Chapter 25

“Hmm. Then let’s start cooking the Three-legged Fowl.”

“Uh… Really…?”

“H-How about stew! I just bought some good tomatoes recently!”

At my words, Mari and Karina made disgusted faces and tried to persuade me to change the menu to sway my mind.

“What? You guys don’t really want to eat the Three-legged Fowl?”

“To be honest… No.”

“Although I feel bad for Mr. Kurt, who even took a request to hunt the Three-legged Fowl… Honestly, after today’s events, I don’t really have much of an appetite.”

What’s this?

Weren’t you all in good spirits on the way here?

Anyway, women’s hearts are so delicate.

Well, thinking about it, I guess I also had those gloomy moments back when I was a rookie hunter.

But such melancholic themes don’t suit my adventurer life.

I prefer a lighter, more cheerful atmosphere.

And to say you have no appetite when faced with fried chicken?

That’s unforgivable.

“If the Three-legged Fowl left an impression on you today, then you should eat it.”

“…Huh?”

“If we eat the Three-legged Fowl we hunted today, then it was hunted to be eaten. But if we don’t eat it, its death becomes meaningless and hollow.”

That’s no respect for the prey.

Using every part of the prey, from the meat to the bones, without waste is the true respect we owe to our hunt.

Well, once we eat the fried chicken, these gloomy thoughts will probably disappear.

I left the two women, who were making complicated faces, behind and started cooking the Three-legged Fowl.

.

.

.

The important part of cooking chicken isn’t the frying process but the preparation before frying.

First, I cut the meat of the Three-legged Fowl, which had been properly drained of blood after beheading.

Normally, a chicken can be cut into 8, 12, or 16 pieces, but since this chicken is quite large and smaller pieces help the seasoning absorb faster, I cut it into 16 pieces.

Wait, this chicken has three legs, so I need to adjust the cutting method.

I added two extra pieces for the third leg, making a total of 18 pieces.

Not only that, but larger pieces might not absorb the seasoning well, so I also made some cuts in the meat.

After that, I marinated the chicken pieces in milk seasoned with salt and pepper.

The marinating time needed is 30 minutes.

Ideally, marinating for an hour or even up to two hours would be fine, but I’m always hungry and can’t wait that long.

That’s why I cut the chicken as small as possible.

I’m not just idly waiting during that time.

I need to prepare the frying batter.

Using just flour would give some shape, but it would just be chicken coated in flour and fried.

What I need is flour, specifically low-gluten flour.

Flour is divided into high-gluten, medium-gluten, and low-gluten based on the gluten content in the protein.

Higher gluten content makes the flour more viscous when mixed, which is why each type has different uses.

High-gluten flour is used for bread, medium-gluten for noodles, and low-gluten, which has less viscosity, is suitable for frying or pancakes.

But the problem is that in this world, flour isn’t classified by usage.

Well, maybe some specialty stores catering to noble families might sell flour classified by usage, but at least in Astram’s market, flour isn’t sold that way.

So, I spent quite a bit of time over the past few days looking for a store that sells flour by usage.

The low-gluten flour I finally found is just one of the ingredients needed for the frying batter.

I added salt and sugar to give the batter itself a savory flavor.

Then, I added starch and yeast.

I would’ve preferred baking powder over yeast, but apparently, they don’t sell such convenient ingredients.

Actually, even finding yeast took some effort.

If they didn’t sell yeast, I would’ve had to spend time making beer yeast myself.

After mixing all the ingredients, I poured the powder into milk to make a thin batter.

Finally, I bought some bread from the Adventurer Guild that wasn’t spoiled but had dried out to the point where it was only edible if soaked in soup.

I grated that bread to make breadcrumbs.

After all that, all that’s left is frying.

First, I rolled the chicken pieces coated in batter in the breadcrumbs to create a double layer of coating.

Then, I dropped them into cooking oil preheated to 180 degrees.

But before frying the chicken, I tested the oil by dropping a small piece of batter in.

If it sinks slightly and then quickly rises to the surface, the oil is hot enough.

*Plop*

*Sizzle*

*Plop*

*Sssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss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