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Tondemo Skill - 345 - BBQ with Freshly Harvested Vegetables
🕑 Added 2022-03-15 13:14:13 +0000 UTCThe ladies and I split up to prepare for the barbecue.
I had Aiya, Teresa and Celia-chan on vegetable cutting duties.
Lettuces, cucumbers and tomatoes were best eaten raw when fresh so they will be made into a mixed salad.
The eggplants would be grilled with their skin on to make grilled eggplants. The unhusked corn could be grilled as is too.
The pumpkin was rather large with tough skin, so I should carve it up into fairly thin slices for grilling. Thanks to my higher level, it was rather easy for me to deal with the tough pumpkin skin.
After cutting the pumpkin into quarters, I took out the seed and carved off the skin before cutting the flesh into half cm thick wedges. The colour of the pumpkin was a rather dark orange and looked like it would be very sweet and tasty.
I really looked forward to tasting these vegetables.
[8] Once the vegetables had been dealt with, it was time to prepare the all essential barbecue meat.
“Right, make sure to slice the Blue Bull and Orc meat like this,” I demonstrated the slices once before letting the ladies get on with it.
As for me, I wanted to prepare a different kind of barbecue meat.
“Let’s make that with Rockbird!”
I had decided to make Jerk Chicken, a local Jamaican dish, with the remaining Rockbird meat. I heard of this dish back in my past life [8] but the shop that sells Jerk Chicken were a little pricey. Since everyone who had it insisted that it was really tasty, I looked it up on the Internet out of curiosity and made it at home.
Naturally, I could only grill it on the stove but it was already amazingly tasty. I think it would be even more delicious when grilled over a charcoal fire.
[8] Thanks to the [Net Super] and pre-packaged seasoning, making recipes with a complex spice profile like Jerk Chicken was pretty simple.
First, I purchase all the necessary ingredients from [Net Super]. I bought the usual things for a marinade such as lemon, onions, garlic and finally scrolled through the pre-packaged seasonings for Jerk Chicken. There were two types of seasoning. One in a seasoning packet and another one in a seasoning jar.
I checked the reviews and it looked like the jar type was more recommended so I bought that along with my standard Yakiniku sauce for the Blue Bull and Orc meat as well as charcoal for the barbecue stove.
“Right, let’s get down to it,”
First, poke holes into bird meat that has been cut into palm-size pieces. Next, I squeeze the lemon juice into a bowl and poured it over the bird meat. This would help tenderize the meat.
While the bird meat sit in lemon juice, I grated some garlic and onion, mixed them with the Jerk Chicken seasoning and a bit of honey before pouring the marinade over the bird meat. After kneading it a little, I put the meat into a plastic bag and set the Jerk Chicken aside to let the flavour soak in.
[6] As for the beef and pork, a light seasoning of salt and pepper was good enough.
“Alright, let’s go out and meet everyone.”
After stuffing everything into my [Item Box] we all went to the field.
Please read this at kitchennovel dot ~
“Alright everyone, here’s how it works.”
[8] I clapped my hands for everyone’s attention. Celia had gone to fetch the usual plates and utensils for community eating and set them on one of the two tables I had raised by the barbecue stove. The table further away from the stove held large bowls of salad and bottles of sauces, plates, cutlery and drinks.
On the other table were large bowls of raw meat and vegetables ready to be put on the grill.
[8] After getting the charcoal fire started, hurrah for Fire Magic, and adjusting it to the most ideal temperature, I gave Aiya and Teresa a short brief on how to grill the sliced meat, pumpkins and corn. As cooks, we naturally get to have the first taste. Lotte-chan gets a taste because she’s cute but the rest went onto the ‘ready to eat’ table.
[8] When it looked like the ladies were able to tackle the grilling with minimal supervision, I got everyone’s attention.
[8] I was about to introduce the concept of barbecue buffet eating to everyone.
[8] “First, fetch your own bowl and fork here.” I waved my hand at the ‘ready to eat’ table. Celia-chan and Lotte-chan had been given the job of ferrying food and empty plates back and forth while their mothers grill food.
“Don’t stand around the stove and don’t touch the raw food on that table. You can eat the grilled meat once they reach this table. These are barbecue sauces you can put on the meat to enhance its taste.”
[8] Everyone nodded, their eyes sticking onto the plate of grilled meat I was holding in my hand. “Don’t take too much first because there’s plenty where that came from. Also, don’t just eat the meat, the grilled pumpkins and corn are very sweet and delicious.”
[8] Celia happened to come over with a plate of freshly grilled meat and pumpkin slices.
[8] “Oi, when are we eating?” Fer snapped.
[8] I cast him a slightly aggrieved look. Then glanced at my employees, “Naturally, Fer and the rest gets to eat first, so please wait for the next round, okay?”
[8] “… okay,” everyone was hungry and reluctant. But they all remembered how Fer had ‘punished’ the twins so none of them was willing to challenge a Fenrir’s authority.
[8] Thus, I set up three plates of food piled with grilled meat with yakiniku sauce, a salad on the side covered in salad dressing and a small heap of grilled pumpkin.
“Right, here you go. Eat slowly because the seconds will come a little later but you get to eat first, okay?”
“Umu, sure,”
“”Yeah, yeah, now gimme!!””
“”Sui is okay with this~””
They immediately dug into their individual plates with cries of ‘delicious’ and ‘yummy’ popping up now and then. [5]
[8] This time, Lotte-chan came over with a shallow bowl filled with something like black charcoals. “Um, I think mommy made a bad thing…” she said uncertainly.s
[8] “Oh, not at all,” I said delightedly. “Here, you eat it this way.” I tore off the blackened husk to reveal the plump white kernels within. Considering how many people were waiting to eat, I broke the corn into three pieces and passed one piece to Lotte. “Go on, try it.”
[8] Lotte-chan looked dubiously at the corn and took a tentative bite. Suddenly, her eyes shone, “It’s sweet!”
[8] I placed the other two pieces onto a plate before handing the deep plate of charcoal-like corn to the boys. “Help me peel open these, okay?”
[8] “Okay!” the boys jumped at the job. Their hands quickly became black and the plate was filled with plump white corn covered in fingerprint smudges. However, that did not deter the others from eating them. Lotte-chan's testimonial could always be counted on.
[8] “Woah, grilled vegetables are delicious!” exclaimed Alban.
“It’s sweet and juicy,” said Tabasa sagely.
“It’s delicious!” was the general consensus.
Then, Celia-chan came over with two plates, one filled with Blue Bull and the other Orc meat.
“Oohh, meat!”
“Right, remember to use your own plate and forks,” I called out. “And don’t forget the sauces!”
“There’s just something about eating roasted meat out in the open,” said Toni happily.
“Personally, I like vegetables better, but meat is really good too. Especially with this sauce,” said Alban agreeably.
Under Tabasa’s strict supervision, the guards ate in an orderly manner. Two of them, however, had tears running down their faces.
“Ou, meat is delicious…”
“Aa… meat.... good…”
The dumb twins were eating Blue Bull meat and crying at the same time. However, neither of them touch the Orc meat at all. I guess they were still traumatized by That Day.
Well, I’m sure the trauma would go away eventually.
[9] “Mukouda-san, could you explain the ‘dressing’ for the raw vegetables again?” asked Alban eagerly. His plate was already piled high with lettuces, tomatoes and cucumber slices.
“Yes, this one is called Sesame Dressing. It’s fragrant and a little smoky. The white one is French Dressing, that one is creamier and sweeter. I personally prefer the Sesame Dressing.”
“In that case, I shall try the Sesame Dressing first,” he drizzled the Sesame Dressing onto the vegetables and took a bite. [9] “Woah, this is really good! Hey, Lotte, boys, come try this!”
[9] Then, he grabbed another bowl, filled it with vegetables topped with Sesame Dressing and made Teresa try it too while he look after the grilling meat under her supervision. The next thing I knew, more people had gathered around the barbecue stove to try their hand at grilling meats.
[9] For a moment, Teresa, Aiya and Celia looked a little lost at having been pushed away from their jobs but soon shrugged and made their way to the ready to eat table to help themselves to some of the food.
[8] To be fair, having more people did not make grilling go faster. In fact, some of the meat was a little underdone but still charred in odd places when they reached the table but I quickly swept these into my familiar’s bowl over some rice and covered the lot with plenty of sauce.
“Right,” I said, cheerfully. “Here are your seconds.”
Luckily, my familiars were pretty okay with the food so long as there was meat and good sauce. [5]
Still, I had better go and check out what the boys were doing…
…there was nothing but meat on the grill. I had to shoo the twins away when I saw that the meat was actually three layers deep… “You should never overcrowd the grill!” I scolded.
“Boo….”
“We want more meat quickly…”
Blam, blam!
Yeah, you guys definitely deserve the fist of fury for that.
“Please excuse the idiots,” said Tabasa.
[8] Meanwhile, Bartel was quickly gathering up the excess meats, leaving only one layer of meat on the grill. “I’m no smith, but us dwarves are pretty deft at handling things over a fire.”
[8] “Thank you for taking care of the barbecue, Bartel,” I said, after observing him for a bit. Wow, he was pretty good at flipping meat. “Here, have this as a reward!”
I took out a case of beer, already chilled and popped one open for him.
“Oho? Alcohol? Let me at ‘em!” Bartel chugged the beer and went aaahhhhh….before going for a second can.
“… right, I heard you’ve been going to town on your days off for a drink?”
“Or twenty,” said Bartel honestly. “Eh, life here is good but I can’t really drink as much as I want. I’d really like to drink until I can’t anymore.”
He looked a little dreamy at that.
“Well, since today is our break, drink as much as you like!” I pulled up [Net Super] and ordered two more cases of beer as well as cartons of orange juice and bottles of cola. “Let’s drink and enjoy ourselves!”
“Woohoo!” the other guards also swarmed over the cases of beer. Meanwhile, I brought the orange juice and cola to the table. “Here, let the children have these instead.”
Drinks were poured into glasses and I raised my beer, “Cheers everyone! To our day off!”
“Ou!”
“Puuhah! That’s refreshing!”
The sun was shining, everyone was happy around me. The smell of grilling meat and earth filled the air.
Speaking of meat, we still have that thing.
[8] “Hey, let’s change things up a bit,” I said as I made my way to the grill. After clearing off the last of the grilled meat, I loaded on more charcoal and gave it a bit of a boost before returning the net and started lining up eggplants on one side of the grill and Jerk Chicken on the other.
“Someone get me some ice, yeah?”
[8] Lotte-chan somehow managed to convince Fer to make a whole bucket of ice which she brought over on tottering legs.
“Oh, my, Aiya, please fetch some water from the well. We need to peel the eggplants.”
“Peel the-” she stared at my grill. One side has sizzling meat while the other has blackened things on it. However, remembering the corn, she shrugged and obeyed the order.
[8] While waiting, I collected the blackened eggplants and placed them into a bowl. The freed up space was lined with more marinated Jerk Chicken.
I handed Jerk Chicken Grilling Duty to Aiya and settled down to peel the eggplants. First, plunge the hot eggplant into the ice water and peel them. It was easy now that they have been shocked by the cold. After peeling the eggplants and removing the green tops, I cut them into strips and set them in a clean bowl. Then, I sprinkled bonito flakes and mentsuyu over the eggplants and started tossing them like a salad.
“Right, the grilled eggplant is ready!” It’s a little troublesome to make but really delicious.
“The Jerk Chicken is done too,” called Teresa as she helped Aiya take the chicken off the grill and ferried it over to the ready to eat table and placed it next to the grilled eggplant.
“Wow, this smell is really different,”
“It seems spicy and smoky and sweet at the same time.”
[8] Naturally, I had to serve my familiars first. Well, Fer gets three pieces of Jerk Chicken while Dora-chan and Sui gets one each. “I’ll give you more later, okay? It’s a little spicy so Sui can try it first. You can have more if you like it.”
“Umu, this flavour is different.”
“”Different, good!””
“”Hmm…”
“Puhah! This one goes even better with a cold beverage!” someone yelled. Who else could it be but Bartel?
“Bartel, you’re drinking too much on your own!”
“Yeah, indeed!”
The two stupid twins protested, but Bartel was not bothered by them at all as he popped open another can of beer. “Those who attack first wins!”
The twins protested again but I assured them, “Drink, drink, there’s plenty where that came from.” I popped open two cans and handed them to the twins.
“Ohh, Mukouda-san, you’re the best!”
“As expected from Mukouda-san!”
The sun, the smell of grilling meat, a cold beer in my hand and laughter all around me.
[Gumihou: Okay, Gumi basically read the whole thing, processed it, and bashed it out along with the necessary details. Also, erm, Gumi may have added 700 words to the chapter...]
[1] Structural Change: Combine 2 paragraphs
[2] Structural Change: Combine 3 paragraphs
[3] Structural Change: Combine paragraph & dialogue
[4] Structural Change: Change passive sentence to dialogue
[5] Delete Repetitive or Pointless Information
[6] Additional Information for Aesthetic Purpose
[7] Add Dialogue Tag
[8] Creative Licence Taken – Give details, give lots of details.
Because, like, please give more details than just ‘here, this is the sauce’ and expect everything to happen on its own. Details like: who’s grilling the food? How large is the table? Were the food grilled already?
Also, what’s with all the ‘oh yum, oh yum’ repeats that span over a thousand words? Note [5]!!
[9] Details on salad dressing and the eating of raw vegetables. Please don’t let the locals be too shocked about eating raw vegetables. Especially poor farmers.
