—just “be grateful and eat.”
The broth would brew on its own, and the somyeon had to be boiled with serving time in mind.
So the only task left now was preparing the garnishes.
The standard garnishes for janchi-guksu were usually carrots, zucchini, egg garnish, kimchi, and crushed gim.
I julienned the carrots and zucchini thinly, seasoned them lightly with salt, and stir-fried them.
Considering it was for twelve servings, I also beat plenty of eggs and made thin egg sheets.
As I was preparing everything smoothly without a hitch, a small dilemma came up.
Janchi-guksu was a dish where, rather than seasoning the broth directly, the seasoning was completed through the garnishes and seasoned soy sauce.
But soy sauce hadn’t been properly made yet, so seasoned soy sauce was impossible.
Therefore, the kimchi garnish had to take charge of the main seasoning.
However, if I stir-fried that kimchi and added it on top, the broth would become heavy and rich.
That wasn’t bad, but in janchi-guksu, kimchi garnish played a big role as the element that added fun with its crunchy texture among the other stir-fried garnishes.
Also, the cool and sharp taste unique to raw kimchi had the advantage of harmonizing with the clean, light anchovy broth.
The dilemma didn’t last long. I made my decision.
I would lightly season the anchovy broth with salt in advance.
And I would give the raw kimchi a kick.
I cut the kimchi into bite-sized pieces, then mixed it with red pepper powder, sugar, and a bit of fish sauce.
This fish sauce gave off a nuance similar to Korean aekjeot, so I had promptly picked some up from the dried seafood shop I visited last time.
If I seasoned the entire broth with fish sauce, it could cause problems later in the process of building the dish’s flavor.
When cooking, it was always important to season each ingredient evenly, dividing the seasoning between them.
By dividing the fish sauce’s seasoning into the kimchi garnish like this, it became much easier to adjust the seasoning of the entire dish at the final stage.
From the eater’s perspective, the aroma and flavor of the broth and garnishes would come across separately, giving them the pleasure of sensing layers of taste.
The kimchi was solved, and I made the last remaining garnish, crushed gim.
As for crushed gim… I simply brushed raw gim with oil and salt, roasted it until crisp, then crushed it and set it aside.
‘This’ll be done faster than I thought.’
When people hear janchi-guksu, they usually think it’s a difficult dish because of its colorful garnishes and clean broth flavor.
But it was only troublesome, not difficult.
In fact, since it didn’t use radish, it was among the quicker soup dishes to make.
Before I knew it, I was lifting the anchovy pouch and kelp out of the broth that was boiling vigorously.
Glancing out the window into the yard, I saw a dozen or so burly knights sitting together and checking their equipment.
I made eye contact with a few of them and exchanged light nods.
Plain water was also bubbling away in the large cauldron I had set over the fire beforehand.
I scattered the somyeon in, then stirred hard so the strands wouldn’t stick together.
You could boil somyeon by following the instructions, but I followed the method I’d learned at home.
That was to add cold water and cool it down when it boiled over the first and second times, then finish when it boiled up the third time.
The key here was speed.
Once the pot was taken off the burner, I had to immediately pour out the hot water and rinse the noodles in ice-cold water.
That’s right. I literally held the somyeon in both hands and rubbed it together as if doing laundry.
When you touch freshly boiled somyeon, you can feel a slippery membrane-like coating on the surface.
That was the starch film on the somyeon, and unless you scrubbed it hard, it wouldn’t wash off.
If you ate somyeon without properly removing the starch film, its chewiness would be reduced and it would have an unpleasant, slimy texture.
My hands stung red from the cold water, but I endured it and washed the noodles.
I placed the washed noodles in a large colander and drained all the water.
Now, in effect, the cooking was done.
I opened the door and called out to the knights.
“I’ll start serving! Please come and line up in single file!”
Janchi-guksu revealed itself in another world for the first time.
***
In the front yard of the dining hall, where pale moonlight shone faintly, the knights sat and tended to their equipment.
Some wiped the spring-thawed mud off their greaves, while others examined their sword blades from various angles.
At that moment, a scent they had never smelled before drifted out from the dining hall before them.
Wisps of cooking steam rose through the small gaps in the window.
“Hey, what’s that smell? I’ve never smelled it before.”
“It’s my first time smelling it as well. It’s savory, but it smells like the sea…”
“I feel like it’s going to be delicious!”
The knights chattered among themselves, showing their anticipation for the food.
Listening to their conversation, Arthur, too, fell into thought.
‘Why is the family head, who always adheres to principles, acting like this today?’
The commoners of Silbaerin knew Duke Kailan as “a virtuous and merciful lord.”
That wasn’t wrong, but there were a few things that needed to be added.
If one went to the imperial capital and asked about the Silbaerin family, a hundred out of a hundred would give this answer.
“The lord of Silbaerin is… a wall. The coldest wall.”
“He’s the personification of the season of winter. I only saw him briefly at the last banquet, but I swear my body froze under that gaze.”
The shoulders of soldiers guarding the border were already heavy, so how heavy must the shoulders of the one who commanded all those soldiers be?
A single moment of carelessness could become a scar upon the empire.
For that reason, Duke Kailan was always on edge during official duties and was careful to uphold principles.
‘Most likely… it’s because of the young lady.’
When it came to the cause of the family head’s sudden actions, most of the time, guessing the young lady was correct.
This time, too, the young lady had probably made some request related to that dining hall.
Arthur glanced slightly at Duke Kailan, who was sitting quietly.
With an expressionless face that could freeze even lava, Duke Kailan was looking at the moon.
‘He must surely be worrying about the young lady, as well as thinking about official business.’
Thanks to his rank as platoon leader, Arthur often interacted with Duke Kailan.
Arthur had always taken the sight of him devoted to his work anytime and anywhere as an example to strive toward, and that respect remained unchanged even now.
‘Ah, I’m hungry. It smells delicious.’
In reality, Duke Kailan was simply zoning out while smelling the food, but…
At Isila’s request, Kailan had taken part in a patrol mission for the first time in a while.
As if even the hardest ice could not overcome the years, he could feel his stamina failing in real time.
“I’ll start serving! Please line up in single file!”
Kailan, who had been waiting eagerly for the food, snapped back to his senses at Kang Jinwoo’s words as fast as an arrow.
Arthur, who was beside him, was startled as well and straightened his posture.
“Ahem, then first…”
Hungry as he was, and tempted by the rich, savory smell wafting over, Kailan was about to rise first.
“First squad, line up in order and receive your servings!”
Arthur, unaware of anything, simply controlled the personnel as he normally did.
“My lord, did you say something?”
“Ah, no. Ahem! Go line up.”
Kailan and Arthur also stood at the end of the serving line and waited for the food.
Since there were only twelve people, the line shrank quickly, but Kailan could not hide his impatience.
“Wow, squad leader! What is this? I’ve never seen food like this before!”
“Hey, it’s my first time seeing it too. It’s so colorful it looks incredibly fancy.”
Because the dish in the hands of the soldiers who had been served first and were returning was simply too beautiful.
Even if it was an object that flashed past briefly, someone who had reached Kailan’s level could observe it closely.
On top of neatly arranged, thin white noodles, a heaping pile of blood-red pickled vegetables sat.
And over that, carrots, zucchini, and egg garnish were placed in a Y shape, each flaunting its own color.
In the slightly empty center of the Y, coarse flakes were sprinkled, with white grains embedded like stars against a pitch-black background.
A thought flashed through Kailan’s mind for an instant.
But he shook his head, thinking it must just be needless worry, a coincidence.
“Ah, thank you for waiting. This dish is called ‘janchi-guksu.’ The red thing here is called kimchi, and there’s no problem eating it.”
“Thank you.”
With a face stolidly stiff, Kailan received the janchi-guksu.
Kang Jinwoo was bothered by Kailan’s unusual expression, but for the time being, he served the last person in line, Arthur, as well.
Having received the food he had so eagerly anticipated, Kailan returned to his field chair without giving it a single glance.
Then he set the janchi-guksu down on the table.
Only then did the janchi-guksu fully enter Kailan’s field of vision.
Kailan stared intently at the noodles without a word.
Noodles as white and orderly as a snowy field in the middle of winter.
On top of those white noodles, kimchi so red it could never be washed away.
The garnishes, which could not cover all of that kimchi, and yet because they could not cover it all, the multicolored beauty was highlighted all the more.
Kailan realized Kang Jinwoo’s intention.
The emotions of the man called the personification of winter surged.
From the eyes of the coldest man, a single hot tear rolled down his cheek.
“This is… Silbaerin. The Silbaerin our ancestors defended.”
Arthur, who had been planning to take a bite himself once Kailan started eating, stared at him as if he were looking at a madman.