Consomme Soup Development Log

"I want some consomme soup."
At the Muno Castle workshop, I look at some amber-colored oil and get reminded of consomme soup.
"What's with you all of a sudden?"
I was muttering something to myself, but apparently Arisa was here too.
"Huh? It's pretty weird for you to be here, Arisa. Didn't you need to help Nina-san?"
"Well, Arisa-chan is talented enough to know how to take a break."
Arisa sits me down on a chair and then plops herself down on my lap.
--What is she trying to do?
As I get suspicious of her strange behavior, she turns arounds and looks up at me.
"Resupplying on Masternium. In order to maintain a steady supply, please cross both arms in front like a seatbelt."
Arisa mimics a robot voice as she makes that request. It seems like she was been helping Miss Nina late into the night, so I can grant that wish as long as she doesn't peform any more sexual harassment.
I cross my arms in front of her body.
"Restocking Masternium. Please maintain that position. Restocking Masternium."
Arisa seems to be having fun as she repeats those words.
I don't really get it, but she looks happy.
For nearly an hour, I listen to the far-away sounds of Mia's music with Arisa on my lap. Then, Arisa hops down from my lap, apparently satisfied.
"Oh yeah! Now I can keep going!"
"That's great, but don't work yourself to death."
"Of course! I wouldn't do something so stupid! Taking care of yourself is part of the job!"
Arisa gets just a little teary-eyed as she says that line. It seems like she was reminded of something in her past life.
"Oh! What was that about consomme soup earlier?"
"I was looking at that oil, then I had a sudden craving for consomme soup."
Arisa takes a look into the white jar filled with the amber oil.
"I see, that's definitely the right color to remind you of consomme soup."
"Right?"
As I thought, any Japanese person would have the same thought.
Back in Japan, I drank consomme soup all the time.
But, the only thing I did was adding water to the soup powder.
I have no idea what the steps are for actually making it, or what the ingredients are.
I asked Arisa for help, hoping that she might remember a scene from some cooking manga or anime about making it.
But it seems like she only knows about as much as me.
I guess that not everything is going to be that easy.
After all, it's the job of a craftsman to work with the limited tools that they have.
Well, I'm more of a fake cook that relies on cheat skills, so I should go ask the real cooks for help.

◆

"Consomme soup?"
"Yes, it's a amber-colored clear soup."
I asked Gert, the head chef of Muno castle, for help.
As they say, always go to the specialists first.
"What does it taste like?"
--It tastes like... consomme-flavor.
I almost said that out loud.
How can this be? I don't have the words to describe its flavor.
"It's kind of like vegetable soup, but without the vegetables--"
Wait, that's not quite right. The vegetable soup from Japan is generally made using consomme soup.
I think back to all the food I've seen since I came to this world. The closest was that thick vegetable soup that I had at Seiryuu City's Gatefront Inn.
If only we could get rid of that thickness, the taste could be pretty close.
"Gert-san, please teach me the basics of soup making."
"Of course, I don't mind. That's good timing since I just was about to teach Lulu."
I follow Head Chef Gert to the kitchen.
"Master!"
At the kitchen, Lulu turns around to greet me wearing a simple white apron.
Her black hair goes well with the white apron and gives her the appearance of a newly-wed.
Before leaving Muno, I'll have to make her a special maid outfit.
"Over here you two."
We get called by Head Chef Gert over to a huge pot.
"The ingredients are some meat on the bone, salt, and a small amount of vegetables."
That's more simple than I expected.
"Don't you need soy sauce?"
"Huh? There's no way we can use something so expensive for soup."
I guess they don't.
Is it really okay for it to be so simple?
"First, fill the pot with water. Then, we start boiling the meat and bones."
Is it just me, or is there practically no meat left on these bones?
I wave away my doubts and follow Head Chef Gert's instructions.
As the water boils, scum starts to float to the surface of the soup.
However, she only gives me instructions on controlling the temperature and does not mention the scum at all.
"Are we not skimming off the soup scum?"
"If we did that, then we would just get less soup, and it would taste worse."
I was curious enough to ask, and that was the response I got.
I'm feeling a bit of culture shock.
I guess common sense really does depend on where you are.
"It'll just be a little bit longer, you don't need to add any more wood to the flame."
"Yes, Gert-san."
While I am still frozen from shock, Lulu continues making the soup in my place.
The first phase is done when all the meat falls off the bones.
After that, they continued into making stew, but that was pretty much the same as what Liza taught us. It was a little lacking in ingredients and salt, so the flavor was light.
"That's about it. Did that help you at all?"
"It was a great help, thank you very much."
I give my thanks to Head Chef Gert and exit the kitchen.
Even though it wasn't much different than what Liza taught me, just learning that is good progress.
The vegetable soup that we made was slightly murky and had an earthy yellow color.
I'll need to start off by experimenting with various ingredients.

◆

The first thing I did was make a bunch of stove-type magic items.
I already have a few of these, but it'll be easier to experiment if I have a lot.
Making them is pretty simple too.
"Master, I inform you that I have brought the pots."
"Thanks, Nana. Put them over there."
I had asked Nana to go into the city and buy up pots and ladles. Afterwards, the beast-girls come in bringing the ingredients.
"Boar meat~?"
"Rabbit meat nanodesu."
"Master, I have brought chicken, deer, wolf, and bear meat."
They take out all the various types of meat from the Garage Bag and start butchering them.
I need to use all of these ingredients for the soup experimentation, including the various organs. That means the beast-girls will have to make due with our large supply of hydra meat for a while.
A few maids and female soldiers managed to find us by following the smell of soup, but we have nothing to give to people who aren't doing their jobs. We ask them to come back when their work is done, and help taste test the soup.
Now that we have plenty of volunteers, it's time to begin cooking experimentation.
For these kinds of experiments, it's best to start with big changes and narrow down the list of options.
I start by testing the differences between vegetable soup, poultry meat soup, and non-poultry meat soup.
The soup made from non-poultry meat is definitely wrong.
That soup was close to the leftover soup from a hot pot, and way too different from consomme soup.
Chicken soup was slightly closer, but still wrong.
It was better than the other meat types, but the flavor was weak and far from what I wanted.
Vegetable soup tasted the best, but the flavor still wasn't quite right.
I keep experimenting, trying various combinations of ingredients and various ratios.
Then at the end of it all--
"Puha-! So tasty!"
"Mm, it's too good! Chevalier-sama needs to take responsibility and accept me as a consort right now!"
"S-stop that! I've already reserved Chevalier-sama so you can't do that!"
"Hehe, Chevalier-sama prefers flat-chests so he won't take a fatty like you."
"You mean well-endowed! Don't call me fat!"
It appears to be a success with the maids.
They seem to have veered off-subject, but I'm going to pretend that I didn't hear anything.
The 'well-endowed' lady needs to go take a look at Karina-sama. It seems pretty unreasonable to assert that when you only have a B-cup.
Anyways, while it was great that they liked it, there is one problem--.
"Chevalier-sama's stew is truly delicious."
"There's so much meat and vegetables in it~."
"I can finally forget about that nasty soup that we had before Chevalier-sama came here."
"Stooop, I don't want to go back to that soup!"
--The consomme soup didn't get completed. I had just thrown all the leftover ingredients into the pot and ended up making a stew.

◆

"What are you looking at?"
As I lay down on the king-sized bed and look over the failed experimentation log, Arisa slips up to my side in her sleepwear.
Tama and Pochi are curled up into balls on the other side.
"The log of consomme soup failures."
"Hmm, how many did you even make in one day?"
"One, two, three... Lots."
It got annoying, so I gave up counting halfway through.
"I managed to get the flavor kind of close, but it keeps turning into a stew."
"Are you not filtering it?"
--Filter?
Oh, right.
How did I forget about that step.
"Thanks, Arisa. I'll try that out tomorrow."
I managed to gain a new direction thanks to Arisa's suggestion. Satisfied, I ended up falling into a nice deep sleep.
--Until I woke up to Arisa trying to sexually harass me again.

The next morning, I took a walk around the city looking for something to filter the soup.
"There really isn't anything..."
The metalworkers just didn't have much of anything.
There were the basics like pots and knives, but no strainers or even iron ladles. The best thing they had was a metal grid like the one used for barbecuing. Apparently, the less common tools need to be order-made.
I asked the shopkeeper if they had something I can use for straining, but they unfortunately didn't.
"Young man, the general store is better if it doesn't need to be metal. If you really want it to be smithed, I can call for the blacksmith though."
I followed the shopkeeper's advice and headed to the general store, which was in between downtown and the craftsmen's district.
"They do have some filters here..."
They had wooden filters and even one made from knitted dried grass. There doesn't seem to be any of the bamboo ones that I was used to seeing.
It doesn't look like they can be used for cooking though. They are probably only used for farming purposes.
"Hey young man, what are you looking for?"
"Do you have a strainer with small holes that can be used for filtering liquids?"
As I get lost in thought, the shopkeeper starts talking to me, so I ask him if he has what I am looking for.
"A strainer for liquids? If you're just filtering things of a normal size, then this should be enough...?"
The shopkeeper picks up on the filters and shows it to me with a confused face.
It seems I wasn't clear enough in what I was asking.
"But, if it's for small stuff, then maybe using a cloth would be better?"
I see. I hadn't considered that option. This is good to know.
I thank the shopkeeper and buy the various cloth types that he recommends.
"Chevalier-sama! It's good to see you again!"
As I exit the store, a Muno City food merchant notices and greets me.
"Hello, did something good just come in?"
"Indeed! We just managed to get our hands on some long-haired cows from Oyugok!"
"I see, long-haired cows. I would love to buy them off you."
I haven't exhausted the long-haired cow meat that I got from the giant village yet, but the stock is getting pretty low. It's best if I use this chance to resupply.
More beef is always good.
"These are the four cows--."
One male and three females... It looks like they are worth more than pack horses, but less than riding horses. The male one is cheaper than the females.
The price offered by the merchant is about the same as the one on my Estimation skill.
"That price is suitable. I'll buy them all."
We don't need that much meat, so we might as well leave some for breeding at Muno Castle.
One of the females is producing milk, so let's make sure to keep her.

"Master, I've finished butchering."
"Thanks, Liza. That helps."
I receive the report from Liza, who is wearing a colored apron.
I still feel hesitation at killing livestock, so it helps that she can do it for me.
"Guts~?"
"There's a bucket full nanodesu."
Tama and Pochi bring over a grotesque bucketful of cow organs.
"Ah, I forgot to tell you. I won't be using those today, so you can give them to Head Chef Gert for dinner."
"Aye~."
"Roger nanodesu."
The two carry the bucket and run off to the kitchen.
I take the meat prepared by Liza and start boiling them, separating the ones with fat and the ones without.
While I'm waiting, I take a good portion of the sirloin and start cooking it on a frying pan.
Mmmm~, it smells pretty good.
Liza's tail starts twitching a little bit.
A short while afterward, Tama and Pochi dashed back leaving a trail of dust behind them.
"Meat!"
"Pochi smells meat nanodesu!"
These two certainly have a good sense of smell.
"Just a little bit longer."
Pochi's tail is wagging so hard that it looks like it's about to fall off. Tama keeps gulping down her saliva.
I serve the freshly cooked steaks to the beast-girls as thanks for helping me out.
On top is the genuine steak sauce that Head Chef Gert taught me to make. We were only able to use soy sauce and salt before, so it should be much better now.
"Delicious~."
"Beef meat is amazing nanodesu!"
"It's practically melting in my mouth. Truly delicious."
The beast-girls seem satisfied.
After admiring their joyous expressions, I return to the soup making.
It seems like using cloth to filter the soup was the right idea, as it becomes much more transparent.
However, there is still some murkiness, and it is starting to taste strange.
Maybe I need to try changing my approach. I try reversing all my ideas about soup making.
The result--.
"Uu, t-this..."
"Hic, so... good..."
"Ahhh, it's okay if I die today."
For some reason, the taste-testers have tears in their eyes as they shove their spoons into their mouth.
Please just cry or eat, not both at the same time.
"Master, what's this?"
"I asked them to eat some of my experiments, and this is just kinda how it turned out."
I hand over one of the bowls to Arisa.
"Wow, what a great looking beef stew!"
Arisa starts eating with a smile on her face.
The roux I used to make the beef stew was something I learned from Head Chef Gert along with the steak sauce. I didn't know it was possible with just butter, flour and a little bit of soup.
"Phew, that was great--. Wait, I thought you were trying to make consomme soup?"
Arisa, you didn't need to say that.
Okay, so trying to go in the opposite direction didn't work out so well.
As an additional note, the beef stew received high praise from Nina-san and the Baron's family.

◆

"Let's use magic!"
"That seems pretty improper."
Arisa is shaking her head.
"I'm thinking of doing just the filtering part via magic. I just need to make sure all the flavorful parts get dissolved into the soup."
"This again? You always come up with the craziest ideas."
"It'll be fine~."
"That's right nanodesu! Master can make the bestest con soup nanodesu!"
"It's consomme, not con."
As Arisa corrects Pochi, I look through the list of water magic for a spell that I can use as a base.
I take code portions from spells used for separation, mixing, and permeation. I also take portions from the Liquid Control spell to be able to mix the soup without damaging the ingredients.
By the next morning, I had a few of these 'cooking spells', but it's not finished yet.
I have to check their effect and mana cost in practice, then put the finishing touches on the spell code.
Well, I can't actually chant them myself. I'll need the help of Mia to actually use water magic.
"Sorry Mia, thanks for helping me out."
"Nn, reliance."
Mia confidently promises her help. We work from day to night to perfect the magic and cooking techniques.
Of course, Mia has a limited amount of mana, so she had to take breaks and heal up with mana recovery potions.
Over the course of this experimentation, I ended up making mana potions with flavors other than the original honey-flavor.
I also ended up developing a spell for making the whipped cream on Mia's snacks. Then, I modified that spell to make stuff like mayonnaise, but it would be a while before I made full use of those.

◆

"So gooood, that's definitely the smell of consomme soup."
Arisa stands next to the pot and sniffs the soup.
After three full days, Mia and I finally completed the spell for making consomme soup.
Of course, the spell doesn't generate the soup out of nowhere, but just removes the hardest steps from the process.
I remove the lid on the pot and serve everyone a bowl.
"Huh, water?"
"So consomme soup is transparent."
Arisa, who knows what consomme soup is supposed to look like, tilts her head in confusion. Lulu, who has never seen it before, looks at it with a curious gaze.
For some reason, using magic on it caused it to become clear and transparent compared to its normal amber color.
I had considered adding some coloring to it, but that would end up hurting the flavor.
"Drink up before it's cold."
"Aye! Itadaki~."
"Itadakimasu nanodesu."
At my prompt, Tama and Pochi are the first to take a sip from their spoons.
The two's shoulders start trembling. The fur on Tama's tail is standing upright.
"Very very very very tasty!!"
"Super super super super tasty nanodesu!!"
With their eyes wide open, the two start swinging their arms around to emphasize how good it is.
"Master... I... I didn't know things could be made so delicious."
"Master, I offer my commendations that this is the greatest."
"It's like I can taste the meat even if it's not there. Could this be a mythical dish only served to the gods?"
Lulu, Nana, Liza also give their exaggerated praise. As for Arisa--.
"I can't tell after just one! Give me more! And super-size it!"
After silently finishing a bowl, she started demanding seconds.
"Of course, have as much as you want."
As I pour Arisa a second bowl, everyone else starts asking for more as well.
The usually quiet Lulu and the modest Liza are coming in almost as fast as Tama and Pochi.
"Be careful you don't burn your tongue."
I give everyone that warning as I continue serving out the soup.
"Satou."
Mia sticks out her bowl with a seemingly embarrassed look on her face, so I give her plenty of soup.
After all, it was mainly thanks to her that I was able to make it.

The perfected consomme soup would go to charm many others. Most notably, the well-known gourmets and upper nobility of Oyugok City, but that would be later.
For now, I'm content just enjoying it with the girls.
Maybe I can go bake some bread to complement the soup along with Lulu. That seems like fun.
That's what I was thinking about as I see the hungry maids advancing towards us from Muno Castle.