Chapter 200
On the way back, I pondered over what to make. However, even when we reached our house, I still haven’t quite decide what to do yet. Mostly because since this was our final night at this house with the luxurious kitchen. I want to try making something I normally won’t be able to while on the road. [1]
Moreover, I want to make something that we can eat outside too. So, something extravagant, because breakfast could only be something quick since we have to leave this place early tomorrow morning. [1]
After thinking about it, I settled on Shiogama Yaki, or Salt Crusted baking. It’s been quite a while since I made it, and only once at that. But it did seemed like a good idea to try again.
Although I must admit, that one time I made this dish ended up in a failure. I used pork at that time and did everything according to the recipe but the meat ended up being too salty [2] instead of the perfectly baked juiciness it promised. I rarely failed in my recipes since I’m fairly diligent about following instructions and went online to investigate.
There was really nothing much online, but I did find one recipe that called for wrapping the meat in cabbage or lettuce leaves first before salting it so that the meat would not come into direct contact with the salt.
Taking into consideration of my earlier failure, I decided that this time I would stack the odds on my side and have a revenge cooking time! Instead of pork, let’s use the Bloody Horn Bull meat! Okay, recipe decided, it’s time to go shopping for ingredients at [Net Super].
First, coarse salt, black pepper in black pepper mill, and fresh rosemary.
Alright then, time to get to work.
Frist, I lightly blanch the cabbage leaves I had peeled. [3] The blanching will soften the leaves. To do this efficiently, it’s best to boil the leaves stem side first before gradually lowering the tops in for more even softness. If the cabbage stems are still quite hard after blanching, it’s alright to trim it out before using it to wrap meat. [3] While the cabbage leaves were cooling from the hot bath, I mixed egg whites with the coarse salt by hand until it is foamy and could hold its shape. I have to guess the amount of salt and egg white to use according to the amount of meat I’m using. Oh well, better to have too much than too little for occasions like this.
Meanwhile, to season the Bloody Horn Bull meat, I rubbed a little good salt with plenty of crushed black pepper and crushed some fresh rosemary with my hand onto the meat. Finally, I wrapped the meat up in the cooled and softened cabbage leaves. I prepared the base by plopping the Shiogama crusting salt on the tray. I made sure the space was just a little larger than the meat I was planning to bake. Finally, the cabbage wrapped meat were placed on the salt, before completely covering the meat with the Shiogama, making sure to cover up every bit of the cabbage wrapped meat.
The Shiogama must be baked at 200 degrees Celsius. How convenient, the kitchen here also utilize the All-in-One Magical Stove, just like mine. I took out my own Magical Stove and set it out at an empty space in the kitchen. With two Magical Stoves, I can bake 6 large pieces of Salt Crusted Bloody Horn Bull at once! [4]
Hohoho, while it looked like a lot, I plan to put the extra baked meat away in my [Item Box] for a rainy day.
[5] As for the timing, well, I’m not actually quite sure since this was an other world meat, and in large pieces too. I decided to just wing it. When the kitchen started to smell good, I turned off the oven.
“Alright, this should be enough.”
I opened the doors, but left the Shiogama Yaki in the oven to bake in the residual heat while I made the sauce. It should be good as it is, but I felt that a mustard sauce would add a little something more to it. [6] To make the sauce, I scooped out a good amount of good mustard with the little grains in it and mixed it with a little mirin and soy sauce in a pan. Then, I let it simmer over a low fire, stirring it until the mixture thickened a little. As a final shine, I added a splash of olive oil onto the surface of the sauce once it had cooled down a little.
A little taste test to check its heat. [6] Hmm, not bad. Finally, I took out one of the trays of Salt Crusted Bloody Horn Bull and set it on the table. Time for the big reveal. With the handle of a knife, I crack the salt crust. Immediately the scent of herbs filled the kitchen.
So far so good.
I peeled off the salt crust with the cabbage leaves, revealing a grey surface. [7] Well, since its beef, it would look grey when cooked when not seared. [7] I encouraged myself not to be disheartened and sliced a bit off with my Mithril cooking knife. The inside was a light pink, so I carefully placed the meat into my mouth and…
“Woah, tasty!”
Ufufun, the scent of herbs really permeated the nose, and rather than a salty taste, it was more like the salt had preserved the moistness of the meat and made it very tender. Looks like the heating and timing was done quite well.
It should be quite good as it is.
My Shiogama Yaki was a huge success this time. As the recipe said, the secret was in the cabbage leaves. I sliced up chunks of it for my companions and arranged them nicely on their new plates. Hoho, let’s have them taste it without the sauce first. I sliced some for myself and put away the rest of the Shiogama Yaki, you know, just in case someone decided to come in and swallow them or something.
I placed the plates of Shiogama Yaki beef onto the cart and wheeled it towards my hungry companions, “Sorry for the wait~”
“I’m getting tired of waiting,” Fer grumbled.
“Sorry, sorry, since it’s our last night here, I thought I’d make full use of this luxurious kitchen to make something delicious,” with that, I placed the plates of steaming Shiogama Yaki in front of my companions.
“Oh, that’s some delicious looking meat,”
“Yes, yes, it’s smells really good,”
“The meat looks really pretty~”
“I think I did a pretty good job today, so dig in everyone!”
Everyone started tasting the meat.
“Mu mu, this is quite delicious,” Fer began chomping into the meat, destroying the pretty pattern I made.
“So tender, so delicious!” Dora-chan was holding his cheeks as he ate.
“The meat smells really, really good and the meat is really, really delicious~”
Well, that’s actually from the rosemary. Looks like using fresh rosemary was a hit. Well, while salt crusting could be quite troublesome, it looks like it’s quite worth it.
Alright, I’m going to try some too.
Chomp.
Ooh, yes, yes, that’s the stuff. Moist, soft and delicious. I think I could probably eat it all. I’m so glad it turned out right this time. Hmm, I think Orc or Rock Bird would be delicious when salt baked. Since we’re heading towards Verulean, let’s try making fish Shiogama Yaki too.
“Seconds!”
Yes, yes, I took out a whole Shiogama Yaki from my [Item Box]. Fufufu, enjoy the visual impact of a yet unopen salt crust.
“Nu, what is that thing?” Fer looked over the thing curiously.
“The meat you had earlier is inside. Look, first I crack the salt with the handle of my knife,” I struck the Shiogama Yaki with my knife until it cracked. [6] “Look, you see the steam coming out of the crack? Meat that has been baked inside this comes out moist and tender.”
“I see, very well, cut me a thick slice of meat this time.”
“Thick cut, sounds good! Hey, I want a thick cut too!”
“Sui, too~”
Hey, here I am explaining the unique process of this dish and all you guys care about is eating? Ah, well…
As per their orders, I cut thick slices of meat off the hunk of meat for them and spread the mustard sauce over it.
“Ooh, this spicy thing goes very nicely with this meat. Umu, quite delicious.”
“You’re right, it’s slightly spicy, but that’s what makes it delicious.”
“It stings a little, but Sui is fine if it stings only this much. It’s yummy~”
Looks like the sauce was a hit with everyone. Hmm, I should try some too. Oh, it really matches well! [6] The grainy texture of the sauce as well as the little pockets of spiciness packed into the grain really highlighted the taste of the beef.
“Fu~ I can’t eat anymore,” Dora-chan gave up after eating half of the large meat slice.
Ah, looks like two slices was too much for the little dragon.
“Sui will eat it for you~”
Naturally, this was not quite enough for-
“Seconds!”
Yes, yes, I doled out two more large slices of meat for each of them. Ah, but since everyone worked so hard today, everyone deserves some dessert.
Let’s see, [7] I opened up [Net Super] and looked through Fujiya’s menu. Right, let’s get a whole Strawberry Short Cake, Size S. For Dora-chan I picked out a Strawberry and Banana Sundae Pudding as well as a Cream Puff Pudding. Finally, for my beloved Sui I got her a whole cake too, Chocolate with lots of fruit on it.
“Since everyone worked hard today, please have this.”
“Umu,” as expected, Fer’s response was a restraint ‘umu’ as usual, but he looked really happy.
The others were really happy with their treat as well. [8] For myself, I splurged a little and got myself an expensive drip coffee packet and settled down to wait as the coffee dripped into my new mug.
Having a house was really comfortable. [9]Since we have plenty of money, we might as well rent a house at Verulean too.
Beef Salt Crust Recipe~
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EiItckMuQSw – Steak Style
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VVN0278CLk – Cold sliced beef style
The second recipe’s cooking time, because it’s in Japanese with Japanese caption, lol
20 min baking
20 min left within the salt crust
Rest until cool, wrap it in clingwrap and leave it in fridge overnight before slicing
[1] Structural Change: Combined 2 paragraphs
[2] Added More Details: For texture
[3] Added More Details: For the recipe to properly explain the whys and hows of cooking
[4] Structural Change: Combined 3 paragraphs
[5] Added More Details: For transitional purposes
[6] Structural Change & Added More Detail: Combine 2 paragraphs, added more information to make it interesting.
[7] Added More Details: Because it would be boring otherwise.
[8] Deleted Repetitive Information: The usual Yay! Yay! Pudding! Remarks
[9] Structural Change: Combined 2 paragraphs