Episode 197

“Is that so?”

I nodded and began gathering the ingredients. The dish I was going to present was a noodle dish that falls under the category of ramen. It could be called noodles or ramen.

The ramen being referred to here is Japanese ramen. While Korean ramen is mainly instant, Japanese ramen involves making the broth from scratch.

The dish I’m making now is called Tsukemen in Japan. I was thinking of using Ma’a instead of chicken to make the broth.

Tsukemen typically involves a mix of several broths, so I was planning to use not only Ma’a but also a lot of other ingredients. However, I turned my head due to an intense gaze.

Rurin had a strange expression, and Ricent had a face full of anticipation. The combination of their gazes hit the back of my head hard, making me feel a sharp, tingling sensation.

“Um, could you both step outside? I can’t concentrate.”

“Huh? Why, why?”

I honestly told them about the overwhelming gaze, and Ricent gave me a look as if asking, ‘What are you trying to hide now?’

“I don’t mean anything else. If it’s the recipe, I’ll reveal it openly, but for now, please step outside. Isn’t it better to eat without knowing, to put yourself in the position of an average customer? Over there, the exit.”

“Wh-what…! Ugh. Fine, if you put it like that, I’ll leave. But if it tastes bad, you’ll regret it!”

I nudged her, and she finally started walking out with loud footsteps.

“Ugh?!”

However, she didn’t leave safely. She tripped on the floor that had nothing on it, and the wet kitchen floor was like poison for her. Ugh.

Crash-!

Ricent declared a break, and after the kitchen staff did a quick cleanup and left, the floor became slippery.

As a result, Ricent fell quite elegantly. The fortunate thing was that she fell backward this time, so her rear end took the impact.

However, the problem didn’t end there. As she fell, Ricent’s hand brushed the handle of a knife on the kitchen table, and the kitchen knife flew into the air and started falling toward Ricent. I subtly used wind magic to change the knife’s direction.

The knife fell just above Ricent’s head.

“Ahhhh!”

Ricent’s face turned pale as she narrowly escaped death. She quickly stood up, grabbed the knife, and began to tremble.

“Th-this…?”

She looked like an incarnation of vengeance holding a kitchen knife, ready to settle the score.

“What’s this?! Aaaahhh!”

Then, she ran out, still holding the knife. What a remarkable woman. Should I call her the incarnation of clumsiness?

Rurin, who was generally uninterested in humans, stared at Ricent with a confused expression, then suddenly slapped her hands together with a loud smack.

“I’ve never seen such a strange human before!”

I agree with that.

“That woman aside, honestly, you haven’t been any less strange recently either.”

Yeah, Rurin’s strange behavior is truly odd. It’s hard to guess why she’s acting like this, and it’s been a while since her actions were this unpredictable.

“Me? What’s strange about me…?”

“Huh?”

“I’m not strange! I’m Rurin.”

“Who said anything? But what was with the hesitation just now? You seem like you’re hiding something… Aaaahhh!”

The reason for the scream was simple.

Rurin, clearly feeling guilty, suddenly jumped on my shoulder and bit me.

“Ahhh!”

“Hey, why are you biting my shoulder! Are you a monster!”

“I’m a dragon!”

Yeah, not a monster, but a dragon.

“Fine, get off. That really hurts.”

“I don’t know!”

She jumped back to the floor, wiped the drool from her mouth with her sleeve, then turned around and looked up at me again, speaking.

“I’m more hungry…ugh.”

When she clutched her stomach and made a pitiful face, I couldn’t just leave her like that.

“Okay, okay. Let’s cook quickly.”

I said that, then got to work on the cooking. First, I started making the noodles. It wasn’t the usual Kalguksu noodles.

It was a different kind of fresh noodle, unlike Kalguksu or ramen.

I planned to make the kind of noodle used in Japanese ramen, the thin yellow noodles.

Not the fried or dried noodles found in instant ramen, but fresh noodles!

Fresh ramen is a bit more difficult to make compared to Kalguksu or regular noodles.

The ingredients are wheat flour, water, salt, soda, and gardenia to give it a yellow color. Since this restaurant specializes in noodles, we have most of the ingredients, but no gardenia.

Since the flavor is the focus right now, color isn’t that important.

Then, no problem. Let’s give it a try.

Fresh ramen typically has a low hydration ratio, meaning less water. So, it’s usually kneaded by a machine because it’s tough to do by hand.

I don’t have a machine.

But I have magic.

Of course, it’s hard, but it’s not impossible to do by hand. However, since I have magic, I don’t think it’s worth the trouble.

“Rurin, could you create a barrier of this size for cooking?”

“Why a barrier all of a sudden?”

I summoned Rurin, who is better than any machine, but she tilted her head and caused a malfunction.

“I’m cooking, not fighting, so don’t show off your combat skills.”

“Huh? I don’t know what’s going on, but okay.”

I put the dough inside the barrier, shrinking, enlarging, and reshaping it. The high-pressure barrier would knead the dough stronger than anything else.

Then, I took the dough out and finished it by hand, pressing down with my full weight.

Now, the remaining issue was the resting.

It needed to rest for at least three hours. But looking at Rurin, who was sucking her fingers, I knew if I made her wait any longer, she’d explode. I had no choice but to use magic again.

“Rurin, can you speed up time for this dough? Not stop time, that would be a disaster, just speed up the flow of time in this space.”

“That’s a painful spell to use!”

Even for a dragon, speeding up time isn’t easy. It’s top-class among 10th-class mental magic. And the range is very limited.

“Is that so? Then let’s wait for three hours.”

“Three hours?”

Rurin tugged on my arm and checked the time. She wasn’t used to clocks, so she had to look at the hour and minute hands to grasp the time.

“Aaaah! That’s too long!”

“Well, if you think it’s long, it is.”

“I hate that. My stomach is about to faint!”

“If you don’t like it, then use magic.”

Rurin hesitated for a moment. It was difficult to force her to use magic for a single meal, so I left it up to her and folded my arms, waiting.

Rurin’s eyebrows moved this way and that.

“Are you serious?”

In the end, hunger won. Rurin rolled up her sleeves and began glaring at the dough.

In our restaurant, we usually prepare everything from the morning, so magic isn’t necessary, but since this is someone else’s restaurant and nothing is ready, I had no choice.

I tried to pat Rurin’s head but realized my hands were covered in flour, so I washed them under running water.

The noodles are fine now.

Next is the broth.

Instead of chicken broth, I’ll use Ma’a broth, along with a basic anchovy and kelp stock. Tonkotsu broth from Japanese ramen would be great, but it takes too long, so I’ll flavor it with anchovy, kelp, and Ma’a stock for now.

To add a bit of spice, I’ll use a local powder called Tuia-sho, which will give the noodles a similar appearance to real Tsukemen.

Neither Rurin nor Ricent is used to spicy food, so I’ll keep the spice level mild.

It doesn’t end here. I’ll also mix a few other ingredients to make the broth.

The depth and variety of flavors are a characteristic of Japanese Tsukemen, so I mixed several ingredients as well.

Naturally, I made the broth a bit thicker. This is the basic broth, and I also made a milder version by mixing some of the noodle water with it.

I moved the finished dish to the table. Tsukemen is typically eaten with the noodles separate from the broth.

The key is dipping the noodles into the broth.

It’s similar to how soba noodles are eaten.

“Look here. The way to eat it is to dip the noodles into the broth like this. Don’t drop all the noodles into the broth at once.”

“Do I dip the noodles into the broth?”

“Yes, exactly.”

“Oh, that’s unusual.”

“Rurin, wait! That’s not how you eat it. Why are you trying to shove all the noodles into your mouth at once?”

“Because I’m hungry! Hungry, hungry, hungry, hungry!”

“Stop! You have to follow the proper way to eat, Rurin!”

I had no choice but to sit down at the table and demonstrate for Rurin.

“Hold the noodles like this, dip them in the broth, then slurp them up. The key is to dip the noodles in the broth to your desired amount. You can adjust the broth’s concentration.”

“I’ll try it!”

“Really? It’s an odd method. Ohh!”

Rurin carelessly dunked the noodles in the broth and slurped them into her mouth, cheering.

“What’s this?! It’s cold and hot! And it’s delicious!”

“There’s meat in it too, try eating that.”

She had already started eating it before I even spoke. Ricent, who had been staring blankly at the scene, dipped the noodles in the broth and carefully slurped them up.

“It’s a bit spicy! But it’s fine. I can handle this level of spice. Huh, the noodles are chewy, thin, and firm!”

Rurin, the self-appointed critic, continued to slurp up the noodles with her sharp remarks.

“Thanks for the praise, but eat slowly.”

Of course, the concept of eating slowly doesn’t exist in Rurin’s dictionary. Delicious food should be eaten quickly. Fast and in large quantities!

And from the other side, Ricent began to praise the dish as well.

“Wow, this is amazing. How is the noodle so cold? It’s not even winter…but when you dip the cold noodles into the hot broth, it’s so unique and harmonious… The broth also has the taste of Ma’a, which the locals here love, along with many other flavors…”

“Yes, that’s the point.”

“It’s really delicious. Truly…!”

“When you finish eating this, pour the light broth into the thick broth bowl and mix some rice in for an even more filling meal. Eat up, eat up. There’s also a skewer dish, and I’ll decide which one to serve at the festival between these two.”

“Is there more besides this?”

“Eat first, then we’ll talk about the broth!”

“Ah, sorry.”

Ricent, startled, lowered her head in embarrassment. Soon, the restaurant was filled with the sounds of eating.

Slurp, nom nom.

Slurp, chew chew.

In fact, this can be made even with simple instant noodles.

Separate the ramen, cook the noodles well, add seasonings like vinegar or pepper, then add ice to make it cold, and finally make a soup to dip it in.

For the soup, if you have beef sirloin, stir-fry a bit of the sirloin to extract the fat, then add about a third of the ramen soup base. For Tsukemen, you need a small amount of water, so boil about a cup of water.

You can also make the broth with anchovy or kelp stock, or just use plain water. Afterward, finish it with cooking wine, soy sauce, minced garlic, chili powder for spice, vinegar, and pepper to create a unique version of ramen.

It’s boring to eat the same thing all the time.

“Hey!”

In the meantime, Rurin, who had already finished eating, smiled happily and proudly held out her empty bowl.