After the unexpected lecture from Elland-san, the task of skinning the remaining at took all day and the next day as well. [1] Sohow, in that crazy Elf’s mind, we could not have even a piece of at off our own prey until he had fully skinned the entire island-size Leviathan. Not even to scrape so at off those stupid bones.
[1] Personally, I think this was Bram-san and the elders’ way of punishing us for giving them so much trouble. They are basically siccing one troubleso person (Elland) against another set of troubleso people (us) in hopes that we would cancel each other out.
Frankly speaking, none of this waiting would have bothered if not for one thing. My familiar’s miserable mood. Fer, Sui, Dora-chan and Grandpa Gon had a perpetually gloomy air about them that was almost as tangible as black fog.
Fer’s face appeared to be permanently set in a scowl.
On the second day after seeing the promising bit of white flesh, I tried to soothe him by saying ‘I’ll make whatever you want to eat’, to which the answer was ‘fried food’.
Well, fried food was loved by all of my familiars, so I don’t mind making it for them. However, it was quite miserable to see them chomping on my food with that miserable look on their faces, punctuated by the occasional mutters of ‘how co we can’t eat the Leviathan’.
My stock of fried chicken disappeared too quickly and I had to supply them with fried dungeon pork or Tonkatsu and fried beef ‘Gyukatsu’. Not that they seem to notice the difference.
Haahhh….
Fortunately, the skinning was nearing its end. Once the last piece of skin fell from the Leviathan’s main body on the fourth day (there were still so attached to its limbs), Fer and Grandpa Gon roared and demanded at. [1] This ti, I was smart enough to skip over Elland-san to stare directly at Bram-san’s back instead.
[1] That’s right, I know who is really in charge here. You had better do sothing about this situation before things erupted beyond my control. I am but a puny human with slightly better-than-average cooking skills, nothing more.
Thus, four days after the start of the dismantling work, we finally got our hands on a bit of the Leviathan’s at.
“Let’s gooo~!!!!!” [2]
I have no idea who said that. Seriously.
I know that Fer was the one who grabbed by the back of my shirt and threw onto his back.
“Oi! Wha-”
Sui leapt off Fer’s head, burrowing into my bag and before I knew it, Grandpa Gon and Dora-chan were already speeding away, shouting ‘We’ll leave first’ and was gone.
“Fer! You had better not-!!!”
Fer stord away, bounding over rooftops and sailing over buildings despite my shrieks for him to slow down. Finally, a desperate howl of ‘No Leviathan tonight!’ made the ringing, rushing noises around simr down a bit.
That big furball dared to grumble even as I was clutching desperately to his fur, trying not to fall off and die. Finally, we arrived at the rented house and my familiars more or less chased to the kitchen.
What the hell you guys?!
“Tch, can’t you guys let rest for a bit?”
I muttered even as I studied the piece of at on the table, trying to decide what to make.
Well, whatever it is, it can’t take too much ti, or I would have a bunch of fussing familiars crowding the kitchen door. Fer and Grandpa Gon ntioned that Leviathan at is kind of similar to Ice Dragon, so, is it another type of creature with fish-like flesh?
Hmm… the Leviathan at does have the typical white, slightly translucent indicators of white fish like cod. It also feels a little stickier than most fish flesh. So, probably a type of oily fish, like cod. The Ice Dragon at was also cod-like, but it’s best to taste-test the at first to determine what it would be like when cooked.
So, I did the cut-season-grill experint on the Leviathan at.
Umu, it appears to react to heat the sa way Ice Dragon at and cod do. After it was sufficiently heated through, I took a bite and oh my, this texture resembles the Ice Dragon’s firm yet flaky mouthfeel, but the umami is at least 50% deeper.
In other words, Leviathan at has the texture of high-quality cod fish but with a powerful umami flavour that would not lose against strong flavours. It’s delicious enough to be served like steaks with just a sprinkle of salt and pepper. However, I feel like that would be a waste since this flavour could be enhanced in so many ways.
“That’s right, let’s try making a uniere with it. The classic Butter Soy sauce is a must, of course, as well as the refreshing Lemon Butter sauce… ah! I think these would be great with that thing I saw on [Net Super] just the other day!”
While buying condints, I found sothing interesting in the ketchup section. It was a product from a [3] famous ketchup manufacturer with the catchphrase ‘Pour over your al for a bright and delicious finish!’, so I thought I’d try using them in my next recipes.
There are three variations of the special ketchup on offer. Pretty convenient when you want variety but don’t want the hassle that cos with stirring, tasting and testing the sauce. Since it was a trusted brand, I’m confident it would taste good no matter what.
“Now that I have decided on the nu, ti to make it. Leviathan Munier in Five Ways! First, a little shopping with [Net Super]~”
When it cos to a uniere, the fish or Leviathan should be lightly covered with salt and pepper and flour. Be sure to shake off any excess flour before frying.
For the two Butter Soy and Lemon Butter uniere, I fried the Leviathan in salted butter. On two separate stoves. Once the at is crispy, take them out and set the fried pieces aside. Ti to make the sauces. For the Butter Soy option, all I had to do was add soy sauce and a little more butter to enhance the flavour. For the Lemon Butter sauce, just add a bottle of lemon juice to the pan, salt and so freshly ground black pepper.
“Hahhh… a dash of black pepper certainly gives the sauce so extra depth.”
Once the sauces were done, set them aside.
For the uniere paired with tomato sauce, I fried the at in neutral-tasting olive oil so that it would not interfere with the sweet and tangy tomato sauces.
It did not take long to fry a few batches of Leviathan at since, like fish, it cooked quite quickly.
“Right, that’s done-”
[4] There was a ‘whoosh’ from the doorway to the kitchen and in rushed Fer, Sui, Dora-chan and Grandpa Gon.
“It’s done? Let’s eat it!”
“We have been waiting for this, Master…”
“”I can’t wait!! Woohoo!!””
““Levy at~ Levy at~””
“… Sui, did you pick up that phrase from Elland-san?”
“”Ehehehe~””
“Haahhh… I’m not quite done yet, but I guess we could eat now,” I said as I collected the various pans and bowls of sauces. I’ll plate these in the living room.
Soon, everyone has a large plate of Leviathan unier in Five Ways in front of them.
“Ahem, today I went with the simple uniere recipe. This one is Butter Soy, that’s the Lemon Butter, and then there are these!”
I set down three large bottles of tomato sauce with a flourish. The first bottle is the Standard Tomato sauce made with coarsely chopped tomatoes and onions, the second is Garlic Tomato (with plenty of garlic, of course) and finally, the Spicy Bravas sauce, a spicy sauce made with tomato and red paprika especially cultivated in Spain.
“So, I said five ways, but Sui, the Spicy Bravas sauce might be too spicy for you. So, you might want to skip it.”
“”Ehhh~ Sui wants to try~~””
“Well, if you really want to,” I said. In the end, everyone has five pieces of Leviathan unier on their plates, in varying shades of red and yellow.
“Umu, as expected, Leviathan at is delicious!”
“That’s right, but Master’s cooking made it several tis even more delicious!”
“”Delish!! It’s absolutely delish!!””
“”Mister Levy is yummy~~””
Well, my familiars are finally chowing down on the long-awaited Leviathan at. The gloomy and frustrated expression on their faces had finally disappeared.
As expected, the Bravas sauce was too spicy for Sui.
For myself, I served myself a plain, olive oil fried uniere and squeezed a bit of the Standard Tomato sauce on one end of the at. Hmm, it has a lighter, more refreshing taste than the standard ketchup.
Quite delicious.
Next, I tried the Garlic Tomato sauce. Wow, garlic and tomato go really well together!
As for the Spicy Bravas sauce… hmm, while it does pack a punch, I find it very delicious. A sort of acquired taste that only adults could appreciate.
Suddenly, I felt like eating bread.
So, I took out Teresa’s special ‘country-style’ bread, (pre-sliced by yours truly) and dipped it into one of the tomato sauces before taking a bite.
Hmm, not bad.
After taking a bite of the bread, I ate a mouthful of unier.
Aahhh, this is all so dangerously delish~~
“Oi, seconds! I want this one and that one.”
‘This one’ and ‘that one’ being the Garlic Tomato and Spicy Brava uniere.
“Master, if you don’t mind, I’d like this one and this too.”
So, Grandpa Gon prefers the classic Butter Soy and Garlic Tomato flavours.
““Here! I want this and this!””
Dora-chan likes the Lemon Butter and Spicy Brava, the adventurous type.
“”Sui wants everything~””
“Haha, even the spicy one?”
“”Mu, not spicy one…””
“Yes, yes, here you go!” [5]
As expected, there were not enough ‘seconds’ to go around, considering how everyone could eat. Once the last piece had been eaten, I stood up and dusted off my trousers.
“That’s it, I’ll go make more for everyone, alright?”
There was a general noise of ‘awww’ of disappointnt, but that’s fine, you’ll get to eat more soon.
It’s nice to see my familiars so cheerful again.
[Gumihou: Looks like Mukouda really cares about his familiars]
[1] Addressed this faulty logic by blaming everything on Elland’s craziness.
[2] Deleted the ‘oh noes, I should greet Elland and Johan first’. The scene was ant to be funny, I think?
[3] The company is probably ‘Kago’
skago.co.jp/english/
samazon.co.jp/カゴメ-バルメニュー-トマトガーリックソース-465g×2個/dp/B01L20M3LU
[4] Make the scene more interesting
[5] Drastically shortened the ‘we want more’ scene
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