Chapter 715

Keeping Nigari’s Uses a Secret!
After presenting to Otousama and Okaasama, I headed straight to the kitchen instead of returning to my room.

“Ohh, Cristea-sama! Welcome back!”

The moment I stepped in, the head chef spotted me and hurried over.

“H-Head Chef… I’m back. May I borrow the space for a bit?”

“Of course! I heard you brought back a new ingredient this time? Might I take a look as well?”

Too close, too close, too close.
And stop kneeling and begging while you’re at it.

“Y-Yes. Of course. This is what I brought…”

As I said that and took out the tofu from my inventory, the head chef exclaimed, “Ohhh… what on earth is this?” and practically glued himself to the counter, inspecting it as if licking it with his eyes.

“Hmm, this white substance… neither meat nor fish… it seems processed from something… may I taste a little?”

“Sure, go ahead.”

The moment he heard my reply, he swiftly grabbed a spoon, scooped up some tofu, and first brought it to his nose.

“No particular smell… hm? A faint grassy note… is this something made from plants?”

Saying that, he put half of what he scooped into his mouth.

“Hm… is this… something made by solidifying soybeans? Though, the softness…”

Ooh, sharp.
Well, the Ellisfeed household already uses soy milk and okara, so he’s familiar with the taste and smell.

“Close. This is made by adding a certain liquid to soy milk and letting it set.”

“Ohh, so it was a soybean-derived flavor! And this ‘certain liquid’ is…?”

He was delighted like he’d just answered a quiz correctly, but now his curiosity zeroed in on the mystery liquid.

“It’s called nigari, but for now, you can only get it by importing it from Yahatul. I happened to obtain some recently, but I don’t have much…”

I took out the small bottle from my inventory and showed it to him.

“This liquid solidifies soy milk? Can it solidify other things as well?”

“Eh? I-I’m not sure…”

If I remember right, adding a few drops when cooking rice makes it glossy and fluffy, using it as a marinade makes meat tender, and adding it to a bath moisturizes your skin… stuff like that.

But for now, this precious little nigari is only for tofu.

Especially anything beauty-related like baths or skincare, if Okaasama finds out… oh no no no no.

Just hearing tofu is good for beauty got that reaction out of her.

She might just snatch it away from me outright.
Nope. No way. My lips are sealed for now.

“I see… If we investigate, it seems like it could have other useful applications… but first, we should secure a sufficient quantity.”

The head chef looked longingly at the small bottle in my hand, so I quickly tucked it back into my inventory.

“For now, I’ve figured out the ratio of soy milk to nigari, so once we can get more, I’ll share it. Today, I’ll cook using this tofu.”

“Understood! Then please let me know what ingredients and tools you require!”

“Thanks. Let’s see, then…”

I left the preparations to the head chef and put on an apron while casting a purification spell.

“Alright then, what should I make first…”

They can get used to light flavors like chilled tofu over time.

For today, tofu steak, meat-and-tofu, and shira-ae should be fine.

Tomorrow morning, I’ll use it in miso soup.

“Cristea-sama! Will this do?”

“Thanks. Alright, let’s get cooking!”

“I’ll assist!”

First up, tofu steak.

I took out the tofu I’d already drained, lightly dusted it with flour, then heated oil in a pan over medium heat and seared both sides thoroughly before coating it with reduced soy sauce and sake.

On top of the piping hot tofu… bam, a generous handful of bonito flakes, then a sprinkle of chopped green onions.
Done. Into the inventory it goes.

Next, meat-and-tofu.

Simple, thin slices of Big Horn Bull, tofu, and green onions.

Slice the onions diagonally, cut the tofu into bite-sized pieces.

Heat oil in a pan, add the meat and sugar, stir-fry until the meat is cooked, then add tofu and onions. Pour in sake, soy sauce, and water, bring to a boil, cover, and simmer for about three minutes.

Yeah, looking good.

Flip the tofu, cover again, and let it simmer some more.

Turn off the heat, this one’s better if you let it sit so the flavors soak in, so just leave it.

And next, shira-ae.

Cut the boiled spinach into about 3 cm pieces, julienne the carrots into about 2 cm lengths and parboil them.

Have the head chef grind sesame seeds, then add tofu to the mortar and grind it until smooth.

Add dashi, sugar, soy sauce, miso, salt, and adjust the flavor, then toss in the spinach and carrots and mix, mix.

It’d be nice if I had shirataki noodles, the texture would improve… but yeah, no way I can make konjac.

“Alright, that should do it.”

“Ohh… so many new recipes…!”

The head chef was muttering things like “As expected of the Goddess of Food!” or whatever, so I handed him a tasting portion and quickly slipped out of the kitchen.

Behind me, I could hear…

“Chef! Let us taste it too!”
“No! I shall take responsibility for inspecting this!”
“That’s not fair!”

… but yeah, yeah, I can’t hear anything!

What do you think about this chapter?