Oops, I did it again! (Though it’s pretty much the usual.)
"This is delicious!"
"Totally! Mixing the meat, egg yolk, and Idika to match your own taste is so much fun!"
The taste-testing of the gapao dish began, and it seemed to be another success.
"Hey, Tika. If you eat so much meat now, you’ll end up with only Idika left and not enough to go around."
"I’ll just get more meat later!"
"… Come to think of it, you did the same thing with curry last time. But this is a taste test, you know?"
Prince Kaldor looked exasperated as he pointed this out to Tika-san, who suddenly remembered, "Oh, right!" and gave me a pleading look.
"Um… we can get seconds, right?"
"My apologies. We only made a small amount this time. But, um, we’ll make more at lunch!"
Unable to ignore Tika-san's crestfallen expression, I promised to make more later.
Still, he gazed longingly at the plate with the leftover Idika and sheepishly asked, "Can I at least have another fried egg like earlier?"
How sneaky…
With a glance at the Head Chef, one of the apprentice chefs eagerly stepped forward. "Let me handle it!" They quickly cooked a beautifully soft-boiled fried egg.
Ah, it seems the frying pan dedicated to eggs—now a standard for training chefs in the Ellisfeed household—is maturing nicely. Good, good!
The Head Chef nodded in satisfaction; the apprentice might soon graduate.
Tika-san carefully broke the yolk of the additional fried egg and savored the rest of his dish.
I guess we’ll need to prepare extra gapao and fried eggs for lunch.
From the corner of my eye, I noticed Kurogane and Mashiro sneaking tastes as well.
Judging by their reactions, they liked it.
If Father and Leon-sama gets involved in a second-helpings contest, it definitely won’t be enough.
Well, two dishes have passed the test so far. Time to move on to the next!
"So, um, the next recipe usually involves steps that take a full day or more, but we’ll speed it up with magic this time."
I had the soaked Idika brought over and explained that the washing and soaking process was the same as usual.
"Next, the soaked Idika is drained and sun-dried for about half a day to overnight. However, we’ll use magic to remove the moisture this time."
I drained the soaked Idika, then used wind magic to dry it further.
"After that, we combine fire and wind magic to ensure thorough drying."
Prince Kaldor and Tika-san stared at me blankly.
… Oh no, was this another thing I shouldn’t have shown them?
The Head Chef was smiling awkwardly.
Still, it’s too late to back out now, so let’s keep going!
"Once it’s sufficiently dried, we dry roast it in a frying pan until it crumbles easily when crushed between your fingers. Alternatively, you can use a low-temperature oven or sun-dry it for another half day to a full day."
After cooling the heated Idika, I crumbled it between my fingers. Perfect.
Time for the next step.
"Now, we grind the Idika in a mortar until it becomes powdery."
As I reached for the pestle, the Head Chef quickly stepped in. "Allow me," he said, taking over the task.
Ah, it’s a relief to delegate such strenuous work. Thank you, Head Chef.
"When it’s finely ground, we sift it to separate the finer powder from the coarser grains, then grind the latter again."
Grinding, grinding, grinding…
While this went on, the soaked Idika was dried and ground by other chefs.
Oh, how I wish I had a food processor.
Maybe this is something Galvano Ojisama and Owen-san could work on?
I had avoided creating magic tools for milling wheat, fearing it could displace workers.
But this kind of experimental use really highlights the need for one.
You’d think I could secretly make one and keep it under wraps, right?
But word always gets out, like, "The Ellisfeed family has this amazing tool!"
There’s no compliance culture in this world like in my previous life...
"Cristea-sama, it’s ready."
The Head Chef’s voice snapped me out of my thoughts.
The ground Idika—essentially rice flour—looked perfect.
"It’s smooth. Perfect."
"Thank you. Cristea-sama, could this be...?"
The Head Chef looked at me knowingly, as if confirming his suspicion.
"Yes. This is rice flour made from Idika."
"I knew it…"
"Wait, rice flour?! As a substitute for wheat flour?"
"No way! Idika as a substitute for wheat?!"
"Yes. This powder can likely be used just like wheat flour."
"It’s so smooth… I’ve considered using Idika like wheat, but it’s so hard that grinding it into a fine powder seemed impossible."
"But, Your Highness, look—it’s a fine powder. Amazing!"
Prince Kaldor and Tika-sama looked at the mortar of rice flour with teary eyes. Uh…?
"Cristea.sama, you’ve created something groundbreaking.
Head Chef said, looking both impressed and uneasy.
"Huh?"
"If this can be done with Idika, could we do the same with Lars?"
"Um, well, I applied the techniques I developed while researching Lars, so… yes."
… Let’s just go with that.
Suddenly announcing Idika as a wheat substitute would seem too suspicious.
Reflect, Cristea. Reflect.
"If this Idika flour can indeed replace wheat, and it’s cheaper to produce… the market will be thrown into chaos."
"What?!"
Not just a little slip-up—this could be a full-blown disaster!
"Miss Cristea! Please sell us this method!"
"Um, I’d need to discuss it with my Otousama first! I can’t decide on my own, and also…"
"And?"
Prince Kaldor leaned in eagerly, but thankfully, Tika-san intervened.
"Your Highness, isn’t this going to be a very high-stakes deal? Let’s calm down for now."
"Right… you’re right."
Phew. I was so relieved to see Kurogane and Mashiro, who had been quietly watching, relax and sit back down.
"Let’s discuss this with my Otousama later. For now, let’s test how well this powder works by cooking with it."
"Good idea.
The prince said, stepping back to calm himself.
Kurogane and Mashiro returned to their seats, muttering something like, "Lucky break."
That was close!
I might’ve just caused a major incident!
Though running into Prince Kaldor was already a mishap…
Looks like I’ll be getting scolded by Otousama again!
What do you think about this chapter?
