Dungeon of Niflheim

246 Chapter 246: The skills of a chef

Lola and Sam continued their lesson on food for 30 minutes before their stomachs started to grumble in protest, Frost’s included. Initially Frost was supposed to be the one cooking, supplying the food, or at least helping but given his inept abilities Lola had him sit still and watch the master at work. Her husband of course not her. When at home she would occasionally cook but out in the field 90% of the time it was Sam’s job and one he was more than happy to fulfil. His cooking was admittedly better because of it but he would never say that to his wife.

“Frost watch and learn, adventurers need a great many skills, not just battle prowess.” Lola spoke softly to their new young friend. Frost opened his eyes wide and took in every action that Sam was doing. He greatly appreciated the two of them taking the time to teach him how to be a true adventurer, he was in dire need of a proper teacher in that regard.

Sam spoke as he cooked explaining what he was doing and what ingredients he was using and why. “I’m going to prepare a simple soup that not only tastes good but will meet all your nutritional needs for someone at our level. As you grow in strength you’ll find that the amount of energy required to sustain your strength increases resulting in the need to consume mana rich ingredients such as monster meat to fill your belly.” As Sam spoke he removed several containers full of different ingredients. They were all vacuum sealed and built to endure rough movements, perfect for an adventurer’s lifestyle.

“Given our location we came across a fair amount of frost lizards but since you had that last night we’ll use something different as the main meat component.” Sam opened up one of the containers and a mild smell of meat escaped, it was soft and not overpowering a stark contrast to the lizard flesh Frost cooked previously. “We’ll use this giant horned rabbit meat, F-rank in strength and great in soups. I’ll add in a few pieces of dark meat from a frost lizard to enhance the flavour, the contrast between the strong spicy taste of the lizard and the mild yet tender rabbit meat makes a great combination. They’ll cover the protein.” Sam continued to open containers and relay what was held in each.

“Pepper sweet potato to cover sugar, green carrots and dagger beans to provide carbohydrates as well as a nice veggie flavour to offset the meat and finally dragon onions to help combat the constant cold. These ingredients can always be swapped out for other types, but the key thing is that you have a variety, you can’t get all your nutrients from just meat or one or two vegetables it needs to be a healthy balance, plus it tastes far better, if I had any mushrooms on hand I’d throw them in.” Sam spoke with wide smile on his face, he loved cooking as well as talking about his process. He’d gone through a great many variations of ingredients to find what ones matched with others. He had no teacher for this, everything was done through trial and error and the results were stupendous.

Lola sat at his side with a gentle and proud smile on her face, finding her man so attractive while he cooked. “You should listen to his recipes thoroughly Frost my darling here can put professional chefs to shame.” She lightly giggled after praising her husband, but her words were not wrong. Even Kathy who ran the inn in Furano would probably at best come out even.

“Hahahaha thanks for the praise dear but I’m not that good, just a bit better than average.” Another trait that she was fond of, his modesty. Frost was convinced by the look in Sam’s eyes, the man had a strong passion for food and what he said made sense.

Whenever he had a meal in Furano or even that hotpot container in Beta camp there was always a wide variety of things in the dish. He subconsciously scooched in closer to Sam in order to hear his lesson better. The meals he had at the Phoenix fledgling restaurant had sparked a fire in him, so much so he was tempted to abscond with the chef back to his dungeon. He was also really fond of Maya’s cooking and now he had an opportunity to learn.

He wondered if this could be his calling in terms of trade skills. Damascus was a blacksmith while Indra liked the idea of artificing, and he learned that Aqua was fond of tailoring. Some of the outfits she suggested for him were her own ideas and ones she wished to prepare herself. Cooking would be the first trade profession he’d dip his toes into thanks to Sam and Lola.

.....

Sam then instructed Frost about managing the fire, how to best control the temperature so as not to burn the ingredients as well as the best time to add each one and why. To prepare the soup he summoned water and brought it to a gentle boil before adding a congealed stock cube the thing Lola highlighted as very important for adventurers especially for those in the northern parts of Yangmir. Given the plethora of snow available even without magic one was not want for water. The soup stock alone, once melded with water provided a nice light soup with a gentle veggie flavour but given the strength of the three of them it wouldn’t be enough to meet their needs, much like the dried jerky.

Once the stock was fully dissolved he added the meat pieces to the broth, he’d already cleaned them and drained away the blood, another point he explained to Frost, without doing such tasks the flavour would be adversely affected. The concoction boiled for 5 minutes or so before he added the vegetables, the whole process didn’t take long given the temperature of the water as well as the fact that the chosen vegetables didn’t need to be boiled long, a good steam was enough to bring out the flavour. Everyone of Sam’s movements were precise and methodical, he gave Frost the rough timings to add things but mostly it was based upon his instinct, his experience as a chef. For Frost who was watching and learning it was as though watching an artist paint, it was moving and brought a warmth to his heart. This was part of Nova just as much as everything else, these were the good everyday things Dark wanted his children to experience not just battles. Frost understood that now....the world of Nova was big and expansive, his adventurous spirit was lit, and his fists slightly clenched as a path opened before him.

After ten minutes the soup was finished and the three people’s stomachs rumbled with desire as the smell seeped through their nostrils, causing saliva to pool in their mouths.

“Damn honey you really out did yourself this time, the smell is absolutely divine.” Lola licked her lips as she stared at the brewing pot. Every time her husband prepared the meals it was always glorious but today seemed extra special.

‘He must have wanted to show off a little to our young guest.’ Her eyes showed a glint of understanding, her husband was quite cute.

Sam let out a slightly embarrassed chuckle from being seen through by his wife. “I added some kalun ginger to spice up the flavour, hopefully it tastes as good as it smells.” Ginger was a spice commonly used on the eastern continent, kalun ginger was the breed that grew in Yangmir, its essence was even stronger and worked perfectly to battle the cold weather here in the glacial mountains. Sam didn’t have much stock left but felt that it was worth it to enlighten a young man about the aspect of good cooking.

Since Frost didn’t carry much in the way of utensils Sam and Lola had to lend him a bowl and spoon, much to his shame. The fried frost lizard he had last night he ate right out of the wok. He didn’t see much need to such things given that he planned to eat solo. Though perhaps being alone didn’t mean he needed to be simple, it sort of spoiled his rather noble appearance. He took a mental note of all the things suggested by Sam and Lola and promised that at the next opportunity he’d stock up, the shame was too much to bear now that it was known.

Sam took out a ladle and filled up everyone’s bowl, first he filled the guest’s, Frost’s then his wife’s and finally his own. Even though he was the one doing the cooking he didn’t forget his manners and etiquette, much to his wife’s pleasure.

“Well eat up Frost and tell me what you think?” Sam asked while filling up his bowl, keen to hear the young man’s opinion. From Frost’s appearance he clearly had access to good food when not out and about in a monster lair, so he pegged him as a good judge of food.

Frost smiled in thanks before bringing the bowl toward his mouth, he took a single spoonful, scooping up a small piece of meat and soup. He took in a deep inhale allowing the delightful smell to coat his nostrils before lightly blowing on it to cool it down. Then finally he placed the spoon in his mouth, dropping the contents onto his tongue.

Suddenly bursts of flavour filled his mouth, not losing out to the smell in the slightest. The meat he picked up was rabbit, the soft mild flavoured meat coalesced beautifully with the vegetable flavour seeped into the soup. It was delicious, rivalling that of his meals at the phoenix fledgling restaurant and Douglas’s mansion. To say that Sam was skilled would be an understatement, he created such a tasty dish within a monster lair with minimal equipment, just imagine what he could do in a fully outfitted kitchen.