Putting Aside Nationalistic Bias, It’s Really Delicious

17 – Is the key to mackerel stew the mackerel or the radish?

As I prepared the ingredients for the fish dish, the gaze of the unusual blue-haired customer staring at me was burdensome.

First, the woman I mistook for an envoy sent by the princess.

Next, the woman who tried to scout me to her palace.

She suddenly came looking for Sebastian, ate the flounder fried and ran away without paying.

That woman sat at the table closest to the kitchen and glared at me.

It was, somehow, an oppressive gaze.

It felt like she was both looking at me as an enemy and, at the same time, someone she wanted to capture for their skills.

‘What on earth is her identity?’

The princess from a neighboring country?

No, that’s not it.

It’s unlikely for a princess to come to such a countryside.

Moreover, this Britten estate isn’t even close to borders with other kingdoms.

It took at least two to three weeks of horse riding to reach the border with the closest kingdom.

And she claims to be a princess?

She might just be a rich noble young lady.

The guest, said to be a British writer, had come.

Anyway, with half-ignoring her gaze, I prepared the ingredients.

Today, there were a lot of fresh mackerels caught.

The fish dish served today was mackerel braised in sauce made with those mackerels.

I hesitated for a moment between grilled and braised mackerel.

The reason I chose braising was that the woman in front of me seemed to have quite a lot of stress.

A somewhat anxious look in her eyes.

Her body shivering while looking at the fish.

And unknowingly, she deeply sighed.

I didn’t know why she had such an expression.

Without knowing her situation, I had nothing to say or do to comfort her.

I just had to do what I could.

A moderately spicy taste is perfect for relieving stress.

That’s why I thought of braised mackerel.

Mackerel and radish soaked in boiling spicy sauce.

A bowl of braised mackerel with an incredible deep flavor from the sauce seeping in could melt even a frozen heart.

There’s also hairtail braised in sauce as an alternative dish.

I had a resolve since long ago when making food.

I hoped that those who eat my dishes would smile while eating.

It’s not just about satisfying hunger with eating, but also relieving stress and feeling better with delicious food.

It was the same when I worked at the Knights’ Order.

Every time the knights finished their tough training and regained their strength while eating my food.

“Lucas, as always! Your food is the best!”

“How come your dishes are more delicious than the ones my wife made?”

“Let’s live together, Lucas!”

Every time my fellow knights made a fuss about my cooking, I couldn’t help but feel a strange sense of pride.

The reason I continued to take on the role of cooking knight, despite my grumbling, wasn’t just to save my own life.

It must have been because of her.

I thought about wanting to serve her the best mackerel stew, as she tightly closed her eyes while watching the fish being prepared, her face looking as if she could burst into tears at any moment.

“You don’t have to watch the fish being prepared if it scares you.”

“No, I need to see it.”

“…Alright then.”

I didn’t understand why she insisted on watching when it seemed she was scared of the fish.

She bit her lower lip and her eyes welled up with tears, until eventually, she cried.

There seemed to be a story behind it.

I awkwardly prepared the rest of the ingredients, feeling the atmosphere completely different from the last time she visited.

‘Did she get her heart broken by the prince’s confidant?’

I cut the radish and potato into large chunks, pulled out kelp and dried anchovies, and then took out spicy peppers.

If they knew how many trials and errors I went through to cultivate these peppers, everyone would cry a river.

After signing a collaboration contract with local farmers and improving various species…

You’re not curious?

I can’t help it.

I’ll have to save it for later.

About how I started cultivating green onions and potatoes…

Not curious about this either?

I wanted to chat a bit while focusing on my cooking, but there was no helping it.

I chopped one of the specially bred spicy peppers, placed it in a strainer along with the kelp and dried anchovies.

Personally, I like adding spicy peppers directly to the soup, but the people here struggle with the spiciness of the peppers.

I need to add a hint of spiciness, so I decided to strain the soup after it had been steeped enough and remove the peppers later.

I filled a pot with water, added the large chunks of radish and potato, and boiled them along with the strainer I prepared for the soup flavor.

While the water was boiling, I mixed minced garlic, chili powder, ginger, and fish sauce made from fermented fish, as well as soy sauce.

As the water started to boil up to a certain point, I took out the strainer and added the prepared seasoning sauce.

It’s important to take it out at the right time as the bitterness from the kelp and anchovies could ruin the taste of the soup if they were left in too long.

Bubbling!

The reddish seasoned water is boiling.

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On top of that, I added the secret ingredient of the knight’s diner, the magical powder M… cough, cough!

It is also a collaboration with a magician…

Let’s just leave it there.

Anyway, I removed the innards and chopped the mackerel into appropriate sizes and placed them in the pot.

Bubbling!

I cooked it until the water was boiling, and it had reduced enough.

The customer’s eyes closed tightly.

Tears streamed down one of her eyes, but independently, her nose twitched.

“The smell is nice, isn’t it?”

“Huh?”

“I particularly like the aroma when this chili seasoning is combined with the other ingredients.”

“…”

“It’s the process of all the ingredients coming together as a completed dish.”

I like this time.

What flavor will this dish have?

How spicy is this stew?

Will it have a sweet and sour taste?

Will it have a different flavor than what I know?

The anticipation for numerous elements in a single dish feels even better as it builds up.

And the customers’ facial expressions when the dish filled with various expectations is completed and served are the cherry on top.

Of course, I love eating.

Because I like it, I want to share it with others.

The pleasure of sharing the flavors I know with others.

You know the taste, right?

That place is delicious.

Let’s go there together and try it someday.

Isn’t this sharing of flavors the true path of gourmet?

“Can I ask you one question?”

“The royal chef is unwelcome here.”

“We don’t intend to make another offer to someone who has already declined.”

“Then, what is it?”

“Do you think the arrow meat that has become soup is happy?”

As she asked, I looked at the mackerel that was gradually being cooked.

The mackerel, with its deepening flavors as it slowly simmered in the boiling soup.

Is the meat happy?

I don’t know such things.

I’m not a druid or a necromancer.

How would I know the heart of an animal, let alone a mackerel that’s been dead for a while?

But there is one thing I know.

“The person who eats that meat will be happy.”

“Why?”

It’s a foolish question.

Why are they happy?

“Because it’s delicious, of course.”

“People who eat it are happy because it’s delicious…?”

“Yes.”

“Don’t think too deeply about it. We cook and eat like this to live, right?”

She closed her mouth.

In the meantime, the mackerel was cooked well enough, and I put chopped onions and green onions on top.

When the onions and green onions were completely cooked, I served the freshly made mackerel stew in front of my beautiful blue-haired guest.

The pot on the stove was still boiling vigorously.

I also placed white rice, side dishes I had prepared in the morning, and kimchi next to it.

“Today’s chef’s special menu, mackerel stew.”

“….”

Despite the food being served, she couldn’t bring herself to pick up her spoon.

“…I’m sorry.”

I wasn’t sure who she was apologizing to, but after apologizing, she picked up her spoon.

She took a sip of the soup.

Gulp.

The blue-haired guest’s eyes widened.

“How’s the taste?”

“…It’s delicious. Really delicious.”

She began to shed tears.

Did I make it too spicy?

I’ve never seen anyone cry while eating, so I didn’t know how to react.

She began to eat in earnest.

***

After that day, Michelle couldn’t bring herself to eat the food in the Dragon Palace.

At first, it was because of the trauma of eating her friend, the fish.

When she found out that everything she had unknowingly eaten so far had been fish, she was in agony all day.

For three days, she couldn’t eat anything.

Guilt and self-blame tormented her.

However, as time passed, hunger tormented her even more than the trauma.

All the fish around her looked like the fried food she used to eat.

Arrow-fish fried.

Flat-fish fried.

Bloom-fish fried.

Fried squid.

Fried.

Fried.

Fried.

When hunger overcame the trauma, she tasted the dish brought out by the palace chef.

“Please eat, Your Highness. You need to eat to live, don’t you?”

However, the dish he prepared didn’t have the same taste as before.

It was dry and tough.

The fish dishes she once thought were tender now had a fishy smell.

So she couldn’t eat them.

Because they didn’t taste good.

‘I need that man’s cooking.’

So she sought out the place where she had seen him.

Feeling her way through the memories, she tried to find his restaurant.

By chance, the chef was returning to his shop with the fish he had caught just like that day.

She followed him once again.

While mourning the fish that fell prey to this man.

Mourning?

What right do I have?

I’m just like that man.

I tried to turn away from the rising dark emotions.

Sitting in the kitchen and watching him cook was the greatest courtesy she could give to the fish caught by the man.

Watching their journey till the end.

Because that was what the princess had to do.

“I’m sorry, nameless fish.”

Unlike Sebastian, they were fish that had never met her before.

However, they were also one of the fish she had to protect.

It was a brutal scene, but she didn’t avoid it.

She faced it until the end.

In the midst of it, the delicious smell that brushed past her nose tempted her.

Ah.

This is it.

This unbelievable scent.

The scent that digs deep into one’s brain and stimulates the appetite.

Tears came from her self-loathing.

But more than that, she was starving.

She hadn’t eaten properly for a week already.

Her stomach was crying out for help.

“The smell is good, isn’t it?”

“Excuse me?”

“I love the scent that comes from the chili sauce mixing with the ingredients.”

“……”

“It’s the process of the ingredients coming together to form a complete dish.”

The man who approached her.

The man who killed her friend.

But strangely, she couldn’t bring herself to hate him.

A man who cooks dangerously tantalizing dishes.

She asked him:

“May I ask you one thing?”

“I am a palace chef, and I refuse.”

“I don’t plan to make another proposal to someone who has already refused once.”

“Then, what is it?”

“Does the arrow meat that has become soup find happiness?”

After a brief silence, he answers.

“The person who eats that meat will be happy.”

“Why?”

“Because it is delicious.”

“So, those who eat it because it’s delicious are happy?”

“Yes.”

“Don’t think too deeply about it. Isn’t the purpose of cooking and eating like this simply to get by and live?”

Don’t think deeply?

Those words pierced her heart.

How could she not think deeply?

After all, she had to control all the fish.

But that resolution melted away as soon as she took a sip of the mackerel stew that Lucas had brought.

Sweet and spicy, the thick broth gently enveloped her tongue.

The taste of the broth enveloping her tongue quickly passed through her throat.

As the broth entered her stomach, the taste of the soup she had just savored lingered in her mouth.

“Ah.”

She could feel the power of the fish darting swiftly through the ocean.

This shouldn’t be happening.

This isn’t right.

“How does it taste?”

“…It’s delicious. It’s really delicious.”

The soup alone was too delicious.

It was more delicious than any royal dish she had tasted before.

“Why don’t you try it with radish and mackerel together?”

“Mackerel?”

“It’s our local word for the arrow fish.”

“Mackerel…”

Calling it by a different name seemed to alleviate some of the guilt she felt.

She sliced a piece of the softened radish and mackerel, and scooped it up with her spoon.

After dipping it in the red sauce, she placed it directly on top of her rice.

She had learned from the previous experience.

All the dishes at this restaurant must be eaten together with the rice in front of them to be harmonious.

It was the same when they had the fried flatfish.

It showed its true value when eaten with rice.

And now, she added the mackerel and cooked radish on top of her rice.

“Ah.”

The mackerel flesh was tender and moist while still cooked just right.

The hot, yet mouthwatering cooked radish was filled with flavorful sauce.

The savory sauce mixed with the rice, stirring it around and blending everything together.

The firm taste of the mackerel’s flesh, the flavor of the sauce-infused radish, and the texture of the rice itself.

The deep taste of the subtly spreading sauce wrapped around everyone like a gentle embrace.

A natural exclamation of admiration escaped at the harmonious flavor that spread in the mouth.

She felt happy.

The many thoughts that had troubled her mind just moments ago seemed to scatter and disappear.

And in their place, a sense of fullness and happiness filled her.

Her mood lifted.

Her lips curled up in a smile.

The mackerel seemed to swim like an ocean inside her mouth.

It almost felt like she could feel the mackerel’s power.

‘This must be it.’

The happiness this man spoke of.

Her body felt as if it were floating.

It felt like swimming on the surface of the sea.

For this moment, she had become a mackerel – no, an arrow fish.

She was fulfilling the dream of swimming through the vast ocean in his stead.

The spoon moved.

Her stomach, starved for so long, rumbled with anticipation.

More.

Give me more.

Feed me more.

She wanted to eat all the delicious food.

Her hand moved on its own.

It kept reaching for more.

Before she knew it, she had finished a full bowl of rice.

“……”

Michelle looked at Lucas with bright eyes and said,

“Chef, one more plate please.”

What was reflected in her eyes was the basic desire for food that living creatures possess.

—-

★★★★★

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It feels like swimming in the ocean.

Not everyone can experience it.

There’s a tremendous charm in providing an experience that only special beings can have.

This mackerel dish is the same.

It makes me forget all the worries I’ve had so far.

Maybe it’s because their wishes are incorporated into the dish?

The sweetness of the well-cooked radish and the savory flavor of the sauce meet the tender texture of the mackerel, creating a perfect harmony.

The spicy taste that stings the tongue uniquely blows away stress.

I recommend it to you whenever you have a concern.

Recommended menu: fish dishes – mackerel stew.

-Michelle-

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