The knight order is extremely busy.
They rush all the way from the royal capital to the port town, and then go on a boat trip the very next day. It is a hard-to-believe schedule.
To my idea of—at least letting them have a good meal, maybe helping out with all three meals—Belze said, “Kirul will probably not accept charity.”
That being the case, I decided to visit the commander’s office directly and confirm it with him myself.
“…So, you went out of your way to ask me if I could ‘leave the meals of the knight order to you’?”
“Yes.”
“Are you an idiot!? You heard from Belze, right, that I am a man who hates being given charity! Why would you come and rub me the wrong way after knowing that!”
“S-sorry.”
Well, when you put it that way, exactly.
I just wanted to hear his opinion.
Beside Kirul, who was yelling in a squeaky voice, the attending knights chimed in.
“Isn’t it fine, Commander! Meals affect morale, even if you just have him make something good for today.”
“That’s right. That baked sweet was also delicious. His cooking skills are guaranteed.”
“You guys, be quiet! And don’t eat baked sweets!”
The knights fell silent.
“Besides, you know, I am meeting you on official business.”
“Yes.”
“I am the one who set the audit for the day after tomorrow. To properly finish the work I decided on myself, I cannot eat your cooking until then! Because I cannot let my tongue be ruined by poor preconceptions.”
“I see.”
When it was explained with logic, it started to sound like the right thing.
“You are like that, Kirul.”
“What is it?”
“You are a very polite person.”
“How annoying. It is obvious since I work for the court, isn’t it?”
Well, should I back down here—
After thinking that, at that moment, I came up with an idea.
“Um, if so.”
“Is there still something?”
“Won’t you all cook with me?”
“Ha?”
I looked at the attending knights, not Kirul.
“How about it? I will teach you, so why don’t you all try cooking using my recipe?”
“O-us, cooking?”
“Well, we take turns entering the kitchen anyway… but we can only make sloppy men’s cooking, you know?”
“I will introduce an easy and delicious recipe. If it is home-cooked food by you all, even Commander Kirul can eat it, right?”
The knights and I turned to look at Kirul all at once.
Kirul glared at me with a very complicated expression, thinking I was a smart aleck.
And next, he looked around at the knights.
“You guys… do you want to eat this kid’s cooking that much?”
“W-well, sort of.”
“We’ve been on a long trip, so we’d like something delicious soon…”
“Besides, he is the cook of Princess Belze, you know? Of course, we’d be curious!”
“We were also worried about the Princess. That Princess, who barely smiled before, is entering the kitchen looking so happy…”
The knights in this room all seemed to have a certain status and were acquainted with Belze.
Was it the feeling of watching a younger relative’s child—I wonder.
Anyway, Kirul let out a small sigh and reluctantly nodded.
“Fine, do as you like. It is true that meals affect morale. I will eat it if I feel like it.”
“Thank you!”
The knights and I bowed our heads at the same time, and then high-fived.
It felt a bit like our bond had deepened even before sharing the recipe, but anyway, we hurried toward the kitchen.
It is already evening.
That means we are preparing dinner.
“Eh. Did you all catch this seafood?”
“Yes. By fishing and throw nets just a moment ago.”
When I was surprised looking at the large amount of seafood gathered in the kitchen, the knights said proudly.
“Did you do that?”
“While the Princess and Pino were finishing their baths and getting ready.”
“Can you catch this much?”
“Because we also have magicians. We bring fruits, vegetables, and spices from land, but we catch fish locally. With this large group, even a single meal would become quite heavy.”
No, well, I understand the circumstances, but even so, that’s amazing. And by boat fishing and throw nets?
Magicians are truly terrifying.
Well anyway, as for the ingredients on the ship, most of them are seafood. If we have to divide them among this many people…
“Soups are good. Shall we make bouillabaisse?”
“Bouillabaisse?”
“It is a fishermen-originated catered soup using unsellable seafood, aromatic vegetables, and tomatoes. It goes well with both bread and pasta.”
“Oh, that sounds delicious!”
Come to think of it, if that’s the case, we need to prepare quickly.
In front of the many knights, I will show an example of how to prepare each of the materials we will handle.
“Let’s make shrimp the main ingredient. We will also use the shells, so please wash the sand and dirt stuck in the gaps carefully. Those who can use earth or water magic can use it.”
“Understood!”
By the way, as for Belze, she said she really didn’t want to enter the kitchen piled with this much seafood, so she is watching from outside the kitchen at a distance.
When I wave, she waves back.
“P-Princess Belze is waving back…!”
“An honor, this is an honor for the Second Knight Order since its inception!”
She is unexpectedly popular, Princess Belze.
That aside, the core of the flavor will be shrimp, followed by fish and shellfish.
We wash the shrimp and peel the shells, scale the fish and fillet them into three pieces, and leave the sand-removal of the shellfish to the team good at earth magic.
“I-it’s hard when you’re suddenly told to fillet a fish. I can’t make it as clean as you do.”
“Anyhow is fine. The meat left on the bones will also make a good broth.”
“Is that so?”
I nodded.
The fish center bones and shrimp shells are sprinkled with salt and roasted dry in the grill. Then they are thrown into a pot and simmered with white wine.
So, a little bit of meat is actually the source of supreme broth.
“Aromatic vegetables, I finished cutting them!”
“Then spread seed oil on the bottom of the pot and fry them lightly. Once they are browned, add the shrimp meat as well, quickly pass them through the heat, and take them out.”
“T-take them out?”
“Yes. Shrimp will shrink if cooked too much, so if you first lightly swim them in oil, you just pull them out and combine them at the end.”
The shrimp shell and fish bone broth should also be kept in separate pots at first, simmered enough, and then strained and combined.
Anyway, taking the trouble not to mix sand and shell fragments is the secret to seafood cooking.
The kitchen was filled with a strong shrimp scent.
Since we sprinkled salt well and roasted them to drive away the moisture, there is no negative fishy smell. It is a good smell combining the savory aroma of the shells and the richness of the head miso.
“Still, for Belze, the presence might be a little too strong.”
When I muttered softly and checked Belze’s direction, she gave a reply with lip-sync: You know it well, don’t you?
As always, you have ears like a bat, Your Highness.
Anyway, that is why the aroma is finished more complexly.
We fry tomatoes with the aromatic vegetables, and also thoroughly drive away the grassy moisture from these.
Next, shellfish, herbs, spices, flower nectar, lemon with the peel on, white wine vinegar, and a piece of butter.
Then, one more twist is needed.
“Hey, Pino-kun… is the color of this soup okay?”
One of the knights asks timidly.
Yes, the problem is that.
“With the shrimp broth and tomatoes, isn’t it completely red? That, actually, our commander is—”
“He is not good with red things, right? I am aware of it. So, I will use this for the finish.”
“What is that? That black thing.”
“It is squid ink sacs.”
At the pitch-black thing I took out from a small bottle, the surrounding knights were upset.
“S-squid ink!? Can you eat that?”
“Won’t it become fishy?”
“It has been pickled in salt for about three days, so the odor and moisture are mostly removed. It is delicious with a rich umami.”
Just to be safe, after frying it lightly, we melt it into the soup.
Even with just a small ink sac, the way the soup dyes black in an instant is indeed an overwhelming coloring power.
“It seems not very well known to the world, but squid ink and tomatoes go exceptionally well together. It is perfect for this soup.”
“Say, Pino-kun. To begin with, I don’t think anyone uses squid ink in the court.”
…Is that so?
Come to think of it, both squid and octopus might hardly be seen in expensive restaurants.
In fact, even in the Bouillabaisse Charter proposed in Marseille, France, it is stipulated that squid must not be put into bouillabaisse.
But this is another world, extraterritorial. We can do whatever we want.
The aroma of the soup, which was all shrimp, changed to a complex and bizarre one before I knew it.
What on earth is in it, you cannot tell just by a quick sniff—once it reaches this point, it is complete, and it is finally time to actually eat.