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Good ingredients make food inherently delicious.

It’s not a false statement.

The difference in taste is significant depending on the quality of the groceries.

The reason chefs search for high-quality ingredients is straightforward.

Cooking becomes delicious even without effort, and it becomes even better with effort.

However, it’s always tough to obtain quality materials. Cooking, after all, originated from the act of processing inedible ingredients to make them edible, easier to consume, and last longer.

Historically, most cooks have used low-quality ingredients. Thus, the quality of the dish depends entirely on the chef’s skill.

Naturally, unless for practical reasons, no one specifically seeks low-quality ingredients. That would be a peculiar obsession.

Yet, most chefs strive hard to acquire quality ingredients.

In that sense, Winterhome is the ultimate environment for chefs.

Top-notch facilities and tools. The finest ingredients that never run out no matter how much you use. Countless rivals eager to learn your skills.

Above all, recipes that seem to embody a family’s vision pour in endlessly before fully mastering them.

The source of such skills and recipes is the Zigmeser-Karem exchange.

Typically, exchanges have conditions or restrictions for attendees. But here, there are none.

According to Karem’s intention to spread recipes far and wide, chefs with free time can attend freely.

But today is different. For the first time in the history of the exchange (which is only a year old), there are entry restrictions.

“Zara zara zanjanjan- Jirihihihihi! Ihihihihihi!”

Zigmeser bizarrely laughed and sloppily sealed the door to his private kitchen with magic tools, preventing anyone from entering.

The strange appearance of the bald dwarf, with an unbelievable mustache, and his weird movements and glaring eyes were utterly hideous.

“Was the head chef such a bizarre dwarf? I thought he was just fine at the banquet before. Even with that bald mustache.”

Gordon tilted his head slightly and squinted at Karem, questioning the oddity.

“Well, I don’t know. I’ve never seen him before. It’s a tough situation to ask about.”

Seriously, what kind of situation is this?

Karem was pretty taken aback, if not as much as Gordon.

Mammoth meat? It was tastier than beef? That much?

“Head chef! Head chef!”

“Whoa! Who are you—oh wait, right. You’re Karem, who suddenly grew up. This is hard to get used to.”

“No, I mean, I understand.”

Anyone would be surprised if someone they got along with suddenly transformed while being out of sight.

“Anyway, is this something to be this delighted about?”

“Of course! How somber I was last year!!!”

Last year? What happened last year? At that moment, a memory from the past suddenly popped into Karem’s mind.

“Oh, I definitely missed such a delicacy from hunting a mammoth due to being busy.”

“Exactly! To think I’d miss something rare that I might only get once a year right in front of me! I felt my heart tearing when Elder Iona told me. But…”

Zigmeser looked down at the table, sniffing.

“This… what’s that smell that’s pungently cheesy, not quite fresh?”

“Oh, I think it might be because I briefly turned undead. It seems to have developed a strange fermentation somehow. It tastes like cheese, too.”

“Hm, cheese flavor for a moment. What? Undead?”

Zigmeser’s eyes surged like waves, unsettled.

The madness he had just felt completely disappeared.

“To eat from the undead? Karem, I don’t know if I should say this, but are you out of your mind?”

“But it was washed with holy water and sanctified, and Count Hardrian guaranteed it was safe enough to offer as a reward.”

“…Is the Count Hardrian you’re talking about the one I know?”

“The previous Duke of Iceland? The current Count Hardrian?”

“Hm. If he guaranteed it…”

Zigmeser stroked his bald chin and looked at the meat again. If the late Duke guaranteed it, it should be edible.

“But hey, Karem. You mean you’ve tasted it? When?”

Gordon, who had been listening with arms crossed, suddenly intruded with the question he couldn’t ignore.

“On the night I returned to Winterhome. Elder Atanitas, Olivier, Mary, and I all had some!”

“What!? So everyone but me has eaten it!”

“Yeah, who takes a nap all day?”

To be honest, at that moment, I was so hungry that I couldn’t even think about waking them up. The meat was too delicious.

“Ugh. Can’t say anything to someone who got hurt.”

“The flavor varied greatly based on the piece, gathering the benefits of pork and beef.”

“Cheese flavor? You said you had it as steak?”

“Yes. It was no joke.”

“I can’t imagine.”

Gordon shook his head as if he found it hard to understand.

“Then I guess I’ll be able to try it now!”

While Karem and Gordon were conversing, Zigmeser concluded his preparations and placed white fat into the pan.

Sizzle-

The white fat began to melt in the heat of the pan like a fish out of water. The salty aroma mixed with the heat rose into the air.

“Salted pig fat?”

“You got half of that right. It’s leftover bacon fat from yesterday.”

Zigmeser tilted the pan back and forth, quickly finishing the coating.

His eyes, glimmering like a griffin spotting prey, scanned the various parts of mammoth meat emitting a diverse cheesy aroma.

“Karem, thanks for bringing the mammoth meat.”

“Wait? You just said that a moment ago?”

“Come on! Pay attention!”

Zigmeser looked around, doing an odd movement that no one else would miss even with few people around.

“Umm, I appreciate the effort in bringing the mammoth meat, but the most crucial and profound part seems to be missing? Could it be—”

“…Ribeye? If it’s that, Mary cooked me like a mountain of it.”

“What!? You mean that just like that? No, no. Ribeye should be piled up like a hill at the very least!”

“If not, then what? The nose?”

“Bingo! Every part is visible except for the nose.”

Every part of the mammoth, excluding the skin, ivory, and innards, is a delicacy.

And the most exquisite delicacy among those gigantic chunks of delicacy was the nose.

When skinned, it looks like a carefully butchered thick snake, but upon cutting, you see the meat shaped like a slight droplet with a pair of holes symmetrically punctuated—it was completely absent from sight.

“Oh, I just didn’t bring it on purpose.”

“Why!!!”

“Well, I felt a bit guilty tasting it all by myself?”

Zigmeser looked at him like he was saying something utterly nonsensical, expressing every sort of emotion on his face.

‘But Elder Atanitas is in such a situation.’

Still, Catherine kept troubling my mind. Regardless of anything else, shouldn’t the most exquisite delicacies be shared with those who acquired them together?

Of course, thinking about Catherine’s personality, she would likely not bother at all and would probably have completely forgotten about it after just a hint. But still, it was on my mind.

“…Alright! Sir Stark! Considering your hunger as a swordmaster, wouldn’t you be curious about the taste too!? Answer quickly!”

“Well, I’m definitely curious—”

“Joooaassss!!!”

“Even so, is it really necessary right now?”

“Why not!?”

“The fact is, the mammoth nose is at the Wizard’s Tower, and there’s plenty of meat right in front of us?”

Gordon stared at Zigmeser’s despairing scream, turning to Karem.

“So Karem. When are you planning to try the nose?”

“At least when Elder Atanitas can eat solids?”

“Ah, in that case, well, slurp. By the way, I’ll take care of the oil now.”

With that remark, Zigmeser quickly selected the meats without losing his excitement.

The tenderloin, sirloin, and ribeye, none of which were put aside, were quickly and precisely cut, sprinkled with salt and pepper, and mixed.

“That’s a part I never tried before.”

“Skirt! The finest piece was cast away, and I’ve already had ribeye! I’m about to show a whole new realm of steak!”

Skirt, the tender cut, made Karem nod in recognition.

A part known for its tender, chewy texture. The more you chew, the richer the umami flavor becomes.

“I grabbed it without thinking. But it’s quite a large piece to be called skirt.”

“Well, it’s a mammoth, so it’s only natural!”

Zigmeser cautiously tossed the skirt into the pan.

Sizzle- sizzle-!

The moment the skirt touched the fat, bacon grease bubbled up.

But just for a moment; once the skirt completely touched the bottom of the pan, a distinct sound that sparked appetite filled the air.

Gordon swallowed hard at the melody like someone gently tapping the surface of the skin hundreds of times.

“Hey, you’re saying you ate this all by yourself, right?”

“There were plenty of other people along, you know.”

“Still, it matters that I was left out.”

“Well, that’s why I brought you now.”

“Fair enough.”

Gordon didn’t take it too seriously; he brushed it off. Whatever the case, he wanted to savor that sound and aroma even more.

To be honest, he hadn’t had any particular thoughts until entering Zigmeser’s private kitchen, the stage for the exchange meeting.

He had been treated to various dishes and flavors. It didn’t matter as long as it tasted good, and with such exquisite delicacies, he found it too vague to foster any expectations.

And above all, there was one thing bothering him.

The smell of cheese that shouldn’t come from fresh meat.

To him, who had always heard that freshly slaughtered meat was the tastiest, even with Karem’s skill in mind, he couldn’t entirely dismiss his doubts.

It was troubling.

‘Wow, what’s that smell?’

It wasn’t merely the smell of meat being grilled.

The intense flavor of beef and the rich, savory scent of pork, which no man could ignore, were sizzling in hot bacon fat.

And as the relatively thin skirt cut sizzled, a delicious cheesy aroma wafted up as if roasting in the oven.

The best thing beyond meat is more meat.

The best cheese is the cheese that’s tanned in the oven.

The smell that embodied deliciousness smacked Gordon’s superior senses like a roundhouse kick.

“That’s quite a peculiar smell for meat. Is it really exquisite?”

“I’ve never smelled anything like this before.”

“…That’s not what I want to hear.”

Gordon grew anxious at his unsettling words.

But Zigmeser didn’t have anything else to say.

‘Cheese smell? How come?’

Based on his experience, mammoth meat tasted like a dream, combining all the benefits of pork, beef, and chicken while eliminating their downsides, although it varied by cut.

It smelled the same.

The clean flavor of chicken fat.

The strong aroma and taste of beef.

The rich savoriness of pork fat.

But cheese smell?

As Zigmeser’s mind pondered the confusion, his instinct kicked in, pouring in butter and herbs he’d grabbed seemingly out of nowhere.

As if resisting the hot heat, they momentarily maintained their shape.

Then, like melting ice cream, they dissolved in the sizzling bacon grease.

And he felt an overwhelming buttery richness that felt like tasting a spoonful of butter just by smelling it.

The buttery mixture that was half-fried in hot bacon fat.

And the enormous skirt steak, where absorption and frying occurred at once, was drenched in bacon and butter.

Clank clank clank clank clank-

Every time Zigmeser ladled bacon grease and melted butter over the steak, its surface bubbled up to golden, forming a crust.

As the juices seeped out, they sizzled, creating oily aromas that captivated everyone in the private kitchen.

As the intense aroma began to overwhelm their noses, a sweet scent mixed with rosemary, thyme, and other herbs wafted into the air.

“Now!”

Zigmeser quickly moved the steak to the cutting board with swift hand motions.

He immediately covered it with the lid.

“Now we just have to wait for it to rest—”

“Is it finally over?”

“No way! I still need to make a sauce to go with the steak!”

The final touch remained.

Materials Attached

– Skirt Steak –

 

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