READ NOVEL ONLINE Chapter 59
The horizon of Iceland.
It was a luxury inn equipped with the facilities and elegance to accommodate a few high-ranking nobles from Obsidianberry, providing various services for its guests.
From internal activities like bard songs, storyteller’s tales, and theatrical performances to external activities such as city tours and fishing, there was an array of entertainment options.
Moreover, for guests who wished to cook for themselves, some lodgings had separate kitchens, and the lodging where Catherine was staying was one of those.
Karem’s stay was in a small servant room attached to the inn.
One might think he’d be bothered by the differential treatment, but Karem didn’t care at all.
Anyway, what mattered now was the kelp.
Considering kelp was treated as a weed, Karem felt momentarily annoyed.
But that annoyance dissipated quickly.
After all, even in his past life, using and consuming kelp or seaweed was common only among a few regions, including the East Asian Three Kingdoms.
Most Western countries treated even cephalopods like demons; all seaweed was lumped together as “seaweed,” and this trend continued into modern times.
However, in the East, seaweed was certainly not a weed.
They were experts in drying, roasting, boiling, fermenting, and pickling it, and that was the case for Karem in his previous life as well.
No matter how much one disliked seaweed, it was customary to have bowl of seaweed soup on one’s birthday; often everyone would eat the dried kelp garnish added when making ramen.
Among them, kelp.
As Karem meticulously wiped the dried kelp that the shopkeeper had given him with a dazed expression, he thought, “Can you take this with you?”
“Um, it’s a bit of a burden—”
“Delivery is also possible.”
“Karem, it’s not much at all!”
No, not that.
Anyway, it was indeed kelp.
Pickling, wrapping, mixing, garnishing, or just dipping it in soy sauce and eating it.
Like other seaweeds, kelp had numerous cooking methods and uses.
Above all, with the right use and seasoning, it could serve as a traditional base broth suitable for any dish that wasn’t dessert.
In summary, it was natural MSG.
“Karem, what bizarre thing are you planning this time?”
“Bizarre? Mary, what on earth do you mean by that?”
“It’s certainly a bizarre thing.”
Mary, occupying a spot in the kitchen, lifted a knife.
Then, with a thwack! she chopped the head of the cod on the cutting board in one swift motion.
“Suddenly eating Northern poison and starting a trend, and now it’s the sea’s weeds?”
“Even that poison isn’t poison anymore, is it? At least not in Coldon.”
“Now that the weather is warming, it’ll spread to surrounding areas. So, what will you do? Kelp, you say? I’ve never heard of it before.”
“We’re going to brew broth.”
“Broth?”
Mary questioned suspiciously, but Karem ignored her and first took the innards from the dried anchovies.
Though the anchovies were four times larger than those used in his previous life, there was no issue using them for a broth as all the innards had been removed.
In a large pot, the anchovies began to sizzle as their oil reacted.
As the anchovies crisped in the hot heat and crumbled, he poured in water and tossed in the palm-sized dried kelp.
“Aren’t we brewing broth?”
“Yes, we’re in the midst of it.”
“You just turned off the fire?”
“We’re letting it sit like this for a bit.”
Having observed Karem, who had taken part of her work, Mary still found it hard to gauge him. Yet during this time, her hands deftly filleted the fish, separating the bones from the flesh.
“Do the mussels and clams need to be soaked?”
“They’re already fully soaked by the time you buy them. The shells were cleaned long ago.”
“And when was that…?”
“I finished when you were busy petting that dried seaweed.”
Then Mary opened a box placed at one side of the kitchen and pulled out a live crab.
After that, things moved quickly.
Crack! Thwack. Thwack! Thwack!
With her bare hands, Mary expertly tore the shell of the enormous crab, drained the blood, and swiftly split its body into four parts, separating the claws and legs.
Karem couldn’t help but gape.
Of course, one might be astonished by the incredible strength emanating from Mary’s slender figure, but he had long grown used to that during winter, and his surprise was not about that.
It was about the crab.
The giant crab, which he’d rarely eaten in his previous life, was packed with flesh compared to king crab or lobsters!
Its massive body was fuller than an average adult’s head.
The legs and claws visible between the shells were equally impressive.
And most remarkably, as the back shell cracked open, the subtle aroma emanating from the roe and innards filled the kitchen.
The soft, yellowish flesh and the deep orange roe and innards contrasted with the rotten-looking shell and the barnacles growing all over it.
“This is why you compare it to a treasure chest.”
“Indeed—huh? Wow. So it really can brew a broth all by itself.”
“Yes. Ah.”
As she’d mentioned, before long, the pot of anchovies and the kelp, which had swollen several times, had taken on a light barley tea color.
It could steep more, but there was no guarantee it wouldn’t spoil.
Karem reignited the fire beneath the pot, and as the broth began to boil, he removed all the kelp.
At some point, Mary, who had stopped chopping, displayed a glint of curiosity in her eyes.
“The smell is quite appealing, and the color looks appetizing.”
“You could eat it just like that; it’d taste great.”
“The taste… I can’t imagine it.”
The subtle and smooth scent of the sea gently teased Mary’s nose.
Just then, the broth was also ready.
After straining out the swelled anchovies and their fragments and crumbs, he offered the broth in a dish to the openly curious Mary.
“Why tell you? Just taste it and evaluate.”
“Okay. Um. Mmm?”
As the amber broth touched her tongue, she experienced a rich umami flavor unlike anything she’d ever tasted before, spreading through her mouth like water dissolving into soil.
Before she could savor it further, the Brownie instinctively gulped down all the broth she’d been holding in her mouth.
Nonetheless, the deep umami, reminiscent of the sea, lingered in her senses, brushing her nose with each breath.
“Wha— how can such great taste come from just sea kelp and anchovies…?!”
“Well, the kelp and anchovies were probably salted while drying; it seems like there was no need for seasoning. We might need to season it again when we use it in cooking.”
After tasting the broth, Karem could no longer control his expression.
Certainly, MSG brings peace to homes and dining tables.
If you can hold back, you’re not a cook.
With the knife in hand, Mary found herself staring blankly into space, overwhelmed, shaking her head to regain her composure.
“This is, how can this be with just that!?”
“To extract such umami from different ingredients usually takes a significant amount of time!”
“That’s only natural, isn’t it?!”
Making a stock generally takes hours at the very least.
Even then, the result is a meager quantity compared to the ingredients used.
The silver lining was that it could be made just from leftover vegetables, bones, or scraps of meat?
However, kelp broth was different.
Preparation required just kelp and a few types of dried goods.
The true value of kelp broth lay in its steeping method, which was simpler than boiling a stock.
Of course, the quality might vary depending on the cook’s skill, but tossing the ingredients into cold water and letting them sit overnight was something anyone could do.
“So, what do you plan to make with this kelp broth?”
“Huh?”
“To think that such an exquisite item is just broth; you must certainly have something extraordinary in mind?”
Mary thumped the cutting board.
There was no need to describe the intensity in her gaze.
But.
“Nothing in particular has been decided.”
“Excuse me?”
“I mean it, really.”
Having his senses turned upside down by the sight of the seafood, and being dazed at the sheer size of the crab he’d never seen before in his past life, and then getting dazzled again by the kelp;
To be honest, Karem hadn’t decided on anything at all.
Mary, who frowned as if asking what that meant, realized soon enough that he was serious and let out a deep sigh.
“Then I’ll cook today.”
“Uh?”
“With this broth and seafood, making bouillabaisse would be more than enough; it’d be sheer luxury, really, but a fisherman’s dish.”
Before Karem could say anything, Mary started preparing immediately.
“Bouillabaisse?”
“Uh? Ah. It’s understandable you wouldn’t know. It’s a home-cooked dish from fishermen living by the coast of Berseingzeto. Originally, it’s a seafood stew made from leftover catch.”
Not that Karem didn’t know what bouillabaisse was.
As a French seafood stew, it sounded fancy, but let’s be real, it was essentially just a seafood soup.
Moreover, without tomatoes, depending on the ingredients, it could genuinely become a seafood soup.
And the biggest feature.
As a seafood dish, the quality of the ingredients drastically shifts the quality of the cooking.
After months of being in the kitchen, Mary wielded her knife with an enthusiasm so intense it bordered on madness. Karem had no chance to intervene at all.
As the knife slammed upon the cutting board, carrots, onions, leeks, and garlic flew off the board as they quickly sautéed in a large pot coated in oil.
When the vegetables were sautéed nicely, Mary tossed in the crab, clams, and fish in that order, followed by the broth and spices previously prepared in the kitchen.
“But it feels like the seafood is being layered in order?”
“Different ingredients have different cooking times, but mainly, the crab’s shell releases flavor the longer it cooks.”
Karem thought it was a somewhat understandable explanation.
It was indeed true for both seafood and meat soup; the longer you cook, the more the meat flavor diminishes while the broth’s taste intensifies.
However, is it fair to say the flavor continues to deepen?
As the pot began to bubble vigorously, filling the air with its aroma, Karem found his eyes glazing over in delight.
Knock, knock, knock—
Someone knocked on the inn door.
Mary was busy checking the fire in the kitchen, so Karem rose from his seat.
If it was Catherine, the innkeeper, she wouldn’t knock. Was it Olivier?
“Sir Atanitas isn’t in at the moment—”
“Huh? Oh, it’s Karem. Do you remember me? It’s Viktor.”
“Huh? Sir Viktor?”
Hearing the familiar voice, Karem peeked through the peephole.
A stout figure with graying black hair and a well-groomed beard appeared.
As he opened the door, Viktor, a servant to Godwin whom Karem often saw in Winterhome, greeted him warmly.
“It’s been a while, Sir. What brings you here…?”
“The First Prince and Second Prince are coming to see Sir Atanitas after being invited, but goodness, this smell…”
Just as he was about to convey the news, Viktor simply closed his eyes for a moment, deeply inhaling as if trying to suck in Karem’s very soul.
“That definitely has to be crab. But what is this deep, rich aroma that can’t just be explained?”
“Uh, please, come inside.”
And just as Viktor intended to simply deliver news, upon seeing the bouillabaisse bubbling away before Mary, he shut his eyes tight in awe.
“As expected, the knowledge of Sir Godwin’s prince is threatening to reach new heights!”
“That’s entirely the prince’s fault, isn’t it? After all, I didn’t even prepare this!”
Karem firmly protested, claiming it was slander.