CH 203

6-7 minutes

Yoriko’s Cooking On Board [Part 1]

The ship arranged by the Rothschild Company continued to sail smoothly.

One of the spacious guest cabins was equipped with a kitchen, and it became the family’s favorite gathering place on the ship. Melsa would usually teach the Tarous how to cook, Leonard and George would focus on their own training, and Emma and William would make monster karutas. Time kept moving quickly while the family busied themselves with their own things, and before they knew it, it was already one day before their estimated arrival in Imperial Japan.

“You can bake bread without any problem now, I see.”

“Yes! It was all thanks to Melsa-sama‘s guidance.”

Mancio Itou responded with a smile while taking the bread out from the cauldron. This bread, which had a slightly different shape to the ones usually eaten in the Kingdom, was something that Melsa thought of for Imperial Japan in consideration of the ongoing food shortage. It was made so that it could be baked in bulk at once and eaten by cutting it into slices.

That said, it was basically just white loaf bread.

In this short period, the Tarous had not only sharpened their cooking skills, but had also improved their Kingdom language at a shocking speed. Seeing how hard they worked for the perishing Imperial Japan, the cook, servants, and of course, the Stuart family, were all willing to support them as much as they could.

Mancio showed interest in Melsa’s territory management work, Miguel was enthusiastic about insect-related discussions with Emma, Julian was deeply impressed by the sweets in Joshua’s store, and Martinho took embroidery lessons from Leonard. Each of the boys had learned various things besides cooking.

“Tarous, for our last lesson, I will teach you how to make the magic sauce.”

“M-Magic… sauce…?”

“Thank you for your teachings in advance, Melsa-sama.”

“What kind of sauce is it?”

“I can’t wait to learn it!”

“You need to learn the knack of it for a bit, but it will be worth it because this is an all-purpose sauce that goes well with both Imperial Japanese and the Kingdom dishes.”

Melsa prepared the ingredients with a meaningful smirk plastered on her face.

“Mother, what are you going to make today?”

Seeming as if they were attracted to the smell of baked bread, the three siblings came to the kitchen.

“Melsa-sama is teaching us how to make a magic sauce that goes well with both Imperial Japanese and the Kingdom cuisine!”

Julian answered in Melsa’s stead with sparkling eyes full of anticipation. Julian seemed to be the most enthusiastic about cooking among the Tarous.

“Magic…?” Having never heard of such sauce before, William tilted his head in wonder.

“You like it too, don’t you? A sauce that goes well with almost everything, whether it’s vegetables, meat, rice, or bread.”

Emma looked at the eggs, vinegar, salt, and oil Melsa prepared, and thought of something.

“Oh, mayonnaise!!!”

” “Mayo!!!!!!” “

George and William immediately reacted to Emma’s answer. The men in the Tanaka family always thought it would be great if anything could be eaten with mayonnaise and Worcestershire sauce. They were exactly the type of people who were extremely rude to chefs, or in other words, those who preferred the taste of mayo and sauces rather than the natural flavor of the ingredients.

“Meow?”

“Meow?”

“Meow meow meow?”

“Meow?”

The four cats, too, heard George and William’s excited voices shouting for mayonnaise and peeked into the kitchen.

“Koumei-san and the cats too, let’s eat it together later, okay?” spoke Emma to the cats while helping the Tarous prepare the mayonnaise. She measured the ingredients, while the Tarous were responsible for mixing them together under Melsa’s instructions.

” ” ” “Meow♪” ” ” “

“…Emma-sama‘s ability to speak cat language is so amazing. I want to be able to talk to insects too.”

“I’m so jealous,” Miguel laughed as he weighed the salt and put a certain amount into different containers.

“It would be a waste to make a lot of sauce at once and fail, so let’s split it between everyone and make it individually.”

“Mother, what will you make with this mayonnaise?”

The mayo lover, George, asked Melsa while fidgeting. He didn’t fail to notice that behind the baked bread, rice was being cooked inside a steaming pot. ‘Though he heard that they, unfortunately, only had a little rice left.

“Didn’t Leonard catch a skipjack tuna yesterday? Making it into sashimi was also super delicious, but the company’s staff and the sailors didn’t touch it at all. I have to cook the rest of it in the end.”

The Tarous made the big skipjack tuna Leonard caught into sashimi for yesterday’s dinner, but the Kingdom people, that was the Rothschild Company’s staff and sailors, refused to eat the still “raw food”.

“If Emma-sama thinks it’s delicious, it must be delicious!” as he said so, Joshua tried the sashimi boldly and seemed to genuinely like it, but no one followed after him.

♠♠♠

Translator’s note: I don’t know if this is a Japanese thing, but bringing your own sauces/toppings/chili and adding it in front of the chef without their permission is deemed rude in Japan. The chefs will feel offended because they think you’re saying you don’t like what they make straight to their faces. It’s like buying plain milk tea from a boba tea shop, then adding your own homemade boba in front of the staff.