The Archmage’s Restaurant

# 197

Chapter.40 Cooking Competition

“Is that so?”

I nodded and started gathering ingredients. The dish to be presented is a noodle dish in the ramen category. You can call it noodles or ramen.

The ramen mentioned here refers to Japanese ramen. While Korean ramen is mainly instant, Japanese ramen is made from the broth itself.

The dish we are making now is called Tsukemen in Japan. I was thinking of making broth using maa instead of chicken.

Tsukemen is usually made with a mixture of various broths, so I was thinking of using not only Maa but also other ingredients, but I turned my head because of the intense gaze.

Lulin has a strange expression. Licent had an expression full of anticipation. Those two gazes combined and I hit the back of my head with such force that I felt a tingling sensation.

“Um, can you stay out? “Because I can’t concentrate.”

“yes? “Why why?”

When I spoke honestly to the burdensome gaze, Licent raised his eyebrows and looked as if he was trying to hide something else.

“There is no other meaning. If it’s a recipe, I’ll reveal it explicitly, so I’m leaving for now. Wouldn’t it be better to eat without knowing, because it puts you in the shoes of a regular customer? now. “The exit is over there.”

“What… ! Tsk. all right. If you say that much, I will leave. Instead, just make it tasteless!”

I pushed his back and eventually started walking outside, pounding.

“Ugh?”

But I couldn’t get out safely. This girl falls asleep even on a bare floor, so a wet kitchen floor must be rat poison. Ugh.

Quadaaaaaang-!

The floor was slippery because Licent declared a holiday and the kitchen staff withdrew after doing a quick cleaning.

Thanks to this, Licent fell asleep very nicely. The good news is that this time I fell backwards instead of forwards and hit my butt.

However, the problem does not end there. As he fell, Licent’s hand touched the hilt of the knife on the kitchen table, and the kitchen knife flew into the air and began to fall towards Licent’s body. So I secretly used wind magic to change the direction of the sword.

The knife falls on top of Licent’s head.

“Aaaah!”

Licent, who was on the verge of death before his eyes, turned white, jumped up, grabbed his sword, and began to tremble.

“This…” .”

It was a pose like the incarnation of revenge, holding a kitchen knife to take revenge.

“What is this! Argh!”

Then he grabbed the knife and ran out. She’s an amazing woman. Would you say he is the embodiment of stupidity?

Lulin, who was basically uninterested in humans, looked at Licent with a bewildered expression and then suddenly met his palm with a clicking sound.

“I’ve never seen such a strange person before!”

I agree with that.

“Aside from that woman, if it’s actually strange, you haven’t lost recently either?”

Yes, Lulin’s strange behavior is really strange. Would you say it’s really strange in the sense that I can’t figure out why it’s doing that? It’s been a long time since this guy’s behavior was so unpredictable.

“me? What’s wrong with me… .”

“huh?”

“It’s not strange! “I am Rurin.”

“Who said what? But what just caught your breath? Something pricks me too… “Ugh!”

The reason for screaming is simple.

Lulin, who had clearly been stabbed by something, suddenly jumped up and bit my shoulder.

Quaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

“Hey, why are you biting someone’s shoulder! “Are you a monster?”

“It’s a dragon!”

Yes, it’s a dragon, not a monster.

“Okay, get off. “It hurts enough.”

“I do not know!”

He hops back to the floor, wipes the drool from his mouth with his sleeve, turns around, looks up at me again, and opens his mouth.

“I’m hungrier than that… Ugh.”

I can’t leave you alone if you’re holding your stomach and making a pitiful face.

“Okay, okay. “Let’s cook quickly.”

After saying that, I started cooking. First, make the noodles. These are not the kalguksu noodles that I often make.

Raw noodles that are a little different from kalguksu or ramen.

I was planning to make noodles mainly used in Japanese ramen. Those thin, yellow noodles that go into Japanese ramen.

Fresh noodles, not the fried or dried noodles found in instant noodles!

Compared to kalguksu or regular noodles, raw ramen is a little more difficult to prepare.

The ingredients are all-purpose flour, water, salt, and soda, as well as gardenia, which turns the color yellow. This restaurant itself makes noodles, so it has all the ingredients, but no gardenia.

Right now, it’s important to show the taste, so the color doesn’t really mean much.

If so, no problem. Should I try making it?

Raw ramen is characterized by a low water addition rate. Would you say it retains less moisture? Therefore, it is usually kneaded by machine rather than by hand. It’s hard to knead.

I don’t have any machines.

But there is magic.

Of course, it is difficult, but it is not impossible to do it by hand. But since there is magic, I don’t think there is any need to suffer.

“Could you make a shield this size for me to cook?”

“Why a shield all of a sudden?”

I summoned Lurin, a magical machine that is better than any machine. However, it tilts its head and malfunctions.

“I want to cook. “You’re not fighting, so don’t show off your will to fight.”

“Huh? “I don’t know what it is, but I get it.”

If you put dough inside the shield, reduce the size of the shield, increase it, and deform it, the highly compressed shield will knead the dough harder than anything else in the world.

Then take out the dough and finish it with your hands. Put on a lot of weight and it’s heavy!

If this happens, the remaining problem is ripening.

Because it requires maturing for more than 3 hours. However, looking at Lulin’s condition, he is almost sucking his finger. If I wait any longer, it will obviously explode, so I have no choice but to use magic again.

“Rurin, if time is stopped with this dough, it will be a big problem. Instead of stopping time, try to speed up the flow of time. “Just in this space.”

“That’s a headache-inducing spell!”

Speeding up the flow of time was not easy, even for a dragon. Top class among class 10 mental magic. Moreover, the scope is very limited.

“is it? “Then let’s wait three hours.”

“3 hours?”

Rurin walks around my wrist and looks at the time. Since I was not familiar with watches, I had to check the hour and minute hands one by one to get a feel for it.

“Kwaaagh! “That’s too long!”

“Well, if it’s long, it’s long.”

“I don’t like that. “My stomach is on the verge of fainting!”

“If you don’t like it, I can use magic.”

Lulin began to think for a moment. They even forced me to use magic that was difficult to use for just one meal, so I left it to Rurin’s doctor and waited with my arms crossed.

Lurin’s eyebrows move here and there.

“Are you giving it to this guy?”

And in the end, appetite won. Lulin rolled up his sleeves and started glaring at the dough.

In our restaurant, preparations are usually made in the morning, so there is no need to use magic, but since this is someone else’s restaurant and there is nothing prepared at all, there is nothing we can do.

As I was trying to stroke Rurin’s head, I realized my hands were covered in flour and wiped them under running water.

This is enough for noodles.

Next is the broth.

Maa’s broth instead of chicken broth. And a basic broth of anchovies and kelp. Japanese ramen tonkotsu. So, it would be nice to have pork bone broth, but since it takes too much time, I first season it with anchovies, kelp, and maa broth.

If you add ground powder called tuiasho, which is used in this region for a slightly spicy taste, you will get noodles that look very similar to actual tsukemen.

I don’t think either Rurin or Ricent are used to spicy flavors, so the spiciness is just spicy.

It doesn’t end here. Here, various other ingredients are mixed together to make soup.

The characteristic of Japanese tsukemen is that it has a deep yet mixed flavor, so I also mixed a variety of flavors.

Of course, the soup is made a little thicker. This is a basic soup, but you can also make a thin soup mixed with noodles and broth.

The finished dish was brought to the table. Tsukemen is basically a dish where you eat the noodles and the soup separately.

The point is to dip the noodles in the soup.

It is a similar method to buckwheat soba.

“Look at this. The way to eat it is to soak the noodles in this soup and eat them. “You can’t throw noodles into the soup all at once.”

“Do you put the noodles in the soup and soak them?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Oh my, that’s unusual.”

“Lurin wait! That’s not how you eat. “Why are you making such a fuss trying to shovel the noodles into your mouth?”

“Because I’m hungry. “I’m hungry, I’m hungry, I’m hungry!”

“Still stop! Eating rules must be observed. “Lurin.”

I had no choice but to sit down at the table and give a demonstration for Rurin.

“You can hold the noodles like this, dip them in the soup, and slurp them. The point here is to soak the boiled noodles in the broth to your liking. “You can control the consistency of the soup.”

“I’ll try!”

“Is that so? It’s a strange method. Oooooh!”

Lurin cheered as she nonchalantly dipped the noodles into the soup and ate them with her mouth.

“What is this! Cold and hot! And it’s delicious!”

“I heard about meat, so let’s eat it together.”

Even though I’m already eating well before I even speak. Licent watched the scene blankly, then soaked the noodles in the soup and carefully inhaled it.

“It’s a little spicy! But it’s okay. I win over this guy. “Wow, the noodles are chewy, thin, and hard!”

Teacher Rulin, who has become a critic, continues to absorb the noodles with his insightful evaluations.

“Thank you for the compliment, but please take it slowly.”

Of course, there is no such thing as eating slowly in Lulin’s dictionary. Delicious food quickly. Quickly and a lot!

And on the other side, Licent also began to receive favorable reviews.

“I really am. How can noodles be so cold? It’s not even winter… There was something strange and harmonious about eating such cold noodles in hot soup… The soup has the taste of maa that the people of this region love so much, but also has a variety of flavors… .”

“Yes, yes, that is the point.”

“As expected, it’s delicious. really… !”

“When you finish eating, pour this bland soup into the rich soup bowl and add rice to it to make it more filling. Eat, eat. “There are dishes called this and skewers, and between those two, I will decide which dish to serve at the festival.”

“Is there more to it than this?”

“The soup is fried, so eat it and talk!”

“Oh, I’m sorry.”

Surprised, Licent lowered his head as if he was embarrassed. And soon, only the sound of eating began to be heard in the restaurant.

Slurp yum yum.

Slurp slurp.

In fact, you can make this with a simple instant.

Separate the ramen, boil the noodles well, add seasoning such as vinegar or pepper, add ice if desired, cool it, make soup, and eat it.

To make the soup, first, if you have beef sirloin, stir-fry a little of the sirloin to release the meat oil, then add about a third of the ramen soup. Tsukemen for dipping requires a small amount of water, so boil the water in about 1 large cup.

At this time, you can make it with anchovy or kelp broth, or you can just do it as is, but if you like spicy liquor or soy sauce, minced garlic, red pepper powder, and vinegar and pepper, it becomes a unique ramen.

I’m sick of eating the same thing every day.

“you!”

Meanwhile, Lurin, who had already finished eating, smiled brightly and confidently held out her bowl.