Episode 37

Karem pondered while looking at the ingredients.

At first, he thought of cotton candy.

But he soon dismissed the idea.

Even if the only ingredient was sugar, how was he supposed to spin it into threads without a cotton candy machine? He had seen it made with a whisk in a period drama from across the sea, but that was for another time.

The origin of cotton candy was in 14th century Italy, where it was made by hand, but of course, Karem didn’t know how.

So, cotton candy was removed from the list.

Karem reviewed the list in his head, considering his personal preferences and peculiarities.

Then, one dessert came to Karem’s mind.

Pişmaniye, also known as Dragon’s Beard Candy.

But to Karem, it was familiar as honey threads.

The method might be different, but the principles and techniques were the same.

As Karem gathered the ingredients and entered the kitchen, Catherine and Mary followed him in.

Catherine looked doubtful when she saw the ingredients on the table.

“There are fewer ingredients than I thought.”

“It’s not that grand when you look at the ingredients alone.”

“But this is just too…”

It was simple.

Just honey, sugar, flour, and chopped walnuts and almonds.

“But will this turn out as expected? Mary?”

“What is it?”

“I’ll handle the ratios, so could you grind the flour and sugar together?”

“Hmm?”

Usually, the honey threads Karem saw in markets or busy streets used corn starch and powdered sugar, and that’s all he knew.

But there was no way they had corn starch.

But Karem thought.

Cooking is all about improvisation, after all.

If corn starch is just finely ground carbohydrate from grains, couldn’t flour be a substitute? After all, powdered sugar is just sugar and starch.

Of course, starch and flour are strictly different, and substituting corn starch with flour is like saying a dog and a wolf are the same because they’re both canines, but what can you do?

There’s no starch to begin with!

“How finely should I grind it…”

“Until I say stop.”

“Contractor, is this right?”

But Mary couldn’t understand it at all.

Putting a little flour into a lot of sugar and grinding it?

Why do such a meaningless thing?

Of course, Catherine had only one thing to say.

“Mary.”

“What is it?”

“Are you better at cooking than the kid?”

“…I can’t deny that.”

“Then do as you’re told.”

Enjoyable repetitive work.

An undeniable reality.

While Mary pounded the mortar with mixed feelings, Karem took the pot of bubbling syrup, made with honey and sugar, off the heat.

There were usually two types of honey threads: traditional and simplified. The traditional method used a base of natural honey and maltose mixed, aged, and fermented.

The simplified method was straightforward. As long as it could be spun into long threads, it worked. Some recipes used corn syrup and oligosaccharides, or even just a large amount of sugar with a small amount of honey.

In that sense, Karem was confident.

In any case, in a medieval fantasy world, honey and sugar were both precious.

Using this much natural ingredient, it didn’t matter whether it was traditional or simplified.

Karem suddenly thought of a non-famous chef.

“You have to add a lot of sugar to make it tasty.”

In any case, as long as it tastes good.

As it melted and changed color, Karem turned his gaze to Mary.

With each thud of the pestle, a light yellow sugar-flour mist puffed up from the mortar.

Although he had instructed her, he hadn’t expected her to grind the yellow sugar finer than the flour.

Karem shuddered at Mary’s astonishing strength.

“To grind it this fine… Are you human?”

“I’m a brownie.”

“No, I mean… that’s enough.”

“Cough, I think we’ll need to clean thoroughly.”

Karem piled the powdered sugar from the mortar onto a large tray.

Honey and sugar were versatile ingredients in terms of color and shape.

The dough, hot but not scalding, was poured onto the makeshift powdered sugar.

“Whew, now I need to knead this.”

“Hmm, alright. A little service.”

“Lady Athanitas?”

Catherine snapped her fingers, and a soft light enveloped Karem’s hands before disappearing.

“A basic protection spell.”

“Oh, ohhh. This is convenient.”

The heat that he felt earlier vanished completely.

Karem tested by touching the hot syrup.

Feeling no heat or pain, Karem immediately coated his hands and the dough with powdered sugar.

“It’s a very interesting sensation, but it would be hard to use often.”

“Hmm? Why is that?”

“Because I can’t feel the temperature, I can’t control the heat.”

Unless there was an accurate thermometer or timer.

In the current situation, which relied solely on experience and senses, it was too much.

But to block this much heat…

Karem was convinced that if there were tools like Catherine’s protection spell in modern times, they would be extremely popular in the culinary world.

Karem asked with a hint of greed.

“Are there gloves with protection spells that still allow some temperature sensation?”

“Thin, but how thin?”

“Well, since the sense of touch is important in cooking, the thinner the better.”

He spoke with a ‘it would be nice if it worked’ attitude, but when Catherine crossed her arms and closed her eyes in serious thought, his expectations rose.

Then Catherine opened her eyes.

“It’s not impossible to make.”

“Really? Are you serious?”

“Yes, but be prepared for a hefty price.”

“Sigh. I guess that’s unavoidable.”

He had already felt that magical tools were expensive.

For now, Karem decided to focus on the current situation.

The heat of the dough wasn’t felt, but the texture at his fingertips was telling Karem that he couldn’t delay any longer.

As he poked holes and twisted and pulled the dough covered in powdered sugar, it stretched to the width of his chest.

“You’re not ending with just that stretched loop, right?”

“Do you think I’d do that? This is just the beginning.”

“Hmph. It looks like it’s going to break.”

“Don’t worry. It won’t break.”

Catherine tilted her head as if to see.

Then her eyes shone at the sight of Karem’s fingers.

He folded and overlapped one loop to make two strands.

Two became four, four became eight, and eight became sixteen strands. Like playing cat’s cradle by himself, Karem held and pulled with crossed hands, overlapping and dusting with powdered sugar repeatedly.

“This is quite a sight.”

“It’s fascinating.”

“Heh, it’s amazing.”

It was natural for Catherine and Mary to be amazed, just like modern people watching honey thread being made on the street.

But Karem was inwardly sweating.

On the surface, the threads were increasing with each careful movement of his hands.

But the texture Karem felt at his fingertips was inversely proportional to the increasing number of threads.

Snap, snap, snap.

The threads were breaking little by little.

Was the sugar to honey ratio wrong? Or was it because he substituted flour for starch?

Both were possible.

But this was expected. After all, Karem had never made honey threads himself in his previous life.

He had only watched videos out of curiosity.

Karem felt it was impressive he had come this far with just knowledge.

But that’s that, and this is this.

Should he have just taken the time to get some starch?

Or maybe he should have just made something simple like crepes or shaved ice.

Karem regretted his short-sighted decision to make something fancy and was berating himself for it.

Anyway, if he stretched it any further, it would really break.

Karem quickly stopped before it broke further.

He had stretched it twelve times, creating about 4000 threads.

He hadn’t even reached half his goal.

But Karem decided to be satisfied with this.

Karem cut the threads, filled them with chopped nuts, and rolled them up.

“Heh, kid. You had a reason to be confident.”

“Kitty! Kitty! Can I try it?”

“Princess Alicia, the kid is still preparing—”

Wait, what did I just hear?

Both Catherine, who was admiring, and Mary, who was curious, as well as Karem, who was handling the honey threads, all looked towards the source of the unexpected voice.

At one end of the kitchen table where they were gathered.

A plump, blonde girl’s head popped up with chubby cheeks that looked very tempting to touch.

A bewildered Karem spoke without thinking.

“Princess Alicia?”

“Hehe. Yes, it’s Alicia.”

“My goodness.”

Catherine instinctively slapped her forehead.

The punishment given to Alicia for her previous actions was as follows.

One week of no going out.

No snacks during the no-going-out period.

After the ban period, she must always be accompanied by attendants and maids.

A light punishment for being rude.

But for Alicia, with her boundless energy and the freest spirit in Winterham, it was almost better to be spanked.

But good things come to those who wait.

As time passed, Wintersend was right around the corner.

Alicia didn’t miss the opportunity.

With the castle busy preparing for Wintersend, Alicia seized the moment when the attendants and maids were distracted to reclaim her freedom!

Alicia spoke proudly.

Catherine’s response was simple.

“Mary. Inform the attendants and maids that the princess—”

“Oh, oh no! Kitty! Just this once! Just this once, please! Look, I didn’t eat Kitty’s snack without permission this time! Just this oooonce!”

Hmm, now that you mention it.

Karem looked at her with a newfound gaze.

It seemed certain that Alfred was a very fair person.

Children who aren’t properly punished after being favored tend to become spoiled.

Especially if the child was from the upper class.

The notorious behaviors of third-generation chaebols were well known.

In that sense, Alicia seemed to be growing up very well. Her manner of speaking and brazen attitude were a bit annoying, but still at a tolerable level.

So-called “annoyingly cute.”

Most importantly, Alicia hadn’t eaten someone else’s snack without permission like before.

Setting aside the fact that Karem had handed her the snack.

When Karem looked at Catherine as if to ask, “Lady Athanitas? What should we do?”, she sighed deeply and waved her hand. The meaning was clear.

“Princess Alicia?”

“Yes? What is it?”

“I’ll give you some, so please be careful with the powder when you eat it.”

“Oh! Ooooooh!!!”

A fascinating snack too precious to eat in one bite.

Unlike how she devoured the previous pudding, Alicia carefully nibbled on the honey threads.

“Hmm! It’s crispy and sweet enough to make my teeth ache, but it disappears without a trace, and the almonds and walnuts pair perfectly with it!”

“Hmm, kid. What’s this called?”

“Uh, it’s called honey threads.”

At that moment, Karem flinched.

Catherine, Mary, and Alicia, who had been savoring the honey threads, all frowned simultaneously.

Alicia shouted.

“What kind of name is that?!”

The child, whose sense of wonder was shattered, slammed the table in anger.

Catherine and Mary agreed.

Karem felt wronged.

No, that’s the original name.

Should he have just called it Dragon’s Beard Candy(Yongsudang)?

Of course, if he did, Catherine would have corrected him, saying dragons don’t grow beards.

And there was an old dwarf with a shaken resolve.

“Lady Alicia. Why…!”

Zigmeser.

A dwarf unprecedented in dwarf history for shaving his hair and beard for the sake of cooking.

The head chef of the Felwinter family and Winterham.

He, who adored Alicia like his own granddaughter, was burning with anger at the rascal who took her away.