Jade woke a little later than usual that morning.
She had gone to bed late the night before, spending nearly five hours rendering suet until eleven – well past her usual nine o’clock bedtime. She could stay up until eleven and still wake up at six, just as she had in her previous life, but there was hardly any nighttime entertainment here worth staying awake for. Lamp oil also cost a small fortune, so she might as well sleep early and save the expense.
By half past six, the clergy had finished their morning prayers in the hall and were preparing for breakfast. They lifted their heads when Jade hurried into the dining room, her foodsteps noticeably rushed.
“Sorry I’m late,” Jade said, offering a small bow.
“It’s quite alright, Miss Jade.”
“It’s understandable for someone young like you to sleep in.”
“You’re not a nun, Miss Jade. There’s no need for you to follow our routine so strictly.”
The clergy reassured her warmly, but Jade still felt faintly embarrassed – especially when she noticed that her pupil had already taken his seat at the table, right beside her usual place next to Father Rochester.
“Miss Jade,” Father Rochester said with a gentle smile, “both your classes and the bakehouse begin at eight. As long as you’re not late for your duties, it’s perfectly fine for you to rest a little longer.”
“Well, I live here now,” Jade replied as she sat down, “so I should go with the flow and follow the rules here.”
And, to show my respect for a place that took me in when I had nowhere else to go, she added silently to herself.
Josh looked at her with bright, attentive eyes, clearly committing her words to memory. Father Rochester smoothed his moustache and nodded.
“Very well. Apology accepted. By the way,” he added, “Josh mentioned that you managed to render the suet into remarkably clear tallow - clearer than anything he had ever seen before last night.”
“We removed as many impurities as possible,” Jade explained, noticing the curiosity on the faces around the table. “I blanched it in water first, then used the water-rendering method. That keeps the temperature from going above boiling point. After that, it’s just about control – rendering it slowly so it doesn’t burn.”
“And onions?” Sister Geenia asked from a nearby seat. “There were still quite a few left when we returned the tableware to the kitchen. You used onions?”
“Yes,” Jade replied, turning toward her. “Mainly to remove… um, I guess the better word is to neutralise or suppress the smell? Anyway, just to make it taste less funky. Less grassy, or muttony, as Josh put it.”
She paused, then glanced down at the table. “Oh. I forgot to bring them out. Wait a moment, I’ll go get them…”
“What are they?” Sister Geenia asked, her curiosity piqued as Jade swiftly darted out of the dining hall.
Josh thought for a moment, then exclaimed excitedly, “It must be the suet cracklings and fried onions! Sensei kept them in a rectangular basket and hid it under a large basin to keep pests away.”
“How do they taste?” someone asked.
Josh shook his head. “I don’t know. I was too sleepy, and so was Sensei. We cleaned up quickly and went straight to bed.”
Jade soon returned, a handleless rectangular basket cradled in her arms. It was filled with golden fried onions and suet cracklings, releasing a mouthwatering aroma – cleaner and fresher than any fried food they remembered.
“Here, everybody, have some, and give me your feedback,” Jade said as she distributed the fried treats with a ladle, giving each person a generous scoop. “If it tastes good, we can serve this to ourselves and the students as well.”
The clergy examined the contents of their plates. The sliced onions were immediately recognizable, their crisp texture evident at a glance. What truly drew their curiosity, however, were the small square pieces.
They were clearly suet - but nothing like the suet they were accustomed to.
The domus’s finances had never been stable. On good days, they could afford better cuts of meat and decent grains, as they could now thanks to their generous patron. On leaner days, they bought whatever was the cheapest to keep themselves fed. That included bitter, unpleasant offal – which Miss Jade had miraculously made palatable the night before – and tallow rendered from suet, used to fry fish and potatoes to help them endure the winter.
Suet cracklings had never been this delicate. The square pieces before them were golden and clean, fragrant as they were lifted to the nose, crisp in the mouth, and crumbling effortlessly at their first bite.
Jade watched their reaction and popped a few cracklings into her own mouth. After chewing for a moment, she frowned slightly. “Hm. There’s still a bit of that funky taste… Guess this is the best I can do.” She shrugged; she couldn’t control how the cattle were fed and eliminate the flavour at its source.
“Miss Jade, you call this merely acceptable?” Sister Geenia exclaimed. “My, this is magnificent! You truly are gifted in the kitchen!”
“Yes, Miss Jade, this is excellent!”
“I’d gladly spend my own savings to have treats like this every day!”
“If the cracklings are already this good, imagine the tallow!”
“It would be perfect for frying fish and chips!”
“Fish and chips?” Jade blinked. “Yeah, that would work. There’s enough tallow for deep-frying.”
“I’ll go buy fish right away… oh, no fish until further notice.” Sister Geenia caught the hint from Father Rochester’s pointed look and quickly corrected herself. “Then I’ll get the potatoes–” she began excitedly, only to be gently pressed back down by Sister Lucy.
“After breakfast, dear,” Sister Lucy murmured.
Watching the clergy eagerly discuss the possibilities of the purified tallow, Jade shook her head in amazement. “Whoa. I didn’t realise cleaner tallow would make this much of a difference.”
The impact was so profound that the usually somber dining hour erupted into excited chatter.
“It’s been quite some time since they last had proper fried food,” Father Rochester said, sipping his porridge as he munched on a crackling.
Jade glanced at the animated clergy, then turned to Josh. “So, what do the chips here usually taste like?”
“Warm and filling,” Josh replied. “A good meal in winter, though an unpleasant, oily film always clings to the roof of your mouth. But you have to eat them quickly, because once the food cools, the grease thickens in the cold wind, and it tastes disgusting.” He paused, then added, “I don’t get to buy them often. The vendors sell them on the streets, and I usually stay inside the factory for the warmth.”
“Oh… right. Winter.” Jade furrowed her brows, muttering under her breath. “I really should’ve thought of this earlier…”
“What is it, Sensei?” Josh asked quietly.
Jade sighed and took a sip of the porridge. “Well, winter means cold. And cold means it’s not exactly the best season to sell biscuits.”
Josh straightened at once. This sounded serious – serious enough to threaten the iron oven project. “But our biscuits are sweet and cheap,” he argued. “Any season is good for selling them.”
“Yes, but imagine this,” Jade said. “It’s a cold, windy winter day. Two stalls in front of you: one sells hot trotter soup, the other sells biscuits. Same price. You’ve got one penny. Which one do you choose?”
Josh pressed his lips together. Father Rochester, who had overheard them, nodded in agreement. “The soup, without question,” he said. “So, Miss Jade, are you considering selling soup during the winter?”
“Probably not,” Jade said, shaking her head. Seeing their confusion, she explained, “Soup means bowls. Either I have to provide them, or customers have to bring their own bowls or jars. That makes it inconvenient for people who just want something warm to grab on a cold day. And where would I rinse the used bowls? Hygiene is very important. I definitely can’t have customers sharing bowls without cleaning them first. So it needs to be something hot, easy to carry, and doesn’t require utensils…”
“Chips?” / ”Steamed buns.”
“Huh?” / “Hm?”
The master and apprentice exchanged glances. Josh turned to her, puzzled, “Sensei, what’s a steamed bun?”
“Um… it’s bread about the size of a fist, but instead of baking it, you steam it.” Jade immediately shook her head. “I’m not very good at bread, so that’s not a good option. Josh, your idea sounds better.”
“Really?” Josh puffed out his chest. “Happy to be of service, Sensei!”
Jade chuckled softly before continuing. “Okay, what else… pies? No, they’d cool down by the time we bake them here and carry them to the stall. Dumplings? No, no juicy fillings, and I don’t have a good way to pack them… maybe pan-fried dumplings? That could work… wait, I’d still need to prepare the fillings. That takes too much time. Hm…”
Josh and Father Rochester watched her mutter through her thoughts, her head bowed low in concentration. After a moment, she straightened and nodded decisively. “Right. Josh’s suggestion – fried potatoes – is the best solution we have. We’ll get some potatoes and start testing recipes.”
“Recipes?” Josh stared at her in disbelief. “But… isn’t it just chopping potatoes and throwing them into hot oil?”
“Of course not.” Jade shook her head. “We need to consider size, shape, frying time, seasoning – everything. Good chips required attention to detail. Actually, all good food does. Some people just don’t have the luxury to care about it, and others simply don’t bother with something considered simple. That, Josh, is our advantage.”
Josh thought for a moment before murmuring, “Like the tallow we rendered yesterday.”
“Exactly,” Jade said with a nod. “Don’t worry – this will be easier than developing a pastry recipe. I’m more concerned about how to set up the stall for selling chips. And this wasn’t part of our agreement with Mr. Davidson. We’ll need to think about that too.”
“Right, Sensei,” Josh said, nodding.
The master and her apprentice continued discussing their winter chips project in detail, eventually settling on a schedule to begin experimenting with recipes.
That day, the children helping in the kitchen tasted the best chips they had ever eaten. They were thrilled to learn there would be more in the future – especially during winter.