Chapter 16 : The Dish Grandma May Wants to Eat (2)

“Purpure is grateful.”

Fortunately, the butcher shop owner helped me prepare the Wavewing meat.

“No, no~ Our little demon lord is doing a good deed, so I should do this much!”

“I’ve prepared all the Wavewing meat that the hero caught, so use it comfortably.”

The ladies and gentlemen of Moonlight Haven are very kind.

I don’t like it when they stroke my head and make eye contact while talking, though!

Anyway, since the terrifying Great Demon Lord foresees and is shown their sincerity, I have to show my skills.

-Sizzle!

First, I sprinkled a moderate amount of oil on the cute frying pan I took out of the bag.

Since it was Chief Rian’s house, there were plenty of ingredients needed for cooking.

“What, what. Are you cooking already?”

“It’s not cooking yet. I don’t know much about Wavewings, so I’m trying to get to know them.”

“Uh… G, get to know them? I caught them all?”

In front of Maeve, who was scratching her head, I placed the well-prepared breast and leg meat of the Wavewing.

-Sizzle sizzle!

“Hmph…!”

The flames in the hearth seemed a little weak, so I held my breath and exhaled, blowing out flames.

“Oh! Purpure is amazing! Every time I see it, it seems really helpful!”

Maeve clapped her hands excitedly.

“But what do you mean by getting to know them?”

“Chicken and duck have different tastes. I need to know about Wavewings well to make the dish that Grandma Mae wants to eat.”

“Oh… Smart. Smart. Purpure is really smart!”

Sizzle sizzle!

I carefully examined the meat that was being browned on the cute frying pan.

“Fortunately, not much oil is coming out. The cooking speed is similar to chicken.”

“You’re analyzing it very delicately? Honestly, I just eat any bird dish as long as it’s delicious.”

“Just like everyone looks different, they also taste different.”

I haven’t tasted the Wavewing meat yet, but it looks like a huge chicken.

The feeling of cooking, the oil seeping out of the skin, is also small, and I would believe it if you told me it was chicken.

“Um… But, uh… What’s this smell?”

Maeve covered her nose with her hand.

“It smells really unpleasant? Ugh…!!!”

The Wavewing, sizzling as it cooked, emitted a foul odor that made you frown.

The musty smell was also subtly mixed with the smell of dirt, reducing a person’s appetite to negative.

“Wow! I understand why people don’t eat Wavewings! The, the smell is terrible!”

I needed to know the texture, so I didn’t throw away the meat.

“Ugh… The smell is really bad.”

Maeve didn’t even ask for a bite.

“Just looking at it, it looks really delicious.”

I cut a piece with a kitchen knife and brought it to my mouth.

The smell was still zero points. But I could feel the faint smell of browned chicken.

“Nom!”

The texture was, as expected, similar to chicken.

If there was a slight difference, it was that this one was chewier.

“I’ve decided how to cook it.”

As soon as I moved the frying pan to the side, Dominicus, who had been silent until now, raised his right hand and shook it.

“Haa… I never thought I’d use purification magic like this.”

“It was a smell that would come from poorly prepared monsters.”

Who would understand that analogy?!

“First, we need to prepare the Wavewing meat more.”

I pointed to the prepared Wavewing meat.

“Cut here and here.”

“Leave it to me! I’m better than anyone at cutting!”

-Thump! Thump! Thump!

As expected of a hero, Maeve chopped the Wavewing with great strength.

I held the chopped meat in both hands and moved it to a wooden basket.

“Maeve needs to hold this well.”

“Just hold it like this… Ah, cold!”

I clapped my hands to create a magic circle in the air, causing flowing water to pour out.

“Dominicus, bring the rice water over there and pour it into the pot.”

At the same time, I opened my mouth wide and blew a fireball into the hearth again.

“The preparation is complete, Lady Purpure.”

“Dominicus, watch the pot and let me know in 20 minutes.”

I poured all the cleanly washed Wavewing meat into the pot full of rice water.

“Now we just wait, right?”

“Of course not. Since Maeve said she’d help, she needs to cut all of this.”

I pointed to the basket containing sweet potatoes, potatoes, carrots, green onions, shiitake mushrooms, peppers, and onions.

“Uh, there’s a lot… Ugh! But I asked to help!”

Maeve was embarrassed, but she took out the ingredients one by one and cut them properly with a kitchen knife.

It’s convenient because the ladies came earlier and did basic preparations like washing, so I just need to cut.

“But… Is it really okay? It smelled really bad.”

“People have always tried to eat more delicious things.”

Humans eat pufferfish, which contain poison.

And smelly meat?

There are plenty of ways to get rid of the bad smell that have been around for a long time!

Besides, if you have to put in seasonings that are salty, sweet, and full of umami, the answer is already there!

Unlike Maeve, who was cutting, I put water and glass noodles in a small bowl.

“20 minutes have passed, Lady Purpure.”

“Then take out all the meat and…”

Since time was of the essence, I put the Wavewing meat back in the wooden basket and emptied the pot.

“Isn’t that alcohol?”

“That’s right. This is always the best way to get rid of the smell of meat.”

I quickly poured five spoons of water and alcohol into the pot.

Then I brought the meat back and put it in, and quickly boiled it.

-Boil boil!

As soon as I confirmed that it was boiling, I quickly took out the meat again.

“Oh… What? It really doesn’t smell much anymore?”

“There is a subtle earthy and gamey smell remaining, but this is enough to eat.”

“Now the preparation is complete.”

This time, I brought a wide pot and put in five cups of water and the Wavewing meat.

“Grandma Mae’s seven tasted like soy sauce!”

“Soy sauce? I’ve never eaten it before! Is it delicious? What does it taste like?”

“Soy sauce is salty, but it’s also sweet and has an umami flavor that wraps around your tongue.”

Maeve, with her shiny blonde hair, swallowed her saliva.

“J-just hearing the description, it sounds delicious…!”

I quickly brought the soy sauce bottle that Grandpa Rian had and poured it onto a spoon.

“One, two… Five… Ten? Fifteen? Wow… Isn’t it annoying? I don’t understand why Purpure puts something on a spoon like that.”

“Measuring is important.”

“Can’t you just eyeball it?”

“Absolutely not!”

I spoke firmly and poured in six spoons of prepared sugar.

I wish I had starch syrup, but I don’t have it, so it’s a shame.

“And I’ll scoop out the foam like this.”

I watched the boiling pot and scooped out the white foam that rose like fishing.

“What, it’s so cute, Purpure! It’s like a child playing with bubbles in the bathtub.”

“This is important! It’s a way to get rid of strange tastes and smells!”

“Still~ You’re scooping out the foam? It’s cute!!”

When will I be able to stop hearing that cute nagging?

Even when I breathe fire from my mouth and make water pour from the air with magic, they say it’s cute!

“Now I’ll put in the vegetables that Maeve prepared. But I won’t put in the green onions and peppers.”

“Okay! I just need to push them all in like this, right?”

I pushed in potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, etc. into the pot that smelled delicious.

The important thing here is to stir gently!

I added six spoons of minced garlic prepared by the ladies and one spoon of pepper to the pot, and then gently stirred the pot with a wooden spatula.

If it smells, it’s ruined, so I didn’t forget to add ginger juice.

The ladies were surprised when I asked them to grind the pepper, but it’s an important ingredient, so I couldn’t help it.

“Oh… This looks a bit like the Great Demon Lord. Like a demon lord making a terrifying potion!”

“Aren’t you confusing it with a witch?”

“Hey! It’s similar!”

I kicked Maeve’s leg for no reason.

“The broth is gradually decreasing, is that okay?”

“It’s okay. If it decreases like this, the flavor full of broth seeps into the Wavewing meat!”

The flames in the hearth are still going, and the broth is decreasing properly! The potatoes are about half cooked, so should I put in the mushrooms?

“Are you poking it because you want to eat it?”

“Of course not. I’m checking the cooking while putting in the next ingredients!”

When the potatoes are half cooked, mushrooms!

When the mushrooms are cooked, right away, glass noodles!

When the glass noodles beautifully absorb the color of the soy sauce, add the peppers and green onions and stir while counting to 90!

It’s too much to say that I’m poking it because I want to eat it while watching such a delicate process! Really.

-Boil boil boil boil!

“It looks so delicious that I can’t believe it’s made with Wavewing?”

“It’s a great dish. Thanks to the salty smell of soy sauce and the aroma created by the many seasonings, the stench of the meat has become unimaginable.”

It’s the best! It’s awesome! There are a lot of other ingredients, but look! The Wavewing meat occupies more than half of the pot, really

“

Maeve clapped her hands, and when I gestured, she lifted the pot lightly with both hands.

“If this is the dish that Grandma Mae wanted to eat, I think she’ll eat it very well!”

“Honestly, I can’t imagine eating the smelly Wavewing meat in any other way than this recipe.”

Maeve nodded, carried the pot, and then looked back.

“But Purpure! What should we call this?”

I swallowed the saliva that had pooled in my mouth and answered.

“The name of this dish is Wavewing Jjimsae.” (TN: Jjimsae is a Korean steamed dish. The original Korean name for the dish in this story is 물결찜새, which literally translates to Wavewing Jjimsae. The author changed only one letter of the popular Korean dish 닭볶음탕, which translates to Spicy Braised Chicken, to create the name.)

“What is that! You only changed one letter! But it does sound like a fitting name!”

Still, I think it’s a pretty sensible name!