Chapter 18: 18

「It just occurred to me…」

「What’s wrong? Grandpa.」

「I was just wondering what the most expensive food in the restaurant is.」

「Expensive food?」

 

Inside『Nihon』, a popular bar(the type is almost certain to be this one) that opened as usual today, a regular customer, grandpa, asked me what was the most expensive dish in the restaurant.

As one would expect from one of the richest men in the country.

He was interested in expensive dishes.

「Our store is delicious and inexpensive.」

It is no wonder that Lara-chan could not get the idea of expensive food.

The main dish of this restaurant is grilled skewers, which cost one to two copper coins per skewer.

In other words, it costs between 100 and 200 Japanese yen.

Other dishes also cost from two to five copper coins.

The only alcoholic beverage available is ale, but it costs three copper coins per cup.

There are other alcoholic beverages in this world, but wine is only served in high-end restaurants.

Brandy, made from wine, was even more expensive, and only the very wealthy could drink it.

The most expensive one in my store…

Well, not without.

It’s not on the menu, though.

I think it is treated as a back menu, so to speak.

「I’m curious. I’m interested.」

「I’m interested too.」

Mirko-san, who worked dismantling and selling magical beasts today, also came here for a drink, and before he knew it, he had become a regular customer of the restaurant.

He sometimes brings his employees with him, so he is a good customer now.

「Two large copper coins.」

「Expensive for this restaurant.」

「About the same as a plate of food at『Victoire’s』. I don’t go there anymore because this restaurant is cheaper and tastier.」

Aside from the cooking methods and techniques, I think it is still a matter of freshness and quality of the meat.

I don’t think I’d call a dish 2,000 yen, but I’d say it’s a pretty good place to eat.

「I’m interested too. Grandfather’s treat?」

「Order it yourself.」

「You’re a hard man to please, Grandfather.」

「I’ll give you one for now.」

It is not on the menu, but it is something that can be served if asked.

It is not very large and very expensive for this restaurant’s menu.

It is served only to regular customers who have money to spend.

It is a kind of hidden menu.

「Aged meat steak.」

The expensive menu item I had devised was a steak of aged meat from a watercow, a magical beast similar to a buffalo.

The meat is『dry-aged』, meaning that the temperature is kept around and the humidity around 70 percent, with a fan, constantly blowing air through the meat.

『Wet aging』is a process in which vacuum-packed meat is aged at low temperatures.

『Dry-aging』, in which the carcass is simply hung in a cold place.

In my case, I can always keep a block of ice in the store’s basement warehouse to keep it in the same condition as a refrigerator, but it is difficult to constantly blow air through it, so dry aging is impossible.

Wet aging is also difficult because no plastic can be vacuum-packed.

Therefore, we adopted the branch dying method, which has been practiced in Japan for a long time.

The reason is that this could be done in this world, as it originated in Japan, where people hung the carcasses of meat obtained from hunting in the eaves of their houses in the winter.

I am glad I learned it from my grandpa.

Then there is salting, marinating in miso, and so on.

I’ve tried all kinds of ways to preserve meat, though.

I was going to add these to the menu after I tasted them.

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「How do you like it?」

「Ohhh, this is great, the meat tastes so rich and yet it’s so tender!」

「I prefer to eat it with salt only to get the meat’s full flavor.」

「I was surprised to learn that there is a way to make the meat taste good. Usually, they dry the meat to preserve it, or they use a lot of herbs, which is the standard method.」

「Is it more expensive because it takes more time and effort?」

「That’s one thing, but you have to scrape off the surface. It dries out and becomes discolored.」

Aged meat is delicious, but if it is not aged properly, it is just rotten meat that risks upsetting your stomach.

Even if you can age it properly, the more you scrape off the surface, the smaller the meat will be.

No wonder it is expensive.

「I want to do it, too.」

「If you don’t control it properly, if a customer gets sick to his stomach, it will cause a credibility problem. I went through quite a bit of trial and error myself.」

When I was in Japan, we had the proper tools, refrigerators, and other machines, so all I had to do was as my grandpa taught me.

In this world, we don’t have the tools and machines that were sold in Japan as a matter of course, so I had to work hard to control the proper temperature and humidity while aging the meat through trial and error, and finally reached a level where I could serve it at the restaurant.

「The key is to control the temperature of the meat.」

「Temperature? I’ve never heard that word before.」

No one knew the word『Temperature』, including Mirko, and the word『Temperature』did not exist in this world.

Naturally, there is no such thing as a thermometer, nor is there a hygrometer.

I had a hard time with that the first time I recreated a refrigerator with magically made ice in the basement of my store.

It was fine in winter, but in other seasons, if the temperature rose even a little, the meat would spoil instead of ripening.

「Meat spoils faster in the summer, doesn’t it? The best temperature for aging meat is just before the water freezes.」

「I see. It is true that in the summer, I have the impression that every butcher shop has a hard time keeping meat under control.」

It spoils quickly if you leave it outside, and most butchers store meat in basements like ours.

I heard that some of the larger ones, or those with more money to spare, hire wizards who can make ice and turn their basements or warehouses into ice rooms.

But not all stores that procure meat can properly control the temperature.

In the summer, the meat goes bad so quickly that they have to use a lot of herbs to get rid of the smell.

「The landlady has an advantage because she can use magic. It’s rare for a wizard to open a bar.」

「Oyabun-san, I can’t use offensive magic.」

If I could use offensive magic, I would make more money as a hunter.

When I was sent to this world and lived a survival life for half a year, I was very tired and had a hard time dealing with strong and large magical beasts.

I could feel my strength and speed increase as I kept defeating the magic beasts, but I would get tired if I had to fight against them all day long.

I could catch wild boars with a trap, and if I cooked them and sold them at a store, I could make a profit even if I didn’t catch so many.

I could make use of the techniques for dismantling, preserving, and cooking that my grandfather had taught me, and above all, I opened the store because it suited my nature.

I guess it was also for Lara-chan, who I met and lived a survival life with.

「Maybe it’s my imagination, but I don’t think I can beat the landlady.」

「That’s not true~」

I am a second-rate hunter at best.

That is why I became a bar owner.

I don’t feel like I can beat oyabun-san of all time.

「This is unrelated, but I am not a『landlady』. I’m the manager or owner.」

When I am called『landlady』, I feel as if I have become a mother, and I am still a young, unmarried woman.

I don’t have that much dignity.

「Even so. Not many people that age owns a restaurant.」

「That’s right. It’s hard to say myself, but it’s rare to find someone who can say things to me to my face, and even rarer when it comes to women. The landlady is the most suitable.」

「Yukiko, the landlady, is a good-looking woman, though. I’m in love with her. Please become my wife as soon as possible.」

「……(Because you call me landlady, all the other customers follow suit!)」

「I think it’s a very comfortable way to, landlady. After all, oyabun-san approves of it.」

「Yukiko-san, I don’t call you landlady.」

After all, this was the moment when it turned out that Lara-chan was the only one who did not call me a landlady.

I guess this is what I have to expect from new customers?

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