Chapter 198

“Perhaps…!”

Liche suddenly stops on her way to cook.

“K-Kurisu-san. Are you okay?”

“Shouldn’t you still be resting?”

Seeing her like this, Arisa and Yuri worry again if her anemia has flared up.

“No. It’s not that… I just remembered something. A pretty good idea.”

“An idea…?”

“No, it’s not something I can confidently talk about yet. Don’t worry about it.”

But in response to their concern, Liche simply smiles meaningfully, saying that she just had a good idea, and so the day’s meal passes uneventfully.

…

And three more days pass.

During those days, Liche didn’t attempt to make chicken steak.

Well, it’s unclear if she really didn’t cook at all, but at least she didn’t offer any tastings to Arisa and Yuri.

It seemed like she had been energized by their encouragement, yet she didn’t present any new dishes, which made her efforts seem in vain.

Feeling puzzled but also secretly relieved from being tired of the chicken steak they had been eating, the two spent their time debating whether to show concern or sigh in relief.

And then came the third day.

“Everyone. Do you have time this evening?”

Liche, who said this, looked more tired than ever over the past three days.

“Kurisu-san…?”

“You look really tired. Are you okay?”

“Yes. Of course. I’m more energetic than ever.”

Smiling as she said this, Liche clearly looked exhausted from not having rested properly for days.

But.

At the same time, her smile was genuine, not forced.

Seeing Liche like this, the two realized something was different today.

“Yes.”

“Of course.”

They answered Liche’s question seriously, and in response, Liche smiled meaningfully and promised to treat them to dinner.

And so, evening came.

…

When dinner time arrived, Liche went into the kitchen, saying she would bring out the food soon, and after about 30 minutes, she returned to the Adventurer Guild’s hall with the meal.

Clatter.

Liche confidently places a plate on the table.

“This is the secret dish to defeat that adventurer…”

“It looks pretty ordinary though…?”

“Huhu. Is that so?”

It was a chicken steak that looked no different from the ones they had eaten before, except that the cockatrice breast meat had run out and was replaced with thigh meat.

But despite their puzzled looks, Liche confidently smiled, insisting that this time was different, and urged them to eat quickly.

“This dish isn’t an ordinary chicken steak. It’s completely different from any chicken steak I’ve made before… No, it’s completely different from any dish I’ve made before.”

Liche’s expression showed confidence that her dish would be eaten by the two, even before they had tasted it.

…

The day Liche received encouragement from Arisa and Yuri.

What she remembered was a meat preservation method from a distant land.

Though not very popular in Astram, in countries other than the Kingdom of Eustia, animal fat is used to preserve meat for a long time.

While oil extracted from plants remains liquid at room temperature, animal fat is different.

Have you ever seen the fat on a grill solidify and turn white by the end of a meal?

Yes.

Unlike plant-based oils, animal fat solidifies into a white, wax-like substance at room temperature.

The meat preservation method was inspired by this.

First, extract fat from the meat, then submerge the meat in the extracted animal fat and let it solidify at room temperature.

The meat trapped in the white, wax-like fat slows down decay significantly, much like an animal’s body preserved in ice or a mosquito trapped in amber preserving its DNA.

People from distant lands use this method to preserve meat for long periods.

Especially since cockatrice meat has a texture similar to a mix of chicken and duck, with duck being particularly fatty, it was suitable for this method.

So, she considered applying the preservation method she had only read about in books at the mansion.

But then, an idea struck her.

What if the method of wrapping meat in animal fat was applied not to preservation but to cooking?

Yuri had clearly said.

That keeping meat at a low temperature for a long time can result in a tender texture.

And Arisa had also said.

If the problem with cooking meat in air is the loss of moisture, what about cooking it in water?

Certainly, cooking at a low temperature for a long time makes the meat tender.

But cooking in air dries it out, and cooking in water mixes the meat’s moisture with the water, resulting in a mushy texture.

So, what if you cook it submerged in a liquid other than water?

Like oil, for example.

Of course, if the temperature is too high, it would just be frying, not cooking.

But frying meat generally requires a strong temperature of at least 140 degrees.

And that’s the minimum; the optimal temperature is around 180 degrees.

But what if you lower the oil temperature to around 120 degrees…

No, what if you maintain a temperature below 100 degrees, like smoking, and instead increase the cooking time to several hours?

Thinking of this, Liche tried out the idea right after dinner that day.

First, she cooked it at around 140 degrees for an hour, wiped off the oil, and tasted it.

Honestly, the taste wasn’t that great.

No matter how much oil was wiped off, the surface couldn’t be completely cleaned, and the cockatrice meat’s gamey smell remained. The Maillard reaction didn’t occur properly, so there was no browning flavor.

But.

At that moment, Liche saw potential.

Clearly, the first attempt was crude, oily, and low in quality, but it was slightly juicier and more tender than pan-frying.

From then on, Liche reduced her sleep to continuously improve the recipe.

To remove the gamey smell from the cockatrice meat, she tried cooking it in oil with whole peppercorns and various herbs.

As a result, the gamey smell was completely removed, and instead, the fragrant aroma of pepper and herbs permeated the meat.

To impart the unique flavor of grilled meat, she took the meat cooked in oil and seared it in a pan over high heat to brown the surface.

The result was a deep, savory flavor that couldn’t be achieved just by boiling in oil, with the Maillard reaction’s umami and nuttiness multiplied.

Moreover, the oil that had clung to the surface during cooking melted away with the meat’s juices, resulting in a clean steak that didn’t need surface oil wiped off, as if it had never been marinated in oil.

It was truly an unexpected harvest.

And the unexpected harvest didn’t stop there.

The oil she had used for practice without filtering.

As she replenished the herbs and whole peppercorns while cooking the cockatrice meat, the oil absorbed more and more of their aromas.

Like bone broth, the oil became richer and more flavorful with each use.

While frying oil deteriorates at high temperatures close to 180 degrees, the low-temperature cooking method didn’t reach the temperature where oil spoils, so the oil not only didn’t spoil but also absorbed the flavors of various spices, improving in quality.

And so, Liche

With each cooking

Slowly advanced step by step beyond her previous self.

But she wasn’t satisfied.

It wasn’t particularly out of rivalry with Kurt.

In fact, at this point, her desire to surpass Kurt was almost non-existent.

It was simply

That cooking was too enjoyable.

With each cooking session, she steadily advanced one step beyond the previous dish.

Her cooking skills were growing.

The dishes she made were becoming more delicious day by day.

And imagining the expressions of others when she served her dishes.

It was so enjoyable.

To cook better.

To make more delicious dishes.

To make those who eat them show happier expressions.

Next, she tried lowering the oil temperature further.

In proportion, the cooking time doubled.

When the oil temperature was lowered to 120 degrees.

The cooking time became 3 hours.

When the oil temperature reached 100 degrees, it took half a day.

At 80 degrees, a whole day passed.

And finally, when the oil temperature reached 60 degrees.

A full day had passed.

And when Liche grilled and ate that dish, she finally smiled with satisfaction.

…

60 degrees for 24 hours.

That was the most suitable time and temperature Liche found for cooking cockatrice meat.

And at the same time, it was considered the most suitable time and temperature for cooking whole pieces of meat sous-vide.

…

“Here. Please eat before it gets cold.”