NOVEL NEXT Chapter 363
The staff had already consumed their lunch.
Yet, their stomachs still grumbled with hunger.
In front of the hot fire, they were boiling a large pot of beans, straining, mashing, squeezing, and kneading.
All of this was hard labor that drained their strength.
Not to mention, what the staff had brought for lunch was merely rye bread or dark bread with chunks of cheese and a few pieces of jerky.
There was certainly no culture of snacking in between meals like in Iceland, nor did they have the money for it.
If it became absolutely unbearable, they’d slyly pick some vegetables from the garden. As long as the owner didn’t catch them, stealing vegetables wasn’t considered a crime.
In any case, with such circumstances, their digestion was done long ago.
However, in front of them was a mountain of meat, emitting a captivating aroma as if magic had been cast upon it for the first time.
Even the noble chefs were personally grilling it, bestowing the grace of three gold coins upon them.
Above all, free meat!
Three whole pigs, no less!
While Seophone people go wild for meat, not everyone can feast on it to their fill. Meat is naturally expensive.
Maybe nobles don’t know, but they’re just commoners.
Of course, a monthly salary of three crowns was promised, but they wouldn’t receive it until the end of the month.
So, for now, these ordinary commoners had rarely had the opportunity to eat meat to their fill. The majority of them had been unemployed or idling for a while.
Even on their birthday, they couldn’t eat like this.
Commoners could only indulge on festival days.
Their usual diet consisted of coarse bread, dairy products, vegetables, and a bit of meat and offal. Without luck, it wouldn’t change.
Thus, with this opportunity to fill their bellies solely with meat, especially with three whole pigs, they couldn’t afford to miss it.
The staff, who had been rushing forward, naturally formed a line at some point.
How dare the revered God command them to stand in a line. Those rushing out were restrained by Michael’s chill aura that dominated the situation.
The middle manager, Tom, quickly anticipated the situation better than anyone else.
Before Karem’s words were finished, he rushed to be the first in line. Those who arrived a moment later could only fall behind him.
As expected of someone appointed as a middle manager, Tom was the first to get in line, instinctively squinting his eyes tightly.
The moment he flipped the pork belly around, the juices and fat that leaked out were greedily consumed by the charcoal fire, shooting up above the grill.
The sounds and smells intensified.
The sizzling of oil bubbling on the grill as meat fried.
The rich, salty aroma wafting from the portable stove filled the air!
No, this wasn’t the time for dawdling. Tom quickly got his plate out.
“Acting swiftly as the middle manager appointed by the Lord.”
“Hehe, since the esteemed ones have appointed me as middle manager, it’s only natural I set an example.”
“Good. From now on, stick with that.”
“Oops, just a little bit of vegetables—”
“Just take it with the bread for now. Here, some Kongarum too.”
With those words, Tom had no choice but to take a few leaves of lettuce and some garlic, along with a little sauce.
In any case, that wasn’t what mattered. Tom hurriedly moved to the side.
The meat was waiting for him.
“Ah, Karem, may I ask the name of this meat that emits such a sweet aroma?”
“Pork belly. It has the seasoning made with the bean bricks you’re going to make.”
Tom grinned as Karem piled the meat high on his plate, astonished.
“Wow, I never thought that stinky bean could emit such fragrance—whoops! So much!”
“We have plenty of meat, so if you eat it all, grab more.”
“Then, I shall eat gratefully!”
As Tom swiftly squeezed out of the line, the middle-aged staff behind him filled in with a desperate expression.
“I’ve never tasted meat this thin before.”
Being serious about meat, Seophone Island takes roasts and steaks more seriously than any other place.
Thinly sliced meat wasn’t common except for bacon or roast beef, but this was thinner than that.
The meat, thinner than parchment, was piled high in the bowl.
Taking a deep breath, Tom inhaled the fragrance of pork belly.
“The last time I filled my belly with meat was during a celebration.”
Indeed, a festival personally taken care of by a king was different in every way.
Though he had experienced many festivals in life, Tom had never seen one as extravagant as that. A mountain of roast beef, steaks, numerous roasts circulating in the square, and the rich smell of thick gravy sauce.
The meats he had gorged on during the festival.
Even days later, he had savored the meats of the festival.
All those festive foods paled in comparison to the aromatic pork belly piled high in front of him.
“This is what we’ve created.”
Overall, the thin meat slightly charred by fire gleamed intriguingly.
Tom could hold back no longer.
With his hands, he scooped up a heaping amount of meat from the bowl and stuffed it into his mouth until he felt he would burst.
“Oh, God. What kind of flavor is this?”
No meat dish he had ever tasted came even close to this one.
“…Is this really made with those bean bricks? What on earth did you do to give it such aroma!”
“…What on earth should I explain this as?”
“Roast beef? Steak? Pork chop? No, no! I’ve tasted the leftover banquets of noble families, but nothing tastes like this!?”
Only shock and admiration. That was all.
However, Tom brushed all those reactions aside. The meat in front of him was far more important.
He shut his stuffed mouth.
Normally, with that much food in his mouth, it would be hard to even chew.
He learned that from roast beef.
Yet, because the pork belly was thinly sliced and stir-fried, it was remarkably easy and soft to chew.
Sluuurrrp—
The oil bursting with smoky flavor and the sauce’s thick juices poured out like grape juice from a press.
Thus, the meat had been oozing with oil, sauce, and juices while still retaining a hearty flavor.
The crispy fat that had rendered out.
The charred meat that crumbled like grilled jerky.
The meat that had regained its moisture by absorbing the oil, sauce, and juices again.
“…Huh, did I already finish it?”
Tom, snapped back to reality, realized his once stuffed mouth had emptied. When did he swallow it all?
He glanced down at the bowl in a panic.
Fortunately, what he feared did not happen.
“…Phew! Well, there’s still meat left.”
Suddenly, an intriguing sight caught his eye.
While distributing meat to the staff in line, Karem stuffed meat into lettuce and quickly bit into it, dipping garlic into the sauce called Kongarum.
Normally, he would have thought that this was odd.
Why would one eat such delicious meat like that?
However.
“…He is surely a noble chef.”
Then he must have his reasons.
For the first time in his life, Tom reached for vegetables not to fill his belly, but for flavor.
Holding a palm-sized leaf of lettuce filled with pork belly.
As he dipped a clove of garlic into the Kongarum and wrapped it up.
“Can I fit this all in one bite?”
If it doesn’t fit, I can just take a bite… At that moment, Tom felt a chill.
Michael was watching him with sharp eyes.
He slowly shook his head at Tom, then tossed something invisible into his mouth.
Tom instinctively realized.
“Are you suggesting I take it in one bite?”
Perhaps hearing that from a fair distance, Michael nodded.
After briefly pondering, Tom shrugged. He had stuffed his mouth until it nearly burst already, so there was no reason he couldn’t do it again.
But why raw garlic…?
Hap, crunch—
Wait, Tom couldn’t comprehend.
‘Why is this more delicious than just eating the meat?’
Biting into the tasteless lettuce bag revealed an explosion of juices and aroma.
The refreshing flavor that ventilated his mouth faded quickly. The joy he felt when first eating the pork belly resonated within him.
The crunch of lettuce danced on his teeth amidst the tender meat.
As juices and oil flowed, the moment he chewed the garlic, the greasiness in his mouth completely vanished.
Of course, drinking beer or alcohol would also cut through greasiness, but the power of this raw garlic was different. There was no lingering heaviness like there is after drinking.
The unique pungency of garlic did pop out, though, but soon disappeared amidst the deep flavors of the burnt soy sauce and meat juices.
Not the flavor of pork belly or garlic or lettuce, but a profound taste.
It was definitely the flavor of the sauce known as Kongarum.
Finally, Tom understood why the so-called chefs had been so keen on sauces.
The pork belly, seasoned with soy sauce, was indeed delicious.
However, experiencing the flavor of Kongarum while enjoying it wrapped in lettuce now made it entirely different from before.
The unique salty depth of the sauce swept away the greasiness of the pork like a tax collector.
Meanwhile, as he chewed the soft beans of Kongarum, an inexplicable deep richness from the taste of juices and oils lingered until the end.
At last, Tom understood Michael’s gaze.
This was surely the true way to enjoy pork belly.
Vegetables weren’t just for filling the belly.
They were also for enhancing the flavor of the meat.
The two sauces he just experienced.
With the power of soy sauce and Kongarum, that made it all possible!
‘If I throw some other things in and sauté the vegetables, I bet we could create the ultimate side dish to eat more meat!’
The nobles, who were used to eating meat three times a day, couldn’t possibly overlook these sauces.
As Tom’s busy thoughts ran amok, his mouth and hands moved quickly, and only when his bowl was empty did he realize hey, he had some leftover bread from eating the pork belly in lettuce.
However, he didn’t have time to feel regret.
Competitors were already eagerly lining up ahead.
Tom quickly rejoined the line.
“Try this instead of vegetables, fit it in between the bread like a sandwich.”
“Gulp.”
“Can you guess what it’ll taste like?”
He had glimpsed a new territory—a pork belly sandwich.
After all the staff had eaten about three servings, only then did they slowly savor their fourth bowl.
Karem, now relaxed, also came over with two plates filled to the brim with pork belly to eat leisurely with Michael.
It wouldn’t be surprising if pork belly didn’t taste good.
There was just one thing, however.
“Doesn’t this remind you of white rice?”
“That it does, but I’m craving cold noodles.”
“I’m also thinking of Drunken Fire. If you dilute it with water and add a bit of sugar, it ends up tasting like soju.”
Michael, who wrapped a lettuce leaf, cast a regretful glance at Karem, as if asking if there was any alcohol.
“I don’t have any in the borrowed pouch.”
“What a pity.”
“At least there’s cola. Hand over that pouch.”
Handing over the pouch filled with cola, upon receiving it back chilled with divine power, Michael took a gulp.
Pork belly and cola.
The combination sparked a swift flashback of scenery from his previous life in Michael’s eyes.
The first time he entered a regular knight’s restaurant with his father.
A chef from Gando personally grilled pork belly over direct fire, and the traditional beverage from the Federation he offered him, cola.
Recalling the feelings from that time, Michael thought.
The person was too humble and polite, downplaying himself, but indeed, he is a God.
“Oh, God! I never dreamed I would enjoy this combination again in my life.”
“It’s the power of soy sauce and the seasoning grilled over charcoal directly.”
With such cheat keys one after another, there was no way it could taste bad.
If butter were added, one could exaggerate and say they could eat concrete too.
“Then, the most important issue remains.”
“The issue of operating the workshop?”
“Yes. It’ll take around two months until we can operate it ourselves, during which we can only make one bottle of soy sauce or soybean paste at a time.”
Karem, his hair in disarray, sighed heavily with annoyance.
“Then until then, we’ll need to come every few days. We’ll need to prepare stock rather than coming every day. Ugh.”
“You’ll understand, your Grace.”
“That’s a relief, but…”
“Having that much time might allow us to gradually elevate the mood.”
At that added comment, Karem let out a half-hearted laugh.
Controlling supply through marketing.
Only sampling to stir up impatience.
Both were major strategies used by modern businesses to attract customers. Nobles couldn’t ignore this at all.
“However, your Grace. I think we should think about that later.”
“Huh? Ah.”
Karem agreed with Michael’s comment.
The staff were now lining up one by one, holding empty bowls.
They were still desperately hungry for meat.