Volume 5 - Chapter 18 – New Specialty (1/2)

05-18 New Specialty

Jin and the others got onto the carriage that was waiting on the border of commoners’ and nobles’ districts, and returned to marquis Firentsiano’s villa.

“Let’s see.”

Jin took the topopoes he bought, and headed to the kitchen. In there, the dinner preparations were underway.

Even though meals had to be prepared for Jin and the others in addition to the Marquis, the atmosphere didn’t seem to be busy.

“Oh? Honored guest? How may I be of use?”

A man in the prime of his life, who seemed to be the head chef noticed Jin.

“Umm, good day. Could I use the kitchen for a bit?”,

Jin said and showed the sack he was carrying. Seeing it, the chefs wondered,

“Could those be topopoes? Why bring such commoners’ food here?”

“Isn’t a part of them poisonous?”

Everyone asked similar questions. Jin smiled and explained,

“Poisonous? That’s only the ones that are sprouted. The sprouts contain poison. These ones haven’t sprouted so they’re safe.”

“Is that so? So there was such a thing…”

“Hmm, now that I think about it, I’ve heard that before.”

“Do you mean the sprouted topopoes are edible if you gouge out the sprouts?”

Jin faced the chefs and made an exaggerated nod.

“And so, I’d like to make a tasty snack out of these, could you lend me a hand?”

Jin said, and the head chef-looking man volunteered.

“If that is the case, then I shall assist honored guest.”

First, they washed all the dirt off the topopoes.

Then they were made into thin slices and let to steep in water for a short while.

The water was then drained, the slices fried in high temperature oil, and seasoned while they were still hot.

That’s right, Jin was making potato chips.

As expected of the master chef’s skills, he made slices thin enough to see through.

Jin thought about different options for seasoning, but decided to first start with simple salt.

Using a saucepan made for frying, the prototype was done in no time.

“Huh, that was simple.”

“Now, time for a taste test.”,

Jin said and took a potato chip and was about to eat it, when Reiko swooped in from his side, seized the chip, and ate it.

“Uh, oi. Reiko.”

“If it’s poison tasting, leave it to me.”

Reiko commenced to measure the toxicity with the analysis function of her mouth.

“Toxicity, none. The saltiness seems to be just right, too.”

Alright, Jin thought, and took two or three chips and bit into them all at once. The taste he had missed spread in his mouth.

“Mm, that’s a good result.”

After seeing all that, the master chef timidly picked up a single chip and put it in his mouth.

“De-delicious! The crisp texture, and the crunchy feeling goes very well with the oiliness and the salt…!”

The other chefs who heard the head chef’s praise, having spare time stretched out their hands one by one to grab potato chips.

“That’s goooood!”,

“How can something this cheap taste so good!”,

“Things like this is why they say quality of the ingredients isn’t the only thing that decides the taste!”,

and similar opinions were heard all-around.

Just like that, the prototype potato chips disappeared in no time.

“Oh my, I’m no match for honored guest.”

The head chef shook Jin’s hand.

“These can be a light meal as themselves, and they also go well with ale.”

“If you experiment with the seasoning, I’m sure you can make them even more delicious. I’ll leave it to you.”

And so potato chips were added to the day’s dinner menu.

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