Chapter 133

Entering the kitchen, I pondered for a moment about what menu would be best.

This time, the dish I’m making is for a total of seven people.

Among them, two are children.

So, I need to satisfy two conditions first.

First, it should be convenient to make in large quantities to serve seven portions at once.

Second, it should have a soft texture and be child-friendly in taste.

And considering the taste, a dish with plenty of meat would be good.

The meats I brought from the Elf Village have, of course, all been gone for a long time.

The ingredients I have are the meat of a One-Horned Rabbit, which I secured while not paying attention and messing around while searching for clues about the Man-eating Werewolf.

And a bit of meat from a Soundhoof Deer and a Drilltusk Boar I hunted before stopping by this village.

Come to think of it, when I was in Astram, I made Hamburg for a little kid named Jungwoo.

Then, this time, meatballs would be good.

Minced meat patties are always a hit with children.

Thinking that, I smiled faintly and finalized the menu, then started cooking right away.

The One-Horned Rabbit meat is from a low-grade monster, so it doesn’t require purification, and the other two meats have already been purified during the previous preparation process, so no additional treatment is needed.

First, I’ll mince the monster meats.

Like Hamburg, most dishes that use minced meat to make patties involve mincing the meat once, then shaping it into patties, so there’s no big restriction on the parts used.

In fact, using most parts randomly still guarantees a certain level of taste.

However, if you want to make proper patties, the story changes, as it’s better to mix two or more types of meat rather than using just one.

Understanding the taste differences based on the breed and part of the meat used for the patties, and using meats that can synergize to elevate the taste beyond what a single meat could achieve.

That’s the first step to making delicious Hamburg.

Especially, the classic is mixing beef and pork half and half.

Combining the deep aroma of beef with the rich, fatty umami of pork, gathering only the strengths of each meat, is a classic among classics.

But the meats I’m using this time are different.

Namely, deer, wild boar, and rabbit trio.

Each of these meats has a distinct personality different from beef and pork.

But conversely, combining these three types of meat to make patties can create a taste different from patties made with beef and pork.

Like solving a puzzle, I combine the types of meat used.

First, wild boar meat.

Wild boar and pork might seem biologically very close, leading one to mistakenly think they would taste similar, but in fact, they are completely different.

Just as the same person can grow into vastly different individuals depending on their environment, culture, and experiences, the same goes for pigs and wild boars.

Domestic pigs, which always have periodic meals provided by their owners and feel little threat to their survival, have less exercise compared to wild boars, which must constantly compete for survival and have irregular meals in the wild.

Thus, while pork has a high fat content and tender texture, wild boar meat, on the contrary, has less fat and more muscle, making the texture very tough and even stronger in gamey smell than pork.

Therefore, while the parts used for patties in pork are relatively low-fat parts like tenderloin or loin, for wild boar, the lower parts are used to get softer meat.

Yes. First, wild boar ribs.

Next, deer.

Deer, being wild animals, also have a lot of muscle and very little fat.

Moreover, they have a stronger smell than wild boars; while wild boars have a strong pig smell, deer have a unique, more alien smell than pigs.

Thus, if not cooked properly, the unique smell of deer can ruin the dish.

But the strong smell, if handled correctly, can become an attractive meat aroma.

Since the fatty parts are covered by the wild boar meat, there’s no need to secure fat from the deer.

Especially since the gamey smell of animals often comes from fat, I’m even more reluctant to use fatty parts.

So, let’s keep it light here.

The part to use is the loin, which has less fat and thus less gamey smell.

Finally, rabbit meat.

Fortunately, unlike the wild boar and deer meat, rabbit meat is relatively tender.

Using rabbit meat will make the patty’s texture softer.

The part to use…

There’s no choice.

Since rabbits are such small animals, there’s no way to save by limiting the parts used.

So, I’ll use all the meat from one rabbit without distinguishing parts.

Having selected the meats for the patty, the next step is to mince them for the patty.

There’s a saying that fatty parts are hard to mince without a machine, but that’s only for ordinary people.

After mincing all three meats, to properly remove the gamey smell, add minced garlic and pepper.

Add a bit more than usual.

Wild boar and deer are naturally stronger in gamey smell than beef and pork.

If it were beef and pork patties, the usual amount would suffice, but since this patty uses different meats, the method to remove the gamey smell needs to be stronger.

Similarly, to remove the gamey smell and add sweetness, onions are needed.

Like in Hamburg, fry minced onions to remove some moisture, then add them to the patty mixture.

Season with sugar and salt, then beat an egg well to add adhesiveness so the mixture doesn’t fall apart.

And the quite hard and dry white bread.

It’s just too dry to eat as is, but in cooking, it’s a different story.

Grate the bread into breadcrumbs, then add them directly to the patty mixture.

With that, the patty preparation is complete.

All that’s left is to roll the meat mixture into bite-sized balls.

Then, place them on an oiled pan and fry.

Once the meatballs are nicely browned to a delicious-looking color, take them all out of the pan.

But it’s not complete yet.

Next is preparing the sauce.

Pour tomato sauce into the pan where the meat juices remain, then add ketchup for more tanginess.

Add chopped onions and bell peppers for color, texture, and vegetable aroma.

Tomato sauce and ketchup now feel more like preserved foods made in advance whenever there’s time, rather than sauces made fresh each time cooking.

Yes. Since coming to the Lizardman Village, as time has passed, I’ve obtained various cooking ingredients and the variety of sauces I keep on hand has broadened, which feels increasingly good.

Someday, I’d like to recreate the cooking environment of my past life.

While thinking that, the meatball sauce started to boil.

At this point, the sauce seems roughly done.

Depending on the cooking method, you could fry the meatballs and sauce together, but this time, I cooked the sauce and meatballs separately.

While frying them together has the advantage of the sauce soaking into the meatballs, cooking them separately allows you to taste the meatballs’ original flavor and the sauce together, which has its own charm.

Generously scoop the meatballs and sauce onto each plate, and it’s complete.

Today’s dinner menu

Meatballs made with various meats

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As Kurt brought out the completed meatball plates, the innkeeper’s two children’s eyes sparkled with admiration.

“Wow~!”

From the moment Kurt started cooking, the two children were glued to the kitchen, and when the food finally came out, they were so excited it was almost worrisome.

Clatter

One by one, the plates were placed on the table, and finally, when the last plate was on the table, Kurt looked at the innkeeper and the two children and said,

“Well, it’s not a grand dish, but eat up. There’s plenty.”

“This is… meatballs.”

The innkeeper looked surprised at the meatballs Kurt presented.

“Why? Is there a problem?”

“No, nothing at all. Actually, my most confident dish is also meatballs. So, I was planning to serve meatballs tomorrow…”

“Is that so?”

That’s unexpected.

Meatballs are more labor-intensive than one might think, so it feels a bit mismatched for such a rugged man to make them.

Wait, thinking that, I’m the same.

Thinking about it, it’s not strange since he’s running an inn.

“Despite appearances, the income from just running the inn is unstable, so I sometimes pretend to be a hunter. Of course, I don’t go hunting often because I worry about the two children.”

“If you say that, I can’t help but look forward to tomorrow’s meal.”

“Hahaha. Don’t worry. Despite appearances, I’m quite serious about cooking. You won’t be disappointed.”

Oh. With that much confidence, I’m getting curious.

What kind of meatballs does he cook?

While the innkeeper and I were chatting, my other companions and the two children couldn’t wait and started eating, soon exclaiming with sparkling eyes.