Today, I’ll be stocking up on more seafood.
[6] This time, I have a system. That’s right, instead of just blindly going to the morning market and buying up whatever caught my eye, I have a list.
I plan to buy more of the standard favourites, of course. Such as the Vermilion Shrimps, Bronze King Crabs, Saban Fish, Big Hard Clams, Small Hard Clams and Yellow Scallops. We all like them, so it would be a good idea to stock up.
The Tyrant Fish might be the face of this city, being Verulean’s speciality catch, but I believe the true speciality of this city is their shellfish. Any and all types of shellfish here are delicious. The huge oyster-like Kaaki, which I had already stocked up earlier was one of my top favourites.
In the meantime, I also found a couple of stalls selling Dako. These were boiled octopus. Their bright red tentacles curled neatly towards their heads with white suckers pointing outwards. I suppose since people here are wary of the Kraken, things like octopi would not be popular either.
When I spoke to the stall uncle about it, he told me that he had only started eating these creatures recently. Apparently, prejudice against tentacled seafood was prevalent only among locals. However, this was gradually easing when more and more people from outside the city moved in and began eating these ‘Dako’.
“Give it a try, it’s pretty good,” said the uncle.
Old sir, I know about the deliciousness of octopi already. After all, I am Japanese.
Since they have already boiled the octopus, all I had to do was cut and cook it later. [6] I bought up loads without hesitation.
[5] This was going to be our last day at the market place, so I bought more stuff than usual. [1] However, since our consumption rate is extremely high, I estimate that my stock would probably only last us for three months if we only have seafood once a week.
After getting what I wanted from the market, we headed over to the food stalls for our breakfast. [2] After I emphasised how today would be our last day here, Fer, Dora-chan and Sui went all out.
Naturally, I ate and ate as much as I could too.
Once we’re full, it was time to head over to the Adventurer’s Guild.
Ahh, the walk from the market place to the guild is good for digestion.
When I got to the Guild, the staff informed me that Marks-san had gone out for some reason. However, I could still go directly to the warehouse to speak with the dismantling team about collecting my meat.
I received meat from the Cockatrice, Rock Bird, Giant Horned Rabbit and Golden Back Bull as well as 41 gold coins from the materials sold. [5]
“Unfortunately, we did not find any magic stones in any of the monsters,” the person in charge said apologetically.
I waved my hand, “No, no, I think it’s a fair price. Thank you very much for the skilled dismantling. You have my thanks.”
We left the Guild after that. The day after tomorrow we’ll begin our trip to Avering and I still need to stock up on more cooked food.
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As soon as we got home, Fer and the rest rolled over to their backs and snoozed in the living room. [2] Since they ate so much food at the market they don’t need lunch anymore. This saves me a lot of time since I don’t have to prepare lunch for them.
Alright, what should I make?
First, let’s replenish the Furai that had been eaten up yesterday.
Let’s fry up some Vermillion Shrimp, Yellow Scallops and various other shellfish.
Also, hmmm, since I’ll be frying things anyway let’s make some tempura too so that I can make myself a Tempura Rice Bowl!
When it comes to tempura, the standards are shrimp, squid and seabream. So I got the Vermillion Shrimp, Kraken and Tatai out and [8] opened [Net Super] for tempura flour. I have no idea what really went into a tempura flour to make it so white and crisp. So, I got the brand I’ve always used instead of trying to mix my own.
While I’m here, I might as well get some vegetables too. Let’s see, the types of vegetables that are good for making tempura are eggplants, large onions, and peppers. Oh, let’s make some tempura with asparagus, sweet potatoes and mushrooms as well. Maitake mushrooms are great as tempura and so are the shiitake mushrooms.
Let’s fry lots of vegetable tempura just because I like them, hehe.
While my hands were busy frying up things, my mind began to wonder.
I pondered over my purchase today, wondering what else I could make when I suddenly remembered the Dako I bought today. That’s right, since I’m frying up stuff today let’s go all out and make the favourite beer snack from the standard izakaya [9] menu. Tako no Karaage or Fried Octopus.
Personally, I do think it’s kind of fiddly to make and some considered it too refined to be on an izakaya menu, but who cares? I’m making it because it’s delicious!
Since I have most of the ingredients already, let’s make it right now.
First, cut the boiled octopus into bite-sized pieces and marinate them in a brine made from sake, soy sauce, grated garlic and grated ginger (both condiments came from a tube). I placed the cut octopus along with the brine into a ziplock bag and left it to soak for 30 minutes.
While the octopus was soaking in the marinade, I took the opportunity to relax with a cup of coffee.
[6] Ah, that really hit the spot.
The 30 minutes passed very quickly and I got the octopus out of the ziplock bag to prepare them for frying. First, pat the excess brine off and then cover the marinated octopus with potato starch. [1] Once that’s done, all I have to do next is fry them.
“Alright, let’s do a taste test.”
Of course, I must taste test my product.
Naturally, when taste-testing beer snacks, one should have a beer at hand!
Pop!
Ahhh, just the sound is enough to make me want to drink it, but first-
Crunch!
Hmm, hmm, that’s it. That’s the very flavour I’m after. Oooh, now a swig of beer.
…aaahhhhh!
As expected, fried food and beer go really well together.
Hmm, it’s about time I get started on dinner. Since we had seafood earlier, everyone should be craving meat now.
But, what should I make?
Guess I could try cooking the Giant Horned Rabbit.
However, I’ve never had rabbit before, I wonder what it tasted like?
Strictly speaking, this Giant Horned Rabbit is a monster, so it’s probably different from the rabbits in my world.
Well, nothing to it. Let’s just do a taste test first. I cut a piece out, seasoned with salt and pepper and just let it sizzle on the pan.
“Hmm, I guess it’s similar to chicken? No, pork? It has a mouthfeel that’s somewhere between pork and chicken. There’s no weird smell and the meat is tender, so I guess it’s just a regular good cut of meat.”
I really had no idea what to do with it, but since oven roasting was easy, that’s what I did.
That’s right, I settled on making Rabbit Steaks. [5] [6] After all, how often do you get rabbits so large that they could be turned into steaks? Still, if it’s anything like pork or chicken, it should cook quickly. To maximise taste, I pricked the meat with a fork before putting on a herb salt rub and let it sit for about 10 minutes.
While that’s marinating, I preheat the oven and got the baking tray ready. When the 10 minutes are up, I placed the steaks on the cooking sheet and drizzled a generous amount of olive oil over it.
Once the oven door shut behind the steaks, there’s nothing for me to do but hope for the best.
After staring at the oven door like an idiot for a moment, I decided that it’s more productive to get the plates and things out while the whole kitchen was filled with the smell of roasting meat and herbs. The Rabbit Steaks should be done soon.
When I poked my head into the living room, I saw that all three of my familiars were awake.
“Food’s almost ready, are you hungry?”
“Umu,”
“Yes! Food!”
“Food~”
I gave everyone a portion of the Herb Roasted Giant Horned Rabbit Steak.
“Umu. I really want to eat meat right now.”
“I know just what you mean!”
“Meat~ ♪”
Ah well, in the end, everyone still preferred meat.
Let’s enjoy this roast Giant Horned Rabbit on our second last night at Verulean.
[Gumihou: I never had rabbit before, I wonder what it tastes like…]
[1] Structural Change: Combine 2 paragraphs
[2] Structural Change: Combine 3 paragraphs
[3] Structural Change: Combine paragraph & dialogue
[4] Structural Change: Change passive sentence to dialogue
[5] Delete Repetitive or Pointless Information
[6] Additional Information for Aesthetic Purpose
[7] Add Dialogue Tag
[8] Weird order of cooking for an experienced home-cook, adjusted for correctness
[9] Izayaka – Basically a Japanese bar
[10] Tako no Karaage