The store that we headed to in the flashy open-top car of the Leverance family was 15 minutes away from the arms store by car.
I heard from the others that we were going to eat ice cream, so I imagined sothing like a gelatin store or a crepe store crowded with long lines of girls and take-away features like my previous life. Having our take out and eating them sowhere around the shop with friends, didn't that sound like the springti of youth!?
I had hyped myself imagining that, but the store we arrived at was just another first-class restaurant with a sprinkle of Arabian-style atmosphere. What a bumr, so I thought, but it is what it is.
After the staff led us inside the store, I looked at the dreadful nu without any price tags and ordered the simplest 'ice cream'.
"To be honest, I didn't expect Allen-san to tag along with us. It's just hard to imagine you eating sweets."
Jeu, putting up her usual polite smile, said.
"No, of course not. Rather, I’m known as soone who’s quite picky about his sweets."
Well, in the previous world that is, and… self-proclaid at that.
"Pfft. You don't need to cover for yourself, Allen. Everyone knows you have 'that kind' of palate. None of us are expecting any insight from you when it cos to taste, so it's fine."
Fey said as if she was looking at sothing funny.
Is she trying to say "As soone from a rural area oblivious to the refined palate, we know you are trying to appear knowledgeable"...? What the hell?! I didn't even know rumors about my palate, which had feasted on Japan's cuisine, was simply ridiculed as 'that kind'.
I an, yeah, I ate Sora's breakfast in the morning without any complaint, then I only had ergency portable rations for lunch and visited the soba restaurant at night every day after enrolling into the Royal Academy… Alright, I know that's not a healthy eating habit per se... But I absolutely wasn't soone who didn't care about taste.
I was soone who managed to enter into a first-class food & beverage-making company's goods developnt departnt. I simply tagged along due to my gratitude for Stella’s help. So, I had planned not to show off my refined palate from my previous life, even if the item just happened to be so-so, so that everyone could have a good ti... But it seed like fate didn't want to be quiet. Alright.
I raised my voice to the employee who took my order.
"Excuse , I would like to change my order with this rollberry-flavored thing. Don't put sauce over it, just bring it on a different plate."
"Sauce... is it?"
"You can just ask us if you don't know about the ice cream, Allen."
Fey said with a grinning tone.
...From the appearance of the shop, I thought they might use homade berry sauce for topping at least, but from the looks of it, it seed like all the flavors were already mixed into the ice.
"Our Rovenne territory wasn't so far gone to not have ice cream. But very well, just bring the usual 'ice cream'. I would like black tea in addition."
"...Do people eat ice cream by topping it with sauce in your territory?"
Coco inquired, which he seldomly did when in public. He has opened up quite a bit recently, but he still shied away in places like this. I guess he must have been genuinely curious about it.
Coco’s order was one of the pri choices, hot coffee with chocolate ice cream. Speaking of which, he looked lean now, but he was quite round when we first t. Being a sweet lover wasn't an easy thing, eh?
"No, I just did so research with our chef. The tongues of people easily get molded into monotonous tastes in the blink of an eye. This is the story for all cooking so unevenness in the flavor is the most important. In that case, I prefer to add so flavor to the ice cream later if possible. Bringing a variation through drinks, like Coco's choice, is one way to do it."
It was the sa reason as to why rice and curry sauce shouldn't be mixed together. It was easier for the tongue to be numbed if there was no depth to the flavors. Let's say this was necessary even in dishes made as a whole to feel the changes in the taste and sll in the mouth. A close example would be like green spring onion on udon.
A dish missing such a factor was what you’d call bland cooking.
"Haha. It's hardly convincing when you only eat ergency portable rations every day for lunch even when we try to invite you. Wait, maybe it's the ti for the heavenly chef, Salt Pinefork to take the lilight after legendary private tutor Schord Bainfause? Introduce us once, alright?" (Fey)
This girl... She has the nerve to make fun of my pal, ergency rations. But, hmm, I guess it was a bit out of timing to bring up the research with our chef here...?
Of course, the research was just a white lie of mine, and everything was just utilizing my previous life knowledge (my cheat) to change the dishes to suit my preference, claiming it was 'necessary for the success of my exam' to stop the interference of the chef back at our ho.
"Our chef's na is Sugar."
I didn't forget to emphasize 'It's a real person' as I gradually lost my ground.
I really did want to put forth sothing to floor them but the information on ice cream I had was sothing I couldn't exactly explain by omitting scientific details. The company in my previous life was a producer of many items, but ice cream wasn’t one of them. However, we occasionally had collaborations between ice cream makers and our in-house brandy. And I, who was a part of the developnt team, had studied ice manufacturing to an absurd extent.
However, the ice cream I was involved in developing was a comrcial product, so the key points in the developnt included adjusting the stirring of the fat globules at a particle level using large-scale machinery in the factory, rapid cooling with a -40°C strong wind, and calibration of continuous freezers. Even I felt it would be a bit of a stretch to say I did those experints with our chef.
Hmm, maybe I should bring in the story of a wandering magi-tech engineer? No, not a good idea I guess. Else Fey was bound to pull so strings behind my back to get to the bottom of it...
While my classmates watched wrack my brain with warm expressions, our orders arrived. I was taken aback when I saw the generous amount served on the high-class porcelain plate.
I had no doubt eating that volu of one flavor of ice cream would numb my mind and taste buds in the end even if there was black tea to help out. It reminded of the foreigner that I saw in my previous life who was digging into an absurdly large bucket-like ice cream cup, probably eight tis the size of a regular mini cup, with a spoon that could be used for eating curry.
In this world, I realized people tended to start eating a lot more from around the age the mana organ manifested. So, I could certainly finish it, but it was also why I had thoroughly instructed our chef to add so other variations in the cooking so that I didn't end up getting fed up by eating that amount of food.
"Is it the sa for coffee with milk, I an the twist to bring a more varied taste?" (Coco)
I was thinking that when Coco asked as he stopped the hand that was mixing the milk in his coffee with a spoon.
Oh, as expected of Coco. In fact, I quite respected his sharp insight and unbiased, straightforward perspective already.
"Of course. Do try it."
"...It's really delicious without mixing it in." (Coco)
I know, right?
"You're amazing, Coco. You managed to get advice from Allen which isn’t just 'Don't breathe in with your nose'."
Stella looked at Coco in admiration.
How rude… It was really vexing to see that their opinion of my palate was already rock bottom. Whatever. At least, Coco's review should have refreshed their opinion about my taste buds a bit, right? I also scooped so of my ice cream and tried it.
...Ugh, really disappointing. No, the ingredients used were all incredible for sure. But this was why I couldn't help but want to criticize the half-baked nature of its perfection.
I was sure any Japanese would reply with 'It's incredibly delicious, yes, but it's a bit icy and soggy' if they were to take a bite of it. But it would be impossible to explain why I knew that much in detail, and I doubt my proposed improvent plan would take flight in this world.
There were many things I wanted to say, but I kept them to myself. I was silently eating when I noticed everyone was glancing at my way as I raised my face.
"Ah, my bad. It's delicious."
I replied innocuously. Hearing my words, the man, who seed to be a somlier, who had been standing nearby looked visibly relieved. I guess serving Royal Academy students must have put him on pins and needles, huh…?
"Allen-san, you look like you have sothing to say, is there sothing you are curious about?"
However, Jeu's follow-up question once again put the pitiful employee back in a jittery state. I tried to defuse the nervousness.
"No, it's really delicious. It may be a basic technique to add cream to the ice cream base anglaise to achieve smoothness and richness, but this level of fat content is just less than 20% including the cre anglaise, I presu? I’m surprised by this level of complexity and richness. What kind of milk did they use?"
Seemingly getting into a good mood after hearing my words, the employee explained.
"Yes. We mainly use the cow milk of the Roubrand breed, raised in cold highlands."
Oh? So the main technique is their in-house ratio mixture? But asking about the recipe any further would be prying too much so I held myself back.
"Pfft. Here you are again with your incomprehensible words. It’s my first ti hearing soone talking about the fat percentage being less than 20% while reviewing the food. Have you asured it before? Why and how did you do it?"
Crap… I forgot there wasn't a concept of ingredient composition in a food item in this world. It was usually clear with just a glance at the ingredients label in Japan, so I didn't know about the fat content to the exact value but this world did have densitoters, so it wasn't completely strange.
But if I continued like this, they would surely lump in the sa category as a mad scientist (like Sora) rather than a gourt.
"I think there is also so milk of a goat monster… Ramie goat, to be precise, mixed in as well. The faint sll, reminiscent of stepping on sumr grass, gives it away. Allen's analysis of the fat content is interesting. Ramie goats live in rocky areas and are beefy monsters with exceptional jumping ability. Their milk is light yet possesses a deep richness, like soup made with onions."
We all were surprised to hear Coco identifying the ingredients.
"Amazing, or should I say as expected of the students of the Royal Academy. Both your palate and knowledge are first-class. Ramie goat milk usually doesn't appear that much in the market, but... We have indeed incorporated it."
The employee showed his silent gesture of surrender facing the two of us. He was directing an admiration-filled gaze at Coco...... That admiration included as well, right? I did point it out earlier, didn’t I?
"What does Allen think on how to improve it? Do you have any idea?"
I guess he seed to have sensed there was more to my words from my expression as he passed the baton of the topic back to . How keen... And Coco in his analysis mode seed like he wouldn't stop until he got to the bottom of sothing.
I divulged a bit of my previous world's knowledge in a barely explainable range.
"Like I said earlier, the separable flavor should be combined just before consumption. The taste tends to blend if you add it beforehand, even if you don't mix it in. Leaving the skin and seeds finely chopped without straining them can also contribute to a desirable texture. Aside from that… The chef's skills leave no room to complain about but I think there is room for improvent in the magic tool used."
Fey's eyes imdiately shined hearing ntion magic tools.
"How exactly?"
"Stirring the cre anglaise while cooling it results in ice cream. You must have learned about the phenonon of lowering the freezing point of water by adding salt or sugar to it in physics class, right? I believe the icy texture of the ice cream can be further smoothened and it would be easier to lt in the mouth by effectively stirring the sauce at the lowest possible temperature, just right before the solidification process takes place."
"...That's quite an interesting theory. I’ll try it next ti."
He seed to be content with that much for now, so Coco stopped there. But I bet he would surely co to my dorm room one of these days to continue this topic.
"Hahaha! How do you even know that much? It can't be that your results in the mock exam were due to spending most of your ti in such experints with your elder sister and Schord, right? It would be funny if this was the main reason that led to the cheating allegation, hahaha."
Fey began taking more interest in my life than the ice cream itself. I could already sll trouble in the air.
"I am a sweets lover, so of course I have done such experints."
I bailed myself out of the situation without affirming her guess.
"How did the topic shift to the freezing point or ingredient composition from a simple impression of ice cream…? Such things only happen around you, Allen. I also don't know much about taste, so I think it's fine not to force yourself to delve into such intricate matters!"
"I only know ice cream either tastes good or bad."
Al and Stella cheered up while conveying a mysterious sense of camaraderie. No, please don't categorize as an eccentric taste connoisseur!
However, explaining any more about the knowledge from my previous world to these smart classmates of mine would only co back to bite later. But this gained another unconventional impression as a cheeky guy who only knew how to bring up complicated cooking theories when reviewing food despite having 'that' kind of palate.
At least, Coco seed to have understood my point, so that was fine, I guess…
It was a story of another ti, but in around half a year, this store would co to be known as the No.1 ice cream store in the Royal Capital.
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