Tondemo Skill de Isekai Hourou Meshi
chapter-493

For some reason, each and every person from [Ark] turned out to be some kind of weird dungeon otaku.

Haaa… what a pain. Why is this happening to me?

Somehow, people from [Ark] ended up at our rental mansion. In fact, everyone was having lots of fun together, talking about dungeon challenges, monsters and… stuff.

Even Grandpa-I-don’t-care-for-humans-Gon had warmed up to them.

As for my two littlest familiars who should not be able to communicate with them, were also getting along swimmingly with the latest additions.

I guess dungeon diving is one of those things most people have in common?

Anyway, it was decided that [Ark] would stay with us. As for who decided it? Well, Fer was the one who decided we would go to the dungeon, he was also the one who decided that we would all stay at my rental house.

The leader of the party, Gaudino-san, did not refuse the invitation since they would be dungeon diving with us. Feodora-san was one of the first to agree, since she was probably hoping to bum off a meal from me…

Why is this happening?

Haven’t we been to too many dungeons already?

Doran, Avering, Meat Dungeon and finally, Brixt.

Not to mention all those tiny dungeons hidden in the forests…

It felt like everyone was excited about dungeon trips except for me…

Somehow, the atmosphere feels kind of reckless…

“Goodness, everyone seems to be in a great mood…”

Right now, I am in the kitchen with a piece of alligator meat in front of me.

I guess they are excited about eating Alligator? Also, Fer-sama grandly declared, ‘We shall feed you Alligator meat too,’ to his new best friends.

Gaudino and Gideon had responded with a ‘Thanks for the food!’.

Siegwad had an enigmatic smile on his face, ‘It’s going to be a treat’.

Feodora even did a little dance.

Ergh, I’m the one who’s cooking, so why was everyone looking so grateful to Fer?

Grandpa Gon even ventured to say with a smug smile, “You should enjoy Master’s food with all your heart.”

Tch, whatever.

Anyway, that’s the origin story of how I ended up in the kitchen.

As usual, when faced with unusual meats, I did a taste test by pan-frying a bit of the meat with nothing but salt and pepper first.

I heard a lot of people say that alligator and crocodile meat tasted like chicken and had always wondered if it was true.

I had already eaten snakes, or at least monsters that resembled snakes in this world, so I’m not going to hesitate about eating this crocodile-like creature.

The most important thing is the taste. After panfrying it lightly, I cut off a small piece and chewed it thoughtfully.

“Hmm… I guess it’s kind of like chicken? Kind of like white fish? It is more chicken-like, so, Karaage would be good, let’s also prepare some dipping sauces too. Mayonnaise, lemon slices, shichimi pepper powder, and green onion sauce as well.”

Having different dipping sauces makes it easier to enjoy different kinds of flavours.

Deep frying is definitely the safest way, but what about sautéing? Fufu, I could to a simple steak with a rich and creamy mushroom sauce.

Now that I have decided on the recipe, it was time to call upon [Net Super]!

After getting all the additional ingredients I needed, it was time to cook. First, prepare the Fried Alligator.

It was basically the same as making Chicken Karaage. Cut the meat into bite size pieces, leave to marinade in a soy based sauce and then fry.

While the meat was marinating, I prepared the dipping sauces.

First, a super easy green onion sauce:

-Place chopped green onions in a bowl

-Add chopped garlic and ginger into the bowl

-Add vinegar, soy sauce, water, sugar and sesame oil

-Mix

For this recipe, I tried using some fine black vinegar with a mild sourness that really elevated the sauce.

Next, let’s do the Alligator Sauté:

-Slice up button mushrooms and split up a few bunches of shimeji mushrooms for the mushroom sauce

-Cut the alligator meat into palm-size pieces

-Make small cuts on the meat

-Sprinkle it with salt and pepper before lightly dusting it with flour

-Fry the meat on a hot frying pan

-Once both sides were browned, remove the meat from the pan. The amount of fat that came out was lesser than I expected. After wiping off the excess oil, I dropped a piece of butter onto the pan and fried the mushrooms.

-When the mushrooms have softened, sprinkle a bit of salt and pepper, finally a splash of white wine

-Once the alcohol evaporates, add fresh cream and some chicken granules and simmer until it thickened

-Salt and pepper to taste

Although I won’t be doing it this time, adding grated cheese would make this sauce richer and creamier.

“All I have to do next is serve the sauteed meat with this creamy sauce on top!”

After happily putting away the pan-fried meat and sauce, made especially delicious with my title as the ‘Solitary Chef’, it was time to make the Karaage.

Twice fried type, of course.

Once I have a few golden piles of meat, I put them away in my [Item Box] and made my way to where the members of the [Ark], or rather, Feodora-san, was waiting impatiently for dinner in the living room.

“Everyone~ food’s here~”

Big eaters Fer, Grandpa Gon, Dora-chan and Sui were given large plates of Sauteed Alligator in Cream of Mushroom Sauce and heaping piles of Alligator Karaage.

As for members of the [Ark] and myself, we received reasonable-sized portions of the same. Mindful of the popularity of my food, I also placed an extra-large plate of Sauteed Alligator and a couple of baskets of Alligator Karaage at the end of the table so that everyone could easily serve themselves seconds along with a bunch of different dipping sauces.

“Today, we Alligator Karaage and Sauteed Alligator with Cream Sauce made with Tyrant Black Alligator…”

My familiars (and Feodora-san) were already chomping away at their food.

“Umu, umu, as expected, fried food is always good…”

“Ah, you can have your Alligator Karaage with different sauces…”

“This is a surprisingly delicate way of preparing food,” said Grandpa Gon thoughtfully. “The white sauce is savoury and creamy, very delicious.”

“”Ou!! This onion sauce is awesome!!””

“”Creamy~~ Yummy~~””

Yeah, pretty standard reactions.

As mentioned, Feodora-san immediately dove into the plate of Alligator Karaag, popping the fried meat into her mouth as though she was eating popcorn…

As for the rest, there was some hesitation about eating Tyrant Black Alligator (it was apparently super expensive), but after seeing how everyone else was chowing down, they started eating too.

As a piece de resistance I brought a case of bottled beer.

Gaudino, Gideon and Siegwald’s eyes lit up.

“Oohh, thank you!! As expected of Mukouda-san, you sure know how to throw a party~”

“I am truly, truly grateful, Mukouda-san!”

“Kuh~~ It is a blessing. A blessing to taste Mukouda-san’s liquor again!!”

“Hohoho, good food must be accompanied by good drinks, no?” Sensing eyes on me, I quickly turned around with huge bottles of carbonated drinks, “Naturally, for Fer, Sui, Dora-chan and Grandpa Gon, you have a choice of cider or cola~~”

After serving my familiars, the burning sensation at the back of my neck did not disappear. I turned around to see Feodora-san staring at the bottles in my hand.

“Ah, Feodora-san, would you like…”

She nodded fiercely, so I poured her a glass of cider and cola each. She gulped down the transparent cider first. I swear, her eyes literally sparkled.

[1] “Oi! What happened to the Karaage?!”

[2]

One of the two baskets of Karaage had disappeared. It was in Feodora’s hands.

Siegwald pointed a finger at Feodora, “Beers are best with fried food! How dare you hog an entire basket on your own!?”

Instead of mediating the quarrel, Gaudino-san joined Gideon-san going ‘yeah, yeah’.

The next thing I knew, members of the [Ark] started to fight over the Alligator Karaage…

Should I tell them I have more?

No, let them spend their energies a bit first.

I should just sit here in my corner and quietly enjoy my plate of Karaage.

[Gumihou: It’s a food chapter. Gumi skipped/shortened all the bits that everyone should be familiar with by now]

Some crocodile recipes.

https://www.themeatguy.jp/en/cookingstudio/recipe/02_crocodile

[1] Deleted 150 words of delicious/yummy/kuh~/drinks!/beer! Etc

[2] Redid the disappearing karaage joke