Cooking Practice
The items I had requested have arrived safely, and now the practice for the restaurant’s opening began.
The guidance is, of course, from Mr. Brad, the head chef.
The children who will receive instruction are those who were particularly interested in cooking among the children from the orphanage.
Mrs. Darcy was in charge of the serving staff.
Now, before Mr. Brad teaches the kids how to make a simple soup, I needed to explain the use of a certain ingredient I sourced from the seaside town.
“… Hey, Miss Lily. Is that seaweed?”
“Technically, it’s seaweed, yes. Your perception of it as seaweed is somewhat correct.”
“You use that in cooking? The dried-up ones, too?”
“I imported the ones that were dried and then sun-dried. Well, in this country, they’re not considered edible. They were more of a nuisance to fishermen, getting tangled in their nets, so with the help of the Trade Guild’s mediation, I was able to negotiate a smooth and inexpensive purchase.”
The items I procured were dried kelp and seaweed.
I’m not sure if there are other types of seaweed available.
I only ordered these two through the Trade Guild.
They seemed to have different names in this world, but I had them renamed to kombu and wakame for culinary use.
It’s a privilege as a pioneer.
But before that, we need to practice using them in cooking.
“Mr. Brad, did you prepare clean water as I requested?”
“Yeah. I’ve got water that was boiled once and cooled down for disinfection, just as you asked. What do we do with it?”
“Put the kombu in it and simmer it slowly until it’s about to boil. Be careful not to let it boil completely, as it can develop an undesirable flavor.”
“All right. So, just simmer it over low heat. … This kombu thing is changing color as it absorbs water. Is that okay?”
“It’s fine. It’s dried kombu, so that’s expected.”
“I see. But what do we do with this thing?”
“Just let it simmer as it is.”
After about 10 minutes of waiting, the water in the pot started to foam a bit, and it seemed like the right time.
Is it time for him to take it out?
“Mr. Brad, it’s about time to take out the kombu.”
“Yeah… This looks like we just boiled seaweed?”
“That water has become dashi broth. This time, it’s kombu dashi.”
“Kombu dashi? What’s that?”
“For now, try tasting it. Be careful, it’s hot.”
“I know it’s hot without you telling me… What is this? It tastes like there’s a faint soup flavor from just boiling that seaweed?!”
Yep, that’s right.
In this world, there are plenty of seasoning and spices, but for some reason, there’s no concept of broth.
There’s no kombu dashi, and of course, no bouillon or consommé.
I was getting tired of soup with just salt and spices for flavoring.
So, let’s have them make a soup with broth at this shop.
Come to think of it, I’ve heard of miso, but I’ve never heard of miso soup.
I wonder if miso is used only as a sauce when grilling meat over here?
Once we actually made the broth, it was time for practical application.
I will have him make wakame soup this time.
First, heat sesame oil in an empty pot without broth, then finely chop green onions and sauté them.
Once the color of the onions changes slightly, add the broth, simmer, add dried wakame, and sprinkle lightly with sesame seeds, and It’s done.
However, I didn’t know that dried wakame would swell up all at once, so putting too much was a lesson learned.
When everyone tried the finished soup, it receives high praise for being delicious.
I tried making wakame soup without using broth as an experiment, but everyone felt something was missing.
Yeah, it seems like promoting the use of broth is possible.
I’ll also mention that there’s vegetable broth made by simmering vegetable peels and cores.
It takes a bit of time, but it’s effective in utilizing what would otherwise be considered waste.
Also, the kombu used for broth can be eaten, so it was surprisingly well-received when finely cut and eaten after taking out the broth.
I had already investigated that there’s no poison in the kombu of this world, but I hadn’t heard that it’s delicious when eaten.
Maybe when others investigated, they only removed the dirt and ate it raw or boiled it, and it came with ash.
Alternatively, it might have become delicious by drying.
After cutting it finely, Mr. Brad was delighted to mix it into a salad.
There were unexpected events, but preparations for the opening of the orphanage restaurant were steadily progressing.
The children were also working hard to learn how to cook.
At this rate, I wonder if we can open before winter?