Chapter 163: Teppanyaki
Since I won’t be able to eat together for a while, I called Dean to show him the dining hall on the second floor.
“Ah, I won’t be able to eat Gene’s bread for a while…” Dean looked dejected.
“I thought you preferred meat over bread, Dean.”
“I do like meat, but after tasting Gene’s bread, I’ve come to enjoy it with cheese and wine.”
It seems he really liked it more than I expected, which made me a bit happy.
“I’ll be selling some potions at the Merchant Guild, so I’ll leave some with Note then…”
“That’s the kind of thing that makes you not come back for a month.”
Before I could finish saying I’d leave him some bread, Retze interrupted me.
“I’ll bake the bread for a while. —Just bear with it for a month.”
Note was trying to recreate the dishes, but it’s not just a matter of skill; the ingredients are different here.
“For now, eat plenty.”
I cut the bread and piled it high in a basket, with small plates of olive oil and butter, and a little jar of raspberry jam.
While the butler transferred wine from the barrel to a decanter and placed it on the table, I removed the tabletop.
“What’s this?”
“Preparing for teppanyaki.”
“Huh?”
Everyone looked puzzled. Retze seemed ready to investigate the structure.
Inside, I had set up a charcoal grill, similar to a yakiniku restaurant. I just needed to add some charcoal from the fireplace.
“Alright, mix this and cook it like this.”
Once the grill was hot, I dropped the contents of a round bowl onto it, demonstrating, and handed over two bowls filled with okonomiyaki batter. One per person would be too much.
“Is this how it’s done?”
It was amusing to see everyone mixing with such serious expressions. Ash had a furrowed brow… They really didn’t need to take it so seriously.
It seemed the butler had some reservations about letting Ash cook. I hadn’t considered that.
Once they got the hang of it, I planned to let them handle everything, but for now, I was quite busy placing pork belly on the grill as it cooked.
While cooking the okonomiyaki, I roasted the last of the seasonal asparagus in the oven and topped it with mayonnaise and crumbled boiled eggs.
“Oh, I love this mayonnaise!”
Dinoss was in high spirits. The recipe is simple, but since we have to be careful about salmonella, I need to use extra vinegar to ensure it’s safe, so it won’t taste the same as mine.
I often use soft-boiled eggs, but I make sure to use [Appraisal] on them. Fortunately, there are no harmful bacteria in my garden.
The soup was made by simmering tripe and beans in tomato sauce. Preparing tripe, which is cow stomach, can be quite a hassle since you have to remove the black skin, but if done right, it turns out delicious without any unpleasant odor.
“We have meat too.”
I had thick T-bone steaks ready in the fireplace.
I also prepared a grill for barbecue, but since they seemed to prefer chunks of meat over thin slices, it might not get used. Well, I’ll definitely do a seafood barbecue soon. Scallops with butter and soy sauce are pure bliss.
“Oh? This is delicious!”
The sauce-flavored carbs seemed to suit Dinoss perfectly.
“It’s different from an omelet or pancake, right? The outside is crispy while the inside is fluffy.”
Retze looked a bit puzzled. Yes, I may have cheated a bit by mixing in yam.
Here, the omelet is what you’d call a Spanish omelet, shaped like a fried egg with ingredients inside.
“Oh no, thinking I won’t be able to eat this unique dish for a while…”
Dean was washing down his okonomiyaki with wine, while Ash only had a little since he had just eaten something sweet.
Everyone except Chris and Dean, including myself, was munching on snacks, but fortunately, everyone was a hearty eater.
“Is Chris’s younger brother really similar to him?”
Mainly in the jawline.
“I resemble both my father and mother, but he takes after our mother.”
“The upper half looks just like him,” Dean said.
The upper half? So, the jaw is safe? Well, it’s not uncommon for people here to have broken jaws from eating hard foods, so that’s not a big deal. The jawline spirit, you know?
“Both of them have left home, so what about your house?”
“I have two younger brothers below me, and the youngest will inherit. The youngest is a bit frail, but my father is still alive. The second brother resembles my father, while the youngest takes after my mother.”
Wait a minute. Is the inheritance split so evenly? And is the frail one the one who looks like the father? Now I’m curious to see the younger brother.
“The brother who came this time has the most knightly personality. He’s serious and straightforward, which is good, but he has no understanding of secrets and lacks a sense of romance.”
At the mention of secrets, everyone turned their gaze toward me. Yes, there’s probably a lot of romance packed in right now.
“Going to the Temple of Nassos doesn’t seem like the type to take it easy, so he might be good for court service,” Dinoss said.
“Is the Temple of Nassos that troublesome?” Dean asked.
“It’s in the middle of a marshland. You can get partway there by small boat, but it takes more than two days on foot. There’s hardly a place to lie down and sleep, and there are floating islands that sink when you step on them. The demon beasts that appear along the way leap out of the water too.”
Dinoss waved his hand as he spoke.
Sorry for [Teleportation]ing home and sleeping, as I averted my gaze.
The meeting between the younger brother, now known as Reed, and the butler is set for tomorrow morning, so we wrapped things up for now. Dean wanted to stay and drink a bit longer, and Retze decided to join him.
“Won’t a hangover leave a bad impression on the first meeting?”
“It’s fine!”
Even though he’ll meet Reed tomorrow.
He occasionally brings ingredients or leaves money, and most importantly, he eats so well that it’s rewarding to cook for him.