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What I’m going to make instead of chicken is Dakgangjeong.

Of course, that’s a type of fried chicken too.

It’s generally tastier when brined beforehand.

“Just to check, can you wait for about an hour?”

“Me? No?”

When a hungry person says that, we decided to skip the brining.

I quickly stopped by the refrigerator and filled a basket with ingredients. During that short time, Mary, who had finished the dishes, was staring at me with a look full of regret.

“Karem, junior.”

“No way. You just stand there and watch. Don’t you have other things to do?”

“Regrettably, I don’t really have anything else to do right now.”

Mary lowered her gaze diagonally and bit her lip.

“If I had known it would turn out like this, I would have done my chores slowly…!!!”

“…Anyway, just keep watching. You wouldn’t want to get your break extended after butting in sneakily.”

Karem, who had lit the stove’s oil pot, brusquely dismissed Mary’s longing gestures as if swatting away a mosquito.

After all, it was more important to deal with the chicken.

I say that, but compared to mammals, deboning a chicken isn’t that difficult. An expert can debone one manually without a knife.

However, since we didn’t need to do that right now, I broke the wings and legs, then cut along the inside of the thigh to separate the meat from the bones. The chicken breast is carefully cut along the breastbone and wishbone.

Once the meat from the legs and thighs is scraped along the grain, it’s a finished cut.

The wings and legs are small and have little meat, so we decided to fry them as they are.

“Karem, there’s still some meat left on the carcass. Do we need this?”

“Weren’t you eager to eat?”

“That’s true.”

“Then we can just use it for broth. We don’t have time to worry about that.”

Deboning three chickens all in a row.

With the wings and legs, chop the meat into bite-sized pieces and mix them in a bowl with salt, sugar, pepper, flour, starch, and even milk to make a thin batter.

Then I took a bit of the batter with my hands and dropped it into the steaming oil pot.

Sizzle-

It quickly bubbled up to the surface.

“Let’s see. The oil temperature is sufficient. We can fry it right away.”

“Oh, Karem. Can I give it a try?”

“You want to try it?”

“It looks simple enough. Can’t I just drop the battered meat into the pot?”

“Well, that’s right. Just be careful of the oil splattering.”

“Oh, come on. That’s obvious.”

William, having washed his hands, confidently took the bowl.

Of course, I hadn’t fried anything myself before, but it didn’t look too complicated.

You just needed to drop the batter-coated meat into the oil.

Thus, William calmly approached the oil pot.

However, not everything in the world goes as expected or as spoken.

William began dropping the chicken one by one with a fork.

Sizzle-sizzle-sizzle-! Bubbling-bubbling-bubbling!

“Hot! This is insane! Hot hot hot!”

The hot oil reacted vigorously, correcting his careless thoughts.

The violent splattering of oil when frying is customary because the moisture in the ingredients reacts to the hot oil.

“Karem, junior. The prince is like that, so can I—”

“Give up. Above all, it seems the second prince intends to continue.”

True to that remark, William, while getting splashed by the frying oil, still managed to keep his fork steady and threw in all four pieces of battered chicken into the pot.

Without even needing to say anything, he used a long shovel to separate the clingy fried chicken.

“Ouch! Karem! What do I do now?!”

“Thank you for your effort. From now on, I’ll take care of it.”

Pushing William aside, Karem smoothly grabbed his favorite copper ladle and carefully took out the bubbling fried chicken.

He shook off the oil and set it aside for a moment.

“Isn’t everything already fried?”

“We’re double-frying to make the batter crispier.”

The oil in the pot heated up as the fried chicken cooled in the bowl.

In the meantime, the moisture trapped inside the fried chicken started to seep out.

Karem tossed all the fully cooled fried chicken back into the oil pot.

Since William had stirred thoroughly during the initial frying, there was no worry of them sticking together.

Whirrrrrrr-

Sizzle-sizzle-sizzle-!

The moisture from the chicken evaporated.

The frying batter developed countless tiny holes.

As a result, the sound of the fried chicken frying was much more intense than the first round, and its savory flavor became even stronger.

The sound of the oil sputtering.

The evaporation phenomenon of moisture bursting through the batter.

The aroma of savory oil mixed with the umami scent of chicken, suffused with a hint of mushroom.

Chak! Chak! Chak! Chak!

As Karem took them out and shook off the oil, William and Mary’s gazes naturally turned to the ladle.

The fried pieces hovered in the air for a moment before colliding with each other as they fell.

With each repeated sound of crunchiness, the fragrance seemed to grow even stronger. No, it definitely did.

The air in the kitchen, heated by the stove, became fragrant as the oil boiled and the chicken was fried twice, infusing the aroma deep into the space.

With each breath I drew, the appetizing scent flowed into the prince’s mouth, causing him to swallow unconsciously.

Gulp-

William asked Karem with the most serious expression.

“Karem, I know it’s not fully finished yet—”

“Are you asking to try a piece?”

“Yes. That’s exactly it.”

“It might be a bit bland. I couldn’t brine it.”

So, the bite-sized fried chicken that entered his hand was surprisingly light in contrast to its heavy smell and appearance.

The crunchy batter, glistening in a pale orange shade barely tinged with brown, teased his eyes endlessly.

He couldn’t hold back anymore.

He had purposely kept his stomach empty for class, only to fill it with tasteless stew and one serving of rare steak.

He could have managed one whole piece easily.

He shared what Karem had lifted from the pot.

William allowed himself to bring the fried chicken to his lips, letting his instinct take over.

Crisp-crunch—

The batter was different from the fried chicken he usually ate; it had a uniquely light and crunchy feel.

It felt as featherweight as it did thin when gripped in his hand.

As if layers of countless bubbles had solidified over one another.

Breaking through that thin, crispy surface and chewing along with the meat brought an explosion of savory flavor combined with the crunchy texture.

But the biggest difference was something else.

‘It’s quite dry, isn’t it?’

Moreover, the seasoning was fairly mild. Perhaps because it was fresh from frying, there was no awkwardness in eating it.

Though it was small, it lacked juiciness.

The savoriness of the fat was offset by the lack of moisture, and the chicken’s flavor burst out with each bite.

‘But if it cools down like this, it won’t be great. I could dip it in some salt or sauce.’

As William savored the flavor in his thoughts, Karem handed a piece to Mary.

Then, Karem pulled out two large, deep pans in rapid succession.

There would be two sauces to coat the Dakgangjeong.

A sweet and spicy sauce made with red pepper paste, and a soy sauce-based sweet and savory glaze.

This was far simpler than making battered fried chicken.

Gently frying the red pepper powder in oil to make chili oil, he then added water, syrup, ketchup, sugar, and minced garlic into it and reduced the mixture until it became syrupy.

In the remaining pan, he put in soy sauce, honey, sugar, a bit of garum, and minced garlic and reduced it similarly.

The sweet and spicy aroma wafted up as he dumped the fried chicken straight into the pan.

The sticky sauce piled high in the pan made the chicken fly up into the air, completing arcs before falling back down into the pan.

Whirrrrrrr- Crackle-!

Once, twice, and then thrice.

William’s heart dropped all at once.

“No, it’s going to fall!”

“Prince William. You can rest easy. Karem’s skills are not at the level where he’d make such trivial mistakes. Though I do find it disagreeable.”

“But still, that frying and sauce… Ah, my heart’s going to drop!”

As the lumpy fried chicken clung to the sauce, the amount of sauce in the air was sharply decreasing.

The sticky sauce dove into the small holes of the batter, coating its surface.

When there was no longer any sauce floating in the air, the fried chicken gleamed in red and black like jewels catching the light.

Crisp—

“Indeed, if you coat it with rich seasoning, there’s no need to season it beforehand.”

“But brining would definitely taste better. But it’s not bad for whipping something up quickly, right?”

“No, it’s bad.”

“Hm?”

As Karem dusted off the remaining sauce and powder onto the Dakgangjeong, he abruptly turned his head.

Just as that happened, Mary bit down forcefully on a piece of fried chicken.

“In the end, I had no choice but to just watch.”

“That’s because you chose to, so it’s your punishment. Who told you to butt in without understanding the situation?”

“I could have made this batter lighter and crispier.”

“Well, you can make it for the magicians during dinner later.”

Clang-clang— As Karem scooped the remaining soy sauce over the Dakgangjeong, Mary narrowed her eyes.

“Now, now. I know you two are friendly enough. After I leave, make sure to keep fighting amicably.”

At that, Mary pointed to herself and began to wag her finger, while Karem scoffed and moved the bowl away.

As mentioned earlier, William didn’t mind at all.

A showdown between a house fairy and a cook?

With a dish that looked like it screamed for someone to eat it right in front of him, what could be more important?

“Then I’ll just go grab something from the refrigerator for a moment.”

“Huh? What are you going to get now?”

“Some pickles and drinks for a palate cleanser. You guys eat the Dakgangjeong first.”

Dakgangjeong? Anyway, sure. Hurry back. With that intention, William waved his hand at Karem and then reached out for the Dakgangjeong.

First, he went for the glossy, sweet-and-salty dark piece—

“Prince William. You have a fork here.”

“Oh, thanks. I’ll use it next time.”

Although Mary handed over the fork, William had already grabbed the Dakgangjeong and brought it to his nose for a sniff.

Gulp—

It was entirely different from the warm, freshly fried ones he’d found delicious before.

The savory aroma was completely gone.

Instead, the rich, pungent scent of soy sauce scratched at the insides of his nostrils, replacing the sweet aroma.

‘A combination of soy sauce and chicken, huh.’

All the soy sauce William had ever eaten had been used in soups or sauces for grilling, but never in this way with chicken.

And the combination of soy sauce and chicken was much better than he had initially thought.

Growl—

As he continued to sniff it, his stomach protested for not being filled properly, demanding he surrender to his instincts.

William once again allowed his instincts to take over.

Crunch—

 

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