Chapter 77: You Didn’t Say So Earlier!
“Everyone move aside, let me see what good stuff there is!” A Man heard that Yuan Ye had finally emerged from seclusion and rushed back home like lightning.
She had a tough time during this period. Besides supplying dilute hydrochloric acid for hydrolysis, Yuan Ye dumped all matters related to the soy sauce workshop on her. She was responsible for everything: expanding the site, building stoves, buying firewood, transporting materials, cooking, delivering goods, collecting money, and managing staff. He, on the other hand, spent all his days holed up in the laboratory.
Naturally, she had… no complaints. After all, she wasn’t stupid. Yuan Ye had developed highly profitable soy sauce after his last seclusion, and she guessed this would also be a lucrative business. She was willing to work harder for it.
Now that the results were out, she was very excited. She dropped what she was doing and rushed home, shooing away A Qing and Yayoi, who were already watching the excitement, and positioned herself at the center next to Yuan Ye to see what he was doing.
Yuan Ye was, of course, cooking. He had had enough of the monotonous and primitive cooking methods of “boiling” and “roasting.” With the flat pan, large iron pot, and other cookware finally in place, he was eager to eat something delicious.
He seasoned the pot with salt to remove any metallic odor and heat, then washed it carefully twice. He heated the pot over the fire, added a little blended oil, and then stir-fried ginger shreds to release their aroma. He then placed the fish, which had been marinated with refined salt, MSG （, kelp extract ）, and vinegar, into the pot. As it sizzled, he gently flipped it with the spatula, slowly pan-frying it until golden brown on both sides. Finally, he added chopped scallions for flavor before serving.
Thus, a home-style dish from his hometown, pan-fried fish with scallions, was ready.
Well, he was a single guy before and knew how to cook, but his skill level was… just about this much. He only knew how to make these simple dishes.
However, as he smelled the faint aroma of slightly burnt food from this home-style dish, he was still very satisfied. He felt it was a small step for him personally, but a giant leap for his transmigration life.
Of course, after working for so long, he wouldn’t just be frying a fish. He set up a large pot again, poured in a large amount of oil, and heated it. He then coated chicken pieces, which had been wrapped in egg white and batter, and first deep-fried them to lock in the juices, then increased the oil temperature and fried them again until crispy.
Thus, another home-style dish, dry fried chicken chunks, was ready.
He looked at them with satisfaction for a moment, let out a long sigh, and turned to Yayoi, asking expectantly, “Did you learn it?”
Yayoi blinked, a hesitant expression on her face. She didn’t dare say she hadn’t understood, and finally, she braced herself and said, “I learned it.”
Yuan Ye understood her personality and knew he was being impatient. He immediately said, “It’s okay, I’ll explain it to you in detail later, but from now on, you’ll be responsible for everyone’s meals! Try more, don’t be afraid. It’s okay to waste some ingredients as long as it tastes good. Absolutely do not just boil and stew everything together like before.”
His cooking skills were just so-so, and he didn’t think he had the time or energy to spend all day in the kitchen. He felt it was better to train a professional chef. After considering everyone, Yayoi was the only one he could trust for now. So, even though she was still young, this arduous task had to be entrusted to her. Take your time. Even if Yayoi’s cooking was terrible at first, he wouldn’t say much. Everything has a process. He figured it would take at most a year of practice to surpass the cafeteria lady.
Having transmigrated, he would be content just to eat the cafeteria lady’s food; he had no higher demands.
When Yayoi heard that he would teach her in detail, she immediately felt relieved and was very excited about learning a new skill. She nodded vigorously, indicating that she would fry and grill all the food for him from now on.
Yuan Ye smiled at her again to encourage her, then rubbed his hands, preparing to make fried rice. A Man squeezed in beside him and watched for a while, feeling somewhat bewildered. She wasn’t surprised that Yuan Ye could cook; many low-ranking samurai were very poor and ate porridge and roasted taro every day. So, it wasn’t strange for Yuan Ye to have some cooking skills. It was just… this wasn’t what she had expected. She thought he had developed some new product that could make a lot of money.
She frowned, her Dou Dou eyebrows furrowed, and asked strangely, “What are you doing? You dumped everything on me and stayed cooped up in that room you don’t let anyone enter for so many days, just to cook something? You’re too idle!”
Yuan Ye smiled slightly and didn’t explain further. Seeing that the dry fried chicken chunks were at the right temperature, he sprinkled some Sichuan peppercorn powder on them, then picked up a piece and put it into her mouth.
A Man didn’t dodge. Chicken meat was nothing to dodge. She took a bite of the chicken chunk and chewed slightly…
Mmm…
Uh…
So tender! Juicy and tender on the inside, yet crispy on the outside. Her tongue felt a slight tingle. The texture was great, and there was a fragrant oily aroma. She had never tasted anything like it before.
This was the first time in her life she had eaten fried food. After all, she couldn’t even afford rice before, so she couldn’t possibly use such a large pot of oil just to fry chicken nuggets, let alone know how to blend different oils to create such a fragrance. Being naturally active, nothing in this world was more suitable for someone like her than fried food. After just a few chews, she was somewhat captivated.
The more she chewed, the more fragrant it became. Before long, stewed chicken slipped from its first place on her favorite recipe list. Her Dou Dou eyebrows drooped slightly. Yuan Ye watched her finish chewing and then picked up another piece of fish meat with his chopsticks, putting it into her mouth.
Mmm…
Uh…
So fragrant! But it was a different kind of fragrance, a savory, fresh, scallion-like, slightly burnt aroma. The unpleasant fishy smell was completely gone. And unlike roasted fish, which was often a bit bitter and sometimes undercooked or overcooked, this was perfect.
The fish meat was tender. Before she could savor it, it was gone. Stewed chicken dropped another rank. Yuan Ye put down his chopsticks, looked at her with great joy, and asked, “How was it? Was the time spent worth it?”
A Man glanced at the stove, licked her lips, and mused, “Hard to say…”
Yuan Ye looked surprised. “Hard to say? Is there a problem?”
“I can’t quite put my finger on it! Let me try again. I’ll help you figure out what’s wrong!” A Man said, snatching the chopsticks and taking another piece of fish into her mouth to savor carefully. After a moment, she took another piece of fried chicken. Her movements became faster and faster, and she began to stuff food into her mouth frantically. In a short while, her cheeks were bulging.
Yuan Ye watched her speechlessly for a moment, defeated. “You truly are a natural little rascal!”
But it didn’t matter. Food was meant to be eaten. He was never stingy. He beckoned Yayoi and A Qing to try some as well, while rolling up his sleeves, preparing to make a few more delicious dishes!
Today, he would be the chef, opening a new chapter for a happy, high-quality life!
………
To be honest, in the Japanese Medieval Period, where supplies were scarce and cooking techniques were very primitive, the dishes Yuan Ye made were truly outstanding. Even if his cooking skills were a bit amateurish, they were still outstanding. After all, these seasonings and oils, while appearing simple, were actually incredibly complex. If he hadn’t majored in chemical machinery, he might not have been able to put so many miscellaneous things together.
It was fortunate that he had studied chemical machinery and loved learning in the past, spending his free time in the library. This allowed him to eat more comfortably in ancient times. If someone with a liberal arts major like journalism had transmigrated, they would probably be crying by a manure pit right now.
Science truly changes lives!
He ate the most comfortable meal since his transmigration, and the one that tasted most like home. He was in an excellent mood. After eating, he sat there slowly drinking tea, reflecting on what else was lacking. He needed to get a blower, otherwise, the oil temperature would rise a bit slowly. And he needed to think about sugar again. He vaguely remembered reading about a method for fermenting rice to produce sugar. He would have to recall it carefully to see if he could produce white sugar.
It might be a bit difficult, and he didn’t expect much hope in the short term.
A Qing and Yayoi were also very satisfied with the meal. Although the ingredients were the same, with various strange seasonings mixed in and quickly stir-fried in an iron pot, the taste was indeed different. After eating, they felt an indescribable sense of happiness.
Perhaps this is what delicious food brings happiness, and happiness enhances well-being. They didn’t understand it, but they just felt very comfortable.
A Man, on the other hand, ate until she was stuffed. No one could beat her when it came to eating. After eating, she lay down directly on the floor, propping up her little feet and picking her teeth with straw. She felt like she had wasted over ten years of eating before. She regretted not robbing Yuan Ye a few years earlier. If she had known she could eat so well and so deliciously by following him, she would have traveled two thousand miles to Saikaidō to rob him!
She didn’t say anything earlier, causing her to waste so much time in vain!
She lay there comfortably for a while and felt it was acceptable!
Selling these things directly for money would probably be difficult; it certainly wouldn’t be as fast as brewing soy sauce. But if she could eat like this every day in the future, it would be quite good!
