Chapter 34

The Menbosha and Clam Chowder I had prepared earlier, along with croutons made from leftover bread corners.

We devoured every dish on the table without leaving a single crumb, then let out a satisfied sigh.

“It was really delicious! Who knew bugs could taste this good!”

“They’re not bugs.”

As long as the meal was enjoyable, that’s all that matters.

Stop ruining the appetite by calling them bugs over and over.

“Mr. Kurt. I think I had a huge misunderstanding. Even though I said I’d take you as my master, I doubted and distrusted you.”

Karina said this while bowing her head.

Yes. It’s good to see her admit her mistake so readily.

“From now on, even if Mr. Kurt cooks with bugs, I’ll follow without a doubt!”

No, wait.

Even after all the effort I put into cooking, it seems the two of them still see Sea Golem dishes as just “delicious bug dishes” instead of “inedible bug dishes.”

“Sea Golems just have antennae, lots of legs, and a hard shell. Biologically, they’re a bit similar, but they’re not bugs!”

“If they have so many similarities, why do you keep saying they’re not bugs?”

“I can’t understand it either.”

Huh, is that so?

Have I been enjoying bug dishes all this time just because their ecosystem is the sea instead of land?

Are crustaceans just sea bugs?

Is it possible that the culture from my past life was just a peculiar one that enjoyed eating bugs, and this world’s perception is the normal one?

Were the Mongolians right all along?

Then what about all the dishes I’ve eaten in my past life?

“No. More importantly, you managed to eat it all.”

If I kept dwelling on this, my common sense might collapse, so I changed the subject and spoke to the two of them.

“Well, it was a smaller portion than usual.”

“You kept singing about not wanting to eat it.”

I thought it’d be better to make a bit less than usual so there wouldn’t be leftovers, but it seems even the usual amount would’ve been fine.

As I was thinking this, Mari awkwardly smiled and cautiously spoke up.

“So, about that……”

“What, you want more?”

“Ehehe……”

Look at this shameless girl.

But despite Mari’s request, I had no intention of cooking more Menbosha today.

“No.”

“Eek! I’ll apologize for underestimating Mr. Kurt’s cooking!”

“I-I’ll apologize too!”

“It’s not about that. I’m going to cook something else.”

At my words, Mari and Karina tilted their heads in unison.

“Another dish?”

“Another dish, you say?”

“Yes.”

There’s a type of dish I haven’t eaten since reincarnating into this world.

It was lower priority compared to other dishes, and it was hard to get the ingredients in the Lizardman Village or while traveling.

But today, while cooking Menbosha, I used only the egg whites, leaving the yolks untouched in the kitchen.

With so many egg yolks left, and the kitchen available again, it was the perfect opportunity.

I could give the yolks to the innkeeper or make Carbonara pasta using the yolks instead of cream.

But with so many yolks left, why not make something else?

A dessert.

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Kurt, with a mix of doubt and anticipation in his eyes, left the two staring at him and returned to the innkeeper.

“Innkeeper. I’d like to borrow the kitchen again.”

But despite Kurt’s words, the innkeeper stood frozen in place, unable to respond.

The reason was simple: the innkeeper was still in shock after tasting the dish Kurt had given him.

When he first lent the kitchen, he was merely curious about a Lizardman cooking.

Honestly, he didn’t expect much from the results.

He was even a bit worried that the Lizardman might ruin the kitchen.

But watching from a distance, Kurt’s cooking skills were clearly not amateurish.

At that time, he was just amazed to meet such a Lizardman after running the inn for so long.

But after tasting the Menbosha Kurt had given him, everything changed.

The Sea Golem, a creature as hard as minerals, only appearing on land during breeding season and extremely difficult to hunt, was always treated as a delicacy.

Its shell was so tough that even the aura of the kingdom’s knights couldn’t penetrate it, and only the joints could be cut with great effort.

Thus, the Sea Golem’s shell was always scarce and sold at high prices.

But that treatment was only for the shell.

The flesh inside was considered edible but nothing special.

Its bug-like appearance and texture, different from land animals or fish, made it a byproduct of Sea Golem corpses.

At best, it was cheap food for stonemasons processing Sea Golem corpses to save on food expenses.

Since Sea Golems were rare monsters, recipes using their flesh were hardly known.

But the Sea Golem dish Kurt had given him was so exquisite that it made him question why such ingredients were ever considered cheap.

How could a traveler, not even a local, know such a recipe?

This level of flavor wouldn’t lose to the Clam Chowder, the signature dish of his inn.

No, if Menbosha and Clam Chowder were served together, his Clam Chowder would be overshadowed by Menbosha.

Just a sidekick to highlight Menbosha’s presence.

A spicy soup to reset the greasiness of Menbosha.

That’s all it would be.

The Clam Chowder of this inn had been perfected over three generations, starting from his grandfather to his father and now him.

And yet, this Clam Chowder was being overshadowed by a dish made by a traveler, not even a local of this seaside town?

But he felt no displeasure or hostility.

Just as a strong merchant wouldn’t challenge a typhoon, or a tall ogre wouldn’t compare itself to a mountain.

Just as a swordsman wouldn’t feel competitive in front of a Sword Master.

What the innkeeper felt was awe.

As he swallowed the last piece of Menbosha,

the Menbosha he had eaten

left its taste behind.

“What? You didn’t even finish the Menbosha I gave you. Didn’t it suit your taste?”

At the word “Menbosha,”

the innkeeper, like a toy doll powered up, slowly began to move.

“I’ll lend you the kitchen.”

Then he bowed his head and said,

“Please take me as your disciple.”

“Sure. If you cut my lodging fees.”

Kurt replied without even knowing why.

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When Kurt went to borrow the kitchen again, the innkeeper’s behavior was strangely different.

Was the Menbosha that impressive?

In exchange for the Menbosha recipe, the innkeeper allowed Kurt to use the kitchen anytime and waived his lodging fees for the remaining period.

But that wasn’t the important part.

The important thing was the leftover egg yolks from making Menbosha.

Using them to make dessert was the real deal.

Desserts, unlike main dishes, emphasize sweetness.

It’s been a while since I made a sweet dish.

First, I generously added sugar to the separated egg yolks.

For three yolks, about half a cup of sugar.

The key here is to sift the sugar finely to prevent clumping.

Good thing I spent a lot of money to buy this sieve from a Dwarf workshop.

The quality isn’t much worse than in my past life.

This alone would make the money I earned from hunting Sea Golems visibly shrink, but who cares?

I’ll just hunt another one tomorrow.

Next, I mixed the yolks and sugar thoroughly until they combined.

Once it reached a creamy texture, the egg mixture was done.

Then it was time to use heat.

I poured milk into a pot and heated it until just before boiling, then added butter to melt.

The key here is not to let the milk exceed 80 degrees, the temperature where it changes.

The ideal temperature is 70 degrees.

Once the butter melted into the warmed milk, I slowly added the egg mixture, stirring to blend it well.

Adding too much at once would cause the egg mixture to clump and cook, so I added it bit by bit, stirring constantly.

Once everything was mixed, I used the sieve again to filter out any lumps.

Then I returned the filtered liquid to the pot and simmered it over low heat, stirring continuously.

As it simmered, the thin liquid thickened, and when it reached a sticky consistency, I kept stirring until it softened into a smooth cream.

A truly creamy state.

Hmm. If only I had an oven or other professional tools……

I’d love to make Crème Brûlée or Egg Tarts with this, but this is the best I can do right now.

I gazed at the golden cream in the pot.

Today’s dessert.

Custard cream made from Three-legged Fowl yolks was complete.