Chapter Twenty-two: How Delicious! Mushrooms Simmering, Meat Roasting, Rice Boiled to Perfection
Around two hours before noon, I decide to wrap up the gathering work—it’s about time to start preparing lunch.
Since this will be my first meal for a big group in this world, I decided to get started with plenty of extra time.
I collected an abundance of black mugwort, some ruby fungus… and scooped up armfuls of tille mushrooms that were growing en masse on a fallen tree trunk. Finding a secluded, slightly open area away from prying eyes, I set up Campy. Unlike the surroundings of Rhielle Lake yesterday, this area feels more like a grassland, with fewer exposed patches of soil. It can’t be helped, but I’ll have to cook inside Campy today… With a limited amount of exposed ground, even with a portable grill, any stray sparks could start a wildfire.
Still, the weather is nice and the air is fresh, so I’d love to have a picnic outside once the food is ready… Mr. Ville had already mentioned that there was no need to ride inside Campy here this time, so eating outside was the inevitable choice.
In that case, something self-contained that can be eaten as a meal itself without side dishes… That’s it! I’ll make seasoned rice!
I have the tille mushrooms I just harvested and the big leaper meat that Mr. Ville gave me yesterday, so let’s use those as ingredients!
“To-day’s lu-unch, a sea-soned ri-ice♪”
I ended up humming a silly improvised tune, causing the still tense-looking Mr. Ville to give me an odd look as he boarded Campy…
Oops!
“Hmm… What’s ‘seasoned rise’?”
“It’s rice with seasonings cooked together with other ingredients… A convenient dish you can eat as a full meal without side dishes!”
“Like a Western-style pilaf, huh? Perfect for adventurers!”
Noticing my momentary flustered expression, Mr. Ville smoothly changed the subject without acknowledging my humming.
What a good guy… Mr. Ville really is a good guy…!
But I won’t forget that split second when you totally averted your eyes from me! I definitely won’t!
…No, I’ll probably forget soon enough. I’m forgetful enough to go to the kitchen for soy sauce and wonder "Why did I come to the kitchen again?”
“Anyway, let’s start preparing the ingredients!”
“What’s going in it?”
“I’m planning to use the tille mushrooms I just gathered and the big leaper meat you gave me yesterday.”
First, let’s prep the mushrooms… I will wash them carefully, removing any dirt or fallen leaves from the caps. I know washing mushrooms can rinse away flavor and aroma, but it’s better than eating mud, right?
As I turn on the faucet, water gushes out, causing Mr. Ville to jump back with a startled expression. Well, it’s quite an unfamiliar sight, isn’t it?
Once the dirt is washed off, I’ll simply snap them into appropriate sizes by hand and drain them on a colander. I could cut them with a knife too, but I feel like the exposed surfaces absorb more flavor when you tear mushrooms apart by hand. Just a personal preference, I guess?
Thanks to being stored in the chiller, the big leaper meat shows no signs of deterioration. It’s slightly elongated with just the right amount of fat marbling… Maybe it’s from the loin area? I’ll cut it into bite-sized pieces and marinate it in a mixture of soy sauce, sake, and sugar for flavor.
“I think it’s better to pre-cook the ingredients before making seasoned rice…”
“Really? I thought it would be easier to just cook them together with the rice…”
“If you add them raw, they’ll release too much moisture… Pre-cooking removes that excess liquid, so it’s easier to get the rice moisture level right!”
I heat up some oil in a pan and stir-fry the sliced tille mushrooms over high heat. The lively sizzling sound of the oil echoes inside Campy.
After a bit, the thick tille mushrooms start oozing out rich mushroom stock that pools in the bottom of the pan.
Ahh, this mushroom stock! It’s so delicious, but if you cook the raw rice directly with mushrooms it’ll make everything soggy and, in my opinion, dilute the flavor… But by pre-cooking it like this to remove that excess moisture, the savory mushroom stock will get absorbed into the rice, and there’s less extra moisture from the ingredients to water it down. Plus it allows the actual mushrooms to really absorb the flavor too—it’s a win-win-win rice dish!
Once the mushrooms have softened, I toss in the marinated big leaper meat along with the marinade into the pan. Mmm, the aroma of soy sauce and sugar simmering, mixed with the slightly wilted tille mushrooms scent and the irresistible meaty umami… Bliss!
After the meat is about 80% cooked through, I turn off the heat and let it steep in the cooking liquid to finish. The residual heat will cook it through without overcooking. I could separate the ingredients and liquid at this point, but I prefer letting the flavors really soak in together…
“…Mmm! The meat is delicious! The mushrooms are even tastier than I expected too!”
“I knew the big leaper would be tasty, but the tille mushrooms really absorb flavors well when cooked like this.”
“Ahhh… This is… I’m almost afraid to imagine how good the finished seasoned rice will be…!”
Nibbling… I mean, tasting is a chef’s prerogative, after all!
Mr. Ville and I sneak a piece each of the cooked big leaper and sautéed tille mushrooms into our mouths for a preview.
Though categorized as wild game meat, the big leaper has no hints of gaminess at all. I’ve heard rabbit is mild and chicken-like… but this is quite different from chicken. Softer and has a more pleasant texture than chicken, with a subtle sweetness that lingers on the tongue with each chew. Unlike chicken, which can be dry in some parts, this has an overall juicy and tender mouthfeel.
And the supposedly bland tille mushrooms are no slouches either—they’ve absorbed the meaty umami and concentrated essence of their own stock to become downright delicious. The firm, chewy texture still retained after cooking is immensely satisfying.
…So this is what’s going into the rice, huh… It’s kind of terrifying…
As visions of a shockingly tasty lunch fill my head, I pour a suitable amount of rice from the PET container into the rice cooker’s pot and start rinsing it vigorously… Rice-washing water is said to be good as fertilizer, but I don’t have anywhere to pour it… By the way, not measuring the rice is pretty standard for me. Even back home, I didn’t have a rice bin in my single-person household, so pouring directly from the rice bag was the default!
“It’s not a big deal; I can just adjust the water ratio…”
“…Rin… who are you talking to?”
“…I just felt the need to assert myself for some reason… My apologies.”
Mr. Ville gave me an odd look, apparently catching the unconscious slip of my inner monologue. I’m not even sure who I’m talking to, but I just felt the urge to make my stance known…? Really, why was that?
Putting that aside, let’s go ahead and make this seasoned rice!
I pour the contents of the pan into a colander set over a bowl, separating the cooking liquid from the ingredients.
I’ll start by adding the liquid to the rinsed rice… If it’s not enough, I’ll add some water, adjusting it so that it reaches about the first joint of my index finger when I dip it in. Since I anticipate that the ingredients will release some moisture, I’ll keep the water level slightly below the first joint.
Using your body as a measure of water level is indeed convenient. It’s handy for camping trips and also useful when you have a partial amount of rice left, like just under one cup but more than half a cup!
Now, all that’s left is to place the ingredients on top of the rice and leave it to the rice cooker to work its magic!
As I murmur "May it turn out delicious…" and press the switch, I figure I have time to make a rolled omelet using the remaining phantom fowl eggs too. Minced zeseri would add some color and bulk it up nicely!
“Impressive technique.”
“Just practice, I suppose… Ah… But I do wish I had a square frying pan…”
As I swirled and rolled the beautifully contrasting green and yellow omelet in the pan, Mr. Ville complimented my handiwork!
In essence, it is a rolled omelet, but using a round pan inevitably gives it that ordinary omelet shape. Personally, I prefer rolled ones… but even the well-equipped Campy didn’t have a square frying pan for such omelets.
Well, it’ll taste the same either way. So be it!
The translator’s corner
Now, I need to make some rice dishes because I last made something from rice ages ago.
Thank you <3
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