CH 205

Alright, what should I do with this Minotaur meat?

That’s right, let’s make Hayashi Rice!

When I was buying curry roux the other day, I noticed that they have Hayashi roux as well. Ahh, just thinking about it makes me want to eat it.

Humm, I’ll probably have some extra ground meat later…

No problem, I can cook it up with some Bolognese sauce! [1] When it comes to Bolognese sauce the first thing we associate it with is pasta, but it’s really great with bread as well. That’s right, I can put the meaty Bolognese sauce into hotdog buns and melt some cheese on it for breakfast.

Yosh, it’s decided. So, let’s go shopping. [Net Super], I’ll be in your care today too~

Let’s see, let’s see, the must-have ingredients for Hayashi rice are onions and mushrooms. As for the roux, let’s pick some higher quality ones. Hmm, Company S has this roux from its fond de veau series that promises to be ‘very rich and complex tasting’, so let’s get that.

Since I’m making Bolognese tomorrow, I’m going to need Worcestershire sauce and ketchup, as well as onions, carrots, celery and garlic. Hmm, let’s get a bottle of red wine, a carton of stock and bay leaf. [2] I normally don’t use wine and stock for my Bolognese sauce since I’m kind of cheap, but I have plenty of money now, so, eh. [5] Oh, and a can of whole tomatoes, because canned tomatoes have a much stronger taste to them than raw tomatoes.

Alright, now that the shopping is done, let’s get on with the chopping. [1] First, I slice up the Minotaur Meat, onions, and mushrooms. Then, I heated up my largest pan and stir-fried the onions until they’re semi-transparent.

Next, I pushed the onions to the side of the pan and scattered the meat, topping it with a little salt and pepper. [1] When the meat began to turn brown, it was time to add the mushrooms. After the mushrooms softened a little, I added water until it just covers the ingredients. When the Hayashi began to bubble, I lowered the fire and let it simmer for 20 minutes. Patiently skimming the scum off as it floated to the surface.

[3] This is to make the broth clearer and more beautiful. The scum is actually the blood and little bone bits that floated up during the cooking process.

When the 20 minutes were up, I turned off the fire and poured the special Company S Hayashi roux into the pan, letting it melt into the sauce. [4] When the roux has melted into the sauce, I turned on the fire and let the sauce simmer until it thickened up.

Yes, a very nice fragrance soon permeated the air.

Let’s have a little taste.

Oh, oh, this richness, this sweetness, this umami~

How is it so delicious even without my special secret ingredient? Ah, as expected of Company S.

Now that the Hayashi is done, let’s put it into our very convenient [Item Box] that suspended time and won’t let the temperature decrease. We can have it for dinner later.

Meanwhile, let’s get started on the Bolognese sauce!

For the Bolognese, I’m going to use my mincer to mince the meat, of course.

Once that was done, it’s time to finely chop up some garlic, then coarsely chop the onions, carrots and celery. [4] I oiled a second pan with olive oil and let the garlic sizzle for a little while before adding the chopped vegetables and stirred until they’re tender.

It’s time to add the meat.

Again, the vegetables were pushed to the side so that the meat gets a chance to brown a little. Once the squishy raw meat has turned into crumbs, I deglaze the pan with red wine. [3] I poured in half a bottle first, to get the sizzle going. When the pan stopped hissing at me, I added the rest of the wine as well as a can of whole tomatoes. With the back of the spoon, I crushed some of the tomatoes, letting it mix into the sauce before adding enough stock to bring the liquid level up to cover the ingredients. Finally, a single bay leaf.

I let everything simmer together for 10 minutes before adding a little Worcestershire and ketchup for a richer taste, making sure to keep stirring so that the sauce doesn’t burn at the bottom. Once the sauce has thickened up a little, I adjusted the flavour with a little salt and pepper.

And it’s done!

Bolognese sauce with plenty of meat and vegetables for that rich yet refreshing taste. It’s amazing how simple and convenient cooking is with canned tomatoes and boxed roux.

Ohh, the red sauce looks delicious.

It’s all nice and thick, let’s have a taste… um, yes, good to go.

I stored this into my [Item Box] as well.

When I looked outside, I found that the sun had already set. Ah, time for dinner then. Well, my dear familiars, today’s dinner is Hayashi Rice!

I plated up the Hayashi for Fer, Dora and Sui on the plates I bought from Neihoff.

As for me, an ordinary plate was good enough.

Technically, I could just stick everything into my [Item Box], but I hunted around a bit and sure enough, I found the food trolley. As expected of a former noble’s villa. They really do think of everything. I set the steaming plates onto the trolley and pushed it to the living room where Fer and the rest were loitering.

“Dinner is here~”

Everyone perked up, [6] their noses already in the air. Well, Sui did not have a nose, but she seemed to be sensitive to both smell and taste.

All was silent for as everyone chomp into their food.

Pretty soon it was all-

“Seconds!”

Ahaha, Fer and Dora-chan’s mouth was all brown now. I gave them their seconds, but had to wonder if they could really taste anything when eating at that speed… well, it was slightly slower than the first time, so enjoy.

It was time for me to eat too, so I served myself some rice and piled on plenty of the dark brown sauce on top.

Oho, it’s delicious~

Hayashi Rice, also known as Hashed Meat Rice, is delicious when eaten once in a while. [1] Looks like the Hayashi roux from Company S’ fond de veau series really did live up to its name.

Let’s eat lots and lots!

“Ha~ that was deliciousssss….” Dora-chan swallowed the last of his second serving and fell backwards with arms and legs outstretched… and began to snore.

Wait a minute, weren’t you sleeping earlier?

“Seconds!”

-came the familiar chorus, so I gave Fer and Sui their refill. It was not until the pan of Hayashi was empty that they finally stopped. I stared at the cleanly scraped pan with some misgivings. I made a lot you know? A lot. [7]

“Aruji, Sui wants cake ~

… ehhh?!!

“Umu, it’s a rule to have dessert after a meal.”

What rule is this? When did you make it up?!

…fine, they are my precious money makers anyway, so who am I to deny them?

Dora-chan gets his usual pudding, but I’ll save it for him since he’s sleeping in that ‘大’ form right now.

“Okay, but only two portions each today,” I have to limit them somehow.

[Net Super’s] Fujiya, I’ll be in your care again today. A medium-size Strawberry Short Cake for Fer, a couple of puddings for Dora-chan, a Mont Blanc and a rare Limited Summer Only Mango Cheesecake Slice for Sui.

Dora-chan woke up as soon as the puddings were placed next to him. [8]

I sipped my coffee, having decided to indulge in another expensive Filtered Coffee Series, while the rest of my familiars chomp on their desserts. Sweets are nice and all, but not an everyday thing for me.

Tomorrow would be the day we subjugate the Kraken.

I wonder what will happen then…

[Gumihou: Another peaceful day of eating…]

[1] Structural Change: Combine 3 paragraphs.

[2] Add More Details for Character Thought

[3] Some Extra Cooking Information

[4] Structural Change: Combine 2 paragraphs

[5] Added Details for Logistic Purpose: A can of tomatoes came out of nowhere during the cooking process, so I added it to the shopping cart in the beginning.

[6] Adjusted Some Details to Avoid Repetition: The yummy, yummy scenario…

[7] Deleted Repetitive words: ‘It’s delicious’

[8] Adjusted Details for Logistic Purpose: Dora was asleep, but then ‘everyone was eating’…?